Prague

Once we got to Prague, e found our hotel without incident. It is a actually a very large house across from the US embassy. It is called Dum u Velke Boty (the House of the Boot).

The placid young Czech woman that checked us in ( no pun intended), gave us a thorough orientation. Our room is spacious and pleasant with hardwood floors and typical firm Central European beds with duvets. We wandered down the street in time to watch Germany beat France in a world cup game while drinking a Czech Budweiser and enjoying a meat and cheese plate. The Czech Budwweiser is MUCH better than the American version, but not up to American microbrew standards. After the game, we ventured off to find the Ufleku microbrewery that our friend John Rajlich recommended. After a long hike through storybook streets, we found it. They plopped us down at the end of a long table of Germans in a “share the table” style. They served traditional Czech meals as well. So we dug into smoked pork, goulash (just meat and gravy), with bread and speck dumplings. It was all pretty good, but Czech is not going to be our new favorite ethnic food. The Ufleku beer is a dark mild malty lager with a pleasant, although, not complex taste. After a romantic stroll along the Vltava river. Breakfast is provided at the hotel and we had arranged for a private walking tour to start at 9AM. They don’t pamper you here like they do in the U.s. We were headed to the highest point and we took a mountain goat type shortcut through a park. A little wheezing and one small crash later, we were walking on the top of ridge overlooking the city and then winding our way through the enormous Prague castle complex. When we passed the Saint Norbert’s monastary microbrewery, we prevailed on our guide to stop for a beer. This was really good beer. Maybe it was just because we got to sit down for a while. After 4 hours out fountain of knowledge guide, Jan, sent us on our way wi

Classical Music

After a short recovery time we had to trudge back up to the castle, but a much shorter and less steep route. We had tickets for a concert of Vivaldi / Mozart / and Pachelbel. Any stories Linda tries to tell of me dozing due to jet lag are, of course, greatly exaggerated.

St. George Basilica – concert venue

the day was finished off at a classic Italian restaurant and off to recuperate for tomorrows hike. Fortunately on flatter ground.