Our group has arrived safely and in good spirits in the beautiful bohemian city of Prague!
We have expanded our knowledge learning about the Good King Wenceslas, King Charles, Jan Hus, Hapsburgs and Turks. We arrived around noon on Wednesday, transferred to and checked into our hotel, and then set out to explore Prague on foot! The fresh air did wonders for our jet lagged bodies, and we walked to the Little Quarter, crossed the Charles Bridge, and spent a bit of time in the Old Town. It looks like DisneyWorld, except it’s the real deal! The Baroque architecture is absolutely beautiful. Steeples abound in this city where only five percent of the people practice their Christianity, thanks to the years lost to communism.
We met up with the Denver delegation and our perky little tour manager, Abi at dinner on Wednesday night. We haven’t had much time to bond with the Denver folk yet….it will be interesting to see if and how that happens. They seem nice enough….10 students and 7 adults. The students wanted to go to a disco tonight, and I was quite thankful that they weren’t my students and I didn’t have to drag my bones to chaperone them!
Our hotel (Andel’s) is superb, and the food has been very good and plentiful! We can really tell the weakness of the American dollar, though. In the Czech Republic, they use Czech Crowns as currency, and currently they are worth about six cents each. So, when you see that a bottle of water cost 50 crowns, you think that’s not too bad, until you realize that it’s not 50 cents, but rather $3! Yikes! The Czech people are rejoicing in all of the money they are making off of American tourists! I had lunch at McDonald’s today (I know, I’m sorry!) for 138 crowns….which included a burger, fries, coke, and a bonus bottle of water. Let’s see, 138 x 6 = $8.28. And I figured that was a pretty good deal!
A few unique things I’ve seen in Prague:
A girl who had every toenail painted a different color
Shirts/key chains/stickers that say Czech me out!
A three-story mall (across the street from our hotel) with escalators that are
ramps rather than stairs, so you can take shopping carts and baby strollers
on them (We all thought that was a brilliant idea!)
A bicycle built for eight…in a circular arrangement! It’s called a conference bike!
(I’ll try to attach a picture.)
Since the European Football (Soccer) Championship is currently in progress, things have been a bit crazy in the city center, where they have set up giant screens and have football-watching parties. It may be even worse in Vienna, as they are actually playing games there!
Susan Williams wore her pedometer today, and we walked over 16,000 steps (7 miles). My boot/aircast and I are getting along pretty well, and occasionally I even get some sympathy (not really needed, but appreciated) from folks. On these cobblestones, I don’t think I would have been able to make it without the support/protection.
The Czech language is Slavic, more like Russian with an “English” alphabet! I’ve tried to master the magic words (for those of you who remember Captain Kangaroo) please and thank you. A young girl in the tobacco store where I bought my tram ticket was amused enough with my efforts to offer to write them down for me (a true souvenir!)…..prosim and dekuji. I’m still trying to master the pronunciation.
Tomorrow morning we get to sleep in….we’re not leaving for Vienna until 10:30 a.m.! And since we’re not going to be walking too much, so I’m going to try to make it without my boot friend today!
We have expanded our knowledge learning about the Good King Wenceslas, King Charles, Jan Hus, Hapsburgs and Turks. We arrived around noon on Wednesday, transferred to and checked into our hotel, and then set out to explore Prague on foot! The fresh air did wonders for our jet lagged bodies, and we walked to the Little Quarter, crossed the Charles Bridge, and spent a bit of time in the Old Town. It looks like DisneyWorld, except it’s the real deal! The Baroque architecture is absolutely beautiful. Steeples abound in this city where only five percent of the people practice their Christianity, thanks to the years lost to communism.
We met up with the Denver delegation and our perky little tour manager, Abi at dinner on Wednesday night. We haven’t had much time to bond with the Denver folk yet….it will be interesting to see if and how that happens. They seem nice enough….10 students and 7 adults. The students wanted to go to a disco tonight, and I was quite thankful that they weren’t my students and I didn’t have to drag my bones to chaperone them!
Our hotel (Andel’s) is superb, and the food has been very good and plentiful! We can really tell the weakness of the American dollar, though. In the Czech Republic, they use Czech Crowns as currency, and currently they are worth about six cents each. So, when you see that a bottle of water cost 50 crowns, you think that’s not too bad, until you realize that it’s not 50 cents, but rather $3! Yikes! The Czech people are rejoicing in all of the money they are making off of American tourists! I had lunch at McDonald’s today (I know, I’m sorry!) for 138 crowns….which included a burger, fries, coke, and a bonus bottle of water. Let’s see, 138 x 6 = $8.28. And I figured that was a pretty good deal!
A few unique things I’ve seen in Prague:
A girl who had every toenail painted a different color
Shirts/key chains/stickers that say Czech me out!
A three-story mall (across the street from our hotel) with escalators that are
ramps rather than stairs, so you can take shopping carts and baby strollers
on them (We all thought that was a brilliant idea!)
A bicycle built for eight…in a circular arrangement! It’s called a conference bike!
(I’ll try to attach a picture.)
Since the European Football (Soccer) Championship is currently in progress, things have been a bit crazy in the city center, where they have set up giant screens and have football-watching parties. It may be even worse in Vienna, as they are actually playing games there!
Susan Williams wore her pedometer today, and we walked over 16,000 steps (7 miles). My boot/aircast and I are getting along pretty well, and occasionally I even get some sympathy (not really needed, but appreciated) from folks. On these cobblestones, I don’t think I would have been able to make it without the support/protection.
The Czech language is Slavic, more like Russian with an “English” alphabet! I’ve tried to master the magic words (for those of you who remember Captain Kangaroo) please and thank you. A young girl in the tobacco store where I bought my tram ticket was amused enough with my efforts to offer to write them down for me (a true souvenir!)…..prosim and dekuji. I’m still trying to master the pronunciation.
Tomorrow morning we get to sleep in….we’re not leaving for Vienna until 10:30 a.m.! And since we’re not going to be walking too much, so I’m going to try to make it without my boot friend today!
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