Elegant Elbe: Day 8
Day 8: Sunday, November 05, 2023 - Prague, Czech Republic
The day's statistics:
- Weather: low 60s, overcast
- Steps: 10,798 Linda; 11,130 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 56
Breakfast was a full buffet at the hotel.
I don't usually eat sweets at breakfast, but I wanted to try one of these. I wound up having three - they were light, filled,
and tasted baked rather than fried.
In addition to having an excursion in Prague, today was going to be a transfer day to the ship.
Our luggage had to be out by 10:00. Since we had an excursion this morning and we wouldn't be back before then,
we put our luggage out before we left.
Today's excursion was "Communism & The Velvet Revolution" and began at 8:45.
After returning to our room after breakfast, we gathered what we needed for the morning. About 8:30, we headed to the Viking lobby
area and gathered with the other dozen or so travelers also going on this excursion (the "Jewish Prague" excursion was taking place
at the same time and quite a few more were partaking in that excursion).
Today's guide was Alexandra - and lived through some of the communist era so she was able to relate first hand to the experience,
rather than just read about it in history books.
Our excursion started on foot. We left the hotel and turned left.
We paused in a small plaza while hearing about communism. We were waiting for 9:00 in order to enter the Museum of Communism (MOC).
Tomáš Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, elected four times.
A map of Czechoslovakia at the beginning of WW1.
Historic information about the Munich Agreement, foreshadowing the outbreak of WW2.
The liberation of Prague, Czechoslovakia, by the Red Army, May 1945.
A statue of a Soviet soldier, a symbol of the liberation of Czechoslovakia by the Red Army in May 1945.
Klement Gottwald, the first "worker's president"; four months after the Communists took over in 1948, he was elected
president of Czechoslovakia. Since 1946 he had been the prime minister.
This was in a flag holder on the wall, but it is easier to see turned even though it looks weird.
People were not overly fond of the monument and they jokingly referred to it as "the line for meat." The artist behind the statue,
Otakar Svec, and his wife, just like Stalin, did not live to see the unveiling of the monument. They both committed suicide.
Winston Chuchhill once said "If you put the Communists in charge of the Sahara Desert, there will be a shortage of sand in five years."
This painting symbolizes the plight of the workers - all workers. There are a steel worker, doctor, coal miner, house wife,
engineer, conductor, and more.
A propoganda poster celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Communist victory in the Soviet Union.
In 1953, there was a currency reform initiated by the Russians wherein the wealthy lost their cash at a rate of 1:50, while the less wealthy
lost their cash at a rate of 1:5. Here are the replacement notes.
A bust of Stalin.
A Jawa (not the one from Star Wars®) 50/551 moped and a 50/552 moped.
The suit of a Soviet supersonic-aircraft pilot.
A camera gun - for sport photography - and a covert, button-shaped camera.
An overhead view of a Soviet office - though it was mounted on a wall.
Labor camp map. Life in these camps was similar to the German concentration camps, except there was no gas chamber used.
15,000 prisoners worked in the Jáchymov uranium mines. If the labor didn't kill them, the exposure to the radioactive uranium would.
A sample portion of a classroom that isn't nearly the size of a regular classroom because it held 30 or more kids.
A stitched historical timeline.
Some history about the Velvet Revolution.
Some history about the Berlin Wall.
A couple other artifacts.
Václav Havel, the ninth and last president of Czechoslovakia (1989-1992), and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993-2003).
We were in the MOC for a bit more than an hour and a half.
We left, went back to the street we arrived on, and turned left. This was almost the path I took the previous night to the Palladium Mall, which
was, incidentally, used as a barracks during the war.
We walked down a few different streets.
Eventaully we wound up at the main street leading to the Art Museum. This was called Veshaliuz Square, even though it was more like a street mall.
We then started walking toward the Art Museum.
We finally veered our course and headed into a hotel called Jalta. This hotel - and only this hotel due to an accidental bombing during
the war - was destroyed. When it was rebuilt, it was rebuilt with a smallish bomb shelter in the basement. We were going to see it.
What is sexy sushi, anyway?!!?
The entrance to the shelter was one floor down. The elevator wasn't big enough for our group of thirteen, so we made it in two trips.
After struggling to unlock the security gate, we proceeded down even further. We passed through steel lock doors (that looked like
they were from a submarine) and entered the temporary living quaters.
The first room we visited was a simulated command center with a troop position light feature.
There was a 3D picture on the wall that showed one image when viewed from one angle, and a different one from another angle.
A ladder to storage space even further down.
A bedroom that now has some old electronic equipment.
There was a medical room, with an operating table and a dentist's chair.
Adjacent to the operating table was an escape hatch. The tunnel emerged a couple blocks away which should be far enough away as to
avoid any rubble or fall-out from a potential bombing incident.
A collection of gas masks.
There was a generator room that also had air handlers. The different colored crystals were used to detect different chemicals in
the air. The crank handle is what generates the power - but it was only needed in the case of a loss of power.
We finished in the bomb shelter and headed up to the elevator level - which I guess would be the basement floor.
Three of us decided to take the stair up to the main floor rather than deal with the elevator.
The chicken war - much like the US burger war - was in full effect. The Popeyes was fairly new and there was a line around the
block when it first opened. It is obviously still rather popular.
We headed outside and Alexandra arranged for a shuttle to pick us up right outside. We headed back to the hotel.
This building, around the corner from the hotel, resembled Noah's Arc. It was a little more evident from elevated roadway on the other side of it.
We arrived at the hotel right about noon, our three and half hour tour coming to an end.
