I read somewhere that our generations memory is getting worse and worse. It makes sense though, If we're not sure about something, we have our phones. No need to remember for ourselves.
Does that make my memory redundant?
I enjoy having memories. Anyway, i'm rambling, speaking of memories.
Last week I was all excited by Prague, a big, beautiful, bustling city that throws up something new and exciting around every corner. I was so grateful to get that weekend to explore the city, not only was it a total bonus as part of a conference I was attending but it provided the perfect contrast to my time in Nove Hrady the following week.
Nove Hrady, Czech for new castle, was the perfect host for the Newcastles of the World Conference 2014. The conference held every two years allows councillors, businessmen, young people and professionals from cities of Newcastle around the world to meet and share best practices on a range of issues from youth unemployment and opportunities, to culture and tourism.
So without further ado, lets start on Monday morning outside a hotel in the outskirts of Prague. Myself and the other UK delegates were picked up by a bus full of delegates from cities around the world and were driven the 3 hours to Nove Hrady, South Bohemia (one of two in Czech Republic).
We arrived in the quaint town to banners in the street and the most fabulous welcome gala, complete with classical concert, free mimosas, and a room full of new friends.
Tuesday morning was spent getting to know our work groups and the various Newcastles in attendance. We then had the opportunity to explore the town. I say town, we were told it was a town, but with less than 3000 people I found it hard to believe considering I live in a village of over 1000 people at home in England.
The town is truly beautiful and our evening was spent at the old castle where we were treated to an amazing medieval evening, complete with band, reenactments and a performance tour of the exhibits by students from a local high school.
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| Sometimes when you're in a castle you just need to pose and pout! |
Wednesday saw us getting down to some real work and discussing the issues most important in our areas. Of course we had to then take a few selfies before heading to the Austrian border and the iron curtain museum. Having studied the cold war from a primrily American perspective at college, getting the opportunity to hear about that period from people who grew up just miles from the border was fascinating and a highlight of my trip.
As Nove Hrady was practically walking distance from Austria we spent Thursday afternoon climbing Mandelstein hill. Given the beautiful sunshine we'd had the day before nobody worried too much about coats for the hike despite the day looking a little over cast. BIG MISTAKE - minutes after reaching the summit we were faced with torrential rain and halestones. 7 umbrellas between 80 people does not work well and pretty soon I'd decided to just suck it up and accept the wet walk back to the coach.
The rain kindly stuck around for Friday, but with a full day planned in Cesky Krumlov - a UNESCO world heritage site - I was not going to let it get me down. Despite the over cast sky the town lived up to its reputation as a page straight out of a fairytale. Gorgeous winding streets and a beautiful castle, surrounded by a softly flowing river and filled with hundreds of tiny toy stores selling hand crafted goods.
On the final day we were taken to the Nove Hrady in Eastern Bohemia on our return to Prague. If I had found our host town for the week small, this village was tiny. Although perhaps, even more beautiful. The majority of the surrounding land belongs to the castle's owners and they aim to maintain it as a site of natural beauty.
And to top it off, the grounds of the castle had the largest bike museum in the Czech Republic. A random but true fact, so... lets leave it here with a few photos of me and some bikes.
Wow, what beautiful pictures! Looks like a dream.
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