First up is a very old factory we met over 20 plus years ago who owned one hand worked bead press, one tumbler, one stringing machine and only one employee. They had started before WW1 with the Grandfather, handed down to the father (who is now 91) and now run by the son. They lost the business to the communists after WW2, and the father spent time in a gulag for anti social activities. (which means he did not agree with becoming communist).
They got their factory back in 1989 after the Velvet Revolution in a ruinous condition, which was when we met them. They now have 2 automatic pressing machines, a whole room of tumblers and fire polish machines and they farm out the stringing to a village 75 kilometers away with many old ladies who do the work at home. Their buildings are in excellent condition, and were in full production when we visited them today.
This is one of their very old pressing machines. Nothing used anymore, but on display for all to see.
We got to visit the father, who was still active in the business, and still upset about losing his factory to the communists in 1948 and having to buy it back.
Next a large bead factory in Zelezny Brod for more pressed shapes that originated from an old factory that went bankrupt in 2010 along with Jablonex, and of course we all bought beads.
We broke for lunch at a fish restaurant along the river that runs through Zelezny Brod.
After lunch we went into a small village to a husband and wife small bead factory started in 1998. They still threw the glass scraps onto the driveway like the old days. Yay, we’re still living in the old days and loving it!
Believe it or not, we were done by 3pm and returned to our hotel, exhausted and broke!
Well we all had enough for dinner at our hotel, with a special menu designed by the chef just for us.
Tomorrow we all head into Prague for connecting flights to Italy, The Netherlands and Riga, Latvia.
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May 30
We thought we would slip in seeing a castle before bringing the rest of our group back to Prague. So Guy, J-me and Pauline decided to visit a castle before heading to Prague. We went to Castle Sychrov.
While driving everyone back to Prague, we decided to stop along the way to have dessert in Czech Paradise on the top of the mountain, where a little restaurant is located.
After we brought everyone back to Prague, we went postcard and stamp buying at the Jablonec post office before checking in the car at the airport and checking into our hotel. J-me is a stamp collector (also called a philatelist), so she wanted to get a few special stamps. Those are no longer sold at the front counters, you have to ask for them. One of the employees walked up upstairs to sit with the person in charge of Filatelie (Philately) stamps and J-me went thru the books picking out ones she wanted for her collection.
After that we drove into Prague to the airport Hotel and had a nice dinner. Guy ordered a huge hamburger and the waiter told us that it was huge and could feed 2 people. Well, we never even finished it. It was almost 6 inches tall.
Tomorrow we, Guy & J-Me fly to Riga to begin our next adventure- planning our new bead tour - The Amber Tour of Latvia and Lithuania.
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