Followers of this blog are already aware that my favorite part of trips is mingling with the locals. If they are people we already know, all the better. Last night we had a wonderful dinner with my friend Patrik (not our tour guide), his wife, Pavlina, and their sons Patrik (yes another Patrik) and Alex. First of all, in spite of the fact that in our short time here we have met 3 Patriks, I have been told it is not a common name in the Czech Republic.
I knew Patrik when he was one of the stars of the Long Beach Ice Dogs and I was one of the team doctors. If you are saying you’ve never heard of the Ice Dogs, that is the reason they no longer exist. I had not seen Patrik since about 1999 before he was married. We met the family at a local restaurant a bit off the main drag and thus devoid of tourists. We had what Patrik described as typical Czech food. In a word it was spectacular.
It was a great night catching up with an old friend and meeting his family. I was aware that they did not live in the city and thought they were about 20 kilometers from town. I found out that they live about a two hour drive from the city. I was shocked learning they were coming from so far. That is like someone visiting Santa Barbara and asking if I want to meet them for dinner. They are an incredible family and it gave us one more reason to return to this lovely city.
Today we considered taking a day trip to a couple of towns that had been recommended by some friends. We were slow to get started and by the time we did it seemed like it was too late to make the trip. Instead we decided to buy tickets for one of the “Hop On, Hop Off” bus tours. I am sure you know the type. We did it in Boston on a rainy day and since today’s forecast was rain we thought it might be a good idea.
The tour took on a little excitement when our bus was blocked by another tour bus. Honking ensued making me feel like we were visiting New York. Not to digress but Prague is a lot like most of Australia in that there is very little honking of horns (unlike New York). Back to my story, for some unknown reason the bus in front of us had stopped and was blocking our path. Our driver continued to honk with the same results (Isn’t that the definition of insanity? Continue to do the same action while expecting different results?). He started to go over the curb to get around. It made an awful sound and quite frankly scared me (I later heard from Patrice and Erica that they were also feeling a bit scared).
After the tour we walked back to a sight that interested Erica. On the bus we passed the Church of Our Lady Victorious which Erica has heard was famous for “The Infant Jesus of Prague”. The church houses a doll of the baby Jesus and people have crafted exquisite clothes for the doll to wear. The church has a series of cases displaying previously used costumes. The church has received costumes from people all over the world.
That has to be all for now, Patrice and Erica are saying they want go to dinner. We head to Spain tomorrow.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 