December 5 - Exploring Prague

Before I begin, I'd like to thank all of you for the kind comments that you have left on FindPenguins. It's so cool to know that our friends and family are following along with our adventures. I only wish that I could include an audio recording of all the laughing that we have been doing! I hope you continue to enjoy these postings.

We met for breakfast at 8:00 a.m. We gave this breakfast buffet high marks for its waffle bar and omelette station, but we did deduct a few points for not having big pots of coffee to plunk on our table. We had to patiently brew each cup by ourselves at the machine. Such a hardship.

We set out at 9:30 a.m. First a bit about Prague (from Wikipedia):

Prague is the largest and capital city in the Czech Republic. It is located on the Vitava River and is home to about 1.3 million people. Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of central Europe, with a rich history and Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architectures. In February 1945, Prague suffered several bombing raids by the US Army Air Forces. 701 people were killed, more than 1,000 people were injured and some buildings, factories and historical landmarks were destroyed. Many historic structures in Prague, however, escaped the destruction of the war and the damage was small compared to the total destruction of many other cities in that time. Prague is home to a number of well-known cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of 20th-century Europe. Since 1992, the historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

I made contact with our tour guide, Lyle from Ohio. He visited Prague years ago, went home to Ohio, and then came back because he loves the city and the country so much. He is staying for the duration. I had thought that I had booked a private group tour for the seven of us. The slightly dodgy website didn’t make it clear that I was just booking a group within a big group. Turned out that there were 30 of us altogether. I was not amused and there will be feedback given to the booking site. Nonetheless, we set out with Lyle for a three-hour tour. He was incredibly knowledgeable and guided us through the tumultuous history of the Czech Republic, described the various architectural styles, noted important events and people in politics and literature and science, and took us ably and with great humour from 5500 BC to the present. The country has certainly embraced capitalism and democracy after its many years under communist rule. We retained a few bits of good trivia from his talk: Pilsener beer, contact lenses and blood typing were all invented in the Czech Republic. So was the hockey player Jaromir Jagr.

With our brains bulging with knowledge and our feet barking a bit and our tummies looking for refueling, we found a nice little café and had lunch while we plotted our strategy for the afternoon. Vicky and Sheilagh and Sue went to find the Church of Our Lady Victorious, also known as the Shrine of the Infant Jesus in Prague. Mary Ann, Angela and Theresa checked out market in the Old Town Square, and puttered around in a vintage store, and then retired to a café down for tea and conversation. I went off by myself to find the Dancing House which was constructed between 1992-1996. It has daring, curvy outlines, which led its architects Vlado Milunic and the American Frank Owen Gehry to initially name it the "Fred and Ginger Building", after the legendary dance duo. The top floor of Dancing House is the only part of the building open to the public, and is home to one of the city's leading restaurants: the Ginger & Fred Restaurant. The walk along the river to the house was stunning – so many different architectural styles and colours.

Back at the Old Town Square, the location of the largest Christmas Market in Prague, I puttered around for a while, but I was tired, so I sat down near the stage because I was fairly sure that something would happen there at 4:00 p.m. Today was Mikulas – St. Nicholas Day. Traditionally, three figures appear together on this day – St. Nicholas, a Devil and an Angel. St. Nicholas will ask each child (three were many dressed as devils or angels in the square) and every one of them if they have been a good child during the past year. Most children naturally say yes and will be asked to sing a song or recite a short poem, after which they are rewarded with a small present or a sweet.

But if St. Nicholas suspects they have been naughty, well! Naughty children don't get sweets, they get lumps of coal or hard potatoes. And if they have been really naughty, they will find themselves in the Devil's sack and sent to hell! This is all a little harsh in comparison to the Santa Claus routine. By the way, Santa Claus has been conspicuously absent from these markets. That’s a good thing.

A show did begin at 4:00 p.m. There was some music and a little skit (all in Czech of course and VERY loud). Then an Ivana Trump lookalike sang some songs. Then the devil came out and did something. 45 minutes into this show, there was still no St. Nicholas. These seven ladies (who had found one another using that WhatsApp messenger service we had set up on the train), pulled the plug. I can’t imagine how parents were surviving this long, drawn-out show with little ones in tow. It really seemed to be misjudging its audience.

We headed back to the hotel for pre-dinner drinks in the hotel bar. Our waiter, George, admitted to us that it was his first day on the job. He’ll always remember his first day when he got thrown into the pool headfirst with that wild group from Canada! He was delightful and so patient and friendly. Oh yes, the Croatia won the football match over Japan on penalty kicks.

We went out to Wok In for dinner. We ordered noodle, meat, veggie and topping combos. They were prepared fast and were really good. We cheered on the young people at the next table who took turns dropping to the floor to do push ups. No idea what spawned that activity.

After a stop at the mini market for chocolate, we hunkered down in our rooms for the evening. Theresa is back in the dormitory with the three beds next door to my/Sue’s room.

We’re going to meet for breakfast at 8:00 a.m. and then go to yet another market. Then we’ll go to Prague Castle. We have a dinner reservation in the hotel restaurant for 6:30 p.m.Read more