Day 12: Prague

As I eyed the enormous bathtub, I took a deep breath and said, “you can do it!” I managed to swing my leg over the side, haul up the other one, and took a shower. I managed to get out, too.

Breakfast was unbelievable. It was set out in a beautiful room, again gilded and over the top. Where to begin? A basket of breads, croissants, plain and chocolate, a chafing dish of crepes with Nutella and jams on the side, 5 kinds of butter, yogurt three ways, cups of tiny chopped fresh fruits (OMG) sliced, watermelon, cantaloupe, plums, peaches, apricots, oranges, platters of fresh vegetables and pickles, trays of meats and cheeses, potatoes, eggs, mixed cooked vegetables, fresh juices, and a line up of 8-10 jars of tea leaves so you could choose and make your own. I’ve forgotten a few things. Plus you could order 5 or 6 things off the menu.

I’ll have to take some photos tomorrow.

We were sitting at a table in the beautiful flower filled courtyard waiting for our guide. I noticed smoke curling up from the table. There was a glass vase of hydrangeas on the table and the sun coming through it was setting the table on fire! I have read about that, but I have never seen it. The concierge was very happy I pointed it out to him.

Alexandra, our guide, came and introduced herself and we sat for a bit talking about what we wanted to see. We decided to skip the castle hill area and concentrate on Old Town and the old Jewish quarter. And then we walked, and walked and walked. Through Lesser or Small Town where we are staying to the Charles Bridge. It is pedestrian only and probably the most visited place in Prague. Built in medieval times, there are towers on each bank where the toll collectors sat. There are statues lining the bridge and plenty of stalls selling pictures and musicians playing. Our guide told us that you have to be in a guild to be able to play or sell on the bridge. The musicians were great, she said they are professionals.

We walked through Old Town admiring the buildings. At 11:45 we arrived at the Astrological Clock. It performs on the hour. We wanted to stay to see it. Laura and Stu went to look at souvenirs and Alexandra and I sat in a small park. At 11:54 we walked over and it was like Times Square on New Years Eve. It bonged, some statues of saints went around and around then it was over. Not too exciting except for the fact that it has been doing it for centuries.

Lots more walking, Wenceslas Square, heard about the Velvet Revolution, heard about communism in Prague, heard about so much my brain was spinning. We asked if we could take a break and stopped at a gelato place where we got affigatos. The combination of espresso and gelato was a good one.

We walked back through the Old Town to the old Jewish quarter. The history is fascinating. The synagogues we went to are museums now, there is only one working synagogue left downtown, the Old/New Synagogue, the oldest in Europe founded in 1270. One had the names of the 80,000 Jewish Czechs who died in the holocaust. Laura and Stu found Finkel, Marx, Petrovsky and Shapiro, all family names. It is sobering. We ended at the cemetery after hearing about the legend of the Golem. There are twelve layers of graves and 12,000 tombstones. Alexandra showed us a large tomb which was a woman’s. She was the wife of a very wealthy man. They had no children and he predeceased her, his money going to her. By law, if there was no son to inherit, the state took the money. When she died, and they came after her wealth, they found she had none, she had given it all away.

Took an Uber back to our wonderful hotel and collapsed.
But of course made it to the lobby for wine and cheese hour.
I decided to take a swim in the lovely spa. The pool is small, but there is a large crystal chandelier hanging over the pool to make it very grand. There was a mother and her two daughters playing on the steps, but they left me room to do laps, three strokes one way and three back. Then a man came in the pool and I just had room to jump around a bit. Then this massive burst of bubbles came up right in the middle of the pool. It created quite a current. Finally everyone left and I had the attendant turn off all the jets and I swam peaceably for another 15 minutes or so.

There is a small changing room so I decided to shower there instead of going back to the room. I didn’t want to press my luck with getting in and out of the tub.

We met in the hotel’s restaurant for dinner. It is very highly rated. And we were too tired to go out.

We ordered plates to share. We were brought an amuse bouche, a small piece of marinated herring with a sliver of green bean and a quarter of a radish served on a swoop of onion marmalade. Incredible! We split a salad with rare fresh tuna, sliced peppers, olives, string beans, red onion, lettuce and a poached egg. Stu had onion soup which I tried. Very bold broth with taleggio cheese. Our main courses were a bowl of saffron risotto and a bowl of spaghetti marinara with roasted cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella. Then a white gloved waiter grated fresh Parmesan cheese over both. It was plenty of food for the three of us! But there’s always room for dessert or two desserts. Tarte Tatin with vanilla ice cream and sabayon with fresh berries. Not bad at all.

Time for bed.

Love,
Lynn

P.S. Did you know that the Czech word for hello is ahoy? Funnily enough, ahoy is the word Alexander Graham Bell used to answer the telephone. Thomas Edison preferred hello and there you have it!