We love Prague

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Prague, had the perfectly location, walked many Kilometers of cobbled streets - which are a killer on your feet by end of the day, though they do add charm to old towns and cities. 

Here we decided to do a Communisim Tour, and had an excellent guide. The young women reminded me so much of our Hana, in looks and passion. She was just 1 year old when her parents took her to the huge public demonstration in the final days of the socialist regime. Here her father held her up as she along with thousands of others jangled their keys in celebration. 

The history she gave was fascinating and completely overroad  my usual impatience for walking tours. The highlight of course being the opportunity to descend into one of Pragues many nuclear bunkers. These we once part of regular life and preparation under Communisim during the cold war, with families all having their own gas masks at home, you could buy new models cheaply at the local supermarket. Monthly drills preparing the people were required, though our guide believed that the bunkers were now mostly forgotten. We were only able to see the first levels underground, as the shelter is apparently still kept intact and operational, ready if needed, though she sceptically explained that the apparatus was untested and probably not modernised. And few people knew they still existed, but she held a set of keys! Her overall message was scathing of the entire defence system, highlighting that the bunkers were probably just a large part of the propaganda machine, as they only provided for 2 weeks of survival, then citizens were reportedly to be transported to a "safe zone". This bunker could accommodate thousands of people, but each person was only allocated .5 of a square meter space and the ratio of toilets per person were scary. The toilets were designed to have no doors, just a curtain, to restrict citizens from commandeering  them, and to reduce suicide risks, were fitted with short weak string for the flusher cord! Not somewhere one would want to be holed up in extreme circumstances for too long.

The building once housed the nazi party, then the state police, and today's police.

Entrance to the bunker - the first level also able to be hired out for nightclubs and parties!

There is some funky weird artwork around the city - this is the hanging man ?!! I think done by the same artist who put giant crawling babies up the television tower. 

A few left overs from the Cold War.

Some of the high tech children's gas mask suits. The babies requires someone to pump the foot peddle every 15 seconds. But still seemed an improvement on some of the other options.

An example of a family, however they are using way more than there available space, and hopefully wouldn't need the gas masks inside the bunker - unless the ventilation system fails...

1950's photoshopping to remove unwanted images of those who fell out of favour with the party line.

LAST DAY IN PRAGUE

We spent our last day in Prague exploring the Jewish quarter. Once housing a vast Jewish population with many synagogues, this population is mostly gone following the extermination  during the nazi regime, and subsequent socialist governments. 

Below Is the old Jewish cemetery which has at least 6 layers of graves as Jewish lore does not permit the removal of graves and so as space was required they just layered more earth to accommodate the burial grounds, hence the dense headstones.

Interesting visits to the Jewish museums that housed and displayed information about the Burial Societies, and daily life. 

Beautiful architecture around the Jewish quarter.