Saturday, March 28, 2009

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Counterclockwise from left: making a wish on the Charles Bridge; our Czech hosts; the old square; a tree decorated for the storied "Easter Market."




We arrived in Prague at 11 p.m. Saturday night for our 14-hour layover. After the airline cancelled our original flight, we hoped the airline would keep its promise to provide a free hotel for the night - which, after much cajoling (thanks to an ingenious Brittany and lawyer Michelle) it did. Finally, we checked into our hotel, right across the street from the Prague airport. After some primping, we hopped into a taxi for our whirlwind 14-hour, nighttime Prague tour. 

We hadn't expected to accomplish much in 14 hours, but at the very least, we wanted some traditional Czech nourishment and some beautiful sights. Prague is a beautiful city, with centuries-old medieval buildings, and a Town Square dating from at least the 1400s. The Czech food was more difficult to find. By the time we were dropped off in the city center, it was after midnight, and we were unable to find any restaurant with late-night food. The streets were filled with drunk European tourists who were of little help, as they weren't natives.

We finally found some Czech boys walking around with a coveted pizza box, and - lo and behold - they were willing to guide us to the Holy Grail: Czech late-night food. Dennis and Peter (Americanized versions of their Czech names) guided us to a restaurant off the tourist-track. It served Czech pizza, which we grabbed and immediately brought with us to their favorite Prague sports bar, called Non Stop (Europeans have a thing for incorporating random English words into their restaurant titles and slang). Beers were only 1 euro apiece - unheard of in Paris (or any other Western city, for that matter). We had a hilarious conversation, made all the funnier by the boys' English gaffes (For example, at one point, Peter meant to use the American slang term "smashed" - ie., drunk - but instead said "smashed up." We explained "smashed up" is what happens when you're smashed and you walk down the street and bang into something - which he promptly, ironically, did  - by walking into a pole shortly thereafter). 

Afterwards, the boys decided we needed to see the Charles Bridge, which spans the Vltava River and affords spectacular city views. The bridge contains the Statue of St. John of Nepomuck, and it's traditional to touch the statute while making a wish and gazing out across the river (it sounds so romantic!) We made our wishes, and despite the late (early) hour and a luxurious gratis hotel room awaiting, let the boys take us to a "must see" Prague nightclub, which had multiple rooms ranging from modern to kitsch. The boys insisted on ordering us champagne, but finally, we came to our senses and hailed a cab back to our hotel. We awoke after the standard two hours of sleep, stuffed our faces with as much free hotel breakfast we could gather, and made our way across the street to the airport for our connecting flight to Istanbul.