Day 7 - Vienna to Prague

Dec 20th - Early morning! We were out the door at 6:30 to make our way to the train station to catch our next train. We have a 5 hour ride to Prague (Praha), Czech Republic with one switch in Breclav. We're certainly in a country where signs & words are completely foreign to me - words with a lot of consonants :) Through Austria, I found at least my one year of German in university came back to at least be able to read signs & be polite with thank-you, please, and you're welcome. But at least in Prague, it seems communication in English is not a problem.
　
After a few missed steps on the tram & bus ride to the B&B, we found the place. To get to the B&B we passed the US Embassy - where all vehicles are stopped, including the buses for the police to do a quick walk-around with a mirror to inspect the bottom of the vehicle - some vehicles have to pop the hood for inspection. The B&B is just a few doors up from the American Embassy & directly across the street from the German Embassy - the view from our room looks right across to it. This is a great B&B - probably the best reception we've had from any B&B, ever. As soon as we came in the door, we were offered to sit down for some tea or coffee (that was welcome, after having paying 3-4 Euro for coffee in Vienna), and were given a thorough walk-through on map of many highlights to see & restaurant suggestions.

Unfortunately, this past Sunday, former President of the Czech Republic passed away - Vaclav Havel, who helped end communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989 and is loved by this country. Tomorrow, there will be a procession that will move his body to Prague Castle and the funeral will be on Friday. As a result, chances are that we will not be able to get to the Castle on this trip - not a major inconvenience given the circumstances.

Mmm...Pilsner Urquell

Once we got settled, first order of business was to set off to find some food...at almost 3:00 pm, we had not had a chance for a bite of food all day. We went to one of the closest restaurants that had been recommended to us, and sat down to our first Czech beer...Pilsner Urquell of course, very fresh. Great food, great service, and great prices!

By the time we were finishing up, it was getting dark, but we wanted to explore a bit. We walked over the river on one bridge so that we could get a good view of the Charles Bridge. Once we were over the river, we walked up to the Charles Bridge to get some more up-close pictures. We noticed a crowd gathering at a cathederal at the end of the bridge & weren't sure if there was a musical event or a service. Then a banner came down from the top with "Vaclave, Dekujeme" written on it (which I think means thank you) - we figured it must be a memorial mass for the public, so we decided to pop just inside the door. It was completely packed inside, and people coming in were now filling up the center aisle - coming in and staying just felt like the right thing to do. When we filed in, we ended up almost near the front...where there were many tv cameras & photographers focused on a large picture of the former president surrounded by flowers & candles. Many people were taking pictures, but I thought that to be disrespectful inside the cathederal. The inside of the cathderal was beautiful - and even more so once they brought down the lights to begin. Of course there was not much we understood, save for the word "president", and knowing the cadence of the Lord's Prayer, but you could tell by the calm, soothing tones that nice words were being said. And the sounds of the orchestra and choir were simply beautiful. I figured we had been there about an hour through prayers, singing, readings, homily, and the preparation for Communion (to my Catholic friends, apologies if I have used incorrect terminology!). My feet & knees were in such pain at that point from standing in one spot, when droves of people started coming to the front to take Communion, we decided to move to the back to exit - come to find out my sense of time was out of whack as we had been there for almost 2 hours (no wonder my feet were falling off). If you had told me earlier in the day I would be attending a Catholic mass, I would have thought you were crazy, but I am glad we were able to experience what we did.

View of Prague Castle from across the river

So to end our first day in Prague, we made our way back over the River, stopping into another recommended establishment called Lokal for a final Pilsner Urquell before calling it a night.
　
Beers for the day: Pilsner Urquell, Velkopopovický Kozel (dark Czech lager)

"I feel that the dormant goodwill in people needs to be stirred. People need to hear that it makes sense to behave decently or to help others, to place common interests above their own, to respect the elementary rules of human coexistence." - Vaclav Havel