Liesa asked me to write up my own thoughts and “wrap up” Prague. I wasn’t really sure what I’d write about as:

There are a few things that I can comment on, that Liesa missed, or omitted, and I’ll discuss them in the following paragraphs.

• She did an excellent job of describing our visit to Prague and;
• When you have two people, with identical cameras (our iPhones), when one takes a picture of something, the other one notices and thinks, “That’s a good thing to take a picture of.” You quickly find that you each have the same photos in your respective albums.

First off, when Liesa mentioned that she’d booked a Big Boot for her stay in Prague, I had images of something like this:

As you saw, it’s a normal building and not at all footwear shaped, (which was a huge disappointment) although it does seem to have a sole… soul. Sorry. Terrible puns makes one feel like a heel. I’ll toe the line from now on. Promise.

Okay, let’s pick up where we left off and put our best foot forward.

Sorry! Sorry!

Don’t want to make an arch enemy of anyone reading this.

I’ll stop now.

I’m not sure which came first; the building’s name, or the boots. Throughout the common areas of the hotel (lobby, dining area), you can find boots tucked away in nooks and crannies. I didn’t count, but without much effort, I easily spotted at least half a dozen or more, scattered here and there.

And while Liesa mentioned that the breakfast was “a wonderful and filling breakfast”, what was not shown (other than some bread, pâté, and jam) was the plate of meats we were served, the option of eggs cooked to order, and this modest selection of delectables:

Liesa also likes to show the best of what she sees. Which is admirable. I have a tendency to want to also see all the warts and blemishes. An example of that is St. Vitus Cathedral. While true that the cathedral was stunning, I must confess…

…that all is not as it seems.

Then again, when you have a building that is over 600 years old, sometimes it needs a little work. Heck, I know people who are well under 100 years old, who get a little work done!

One of the perks that I discovered while travelling with Liesa, is being able to visit or re-visit places you might not expect. As a person with IBTTBS*, we… or rather she frequented more than our fair share of washrooms. After visiting St. Vitus and St. George’s we had to backtrack back around to the front of St. Vitus where the washrooms are located. Without this detour, I may have never noticed the back side of the cathedral, which is almost as elaborate as the front side.

*IBTTBS – Itty Bitty Teeny Tiny Bladder Syndrome

Liesa mentioned that Charles Bridge was crowded. I don’t think we were quite prepared for just how crowded it would be.

I think we both breathed a sigh of relief after we had crossed over and left the madding crowd behind.

Liesa had mentioned that she wanted to see a Vodník (Czech water goblin), and posted a photo. I thought it was a bit hard to see, so (since we kept taking the same photos) I decided to “zoom in” for you so you could get a better look at it. His back is to us, so I’m not sure how much of an improvement it is. Nevertheless… Voila:

When I asked to tag along on her trip, Liesa had already plotted out all the places she wanted to see. There was one place that I was interested in, and since it wasn’t too far out of her way, she graciously allowed a slight modification to her route.

The Dancing House, also known as Fred and Ginger (for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers). If you’re not familiar with those names, they were a dancing pair who starred in 10 movies together (mostly between 1933 and 1939). See the resemblance?

The Dancing House was co-designed by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić, (whom you most likely do not know… at least I didn’t) and Frank Gehry (whom you might know.) As you probably have deduced, the stone tower represents Fred and the glass tower represents Ginger. The building was designed to symbolize the transition of Czechoslovakia from a communist regime to a democracy. Madam may have marveled much more at Mucha than me, but I admired the avant-garde architecture as art.

I know Liesa downplayed it, but I really enjoyed seeing the Nutria. I didn’t even know what a Nutria was! So apparently a Nutria is a very, very chill, small beaver with a boring rat tail instead of a cool paddle. I say “chill” because it certainly didn’t seem to mind that people were within smacking distance. I suppose the more important thing (to a wannabe beaver) is that it is within snacking distance. Nutria aren’t actually native to Prague… or even Europe. They were brought over from South America… for their fur. When the fur industry imploded, the Nutria population… exploded. Unfortunately, that population boom is causing problems in Prague.

Before travelling, Liesa had compiled a list of local dishes that she wanted to try. I think I was game for most, if not all of them. One of those delicacies was the chimney cake. Sweet yeast dough wrapped in a spiral around a wooden spit and rotated slowly over hot coals. Its origins are from the Hungarians of Transylvania. I suppose one could argue that it is either local to Hungary or Romania. Whichever one you opt for, you couldn’t walk ten feet in Prague (Czechia) without coming across a store, kiosk, or whatnot, selling these chimney cakes. They all looked good to me, but Liesa assured me that the “real ones” were not these ones. I begged… I pleaded… I got down on my knees. In short, there was much wailing and wringing of hands… But she wouldn’t be moved and refused to allow me to get one.

We never saw them again. To this day, I am sorry to say, I have neither seen, nor (more importantly), eaten, or even tasted, a chimney cake. The world is a sadder place for it.