A night and day in Prague

We arrived in Prague yesterday mid-afternoon for Cam's long-waited reunion with Ondrej (Andrew) Kotek.  Ondrej spent the 2008-2009 in Rochester, NH as an exchange student and living with the Chasses.  Cam and Ondrej played hockey together at Spaulding High School and became good friends in that time.

We were met at the Prague rail station by Ondrej and his mom, Olga Kotkova.  In Czech, the forms of men's and women's names are differentiated with the woman's name taking the ending "-ova", something I didn't know before coming here.  It is, I think, similar to the Russian language.

We came to their apartment by taxi because of the luggage and arrived after only a fifteen minute ride.  Olga had prepared for us a traditional Czech meal called Svickova.  It is a dish of beef marinated for 48 hours in a sauce prepared from vegetables and sour cream, served over dumplings, and garnished with fruit and whipped cream(!), and it was very delicious.

Afterwards, Cam and Ondrej went to a professional hockey game.  Olga and I walked for nearly two hours through Prague's old section as she pointed out various points of interest, such as the Presidential Palace (where we saw the changing of the palace guard), several churches and cathedrals, and examples of the mix of Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance architecture that characterizes the history of the city.  We saw only enough to give me an idea of the places that I will want to get back to and visit during the rest of the week that we'll remain here.

Today (Monday), after Ondrej took care of some school things that he needed to do in the morning, the three of us, Cam, Ondrej and I took the subway, the tube as it is referred to here, back to the old town area and walked around for almost four hours, seeing more of the sights that Ondrej thought we'd find interesting, including the famous Prague Astronomical Clock in the old town city hall.  We were there at 1:00 PM in a large crowd of other tourists to witness the many movements of the clock as it strikes each hour.

We stopped in at a McDonalds restaurant for a couple of Cokes for the boys and a coffee latte for me that we drank as we walked, and then later at a famous coffee house and restaurant called Café Slavia located directly across a broad avenue from the National Theater.  I had another latte and sampled some excellent warm apple strudel garnished with whipped cream and crumbled chocolate.

Tonight the four of us will attend a concert of classical music in one of the grand old churches and then have a meal together -- or maybe before the concert, I'm not clear on that point.

Cam is out with Ondrej right now meeting some of his friends that he expects to meet again for a dance party later in the week.  I'm alone in the apartment taking advantage of the wireless internet and watching a performance of a ballet on Mezzo, kind of an MTV for classical and jazz music that they have as part of their satellite TV service.  The service originates in France.  To the best of my knowledge it isn't available in America, though I kind of wish it was.  It seems not to be interrupted at all by commercials and broadcasts around the clock.

Cam and Ondrej have just returned at 6:00 PM and we'll be going out shortly, bringing this post to a halt.  There should be more tomorrow, as well as more photos at our Facebook photo pages.  Until then,

Dobrou noc!, which means good night.