May 30….Day in Prague

After a leisurely morning and breakfast in our apartment we got Mary all bandaged up, and got back in the car to head out for the Konopiste Castle, located about 45 minutes south of Prague. This Castle was built in 1350 but became famous for its last occupant, the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand. The Gothic castle has richly furnished apartments, collection of late Gothic paintings in the chapel, and a gallery of the Archduke’s artifacts relating to the cult of St. George. We were lucky to arrive right as the English speaking tour was leaving and enjoyed our cute guide who opened and closed doors between the 11 rooms that we were allowed to view. We started in the trophy room which contained more than 700 animals that he had mounted on the wall. All kinds of animals with plaques with the date and place of the kill were arranged very attractively. He is known to have killed over 275,000 in his career. Now don’t get excited…his servants arranged for the animals to stand in front of him while he stood or sometimes even sat in front of the animals and all he had to do was pull the trigger. Franz and his wife, Sophia were assassinated by a student in Sarajevo…this is the incident that sparked WWI. Franz was the richest of all the Hapsburgs because he inherited from his mother’s brother (from Italy) who had no children.

Franz married Sophia, a Bohemian countess who was beneath his station so none of his children were able to inherit the throne or even carry on his last name. However the 3 children (2 sons and 1 daughter) lived in the castle until 1922, at which time they were kicked out by the newly formed Czechoslovak government. The two sons were sent to concentration camps at the beginning of the war but survived, thanks to their brother-in-law who was a member of the Nazi Party. They died in 1962 having poor health resulting from the camps but the daughter lived until 1990. She died in Salzburg.

We drove back to the city for lunch and ate in the cellar of a Pizzeria, right around the corner from our hotel. After lunch we headed out for the Charles Bridge, hoping to get a better view today…but it was raining as we left. However, the rained stopped as we got to the bridge and were able to get some good pictures and enjoy the artists and their wares on the bridge. Of course we shopped and took another look at the clock before coming back to the hotel before dinner. We chose a typical Czech restaurant for dinner and decided to go all out….lots of dumplings, cabbage, various meats (Mary still eats only chicken) and of course, sauerkraut. But we could not bring ourselves to indulge in the apple strudel…home to reorganize for our trip to Heidelberg tomorrow. It promises to be warm and clear…TBTG!