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Shannon Welborn (Holcomb)
Hello, Everyone, or, really, Ahoj!
After a year, I am finally back in Prague--just arrived yesterday. I'm staying in a hostel in a new neighborhood, Ziskov. My Prague friends are quite shocked--but I read envy--because they call my new neighborhood The Bronx. Yeah, some people I've seen really do have dirt under their fingernails. Some even wear brown corderoy--Jerry, where's SpellCheck!?!?!
Prague continues to change change change. I was first here in June 1990, just after The Wall. Have been here every year or so since. This trip, I'm going to as many of the sites which are documented from the time of my king--Charles IV--as possible. It was he who took Prague from a collection of some small villages and made PRAGUE! Built the famous bridge; founded the first university in East Central Europe--the next nearest was Bologna; founded the New Town and built city walls connecting all the previous parts; established Prague as an archbishopric and therefore sovereign; began building St. Vitus Cathedral; established two major markets for international trade; refurbished Prague Castle; and vineyards and fields for hops. It was also he who wrote the constitution for the German states--the Holy Roman Empire--that was in effect from the mid-fourteenth century until Napoleon dismantelled it in 1806. Some people are offended when I say My king--"You're an American! You don't have a king!"--but what do they know?
Charles's father's sister married the French king so Charles was reared from age seven 'til about age sixteen at the French court. He went next with his father to fight those unwinable wars in northern Italy--where he got the message: These wars are won for only one day, then it's back to the battlefield; stupid stupid stupid use of your life. So to Bohemia--today's Czech Republic--and building Prague. Thirty kms southwest of Prague Charles built Karlstejn Castle and, in it, the Chapel of the Holy Cross where the crown, the relics, the paperwork were kept. I'm working on a book about this chapel.
And, OH!, how happy I am to be back in my city. New York is my other city. I only keep an apartment in Washington. The streets of Prague, the streets of New York know my name: "Shannon! Come out and play!" In Washington there's not so much to do so one can get work done. That's useful sometimes.
I would love it if the rest of y'all would write an update on what you're doing. I'm kind of alone, here, but I even like the political rants. Lets me know what people are really thinking. The political and financial pages of the newspapers let us know: things are bubbling! What do you think about the Autumn of 2008?
Hope to hear for everyone. Only Mrs. Wiser will grade us and there's not much she can do, now, to enforce her rules.
-Shannon*
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