Prague
train station
As we pass by
the beautiful Czech and Hungarian countryside, on the train this time so we may
enjoy the scenery, we will offer you a few observations from our days in
Prague. Tomorrow, we begin two days of
exploring Budapest.
There is
essentially no serious crime here. We
left our balcony door open during the day, with money and valuables within easy
reach, in a city of more than a million.
We didn’t ask for a wall safe or a place to store our valuables
Fun in the
dining car
Prague is a
clean city, at least the parts we saw.
No one throws trash on the streets or sidewalks, although there is a
great deal of cigarette smoking, both inside and outside. It makes you wonder. What is so culturally different about us that
makes so many Americans feel the highways are trash dumps?
Can we bring
back the trams and cobblestone streets in some beautiful American town. Like
they have here? And while you’re at it,
how about some of those tiny cobblestones for the sidewalks, and a good restaurant
every block or so? For good measure of
course, throw in a few high quality ice cream shops, with 30 or more exotic
flavors on display for the public to sample.
The arts are
alive and well here. It’s even reflected
in the buildings in the old town, with their balconies, terracotta
tile roofs, gables, pediments, arches, statuary, arches and other ornamentation that would cost a
fortune to add in our country. You
could attend a concert every day—sometimes two a day, and in venues that would
put most of our concert halls to shame.
The people
don’t smile much, and seldom make eye contact on the street. Some go out of their way to be rude. Perhaps we would be that way if we had
endured 50 years of Soviet rule and the communist economic system, following
years of Nazi domination.
Speaking of
the Russians, we saw petitions being signed demanding the removal of Putin and
the restoration of true democracy in that country. Tilting at
windmills occurs even in Eastern Europe.
One of us signed such a petition—so don’t count on trip reports from
there anytime soon.
And as we
roll across the farmlands, hills, and mountains on the train, the Soviet-era
apartment buildings stand out like sore thumbs, with their lifeless, plain
exteriors, pretending that government can put us all on an equal economic
footing. Viren even pointed out that
there are no windows at the corners of those buildings, so no family can have
more windows than any other family.
Makes you wonder whether there is a word for opportunity, or
advancement, in the dictionaries of that anachronistic empire.
If you
thought the tutti frutti flavor of ice cream had passed from the scene, you
should visit the corner ice cream shop just south of the old town square in
Prague. It’s actually pretty good.
In the Budapest train
station
And if you
are holding your breath until we return to Georgia late Thursday, don’t. Upon our arrival in Budapest, we have learned
that employees of Air France, scheduled to fly us out to Paris Thursday
morning, have gone on strike and all flights are cancelled. Have a nice day.
Charlie & Tricia
©2014
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