Czech. Shoe replicas.

2012. Travel in two parts. Part 1: Prague.

It's nice to get up like this one morning, get in a taxi, get to Sheremetyevo airport and fly to the Czech Republic. It is especially nice when you have only rubber slippers, a warm jacket, a pair of underwear and a printout with passwords. There is nothing more in a small backpack. What for? For everything else there is a plastic card.

After years of traveling, Aeroflot finally gave me the promised bonus. Tickets Moscow-Prague-Moscow cost 100 euros.

Coming out of the doors of the Prague-Ruzyne airport, I approached a line of taxi cars. “To the subway,” I said to the barker. He answered in crowns, then in euros. “Expensive, like ours,” I thought, and moved to the buses. On the way, a private taxi driver caught me and offered me half the price. “Yeah, like us,” I smiled.

Herna means "casino" in Czech. In Russian, it is generally heard correctly, because you can’t beat the casino.

The Czech Republic surprised me with a pleasant original mixture of Slavic and German customs. Everything is clean and tidy like German, but in the same time there is warmth familiar to us: in communicating with people, in architecture, in the arrangement of the transport system...

Metro station Českomoravská. I get off through one at Kolbenova, where the local flea market is located.

For example, a standard travel ticket is valid for 90 minutes on any form of transport in an urban area. I bought it - and ride with any transfers both on top and underground. There are no barriers, the passage to the metro and other transport is free; no ticket - go without a ticket (of course, the controllers will catch you). But such a system allowed us not to miss the plane when we took the subway one stop for free.

The word "potraviny" for a Russian person sounds like "poisoned" in English but means just products, nothing dangerous. 

And here is another example: sitting in a restaurant on the central square, I asked the waiter about the toilet. “But I don’t know myself,” he answered me, “I work here for the first day.” "Well, let's go and find it! - I suggested, - it will be useful for you to know, ”and we went. The restaurant in the basement of the central town hall had an intricate internal structure - many passages and rooms at different levels, each of which had a table. There are such restaurants in many European cities and they are very interesting. We ran through the catacombs and finally found a toilet. Female. “Ah, okay,” the waiter said and went to the women's, apparently he really wanted to. “Ah, okay,” I thought, I was too lazy to look for men's toilet alone in the labyrinths.

The Charles Bridge.

My goal in Prague was a flea market. A deserted metro station on the outskirts, a fenced-off area, the entrance to which is for 1 euro. However, as well as to the Vernissage in Moscow, you can go from the back side for free, as I found out a little later.

To my regret, there was little trade during the war, and the prices were not expensive, of course, but not interesting either. For example, for 1000 crowns, a drum magazine for the MG-34 was sold in perfect condition, blued, with acceptance marks. In rubles, this is 1,700 rubles, plus transportation (to carry this thing in a backpack throughout the Czech Republic and then on a plane). A collector who has an MG and does not have just such a drum will be interested. And for me, as a businessman, this situation was depressing ...

Above: a board with the faces of those who steal from the market.

Below: general view of the market.

The range of equipment and clothing on the market was limited. The only thing that pleased was the abundance of edged weapons on free sale. Bayonets of different models of the 20th century and older, new and beaten by time. But again, they were given not for nothing, and there was no way to take them out of the Czech Republic by plane. By the way, at Sheremetyevo airport, a practice has begun to selectively check the luggage of those who have arrived when they exit through the green channel.

Various authentic goods.

At the flea market I was met by my girlfriend, who arrived today from a dance camp in Brno, and military Prague ended for me.

Salted pretzels for beer. While waiting for the beer, he took a bite and hung it back. I looked closely, I realized: many people did the same before me!

Part 2. Vary.

Нужно сказать, что поездкой в Карловы Вары я обязан в конце концов моей девушке. Ещё в Москве я купил билеты Прага — Карловы Вары на сайте чешских железных дорог. Тогда я не мог определиться, из какого города нам нужен билет: Prague, Praga, Praha, Prag? Все 4 города были доступны для выбора. Оказалось, что это одно и то же: Прага. Позже в Праге я даже встречал плакаты, обыгрывающие произношение имени города на разный лад. А вот оценить расписание поездов сил тогда не хватило. На деле оказалось, что если мы используем эти билеты, то мы опоздаем на самолёт в Москву. Я очень расстроился, ведь для удачной поездки в плане не хватило всего 1 часа…

It must be said that in the end I owe my girlfriend a trip to Karlovy Vary. Back in Moscow, I bought Prague-Karlovy Vary tickets on the website of the Czech Railways. Then I could not decide which city we need a ticket from: Prague, Praga, Praha, Prag? All 4 cities were available for selection. It turned out that this is the same thing: Prague. Later in Prague, I even came across posters that played with the pronunciation of the city's name in different ways. But then there was not enough strength to evaluate the schedule of trains. In fact, it turned out that if we use these tickets, then we will be late for the plane to Moscow. I was very upset, because only 1 hour was not enough for a successful trip in the plan ...

