Milos mentioned that religion wasn't outlawed by the Communists in Czechoslovakia but instead they regulated the number of theology students such that there weren't enough priests, especially outside of Prague.
He mentioned that a long time ago streets didn't have names but instead had a sign. (I think the sign for the street where I grew up was a chocolate eclair.) Of particular note was the Black Madonna (in the photo). Also see the one of grapes.
Milos is an expert on art and architecture and I realized right away I should have taken art history at Brandeis, even if only on a pass/fail basis. I'm showing a photo where Gothic and I believe Renaissance forms are combined in adjacent archways.
He also showed us new post-1989 art, some of which is shown in prior posts. Here are photos of abstract babies.
The artists' quarter was very quiet and there were more street signs such as this one.
Milos mentioned that in the main square during the Nazi occupation the monuments were covered in black with swastikas draped over them and that there were many tanks in the square during the Warsaw Pact occupation in 1968. He told us that the universities are divided between Czech and German speakers. Sounds familiar from a Canadian perspective.
As Kim mentioned, he is a prominent guide and appeared on Samantha Brown's Passport to Europe for Prague, the BBC and ITV. He also said he was on "Not Your Average Guy" but I can't find a quick link to that show.
Prague was not bombed by the Nazis during WWII but they did destroy things as the war wound down and the Allies mistakenly bombed Prague which is only 20 minutes by air from Dresden.
During communism some art tried to show that system as just (see the hammer and sickle in this photo adjacent to the scales of justice).
WE saw Starbucks and Gloria Jean's for coffee, something we didn't see in Italy. He said that drinking that coffee would be a crime in Italy or in Vienna but that here students like it and especially like the paper takeaway feature which is missing from local places.He pointed out the theatre where pantomime was first performed.
Prague has had many floods and the one in 2002 was a once in one thousand years event.
The Czechs drove on the left until 1939 when Hitler invaded and changed the system to mirror Germany.The 1984 movie Amadeus was filmed in Prague, not in Vienna.
The grotto was fascinating (see photo).
Former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright's grandparents were Czech Jews with the last name Korbel, which means beer mug-we saw the family name on the Holocaust Memorial. Lastly, some photos of and inside St. Vitus.
Now we are off to visit Terezin.
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