Praha.. Praag.. Prague..

No matter how you spell it, I knew we could expect amazing architecture in Czech Republic. All I had heard about Prague, had to do with its beautiful buildings and history. It turned out to be true. We’ve walked many, many miles across and around the city. There is a great public transit system with busses, trams and metro, all accessible on one inexpensive ticket. But when you zoom from one part of the city to the next, underground, you miss the sights and you lose your sense of direction. So we walk.

While doing presentations and workshops in an international school, we stayed on the north side of the river Moldau. Locally, in Czech, its name is Vltana but I have fond connections to Moldau– as a child I learned to love that gorgeous music composed by Smetena. I saw the music’s images in my mind and now I cannot call that river by any other name than the romantic Moldau.

We walked around a huge city park where mothers pushed strollers, where old men met friends on benches, and joggers and cyclists spent a sunny afternoon. Prague is a very green city. It is also a large capital city (1.5 million people) with lots of apartment buildings. Many of those are ugly concrete blocks built by the Russians, when the country was part of the Eastern Block. But they have now been giving a facelift with paint and little balconies. In 1993 what used to be Czechoslovakia was split into two independent countries: Slovakia and Czech Republic.

12th century building painted into a corner by newer buildings.

After my days at school, we moved into the Old City. I’d spent hours searching for accommodations. We wanted inexpensive and with a small kitchen – something more than just a bedroom. I finally hit the jackpot by going to Google Maps, zooming in on the old city and then searching for ‘accommodations’ nearby. I found a restaurant/pub that seemed to offer a room. Tricky. Would it be noisy all night? But the location was great and the price was good. Our room turned out to be in the attic of a small, 12th century building. The beams are ancient but everything else is beautifully renovated: new floor, brand new modern kitchen block, bathroom and toilet all within our half of the attic. The space is huge.

When we step outside we are in the oldest part of Prague – cobblestone streets leading to many squares. A church bell gently chimes the hours next door.

We walked along the river first and decided to take a river cruise. There are many choices and we picked a dinky old boat but it seemed better than the large ones loaded full of tourists and better than the tiny bathtubs that bobbed by. There was some commentary – all on the buildings, their ages, owners and struggles. Just a lovely way to get to know this beautiful city from the water.

I hadn’t realized it but the reason there is so much history in Prague is that it was never bombed. So many European cities lost their historic centres during wars. But Prague was occupied and never bombed. That explains why there are more naked, overweight men and women in this city than I’ve ever seen – all carved from stone.

Prague looks like a large candy shop full of beautiful pastries… Pink, light green, yellow houses with angels and flower boxes under each window. Everything is so old and ornate. Every building is crafted with statues and curls and gold. We walked to the main squares, including the famous one with the Clock Tower - the most famous sight in Prague. Built in 1410 by Mikuláš of Kadaň, it is one of the most famous astronomical clocks in the world, and also the oldest one still in use. When it chimes the hour, the window of the clock shows 12 apostles moving. One of the moving figures carries an hourglass in his hand, representing Death. Another moving figurine has a mirror, representing Vanity.

The three sets of this dial can count three different times. The first is Italian time or what would be Old Czech time. Central European Time is measured by the sun pointer and this is the hour, from 1 to 24, which the clock chimes. The third is the most interesting, measuring Babylonian Time where the hour’s length is determined by which season of the year it is. During summer the hour is longer; in winter it’s shorter. This device is the only clock on the entire planet known to be capable of tracking Babylonian Time.

A few times, the Astronomical Clock stopped. No one knew how to fix it, so when the clock stopped local officials considered replacing it with another piece. Luckily they didn’t. The long-needed repair came decades later, around 1865, when one of the clock’s newest features was added, the Calendar Dial.

We strolled across Charlesbridge – an ancient pedestrian bridge packed with tourists and artists: musicians, painters, and sellers of all sorts of, made-in-China, memorabilia from Czech Republic.

Compared to North American standards the food is excellent and cheap in the Czech Republic.And who knew that the Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heyn is all over here, too? ‘Albert’ is the supermarket of choice in Czech Republic. C & A clothing stores are everywhere too. And Starbucks carries Dutch ‘stroopwafels.’

Modern Starbucks in an ancient building…

One of our favourite, free activities is to sit on a square and people-watch. We watched a street sweeper make people on benches lift up their feet so he could sweep the cobblestones…

We are not your average tourist in that we don’t normally do guided tours where you have to follow a guide with a flag on a long stick. We also no longer pay to see more insides of churches or castles. So we probably miss out on a lot. But we can handle only so many castles and churches and so we choose to spend our money on something outstanding that we haven’t seen before. Like the Hallelujah Concert that was advertised one night in the Spanish Synagogue. The Spanish Synagogue turned out to be an innately painted dome – every inch of the inside painted with different colours, mosaics, pillars and carvings. It was glorious and rich with history. Add to that a small audience of perhaps 50 people and an orchestra of violins, cello, bass and trumpet and a soprano with a voice that could, but didn’t, shatter the stained glass windows. Then put on the program music by Mozart and Händel, the theme song of Fiddler on the Roof and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah! It brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.

