Skoda - Best Host Ever Part 2

I have never been on a trip with every detail worked out. I have been on tours with groups in New Zealand and when we did our service mission to Peru (See here for a post about that.) and several with choirs etc. but none were as organized and well planned out as this trip.

Skoda - Zaneta and Blanka were the perfect hosts. They had our trip scheduled out down to the minute. I was so impressed with everything and the way it went. From picking us up at the airport, having drivers ready at each point on our trip to taking care of every meal, it was all amazing. 

They met us at the Hotel the first night when we arrived to introduce themselves. They called around to all the hotels to find one that had an elevator for my mother. They purchased a wheelchair for my mom to use the entire time and then made it available at the Museum for other guests. They made sure we had a place to eat breakfast. They "cooked to order" and we felt well fed before starting our day. 

We went to the museum opening early and rehearsed how things were going to be. They had coat check, hors d'oeuvres, drinks and chairs waiting for us. They introduced us to all the key players and honored guests. They had name-tags. They had translators, seats reserved up front, flowers and photographers. 

After that, we had a guided tour through the museum with an English speaking guide. We got to view my mom's memorabilia in the display right near the front of the museum. When the tires on the wheelchair were a bit flat having not been used before, they called a maintenance man in with a compressor to fill them while she was in the chair. 

We then had a catered meal of traditional Czech food and expensive foods with some amazing deserts. A car drove us to our hotel where we changed and rested for a few hours and then Blanka and Zaneta took us out for an wonderful meal. We enjoyed getting to know about each other and learn about their families and share about ours. They let me use their company phone to call home and get the name of the man who borrowed the leather photo book and scanned the photos making us the colored CD's I spoke about in yesterdays post.  It was also a great opportunity for me to check on Princess 2 as she had been feeling sick that day and I advised her to contact the surgeon and get more pills to help with the nausea and pain.  

The next morning, we found out that Skoda had contacted the man that scanned the photos and put them on the internet like I shared yesterday. He was waiting for us when the car brought us to the Museum. It was so nice to meet him in person, visit with him and thank him for doing that which allowed us to find the colored pictures. Lukas was also there as he is the current historian of the company and he showed us the actual book of photos and also found the original "sign in" book for the company where my mother signed in the book and showed us that as well. When my mother was there fifty years ago, she actually went into the factory and shook hands with workers. 

We enjoyed lunch with them all and got to try another Czech dish which was something they called dumplings but was more like our stuffing with a dark gravy and what seemed like a chicken fried steak. 

Then Zaneta, a hired tour guide, my mother and I got a personal tour of the engine factory and one of the sheet metal pressing factories on there almost three Kilometers of grounds that host the many buildings used to build the cars. 

Since they are in production of their new models, they couldn't take us to the final production factory where most of the stuff is automated but we did see a video about that the night before and it was wonderful seeing the large models and presses. I was impressed with how clean and automated everything is. The presses are all encased in plastic rooms so that they can't run as long as someone is in the room which cuts down the risk of someone being hurt.

They also had magnetic stripes on the floor with little robots that follow the colored line and plays music so you can hear it coming. It goes about six miles an hour and stops if anyone gets within five feet or so. It takes parts from one part of the factory to another where they are needed as soon as it is full.   

I have to say that there wasn't one part of the company or my association with anyone that worked with the company, or for the company, that wasn't EXTREMELY impressive and on the ball. The independent contracted tour guide was VERY informative and was able to answer any question we came up with. Zaneta was glad to be with us as even though she works for the company, it was her first tour of the plants. 

After that, we said goodbye to Blanka and Zaneta, (Their names in English would be Blanch and Janet pronounced like Janeta with a French J) Lukas took over and we got to meet an interpreter and a car hired to take us to Prague for the rest of the day.  Lukas speaks a bit of English but felt he could better show us the capitol with some help. The interpreter (Tom) NEVER made anyone feel left out. Even when I was talking directly to him in the car, he would translate the question I had for him to the others in the car and give them his answers to my questions. 

