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| Erin's Journal for 9-24-02, Part 2 We took the tram into town and found our way around Wenceslas Square, a big open area where there happened to be a festival of sorts going on. We wandered the booths and found some wonderful art cards to take home and frame, as well as eyeing some of the good-looking tarts and treats. Then we figured out the map enough to aim up to Old Town square, where the impressive cathedral that tops the square figures in many of the city's postcards. We'd stopped into an information booth and gotten some fliers for walking tours around the city, too. We made our way to the Traveller's Hostel, where the rest of the folks from the van had been dropped off, and searched out the two guys we'd gone to Saxony-Switzerland with, Ryan and Casey. Their place wasn't nearly as nice as ours, and the security was appalling (explaining why we'd heard about so many thefts there), so we gloated a little about our 5 bed private room before all heading out to find some food. We walked around Old Town square a bit, then headed down the king's way until we found a likely looking menu. We walked down two stories to get in, and were asked if we had reservations. We said no, a little surprised, and sat down to a very nice meal. I decided to be adventurous and ordered the wild boar, while Glenn had the beef goulash. Both were pretty good, and the entertainment started up - a 3 man band. There was a large group of Japanese tourists on the other side of some columns, and they were gleefully singing along with the band, so that was amusing! There were even a couple of native dancers who came in and performed to some folk songs, but they were on the other side of the columns too, and we just got a few glimpses of them. Right about when we were done, a large group of high school aged kids came in (about 60 of them!), so we quickly got our bill and left. We wandered down the king's way a bit, looking around, and stopped about halfway across the Charles Bridge, the most famous way to the castle on the other side of the Blatva River. It was amazing to realize that this huge flow of water was only a meter below the bridge just a few weeks ago! It was getting really cold and starting to sprinkle, so we turned back to look for a likely spot for a beer. Back near Old Town square, a pretty good street performer was playing his guitar and singing American songs, so we sat in the nearby cafe under some heat lamps and listened. Glenn and I shared some ice cream while we sat there, and listened to the increasing rain. Finally it got so heavy that the performer stopped playing and we agreed it was time to head back. Glenn was getting drenched the whole way back to the trams (and we got lost a couple of times), so by the time we got back across the river to our hostel, we were shivering and he had to dry off! But it was great to have our room to ourselves to snuggle up and get warm! |
| A spooky night view of the tower at the head of Charles Bridge |