Joys and Woes

Day 1

When we were planning this trip I asked our friend Mike Stanton which city he liked better, his reply was that it was like comparing apples and oranges. He's right. Krakow has a slower place, charm, and a personality of its own. Prague has been compared to the great cities of Europe, and I can see why. It is large, bustling, busy, full of people, stores, and restaurants. All of this in a city that is historically preserved. Both Krakow and Prague have their charms, but you can not really compare them.

After we landed yesterday, and got settled in our apartment, we walked around and tried to get our bearings. We saw the old Market Square, Wenceslas Square, crystal shops by the dozen, and any other kind of store you can think of. One nice part about an apartment, is that you don't have to eat in a restaurant for every meal, and it gives you a chance to shop in a local grocery store. Food here is very reasonable, both in restaurants and in stores.

Day 2

 Our first event of the day was the Jewish Quarter of Prague. The synagogues of Prague were preserved because Hitler thought it would be a nice place for a museum to a nonexistent culture. These are the most opulent synagogues I have seen. They are adorned in a similar manner as you see in Christian churches. Lots of extensive decorations. The Spanish synagogue is the nicest.

We walked more and did some shopping. We decided to get two good pieces of crystal here and carry them home. We both like the wine glasses we picked, and I am happy that we don't have to look at every crystal store in Prague. There are hundreds, along with Swarowsky jewelry.
For lunch we ate in the apartment. We had picked up some food at the grocery store, and then we stopped at the local bakery, meat market and picked up some frankfurters, sausage and a baquette. It was good.

In the afternoon we took a walking trip to the Prague castle. On the way we searched for a particular store that sold hand puppets. We found it, and made a small purchase.

St Vitus Cathederal

The Prague castle is reportedly the largest castle in the world. I believe it. The castle grounds go on and on and one. St. Vitus cathederal, is absolutely stunning and rivals the biggest churches in the world in its splendor.  The rest is typical castle stuff, but spectacularly maintained and restored.

After all that walking we decided to head towards the Astronimcal clock. We found a  restaurant across from the clock, grabbed an outside table and ordered two  beers. When you order a large beer in Prague, you get a large beer. Mine was huge, about the size of three regular size beers. Pilsner Urquell, is still very good. The clock began performing at the hour we watched it and then headed back to the apartment for a couple of hours rest, then a local restaurant for dinner. Then sleep. The end of a very busy day.

Prague is fun. The Czech Republic has embraced capitalism. The private market is alive and well, and the multi-national companies are all here. It is great to be here.

Dan

Ditto to all that Dan said, except to add that I love the shops.   The goods here are unique, the sense of art is everywhere, the architecture, both old and new, is bold and opulent.    So much color everywhere.   In short, the sense of design has it's own stamp.

All is not idyllic, however.  We have had several calamities in our apartment.  We so smugly did the wash yesterday, only to find that it hadn't worked correctly, and in fact, after hand signal consultation with the cleaning woman and her supervisor, realized the thing was broken.   The hair dryer also doesn't work correctly, and I look like Elsa Lanchester in the Frankenstein movie.   The towel heating rack isn't working, which is a pity because we had to dry our wet, though still dirty clothes on it.   The air conditioning doesn't work in the bedroom.

 The shower is a challenge, but I have to say, the shower has been a challenge every place we have been.  Apparently, one is supposed to take off the shower wand only to rinse off, and not to stand under it.   This takes coordination, which we both apparently lack because not a day has gone by without a lake forming on the floor after we shower!  The apartment management people are on it, in fact the plumber just showed up, while I was in the shower.   He will hopefully return in an hour.
Our contact at the office is a BLOND, and I mean that in the full sense of the word.  We were trying to use public transportation yesterday as we have various feet, neck and back aches from walking.  She just couldn't tell us, and said, in a ditzy way, "oh well, you don't want to do it" , or something to that effect.
The apartment is very lovely, very modern and very well kept.  We really still like being in the apartment and would recommend it.
I will add, however, that the toilet paper has vastly improved in Europe since our last visit.  In Poland, it was very soft.


 Pat