Prague International Marathon

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Today was an absolutely beautiful Prague spring day. We washed some clothes and then headed down town with no set plans. I wanted to take a picture of the statue that is called “The Disappearing Man”. It is a memorial to all those who were imprisoned, persecuted or killed by the Communists during the era of their ruling Czechoslovakia. A few years after the Velvet Revolution, when the Communists were throw out of power the Czechs and Slovaks agreed to separate the two countries. The Czechs call this the Velvet Divorce.

On the tram going down town I realized that the sun was becoming quite strong just as I had thought in the room when we had had the following conversation.

“I need my hat if we are going downtown on such a sunny day. Where is it?,” I said.

“Did you bring it with you?”

I thought about this a moment before answering, “It seems I surely would have, but I have not seen it.”

“Oh,” Nancy sighed, “we’re not very smart are we?”

We moved all our suitcases around where we are storing our summer clothing, extra bandages, medications, etc. and hunted. We have winter ear covers and Nancy’s New Zealand felt hat but no summer, hiking hats.

“I’ll buy one if I see one downtown,” I said.

Later, after I had gotten my picture of the “disappearing Czech”
we walked into the Church of the Infant Jesus. At a side alter in the church is a statue of the baby Jesus that is said to be responsible for a number of miracles. People from all over the world have made beautiful outfits for the doll. These are on display in the museum of the church. The church is part of the Carmelite order.

We were looking around the church when one of the priests asked us, “Where are you from?” Earlier we had seen him hushing a group of touring Italian teenagers who had come into the church. A little later we overhead him talk

“We’re from the United States,” I answered.

“Which state,” he wanted to know.

“We are from Maryland,” Nancy answered.

“Maryland!” he exclaimed. “Come with me! I have something to show you.”

I believe if we had not followed him he would have grabbed us by our arm to lead us. We followed him to the sacristy. He walked to a drawer, opened it and took out a folder filled with papers. Looking through the papers he pulled one out.

“Here it is,” he said. “Do you know the Kennedy-Kryger Institute?”

“Yes,” we replied together. “It is in Baltimore.”

“Yes,” the priest said, “this letter is from a friend who works there. He founded the Maryland Church of the Infant Jesus Society. When you return home, call him and tell him that I send my greetings to him.”

He then wrote the name of his friend in Baltimore on a slip of paper and then his own name. He folded the paper as he handed it to us.

“We will call him,” Nancy promised.

He then told us about the work he is doing in Central Africa. He goes to Africa every two months and is helping a group of people re-establish a forest. Already, with his help, over 200,000 trees have been planted. Some are the type of palm from which palm oil can be pressed. This will bring some income to the people.

“I know that what I am doing may come to nothing,” he said. “The people are very poor and one day they may decide to cut the trees for firewood. What happens in the future is not my concern. My concern is what can I do now to help them.”

He then asked us, “Do you know about the Society for the Infant Jesus?”

“No,” Nancy replied. “We are not Catholic, we are Baptist.”

“Oh,” he said, “that doesn’t matter. We are all Christians. There are Baptist doing good work in Africa also.”

He showed us arial photos of the area in which he works and then photographs of the people. Several were of young priests who came to the orphanage when they were very young. It was approaching noon and he said he had things to do. As we left the church we saw that a mass was to begin at noon and wondered if that was the “thing I have to do.”

We left the Church of the Infant Jesus and began walking down a street that we walked on a lot last summer when we were here. [I, Nancy, noticed a small side area on the right which looked interesting. I could see several people peering through a gate into an area which I supposed might be a garden. I asked if we could walk that way and Billy said sure. We soon saw that there was no garden but rather the back of a hotel and an adjoining hostel. we .] Ahead we saw a sign with a large arrow on it that said “START.” Under the sign I saw the word Marathon. Soon we discovered that today the Prague International Marathon was to be run. Actually it had already begun. So we continued toward the Marathon staging area. We were walking near the Vltava River, just up river from the Charles Bridge. [By the way there is a neat web cam, that transmits a new picture every ten seconds, showing the Charles Bridge. As we walked along two young women approached us and handed us two nice cotton cloth visors with VOLKSWAGEN printed across the forehead.

“WOW, thanks,” I said, “this is just what I need. Now I do not have to buy a hat. I don’t mind giving Volkswagen a bit of advertising if I can avoid a severe sunburn.” A year or so ago I had some pre-cancerous cells removed from my forehead and have tried to be a good boy in wearing a hat on sunny days.

We happened to be near the marathon finish line when we realized the lead runners were only two or three minutes away. Finding a spot at the railing, we waited. Soon a lone runner, the winner, appeared and sped past us. He was running faster at the end of the marathon that I could have run at the beginning. I was simply amazed at how fast he was moving. He and the next three or four runners were all from Kenya. We watched for fifteen or twenty minutes before leaving watching other runner making their final spurt to the finish line.

[Nancy-This area under the bridge was one we had only seen for two or three minutes on a walking tour of downtown with our Elderhostel Group. We had not gone under the bridge to the other side on that day since we had climbed up stairs on the near side and then walked across the bridge itself to see sights on the other side of the river. This whole area was new to us. WOW what a surprise. It is perhaps the neatest part of town. All the buildings are small and quite old. There are all sorts of shops and restaurants, small places to rent for vacations, etc.

[Bill --This is the section called Mala Strana or the Little Quarter. It was called New Town before Charles IV moved that name across the Vltana River to a then section of Prague in 1348. I agree with Nancy, it is a fascinating section of Prague with narrow winding streets lined with ancient buildings. There are little shops, restaurants and coffee shops tucked into every nook and cranny. I think it is surprising that some stay in business. We walked by one restaurant with several outside tables that can be gotten to only by walking through a long archway or by a long narrow winding alleyway from the other direction. And yet, when we walked past there were customers drinking espresso and eating a pastry.

We stopped at a nearby restaurant for our lunch. The building dates back to the 16th century. A hotel is located on the upper floors. The hotel has an absolutely perfect location, only a block or two from the Charles Bridge. Check their web site at www.bilakuzelka.com

After our lunch, we walked back toward the marathon finish line. It was at least an hour after the winner sped down the street and there were runners still, well not speeding but trotting and walking toward the finish line. I thought, “Well, good for them. The hung in and at least they are finishing the race.”

[Nancy-We kept wandering from one small street to another surprised at each turn by something more interesting than we had seen on the last street. We found the most fantastic shop for buying puppets. There are plenty of puppet shops all over downtown but their puppets are commercial models for tourists. This shop had hand carved puppets with wooden faces, hands and feet. They were very expensive but exquisite. If I were still a childre’s librarian, a lot of my disposable income would have been spent in a flash. They had very large puppets which would require skillful operators and a huge stage. But they also had small and medium sized puppets and ones of various price ranges. I am sure we will go there again. Anyone want us to spend a few hundred dollars for you? I think we may return and get some photos to put on our blog if they will consent. We could give you the address then if you are interested. [Bill-We walked through the narrow streets and finally up the hill to the St. Vitas Cathedral. Then we walked down the hill again before heading back to Jeneralka. The cobblestone streets are rather hard on my feet and my “dogs” were tired when we climbed on the No. 20 tram as we headed home.

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Photos

Prague International Marathon
One of the runners from Kenya racing toward the finish line.

The Disappearing Czech.
This statue is a memorial to all those who were killed, disappeared and unjustly jailed during the Communist era.