Prague

Castle Cathedral in morning light

Yo! We spent last week in Prague. We left on the 16th, a Sunday. No church for us. Now one thing you have to understand is that we don't have a car here. In Chicago that might not seem like such a big deal. Here in small Czechville it is. We left our flat 45 minutes before the bus arrived because the bus station is on the other side of town. It really is no small thing to drag suit cases better than a mile through town. I think everyone here already thinks we're weird... this didn't help matters. So... we finally got to the bus station. We must by our tickets on the bus as the bus station proper was closed. Soon the bus arrived. It was so full of people that people we're standing in the aisles... before it stopped. There were maybe 12 of us that wanted to board. Only ticket holders got to board... we had to wait another hour or so for the next bus. When that bus arrived it was just as full. Again we were told that we would have to wait. By now it was getting to be late afternoon and we were really wondering what to do... even considering trying to rent a car the next day. But we decided to wait one more bus. It seemed we were in luck. This bus was full, but the aisles were empty. We got to board and to stand for a two hour and forty-five minute ride. lovely...


When we arrived at the Prague bus terminal, we wasted no time in hiring a cab as our feet were not interested in navigating the city with all our luggage. The cab arrived at our hotel, or I should say Villa... and more exactly: Villa Lanna. The Fulbright Commision decided to put us up in a building that the academy of sciences had bought some years ago for the purpose of housing scholars and holding conferences. If it sounds impressive... I will confirm that it was.

a room at Villa Lanna

National Museum

But what of Prague? Oh yeah... There really aren't words that can do justice. You really need to see this place. It really is quite incredible. If you want old world/medieval ambiance, this is the place. Perhaps the only down side is the high amount of tourists. But if you're looking for a pub, restaurant or cafe with loads of atmosphere... it's easy to find. We discovered many of these and also took advantage of the different kinds of ethnic foods that such a city offers. This may not seem special to those in Chicago, where you can get much, but in Moravske Budejovice, the town of 8000 in which we live... the options are limited. So in Prague, Chinese, Japanese, and even Mexican was had. Oh, and the last night a new friend, Venko, took us to a steak house that had an amazing view of the city. It was situated right under the castle. The name of the place was quaintly called "Cowboys". The meal was quite good as was the Argentinian wine. As we ate and drank looking over beautiful Prague we were serenaded by 80's rock ballads. ...go figure.

and the bus ride back? Much nicer as we got to sit the entire ride back.

...from Charles Bridge

Question: Can one really ever have enough kill holes?