Val takes the reins

Val was our tour guide today and she is good (at tour guiding too). We did things today I have only dreamed about doing and there were no motorcycles involved. Two walks in one day plenty of transportation exchanges and we never got lost once.

Our first stop was some old fortress turned park and church. It was not very crowded with beautiful views of Prague and the grounds were incredible. The pictures are pretty good but they don’t do it justice.

On our way to our next stop we both agreed that short skirts and high heels are not always a good thing. No pictures but I am sure you can imagine.

Our next adventure was the royal walk and it included some of the sights we saw last night but now Val explained what we were seeing. We came upon some NFL nesting dolls. They had every team including the Steelers and Browns but did not have the Bengals. Must have been sold out Dan?

We got tickets for the Prague Philharmonic performance tomorrow. The tickets were expensive but since it is all in Czech money who cares. It looks like the hockey game is off but maybe I can catch some Euroleague Basketball in a bar that serves absinth? Really am looking forward to the philharmonic but we may need to do some shopping for both of us since our REI northwest attire might not fit in. The fellow at the ticket window advised Vietnamese second hand stores. He said they don’t check labels at the door. I am trying to decide if I should go with the second hand stuff or buy nice things that fit Alec and he can wear them. We will see where that goes. I am looking on the internet for good second hand stores and fancy retail outlets in Prague that are opened on New Year’s Day. Val has finally come around to the idea that bringing the laptop was a good idea.

We went by the restaurant that Adam had recommended and it looked too expensive and fancy for us. Hmm. We were hoping to get something to eat there in advance of the late night crowds so we needed a backup. I got Val some really nice street vendor sausage, one of those cinnamon toast things and a can of warm Czech beer to share between the two of us. Who said I don’t know how to treat a lady. I did get some extra cinnamon toast stuff as a bonus. I think that was because there was a fellow at the booth giving directions in broken English to a person and he ended it with “you can’t miss it”. I said that was the kiss of death and they both looked at me with somewhat angry stares. I said well anytime someone tells me I can’t miss it I usually do and then they got it, laughed and said welcome to Prague.

This is going to seem weird but I think I am missing having interactions with people. Not sure that is the case but maybe I’m not as antisocial as I think I am. I will give that some more thought after I have some absinth and let you know.

We went down to the river tonight to see the New Year’s celebration. Just like Bruce Springsteen? It was wild and fun. On the metro there was a young person playing the accordion and a group of young men singing songs. Since we don’t know the words we will assume they were Czech folk songs but it’s more likely they were just drinking songs. Here’s to Little Alec he’s with us tonight ………We got there early and found a vacant bench right along the river. The area in front of us filled up fairly quickly but it was fun watching the people.

“Love couple” were entertaining early and we thought they might put on quite a show but for some reason the fireworks between the 20 something girl and the 40 something guy never materialized. There was a fun drunk with some friends and another group of young people that kept things interesting while we waited the hour or so for the main show to begin. Lots of boats on the river the castle in the background and the Charles Bridge off to our left. Quite a site.

It was very crowded as it got closer to midnight but the crowd was fun and not obnoxious at all. We had read the there were lots of individuals fireworks let off at the Old Town Square area so we opted for the river display. I can’t imagine what the Old Town Square was like. There were tons of individual fireworks let off by the river in very close proximity to everyone. It was wild. No bottle rockets hit us and we only got showered with remnants a little. Val gave me a real kiss at midnight and I promised to buy her a farm in 2010. All in all a wonderful magical evening.

We working on a video of the fireworks scene and if we can figure it out I will post it asap.