In Prague, in 1968, there lived a young doctor named Tomas...
The anticipation in the run up to Brian's birthday was unbearable. The only thing that made it tolerable was knowing that we would be spending 3 days in Prague. We've heard great things about it from everyone who's been, now it was our time, up there it was their time, down here it was our time, our time.We'll spare you the travel details, but it bore a remarkable likeness to our experiences getting to and from other European destinations. However once we got to Prague it was all we had hoped and been lead to believe.
It being a birthday trip Kirsten booked us into a very nice hotel in the Jewish Quarter a short walk away from all the sights that we would take in over the next couple of days. We started by enjoying a nice French meal next to the hotel as we planned our next stop.
When you visit Prague the most dominating feature and most touristed is Prague Castle. We
made sure to spend some time over two days walking around the grounds of the Castle. Unfortunately, we missed the inside of St. Vitus Cathedral which dominates the skyline of Prague, somehow spending 2-3 hours of our holiday time waiting in line just didn't seem worth it. Regardless of missing the Cathedral we enjoyed the other aspects such as Golden Lane, St. George's Basilica and the dungeon. One of the other "recommendations" for Prague Castle is the changing of the guard. Similar to in London these guys stand completely still for hours at a time while crowds of 
tourists flow by them, many of them trying to get these guys to laugh. Clearly we are a more high brow sort and therefore would never lower ourselves to take such pictures...Some of our other highlights during our three days:
Meeting up with Brian's work colleagues Richard and Von out for drinks. Unfortunately this caused us to miss the Rugby World Cup final, but since England didn't win we weren't subjected to a bunch of Brits moaning in the Czech Republic. Richard is Dutch and couldn't care less about sport and Von is American and doesn't realise there is a sport beyond Dallas Cowboys football. Oh well.
We spent a lot of time criss-crossing St. Charles Bridge, the most famous and romantic of all the bridges over the Vltava River, flanked by its two prominent tower gates. Who would have figured that as the happy couple (us) would get caught in the middle of the bridge during a sleet/hail storm. All the more reason to hurry back to the hotel for a hot shower and then a nice meal out. We managed to find a "pizzeria" that served some traditional Czech fare; duck breast with potato dumplings and goulash.
One of the hotel highlights was the Zen City Spa. As an extra surprise Kirsten booked sessions. For a full hour we had a couple of Thai women bordering on assault as they worked our muscles, bones and flesh. Massage, Thai women, Czech Republic, ummmm, it was an experience. We came out of it still married and having not violated any vows, and feeling very refreshed. By the way, "disposable underwear"? who knew.
We also hit the faux Eiffel Tower (it was a long hike up the 
hillside), Hall of Mirrors, the Old Town City Hall including its very antique clock, and the very German beer hall called U FlekuOverall, a wonderful place and can't wait until we get the chance to go back. Anyone fancy a trip to London and then a pop-over to the Czech Republic? We're always here.
posted by Brian and Kirsten Hennigan @ Tuesday, November 06, 2007
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