Kutna Hora

Sue and I visited Kutna Hora two weekends ago with another teacher from the school.

The town was a silver-mining and coin-minting centre in the 15th century, and became very wealthy until the time of the thirty-years war. A combination of being on the losing side, and the end of the easily reachable silver led to its decline.

Prior to that the area first became famous as a place of pilgrimage. The nearby Cistercian monastery in Sedlec was reputed to contain a handful of earth from Calvary, and so many faithful were buried here from about 1278. The ossuary at Sedlec contains bones from about 40000 skeletons, some in large pyramidal mounds, and others in macabre sculptural arrangements. The present arrangement of the bones dates back to 1870.

The weather was fine and warm and we spent a lovely Autumn day there. We travelled by train and learned that the Czech railway system is more complex than we had imagined. On the way out we had to pay supplements as we were using an Inter-City train rather than the local train we had bought tickets for. On the way back we took a local train, but we inadvertently chose one which took a longer route. This meant we had to pay another supplement for the privilege of an extra 45 minutes journey with more stops.

I also managed to cause confusion at lunch due to my lack of Czech. I ordered two Mattoni mineral waters (or so I thought), but ended up with two Martinis. I now know that Mattoni is subject to the rules of Czech grammar just like any other noun, and that if I had ordered dve Mattonku I would have got what I wanted.

Some of the pictures I took at Kutna Hora and Sedlec can be found here.

Kofola

Kofola is the local soft drink here. It was first produced in the 1960s as the Communist world's answer to Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Somehow it managed to survive the entry of western soft-drink companies after 1989, and is still popular here.

I have had a bottle in the fridge for a few weeks, but hadn't got round to drinking it until yesterday. The taste is quite different from Coke and Pepsi, it is quite fruity and spicy. If you can imagine "mulled cola" it is that kind of taste.

I'm not sure how often I will drink it, it is a bit of an acquired taste in my opinion, and I don't think I will bother to acquire it. I'll stick to beer, mineral water or wine.

I Served The King Of England

"I Served The King Of England" is the title of a book by Czech author Bohumil Hrabal. I first read it five years ago when we visited Prague for a holiday. The book is a satirical look at the history of the Czech Repbulic through the eyes of a single character, a waiter called Dite.

The story starts in the 1930s with Dite working as a young waiter alongside a head waiter who appears to know everything. When Dite asks him how he knows things he replies enigmatically "I server the King of England". Dite's own big moment comes when the Emperor of Ethiopia makes an official visit to Prague, and by a combination of good luck and sharp wits Dite ends up serving his food. Thereafter whenever he impresses more junior waiters with his skill and knowledge he always explains his abilities with the phrase "I served the Emperor of Ethiopia".

From there his life follows the twists and turns of his country through the German annexation of the Sudetenland, the Second World War, the brief period of freedom before the Communist coup, and the purges against businessmen during the early Communist period.

For me the book gives a darkly-humorous overview of Czech history. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the country. Apparently a film of the book is due to released later this year.

Fighting identity theft (via unsolicited e-mail)

I was amused by a story in The Register about the fact that the Metropolitan Police's efforts to notify potential victims of identity theft. Apparently some of those notified are treating the mail from the Met as a hoax.
How long before the phishers start copying the Met's mail?