Good friend, good time

About a week ago, my friend Colleen came to visit from Vienna. We've known each other since she was a student at TAMU and I was an advisor but we haven't seen each other for about 6 years as she's been working in various parts of the world. Being so close, we couldn't resist the chance to visit. First on the agenda, Colleen would do Prague. It was perfect timing for me – although I was very busy, I was in need of seeing someone from home and so her visit was made even better for that. She arrived on Friday evening and after exploring Old Town a bit, we settled into a classic Czech restaurant, one of my favorites, U Knihovny. Although in the center of the tourist area, it's just off the beaten path so it's more of a local place and the prices are right and the food tasty.

Saturday morning we set out for the castle. I always forget how beautiful St. Vitus Cathedral is. I learned later that because it has an innovative system of buttresses, it has more windows than other gothic churches, letting in more light. We moved on to the Royal Palace and a small problem. How do we get to the Great Hall? Instead, all we could find was a new exhibit in the ground floor of the old palace. Since we bought the 2^nd ticket or the short tour, we think that in order to get access to the whole castle, we should have bought the most expensive ticket. Now, there are only 100 korunas (about $5) difference in the prices but what you get to see is very misleading on the descriptions. So, instead of enjoying what appears to be a very nice exhibit, we zoomed through looking for the way to the upper levels to no avail. I have to do some investigating before I take people through the castle again. A bit disgruntled, we moved on to St. George which is amazing. Over 1000 years old, it's simple but beautiful and well worth the visit. Finishing with the Golden Lane, I was just happy to see it so empty. I have been through in the summer when it is so full I feel like a cow in the chute and want to moo.

Although she lives in Vienna, Colleen was eager to see the cafes in Prague so we went on a short tour, stopping by the Café Orient (in the building of the Black Madonna), Obecní Dům or Municipal House, which I have always avoided as a huge tourist trap (probably because of the big letters advertising a tourist special painted on the windows!) but plan to visit later to tour the Art Nouveau lovliness, and Cafe Louvre for hot chocolate. We only actually sat and ordered at Cafe Louvre, just looking around at the others. In the meantime, we stopped by my favorite Prague pizza place, Pizzerie Kmotra (yes, I tried it and loved it but still laugh at some of the topping choices like smoked salmon, cucumber and shrimp). Colleen agreed with my assessment.

Sunday was the Jewish Quarter. I had not done this tour since my first visit in 2005 and was glad to do it again. It really is a nice museum, well organized and smartly done - to get into one, you have to buy the full ticket for 5 sites and then you can buy the 6th site separately. Everyone says that Prague has the best Jewish Museum in Central Europe and for good reason. Hitler ordered that this area be protected so that he would have something to show to the world of the great people (the irony here amazes me) that he destroyed. After the first two sites, we stopped for lunch.

Now the Jewish Quarter is one of the more expensive parts of the city for two reasons. First, it's a very touristy area. Second, a lot of the high-end shops are found on Pařížská street, like Cartier, Dior, etc. And Colleen wanted the classic Czech meal of vepřo-zeli-knedlík, or pork, sauerkraut and dumplings. We found a decently-priced place with a Švejk theme, which I loved, being a big fan of our bumbling soldier friend. I had smažený syr. Yummy!

After the Jewish Quarter we did more wandering around Old Town, and amazingly, every time we were near the Orloj, or Astronomical Clock, it was nowhere near the hour and Colleen missed the show! She just has to come back I guess. We ended our day at Café Slavia, happy to find a table in the window with a view of the castle. It was a great weekend with a good friend and we had such a good time we are planning more excursions in the area, so stay tuned!