CHS Orchestra European Tour--Travelogue 7/15/98

CHS Orchestra European Tour--July 7 to 17, 1998

July 15, 1998

SCHEDULED EVENTS: Six and a half hour drive to Prague through the Bohemian countryside. Dinner and overnight in Prague.

Vienna to Prague

We pack up the busses and head out of Vienna towards Prague to the north. Many people in the group are sorry to be leaving Vienna. It has been the longest stay on our tour and I think, as Herr Dr. Bischof had hoped might happen, the city has worked its magic on us. I suspect many in this group will return to Vienna, some of them to make very fine music here again. The city disappears behind us and gives way to a patchwork of small farms. Until we cross the Czech border the farms are small strips of land, each worked by a different farmer. Our guide tells us that the owners might come from quite some distance to tend these fields and then move on to other holdings in other locations. When we arrive at the border we can see that it is quite different on the Czech side. A single farm, planted in wheat, stretches as far as the eye can see. Because here the state owned all land until very recently, the farms are enormous. We stop after leaving Austria, but before entering the Czech Republic, in a very cheesy tourist area in what Irene calls the "no man's land." It is dominated by duty-free shops, but has the advantage of having many different food choices. Unfortunately our group overwhelms most of them and the service is very slow. But pizza, Chinese food, hot dogs, sodas, pastries, and much more are had by all.

Orchestra Manager Kiran Hassan

The city gives way to farm land

Our drivers Mario and Arnold

At the Czech border the line is long and the process quite slow, but no one complains to the men with the guns

In "no man's land" the restaurants are cheesy, but there are a lot of them

A pizza party in the parking lot

We pass through the Czech border and press on for Prague. One bathroom stop at a wayside involves a lot of higher math as everyone scrambles for Czech Crowns (for snacks, the pay toilet, souvenirs, etc.) and tries to figure out if they are getting a deal or not. The consensus is that everything in the Czech Republic IS a deal, roughly half to two thirds what it would cost stateside. We arrive in Prague, but must leave the busses outside the city. We cross the Moldau River on a beautifully decorated bridge and then head, on foot, into the heart of the city. This gives us a chance to see many of the sights we will come back and explore on our own tomorrow morning. At the Adria restaurant we enjoy a dinner that even includes French Fries. The waiters get a little frustrated with us because we pay for our sodas with such large bills. We, of course, don't even know they are large bills because the Czech currency is so new to us. Many people's pockets are still full of Austrian Schillings, which are hard to tell from the Crown. There is a lot of scrambling and counting of coins, but we finally work it all out. We stroll back to the busses, enjoying the abundance of storefronts selling almost everything imaginable. It is a short drive to our hotel where we unpack and settle in. It is amazing how tired you can get when you spend most of the day sitting in a bus seat. Tomorrow we explore Prague in the morning and then head out of town to the village of Krabcice for our last concert.

Jessica Wood

The downtown area of Prague is alive with street life

Ancient cathedrals loom over almost every streetscape

Julie Stoessel, Maggie Lane, Susannah Hewlett, and Bryan Stone on the streets of Prague

Many buildings here are much older than those in Vienna, and built in the Gothic style

The CHS group learning about their choices for free exploration tomorrow

We enjoy dinner at the Adria near Wenceslas Square

The Astrological Clock that performs every hour on the hour. Some in our group plan to catch the show in the morning

Many, many shops that we pass feature the beautiful crystal for which Prague is famous

Patty Vandever's Journal Entry for July 15, 1998.

Brooke Mahanes has written you a short piece about Prague.
Find it in From the Performers.

SPECIAL FEATURE
I have taken many more pictures than are used on these pages so far. You parents and friends back in Charlottesville, Virginia may be interested in seeing some of the out-takes.

(Sorry to be late uploading today. In Prague you must ask to have your phone activated, and by the time I was ready to log in it was 3:00 am Prague time and there was no one left at the front desk.)

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