Random Observations about the Czech Republic (with ancillary comparisons to Hungary)

More castles than any sane person could possibly visit. All impressive. Why does the Czech Republic have so many? It seems like many more than Hungary.

Czechs love beer and produce lots of great beer. The people also support their indigenous industry. For the first time in my life, I asked Tom if it were beer o’clock. The Czech make some wonderful dark beer, not too heavy. We saw many a Czech drinking beer before noon; some for breakfast.

Okay, this is one to ponder. The Czech people don’t seem as full-bodied as the Hungarians. Go figure. They drink beer.

We can’t find bakeries selling wonderful bread and pastries. In Hungary there is one on every block. Now I am seeing a connection--you love bread, you be big.

The Hungarian towns also have many more bookstores.

We witnessed so many Hungarian students and young people carrying around instruments on their way to lessons or class. Everyone plays a musical instrument.

The Czech Republic appeared a little more prosperous to us. I don’t know if this is true. The people that you see on the streets in Prague and other small towns dress better and appear happier to the casual observer. Maybe it is that we got to know Hungarian culture more intimately and had more conversations, but they look more serious and downhearted on the whole. They are very thoughtful, not casual or superficial. Life seems harder for them.

Prague is a mecca of tourists. Hordes of people, lots of energy. Budapest feels different. It is beautiful, but in a different way than Prague. It has the majestic Danube and impressive squares and buildings. Some how it is a messier culture as the graffiti attests, but it goes beyond appearances. Its history speaks more of tragic past and people holding on to their national pride while fearing the worse/the future. They are not an optimistic bunch and understandably so. Prague has some public humor as well. Look at this statue appropriately named "Piss" that is right outside the Kafka Museum.

In Budapest we saw the efforts to attract tourists with the National Gallup and other huge events. Often they got rained on despite all the efforts. Prague doesn’t do anything. She’s like an old broad who knows she’s got it.

She also sells herself out on occasion. For example, the music that is offered to tourists in Prague is not the two hour and half hour concert of serious classical music. Hawkers pass out leaflets at many churches and other venues for a sixty minute concert of Vivaldi, Pachabel, and perhaps a little Mozart or the Brandenburg concerto. We went to two of these concerts: one at St. Nicholas Church and the other at the famous art deco Municipal House. The first concert at 6pm was billed as a choir singing with the old organ and included the program. We knew how long the program would last and frankly it was a draw. Go get a little culture and then time for daily hedonism of drink and dinner, all of which I am in favor of and enjoy not having to choose between my culture and my hedonism.

We were disappointed with the concert because it consisted of 18 singers (three with wonderful voices) and a small antique organ, not the cathedral’s massive organ that we had anticipated filling the cathedral and our lungs. We did enjoy the acoustics. The voices continued to ascend upward to the dome long after their lips closed.

Our second concert was billed as members of the Prague Royal Orchestra; there were twelve with no conductor. They did a mediocre to bad Pachabel and Mozart. Then a violin soloist from the Royal Orchestra came out and performed Vivaldi’s Four Season and the Brandenburg concerto, all crowd pleasers. He salvaged the evening as did the spectacular concert hall.

I have mixed feelings about the concerts. In Hungary there is no artistic compromise; they do the whole damn thing. I admire this. Prague knows what the tourist wants and gives it to them. We could have gone to a concert any night of the week, several compete against one another. For the choir, there were probably thirty people. For the other concert, the first thirty rows of reserved, expensive seats were barely occupied and then the seven rows of open seating were relatively full.

In Salzburg, I should mention that we saw a fabulous concert at the Mirabel Schloss (palace) that consisted of only a pianist and violinist who played magnificently for an hour and half. The two of them provided the whole experience and they were magnificent.