2005 letter about a visit to Prague in the Czech Republic by train from Dresden: Well, we did ask one more thing. About getting to Prague in the Czech Republic. We considered driving and camping, but decided against it for a variety of reasons. Not the least of these was my (Adelle’s) worry about the roads, how well they are marked, how I could follow Czech road signs, and a general malaise about the people and a country only recently opened again to the world. We need not have worried. Although we did opt to take a train trip – and stay overnight at a hotel - it was quite clear to us that we, along with hordes of other tourists, were quite welcome. We left Dresden on Thursday morning, were in Praha (as the natives say) by noon. We left on Friday at 5:30pm.

We agree that Prague is both a great city and a beautiful one. It is large but crowded beyond belief by its million plus inhabitants and the thousands upon thousands of tourists. It was the only place since we got to Europe three weeks ago where we consistently heard lots of American tourists talking. Most things were inexpensive – although the hotel was not cheap. It has a very modern public transportation system that includes one of the deepest subways anywhere, and many tram lines.

The city is absolutely beautiful, with all kinds of buildings some built in the 11^th century and some recently. Prague Castle is across the river from the old town, and its complex of palaces is just stunning. It isn’t just the buildings, though. People are very nice, eager to help. When they say the equivalent of good morning, they mean it.

We took a bus tour again. This time it was a mistake. We could have taken a similar tour from a man in a vintage Czech sports car for not too much more than what we paid for two seats on a tour bus. Problem is that it takes a while to re-orient your head to Czech Crowns. The bus tour for two cost about $20 euros, but the 950 Czech Crowns charged by the sports car man is only a little more than $30. And the man in the car can stop to let you take pictures. So remember that if you go to Prague. Those cute cars are not that expensive!

The beautiful buildings aside, the other thing that struck us about Prague was that music occupied a very large place in the life of the city. Many different kinds of music but especially classical. After all, Mozart wrote Don Giovanni in Prague and this is where it had its world premier. And the composer Smetena had lived and worked here. Of course, Dvorak was a Czech. The number and scope of concerts that are available every day here seems to be huge. One can easily attend multiple concerts a day in all kinds of venues—churches, halls, museums, bars and cafes. It seemed that every church or hall offered a daily concert. With all that competition there is an intense marketing effort to attract people to the concerts. People stand on street corners and hawk their performance. Some have sandwich boards advertising their concerts. They stand in the streets, giving out flyers to walkers-by and even offer to guide you straight to the concert venue. Talk about a vibrant art scene! We did not have time to attend a concert but we did go to the Smetena Museum.

Just in case you’re worried, we ate a dinner in a basement restaurant that had rounded high ceilings held up by arches. We ate crisp roasted duck with dumplings, red cabbage and sauerkraut, always a staple of Czech cuisine, and drank a glass of Czech beer. The next day at lunch, we had Bohemian dumplings in cheese sauce followed by an apfel strudel, this time in an outdoor café right on the river next to a beautiful stone bridge going over to a castle and cathedral on the far shore. What more could anyone want? Continued...........