Arrival in Prague

Prague, Day 1.

Or actually, Day 2 of our nine day vacation from April 30th-May 8th.

We landed in Prague at 8am (2am EST) after an eight hour overnight flight from JFK. Today is a Czech holiday, and our host, Martin Stransky greeted us at the airport in his leg cast and crutches. Squash injury.

We had a quick driving tour of the city on the way to his apartment on Narodni 11, where we met Hannah, and Vacek, the expat golden retriever from Connecticut. The apartment is ideally situated on the bottom of the Stare Mesto (Old Town), a few minutes's walk from most of the places you'd want to visit. After dropping off our bags, we walked across the Most Legii (the bridge below the famous Charles Bridge or Karluv most) to breakfast at the Cafe Savoy. We'll get back to the Savoy later.

After a nap, Dada and I spent the afternoon walking around Old Town. Among the beautiful art noveau buildings, the major attraction was the astronomical clock at the town square. Neck and neck with a sea of tourists, we caught the hourly clock "show" at 6 pm. Dada read all about it - something to do with the apostles peaking out of a window, like the old Christmas storefront display at the Makati C.O.D.

We had a dinner of pork, sauerkraut and dumplings, with Pilsner Urquell. We would, later in the trip, discover its rival - Budvar. We then whiled away some time at a sidewalk cafe on the Old Town Square, until our 8 o'oclock concert: the Prague String Orchestra at St. Nicholas Church. Now that was a quaint venue! The concert was a bit chilly, and I'm glad the old church had radiator heaters in the front of each pew.

The concert ended at close to 10 pm. Dada and I walked back to the flat along the bank of the Vltava river. We were surprised by fireworks - it was Labor Day.