Our luggage was in the Viking lobby area with the white tags on them - set and ready to go.
We decided to go look for some cough drops and or medicine at the supermarket next to the hotel.
On day 7 we saw just the one winged, red reindeer(?) at the beginning of an alley,
looking down the alley we saw a couple more.
I got some prices for comparison. For example, the chicken, at 119 Kc / kg = $2.61 / lb.
While the chicken was a little bit on the higher side (though it wasn't on sale), the salmon filet at 299 Kc / kg = $6.56 / lb, which isn't that bad.
$5.75 for a dozen eggs - not 10 like we have seen in so many other stores - is a little on the high side (OK, a LOT on the high side), free range or not.
A relatively small cereal selection - and most of the flavors are similar to that in the US. $7.70 for a box of cereal (Oreo O's) is very high, the
others were on sale for just under half that amount.
Lastly, there were a couple sliced deli meats that were $5.00 / lb - which is a pretty good price.
We found cough drops right by the register. We checked out and headed to the Palladium, less than two blocks away.
Linda now saw the decorations too.
We wandered around the mall a bit, looking at a few of the stores, and went up to the food court to eat our sandwiches that may or may not
have been a carry-over from the breakfast buffet (it is so easy to just have something to eat that is in one's possession rather than trying
to decide what and where to eat, especially in a foreign country, when the amount of time to eat may also be unknown).
We first sat at a corner table overlooking the four floors below us - but an employee came out to let us know this was the restaurant's
seating area. While I get that, there literally wasn't a single person sitting in this area. But we moved anyway.
We sat at a table that was, technically, part of a café's seating area. But there were open tables, we were behind a wall behind the
café so they didn't see us, and we sat at a table that had an empty coffee cup so it sort of looked like we belonged there.
We ate our sandwiches and relaxed for a bit.
We also, finally, got around to eating the chocolate that we got during our "Flavors of Warsaw" food tour with Mona on
day 2 - yes, day 2. There were four different flavors and we both
tried each, splitting them about 60 / 40.
We sat for a while before making our way to the lowest level to visit the store that sold the beer-infused products.
When we arrived at the store, the clerk was out to lunch. She was do back a few minutes after we arrived, so we just hung around and
waited for them to return.
After our purchase, we walked around the lowest level just a bit before heading out.
It turns out that when they were building the mall, some Roman ruins were uncovered - and some were preserved. Yes, these ruins were on
display in the middle of the mall.
We got back to the hotel and waited in the Viking lobby area until it was time to board the bus.
While there are some people we've seen doing the selfie thing - and we do it too - this pair, in the roadway median in front of the
hotel, looked like she was modeling something - perhaps the jacket - and he was taking "fancier" pictures than just using a cell phone
as his camera looks like an SLR. We saw about six or eight different poses, but didn't feel the need to put them all here.
Some sights on the way to the ship.
As we were on our final approach to the ship, it started to rain.
We were in the town of Zámecká. This particular roundabout had what looked like a large toy boat in the middle of it.
Our bus stopped in a parking lot near the river. There was this anchor sculpture nearby.
We had to walk a 100 or so meters (300 or so feet) to our ship, Beyla.
We "checked-in", made our way to our room, and awaited our luggage.
We had over an hour before we wanted to head to the lounge for some light refreshments.
Our luggage arrived, and we started getting situated.
At 4:30 we headed to the lounge. Having recently been on a long ship, it took a little getting used to this shorter, smaller format.
For starters, the COL ship - the Alsvin - was three floors and carried 189 passengers. This ship - the Beyla - was just two floors and
only carried 92 passengers. Because there were fewer passengers, the lounge and dining room were proportionately smaller - but not
the staterooms, they were the same size. Also, because it is such a smaller ship, its draft is only about 1 meter (3 feet) so it can
navigate smaller, shallower rivers.
We enjoyed a welcome drink and some light snacks. We sat with Pat and Bob from Wheeling, West Virginia.
After a short time, we returned to our cabin to finish getting unpacked.
At 6:00, it was time for our first port talk, where we learned about the timing of the upcoming stops, and excursions. And since
it was the first port talk of this trip, we also met the captain and department heads. There were 32 crew members representing 11
nationalities. The captains nick name was "Poppa Bear".
While sitting for the port talk, we saw this interesting art piece on the wall.
Tomas, the Program Director, told us that this was going to be a quiet ship and there would be no announcement of the upcoming excursions -
so it was up to us to be on time. He also said there won't be an announcement at 5:00 AM to let us know there won't be any announcements.
After the port talk, we headed to the dining room for our first dinner aboard the ship.
As always, the tables were elegantly appointed.
We sat with Pat and Bob, and Debbie (from FL) and Barry (from NC).
Our server was Joriel "Joe".
As with the other VRC's, the dinner menu includes the "Always Available" section on the left, as well as the "daily specials" that
change each day, on the right.
Linda had the Casear salad, seared sea bass fillet, and mango sorbet.
I had the Casear salad, braised Riesling Wine chicken, and Black Forest cake.
After our meal, we headed back to our room.
Our room and the passenger service desk are on the same level. Near the desk is a collection of items to buy that includes souveniers,
Viking labeled clothes, and some books. We learned that the books are not all the same on all ships as we wanted to get a particular title
while we were on the last ship less than two weeks ago, but waited so we wouldn't have to worry about it getting damaged as we carried it
around for more than two weeks. But this ship didn't have it.
It was another long day - like most are. We finished getting situated in our room, relaxed a little, washed up, and went to bed.