Lock Her Up

There is no doubt about the fact that our apartment is very safe from burglars. Take a look at the lock system of the outside of our door in the picture on the left. There is an upper lock and one right under the door knob.

I know that most homes have two locks like this, so you're probably thinking "What's the big deal?" But you have to remember that this is our apartment door. To get this far, a different key was needed on the outside door at the street level.

Plus, both the locks are dead bolts. In fact, in Prague it's very common that a key has to be turned two times around just to get the dead bolt to unlock, plus another turn to actually move the latch and open the door.

So, if both dead bolts are locked, two different keys have to be turned five times around in both locks to open the door. That's safe (and, at times, irritating).


You'll also notice in the picture on the right that our doorknob isn't a usual knob. It's a fixed position handle. Without a key, it's impossible to get in the door even if the door isn't locked. Every time you want to get in the door, the key has to be turned the half-turn to open the latch.


Believe me, we are very conscience of the fact that we have a key in our hand before that apartment door closes.

Of course, the inside of our door looks much the same, but at least there is a handle that can be turned to move the latch and open the door.

We have found with the complicated key system, that it's best to leave our keys in the locks at all times. That is one way to never lose your keys. They are always at the door greeting you when you are about to leave the apartment.

Just to show you all the keys for our apartment, I took the picture on the right. Yes, we do need a skeleton key for our apartment building. The skeleton key opens the door to a balcony in the back yard if a person wants to hang clothes out on the balcony. The other keys are the outside key for the building, the mailbox key, and our two keys for our apartment door.

It took us a couple days to figure out which key goes where to get into our apartment. I'm not too worried about thieves breaking in.

Speaking of keys, take a look at the keys my husband has to get into our church. Those are REAL keys. The two smaller skeleton keys are for the front door to our church and the sacristy door. He couldn't believe that he had to haul those keys home after church every week. They are quite heavy in a pocket.


The largest one is for the back door to our church. It is literally larger than my husband's hand. Needless to say my husband does not bring that key home every week. It is one of a kind and can't leave the church property. (At least, it can't be forgotten in a pocket.)




Here is the picture of the door it opens. It's metal on the outside and wood on the inside. We think the door is around 400 years old. I've never seen anyone actually lock this door. The deacon of the other congregation that worships in our church locks the door when he leaves.

Now that's history!

P.S. The history of our church goes back to about the year 1150. That part of our building is still used every Sunday. The latest addition to our facility was in the 1700s sometime. Of course, that means we don't have any heat in the building. However, in the recent past (say fifty years or so), heaters were placed under the pews so at least part of me will be warm this winter during church.