Day 15 - The Streets of Prague

Last night was an uneventful dinner, the waiter walked by and said something to me in Czech straight away. I looked at hinm with a very puzzled look and he repeated it about 3 times. Then finally he just said, "hello." I just laughed, for some reason I can never remember what he word Hello is here. I intended to go to bed early last night, but ended up doing laundry instead. I felt good about that decision this morning though.

I busted my butt to see everything I could of Prague and the surrounding areas in two days, so today I needed a bit of a break. I decided to take a leisure day, walking the streets and do a little bit of shopping!! And shopping I did! Goodness, I think I tried to make up for the lack of shopping I did in Krakow by spending it all here! I am feeling a bit guilty now, but I have to remind myself that I said "no" to many more things then I said "yes" to. So it could be a lot worse!

To my surprise, the weather was lovely today. It is the warmest it has been for a long time and I spent a lot of time in the sunlight. I started the day by finding this cute little shop called Abraham Kelley. It specializes is hand-made paper products, stationary, invitations, maps, books, etc. I loved the detail in everything they made and I wanted to bust into the back and take a look at all their machinery, but of course I didn't. Still, I would love to learn how to do that!

I spent most of the day just wondering around the streets of Prague. I walked along the main tourist streets as well as the small alley ways and other cobbled streets I stumbled upon. The city really does have charm once you get out of the main streets with all the tourists. I figured out today that once I stopped looking at my map and just walked I found more things of interest. I had been looking for the open air market called Havelske all week, but today I found it without even trying. It was great, they had stands full of fresh fruit and jars full of candy. It was a fun place to be. I left the market and on my way I saw a large red sign that said Museum. I figured I might as well check it out since I am just following my instincts today. Well as I got closer to the sign, it said "Sex Machine Museum." Huh. Not quite the museum I had in mind. So I carried on my way without taking interest in the museum.

I really enjoyed walking into the alleyways and suddenly right in front of you would be this unbelievably charming building. Its like they purposely hid these buildings or even churches so only the neighboring people would know about it. The streets have no sense of direction in the slightest, they all wind and change names around every bend. This is why I found it so hard to navigate, I still refused to walk around with a map in my hand so I would try to memorize my steps and then suddenly the street would change! It was hilariously frustrating, but it did make me laugh every once in a while.

I wondered around and found myself walking into a lot of antique and vintage shops. It was so fun to look at antiques in another country. My favorite was a shop called Bric and Brac, which is listed in my guidebook, but I had decided against searching for. But once I saw the sign, I figured I should go in. The store was like an old junk yard filled with thousands of old things, it was spectacular. The old man said hello and offered to help me dig through things. Right away I found three framed posters of Mucha art, all in small unstained wooden frames. They were perfect, and the perfect price too. I almost said "I'll take them," but then I had no idea how I was going to carry them home without breaking them...reoccuring theme of the trip. I am still sad I wasn't able to buy them. I made my way around the shop and just near the end the shop owner offered me a cup of tea. I quickly declined out of absurdness and then thought how odd it was for him to offer a complete stranger a cup of tea. What a kind gesture! When I left I made sure to take a picture of all the antique bikes stacked up outside the building. They looked so fun, it made me think of Nicole, Deb and Tony. You will all enjoy my picture.

As my bag became more and more jammed with things I decided to take a walk in the Old Square and do a bit of my favorite...people watching. As I walked into the square people were moving out of the way for a horse drawn carriage as it made its way through. I stopped to let it pass and their was a newly wed couple and their best man and maid of honor riding in the carriage. The best part was, it was a vintage wedding. The women was wearing a white fur coat from the '20s, her hair was curled and lifted on her head with a small maroon head decoration on top. She looked straight out of a movie, which made me quickly scan for cameras but saw none. The groom and best man had an older style of suit and the maid of honor had a green fur coat from around the same era. It looked so romantic and untraditional, it was a great sight to see. People all smiled and waved as they rode past.

