Monday morning dawned grey and damp, but the view from the window was encouraging, some brighter patches heading our way. Breakfast was excellent, a full English breakfast, can’t beat it! A short while later we were checking out of the hotel and heading to the airport, a short journey of about 15 minutes. Fortunately we had booked car parking in advance and once booked in, we were driven by minibus to the terminal building. At about 10.30am our check in was announced, all very straight forward, so next came the security checks. The checks were very thorough, the most thorough of any airport I have passed through, and took quite while, but eventually we were in the departure area. I thought I had better visit the shop to try to find a Czech phrase book, but all they had left was one that did all the European languages. I considered it would be an investment as it would be good to visit all the capital cities of Europe eventually.
We began boarding the plane at 11.40am and very soon we were speeding down the runway heading for Prague (Czech Republic, the second C of the trip). We were informed that we would land in Prague just before 3pm local time, about 20 minutes early. Once the hostesses had been round with the food and drinks trolley, I settled down for a short sleep. In what seemed like a remarkably short time we were landing at Prague airport. The walk through the airport via the duty free shops and passport control went extremely smoothly and soon we were in the Arrivals hall. I had pre-booked a taxi to the hotel with the Prague Experience website, and was a little concerned when no one was there to greet us. But I comforted myself with the knowledge that we were 20 minutes early. Eventually though the guy turned up full of apologies and we were soon heading through the streets of Prague to our hotel, a floating hotel, the Botel Albatross. We had to pay the full fare for the ride from the airport and the return journey 3 days later, but that was ok. On boarding the hotel we were greeted by an unsmiling lady at the reception who efficiently checked us in and pointed us in the direction of the room. The rooms were small, but adequate and ours looked out on the river. Being November and late in the afternoon, I suggested we waste no time and head off to see Prague in what little daylight was left. The pavements are cobbled, some narrow, others quite wide, trams trundle up and down many of them. After my experience in China, I was determined to find postcards at the earliest opportunity. It would not be difficult there were many tourist gift shops. As I handed over the money for my first Czech purchase I noticed the female shop assistant did not smile, was this going to be a common occurrence? Because of security at Leeds/Bradford Airport there were certain toiletries that needed to be bought in Prague so while wandering through the streets of this lovely city we looked out for the required shops. To our amazement there was a Tesco supermarket, I wondered if I could use my loyalty card! But this was the ideal place to buy the toiletries. The second purchase was made, again with the involvement of an unsmiling assistant. Continuing on our walk around Prague “T” was suddenly approached by a dark dressed lady who asked in perfect English (without a smile!) if we had any money spare. How did she know we were English? Do women in the Czech Republic ever smile? By now hunger was creeping on, so the search began for a restaurant. We had no idea where in Prague we were, but a likely restaurant eventually turned up. We walked in ordered the beer and ordered the food. The kind proprietor suggested that if we wished to sample authentic Czech food then a meal for two with duck, sausage, gammon, pork, red cabbage, sauerkraut, spinach, potato dumplings and bread dumplings would be the best thing. It was more expensive than the meal we had wanted to order, but we followed his advice. The meal was excellent and as we paid we thanked the proprietor for his recommendation. On leaving the restaurant we headed to the bottom of the street to find we were by the river, further from the hotel than we had thought, but it was a clear night so the walk back would be brisk. Prague Castle was all lit up, it looked lovely. After walking for about half an hour we were back at the hotel and once we had deposited coats and scarves in the room we headed to the bar. Service was by a waitress, yes you’ve guessed it, she didn’t smile. After three or four beers and a whisky or two it was time for sleep. Tomorrow would be a busy day!
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