Today was very, very busy! We were out the door by 8:30 AM and walked to the Cold War Museum. The museum, currently doubling as a hotel and a restaurant, contains a fallout shelter in the basement. While the shelter had the ability to protect 150 people for two weeks, it was never used for that reason. Instead, it was commonly used to spy on the people staying at the hotel, which ranged from journalists and diplomats of Czechoslovakia, Eastern Europe, and any of the Western countries.
After the museum, we walked to a bus that we took for about an hour to get to Skoda’s museum and factory. We received a lovely tour of a factory line and of a machine shop. The factory line was especially impressive in terms of industrial engineering capabilities and the intense focus on absolute speed and efficiency. Plus, the integration of humans and robots to work simultaneously showed just how Skoda manages to be such a strong force in the European automotive industry.
Finally, after Skoda, we took the bus back to our hotel, where we got changed and ate dinner before our last activity of the night: the soccer match of Sparta Praha vs Viktoria Plzen. It’s the biggest soccer game I’ve ever been to and was plenty of fun, even though the final score was 0-0.
Once again, we piled into a very crowded tram, stopped at a mini market to pick up some snacks for the next day, and headed home.
Today was probably my favorite day of the trip so far! The Cold War has always been one of my favorite history topics to study, Skoda was absolutely stunning, and the soccer game was great fun. I think the lowest point for me on the trip was the second or third day where I hadn’t yet recovered from the jet lag and felt extremely run-down all the time. But after pushing through a few days, I have recovered and am able to enjoy myself as much as possible. Looking forward to the next day!
Swanson School of Engineering 