A Crash Course in Prague
A Friday for Exploring
The phone rang at Noon. The voice at the other end said, “Hey do you wanna go to Lidice?”
“What?” I responded.
“Oh sorry, did I wake you up?” She apologized.
“Yeah kinda, but what’s Lidice?” By this point I realize it’s Alexis.
She responds, “It’s this town like 30 minutes from here... well It’s not really a town. Hitler had it raised to the ground.”
“...sound like fun. When do we leave?” I asked.
“1:30.”
“I’ll be there.”
And so Alexis and I went to Lidice. After figuring out which bus we had to get on, we squished in for the 20 or so minute ride out there. We got off at the stop, and I swear to God it looked like a bus stop in the middle of a field. We crossed the street, heading towards the only recognizable structure, the gateway to the museum and memorial.
I should pause for a moment and say that all my photos are on film. This place was worthy of taking the time to shoot it properly. I’ll have the pictures up on Sunday, at least the first part.
At any rate we wandered thru the gates and arrived at a view of a giant field, over rolling hills, framed by trees in their fall colors. There used to be a town here.
We went into the museum first. After a short introduction we walked thru the gallery consisting of various multimedia exhibits projecting onto concrete panels. It was a very cool effect. And thus here is the story of Lidice:
In 1942 the Nazi commander stationed to rule over the Czech Republic was assassinated by soldiers who had been specially trained in Great Britain. The hiding place of these men was revealed to the Nazi's, and they took their own lives. Outraged by the death of a party member, Hitler ordered that the village where these men had supposedly been hiding be raised to the ground. All the men were shot by firing squad, the women were sent off to concentration camps, and the children were sent various places. Of the approximately 500 people in the village, 340 were killed, or died while in captivity. The rest of the village was torched, and then bombed. The graves were dug up and all the trees were cut down.
Absolutely nothing remained of Lidice except a pile of rubble. If there were no monuments today, you would hardly know of the massacre that occurred there.
Now would be a good time to start taking the anti-depressants.
After the museum we waked through the field, where the town once stood. The foundation of the building where the men were shot remains. The foundation of the church remains. The foundation of the school remains.
That’s it.
I have a ton of (hopefully) awesome pictures. I can’t wait to pick them up.
Ironically the school trip to Lidice was also today. So we were able to get a free ride home. Funny how things work out sometimes.
Dinner was at an Italian place. I’ve been dying for Italian. I’ve been dying for an Isabella’s Italian too... but I’m talking about raviolis here. Dinner was awesome. I thought ordered chocolate cake for dessert, but it turned out to be more of a chocolate fondu. Also quite good.
Tonight I watched “What Happens in Vegas” from iTunes rentals. Cute. Mindless. Thank God.
The photo at the top was a TV crew we passed on the way to dinner tonight. It’s comforting to see that they use microwave equipment here too.
And most of you are probably thinking of the microwave oven for cooking food, so I’m going to stop here.
Other than that today was fun. Lidice was an experience for sure, and dinner was tasty. But it’s off to bed again... It’s nearly 4am. again.
That’s a bad thing. I’m on the WRONG sleep cycle here.
I’ll fix it next week.
OH OH OH before I go. Big news: Russian Visa’s came in today. And they gave me one! Yes, I can officially go to Russia. And I can even stay longer if I want. The visa is for 10 days, not 4, so hey, maybe I’ll just conveniently miss my plane.
Tania would kill me. Kill me. But that’s okay. I’d be in Moscow.