Checked out of the very nice hotel in Karlovy Vary after one of their fantastic breakfasts and took the qStudent Agency bus back to Prague. My childhood friend Wally and his partner arrived a little after us and at six o'clock my friend and relative Carol and her partner picked us all up and we went out for dinner. Our hotel was in easy walking distance of many restaurants but we all wanted some good Czech food and were not disappointed with the goulash, schnitzel and mountains of Czech dumplings followed by apple strudel. No dieting on this trip. The pictures below was taken through the bus window on the drive from KV to Prague. It was lovely rolling countryside.
The next morning we took a taxi to Carol's apartment to meet with the family history researcher. Carol goes to the Czech Republic a lot and had found a fabulous place that rents apartments. She had a lovely living room but the weather was so nice that we decided to sit out on her huge balcony to talk to Magda the researcher. The view was absolutely wonderful and so was Magda. She'd sent me her findings of our family and I had studied her document on the plane over and was prepared with a bunch of questions. In the end it came down to a bit of speculation and some good guesses along with the factual findings. She'd done a lot of work for me and I was happy to pay her fee. Wally was next up and she had a few surprises for him which delighted him.
At Carol's suggestion we decided on a trip up a local hill but first priority was coffee and cake. Below is the famous castle of Prague which we had all visited before. We rode a funicular up the hill and walked down through the castle grounds.
The following day we had an air conditioned cab booked which picked us all up at our hotel for a trip to Terezin, formally called by the German name Theresienstadt. Once a military fortress and town it was converted by the Nazis as a ghetto in which were housed all the Czech Jews as well as many others who were on their way to the extermination camps. Our interest here was the museum and the town as opposed to the military fortress and history prior to WWII which is why we didn't take the organised tour. With Carole as our guide it was a lot more pleasant and cheaper to go by taxi.
Some parts of the town are still in sad shape but much of it has now been restored and the town is now being inhabited again despite bars on many windows. Although none of us had family who died in this place, we all had family who had passed through here and we thought it was a bit creepy that people were living here.
We visited two museums and thought the exhibits were very we'll done. Carole and I found the name of one of our relatives named on a list of doctors who administered to the inmates and Wally found a poster naming his grandfather who was the choir master for a period of time before he was shipped out. It was quite emotional for us and although we didn't have much time, it was quite enough for us to deal with. We did try going for a snack but the smallest thing we could find was fried mushrooms or fried cauliflower which both came with large mountains of potatoe but were quite delicious.
On the way home I started to feel a bit ill and upon returning to the city we were all ready for the coffee and cake we'd missed at lunch time. The many potatoes had filled us up and we decided to forgo dinner. Michelle and I had to go pack for an early start the next morning. Sad to say goodbye to friends and family but we'd had a good couple of days. Germany here we come.
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