The Magic of Prague

July 2 (continued): We found the train we wanted to take to Prague--and here we made a major error. We did not purchase seat reservations on this train. They weren't required, so we figured...well, we really didn't figure anything. We just got Edie's ticket, and we boarded the train. Slight mistake, to not reserve seats.

For some time, all seemed fine. We had three good seats together, and the scenery was beautiful. The rain of Salzburg had been left behind, and the day was beautiful.

Soon the German announcements became Czech, with one endearingly quirky addition to each English translation. Every time a stop was announced (in Czech and then in English), the announcer would say "...and now we say goodbye to you. Buh-bye!" (I'm easily enchanted by really human announcements.)

At some point a trio of passengers crashed into our car, speaking very loudly and excitedly. The man in the group seemed either extremely upset or very sick; it was hard to tell, but it was impossible to ignore these folks. It's worth noting that this afflicted man was also wearing two hats and eating a redolent sausage sandwich, contributing to the trio's undeniable presence.

We moved a few seats away, until the train stopped again and passengers boarded who wanted the seats we were sitting in. Another passenger explained that the seat markers above the seats indicated if they had been reserved by onboarding passengers. So then we frantically looked for unreserved seats as the train kept filling up. It seemed that everyone was on their way to Prague. Finally found seats that remained unreserved for the rest of the trip-- but could never quite get away from that upset/sick two-hatted man.

It only takes one mistake like that to learn an important lesson. Once in the Prague station, we immediately went to the ticket office and purchased Edie's ticket and three reserved seats for the train trip from Prague to Vienna a few days hence (and a really good thing we did).

Then, how to get to our hotel. The Czech language is totally incomprehensible to our unschooled eyes. We had no idea how to find a taxi or Uber driver. The English signs seemed to point us in directions that didn't make sense. Finally we asked a young couple if they spoke English and could point us in the right direction for a taxi. The young woman did even better; she walked us through the station and pointed out where the taxi stand was, but told us Uber was a less expensive option. So I revved up my Uber app and within minutes we had a lovely driver who spoke enough English to point out some of the landmarks on the way to our hotel.

But our hotel...was actually the Botel Matylda (https://www.botelmatylda.cz/en/accommodation), moored on the Vltava River. What a wonderful place! We fell in love with it the moment we saw it: two large boats connected by a deck, all on the water. Our room was actually on the Klotylda; the Matylda housed the restaurant plus some rooms on the lower deck.

A morning view

Staff, especially Eva at the reception desk, were friendly and helpful. If you go to Prague, you really should consider booking this place.

After checking in, we almost immediately started walking toward our first appointment, an evening cruise on the river. The walk along the river was lovely, with a spectacular sunset behind the castle. As with the cruise on the Seine in Paris, it wasn't easy to find the boat, but we finally did. Hoped to find some food nearby while we waited to board, but the only place around there had closed its food service. Ah well, our spirits were not dampened.

Once on board, we discovered that there was a server who would bring us drinks and (yay!) snacks. The sky was darkening, and the city's lights were ready to give us a show.

Suddenly, Cindy noticed a new light source in the east:

What an astounding moon! A perfect evening had just become even more so.

I just want to say that one of my favorite pieces of music is Smetana's "Vltava" ("The Moldau"), so it was very exciting to be on that very river and to think of the journey it takes through Czechia before it reaches Prague. Here's a link to a particularly moving version of "Vltava": https://youtu.be/l6kqu2mk-Kw

Sadly, the cruise came to an end. Would have been happy to spend another hour or so on that river. But we were hungry, and we were hoping to find a restaurant that might still be serving food. My map app told me that there might be some places, so we took off in search of sustenance. We found a few places, but each one told us that we were just a bit too late. One waiter at a really nice looking Italian place told us that there was a KFC (!) just a couple of blocks away. It wasn't easy to find, but finally, success! We got there just in time to order, and were barely halfway through our delicious repast before the staff came to tell us they were closing and we'd have to leave.

Hunger pangs abated, we walked back to our botel, passing a huge crowd of young people lined up to get into some club. The street next to the river was still alive with lots of people out.

The Charles Bridge gate:

In just the first few hours of our time in Prague, we have felt the magic of Prague reach out and envelop us.