Daily Review-Atlas (Monmouth, IL)8-15-98

by William Urban

 Without exception the students in my tour group fell in love with Prague. First of all, it was not London, Paris or Berlin. Exciting as life in those cities was, the noise, the traffic, the construction wore us down. Prague, in contrast, was finished. The Czechs had got it right and didn't feel the need to tear it down and put up something new.

It helped that the weather was perfect. Neither warm nor cold, clouds but no rain, a breeze but no wind. We could walk up to the castle across the Vlatva River without sweating. Puffing a bit, to be sure, but not sweating. And we still had enough energy to climb the high tower of St. Vitus. That did cause us to break a sweat. But what a view! The city lay below us, way below us, and billowing clouds formed higher and higher terraces into the heavens. It was a day meant for listening to Smetana=s Má Vlast (My Country), a tone poem containing a long description of the river=s course from its beginning as a mountain stream to its impressive passage under Charles Bridge. Many readers have heard it, though they may not remember the name.

The food was good, too. Quite a contrast to my first visit only eight years ago, when Communist austerity meant that everyone had an equal opportunity to buy cheaply meals that would not tempt anybody to overeat. Except for the party bosses, of course. They ate well.

The one compensation the common people had was good beer. The "People's government" had managed to reduce all the wine to the low standard, but they did not dare ruin the beer. In fact, one of the first political parties to form was the "beer lovers' party." The only platform was to oppose any changes in quality, price, or availability of the beer. The students thought this was great!

My Czech was a bit rusty, but it still worked on menus. For most meals I was able to persuade two or three students to get off the tourist trail and into real Czech restaurants. We were never disappointed. How far off the tourist track did we have to go? Usually fifty yards or less. Just far enough that they did not put English and German signs in the windows.

The Czechs were in the midst of their first post-communist political crisis. Vaclav Klaus was the practical politician who worked well with Vaclav Havel, though they were far from soul-mates. Klaus had demonstrated that communism was dead by cleaning up the cities, painting buildings, renovating the water and sewer systems. His sell-off of the state industries had been only a so-so success, but his sound-money policy had the Czech Republic straight on the road into the Common Market. The scandal that had engulfed him was a questionable contribution to his party. Petty stuff by American-Chinese standards, but big for the Czech republic, where everything is cheaper. Klaus seemed to have had nothing to do with it, but he was responsible. While we were there the Czechs were gearing up for an election. Klaus= party lost its majority. In the end, however, there seemed to be no one else able to form a government.

There was plenty of music, concerts of all types and opera, but I was working. I gave the mid-terms exams in Prague. I spent the evenings grading. The students had a better time.

Shopping was the third most important student activity, following beer and an all-night cram fest for the exam, partly because of the attractive shops, but also because mailing was much cheaper than elsewhere. Students emptied out their now bulging backpacks, only to leave town with heavy loads than before. They had learned that while it was very easy to mail from the shops, the post office still operated as though the communists had never left--long lines, no one who could speak English, and incomprehensible rules. The one time I was present to help, I got a startled look, then a big smile for having used the wrong verb for Ato wrap up.@ The intent was clear, at least.

We had less museum time in Prague than usual. That was partly because the best art went to Vienna and other European capitals. Everything except the architecture, which was too big to carry away. So we saw the Art Deco buildings downtown, the palaces, the Old City, the medieval sites associated with Jan Hus and Saint Nepomuk, and newly swanky business district where the peaceful overthrow of Communism was brought about in 1989-1990. We wandered the twisting streets, once going blocks and blocks to get about a hundred yards, but finding lots of interesting things to see. Many opportunities for mini-lectures. More confirmation for saying that the reason to visit Prague was Prague itself.