A Few Days in Prague

I met Augusto by the statues on Mala Strana and we went for some dinner where we discussed life and passion. Augusto ordered a plate of ribs which was so big that it inspired the table beside us to order a portion for themselves.
After sitting outside until we began to feel a chill, the day had been a bit cooler than previous days thanks to the storm the night before, we headed up the road to my favourite bar.
I learnt that it's best not to go there before eleven as aside from a crowd who seemed to be finishing off some sort of a picnic the place was quiet. Four police popped in and took a brief look around but that was as exciting as it got until about eleven when the bar started filling up.
A couple of Czechs set at the table next to us. Enticed by our exoticness and the fact that there was a copy of "The Good Soldier Svejk", which I had leant to Augusto and he was returning unread, they struck up conversation with us. One of them did anyway as the other didn't have any English and we had not much Czech. Still between us all we managed to pass the night away agreeably.
The next morning was the first of the holiday where the wife awoke before me. After a brief breakfast we headed off to do some shopping. I made a stop for a smoothie as I needed the fruity goodness.
After this I lazily followed the wife around the shops as she searched for an umbrella. Once one had been found we headed off for some lunch. After enjoying my delicious meal of mixed pork the wife announced that she intended to go home for a nap. Not feeling tired myself I decide to take a scenic walk home.
Once I had seen the wife safely onto a tram I set off in the direction of the old town square, where I stopped on a bench and watched all the other tourists go about their sight-seeing. Once I had summoned up some more energy I headed in the direction of the river which I walked up in the direction of Charles bridge. Normally I would avoid crossing Charles bridge during the day but I had a message to do on the other side so I weaved in and out of the tour groups and crossed it.
Feeling throughly worn out after my crossing I stopped for a quick beer by the river. I knew that because of my location the beer would be pricey but once I saw how pricey it was I resolved to take my time with it. It was while I was enjoying my beer that I got a text from the wife informing me of our plans for the evening.
Now that I had a deadline to get home I finished my beer before heading up to an Irish bar to see if they would be showing the hurling the next day, which they said they would be. This would give me something to do while the wife met with several of her girlfriends.
That evening we met one of the wifes friends from Dublin who is now back living in Prague but wants to return to Dublin for dinner in an Argentine restaurant. We set out in their wonderful courtyard and enjoyed several beers and swapping travel stories. After dinner we took the same walk I had taken earlier in the day. It was a different walk at that time of night. Not quite as crowded but a bit more noisy. As our friend did not want to cross the river, as it would mean having to use two modes of transport to get home we said our good-byes at Charles bridge.
We awoke too early for my liking the next morning and headed to the train station to catch the train to Hrusice my father in laws home village which is a rather small village about forty minutes from Prague. We had a brief tour of the old summer house and a chat with some cousins before lunch.
Having done everything we had planned to do there we headed back to Prague where we both had evening engagements. I was to call in on some friends of mine and their new baby while the wife was meeting some of her friends for an evening of girl talk. This divergence in plans meant that for the first time I was to get the metro and a bus by myself. Aside from walking the wrong way when I got off the bus at my friends stop I managed it without too much difficulty.
After a couple of hours looking at the peacefully sleeping baby I headed back into town where I headed to the Irish bar in Mala Strana for some hurling while I awaited word from the wife. The bar was not that busy and I was the only person there with any interest in the game. Well there was a group of German tourists who seemed to be intrigued by what was going on but there interest soon waned as they concentrated on their beer.
After the game I wandered up to find the restaurant my wife was in, which would have been a lot easier if she had given me the correct tram station for it. I wandered managed to find them just as they had finished off their food ruining my plans to do a little clean up of their plates. I had a quick beer while the girls finished off their chatting.
The wife and I were heading back to my favourite bar for a couple of last beers in Prague and mentioned this to her friend. When hearing where we were headed we were warned that the two times her friend had been there a fight had broken out. As I've been there plenty of times and always found it to be a most agreeable place I took this warning to say more about the wifes friends luck than the character of the bar.
When we got to the bar we found the barman was in a bit of a mood as a group of about twenty French tourists had arrived with each of them ordering cocktails.
-I don't know they think this is a cocktail bar and not just a pub.
I felt a bit embarrassed in having to order a mojito for the wife but she would not be swayed in her choice. In the end they ran out of ice so we had to go downstairs for her drink.
The bar was fast filling up by this stage and we were joined at our table by three Austrian girls who were studying in Prague. I think the wife was a bit annoyed when she came back from the toilet and found me in conversation with them all but she soon could involved in our discussion which covered the differences between Austrians and Germans, in both culture and language, the differences and similarities between Austrians and Czechs, again in both culture and language, and the difference between Irish and everyone else. I was told by one of them, who had visited Ireland, that I spoke remarkably understandable English. As the night went on our range of topics expanded and I even provided some career advice to one of them who was studying sociology and Russian which I suggested seemed a perfect background for a spy. She seemed quite taken with the idea. After sometime we all decided to call it a night for various reasons, study for them and the need to pack for us.
After a slow start the next day we set off in the rain with our freshly packed bags for the airport. The wife has a friend who works in the airport and when we went to check in we discovered that she had booked us in the front row with the middle seat free, which was nice. We joined her for lunch, one last feed of dumplings, before boarding our flight home.

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