Visit to Glass Factory and Military Base

Today was our first field excursion and we went up to Northern Bohemia (2 hours north of Prague). I could have told you that the Czech Republic countryside was nice this morning, but we were all asleep on the bus there due our 6:45 am departure time.

At 9 a.m. we began our tour of Preciosa- "the masters of crystal" as they refer to themselves- given by the manager. Preciosa is one of the largest producers of decorative lighting fixtures in the world- the chandeliers we saw in their display room are both enormous and exquisite. The factory uses a combination of traditional handwork with modern technology, and has a both a catalog of items and custom designs lighting fixtures. Their chandeliers have made it to the Hilton, the Ritz, Trump buildings, Mosques in the Middle East, Las Vegas casinos, and even the Prague castle where Obama signed the Nuclear Arms Reduction Pact today. Did you see an ornate chandelier on TV today? They were a little out of our price range but (hi mom!) I think one would look great at home.


This factory was built under socialism and, therefore, has undergone enormous transformations post-communism. I won't give you a history lesson on what we learned, but it was very cool to see every step of the process as we toured the factory- I will never look at a chandelier the same. Our favorite part of the tour was the glass blowing room where they heat the ovens to 1250 degrees Celsius. These employees have to go through 3 years of special schooling to learn how to perfect their glass blowing! Due to Heather's skill, she was allowed to skip the training and jump right into it. Look at her go! The glass gets bigger,

and bigger!

and BIGGER!


Sadly, the man disposed of her masterpiece in the garbage immediately after. I guess she wasn't good after all.

On our drive to the military base, we HAD to stop at this hexagonal rock structure (because Frank- our professor- is a physical geographer). But it turned out to be awesome and beautiful weather to get some pics.







When we got to the town that holds the ex-military base (27% unemployment rate), we picked up the vice-mayor of the town to be our tour guide on the bus. They mayor might have been busy trying to get people jobs. The military base was constructed in 1947 by the Czechs and was then taken over by the Soviets in 1968 after the Prague Spring when the Soviet Union wanted demonstrate its communist presence. This base had a perfect geo-political location by being only 25 minutes to Berlin by airplane. When the Soviet tanks finally left, the Czechs decided that they no longer needed the base and have spent the last 20 years cleaning up the contamination. They have been digging up munition from the ground and attempting to clean up the kerosene spilled in the soil. There is enough kerosene in the soil to fly a plane from there to London, everyday, for 25 years. They spend millions and millions of dollars a year cleaning up. Talk about a lot of contamination. We also stopped in the town museum (a whopping one small room!) to see examples of all the munition they have pulled out of the ground.

On our bus tour, we drove around and saw all of the fields that were once shooting ranges. Since 97% of the population of this town was German post WWII, there were many abandoned villages here when all of the Germans had to leave. So the target practice was on all of these buildings. You can still see the ruins of some of the buildings but mostly expansive fields. So the question is- what does the town now do with this contaminated land? Part of the old shooting ranges have now become a national wildlife park, part has gone back to the agriculture it used to be, part is used for logging, pheasant hunting has become a pastime, and there are many bike paths throughout. You can even go paintballing here! Oh and, tons of war movies have been filmed here. A truly gorgeous area of the Czech Republic that they have labored tirelessly and spent billions to clean up.

Our tour also took us to the airstrip that holds 40 hangers that are disguised into the ground with soil and trees on top- sneaky in wartime. Nowadays, everyone parks their cars and goes rollerblading there. We saw some motorcycle drag racing and people rent out the hangers for storage. Apparently, when Frank was here 10 years ago, the bus driver's favorite thing to do was start at the end of the runway and drive 150 mph. But don't worry, parents, our bus driver wasn't in any hurry with us today.

Okay. That was exhausting to write. Can't wait to see my parents this weekend when they come to visit! Hope all is well at home!