Beading through Bohemia Reviews Part 2

I

Roasting meat

t’s all about the food – or at least good food makes a trip better. We did have several nice meals made even better with a group of new friends. I’m a bit spoiled; even though I have food allergies that make getting common items sometimes a bit difficult, chefs and cooks generally do their best to accommodate me. On this trip if I ordered on my own I could talk to the wait staff and find something that was local but acceptable to my dietary needs. When I was with the group, I got grilled or roasted chicken at each meal; this was disappointing. Again, to see how my rating system works, take a look at Reading the Reviews.

Beading through Bohemia Reviews Part 1

This was an interesting trip. Barb and I booked it with the idea that we’d see some places we’d never been, get in some good bead shopping, and have some beading time. As with any trip, there were some things we really liked, and some we weren’t too happy about. Also, our perceptions of the trip didn’t necessarily match those of other travelers. For instance, we really liked our first local guide, Blanca. She had a wealth of knowledge and filled the air with information. Our expectations for group behavior seemed to be the same as Blanca’s: keep up, ask questions, pay attention, and realize that the local guide wasn’t there to service just one person. Blanca did far better with some of the folks in our group than I did; I’d have sent them home on day one. Since this is a very long blog, it’s divided into two parts. This one covers Where We Stayed and What We Did; What We Ate is in the second post. In previous blog posts I've written about many of the things we did, so rather than rehash those experiences, I've given you links back to the specific pages. To see how my rating system works, take a look at Reading the Reviews.

Prague, again

View of the Vltava from one of the bridges

Just a few years ago I wouldn’t have believed that I would travel to Prague once. Now I’ve been there three times. This time it was with Triple M Tours and SocialBeadia on a trip called Beading through Bohemia. Our mission was to do some sightseeing, visit cradle of Czech beads, and learn some new beading skills taught by Marcia DeCoster. There are several previous blogs that include information about Prague, so if you’d like to read about other visits there (including reviews), take a look at Art, Time after Time, Weirdness in Bohemia, Peeking in on Prague, Review of Viking Cruise from Prague to Paris.

Review of the Viking Cruise from Prague to Paris

Viking Ship Idun

We booked the Cities of Light tour with Viking Cruise, leaving from Prague and arriving in Paris. The only other small boat cruise I had been on had traveled through the Inside Passage in Alaska. I was prepared for this to be more like a ‘big boat’ cruise with average facilities, food and tours that cost extra. I could have not been more incorrect or happier about my misconceptions. We were aboard the Viking Idun; we learned later that this ship is rated number three in the world for river cruising. We chose a Veranda room because I simply can’t stand to be unable to see out of a hotel room. We did use the balcony a bit, but the weather was chilly enough that we chose to sit inside and looked out through the glass doors instead. While neither the room nor the bath was huge, each was efficiently arranged so that we did have room to move around and to store luggage out of the way; we were quite comfortable. The closet was large enough for our clothes and then some. Everyone from the stewards to the waiters to the captain treated us with courtesy and respect. Our room was cleaned while we were at breakfast every

Veranda Room with Balcony

morning, but I did notice that there were several people who hung ‘Do not disturb’ signs and rose a bit later (or quite a bit later).

Peeking in on Prague

The next series of Near-Normal Traveler Blogs reviews our tour/cruise with Viking. Since I’d

Alexej on the right

not taken a formal tour of anywhere in years, I had a bit of adjusting to do. First, and happily, I wasn’t in charge of anything. Second, and irritatingly, I wasn’t in charge of anything. In this episode we were taken around the old area of Prague by an excellent local tour guide. Alexej had been speaking English and doing tours for about 20 years – since she’d been in high school. When she began taking her required foreign language courses, the only language provided was Russian. However, midway through her junior year, Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic; the students in the language classes refused to learn any more Russian and demanded to learn English. Luckily, their teacher spoke English and could comply with their wishes. That summer Alexej’s mother got her hired by a tour company and she’s been leading groups ever since.

Art, time after time

Karlovy Vary park sculpture

There is no excuse in either Germany or Czech Republic to be late because no matter where you look there’s a clock tower. These lovely towers are part of the art that abounds in Bohemia. Most of what I saw was architecture and sculpture. I only visited one museum, which was surprising since I am such a museum addict.

While clocks are on many buildings, towers, and street corners, they represent different periods in history. Some, such as the one advertising Mercedes Benz, is modern while

Clocks in Stuttgart, Strasbourg, and Prague

the sundial on the side of the church and the two astrological clocks are substantially older. The Strasbourg astronomical clock, in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame of Strasbourg, Alsace, France is the third clock located here, dating from 1843. The first clock was built in the 14th century and the second in the 16th century. The clock has a computus (perpetual calendar), an orrery (planetary dial), the current position of the sun and moon, including solar and lunar eclipses, and a rooster that crows three times at noon. At 12:30PM Christ and the Apostles march out of one door and into the other at the top of the clock. In Prague, the Orloj, installed in 1410, is the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still working. This is particularly impressive since it is on the southern wall of Old Town City Hall in the Old Town Square. Again, there is a computes, an orrery, and the current position of the sun and moon. Each hour the figure of Death, a skeleton, strikes the time the Apostles parade past two open doors, but don’t venture outside.