Prague Blague: Day 1

Quite early on the morning of 21 August 1968 Airman First Class Jack Hrkach was rudely awakened from a very short sleep. He had just begun his four day break (after four days of working evening shifts, four of midnight shifts, four of day shifts and several hours of drinking beer) at Hof Air Force Base in Germany. He was ordered to report to the site immediately! He panicked as this could only mean that he had screwed up. He was a Russian linguist, listening in to the Soviet Russian Air Force flying in East Germany. Only weeks before a Czech linguist working at the same site (Hof had the dubious distinction of being located only a few kilometers from the Czech and East German borders) had been called in as he had made a mistake in his understanding of a Czech pilot's transmission. The pilot had said, "I see an eagle flying near my wing” which the unfortunate airman translated as, "I have shot him down."  The Czechs were over-eager to shoot down any airplane or helicopter that strayed out of designated air corridors through their flying space. This airman’s gaffe had been sent back to and had awoken DIRNSA (the Director of the national Security Agency outsie Washington DC) and could have meant a reassignment to Fort Lee and cook school for the G.I., an awful fate, though not as awful as if he’d been on the other side of that “iron” curtain: “Send to Siberia!”

Candles for Havel, mine among them

Instead, when he reached the site Airman Hrkach was met with frenzied axtivity, as for most of the night, linguists had been furiously trying to keep up with the traffic that was coming in from Prague. The Russians had invaded, landing cargo planes one every two minutes and taking the city as it slept! A pile of paper at least a foot high was placed in front of Airman Hrkach, who was told to translate it and analyze it carefully but ASAP. He wasn't alone, and it was only the beginning. For the next two weeks Airman Hrkach and his colleagues worked shifts of twelve hours on, twelve hours off, detailing whatever they could discover about the infamous Czech Invasion of 1968. It was a time he’d never forget, even today, when his identity has morphed into the older and wiser (or at least more wizened) Dottore Gianni!

At that time I don’t think I knew who Vaclav Havel was. 

Havel Memorial

I was certainly familiar with Alexander Dubcek, the brave politician who eased restrictions and increased individual freedom in that satellite of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, transforming it during a brief period that has become known as “the Prague Spring.” In August ’68 all that came crashing down, followed by a winter of Prague’s and Czechoslovakia’s discontent, only worse. Read the novel or see the film The Unbearable Lightness of Being for more info fictionalized but frighteningly accurate.

 

Montgomery Junior College and Florida Atlantic University. A playwright, Havel was able to encode messages to the people in plays written in the absurdist mode, a perfect form for the era as it managed to go over the heads of the censors – for a time at least. The Garden Party, Temptation, and other theatricals meant more to Havel’s audience than western theatre could hope to for its comparatively free playgoers. 

After August ’68 Havel insisted on continuing his work, and was arrested and humiliated for it. He spent a good bit of the 70s in prison or working at menial jobs. His story is a version, though not to the same extent, as the life of Nelson Mandela before apartheid ended. Like Mandela, Havel was rewarded by the people. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, when Czechoslovakia and the rest of the Soviet satellites gained freedom and then looked as the entire Soviet Union collapsed, Havel was elected president of the new country. 

Candles etc for Havel's Memorial

Interestingly, while the politician Dubcek was lauded at the time, it was Havel the playwright that the country turned to, and reluctantly he accepted the daunting task. After August ’68 Havel insisted on continuing his work, and was arrested and humiliated for it. He spent a good bit of the 70s in prison or working at menial jobs. His story is a version, though not to the same extent, as the life of Nelson Mandela before apartheid ended. Like Mandela, Havel was rewarded by the people. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, when Czechoslovakia and the rest of the Soviet satellites gained freedom and then looked as the entire Soviet Union collapsed, Havel was elected president of the new country. Interestingly, while the politician Dubcek was lauded at the time, it was Havel the playwright that the country turned to, and reluctantly he accepted the daunting task.

From the 1970s forward Havel was a hero of mine. He retained an idealism that gained him enemies in the new “free” world entered into by the Warsaw Pact countries, and insisted on continuing to call for freedom and brotherhood in an increasingly corrupt world – fascinating to see what happens to countries when capitalism is open to them!

His death, only a few days before my journey to Central Europe in this Christmas season of 2011, hit me harder than I could have imagined, and it colored my Christmas in Prague as I’m certain it has more intensively for Czechs who owe him so much, and for Central and Eastern Europeans in general. One can feel in the air in this festive season pauses for a somber or at least reflective silence whenever one crosses Vaclavske Namesti (Wenceslas Square), the center of Nove Mesto (New Town) Prague and sees the memorials to Havel increasing. I pass by and pause every day.

