PRINCETON CLASS OF 1972

GRAND TOUR – Prague, Czech Republic

May 2 – 14, 2018

See photos here.

 

On Tuesday May 2, a group of 38 classmates, spouses, and friends gradually assembled at the Lindner Prague Castle Hotel as they fought jet lag and hoped to stay awake for the first evening in Europe. The entire trek was planned and arranged by classmate Helena Novakova who did a fabulous job preparing to meet all of our various requirements, many related to our advanced age. The participants are listed in the Appendix. As is customary with the Class of 1972, Ed Strauss designed the official class trip logo which introduces this article, this time relying on the symbol of the Czech country with ball caps and “P”'s for Princeton and pivo (=beer).

In the evening we had our first assembly where we were introduced to our guide, Vitek Kloucek, who became a friend and confidant over the next two weeks. Although fluent in English, Vitek welcomed our corrrections to pronunciations so much so that he's now ready for Princeton. If it weren't for Vitek and Helena, all would have been lost, as none of the tour group attained any fluency in Czech, despite Helena's best efforts.

Following the meet and greet, we had our group kickoff dinner where we were treated to our first Czech food experience at the Saint Norbert Priory. The meal consisted of meat, more meat, red cabbage, potato and bread dumplings and Klasterni, the first of many beers we sampled. No one ever finished a meal on this trip hungry.

The next morning we were up and out by 9AM (that's 3AM Princeton time) so we might have been a little slow. We spent the day at Prague Castle with expert guidance from Vitek. We visited the cathedral (St Vitus), visited the houses of the medieval working folk and had lunch together at the Villa Richter winery on castle mountain. After moving on to the Mala Strana quarter below the mountain and catching sights from the Wallenstein Gardens to the Baby Jesus shrine to the John Lennon wall, most of us walked back up the hill to the hotel. This was our first experience with Czech flat walking which is much steeper than American walking.

On Friday morning we checked out and headed to Karlovy Vary. On the way we stopped at the Moser glass factory where we saw the actual crystal production process in operation. Moser allowed the group to stand on the factory floor where we saw and felt the heat from the glass blowing and cooling processes. After lunch we checked in at the Hotel Thermal, a massive 1970's vintage hotel full of Chinese tourists, from which Vitek took us on a tour of Karlovy Vary, a very historic town interlaced with purportedly therapeutic hot springs. The bravest among the group partook of the healing waters (at your choice of temperature) while the remainder of us drank beer with the Good Soldier Schweik, a literary character who many of us remembered from a Modern European Literature course Freshman year.

Always on the move, we checked out the next morning, Saturday, and headed to Helena's home town, Pilsen, where we viewed the Liberation Festival, a great parade celebrating the arrival of Patton's army to free the Czechs from the Nazis in 1945. There were many, many jeeps and trucks left by the Americans which are still in working order and hundreds of locals played the parts of the American GI's marching by the Thank You America monument in the center of town. There were even a few 90+ year old American Veterans in the parade who basked in the adulation of the crowds.

 

During the afternoon Helena arranged for us to visit a pair of vintage 1930 apartments designed by Adolf Loos showing the best of the post WWI era. This whetted our appetite to see Helena's family apartment. Jaroslav Novak, Helena's brother, hosted six of us that afternoon for "tea," which included cake and the most delicious ice cream – and the rest of us the next morning for a fabulous lunch. Jaroslav described, in great detail, the hundreds of historical and artistic artifacts that filled the rooms giving us all a very good understanding of the very turbulent and complicated history of the Czech Republic and Pilsen, in particular.

Saturday evening, it was back to work as we toured the Pilsener Urquell brewery where we downed copious quantities of the product. Dinner was provided after which many belts had to be expanded another notch.

Sunday morning, we stopped in at the Patton Museum where, among other war memorabilia, we caught a glimpse of Marlene Dietrich's visit to Pilsen in 1945 as shown to us by a very proud docent who had her autograph. While Jaroslav hosted that morning's visitors, others toured the "American encampment," followed by lunch at the Beer Factory, a favorite watering hole of Vitek's.

Then it was back on the road again, heading toward the mountains (the Sumava Range just east of the edge of the German Alps). On Sunday morning, we were back on the road again, heading toward the mountains. Road construction forced us to miss the Kladruby Monastery, one of Helena's favorites. We viewed the arcaded frontier town of Domazlice and arrived in late afternoon at Kasperske Hory, a beautiful town at the foot of the mountains. We had the first of a number of dinners prepared by a gourmet chef at the Hotel Kasperk. These meals were absolutely spectacular and will be remembered for a long time.

After dinner a few of the group took a walk into the countryside where we saw a large animal (moose?) lumbering toward us down the road. Showing no courage, the group hurried back to the Hotel where our mountain guide, Jakub Novak, Helena's nephew, provided instructions on the next day's climb which was advertised as the most difficult in the Czech Republic.

