Prague, Czech Republic August 13 -15

 

You didn’t think we were going to miss Prague, or Praha, did you?

Prague is a HUGE city.  Our apartment is on Wenceslaus Square. which like almost all squares, is not square.  We walked from the station to our hotel and went up to our apartment, which we booked because it had a washing machine.  Laundry is an ever present concern.  It had not been made up when the previous tenants left.  So down I went.  Amazed was the desk clerk.  She called the cleaning lady at home, since it was 4:30 and she had gone home long ago.  So she sent us to another room.  We keep relearning that you cannot assume anything, even if you have been told to expect it.  For example, our first apartment came with a balcony.  The “balcony” was actually what they called a split level unit, the kitchen 2 steps below the bed area.  Our second room didn’t have a “balcony” and it didn’t have a washing machine.  The clerk couldn’t believe that they had an apartment without a washing machine and came all the up to our place to see if I missed seeing it.  Now come on, miss seeing a washing machine?  Well our third room, which was not available until the next night had a washing machine and enough beds for 5 adults.  So all’s well that ends well.  The only complication was that we had to buy laundry detergent.  I managed to find a store and guess which box had laundry soap.  Then I asked 3 people how much soap to use for one load.  They told me in grams…..how many grams in a cup of detergent?  No one knows….so we guessed.  We also had to guess how to use the machine since, even though we are in a major tourist area, none of the info had any English on it.  Finally, at about 4:30 in the morning, I hung up the very wet laundry all over the apartment.

Being on Wenceslaus Square is very convenient.  Here is the view of the museum at the end of the square

                                                            

The thing about Prague is that it is like the other old towns we have seen, but much much bigger.  The interesting architecture goes on forever.  We took an on-off bus and enjoyed this trip, no mishaps this time.

                  

                                                                         

              These buildings are called “Fred and Ginger” because they remind people of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing.

 

                                                   Of course there is a castle and a cathedral

Another happy little accident was when we followed some music, as we must, and we treated to a folk dance show from Estonia, performed by young adults, a band from Hungary and a band and twirling troupe from Hungary.

 

               

The twirlers had an enthusiastic supporter who tried to join them, to the chagrin of her mother.  The area in Hungary where the troupe was from had hot springs.  We thought we would go there before traveling on to Budapest.  It turns out to be in the wrong direction.  So we found a place in Slovakia called Piestnay and we will head there next.

Just a picture of how we are starting to see the beautiful buildings……….