Gunga- The boat, the bus and my 3rd visit to Prague

---

Long story shortened...My family hosted, over a period of 20 years, about 50 (+/-) foreign students. In 1991, my now ex-husband and I went to visit some of them. We started in Hamburg, Germany to revisit the Jungclauses. This was a couple whom we had met in 1986 through the organization 'Friendship Force'. We stayed with them a week or so and then took a train to Berlin where we stayed with the Heine family. Their son, Sebastian, had been one of our students in 1988. After a wonderful stay for another week or so we were put on a train to Prague where we were to meet our friend Dusan Kubis. He was 35 but had been a counselor at a 'Peace camp' in Deerfield, MA in 1989. The camp was looking for local homes to host the counselors on the weekends. We volunteered thinking it would be our only chance to meet someone from an Eastern bloc country and be able to talk to them freely. Dusan knew some English (he was then an air traffic controller- we found out in 1991 that he had lost his job because he had come to America). But he had a warmth and vitality that overcame whatever he lacked in words. He had big plans to become a businessman when Czechoslovakia was free of Soviet domination. Little did any of us know in the summer of 1989 the events that would soon lead to his dreams coming true.

Prague 1- In 1991 Prague was like a sleeping Beauty just emerging from a long, long sleep. Yes, even then she was beautiful beyond words but the remnants of being a Communist country lingered on. There were no sidewalk cafes, no American fast food places, no benches for sitting, no ice cream stands, no coffee shops, few tourists, few smiling faces, and fewer cars. Oncce, druring our walk throough the city my husband asked if we could stop for coffee. Dusan paused, thought for a minute, and led us up and down a few more streets. We stopped in front of a beautiful old wooden door. He rang the bell and we followed him upstairs. We found ourselves in the apartment of one of his co-workers( a flight attendant off for the day). We tried to explain that we hadn't meant visitng someone just a stop in a hope. He looked at us and gently explained that no such places existed ," Perhaps, when you come back again, there might be such places".

Dusan lived in a very small village called Brandysek in a section called Kladno. He had no car but 'rented' one from a friend for a week to take us all around. He was so thrilled that we were there. While he was very proud of his family- wife Hana, son Jeri(16), and beautiful daughter Hanka (14), he was extra proud of his house. He had rebuilt it from scratch and it was the only newly painted house in the entire village. Honestly, he took us up to a hill off in the distance and his house stood out like a beacon from all the other drab grey concrete houses.

Hana and he took us to meet her parents who lived in another part of the village. They had a large lot and every inch of the yard was used for something. There were ducks, geese, and chickens freely wandering around. There were berry bushes, fruit trees, and a large vegetable garden. I remember that along every picket of the fence surrounding the yard was an overturned glass jar. These, I was told, would be used for canning. Hana's father was a handsome man -robust and red faced with a shock of white hair. He had worked hard all his life and seen many difficult days. But now he was relaxed and happy because he owned a large table saw and he could openly do work for people in the village. Before, he told us, he had to keep it hidden and everyone snuck home work he did at night. He told us it was a terrible way to live. Hana's mother was large and round and looked like a typical peasant woman- strong, solid, and resourceful. It was she who grew all the vegetables and kept three families (Hana's sister, Nitka, lived in the next town over) in food and an occasional chicken or goose. She proudly served us coffee and cakes, and wine. The wine, in new glasses, as she proudly showed me the sticker that said 'Czechoslvakia crystal'.

It was a sweet day with the entrie family gathered around a rough hewn old picnic table under the grape arbor. No one talked about the tough times in the past. They were all giddy about the future and what it held for the grandchildren. Dusan, who was the most 'worldly', said he felt it would take three generations to recover from the Communist days. Now in 2011 - twenty years since my first visit I would say he never could have imagined how quickly the young people would forge forward. More about that in Prague 3

Dusan was as excited to be driving the little aqua blue Skoda as a 16 year old on his first date in Dad's car. Since there was so little traffic and a lot of wide roads he drove fast, very fast, so fast that we dubbed the front passenger seat as 'the widow maker'. He would zoom along the highway and if there was a car anywhere in the distance he would race to be right on its bumper then pass it never minding if we were on a mountainous road or a curve. Whee!!!! And just like the Dr. Seuss book " Oh, the Places You Will go", I will tell you some of the places we went:
Zidovska Art Museum; the Castle area; the Stalinist apt. complexes in Kladno, Nitka lived in one of them; Strahov Monestery ( built 1140); Old Town Hall ( 1338); the 200th Anniversary Exhibition celebration all things Czech from the years ( 1791-1991) with pavilions, entertainment, and my favorite the dancing waters with lights and choreographed to music by the famous Czech composer, Smetana; Charles Bridge ( 1357)- almost deserted in 1991; Wenceslas Sq. ( before any fast food places) and the memorial marker for Jan Palach and those martyred in the 1989 'Velvet' Revolution; one of my favorites- the house where Mozart lived and the house where the movie 'Amadeus' was filmed. Oh, folks, we are just getting started.

Other days we took day trips: I think my favorite was to Karlovy Vary. It is an entire town built up around the thermal springs. There are hotels, spas, 'cure houses', and sanatoria. Not to be a name dropper but Goethe, the famous German writer, loved it there and supposedly visited about 15 times. Another paparazzi worthy guest was Karl Marx- 3 years in a row! I loved the little water 'sippy' cups that everyone walks around town with. You dip your cup in a fountain and above the handle is a short spout. This is what you drink the 'waters' from. Apparently it is very bad form to drink from a regular cup. Who knew??
More day trips: Zamek Lany- the summer home of the President ( at that time it was Havel)
-Krivoklat Castle- everything a castle should be complete with a torture chamber and dungeon.
- Karsteyn Castle (1348)- everything a castle should be including being on top of an impenetrable hill. It had turrets, towers, and spires aplenty. It had a huge wall surrounding it with open holes cut wide enough for arrows or spears or boiling kettles of oil to be dumped on attackers. It was originally built for the safe keeping for the royal jewels and regalia and is most famous for the beautiful Chapel of the Holy Rood located 4 long flights up at the very tippity top tower.
- The Koneprusy Caves- the largest cave system in Bohemia. It once housed a secret workshop for counterfeiting medieval money. First formed 20 million years ago and 'discovered' by a Frenchman in the 1850's.

My most treasured memories from that trip were Hana's cooking- dumplings and more dumplings; Sitting in Dusans' backyard around his fire pit. None of us could quite believe all that had taken place in the world since we had last met; beautiful Hanka (who gave up her room for us); energetic Jeri who , each night, would bicycle to a pub and bring back a freshly brewed pitcher of Czech beer; Dusan's driving; Dusan driving us to Munich (originally, we had planned to take the train) and bringing Jeri along so his son could leave the country for the first time in his life and see Germany. And, Lidice- I will write a separate blog about that village.

Post script- Dusan left the Czech Republic in 1998 to start some businesses in Hanoi. When I was in Hanoi in 2001, I met him and Hana, Jeri and his wife and new baby at my hotel on Christmas Eve. In 2009, when Val and I were in Hanoi, we again met Jeri and his wife and now two girls. He took us to their apt. for dinner. Jeri is handling the businesses in Hanoi while Dusan is in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) with his business ventures there.

More on Prague later....
Carolyn/gunga

---