John actually wrote the post title as a Facebook status update. Lovely, I know, but man was he right about that!
We got into Prague around 7:30 AM, got our bearings, and hopped a tram to our night’s lodgings, a guest house about a mile from the train station. We knew we wouldn’t be able to check in until that afternoon, but we were hoping to at least drop our bags there. We rang the bell, but even though it was after 8 at that point, no one answered, so we lugged our stuff to a coffee shop down the hill and hung out there drinking tea and reading for an hour. I left John there with the luggage and hiked back up the hill to try ringing the bell again. Not only did the owner answer this time, but she said the room was ready and that we could check in right then. FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. OMG. We hadn’t showered since the previous morning, so we were both sweaty and sticky from spending the previous day in the sun and in an un-airconditioned bus and train. And, even though it was barely 9AM, it was already 90+F in Prague.
I went back and got John, and we checked in, took the aforementioned GREATEST SHOWERS EVER, and crashed for a nap in the most comfortable bed we’ve slept in the entire trip so far. OMG HEAVEN. Neither of us had slept much or well on the train, so the nap was absolutely wonderful.
After a few hours, we woke up and headed out to see what there was to see. Mostly this consisted of trying to figure out how to get places and instead getting lost, despite both a map and a GPS. Street signage here is like it was in the Balkans — fairly non-existent. I found out yesterday that during the Prague Spring uprising of 1968, when the citizens tried to replace the Communist government and the Soviets came in to quash the rebellion, one of the ways the people of Prague tried to mess with the Soviets was to take down all the street signs. I think they still haven’t put them back up, or something. Gah.
But at least in our wandering we figured out where things were and what we wanted to see. We wandered down to Charles Bridge and watched the view for a while.
John on Charles Bridge, with the Vltava (Moldau) River in the background.
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Then we hung out cooling our heels in a fountain with a lot of other people. Aaaahhhhhh. Relief from the heat.
As evening turned to night, we headed back to our guest house, stopping by a grocery store to get some food for dinner, breakfast, and lunch the next day. Easy, relaxed day. :-)
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Where we are now:
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