I should tell you the joke I heard and that is how do you pick up Russian soldiers that are hitchhiking,,,Bumpity Bump…..you run them over! This is the true friendship between the Russian people and the Czechs. Crappy weather so went to play some mini golf. Out for lunch of goulash and a beer and after that the city went dead. Strange for a Saturday afternoon. I decided to scout out my hitchhiking spot for tomorrow which was exactly where the truck driver that drove me to Prague left me. I walked into town and saw a Kino but the movie was not with Czech subtitles but was dubbed. I walked home but soon I saw a bunch of young people hanging around a building that had a sign “Discotek”. I used my press card to enter and saved a bit of money that way. I write for a British publication “Nomad” that features offbeat travel destinations. Usual Eastern Euro disco scene. Loud mouthed DJs. Mostly British top 40 but if the party censors had been at work there were more than a few subversive lyrics to offend Communist morality. I had two pineapple juices and left after an hour. I had dinner and it was disgusting. The potatoes were black. The meal sums up Czechoslovakia namely that it is mediocre in terms of people, hitching, food, lodging, beer and scenery. I had a beer at the campground with an American living in Berlin who was touring Czechoslovakia on a motorcycle for 4 days. We talked about Berlin and our travels.
“Travels to a Different Time” : 12June1975: Prague, Czechoslovakia: Getting Ready for My Polish Invasion
Up at 07:30 for a smash up breakfast of 3 eggs, rolls, butter, cheese, cucumber and orange juice. A mouthful from total gluttony? I don’t think so as I am walking great distances daily sometimes with knapsack on my back. It was my day to get my Polish visa. I took the # 15 tram into town and it took me some time to find the Polish Embassy. My visa was expensive at $10. I find this greedy and overly expensive. I picked up the visa and celebrated with a mammoth sausage and some ice cream. I walked around Prague for a couple of hours and took a very crowded tram back to the campground. I had a shower and washed a batch of clothes and hung them out to dry on a tree. I sat out in the sun and planned my ten-day trip to Poland. Buns, ham and a beer for dinner. After that it was some mini golf. I have lowered my score to 52 down from 56 the other night. Quite amusing that the Czechs don’t know the proper way to hold a golf club but it doesn’t seem to matter. They are having a lot of fun.
“Travels to a Different Time” : 11June1975: Prague, Czechoslovakia: Beer and Goulash Indigestion: Settling My Polish Affair
Last night’s beer and goulash did not sit well overnight so I am suffering from the indigestion blues. I was in bed last night at 20:30 and woke up at 02:30 and tried to fall back to sleep but gave up at 04:30 and washed up and packed ready to hit the road at 05:00 but breakfast was not served until 06:00 so found a communist rag “Morning Star” full of blathering propaganda about the British Communist’s view of the word. I am isolated when I travel in Eastern Europe. I have no idea about what is going on the world and the Morning Star is a source of lies and untruths but funny to read as it is so stupid. At six I went to buy a litre of milk to have with my breakfast of bread, ham, cheese and mineral water. Headed out to a tram after breakfast and yet another gruelling walk after to the highway. I got a good ride with a slowpoke who was going to Prague but he had a two hour stop to make on the way. He left me off and said if I was still there when he returned he would give me a lift. Soon after I was picked up by a small truck going all the way to Prague. Thank the blessed Virgin Mary! There was even some on and off sun for the first time in many days. The pollution is bad in Czechoslovakia and there seems a haze of dark diesel fumes on the highways. Hitchhiking in this country is very difficult. We stopped for lunch and the driver insisted he pay for it. LIVER! Yecch but I ate it. I am sure Mom would say nutritious. At 2 he left me off at the outskirts and said take the tram to the end of the line and there would be camping. What he forgot to say I had to walk a kilometre to the camping. For Eastern Europe the facilities were amazing! Clean and hot water! All for $1 a night. After setting up my tent and working up a sweat I headed into Prague to pick up my mail and find out about a Polish visa. There was only a letter from my Nanny Stephen.
Prague’s streets are swarming with people. I felt like I was in a documentary about overpopulation. You seem to be bumping into people all the time. The lineups for everything were like rural Romania. A line up of 20 people for ice cream! My Polish affair would have to be settled tomorrow as the Polish embassy was closed. I walked around checking the city out and had dinner at a buffet. Not as good as in Brno but edible. I walked halfway home buying some food for breakfast and took the tram the rest of the way to the campground. Had a hot shower then went to play some mini golf. After so much walking I am bushed. There are not that many Westerners here.