The day was flying by and I decided to stop and have a nice cup of coffee in a coffee shop. I figured this would be a relaxing, uneventful catch of fresh air. Boy was I wrong! :) As soon as I sat down, two women sat at the table right across from me. They had two little girls with them, one a very small baby, and the other walking and just barely talking. As soon as they sat down, the mother snatched the baby out of her seat, swiftly pulled her shirt up and began breast-feeding. Okay then, this would not be an uneventful coffee break...I think my eyes got very big at that point. You can imagine my discomfort as the direction of my chair was faced directly at them and she did not care in the slightest to cover up. Oh heavens. Then their other daughter made her way around the coffee shop as if she owned the place. She dumped all her sisters blankets from the seat onto the floor, played with the trash can, moved chairs all around creating a loud shreek (I can't even think of how to spell that, what's wrong with me?) as it scraped on the floor. The two women didn't even look up once! I couldn't believe it, this little girl could have gotten away with anything. She was pretty cute however and I enjoyed watching her create a ruckus around the shop. At one point she climbed under my table and we played a small game of peak-a-boo. Her time spent playing peak-a-boo with me was her quietest moment, which made her mother suddenly realize, where is my baby? I don't hear her making any noise? They both looked around and I motioned that she was sitting under my table. We all laughed and they continued with their conversation. The little girl sat there for a while and pondered me, but once she was bored she was on to new things.

I left the coffee shop and made my way to one more store I wanted to see. On the way I ran across a small problem that I will share. Most countries in Europe do not have a leash law for dogs. I first experienced this with Kristin in England, but I have noticed it everywhere. This is not a fun game for me, if you know me well you will know that I am not a huge fan of large dogs. Mostly just intimidating dogs. Well a few times today I would be walking along, minding my own business and suddenly, out of no where a freaking huge dog would come running my direction at full speed. I did everything in my power not to squat down in the fetal position and cover my head. Instead, I froze and starred at the dog praying it would run right past me. Usually it did and not far behind an owner would whistle and it would quickly turn and run the other way. Scary business these dogs. I did see one cute little puppy that I adored, but other than that, put them on a leash people, or I might start crying next time!

As the sun was setting I made my way to the Mucha Museum. I am a very big fan of Mucha's art, as I'm sure many of you are. I think this is one of the few museums I went through and actually read every single sign. Granted, it was very small, but still I am fascinated with his work. His sketches alone were enough to impress me. Mucha is from the Czech Republic, but made his fortunes in Paris and the US before retiring here. Anyway, I was so glad I went to the museum, his stuff is incredible.

I wanted to end my night on a good note with dinner at a fancy restaurant. Only I couldn't find the cellar based restaurant I mapped out in the book. I followed the directions precisely, which just frustrates me, perhaps its closed? The book is a couple of years old? Either way, I stopped in a Pizzeria joint on the way home, they are very common here. It is also very common to share tables at restaurants here, in case you didn't know. But I managed to find a spot sharing a large table with only two other women until a rather large family walked in and the waitress begged two girls sitting not to far from me to join me at my table so the large family could have their table. You could just see the excitement in their faces...NOT. But they obliged and headed over. One of the girls set her coat down next to my bag and said something to me in Czech. As much as I hated to, I replied "I'm sorry, I speak English." The girls turned to each other, rolled their eyes, turned their shoulders to me and resumed conversation. It was the ruddiest thing in the whole world, they did it right in front of me! There went me ending the night on a good note! Goodness, but they chatted the whole time in Czech and only motioned to me a few times. And when they left the girl even politely said bye. So I guess I made a good impression after all. I finished up my pizza and beer, a brew made by Budwieser (it was the only draft beer).

I must go now, the guy across the computer from me insists on blowing smoke in my face. YUCK! Tomorrow I am heading to Barcelona to see Roger, Maria and the lovely Ada. Tonight I will spend most my time packing and trying to fit things back into my bag. It does take some effort!

I will end with a quote I read today in the coffee shop. "Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." I think that sums it up!

Until next time!

Anna