Before that though there were more adventures to be had and this time to Prague with my dear friend Kate.
2 September 2012
The end of Kate's Swiss adventure had come. She finally got the hang of the name of the town (Einsiedeln) rather than Iseldine which to me sounded more like the nasty tech company (Cyberdyne) in the Terminator films. So we hit the choo-choo to the aerodrome to meet our little flight to Prague. Guess what people...a new airline for me! There was a limited number of options of getting to Prague non-stop (by limited I mean one option) and that with was with Helvetica Airways who operate a fleet of Fokker 100s and with Swiss Airlines flight numbers. Trying to get a model of this aircraft is proving difficult I must add. After a visit to the very busy Swiss Lounge we boarded a bus to our little jet.....
Service in a leather clad economy seat consisted of a buttered bread roll and a drink....white wine for me thanks.....
We were met at the airport by the hotel car (lovely Mercedes S Class with ventilated seats!) and Kate later confided in me (and now all of you) that she thought the driver's eyes were dreamy....we then arrived, with Kate clearly weak at the knees, at the Mandarin Oriental Prague. We were warmly met by a member of the team and a glass of iced green tea.
Room was a lovely garden terrace view room and lived up to the Mandarin Oriental standards.
Neither of us had been to Prague before so we were eager as a platypus to head on out and explore a little before dinner. We engaged the services of a very helpful Concierge who gave us some ideas for a little walk and a boat tour. The location of the hotel meant everything was pretty much in walking distance.
We took ourselves around the corner to the "John Lennon Wall" which has some images of him amongst the graffiti (note that is not Harry Potter on the wall). John Lennon has never been there but the wall is now a youth symbol for peace and poetry. Awwww. After that it was across the famed Charles Bridge with about another million tourists.
After a wander around the old town we took the concierge's advice and took a quick river tour and it had nothing to do with the fact that it included a free beer. Truly it didn't. The tour took us a short distance around the river and into some canals. It was quite peaceful but after a while I started to get the "locks in Paris" feeling again. Thankfully it was only 45 minutes long and did not involve a screeching guide.
We then retreated back to the hotel where we had booked dinner in the hotel restaurant. I know it sounds like cheating but we had a Euro 250 voucher for food so were were not going to waste it. We elected to have the Czech menu rather than the Asian degustation. Seemed the obvious choice to me but perhaps if you have had enough of the potato dumplings, pig knuckle and cabbage you may be crying out for different flavours. We washed all of this down with quite a nice local Czech wine.
3 September 2012
We had organised a private guide for the next two mornings. We were met by Peter who is a history professor at the local university (he is also married, has two daughters and a hamster, is Jewish and 42 years old and originally from Slovakia - you learn a lot after a couple of days or perhaps I am just nosey). Anyway, the first morning was to explore the palace and surroundings.
We took a scenic walk to get up to the castle and wandered through the local modern art museum and through a park which showed photos of the massive flood in August 2002. Apparently Prague floods every 50 years or so (they don't put that in the brochure) and the water levels were the highest in 2002 reaching about 2.5 metres. The oddest thing about this is that I have no memory of this in the news. I am a bad citizen of the world.
On a lighter note, I did like these penguins with the Charles Bridge in the background.
Our walk continued uphill through some areas with some beautiful views. Near the top is a micro-brewery (Czech's love their beer) which is run by monks. We stopped and had a sampler.
Now the palace grounds are apparently the largest in the world and still house some government buildings and the office of the President or Prime Minister, I forget which. I took a lovely photo from the top which clearly shows the lovely red rooftops of Prague and then proceeded to forget to take any photos inside.
The rest of the tour took us (downhill) and through some wonderful side streets and gardens filled with green hedges and peacock. We also received some nice insight into Czech history and life in modern day Prague. It was then back to the hotel full of information and feet tingling from the cobblestones. Poor Kate than announced to me that she had a dodgy tummy and would lie down for a while. As the "while" grew it was clear she was not well and was only confirmed by the ripeness of the bathroom. I know I should be more sensitive but I did go concierge and explain the situation. He provided me with a range of medicinal remedies sent up a chamomile tea for Kate and not me. See, I can be lovely and caring!
As Kate was then prostrate for the rest of the afternoon I took myself on a long walk around the city, randomly choosing cute streets. After about 2.5 hours I was exhausted and back at the hotel. Those cobblestones play havoc with feet in heels. Kate was still poorly and we both agreed that leaving the hotel would be a bit risky. So in complete support and solidarity I took myself off to dinner at Cafe Savoy (where Franz Kafka used to watch plays) and then to a Gold Class cinema to watch Total Recall (nowhere near as good as the original). I figured that I was allowed a Wiener Schnitzel as the Czech Republic used to be part of Austria. The Laurent Perrier champagne to go with it was merely whimsy!
4 September 2012
Kate was much more chipper this morning and seemed to have expelled all the nasty germs from her system. So it was time to meet Peter once more and this time for a tour through the Jewish Quarter. This consisted of a history of the Jews and their persecution and a visit to a number of synagogues. We learnt that a synagogue is a place of teaching and not the same as a church in terms of it being consecrated. We also learnt how to tell the difference between an orthodox synagogue (the ten commandments are written in Hebrew) and a reformed synagogue (the ten commandments are not written in Hebrew). There are also a series of coloured lights which mean something too. Most places you were not able to take photos so this section is picture free. Instead I will include us with our guide. Once we had completed this tour we went to a local micro-brewery for lunch (more carbs) and a bit more of a wander through the old town (see photo on left below).It was then back across the river to visit the Franz Kafka museum which was very interesting but a little eerie in its set-up. A wacky inclusion is some "modern" art which shows two men, well, pissing. Their hips move as do their willies and each day they spell out different messages of Czech writers or you can send an SMS and they will write your message! (http://www.davidcerny.cz/startEN.html).
It was then time to retreat for some prosecco at the hotel before dinner. We had received a number of ideas for dinner but settled on the Blue Duckling which was about 30 seconds from the hotel. It did in fact specialise in duck but also other game. Another good recommendation and another good meal and a Spanish rioja.
5 September 2012
Another new city and adventure comes to an end. Was great to spend time with Kate (thank you, thank you, thank you) and see a new city.
It was merely a travelling day for us and we parted with me back to Zurich and Kate off to Paris. My flight was via Geneva on an Avro RJ100 (so cute and another model allowed out of the box) and in business. They were two short flights but not a bad little service. I particularly liked the cheese served on the piece of slate. On the sector from GVA to ZRH I think I had members of the Manchester United Football Club on board.
I met S in Zurich where we had an early dinner at the Park Hyatt and then home.
Always good to be home.
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