Rhapsodic, perhaps not, but enjoyable to say the least! After Hungary, the family went to Prague for a few days, to get a feel for the city. Here is the Old Town Square (most famous, I believe):
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| Hard Rock Cafe |
Though Budapest was decidedly Mom's favorite city, Prague was Dad's. He mentioned how much he loved the old buildings and the grime that made it all more "real". Well, cool. I can't help but agree, though I may have put it differently.
We enjoyed ourselves, though it was rainier than in Budapest or Vienna. We had one good day, one rainy day (when we went to see Prague Castle) and it was quite a bit colder - though, Prague is rather farther north than Budapest. We watched the Astronomical Clock, as everyone who visits Prague does. It's so beautiful and amazingly accurate, to miss it would be sacrilege, really, to the code of the traveler.
We did most of the touristy things - the Jewish quarter, Prague castle, lots of walking; we did not make it to the Kafka museum before it closed, sadly, but it was not a total bust: we drank plenty of beer!
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| Old Town Hall |
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| not the vampire bar, just the absinth museum |
The bar was not actually open for business, but the door was unlocked, and the owner and his friends were smoking pot and playing X-box games when we came in. We really were just going to head right back out and find a different place down the road, but the owner insisted we sit down and make ourselves comfortable. He didn't know a lot of English, but he knew enough. He ran out to the store (or maybe even to his own apartment) and brought us back bottles of beer.
How could we refuse him when he went to all that trouble? The walls were all in red, and there were framed posters of Vlad, plus some medieval reproductions on the walls and other posters of vampires (none from Twilight) which made me think of some of my sister's goth-obsessed friends from high school. But just vaguely.
Another crazy interlude was a transvestite strip club we happened upon while looking for a restroom and/or a place to have dinner. I wanted to go to the Rilke cafe (named after the poet), but it was too expensive - or so everyone else said. Mom walked further down the street to this little hole-in-the-wall place, which turned out to be the transvestite strip club. It was only about 6 PM, and they were not really open for business. I think the bouncer tried to convince Mom it was not a family place (thus discouraging her) in Czech, but she couldn't understand him. Turns out, the pole in the middle of a stage, off the dining room, was proof enough - no explanation necessary.
I rented an apartment again for us, since it's so much cheaper than a hotel. In Europe, you can't have more than two adults in a hotel room without having to pay a tax (or pay for another room), but if you stay in a "guesthouse" you can circumvent that and pay less - so we did. This one in Prague was unfortunately grungier than the one in Budapest (and for some reason run by Pakistanis) but it was comfortable enough...and they had cats! 
We saw two, both of which came into our apartment because of the rain. We couldn't get rid of them! And they looked just like our cats - one was black and one was a tiger cat - a boy and girl. I named the boy Clemens (male derivative of Clementine, or Tina for short) and the other one Julia II (for our black cat Julia). Julia II is expecting kittens, and we're pretty sure we know who the father is...
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| Sam and Clemens |
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| Julia II |
Here are some more pictures of the Charles Bridge, the Jewish quarter, and Prague Castle, including the King Solomon's restaurant (which I thought was distasteful, but Mom thought was funny):
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| Golem? |
Mom, Dad and Sam leave for home today. I'm leaving Austria myself soon. Wondering at the moment if I can get in everything I need to, since today is Corpus Christi, and (like all Catholic holidays in Austria) nothing is open. I'm obliged to put off everything to tomorrow before I go to the airport. Einfach ist das Leben nicht!
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