retirement travel

Since high school, i have been attracted to the “bohemian” fashions of the 1960s and have styled myself as an artist born in the wrong decade! i like to decorate with bold colors and an eclectic mix of elements. For our second date, i invited Joe to attend Baz Lurhmann’s San Francisco Opera production of “La Boheme.” I had a vague understanding there was a region somewhere in central Europe that used to be called Bohemia and imagined fairytale castles decorated with lots of lace, macrame, and colorful tapestries and rugs; in other words, boho chic.

My ignorance has now been exposed and as i write this, i am traveling by train through Czech Republic, thinking about the ancient Celtic Boii tribe pushed north by the conquering Roman armies. When the Roman Empire engulfed these lands thousands of years ago, they named it “Boiohaemum” by blending the name of the Celtic tribe (boii) with the proto-German word for home (haimaz) and then latinizing the new portmanteau.

Sometime in the sixth century, Slavic tribes began arriving from the east and Christian monks showed up in the ninth century. From decade to decade, century to century, borders and allegiances continued to shift as the people of the Middle Ages tried to build power over their neighbors, but the name “Bohemia” stuck to the region.

After WWI, the region of Bohemia was the geographic core of the newly formed Czechoslovakia. Tragically, Hitler fooled the world with the Munich Agreement, and Czechoslovakia was sacrificed to the Nazi regime. Following WWII, a new republic was declared but was soon absorbed by the eastern bloc and occupied by Soviet forces. It wasn’t until the Velvet Revolution in 1989, that Czechs once again strove for a pluralistic democracy.

In the nineteenth century, Parisian writers started using the word “bohemian” to describe the painters, sculptors, intellectuals, musicians, and actors living unconventional artistic lives in Europe’s major cities. It evoked a sense of wandering with no fixed address – not unlike the nomadic Celtic tribe of the Boii – and an appreciation of art over money, friendship over privilege and the camaraderie of living with like-minded outsiders. Even Mark Twain described himself as bohemian!

There is so much to learn about the history of Central Europe and how the ripples of influence from the events and legends of Bohemia have spread across the world. Madeline Albright’s book “Prague Winter” is an excellent place to begin. I am just beginning to comprehend how complex and intricate are the stories of this region.