Prague Half Marathon
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2 April 2022
Prague is a beautiful Bohemian city on the Vltava river which I visited this week for the Prague Half Marathon held today. It was a cold day with snow flurries, i.e. great racing weather, and we ran the 21.1 kilometers mainly along the banks of the river through the city. My time of 2:00:57 was not my best but my right foot is still not 100% back from the injury in the Hilton Head Marathon and I am overweight. It's a constant struggle really, but that's life I suppose. Czechia is a wonderfully welcoming country and buildings everywhere are flying the Ukrianian flag in a show of solidarity. I can't believe that terrible war has gone on as long as it has, but I have hope that the Russian people will see Putin for who he is and get rid of him. Also to a lessor degree I saw the Tibeten flag and Hong Kong flags, including admonitions to Free Hong Kong. The Czechs, it seems, haven't forgotten what it's like to live under the occupation. The race began and ended in Jan Palach square, named for the student who protested by self-immolation the Soviets crushing the Prague Spring in 1968.
A monument now stands where Palach fell.
This week I've seen some incredible architecture, including libraries, castles, churchs, synagogues, towers, bridges, etc. Pictures of my sightseeing are linked in the header of this page. Prague also has roots in the Hapsburg Empire and I've enjoyed the symphony (Dvořák) and the opera so far. La donna è mobile seen in the actual context of Verdi's tragedy Rigaletto is entirely different than what I'd always thought was a lighthearted song! The gastronomie of the town based in meat and beer is definitely filling and for the most part quite good.
Svatováclavská vineyard has been in operation since 908.