Czech toy trains were very popular in the USSR. It turns out they are real almost like toys.

My girlfriend went to the information desk, chatted there for a couple of minutes, and soon we left for Karlovy Vary on a bus that cost 1.5 times cheaper, ran hourly and late and drove to the place 2 hours faster (1.5 hours versus 3 ,5 by train). What the train did on the way for these 2 hours - I still do not know. Immediately, via Wi-Fi at the airport, she booked us a room in a private house in Karlovy Vary. I just had to kiss her...

I found Vlastislav in his workshop on the outskirts of the city. Barked at by his cute white schnauzers, I went inside and shook his hand. In the workshop there were several pairs of original boots (in particular mountain and tropical German boots), skins hung, there was a rack with blocks, a cabinet with accessories and two sewing machines: one modern for assembling the top, and the other of the late 19th century for stitching of thick skins.

In the photo above, the pads and the car.

In the photo below, the skin, tools and patterns.

Vlastislav showed a lot of different nails for shoes, but the German-made nails of the early sample (with two paws and a hexagonal head) left half a box. Two others from under them stood empty. Vlastislav gets nails at flea markets in Europe via the Internet, there are less and less original nails.

In the photo above, on the left are nails for mountain boots (with one pointed leg), on the right for marching boots (with two legs).

Below are samples of original and remake shoes.

My shoes and boots were ready by this time, I took a large box with them under my arm and went outside to wait for a taxi.

Above are ready-made boots, below are patterns and Vlastislav, who leaned out of the window to see me off.

There are many Russians in Karlovy Vary. This resort was popular during the Soviet era as one of the most western in the socialist camp, and now Russians continue to come here out of inertia. Shops have signs "Shuby" and "Porcelain" in Russian. There are also proposals to send all this expensive rubbish to Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan by mail, so as not to burden wealthy buyers.

I ran through all 15 springs and drank from each. I liked the 15th "Snake" spring: due to its acceptable temperature (only 30 degrees Celsius versus 50-60 for others) and high CO² content, it looked like ordinary soda, only it flowed - endlessly!

One of the galleries of sources and a huge advertising bottle of Becherovka next to it.

At the 11th source of "Freedom", a ruddy, non-poor and middle-aged vacationer asked me in Russian: “Do you know what this source is for?” "No," I replied, pouring water into my juice bottle to cool it down. “But everyone has their own testimony!” she warned. “I’m here for less than 24 hours,” I replied, “I have to try them in time, I don’t seem to have anything to treat. In general, my friends recommended the thirteenth to me. The woman laughed, the thirteenth spring in Karlovy Vary is called Becherovka.

"Snake" source and current date from flowers, updated daily.

Becherovka is a liqueur with 38% alcohol, which the pharmacist Josef Vitus Becher sold as a gastric remedy. The locals liked it so much that they arbitrarily began to increase the dose of the medicine. In 1841, Josef's son Johann Becher opened the production of the drink on an industrial basis. Becherovka became so popular that it was called the 13th spring (by that time there were only 12). And when another one (now "Knize Vaclav II") was opened, the local authorities did not dare to call it the 13th.

Advertising stand-bottle and the Becherovka Museum.

As I dozed off on the bus listening to local Czech pop music in my headphones, out of the corner of my eye I saw an ordinary white (village border) Krusovice road sign. “Great, it’s called like beer,” I thought through a dream. Small village houses, of which many have already passed. And then my eyes opened, and my hand reached for the pistol ... for the camera.

A huge building, and in front of it is the same building made of metal kegs with beer. Trucks loaded with barrels. So that's where it comes from, beer Krusovice!

I tried to return the unused train tickets Prague-Vary-Prague. The employee of the station said that I had cheap non-refundable tickets, and I could not see money for them. Surprisingly, the Czechs still returned the money to the card! Perhaps the letter that I wrote just before leaving to the general address of the Czech railways without any hope worked. The Czechs treated me carefully and kindly.

Author: Anton Volchkov

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