Europe Travel Diary 1987 11

Today was a shopping rather than sightseeing day. We took the Metro from the nearby Karlovo Náměstí station into the city centre and walked around the central zone. We spent some time exploring Kotva, a major department store with a spectacularly modern exterior (compared with its surroundings), with a well-lit interior and everything arranged in neat rows.

We also visited some bookstores, souvenir shops and postcard outlets before exploring Prague’s grandest thoroughfare, Wenceslas Square (also known as Václavské Náměstí). Named after Bohemia’s patron saint, St Wenceslas, this wide boulevard has witnessed many of Prague’s great historical events, protests, political demonstrations and public gatherings, especially during the Prague Spring of 1968 that provoked the Soviet invasion. It is about 750 metres long, divided down the middle by parkland gardens, ascending a hill to the grand building of the National Museum with an equestrian statue of St Wenceslas in front.

We took the Metro from Muzeum Station to Malostranská Station for a return to Golden Lane to buy some souvenirs, after which we returned to a park that the children had enjoyed the previous day, Karlovo Náměstí (Charles Park), with its iconic white statue of Czech feminist authoress Eliška Krásnohorská, across the road from St Ignatius Church (which we also entered to admire the intricate baroque architecture).

Di’s handbag had broken, so she tried to get it fixed, but to no avail. After this we went wandering to find a restaurant for dinner – one looked too classy, one was too “down-market”, but we managed to find another one and enjoyed a proper meal, despite having to endure all the smoking inside. We suspect it will be a long time before anti-smoking regulations can gain much traction in Czechoslovakia.

We returned to the flat for a fairly leisurely evening. Liesl had an earache, but it didn’t seem too serious. We wrote postcards, played with Tim and did some tidying up. I was in bed by 10:00pm, but Di didn’t get to bed until 11:45pm after doing some washing and having a shower.

Day 11

Prague

Thursday 23 July 1987