Monday…well not much happened with that on Monday…Gabriel was still in Poland, and the airlines were still shutdown because of some ridiculousness with a volcano with too many consonants (something Iceland and the Czech Republic had in common). On Tuesday…while not much happened with that on Tuesday either, expect for a exchange of emails on the subject, which concluded with a decision to meet on Wednesday to finalize the project, and for me to write up a brief timeline of that period on Hungarian history(a timeline that ran to two pages, and was done 45 minutes before the start of class, but that’s how things are done in Europe.) Fortunately…for me…my Eroticism, Power and Fate Professor had gotten himself stuck in Cleveland(a fate I’ve heard you don’t want to wish on anybody), so I was off the hook for the class that normally meets right before Mittleeuropa, so we had a chance to finish and be ready to present.
Of course, things never go off without at hitch, and the hitch, was that one of the my group members was running a little bit behind schedule, so that we had to go second the presentation. Fortunately, this meant that our deadline was the end of class. Unfortunately, we nearly busted this deadline…we probably used way too many details about the Treaty of Triannon(The Hungarian Versailles) Bela Kun, and the various Prime Ministers, and not enough about Regent Horthy, and his rather unique form of government(a kingdom without a king, a Admiral without a navy.), but what really mattered was it was done.
Then…well then it was time to go out and celebrate our success…and something about Alex Horn’s birthday….yeah that was actually the man excuse to go out and have a pretty wild night, and not make it back to the dorm until 3 in the morning….
Needless to say I did not exactly make it to class the next morning.(I’m proud of myself that was one of only two times I skipped my 9 in the morning history class. Next up was Czechoslovak New Wave, in which we watched a film called Cremator…about…well a guy who runs a crematorium before the second World War, and generally goes sort of insane. I volunteered to do a presentation on it, along with a guy from Villanova, because it was actually an interesting movie.
I then went home, and took a nap. As a result, Thursday was pretty much a lost day that week. But we made up for it on Friday. You see, Friday was our Czech civics lesson. Marketa, the resident director of our program had arranged for us a tour of the Czech Supreme Court, and the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech Parliament that is responsible for electing the President, and from whom the Prime Minster and the Government receive their support(think US House of Represenatives, or UK House of Commons.)
The Supreme Court was the first on the docket (did you like my little lawyer comment…yeah, I watched too much Law and Order in my youth...and now its been cancelled, sob!). The Supreme Court building has been continuously in use since at least the independence of the Czechoslovakia from Austria-Hungary. The Nazis and the Soviets both used it for show trials and executions of political prisoners, and suspected political threats, as well as for executions. Today, the Court serves as the final court of appeal. Inside, the building is decorated with a number of statues depicting various important points of Czech History. The courtroom itself looks pretty like what you might see in Law and Order, except that there is no jury in the Czech justice system, everything is decided by a panel of judges.
The Supreme Court Room, note the random law students, and are tour guide relaxing on the rail.
After our morning tour of the Supreme Court we, me, Alex, and Jake headed to Malo Stranka, which is where the Chamber of Deputies is located. We had about an hour or so to kill, and paused to get some lunch, and see the John Lennon Wall, which is a wall near the French Embassy that has been heavily graffiti-ed as an act of protest against the communists, and the Lock Bridge, on which, Czech couples hang locks which symbolize their commitment to each other.
Alex looks at the locks
After that we headed back to the Chamber of Deputies, which is located inside of an old palace. The inside of the Chamber is suited to its history, which a fair amount of gilding, and a piano, that I’m sure the Deputies play when they are not voting. We were able to go into the gallery and see the actual chamber, though unfortunately because the Czech government is currently dissolved, we did not get to see the Czech government inaction (not a typo…a bad pun)
After that, I headed back to the AIFS office to pick up Zee’s tour of Prague for the day…the tour turned out to be just me and Zee, but was not less enjoyable for the experience. He actually took me back through Malovkanka, the area with the Lennon Wall and the Lock Bridge, explaining that the creek the bridge runs across is called Devil’s Creek…for reasons passing understanding. We also stopped at the church where I attended Easter Services, and the where the Infant of Prague is kept. Then we headed up to Pertin Hill, and back down to almost back to my dorm.
Saturday dawned beautiful and warm, so Jake, Kate, Allie, Walter, Kacy and I headed out to Divorka Sarka, a nature park located at the end of one of the Prague Tram lines. We walked all around the Prague, getting really great views from on top of mountains, and of the lake. It was really relaxing to be outside of urban Prague, and was really easy to forget that we were in a city.
Sunday was a bit of a lazy day, we stayed out pretty late Saturday night, but that night was quite fun. Jake played his guitar at an open mike night at Bar Called the Red Room. He was really good, playing a couple of original songs and a couple of covers, including my favorite, Wagon Wheel. I headed back earlier then most of the crew this time, because I had a class Monday morning…and because I had already missed that class once I was determined not to have it happen again.
The rest of the week was pretty much par for course, Monday was history and more history with a little bit of conversation with Czech students, films on Tuesday...etc, etc. The weather however was incredibly beautiful, so warm you almost didn’t need a jacket anymore. I spent most of that weeks afternoon’s camped outside, reading Stephen King of my Kindle…as the week wore on however, this beautiful weather began to give way to a rather growing sense of dread…you see, I started to realize that it was only 21 days until I headed back to the United States….a prospect which does not make me happy.
This growing unhappiness was reinforced by Friday April 30, which in the Czech Republic is an annual witch burning festival. For record they don’t actually burn witches. What they do is build gigantic bonfires(perfect for roasting marshmallows) and drink wine…lots of wine.. As it was also Kate and Stef’s birthdays that week, Friday night got pretty silly…though I’m pleased to say that I was one of the last ones of my group standing by the end of the night.
On Saturday we, the usual suspects, me, Jake, Allie, Kate, Walt and Kacy, planned to head out to Cesky Krumlov, a town on the south of the Czech Republic…but unfortunately we failed to buy our tickets ahead of time…poor life choice. Instead we headed up hanging out in one of Prague’s nice green spaces, eating sandwiches we purchased from the bus station…they were actually pretty good. I headed back after a few hours to catch up with Zee once again, and learn a little bit about the history of Dejivcka the area we have been living in for the past 4 months. As it turns out, it was the site of some pretty intense fighting in the last week of World War II, between the Russians and the Soviets…
We got to experience some of this fighting the next day, Sunday May 2. We headed out that day to the town of Pilsen, which was one of the few in the Czech Republic to be liberated by the American Soldiers(Patton really really wanted some good Czech beer I’m sure, and Pilsen is where the brewery is). For almost an hour, Second War Vinatge Tanks, Planes and Automobiles rolled down Pilsen’s man street. I took lots of pictures and videos…something to work into my senior honor’s project…god willing. Then we head back to Prague, and back to the grind stone, now with only two weeks left…damn where did the time go?
At this point, I can see the end of the road, and the end of this blog…there will probably be four posts, one to be titled Prague Part XI: The Final Days, the next Prague Part XII: On Travelling with My Parents, Berlin: City of Museums, and then a final Prague Post, Part Thirteen, assuming of course the BA strike doesn’t strand me in Prague, and I’m forced to write more…I hope that happens, cause I’m really not ready to leave this city, or these people.
So Next: Prague XI: The Final Days Part I.
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