RKS Wine: “Christmas in April” Part Two: Stag’s Hollow “Tragically Vidal”
Vidal is an unremarkable grape that can shine as a second Icewine cousin to Riesling. It is by acreage the number one white grape in Ontario and #15 in British Columbia. When I saw the Vidal wine sent to me by Stag’s Hollow called “Tragically Vidal” I winced hoping the results in the bottle were not tragic! Stag’s Hollow isn’t afraid to try anything new!
I am fearing a Stag’s Hollow crash and burn with this wine however my fear was allayed by the top-quality wines they produce. So fingers crossed it is time to be brave and try this Tragically Vidal!
It has a platinum colour. On the nose deep in its bouquet there is musk melon with honey, peach, ginger, Croatian vanilla wafer cookies and a tad of almond paste. This common grape is reaching a degree of pedigree for aromatics. On the palate it is slightly and refreshingly off dry. The residual sugar of 13.5 g/l is offset by a moderate acidity or is the fruit offsetting the acidity? Look carefully and you can see a microscopic fizz. The musk melon dominates the palate and there is a coating of honey and a bit of bittersweet Minneola orange. The finish is surprisingly long and thick.
My conclusion is that Stag’s Hollow has given the mundane Vidal a new and more positive outlook. The acidity rather wipes out my initial thoughts of off dry. In fact I am prone to saying this is a wine that pairs well with food and is best consumed with food. Although this is no Basque Txakoli white it would suit Halibut (or Fogo Island Hand Line Cod) poached in a white wine and tarragon sauce or grilled sardines, Spigola or Orata. The winery suggests and I agree the following food matchings are good; Pork, chicken, duck, fruit salads, foie gras, Cajun/Creole dishes, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Mexican and Chinese food and coconut curries.
Three different vineyards produced the grapes and there is 4% of Orange Muscat added in.
Drink by the end of 2022. The winery suggests drink through to 2027 but with still whites with acidity I say drink while fresh.
Given only 630 cases were produced it may be best for those east of Alberta to order from the winery.
(Stag’s Hollow 2021 Tragically Vidal, Okanagan Valley BC VQA, Stag’s Hollow Winery, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia, $20, 750 mL, 12.5%, RKS Wine Rating 91/100).
“Travels to a Different Time” : Latest Song in the Czech 1975 Hit Parade
The Latest Song on the 1975 Czech Hit Parade
I love those Russians like my mother but even more
they prevented us from being a capitalist whore
We love them so ooh ooh ja ja ja!
I want to be a star for The Party
Like my deceased comrade Uncle Marty
The Russians liberated us in 1945
and since then we’ve become a bee in their loving hive
In 1968 capitalist roaders brainwashed us thinking we were strong
thank God Russia taught us we were wrong
They tell us what to do ooh ooh ooh
We love you so Mother Russia
If anyone dares start gnawing at your Empire
you’ll show your ire
with rockets, rapes and pillaging fire
like you did in Berlin in 45
let’s put our patriotism in overdrive oh ooh oh
I love my comrades in Russia
they are stronger and wiser
we love to listen to our CSSR party
they are yours and mine
and led by Gustáv Husák they take the Russian line
Oh to be a satellite under Russia’s mite
is like being under a joyous bright light and My mama and papa love the times
because it says so in all those big red signs
We’ll soon forget 1968
as they have eliminated everyone we could possibly hate
We are the CSSR at least so says the party in the USSR that tells us we are
Mother Russia we love you so ooh ooh ja a ja
Comrade Robert K Stephen (approved by the Czech Ministry of Holy Mother Russia Friendship)
:Travels to a Different Time” : 11June1975: Brno, Czechoslovakia: Bartering a Cesar Chavez Farmworkers Button for 4 Beers
Woken up by the maid thinking I was leaving today. But that is not the case. At least clean sheets and towels out of the inconvenience. What a luxury but I am paying for it so enjoy. I walked around the factory district many of these factories are old and dingy looking. Czechoslovakia has always been an industrialized country. Capitalism or communism there will always be factories. Are the workers happier in a communist country? I walked into a tavern in the factory district full of workers after their shift. It was noisy and packed. As I sat down a Czech guy came and started talking to me but I simply couldn’t understand what he was saying. He wanted to give me 4 beers for my “Support the Farmworkers Button”. A good deal and the beer was exceptionally good. Rather bloated I walked into the train station to a buffet and had some goulash. Buffets are places where you eat standing up and are cheaper than cafeterias. The food in Czechoslovakia is better than in Romania and Bulgaria but there have been a few rough spots! The proles will be found in buffets. Back home at 8 am and listened to music for the bar below. Off to Prague tomorrow.
