Everyone asked me if I went back to the U.S. for Christmas and New Year’s and when I said no and that my family came here, they assumed we spent our time in Praha. We spent Christmas in Ostrava and New Year’s in Brno and it was the most amazing family holidays I’ve had in a long time.
The Ostrava Christmas market was festive without the tourist insanity of Praha (and I do mean insanity. Most things close here from 23 Dec. through 26 Dec. but the Ostrava Slezsky castle was open! So was the art museum for precisely 2 hours in the afternoon.
It was with out a doubt the most relaxing Christmas I’ve ever had. With nothing really open, we had no choice but to sit at home, talk, eat, read, and watch movies. So nice.
One day we went to Olomouc. We visited the art museum, the astronomical clock, and several churches. Our train ride home was classic česky Dráhy: we were alone in our compartment. The lights didn’t really work, save a tiny dimness coming from one bulb. And there was no heat at all, on a cold December night. So it was like riding home in a cold, bumpy cave. It was also creepy since there was basically no one in the whole train car. Cooper found it enjoyable for some unknown reason.
We baked and frosted cookies with our meager resources and limited understanding of Czech foods and the metric system. A big highlight was seeing a local production of Jesus Christ Superstar, all in Czech with no subtitles.
New Year’s in Brno was like nothing we’d ever experienced. We did the usual castle tour and all the underground stuff – ossuary, labyrinth under the cabbage market. But we also had a special treat to see an Alfonse Mucha exhibit of both his advertisement art for the Paris theatre and various products and, more importantly, the Slav Epic. These are paintings the size of a house, beautifully done and awe-inspiring.
We also visited the museum of Romani culture which I’ve already seen but it was fun to see Cooper’s interest. She listened to the whole lengthy guided tour and also watched a lengthy documentary about Romani experiences during the Holocaust.
But it was the New Year’s fireworks that really took us off guard. It was an absolute drunken free-for-all. People surrounding Freedom Square drinking (guzzling?) champagne and others racing to the middle, lighting huge fireworks and running back out. Some were in shooting them over the crowds. Others went flying directly into the crowds. We each got hit by one, but not hurt, thankfully. It sure seemed like a place where someone would be sure to be injured and at least one house fire would occur. I was shocked the big Christmas tree didn’t go up in the flames. Police just stood on the periphery and watched the mayhem. It was fun though. This would never be permitted in the U.S. (including the fact that Cooper could drink legally here but not in the U.S.) and that somehow made it even a little more exciting.
Adventures in the Czech Republic 
Leave a comment