DRT Day 3: Unusual and cool history lessons

Today was planned to be a different kind of tourist day. We had plans to visit sites that generally don’t appear in tourist guides. After sleeping a bit later than we had originally planned – nothing to do with the wine last night… really! – we enjoyed our fruit, yogurt and muesli. Yes, our typical Tuesday breakfast.

Then it was off in our Skoda hire car to venture out of town. Those who have been playing at home will know that we rarely visit a country that has some kind of automotive industry without investigating the related museum. And Czechia would be no different – to the Skoda Museum! We got to drive in our air conditioned car to an air conditioned museum. Ahhhh…

About 45 minutes north east of the city is the main production facility and museum for Skoda. Not well known in the US, it is one of four automakers that have been producing continually for more than 100 years. While Frank nerded out on the forged crankshafts and the die cast aluminum blocks, I read all about the history of the company relative to the history of the country. A very interesting perspective of the communist years from the manufacturing perspective, it was an in unexpected history lesson.

In addition, there was a display of metal sculptures by David Černý showing various events in Czech history from King Charles to Lech Walesa. More interesting history!

Then back to the city for some lunch and our next activity: the Prague National Gallery. We grabbed a table outside a local restaurant and enjoed some delocious Czech cuisine. Chicken and sweet potato froes for me (authentic? Who knows but fefinitely delicious!) and the famous pork knee/knuckle for Frank. Both were very tasty and went well with local beer and wine. Yum.

Then to the art museum for a special exhibit: Get on the ice! Depictions of skating and hockey in art. So cool! Both the exhibit and the air in the building! Not onky did we get to see the evolution of skating depictions from the 17th century on, we learned all about the history of Czech hockey and its importance to national identity. I have a vague recollection of the Nagano Olympics but the gold medal for the Czech team that year was unbelievably important to the people. Jagr and Hasek were considered saints – and depicted as such in art! More history learned.

Then it was time to finish our tradirional tourist agenda. We had two more spots to bisit at the castle that our two day ticket coveted. So we took the number 15 tram to the bottom of the hill and hiked up… again. There were fewer crowds in the late afternoon but it was still absolutely mobbed. The Golden Lane and St George’s Basilica proved to be anti climatic but the boxes were checked.

Back down the hill for stop at another common destination type for us these days: a distillery! The R. Jelenik distillery has been making kosher plum brandy for a century or so. We decided to try the tour and see how plums get distilled relative to barley. Of course we also got to learn about the company history which was very much a lesson in Jewish history in the region. More history!

I can’t say that we were fans of the spirits we got to taste at the end bit i would still recommend the tour if you gave any interest. First, it was air conditioned which was welcome after the trek from the castle. Second and more importantly was the VR plum experience. Yup, they have VR headsets that show you the entire process FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PLUM! It was unbelievable and amazing. We got shaken down from the tree, toad in a truck, got pressed, distilled, and aged. It was a complete 360 experience and so innovative.

Then it was time for a short break at the flat – I had one work thing i had to do – and then our final Czech meal in Prague. Unfortunately, it was not as good as the others but it wasn’t bad. We took one last wander through the old town square before calling it a day.

Data for today:

Steps taken: 15,912