Good that bad beginnings are not always an omen for what is to come, because our much anticipated Prague trip did not have the best beginning at all.
The train from Nuremberg to Dresden - where we had to switch trains - was nothing but 2 cars and therefore way overcrowded with people, bikes and luggage. This is a train in which you cannot reserve seats and so we found a bit of space in the hallway on the floor. After a few hours people were getting off and we snatched seats. Nuremberg and Dresden are not that far apart, but the train winds slowly through the countryside and takes 4.5 hours - which under better conditions could be beautiful. We had just a few minutes to change trains in Dresden, where my mom was already on the train. Two more hours and the train spit us and hundreds of other travelers out at the most ugly train station ever: Holešovice; welcome to the outskirts of Prague.
It took us almost 45 minutes to find out where we have to take which streetcar, get czech koruna - thousands actually - and tickets and make our way to the hotel. In the hotel we found ourselves not in the beautiful advertised rooms, but directly under the roof, with half broken sky windows and no view whatsoever - at least they were spacious, which I was telling myself, while trying to be positive.
A few days before we left, a friend posted on Facebook that he is ready to leave on a tour through Eastern Europe and with a bit of back and forth, we found out that we will be in Prague at the same time, what are the chances of that? We had not seen or spoken to him since we left CA over 10 years ago and had just gotten back in touch via Facebook. My mother stayed in the hotel, being tired from traveling and we set out to meet our former Tanner colleague Owen. Come to think of it, we met a lot of old Tanner folks on this trip, as Owen called it: the Tanner Diaspora.
We met at U Modré kachničky (The Blue Duck) on Michalská street in the Old Town and had a good time, even though the kids behavior was impossible, they were antsy and tired at the same time, did not like anything and were complaining and whining - which I truly detest. We had a misunderstanding about the menu, which led to an unanticipated big bill, but in the end, it really did not matter and we had a lot of good food and the presentation was nice too. Johanna was amazed at her mushroom soup in a mushroom shaped bread.
I was so happy to meet Owen again and I wonder why we lost touch in the first place. Thanks to Facebook and Serendipity, we had a fun night. After dinner Owen took us quickly to the town hall tower with the astronomical clock that is even nicer than the one in Venice and the square around it. Even though it was crowded with tourists, it was pure magic to see it at night and the not so fortunate beggining made way to the excitement of a new city.
On the way home along the river Moldau we also saw the castle towering above the city - so beautiful. (picture above, but really, I need to bring a tripod!)
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