After an early breakfast on Monday, the heartiest 20 marchers in our group met up with Jakub and took the bus into the mountains, where they began their climb. Near the top of the first summit, trekkers ignored a warning sign about downed trees and rocks from recent storms and continued climbing for another several hundred yards. They were rewarded with a peak experience at a mountain hut straddling the Czech and German borders, where tankards of beer were available to wash down lunches, and the official hikers photo was taken.

The rest of the hike tracked the Czech/ German border with delightful views and refreshing air. There were also more boulders to step over and around, and more uphill climb, than expected. Thirteen miles into the hike – and two miles from the planned endpoint – the exertions took a toll on some pairs of legs, which resulted in an unplanned evacuation. Jakub called the Czech mountain rescue squad, who apparently required extraction of the entire, mostly reluctant, group, short of their goal of a mountaintop view of a beautiful lake. All the trekkers are to be commended for toughness, bravery, and being good sports.

Meanwhile, the wimpier among the tour group stayed back and were ferried by bus to another path which led to Kasperk Castle, supposedly an easy route for those so inclined. After a short, steady climb (Czech flat), we took a tour of the half ruined citadel, climbing 6 flights of rickety stairs to enjoy 360-degree panoramas of the rugged countryside. The castle built was in 1356 by Charles IV, the greatest of all Czech leaders and also the Holy Roman Emperor.

The wimpy group returned to Kasperske Hory where they sat on the veranda with their beverage of choice waiting for the return of the hearty group. We were scheduled for another gourmet dinner at 6:30. By 6:00 there was no sign of the missing trekkers. We got in touch with Helena who told us that all were alive and well and had been loaded onto emergency vehicles for a ride down the mountain. We were relieved by the news but anxious to find out the whole story. Finally at 7:00 the hearty group arrived and dinner was served a bit late, but was still fabulous.

After dinner, we were treated to a Czech Swing Band which necessitated that all the tired hikers dance the evening away. All in all, this turned out to be one of the great days in the history of Class of 72 trips.

Two hikes had been planned for Tuesday, but after the Monday experience Helena decided to take everyone on the easier trek. We went to a town called Modrava and took a long walk along a river which was indeed American flat. The group returned for lunch at, what else, a brewery where all recovered from the aches and pains of the last two days.

On Wednesday morning we bid farewell to Kasperske Hory and headed off to parts unknown. We arrived around noon at a hotel in Ceske Budejovice, home of the original Budweiser which we sampled. After Vitek took us on a walking tour of the city, we embarked on a ride to Hluboka Castle, originally a 13thcentury Gothic structure, rebuilt many times from the Renaissance through the Neo-Gothic periods. Dinner was great again, this time duck with traditional Czech accompaniments cabbage and dumplings.

Thursday began with a drive to nearby Cesky Krumlov and walk around the picturesque town and – surprise! - lunch at the town brewery! A few people purchased Moldavite gems, a naturally occurring glass formed by the heat of meteorites crashing into the earth.

Friday was our last day as a formal tour group. We went on to Trebon for Vitek's last walking tour. Lunch (at a brewery!!!) was where Ed Strauss and Daryl English honored Helena for her efforts beyond the call of duty. During our last group lunch together, we formally thanked Vitek and our intrepid bus driver, Jarda, with a locomotive cheer. Our last castle was Jindrichuv Hradec where we admired the elaborate mechanical nativity scene with hundreds of miniature moving parts. We then returned to Prague, where we moved into a hotel right off the main drag, Wenceslas Sqaure.

The weekend was free to visit anything in Prague we had missed. Most people spent their time in the Old Town Square where there was much music and food. Unfortunately the famous medieval clock in the Town Square is being repaired for the 100 year celebration of independence and was not available for tours. Some visited the nearby Jewish Quarter where all the Czech victims of the Holocaust were remembered.

Sunday night we had a farewell dinner presided over by Helena and Jaroslav. Great memories were reviewed and everyone had a wonderful meal. No one can say enough about how grateful all the participants are for Helena's work in arranging for and executing the greatest and longest class trip in history. The whole event was magnificent.

Thank you Helena.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix

 

Participants in the Czech Adventure

 

 

Chris Godfrey

Suzy Sayles

Andy Packer

Peggy Drew

Daryl English

Barclay Foord

Rod McNealy

Pat McNealy

Ed McConnell

Jeanne McConnell

Doug Harrison

Joan Harrison

Ed Strauss

Anne Strauss

Andy Dayton

Ellie Dayton

Christine Loomis

 

Helena Novakova

Sigi Haslinger

Eric Melum

Mara Melum

Bruce Merrifield

Tracy Hritz

Larry Barbour

Carol Barbour

Pam Coulter

John Coulter

Rob Hamm

Ingrid Hamm/Young

VJ Pappas

Ginny Pappas

Andrew Wilson

Ronnie-Gail Emden

Randy Swenson

Lisa Swenson

Bruce Nickerson

Bev Nickerson

Barbara Knudsen