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Published: October 9th 2009
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On the Go
Get out of my way, I'm on a mission. lol I had planned on taking a bus to Terezin and touring it by myself, but thankfully I decided to find a guided tour. The hotel was able to book me on a Grey Line Tour at 1, which gave me a few hours to see a few things I had not yet seen. What I really wanted to see was the Museum of Communism. I took the Metro, thinking that I would be able to just run into the things I wanted to see. Although I didn't find a couple things, I did run across the train station I had been to yesterday, and from there saw the big Communist Era Building by Wenceslas Square, so I headed up there. While walking down the Square, I gave in and went to Starbucks. I know, I know. But what can I say? I wanted a good strong cup of coffee.
I did find the Museum of Communism after several tries. It wasn't until the guidebook said that it was above a McDonald's that I found it. Well, it was kind of hard to miss the McDonald's, and no, I did NOT go there. The museum was small and honestly I found
Museum of Communism
This made me chuckle. parts of it to be kitschy, but parts were very impressive and really made me think. One of the first displays was taken after WW11 of the Wenceslas state in front of buiding that were in ruins. There was also a video of the struggles against Communism. It had scenes of riots and police brutality right in the same Square. I knew that is the place that the Czechs congregated to demand there freedom, but I did not really understand how much had taken place there over the years. Until I saw this film, it was just another sightseeing place, a statue to snap a shot of and then move on. I really understand the whole importance of it now.
Back at the hotel, I was picked up by a madman in a Mercedes. I am pretty adventurous, but I'm telling you, he was crazy on the road. We came inches from hitting a car, and plowed through crosswalks with people just a few feet from us. The trip to Terezin was nice. Had a group of 2 older Irish couples that were traveling together. Our first top was the Small Fortress, a fortress built in the 1800's and
Terezin Concentration Camp
Some of the dead are buried here. May were cremated and the ashes thrown in the river used later by the Nazis. I won't go into the whole history, but it was pretty grim. We toured through several cell blocks, saw isolation cells which made Alcatraz's look more pleasant, saw the sick area where up to 3 inmates had to share one small bed. To impress a delegation that was coming to make sure this was the humane Jewish town that the Nazis had given the Jews, they put in nice sinks and mirrors which looked very humane. They did not, however, plumb them with water. It really didn't matter because the delegation stayed in the "town" area and ate and drank before heading back and saying how nice it was. We walked through a tunnel that had been built when the fortress was, and would have been used for escape or to defend the fortress. Mazes of tunnels and places to store weapons were buried along the wall of the moat.
After seeing the Small Fortress, we went to the town. There was a film and museum, but we did not go through the town. We did see the cemetery and crematory. It was very real, looking at the 4 cremation ovens. If you are
Terezin
I thought that this was only at Auschwitz, but was mistaken. interested at all, I would recommend searching more out on the internet. The history of it is too rich and fascinating for me to tell here. I cannot do it justice and recognize that.
Back in Prague, I went to a restaurant near the hotel and had the most wonderful Pilsner Style Goulash with Bread Dumplings. Actually they were less dumpling, and were more just pieces of white bread cut into rounds, but half of them were fried crisp while the other 2 were plain. They soaked up the rich sauce from the meat.
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