Havel Memorial, Wenceslas Square

These paragraphs of mine are not much of a tribute, at least not all that well put together a tribute, to the great human Vaclav Havel, as I haven’t the words. Rest in Peace!

And I’ll now get on to other thoughts on my Christmas in Prague as I return for the third or fourth time to a city I love.

As who would not? Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Every time I visit that fact hits me instantly. My favorite areas are Stare Mesto (the Old Town) and Mala Strana (the “Lesser” Town, across the Vltava River from Stare Mesto, in the shadow of the imposing castle complex above). On my first day here I walked throughout the afternoon in Stare Mesto and did the same in Mala Strana on the morning of my second day. 

St Nicholas Church, Mala Strana

Memories of previous visits came flooding back, along with happy surprises upon discovering something I’d not seen before, or at least not remembered seeing. As I stopped on the steps of St Nicholas Church in Mala Strana yesterday (not to be confused with St Nicholas Church in Stare Mesto), I remembered my mother and my sister Judy haggling with an old Czech stara-baba over lace, for example. As I forced my way through crowds on the street that leads to Charles Bridge, the great be-statued pedestrian river-crossing from Stare Mesto to Mala Strana, I saw the black light theatre Ta Fantastika, and remembered its founders that I’d met in of all places South Florida in the early 1970s.

My hotel is a short distance from Vaclavske Namesti, near the National Museum that towers over one end of it.

The easiest way to get to Stare Mesto is to head down to the square and walk through it, which was the route I took for my first outing, early afternoon of Christmas Eve. The weather was cold but partly clear. I had already stopped at the improvised Havel memorials in the square, and stopped again on my way to the old town, then plunged into a city crowded with tourists and even a few locals(!) in a celebratory spirits.

Christmas market in Wenceslas Square

In addition to the Havel memorials there were two different Christmas markets in Vaclavske Namesti, in which I poked around in, bought my votive candle for Havel, then moved forward, or rather was swept up in the tide of humanity (if you identify tourists with humanity, which ain’t necessarily so!) headed in the direction of Old Town Square. No matter how many tourists, no matter what the weather, it would take a pretty tough old curmudgeion to not be impressed with the buildings surrounding this amazing city center. 

Old Town Square Christmas Market

I’ve seen it several times by now and every time I do I react with an involuntary intake of breath – I think that’s a good way to describe the word “breathtaking.” It was no different this time, or if anything more intense, because of the Christmas Market in the square. I’m not certain in terms of number of booths, but it looks and feels larger than Budapest’s and is definitely larger than Bratislava’s (though that’s an unfair comparison, as Bratislava, despite being a capital city, is nowhere near the size of either Budapest or Prague). I must admit that I’ve been through this market one too many times this trip, and I will probably give it a miss tomorrow, in favor of the Mucha Museum. I find it overrun by tourists, with very little variety in things to buy as well as things to eat – but who am I, in the face of so many?

I continued, swept along by the tide not of the Vltava but of tourists, to the obligatory walk over Charles Bridge, mentioned above. 

Charles Bridge

It was packed, but there is a good reason. The bridge itself is stunning, the views to either side of the river even more so. I did as the rest of the tourists did, snapped photo after photo of the same two or three vistas, and about two-thirds of the way across it turned back, as I wanted to save Mala Strana for the second day. Besides, I had exploring to do. I wanted to be certain I knew how to get to the Estates Theatre. This it turned out was ridiculously easy as that building stands out architecturally in a city of architectural stand-outs. Not that it is more beautiful than others, but it is uniquely shaped and not easy to miss onec you know what you’re looking for. It is steps from Staromestke Namestie, and can be seen on the right as one walks along the main route to that square.

The center of this city is compact, and I mean that not just for Stare Mesto and Mala Strana, but also for the portion of the New Town that most tourists linger in, that section on and around Wenceslas Square.

Wenceslas Square

 There is a good underground rail system, and trams are everywhere, but for the purposes of this trip I have no reason to use any of the public transport on offer. For the weak of heart there are ways of getting up to Hradcany, the castle area, other than on foot, but even though it’s a bit of a huffer and puffer, walking is my preferred way of getting there, as well to the rest of inner Prague. 

On that first afternoon I also walked to Obesni Dum, where I was to have supper after the opera the next day, again, to be sure I could find it, and again I found it easily. But I’d had a long-ish train ride to get from Bratislava to Prague, and I will confess to getting myself hopelessly lost by being over-confident in my walk from the rail station to my hotel, so after a few hours of trekking, so after a mediocre meal and great beer at a “traditional Czech” restaurant on Wenceslas Square, I returned to my hotel, worked on blog and photos, and slept very well.