Hubler Girls in Prague

It's Saturday morning. I'm exhausted. I just spent the last two days trying to keep up with Eileen and Jeanette on their whirlwind tour of Prague. Here's a quick summary, but then I'm taking a nap.

The train ride went fine, as did checking in to the Pension U Lilie - a small restaurant that rents a number of rooms to travelers - in Prague's Old Town.  While I waited at the statue of Jan Hus on Old Town Square for my friend Bryan to arrive from the U.S., the ladies looked around at the Astronomical Clock, the baroque St. Nicholas church and the Gothic Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (see photo at left).

Meanwhile I noticed that thousands of people from all over the world had descended on Prague to see the sites and eat anything but Czech food. When I went to a bakery to get a sandwich and asked for a poppyseed kolach and they told me they didn't have poppyseed, I popped. Thus began a personal crusade to each Czech food in Prague.

Bryan arrived and, after stowing his gear, we set out to find a place to eat. Prices horrified me, they were 2-3 times higher than for the same meal in České Budějovice. We found a nice place, real Czech food, decent prices, and chowed down. When it came time to leave a tip things got complicated. My book says to leave some 10 Czech Crowns or 10%. When we ate with a Czech friend in a small town recently he thought that leaving more than 10 or 12 crowns on a bill of 800 crowns was too much. We weren't sure whether Prague has evolved to expect more. Meanwhile, the waiter was making disparaging expressions. Kristine assures me that 5% for good service is about right.

Later we walked along Wenceslaus' Square. This long square lacks the charm of the Old Town Square, but it was a nice walk. We paused at the statue of St. Wenceslaus, reading the words inscribed - "Svatý Václave, vévodo české země, kníže náš, nedej zahynouti nám ni budoucím". Actually, we were only looking at the last clause (the first part was on the other side). Despite understanding 80% of the words, I had no clue what it was saying. A young Czech kid tried to help us out. I still didn't get it. Here is the translation as given on Wikipedia..."Saint Wenceslas, duke of the Czech land, prince of ours, do not let perish us nor our descendants"

Then we paused beside a city social services van that was handing out food to homeless people while I consulted the map. Not the best place to obviously be a tourist. We moved on.

After strolling through the streets, stopping at the Myšak Cukrarna for a spot of ice cream, we went back to the pension to listen to loud music everytime somebody opened the door to a nearby bar.

Friday morning we went to Prague Castle. We tried something I had not done before, we paid through the nose for the audio guides. It turns out it was a good investment. I learned a ton. We saw the Old Royal Palace with its phenomenal vaulted hall and sloped steps for horses to go up. We saw St. George's Basilica with its romanesque architecture. We saw Golden Lane with its little shops and Daliborka Tower with its torture devices. Finally, we went into St. Vitus' Cathedral. Nearly 1000 years in the building, it is a magnificent monument to the history of Christianity in Bohemia. The sun was shining through the windows and, since there had been a mass during the morning, the air was filled with incense. It was stunning.

Having spent about two hours longer in Prague Castle than intended, we stumbled down the hill, through Mala Strana, across Charles Bridge with its phenomenal statues (see Bryan on bridge at right), and finally to another little Czech restaurant to eat more dumplings. By this time it was approaching 3:00 p.m. and we still had plenty to do. We pushed on.

In the Jewish Quarter we saw the Pinkas Synagogue with its walls inscribed with the names of the Czech and Moravian victims of the Holocaust. We went through the cemetery and Ceremonial Hall. Then off to the Moorish style Spanish Synagogue and Maisel Synagogue.

By this time Bryan was slurring his speech and stepping off the sidewalk into the street as he dozed off (jet lag). We headed back to the pension. The ladies got ready for the opera while Bryan and I packed up to go.

The final big event was going to be the opera, The Tales of Hoffmann by Offenbach at the richly decorated National Theater. The ladies looked stunning. We meant to get a picture, but forgot at the last minute.

So, we left them there. After the opera they just needed to get back to the pension and then get picked up by a taxi at 8:00 this morning. Bryan and I caught the 7:16 train to home. Someone, please let us know if my mom makes it home.

How was the trip for the ladies? We hope the memory of sore feet and breathless climbs up hills will fade and what will remain are the breathtaking sites and time spent with the kids. If nothing else, they have earned the right to brag about the many kilometers walked and many hills climbed.

Peter