“Travels to a Different Time” : 10June1975: Brno, Czechoslovakia:
As I was in bed at 20:00 up at 07:00 woken up by workmen banging in the hall. I dressed and washed my face and headed down to the breakfast room for ham, cheese, fresh rolls and mineral water. It was a delicious breakfast. As it looked like rain today I booked another day at my hotel, Hotel Slovan. Whatever the weather I will depart tomorrow, by train if it is raining by hitching if it is not raining. The suburban part of Brno is full of crumbling apartment buildings but there are plenty of parks and greenery. I also went up to Špilberk Castle which had been used as a prison for many years and the Nazis were in the process of converting it into an extermination camp before the Russians “liberated” Brno. Walked back into town looking for that elusive delicious Czech beer. I went to a tavern and it was just the right size and nicely decorated. Pilsner and dark beer, both rather flat, were 60 cents each. Went to a buffet place and had a huge plate of rice with some unidentifiable meat, a roll, two pastries and a bottle of mineral water for 60 cents. I took the tram home to my luxury suite at the Hotel Slovan.
“Travels to a Different Time” : 9June1975: Brno, Czechoslovakia: Propaganda Blaring from Loudspeakers in the Street: Where are the Brain Police?
Up at the usual time to the 22cnd cloudy day in a row. I seriously wonder if the weather is going to cause crop failure in Eastern Europe. I packed up and bought a full breakfast at a supermarket and ate in my room and headed out on the road. Gruelling after gruelling walk. Fortunately, as a belting rainstorm moved in I just got a lift in a truck all the way to Brno where I checked out for rooms but just my luck there was a welding convention in town! I went to a CEDOOK tourist office and they really dug in and found me a room in a B class hotel for a staggering sum of $8.50 including breakfast. As I walked to the hotel loudspeakers on the street were hammering away with propaganda. This is heavy stuff with propaganda posters, patriotic music and propaganda read out praising CSSR/USSR “friendship”. Where are the brain police? The room was nice but small. I walked all over Brno eating as I walked about. Chicken rice, beer, dates, ice cream and pastries etc. Then I sat down at a café for a beer before I headed home. I could hardly walk I was so stiff. I had my first hot shower in 10 days! Heaven.
“Travels to a Different Time: 8June1975: Olomouc, Czechoslovakia: Russian “Friendship”
Had a nice warm sleep and a good one until 09:30. Bread, honey, chocolate wafer cookies and mineral water for breakfast. I washed after and lamented there is no hot water in this place. I am overdue for a shower. Everywhere you go in this town it is coated with propaganda. Those disgusting Russian pigs the biggest insult to Marxism and communism. I’d like to rip up the idiotic posters proclaiming Russian Czech friendship. They stress this friendship endlessly but I think no one, even the communist elite, believe it. It is hoax. What friendly country invades another? I do my best not to become angry about these lies. There are plenty of Russian soldiers here showing their “friendship” to the Czech people!
Dizzy from the excess propaganda I went for a couple of ice creams and a Pepsi. Soup and sausages for dinner. I watched the clock in the town square strike 6. There are figures that stick out and are supposed to do wonderful things but half were not working. Home early and read then off the bed at 20:00 hours.
I should say I have no beef with the Russian people as many of them suffer under the yoke of their distorted communism. I have met many good people behind the Iron Curtain who detest the Russians and the communist political system. So my beef is with the Russian government that exercises muscle power over its rude “friends”. Their Czech lackies are even bigger traitors.
Photo http://www.guk-prague.cz
“Travels to a Different Time” : 7June1975; Olomouc, Czechoslovakia: Squealing Russian Car; A Friendly Czech Army Officer
I woke up early and it was so cold I just wanted to stay in a warm sleeping bag. I forced myself up, packed and dismantled my tent. I had some salami, chocolate cookies and mineral water for breakfast. I took the bus to Mikulas and wanted to get off at the highway but the conductor said no. Yes a big effort to let me off eh? I walked back to the highway in this crappy Czech weather. Cold, dark and windy. It was so cold that in addition to my jacket I had to drape a blanket over me. They are swimming in Greece and I am in the snow. I got a lift with a speed maniac in a Russian car that had tires that squealed loudly at every turn. These Russian cars ain’t so good! He took me out of his way to a good spot on the highway and I had two girls walk by me and they were too close to me when they put their hands out for a lift. They got the first lift and then I got a lift with an army officer, a captain. Thank goodness he was a Czech and not a Russian army officer. I don’t trust these Russians. They invaded Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. He had a new Yugoslav car and the ride was smooth. Beautiful scenery up here in the Tatra Mountains. He had his young son sitting in the back. We stopped for a Pepsi. He drove me around to a few hotels and found a cheap one at $6.20. Cold water only but spotless and right near the city and the highway to my next destination Brno. It is simply too cold to camp. I had a good dinner and a flat beer for $1.75. I returned to my room and read for a bit and slept in a warm room. Tomorrow is Sunday and I am sure everything will be closed.
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