August 12....The Glass Factory and crossing into Poland

While Pam and Miles and Rod went off to play tennis, Bill and I drove into Harrachov, dropped Priscilla off to go shopping, and went over to the glass factory for the tour . Our tour guide had a personal connection with the glass factory as his grandfather had worked there for 50 years and when he retired, the company discontinued hiring in his area of expertise.

A little history....Although glass production has existed in the region of Harrachov since the 14th century, the first written reference is in 1712 when the glassworks was built by Elias Muller where today's factory is situated.  The Harrachov Bohemia Crystal Glass factory has preserved the traditional methods of production with the use of a unique hundred-year-old grinding plant powered by the oldest functioning water turbine in the world.
 
As we walked through the floor of the factory, our guide explained that the 100 employees work in teams, 24 hours a day, and produce 2,500 pieces of the factory's own unique deigns on a daily basis. During an 8 hour shift, each member of the team works on a specific part of an individual piece to produce the finished product.  Then, one of the masters stamps the bottom of the piece with the factory insignia . On average, each team member works on 600 pieces per shift.  It was fascinating to watch and also odd to see the workers drinking beer while they were working.  According to our guide, with the small brewery right next door, each worker is allowed four large glasses of beer per shift to quench their thirst in this very hot environment. Seemed a little dangerous to me with all those incredibly hot furnaces...maybe one of the requirements of being hired is a high tolerance for alcohol.

After the guided part of the tour we visited the little museum of glass with exhibits documenting the whole history of the factory's existence. The intricacies and color of many of the pieces was really magnificent. Next, I couldn't resist buying a few things from the glass factory store.  There were so many exquisite and inexpensive pieces, it was hard to keep my purchases at a minimum. But, since we would be traveling for another three months, I had to keep it as light as possible.

When we were finished, we met up with Priscilla, took a quick 15 minute drive and crossed into Poland just to tell the rest of the gang that we had been there, then headed for home. That night, Bill made us a scrumptious Czech dinner of chicken paprikash (chicken in a creamy paprika sauce), knedlicky (dumplings) and zeli (saukraut). After dinner, Rod and Miles went in the hottub and then, donned in the white robes that Pavel and Milana leave for their guests, they joined us on the couch to watch the Olympics.