One morning, we boarded a bus for a three hours ride to a village in southern Czech Republic, on the border with Austria. For 15 euros, we bought tickets on a comfortable, air conditioned bus. We mostly wanted to see what the Czech countryside looked like. By the way, despite the fact that Czech Republic is part of the European Union, they do not use euros. The currency is Czech koruna. Through rolling green farm fields we reached the UNESCO World Heritage Village of Cesky Krumlov.

The castle on the hill dates to the 13th century and the lovely village seems straight from an old world picture book, with crooked cobblestone streets and little shops leaning into each other, all conspiring to lure tourists inside and dazzle them with souvenirs.

We resisted most of temptations but did have coffee and apple strudel on the edge of the Moldau. The very second we started our stroll through this medieval village, an elderly lady approached us, asking, in a panicky voice, if we spoke German or French or Dutch. I told her we did. She gestured wildly, explaining that she couldn’t find her friends back and that their bus was almost leaving. After some questioning we found out that she had left a friend on a patio while she was going to look around the village. But which patio? She remembered seeing the castle on her left and coming across a bridge. The village is full of patios and bridges but we decided to see if we could help her to find her friends.

We walked down one alley, traipsing through puddles, the Moldau on our left and the castle up on the hill. Finally we spotted a patio that she thought looked familiar. But no friends. A waitress explained in Czech and broken English that her friend had left for the bus.

Rosalie, as she was called, told us many memories and stories as we walked along, but no recollection of where she had to catch the bus. Kees decided to sprint ahead and let the bus driver know that she was coming. She did remember the tour company but there are at least three bus parking areas around the town. Kees took off – I yelled a Plan B as he left. Just in case we’d never find each other again.

So Rosalie and I trudged, arm in arm, across bridges and through alleys. I dragged her up steep staircases toward the castle. Through the courtyard. “I was here this morning,” she’d say. “Good,” I thought, “at least she came this way.” She was panting and puffing and I thought she’d collapse right there and then. No sign of a bus or a parking lot.

Across another bridge, up more staircases. “I’m 84, you know,” she puffed. But she kept on trudging. I asked in a shop “Where are the bus parking lots?” They pointed and gestured – a long way away. We went through the castle grounds and found more long roads around. No Kees in sight. No bus in sight. I finally spotted a car with a lady in it and ran over. “I don’t know this lady,” I explained, “but she can’t walk much further and she’s going to miss her bus!” “I’ll drive you,” the lady said. We got in and this kind lady drove us way around, across the main road and to a bus parking lot! A frantic, white haired lady with a cane spotted us and came running!

“Don’t tell her what happened!” hissed Rosalie, kissing me on both cheeks.

The bus driver had been at the intersection on the look out for our missing lady. He, too, kissed me on both cheeks for returning what he had lost so carelessly. They should not let little old ladies loose in this medieval town without a map or a phone number for a taxi!

We saw the entire village in record time while racing around with Rosalie. But we did relax over a nice dinner in a “medieval castle” that night. What do you eat for dinner in a castle in Czech Republic? Why, wild boar of course.

Czech Your Wallet - At least that chapter had a happy ending. Unlike the adventure we had in Prague itself. When we moved into the Old City, we took the metro. Pulling our little roll-ons, we came up from the bowels of the city onto a large square hemmed by ornate buildings. As soon as we stopped to look around and get our bearings, a guy approached us and asked if we wanted to exchange money. Of course we totally looked like tourists.

“No thanks,” we waved and briskly walked away. Ten minutes later we found our hotel and Kees discovered that his wallet was gone. “That guy!” we both said.

Kees hurried back but of course, no one was there. We spent the next several hours canceling credit cards. It was no problem and everyone was very helpful. Within ten minutes of having the card stolen, a cash withdrawal had been made. We found out at which ATM and spent the rest of the afternoon at a small police station. Hopefully they actually follow up by finding the guy on the ATM’s video. The police were thorough and helpful.

What we learned from this mishap was that we had done the right thing by only carrying one or two credit cards in the wallet and keeping another card in a different place. Keep your passport separate from a wallet and behind zippers! Velcro isn’t good enough for professional pick-pockets! Keep a piece of paper with your account numbers but also with your social security number handy. And 1-800 numbers to call if needed. We were grateful to have money on our Skype account so that we could use our laptop to call a landline in Canada. I think this truly was the only time we ever got robbed…

And despite this mishap, we have only good memories of this intriguing old world city in a beautiful country.

• Prague information: https://www.prague.eu/en

• UNESCO World Heritage Village of Cesky Krumlov: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/617

• You can hear Smetana’s Moldau (Vltava) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G4NKzmfC-Q It paints a picture of life along the river. You can even hear horses trotting along the river…

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