The castle was wonderful, of course, and the cathedral was breathtaking, of course, but my favourite part was a separate palace we came across in the castle complex. After we climbed the hill to the castle grounds, we went into the first building where it looked like we could buy tickets. Our intention was to gain entrance to the main palace, but it turned out that we had stumbled upon Lobkowicz Palace. The Lobkowicz family used to be one of the richest and most powerful families in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). Then, the Nazis rolled in and took everything from them. They got all of their belongings back after WWII, only to have the Communists come in and take everything from them again. With only the coats on their backs, they sought asylum in the United States and became an average, middle class, immigrant family in Boston. Can you imagine? After the fall of Communisim, they were amazingly able to get everything back again. The most interesting article I read about them after our visit was called The Prince is a Pauper from Boston Magazine: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/the_prince_is_a_pauper/page1. If you have a moment, you really should read it. It tells the story of William Lobkowicz, who was born in Boston and had only heard stories about his family history from his father and grandfather. He took on the mission to find and claim all of his family's belongings (including palaces, castles, paintings, manuscripts, couches, silverware...you name it) and the difficulties and challenges he has had in knowing what to do when you inherit 12 run down castles and all of their contents. Really, really interesting.
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