Time for another one of our "greatest hits from the goldie oldie '90's" ... in this case a discussion of our experiences in Prague, Czechoslovakia, during our European trip in 1999. So without further ado ...
CHAPTER 21 PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
Tuesday, November 2
Our big news is that Janis had her billfold lifted by pickpockets last night. These guys were pros. We were in a big crowd of people getting onto a tram. The three pickpockets got in between Janis and me and blocked her way. When she pushed through them, they unzipped her purse and lifted the billfold. It had all her credit cards, driver's license, military ID, checks, the whole works. There was no cash at all in her billfold, and her passport was back in the room. Fortunately, she noticed it pretty quickly (too late to catch the guys, who had already gotten off), and we canceled the credit cards and checks within 30 minutes of the heist. One of the credit card people reported that the thieves had already tried to use at least one of the cards in an ATM but couldn't guess the PIN.
True to their advertisements, American Express is issuing her a new card today. My card and Janis’s card had different numbers, so mine is still good. Visa and MasterCard will be more of a pain. We now have no valid Visa/MasterCards with us, which will put a crimp on our spending ability. Unlike American Express, they have no offices that will issue new cards on the spot. Instead, they send new cards to our "home" address (one of Janis's friends in San Diego, who is a saint) in seven to ten days. Then we have to get the cards express mailed from San Diego to wherever we are in Europe. The whole process will take two to three weeks.
Our landlord told us that pickpockets are, unfortunately, very common here, but they're not too sophisticated. Most of the time they just want the cash, and won’t mess with stolen credit cards because they’re a bit of a hassle. So it looks like this theft may just be a pain in the ass and not a disaster.
In the spirit of "Other than that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”, here are the rest of our adventures before we met up with the pickpockets.
We drove up to the town of Terezin to visit Theresienstadt, the infamous Nazi concentration camp. The camp is inside an old brick fortification built in the mid-1700's that was pretty much abandoned by the time the Nazis rolled in. The place is largely unchanged since the end of the war. It has not been restored and there has not been much money for upkeep, either. Consequently, what you see is what was there during the war: the original wooden sleeping racks (no mattresses, of course), original sinks, original toilets (one each to serve 100 people), original barbed wire hanging from dilapidated posts ... "Chilling" is the best word to describe it. I walked around a corner and saw the entry gate with the Nazi slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work Makes You Free") painted over it, and my blood ran cold. They have a museum and quite a number of displays such as prison clothes, drawings, tools, utensils, and other everyday items (all original of course), as well as photos of camp officials and many prisoners, which put a very human face to it all. Theresienstadt was primarily a transportation waystation and not an extermination camp like Dachau or Auschwitz; still, over 150,000 people went through there in four years and several thousand died. The town of Terezin is a very short walk away from the fortress grounds. During the war, the Nazis emptied the town of its regular inhabitants, crammed it full of Jewish prisoners, threw a quick coat of paint on everything, and fooled the Red Cross into thinking that Theresienstadt was a model "retirement" community. Once the Red Cross left, the Nazis went right back to loading the prisoners onto trains bound for the gas chambers. We left Theresienstadt with a new appreciation of what people can do to people. (I wrote this before the pickpockets, so now we've got still another new appreciation of what people can do to people).
Eating out in Prague is bliss. The other night we each had a salmon steak, with salad, delicate potato croquettes, fresh bread, wine (Janis) and beer (me), and two crepes the size of dinner plates with ice cream, fruit, thick whipped cream (the real stuff, not Cool Whip), and chocolate topping. Total cost for everything, including tip: $15. Eating here is cheap and almost all the restaurants we've found are excellent.
Janis wrote some observations prior to the pickpockets:
Okay, so I know I have to live with some inconveniences like no TV, no radio, and no phone in the room, but these towels are ridiculous. What this penzion gives us for bath towels, I would call “kitchen” towels, and very old, worn-out ones at that. I guess you could say they have a two-fold purpose: they dry you (sort of), and they exfoliate your skin.
I’ve gotten used to having to pay to use the toilet (however, better have the right change or you're "piss" out of luck), but I hate paying for recycled toilet paper that also exfoliates! Thanks but no thanks. Prague’s buses are relics but, hey, they work and they are pretty much on time. Trams, for the most part, have single rows of seats; after that you stand and you best hold tight as they aren't known for a smooth ride. The BEST thing about the tram is that the seats are heated. It helps heal the raw skin on your bottom from all that exfoliating, and I ask you, could you want anything more for thirty cents than to ride for an hour and a half to anywhere the bus, tram, or underground goes to? (Skip's note: Well, you might want to have your own bodyguard).
The Czechs have discovered hair coloring in a big way, and the women dress and use makeup in a very up to date way. I mean, in ten years they go from Communism to Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Nina Ricci, and Hermes. Really, they’ve grown leaps and bounds in a very short period of time. The guy that owns the internet place we've been using was born here in Prague and then lived in South Africa. After the fall of communism he returned (as according to him SoAfrica is "going down the tubes"; well, he's white so you can figure why he feels that way) to open this business. He says most of the changes in the Czech Republic are cosmetic only and the bureaucracy is as bad as ever, but who knows.
