Czech Mate

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Geo: 50.0878, 14.4205

We caught the tram into Prague Old City to catch up with one of the Walking Tours.

We fronted up to a young girl with a Yellow "English" umbrella, and asked her about the walking tour, which she proceeded to describe in a perfect Aussie accent. She was born in Czechoslovakia, her parents having fled the country when she was three years old, ending up in Australia. She now lives in Czech Republic and was a great guide around the old city, being a wealth of knowledge about the history of Czech Republic.

After lunch we fronted up for a walking tour of Prague Castle, and was greeted by another Aussie tour guide, a young Uni Student from Melbourne. Hence my blog title for today, Czech Mate. He gave a detailed tour and description of the history of Prague Castle and modern Czech history, including the Nazi occupation and the Velvet Revolution which ended communist rule.

Prague was the city where the only key Nazi was assassinated, Reinhard Heydrich. He was known as the Butcher of Prague, and was instrumental in drafting and implementing the "Jewish Solution". The revenge inflicted on the Czech people for this assassination was troubling.

Catching trams around Prague was easy and everyone we encountered was very friendly. A great city to visit.

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Photos

Prague Opera House
There are forty odd famous composers on top of this building. On Heydrich's orders, the statue of Mendolssohn was to be removed, being a Jew. They chose the statue with the biggest nose to remove, which turned out to be that of Richard Wagner, Hitler's favourite composer.

Wenceslas Square
Where the tanks rolled in to crush the rebellion in 1969 and the Velvet Revolution took place in 1989.

Prague Castle
With the ancient Charles Bridge in the foreground.

Comments

[Britt :)]

That's an uncle Jim joke, if ever I heard one!!