Prague: Day Three, Part Two - The Market, the Woods and a New Friend

Cafe Slavia

Back at the hotel, I barely have time for a sit-down before the front desk calls to tell me my guest has arrived.

       Christopher suggests lunch at Café Slavia... which just happens to be on my To-Do List.  Very auspicious for our friendship.  We walk down streets that are beginning to feel familiar, toward the river.  Slavia is across from the National Theater, and was a great favorite for breaks during rehearsals, including for Vaclav Havel.  The restaurant is upstairs, all dark wood and windows overlooking the Vltava, waiters in crisp white shirts.  I decide to stay regional and order the beef broth with noodles and “dumplings” (which turn out to be meatballs, albeit delicious ones), and for dessert an apple strudel, to compare it with Paneria’s on my first day.  (Slavia lost; I should have tried their renowned chocolate instead.)

The Dancing House

       After lunch, Christopher walks us down the tree-lined riverbank, the river flowing on one side, wealthy-looking apartment buildings standing tall on the other.  We pass the Dancing House, also called “Fred and Ginger”, a quirky building whose architectural lines seem to dip and wave.  It was designed in 1992 by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić with some cooperation from Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry.  Past that is the home where playwright and former president Vaclav Havel grew up.  And as we walk, our conversation continues non-stop.

View from Vysehrad

Finally we reach a gateway in a fortress wall.  This is Vysehrad, which means “castle on the heights”.  It was once a fortified castle outside Prague; now the castle is gone, except for some of the walls.  But the vast park includes the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the mysterious Devil’s Column, said to be left by the devil after he lost a bet with a priest.  There’s also a national cemetery, with the much-flowered graves of Dvorak and Smetana, as well as Mucha.  We sit and talk for hours, then walk the ramparts for a great view of the city from yet another angle.
       Soon it’s time for Christopher to return to his wife and his writings.  He walks me downhill through a neighborhood of Cubist houses, one of which he used to live in.  He guides us to the tram stop - which my tired feet appreciate - lends me a ticket and we ride back across much of the Nove Mesta precinct, past yet another park - this one Charles Square - and ultimately to Powder Tower, where he returns me to my hotel and says good-bye.  A true gentleman who didn’t want me to be lost in his adopted city.


       All that's left to do is enjoy an early dinner in the hotel's restaurant.
A table all to myself, and a lovely bisque with caviar.
Then a quick shower...
... and bed.