Hey, they even have ice here, unlike some of the other "first world" places we've visited.
CHAPTER 21 PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
Tuesday, November 2
Our big news is that Janis had her billfold lifted by pickpockets last night. These guys were pros. We were in a big crowd of people getting onto a tram. The three pickpockets got in between Janis and me and blocked her way. When she pushed through them, they unzipped her purse and lifted the billfold. It had all her credit cards, driver's license, military ID, checks, the whole works. There was no cash at all in her billfold, and her passport was back in the room. Fortunately, she noticed it pretty quickly (too late to catch the guys, who had already gotten off), and we canceled the credit cards and checks within 30 minutes of the heist. One of the credit card people reported that the thieves had already tried to use at least one of the cards in an ATM but couldn't guess the PIN.
True to their advertisements, American Express is issuing her a new card today. My card and Janis’s card had different numbers, so mine is still good. Visa and MasterCard will be more of a pain. We now have no valid Visa/MasterCards with us, which will put a crimp on our spending ability. Unlike American Express, they have no offices that will issue new cards on the spot. Instead, they send new cards to our "home" address (one of Janis's friends in San Diego, who is a saint) in seven to ten days. Then we have to get the cards express mailed from San Diego to wherever we are in Europe. The whole process will take two to three weeks.
Our landlord told us that pickpockets are, unfortunately, very common here, but they're not too sophisticated. Most of the time they just want the cash, and won’t mess with stolen credit cards because they’re a bit of a hassle. So it looks like this theft may just be a pain in the ass and not a disaster.
In the spirit of "Other than that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”, here are the rest of our adventures before we met up with the pickpockets.
We drove up to the town of Terezin to visit Theresienstadt, the infamous Nazi concentration camp. The camp is inside an old brick fortification built in the mid-1700's that was pretty much abandoned by the time the Nazis rolled in. The place is largely unchanged since the end of the war. It has not been restored and there has not been much money for upkeep, either. Consequently, what you see is what was there during the war: the original wooden sleeping racks (no mattresses, of course), original sinks, original toilets (one each to serve 100 people), original barbed wire hanging from dilapidated posts ... "Chilling" is the best word to describe it. I walked around a corner and saw the entry gate with the Nazi slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work Makes You Free") painted over it, and my blood ran cold. They have a museum and quite a number of displays such as prison clothes, drawings, tools, utensils, and other everyday items (all original of course), as well as photos of camp officials and many prisoners, which put a very human face to it all. Theresienstadt was primarily a transportation waystation and not an extermination camp like Dachau or Auschwitz; still, over 150,000 people went through there in four years and several thousand died. The town of Terezin is a very short walk away from the fortress grounds. During the war, the Nazis emptied the town of its regular inhabitants, crammed it full of Jewish prisoners, threw a quick coat of paint on everything, and fooled the Red Cross into thinking that Theresienstadt was a model "retirement" community. Once the Red Cross left, the Nazis went right back to loading the prisoners onto trains bound for the gas chambers. We left Theresienstadt with a new appreciation of what people can do to people. (I wrote this before the pickpockets, so now we've got still another new appreciation of what people can do to people).
Eating out in Prague is bliss. The other night we each had a salmon steak, with salad, delicate potato croquettes, fresh bread, wine (Janis) and beer (me), and two crepes the size of dinner plates with ice cream, fruit, thick whipped cream (the real stuff, not Cool Whip), and chocolate topping. Total cost for everything, including tip: $15. Eating here is cheap and almost all the restaurants we've found are excellent.
Janis wrote some observations prior to the pickpockets:
Okay, so I know I have to live with some inconveniences like no TV, no radio, and no phone in the room, but these towels are ridiculous. What this penzion gives us for bath towels, I would call “kitchen” towels, and very old, worn-out ones at that. I guess you could say they have a two-fold purpose: they dry you (sort of), and they exfoliate your skin.
I’ve gotten used to having to pay to use the toilet (however, better have the right change or you're "piss" out of luck), but I hate paying for recycled toilet paper that also exfoliates! Thanks but no thanks. Prague’s buses are relics but, hey, they work and they are pretty much on time. Trams, for the most part, have single rows of seats; after that you stand and you best hold tight as they aren't known for a smooth ride. The BEST thing about the tram is that the seats are heated. It helps heal the raw skin on your bottom from all that exfoliating, and I ask you, could you want anything more for thirty cents than to ride for an hour and a half to anywhere the bus, tram, or underground goes to? (Skip's note: Well, you might want to have your own bodyguard).
The Czechs have discovered hair coloring in a big way, and the women dress and use makeup in a very up to date way. I mean, in ten years they go from Communism to Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Nina Ricci, and Hermes. Really, they’ve grown leaps and bounds in a very short period of time. The guy that owns the internet place we've been using was born here in Prague and then lived in South Africa. After the fall of communism he returned (as according to him SoAfrica is "going down the tubes"; well, he's white so you can figure why he feels that way) to open this business. He says most of the changes in the Czech Republic are cosmetic only and the bureaucracy is as bad as ever, but who knows.
Hey, they even have ice here, unlike some of the other "first world" places we've visited.
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