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Published: October 22nd 2017
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Hradec Kralove
..... your money or your life The boot camp was in full swing the next day. Breakfast was set for 8. After the experience of yesterday getting into the pension, nobody quite knew what to expect of the breakfast fayre. The Other Half had some more bad things to say about the bedsheet, which she described as being exfoliated all night. Who needs Liz Earle? The brekkie spread transpired to be quite amenable, although the hot dog type sausages were not exactly Czech in standard. The TV was showing a rerun of Czech's Got Talent or the equivalent. Fritz and his backing dancers pranced about to a tuneless number. It was a measured success, given that his wig didn't fall off. I suspect looking like a badger worked against him in the scoring. The railway station wasn't exactly round the corner, so after breakfast we hiked on down there. The ticketing process was fairly painless. The return fare was 57 Crowns each to Harder Kralove. The "Regio Panter" headed north. Harder Kralove was a mere 22 kilometres away and we arrived at the art deco inspired rail hub on schedule. A map was acquired at the Tourist Info place at the station. A communist style hotel occupied
the area immediately opposite. The Czech early starters were enjoying a morning refreshment on the bench next door. The multi storey bike parking was an answer to many a motorists dream - they were all packed up neatly off the road - and not tied to the nearest railings. We headed up the road towards the centre. The Other Half was wearing her equivalent of a Fit Bit, so was always at the ready to add clarity to the numbers in terms of miles covered. The record however still remains from Barcelona. Technology never lies.
Harder Kralove is the "castle of the Queen". It became a royal dowry town in the 14th century and at one point the Court rivalled that of Prague. The Queens set about adding to the grand buildings in town, most of which have been destroyed in subsequent fires and wars.
After a photograph opportunity with some stone sculptures, which crossed the river to the East Bohemia Museum. It is housed in an impressive art deco building. The entry fee was a mere 20 Crowns, so we went in for a look. The initial exhibition was in the English. It
transpired the rest of the narrative was in Czech, so it was a question of looking at the pictures. The town plans were self explanatory. Hradec Kralove had thrown off the shackles of being a fortress town and embraced new architecture as it grew.
The centre is dominated by the Holy Spirit Cathedral. It was originally built in the 14th century. We applied the usual door handle test without success. The door remained firmly locked. The other reviews on such as Trip Advisor that I have read suggest a similar experience, which is quite baffling when one of the better sights in town remains inaccessible. The White Tower next door was open. It provides a panoramic view over all of the town. The Other Half is often quite nervous of tower climbing and gets all paniced by stone spiral staircases. Good news in the case was that after the initial few turns, the climb is nicely achieved on refurbished wide wooden staircases. It was a long way up and the guides on the stair levels thoughtfully reminded you that there was still some way to go. The view from the top was worth it though. The main
square beneath is another Czech masterpiece. In a country where a beautiful town square is the norm, it is sometimes easy to become blasee about them. You don't fully appreciate them until you look back. The centre piece of the tower is a very large glass or Bohemia crystal version of the White Tower, that would be a museum exhibit in its own right. The other major draw half way up in the bell - allegedly the second biggest in all of Bohemia .... and the third biggest in all of the Czech Republic. I await with interest comments on the first two biggest in the land. Fortunately, the bell appears tethered ... being half way up a tower with a nervous climber and a ringing bell isn't a good experience. Been there. Done that! The climb is 226 steps and 72 metres. If you can, I would urge you to put the effort in for the view.
The Stadium Vsesportovni had been spied from the bell tower, do we never going to escape a visit. The floodlights ranked up there with Sigma Olomouc, but the actual stadium was very different. A huge cavernous bowl, that had
seen little improvement since the communist era. The irony is for a stadium of such apparent visual vintage, it was only opened in 1966. I thought it had 1949 written all over it! The police were busy outside deploying a temporary weighbridge. A large monument at the entrance watched over their progress. We walked through the open gate. A bulldozer was in action in the West Stand. It hacked remorselessly at the remaining roof section. The first sections lay crumbled on top of the seats below. The black and white bench seats behind the goal looked like they too could do with a serious upgrade, but as far as I'm aware the crowds in the Czech 2nd Division did not warrant too much investment. The official capacity of this monster ground is a mere 7,100, although on face value it looks like it could easily accomodate 20,000. After the bulldozer has finished with that stand, the estimate could be downgraded even further.
We headed back into the secondary square and took up residence in a cafe. A hearty, but cheap, meal of spicy chorizo soup was washed down with a Kozel beer. The haloween season was in
full force. Pumpkins at prices only to be dreamed of in the UK were a regular feature in the shops.A slow walk back to the railway station ensued. I was impressed by some of the street art and particularly waited for the correct opportunity to walk past the guy with the pistol. I waited for a woman to pause to check her phone - the gun neatly pointed at her back. A vending machine for milk also caught our eye .....at the farm gate, perhaps ......but in a large town centre. We caught the train back to Pardubice just after 1500 hours to make sure we were all set for the ice hockey. The Pernstejn brewery is conveniently situated half way between the railway station and the Tipsport Arena. We settled down outside in the afternoon sun. The weather was nearly perfect apart from a periodic gust of chill wind. The pub was situated next to the entrance and a bottle shop was adjacent. A steady stream of cars drove up to exchange their empty crates of bottles for a new supply. Something gor the weekend sir? The table next to us hot a round of shots as chasers with
every round. They were clearly keen to get the weekend off to a hazy start. Meanwhile after the Man in Middle had been entrusted with the ordering of ale, we ended up with a non alcoholic beer. The clue was in the No Alcohol written in Czech on the glass. We made sure the next round had a bit more bite.
The ice hockey shirts were starting to appear, as fans finished work. We headed up to the Arena - the place to be on a Friday night. HC Olecari Trinec were the visitors from way out east past even Ostrava. They were on form, but brought only 25 or so fans. Dynamo Pardubice have not been on fire, so there was plenty of room.. The crowd though was still a sizeable 7,023. The Czechs are mad keen on ice hockey and the NHL is regularly on TV. The standard in the Extraliga is generally good and games often tight contests. Dynamo skated on through the head of a giant inflatable horse. Trinec were probably the better team, but lost out 2-1 which pleased the locals. "Fast and furious" was the verdict from the Man in the
Middle of his his first ice hockey venture. Beer sales would improve on the back of the result. It was a short walk back to the Velvet to add to our own consumption totals for the day.
Appendix 1
Czech Extraliga HC Dynamo Pardubice 2 HC Ocelari Trinec 1 Date: 13 October 2017 @ 1800 Hours Venue: Tipsport Arena, Pardubice Attendance: 7,023
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Rainyb
Lorraine Brecht
I agree! Ingenious!