Day 56: Prague

Prague is amazing.

Mom and I started the day with a walking tour of Prague. Our guide was a 30-something goofy local Czech, who admitted his majors at the most prestigious university in the Czech Republic were Psychology and Drama Therapy. He explained that drama therapy involved treating physiological disorders with self-exploration through acting. He was a rather different tour guide.

The tour lasted three hours, and was picturesque although the tour information was at times very dramatic but slightly confusing. Overall, the most entertaining part of the tour was when we learned that Mom and I were the only Americans out of forty participants, and at least half the tour members were Australian.

Pictures from the tour:

Art Noveau municipal house, now a cafe

Shots of Tyn Church Spires

I liked this "conquering your demons" statue.



After the tour, Mom and I wandered a bit through the older parts of the city before breaking for a organ and flute concert at St. Nicholas Cathedral on the old city square. The hour-long concert was well done, but the musicians were behind and above the audience's view, so we spent a lot of time looking at a wonderful altar while listening to gorgeous background music. An hour was more than enough.

Organ concert

Main square Prague


Dinner was in an underground grotto; the bacon dumplings with sauerkraut were excellent, the potato dumplings were disappointing. But food in Prague is overall quite wonderful, given the price and the portions, so we left feeling more than content. We topped off the evening with a Czech beer sampling, followed by a glass of port at a great wine bar next to our hotel. The artwork in the wine bar was as good as the wine. The bar walls were decorated with cartoons that looked like they belonged in the New Yorker cartoon section, and we enjoyed their funny meanings and touring the bar to read the various cartoons. The only downside was that the wine and cheese bar *reeked* of blue cheese, which smells a lot like foot odor and was a tad overwhelming. We stuck around a while for the cartoons and port, before escaping the odor and returning to our hotel.

A favorite cartoon


I really like Prague. It's a wonderful city although claustrophobically crowded with tourists. I want to come back some day, but maybe in March or October when it's not such a madhouse. Mom and I are having a great time, and I am loving our trip here.