Austria and Prague 2019 - First Morning in Prague

I sit on the balcony of our room in Prague, a fleece jacket over my p.j. shirt provides a little extra warmth. It is mid September. The morning air is cool. The sky is the light gray of early morning. Increasing blue holds the promise of sun later in the day. I look out over the city. The spare, stark lines of the tower at the rivers edge below me contrasts sharply with the richly ornamented buildings across the street from it. Spires rise from the skyline across the river. Blocks of Baroque facades line streets that stretch out from the park below me. The castle stands on a hill high above the city, the home of a king placed where he could survey his realm like a mother hen overlooking her brood. The sight represents hundreds of years of history, thousands upon thousands of lives and their untold stories. Clouds of gray, their edges white streak across the lightening sky. Joggers cross the bridge over the river before following the curve of the sidewalk and continue down it's opposite bank. I deeply breath in the cool morning air, begin to stretch muscles and become awake and aware after a deep restorative sleep. Flocks of birds cross the brightening sky. They are too high and far away to tell if they are large or small, they appear as flickering black spots moving towards unknown destinations.

Austria and Prague 2019 - A Tale of Two Restaurants

Although we ate in a few different places in Prague we returned to 2 more than once.

One, Gangster Burgers, was a mere 2 blocks from our hotel. Set slightly below street level, there were steps leading to it, it served excellent light fare. Plus, being from Chicago, we enjoyed it's 1930's gangster themed decor. Returning back to the hotel after dinner there one evening  we paused on the corner and watched a group of bats, silhouetted by a street lamp, gorging themselves on the insects attracted by the light.

The second was the cafe where we procured our sherbet on that first day. We enjoyed breakfast there the following 2 days as well as a double sherbet scoop on our second afternoon. On our way there for Saturday breakfast we passed three young men drinking from a half empty bottle of wine. It was 9:30 in the morning.

Austria and Prague 2019 - A Stroll to the Charles Bridge and then Sherbert

As we left the hotel and walked down  the street toward the Charles Bridge a group of young men with well developed thighs in skin tight bike shorts passed us going the opposite direction. Were they training for a particular sport, perhaps out for a physical fitness run, we decided to disregard these questions and just enjoy the view.

In the plaza below the bridge we watched a leanly muscled lad create objects on an anvil using traditional blacksmith tools. The following day we did purchase an iron ornament for our wall at home from a box of seconds on the pavement at the adjoining stall, imperfect, but perfect for our purposes. 

We joined the throngs walking across the bridge and filling the streets that fanned out from it's twin towers. We browsed in a tiny antique shop located in one of the venerable builds lining the streets, which we also returned to later during our visit, chatting with the woman minding it. We stopped in a church snapping pictures with our phones basically behaving as the tourists that we were. 

Heading back to the hotel we both mentioned how we could go for ice creme on that warm, sunny afternoon. As we were talking about it I saw, across the street, a small cafe with a large picture of an ice creme cone in it's window. We sat outside on the cushioned benches the cafe provided relaxing, people watching and enjoying the sun and a sherbet treat.

Austria and Prague 2019 - A Room With a View

An unkempt and rather sour, overweight younger man checked us in, gave us our card keys and directed us to the elevator. I thought from his demeanor that the chubby man was just having a rough day. This was not the case. His disposition remained stuck in grumpy mode for the entire duration of our stay. He did mention, in a rather haughty manner, several times over the ensuing days, that the establishment we were staying in was a 4 star hotel, just in case we might forget.

We headed to our room. We had paid a small premium for a river view. I imagined myself being able to view the river through a window if I stood on one leg and leaned off to one side. Opening the door we almost squealed with delight. Through glass doors at the far end we saw a balcony. Rushing to it and stepping outside we squealed again. Not only did we have a river view but the entire historic area of Prague was spread out before us. It was a wonderland of domes, spires and in the distance, about 10 minutes walk away, was the venerable Charles bridge, one of Prague's premier attractions. The palace complex sat atop a hill, the steeples of the St. Vitus Cathedral looming like sentinels keeping watch over the centuries old city.

We stowed our bags and got ready to explore. As I was waiting in the corridor for my husband I heard the door of another room on the floor being opened. Out stepped 2 men of the same approximate height and weight, round bellied, commonly referred to as Bears in gayspeak. They were from Ft. Lauderdale, the new gay mecca, although one of them had once lived in Prague. We spoke to them briefly on the elevator ride down. "See you again", they said as we parted ways, although we never did run into them after that.

Austria and Prague 2019 - Taxi!

We entered the historic street level of the Prague train station. It's beauty had faded over time. It seemed tired, careworn and a little dangerous. We could find no sign directing us to a taxi stand. Leaving my husband above, guarding our bags, I descended to the modern lower level and inquired of a young salesgirl in one of the shops where we might be able to procure a cab. She pointed down a passageway and said "Down there and to the left". I went back upstairs, retrieved my husband and our luggage and we headed off down the corridor.

