DAY 2: Prague
I woke up at 9:20. Oops. So I went to a little café to have breakfast, as I mentioned previously.

I explored more by foot.

LUNCH

I was undecided what to eat for lunch. I eventually settled on a crowded authentic Czech place. As there is little space in Europe, it is very common for people to share tables. The two men I was sharing the table with tried to make conversation in Czech. Sorry buddies. I did manager to ask them what was good in broken Polish/Czech. (“Co jest dobrze?”) and they pointed to something on the menu.

When the waitress arrived, I pointed to the gibberish and they brought me another delicious, cold, frothy beer.

The men left and were immediately replaced by a 77 year old man. The old man seemed a jovial type but seemed bothered that he didn’t have enough money to buy a beer. I don’t think he was homeless. Just a poor pensioner.

A young guy served him a beer, much to the dismay of an older employee who proceeded to bitch the young guy out. (You don’t need to know Czech to understand that one!)

I somehow managed to indicate to the beer personnel that I was paying for the small beer that the old man slowly nursed.

We had a nice conversation in Czech/German mix, using a notebook to write down dates, etc. It was like a kind of “Slavic, inter-generational pictionary.”

The guy was very friendly and I could tell that he had lived a long life and seen a lot of changes. Apparently, he had somehow been involved in the war. He was somehow in Russia at the end. He told me he remembers when a beer cost 2 or 3 Kc. The beer I slurped down cost around 30 Kc. Or about $1.50.

The meal was awesome. My appetizer was a vegetarian borsch which was incredibly good. The main mean consisted of pork that was drenched in a kind of sweet gravy with bread dumplings. It was garnished with cranberries and a dollop of sour cream.

SHOPPING

Shopping is kind of fun. I went into C&A, one of favorite clothes places that I believe is owned by the Swedes. Two shirts immediately jumped out at me. One is red/grey and says “Praha” (i.e. Prague.) The other is a long sleeved green shirt with an interesting zip down neck that is real fashionable here at the moment.


A set of sculptures that intrigued me.

CULTURE

Prague has a very rich musical heritage and there are several concerts, shows, etc. each day. I knew I wanted to see some classical music.

So, when a student type giving out a flier had a concert that interested me. I immediately bought a ticket.

At 5:00 pm, I arrived at the 12th century church for the string quartet. When the men started playing, I was immediately moved and I actually got a bit teary eyed. I’m not kidding. This quartet was amazing!

My favorites were, of course, eine kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart. They also performed an arrangement of Ave Maria by Schubert, where two of they players lightly “plucked” their violins while the bass and lead violinist played against one another. It was incredibly beautiful.


The Praga Quartet

SUPPER

Café Louvre is an historic restaurant/café where Kafka and others frequented in the early 1900s. The atmosphere was a bit stuffy and I felt a but out of place sitting alone. Stull, the duck with apples and currants were very light and delicious.

GOING OUT

I went to another “friendly” establishment after supper. People are very sociable. I talked briefly with a guy from Australia and some Spaniards. (In Spanish, of course!) I was back in the Pension/hotel by 11:00 or so.
- posted by Matt @ 6:00 AM