21st Dec 1969

Hotel Alcron

Praha

Sunday 21^st dec

Dear Mum and Dad,

It was lovely to speak to you today (cost £2 so not too expensive). I have decided to phone you on Christmas day as I expect it will be very busy and difficult to get a call. If you could help us get our personal affects shipped over it would be very good....................... (Some admin details of I.C.L.)

Please can you send?

Record player

Records

Cine projector

Films

And buy me 2 table clothes (I will send you the money)

2 large boxes of Kleenex

4 packets of normal tampax

2x 2inch paint brushes.

I am afraid this is putting you to a great deal of trouble but it would be difficult to organise from over here

We have had a good weekend but now Tony has decided he has the flu. So I have put him to bed and rubbed his chest with Vic so I hope he will be OK.

Yesterday we went round Prague castle which was extremely interesting- you will enjoy visiting it when you come. The gallery was particularly well laid out so you see the paintings at their best.

When is Dad’s holiday? We will book you into the Fifield’s bed and breakfast. I think on reflection it would be better to fly here as it is so cheap and the journey by car would take about 4 days and cost as much as the air fare if you included the B&B and take up time from your holiday.

If you fly to Prague airport one of us could meet you as it is not far from the city. There is quite a lot to see and do around Prague and we could always fly to Brno or Bratislava and go out with the DAF. I am not sure when our holiday will be yet but we could probably arrange some time off.

We could probably put someone else up as well but not in luxury. We will be able to tell better when we are settled. I won’t give you our new address until everything is settled. We only saw the flat yesterday afternoon.

On Saturday we went to see a film thinking it was a British film with Czech subtitles.  However we missed the start being fooled by the cinema showing starting at 5.30 and finishing at 10 pm without a break. Instead we saw a Yugoslavian film- not sure what it was called-but it was very enjoyable and it was easy to see what was happening from the peoples’ expressions.

Today we stayed in bed all morning and caught up with our sleep. After dinner we went a lovely drive to Slapy Dam- a Dam on the Vltava about 20 miles from Prague. There are beautiful hills around with pine forests. The sun was shining making the snow look really beautiful.

Give my love to Nanny. Hope she is better soon

Love Gillian and Tony

Tony got worst and was ill over the Christmas we spent in Prague. All the other I.C.L. employees shot home until after the New Year and we were left alone in Prague. Tony bought me some books for Christmas from a wonderful (and rare at that time) bookshop, just close to the junction of Stepanska, the road where the Alcron was situated, and Wenceslas Square in central Prague. I bought him some paints. The bookshop had a limited selection of English books so I was thrilled to find a Robert Graves I had not read- Count Belerius. It ended up propping up the sink in Sofia, but that’s another story for later. We also bought some picture books of Prague and one of horses.

Under the communist regime Christmas was not celebrated. It was strange not to have the usual Christmas shops and decorations. New Year was the more important festival when carp was eaten rather than turkey. Great tanks of fish appeared outside the shops and you could chose your carp and take it home where most families put the fish in the bath until they were needed. The clean bath water was also said to improve the taste of the fish be reducing the ‘earthy’ flavours from the fish grubbing around in river silt.