There was, indeed, a taxi symbol where she had directed us but following it took us upstairs to the train platforms. We returned to the lower level. The modern, lower level of the train station was a scene of chaos. Hundreds of people representing a multitude of  ages, stripes, colors and income levels raced by in all directions. We asked person after person in the shops that abounded in the station where we could get a taxi keeping a watchful eye on our bags the entire time. A young man in one of the stores informed me that we were not in a taxi stand but a book store, perhaps thinking that I may have confused the two. Another pointed to glass doors, through them we could only see a rather seedy looking park.

In desperation we stopped in the Alamo Car Rental office as the word Taxi was printed clearly, in large letters, on their windows. The young lady told us she would be able to phone for a cab and the driver would pick us up at the office. We breathed a sigh of relief. The sense of relief, however, would only last a moment. After a couple of phone calls she told us that all the cab companies they worked with were busy.

We were now trying to suppress our panic wondering if we would spend our time in Prague sleeping on top of our bags in the train station. After a couple of more inquiries someone gave us a complete set of "find the cab" instructions. Go through the doors several others had indicated, traverse the seedy looking park and we would see a taxi stand on the left. Following the instructions we did, indeed, see the stand and a lone cab, it's driver engaged in a heated exchange with an Asian man. The Asian man stormed off, the driver turned to us, we must have looked like lost sheep at this point, and asked in accented English, "Do you need a taxi". We asked the fare, although we were in no position to haggle, and he told us the amount in Czech currency. I had no idea of the exchange rate but if he had asked for one of my molars as payment I would probably have not only agreed, figuring that I would still have several more and would not have to sleep in the train station, but also extracted it then and there myself.

I apologized for the weight of our main bag as the young, wiry driver hoisted it into the trunk. "Is okay", he said, "I very strong man".  He pointed out places of interest along the way, a museum, a public square, drove us across the river that runs through the city and we presently found ourselves at our home in Prague,  the lovely, baroque Riverside Hotel.

Austria and Prague 2019 - A Bus Called Leo

Returning to the hotel after our trip to the fortress we felt we as if we had been on a dead run since we landed in Vienna 4 days prior. We had tuna fish and a croissant, enough for a meal, and decided a late afternoon and night spent in the hotel room would be restful and restorative before hitting the road again the next morning. We had to get up early to catch the bus to Prague we had booked.

While researching the trip we had some difficulty finding a way to get from Salzburg to Prague. The train took 7 hours plus, depending on the time of day, and required us to change trains in Linz with only a 30 minute window to do so. Digging on the internet we found a bus line called Leo Express. It was a 5 hour trip, cheaper than the train and would not require a layover or change.

The trip was a delight. We had, for a modest charge, upgraded to business class and upon arriving at the bus were provided with a small bag of snacks and liquid refreshments. As we departed there were shadowy silhouettes of mountains. One came into sharp relief as we neared it. It rose above a lake, it's image mirrored in the still water. We passed small villages dominated by church spires nestled between the mountains. Balconies in the small towns held flower boxes overflowing with colorful blooms.  At one point the road narrowed and wound through one of the villages past the church and guesthouses whose balconies seemed almost as if they would buckle under the weight of the luxurious profusion of blossoms. Small stands of solar panels evidenced how far ahead of the U.S. Europe is in terms of renewable energy. The language as well as the architecture changed as we crossed the border into the Czech Republic showing that, even with the E.U., the separate countries continue to hold their particular histories, cultures and traditions in high regard. We enter Prague and found ourselves traveling down streets lined with Baroque buildings, their beautiful facades wearing a veneer of grit and grime, the only area we found that, the rest of the portions of the city we visited were clean, and were deposited at the train station.

Austria and Prague 2019 - The Alps

My husband had been questioning (read pestering)  me during our time in Salzburg about the Alps. I explained that we were in the foothills, the relatively small mountains one can see from the city, Festungberg included, were the beginnings of the famed mountain range.

Off to the side of one of the squares at the fortress I noticed a small flight of stairs leading down. We descended them to a terrace and there in front of us, spreading out in both directions, filling the horizon, were the glorious peaks of the Alps. Some of the higher elevations held small amounts of snow, it was early fall and snow had not fallen for several months. Clouds would obscure the summits of some, then move off  revealing their full beauty. They rose from the plains below, proud and majestic, self confident in their grandeur. Row after row of peaks stood before us. We were awed, unable to tear ourselves away from the vista. Adding to the atmosphere was the young man with shaggy blonde hair dressed in lederhosen posing for a photo taken by his more conventionally dressed female companion.

"Are you happy now?" I asked my husband. From the smile on his face I could tell that he was.