They took us to Prague and to the Cathedral where my mother did some of her model shoots with Vilem Heckel (Click here for his page) the famous Czech photographer. There, we met his daughter and my mother signed some of his art for her and they gave us a copy with his signature on it for my mother to have. It was nice meeting her. Here is a photo of his daughter with my mother in front of the same door as the photo above fifty something years before.

The cathedral was so old and ornate and beautiful that I wish I had hours to study and admire it. However, it was cold and my mother doesn't tolerate it well but Lukas was so amazing with his history and understanding and told us much more than an average tour guide as he studied for his History degree in Prague. I wish that I had actually had him take me to his favorite spots for the day and tell me all he knew. That is how I enjoy touring. Learning of the history from someone who knows and loves the place. I was in awe of the beauty of the palace, fountains, cathedrals, cobble stone, gargoyles, gingerbread and all the other terms of the buildings that I don't know. 

Lukas told us of a decorating style but I can't remember what it is called, but they paint the entire surface black and then paint it white and then scrape off the white paint revealing the black underneath in great detailed story lines. He explained the Lion with two tails and the history of the country crest. He showed us where buildings had been bombed and where they took down what they could of the bombed part and left the rest but had to leave parts jutting out on the edges. I couldn't get enough. I could have spent days with him. The country is so old and the buildings so different that you saw a "green" new building close to a Communist block apartment house, next to a cathedral within miles. Old bridges next to new bridges etc.  

In American west, where we live, the oldest buildings are 150 years old at the oldest. There, they are centuries old. Details that we don't create on buildings anymore were everywhere there.  

They took us to the famous clock tower on their city hall. Every hour on the hour, a skeleton pulls a bell reminding us the time is ticking and then the little doors open and the apostles of Christ poke their heads out. After that is done, a golden rooster crows. The rooster, I think, is supposed to be a reminder of Peter denying Christ and are we denying knowing him? Then, at the top of the building, a trumpeter sticks his head out and plays a tune in all four directions and waves at the crowd. 

We then ate a traditional sausage and piece of rye bread. My mother opted for a slab of ham. I have never seen either of these things sold like there were there. You just buy a slab of ham and it comes with the bread. Their bread at all the meals is a thick heavy grain bread. I asked if light rye was the tradition and they said it was. The sausage I had was similar to kielbasa or chourice in the Portuguese culture. It was ground meat rather than the chunks of meat in chourice however. 

We said our goodbyes and I was sad we didn't get to see more of the beautiful country but we were grateful that we could meet such wonderful and amazing people and I can't thank Skoda enough. They are now part of the Volkswagen group. I was so impressed with every aspect of our treatment from the first email to the thank you emails I just received. They gave us some beautiful books telling of the history of Skoda as well as a die cast car of the "Felicity" convertible that my mother modeled for along with some puzzles of some vintage cars from their museum gift shop. I look forward to doing the puzzles and framing one for my mom for Christmas. 

Skoda has been mentioned throughout my life as my mom told us stories about going to Czechoslovakia and her trip behind the iron curtain and how Skoda gave her that opportunity. Back then, not many Americans were allowed to visit there. My family is grateful to them for giving my mother that opportunity and once again for giving me the opportunity to share that with my mother now. As we were telling the museum director and the Director of Communications goodbye, I shared with them a thought I had. 

I told them, "Skoda as been like the bookends of my mothers life. When she was just becoming an adult, they gave her the opportunity to see the world and have an experience that not many other girls her age would ever have, and now that she is old and no longer able to travel, it was like she was given the opportunity to have that trip one last time and feel the freedom to say "Goodbye" to the trip that started it all." I thanked them for giving her both opportunities and being the "bookends" of her life. 

Thanks to Skoda and all the amazing people that made the trip so wonderful. It was such a difference in contrast to her treatment by Delta. I thought that perhaps Delta could take a lesson on how to treat people from the Skoda company who has over 20,000 employees, yet still found time to make one old woman feel like a queen again, even if only for a few days!  
  
THANKS SKODA!