Prague Recap

September 26

So if it is Monday, I must be in Vienna or Wien as all the signs say. And to paraphrase what I heard in “Don Giovanni” last night, I have had many experiences since we last “met”.  

On Thursday morning (9/22), I got up very early for my 5:58AM train to Paris. Nicole and Jacques came back the night before so we could have dinner, but especially so they could take me to the train. It was an uneventful train trip to the Montparnasse station in Paris, and then the Air France shuttle to Charles deGaulle. It would probably been smarter, not to mention cheaper, to take the Metro rather than the shuttle, as there was bit of a traffic jam, but I still had plenty of time to check in for the Easyjet flight to Prague. Easyjet is a much more civilized airline than Ryanair!   

I had sent out some couch surfing requests to meet for coffee or a drink, when I was at Mimi’s the previous week. Three people responded, and one of them offered me a “pristine” room to stay in. I was able to cancel my hotel, so I stayed with Steve, who is a retired teacher in international schools. He is originally from Dayton and spends six months in Denver. His profile sounded great, and he had a good reference on the site, as he is slightly new to CS. (NOT TO WORRY!!!) He met me at the airport holding a sign reading, “Toppan”, which was lucky, because I would have had trouble finding his place. We went to his flat to drop off my stuff, and then we to Grossetto’s for some very tasty Italian food. We walked around the downtown and stopped at the Hotel Rokoko, where my friend Nancy was staying; her trip to Prague and Vienna was why I added these stops to my itinerary. She had just arrived from Denver that morning, and was off to a concert. She is taking an Allegro musical tour and also going on to Budapest. I left her a note saying I would be by the next day for dinner.

The next morning (Friday)  I had signed up for a free city tour which would meet in front of Starbucks(!?) in Wenceslas Square; it turned out there were at least two Starbucks, so I never found the tour. I walked over to the train station to see how to get there for departure day. (Shades of our Spain trip, Carol!) I was supposed to meet Eva, who is a Czech who does local tours, for lunch and a visit, but we could not meet up because she had a last minute tour in addition to the fact that my Blackberry is not letting me send emails. So I went up to the famous Prague Castle, which had four parts: St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace, St. George Basilica, and Golden Lane, where Kafka (an others) lived. It was all very interesting and fun to see. The Czech alphabet is so different, so all the signs were a BIG challenge! At 4:30 I met couch surfer Jed, a retired English and German teacher from the UK, who now makes Prague his home. We met at the vintage and charming Café Louvre, where Kafka and other famous people met over the years. It was another interesting couch surfing exchange!
I met Nancy for dinner at 8; I had invited Steve to join us, but he could not, so she and I found a nearby restaurant with some live jazz playing. I did not want to be too late, as I had no key, so Steve would need to let me in. I headed home via tram 9 to his neighborhood about 10. WELL, NOW I know how Charlie on the MTA felt….(Remember I had only been there a little over 24 hours….) I kept watching the signs (I don’t have a terrible sense of direction.) NOTHING looked familiar….YES! I took the tram going in the opposite direction-ALL the way to the end of the line….So I got to his place about 11:15, to get him out of bed to come down to let me in….

Saturday I headed off to visit the Old Town and the famous St. Nicolas Church. First I popped into the very sweet little St. Thomas Church first, as I walked right by it! These were both near Nerudova, a street which was renamed after famous writer and journalist Jan Neruda. This is a very touristy street with lots of shops. There is only a sign on the house where he lived. (READ: not worth walking up that street!) Next I wanted to walk across the Charles Bridge, which ALL the books talk about. It is lined with some thirty statues, vendors, and musicians. It was BLOCKED with tourists, so I could not get across it fast enough! I went to two exhibits in the same hall of Dali and Alfons Mucha, a famed Czech artist “Master of Art Nouveau”. I really liked seeing Mucha's work; it reminded me of Maxwell Parrish! The Old Town Hall has an astronomical clock which has a “show” every hour on the hour. I was due to meet Steve there at 3, and I did, but there was a huge crowd, so I caught up with him afterwards. We then walked along the river; the weather was really spectacular! Steve went back to his flat; I went to meet Nancy for dinner. We found a great little Thai noodle bar Modry Zub (Czech for Blue Tooth, unless someone was pulling my leg") nearby. I headed back to Steve’s about 9:30. I had to call him so he could let me in; his phone was busy…. (Well, I was getting SOME kind of message in Czech!) I tried for maybe 25 minutes; I figured he was on the phone, but briefly I did have visions of sleeping on the door stop. I was ringing every button at the front door with NO response. FINALLY Steve answered my ring, so he let me in!

I enjoyed Prague very much and found the people very helpful, even those who do not speak English. One woman sitting outside the train station was having lunch, and she drew me a map to help me. It has become very popular with tourists, especially on the weekend!

Sunday morning I was up early and off to the Hotel Rokoko to meet up with Nancy to catch the train for the next adventures in Vienna….