Grand tour

Max took me around to get a survey of the city. We started with a sausage -- for sale on the street at the Christmas market. They serve you a very large sausage with two pieces of rye bread and mustard or ketchup. Max said that the sausage was unusually good. It did taste very good going down, and it made me stomach feel great for the first hour. Afterwards, though, my tummy did feel a bit overloaded owing to the 4 ozs of fat floating around in there. But we needed it to get through the day.

Our first stop was the Jewish quarter -- jam packed with tourists. The area was unbelievably charming with ancient synagogues and a cemetary that had many many tombstones. For 300 crowns ($15) you could see inside each synagogue and museum, but there were lines for everything. Maybe when I'm alone? I do want to see inside the Spanish synagogue - it looked so lovely online`. Note picture of Max with the statue of Franz Kafka. Max took me to a restaurant where Kafka and Einstein used to hang out (separately?) called the Louvre. It's a huge cafe with billiards in a series of tall tall rooms with plenty of ornamentation. I ordered tea, Max coffee. Each of our orders came with five dishes: teapot, tea strainer, tea strainer holder, tea cup and saucer, pitcher of hot milk and sugar bowl. Coffee comes with hot milk, sugar, hot water. So elegant, so many dishes. I want to go back and eat at that restaurant, but could not due to earlier sausage consumption.

Next we walked to Max's school, FAMU, and peered through the window. He tells me there are three restaurants in the building, all sharing the same kitchen, all with different prices serving the same food. One tfor tourists, one for students, and I guess one for Praguians (Pragueanistas?).

We crossed the bridge (not the Charles- it was groaning under the weight of tourists), but the other --Most Legii -- and walked through blocks of heartbreakingly beautiful buildings up to the castle. The complex is spectacular from afar, and lovely when you're there. It is a number of buildings, cobblestone streets, etc. all surrounding a huge cathedral.

The cathedral is called St. Vitus. We went in and I was going to light a candle for my brother, but a ticket was required to move into the church. That is the first time I've seen admission only churches (and you have to buy a ticket for everything, not just the church). At any rate, the gargoyles are wonderful -- full bodies extending horizontally that function as rain gutters with the water pouring out of their mouths. Lovely image that would scare away any sensible spirit.

After all of this (and very very sore feet on my part) we stopped at a pub called "Lokal" and had a snack. Bohemian soup with mushrooms had no mushrooms in sight, but flecks of cheese. We also ordered pickled camembert. Beer $1; coffee $2.50.

We hopped a trolleycar to Max's place and climbed up the stunning circular staircase to his flat on the fifth floor. I passed out for a few hours, my feet throbbing from the miles of walking in new boots. All the flats here are beautiful with high ceilings and giant double doors leading from room to room. The flats have separate toilet rooms, and then the bath itself is in a room with the laundry. All floors are wood it seems, some new bamboo the old ones of local wood. The windows are all huge and open into the flat.