PARIS-PRAGUE DAY 7: Lou and I did a little work at the airport the morning before heading to the airport to catch our flight to Prague. On our way to the metro I rolled over a business man’s fine Italian shoes and he never blinked an eye or acknowledged my apology. City born and bred. Once on the metro, just after the last major connecting station before the long ride to the airport, a gentleman and a little girl snuck onto the train. He began playing his accordion and she began to sing. They performed one song, she walked up and down our car with her hat held out for a tip, and then they moved on to the next car. By my calculations, they made an easy 130EU on that one round trip to the airport. I guess that makes it worth taking the girl out of school for the afternoon. When we arrived in Prague we went straight to our amazing little Marriott boutique hotel which used to be a bank. I have never stayed in such an opulent, service-oriented place before, and part of me never wanted to leave. We left only when we became hungry, and ate at the hotel restaurant, which was our 3rd most delicious dinner of the trip. Dinner in Prague is generally served late to locals (9:00), so we were one of only two couples in the restaurant. It was rather reminiscent of our honeymoon. After dinner we made our way to the local mall, faintly hopeful of buying a new pair of running shoes to replace the ones I left in Paris. The second place we tried had not only my brand, but my style and size!
PRAGUE DAY 8: The breakfast served at Boscolo is fit for King and was accompanied by a real live harpist every single day. The menu was complete with champagne and desserts. We had a little every morning. This first full day we toured the chocolate museum, where we learned that chocolate did not impress Columbus when he landed in Nicaragua. Who knows how the course of history would have changed had it had a more lasting impression? We also learned that the sugar cube was invented in Czech, and we took part in a praline making demonstration. A video of the chocolate bean collecting process made me wonder about the fate and practices of the people who do the manual labor. Without them, the world would not enjoy the products which arise from the beans, so why does Nestle et al benefit the most from the production?
PRAGUE DAY 9-10: Lapis Diamond Factory Store picks you up and drops you off. They took us to a private room, offered us the finest liquor then tried to sell us their most expensive pieces. When the salesman figured out we were buying only small pieces for the girls he got suddenly quiet and stayed that way. We ended up dropping almost 1k between them and my ring; afterward we went to the Lopkewicz Museum, saw the original Beethoven 5th manuscript and had goulash at their cafe. On the way back to the hotel we stopped for old Prague ham and new wine at an outdoor cafe. When we were close to our hotel we became alarmed at a very angry woman beating on the car of someone in the middle of the street. I think she was a scorned lover. We also learned learned today that the reason the spa robe seemed so tiny on Lou the day before was because he was wearing the small one. He felt a little better about this after attending the Prague Royal Orchestra concert at the Municipal House. The night we attended they performed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
PARIS-BOSTON DAY 11: We decided that in the future it would be better to get all the traveling done in 1 day rather than break it into 2; its cheaper and safer in event of cancellation but feels like we wasted a day which could have been used to sight see. The last day was just enough time to have breakfast and get to the Admiral’s Club 40 minutes before the flight; just in time to watch a pretty young lady shut down a horny creepy stalkerish older guy. In this trip we also learned how VAT refunds really work. Fortunately we did it right for our biggest purchase (jewelry). Unfortunately I did it wrong on the 2nd biggest purchase (cologne). Also, if you want to see lots of crack, go the the airport and watch as lots of people travel sans belts (and smell B.O. thanks to people traveling without soap).