The Road To Prague

The road to Prague was paved with challenges. Travel days can be long and sometimes arduous. This day started with French sunshine as a taxi picked us up at the boat basin in Montceau les Mines. The driver was dressed in an EMT uniform, don’t ask, it is one of the vagaries of small town French life.

We bade a sad farewell to Mary & Jim Neil; their warm hospitality had been infectious and deeply satisfying. If you get a chance to spend any time aboard their barge, run do not walk. The food, the friendship, ahhh… but just stay away from the Mexican Train.

The taxi connected us to the hi-speed train (TGV) and shortly we were having lunch at the Gare Lyon in Paris. Then it was time for a three train trek on the Metro to Orly Airport. This even included a change at the dreaded Chatelet Metro Station; Mary and I have had horrors of walking what seemed like 12 miles, between trains at the dreaded Chatelet. But today it treated us kindly.

We had a long wait at Orly Airport that was worsened by a delayed departure; it was 10:30pm before our arrival in Prague. The car at the airport was a no show, and the clerk at the hotel could not find our reservation.

The night clerk was so deliciously gay and bitchy as to be a Saturday Night Live cliché. We finally got our room and the bed had a mattress that is usually reserved for the out of Battalion, probie, detail guy.

We upgraded our hotel and could not be happier. Tres bon ! We love Prague, the buildings are to die for and the people are foriegn looking enough to make us feel we are far from home.

It is difficult to appreciate Prague through all the rain and overcast; the bare bones of a beautiful city present itself. The Czech Republic, formerly Czechoslovakia, formerly part of the Hapsburg Empire, once the Kingdom of Bohemia, and also part of the Holy Roman Empire has had a tumultuous history. Now it is an independent nation and in the European Union.

Unlike many eastern European countries the Czech Republic had a strong manufacturing base and good tourist industry to build upon. The buildings of Prague are unique, beautiful, and plentiful. A visit to Prague should be on your horizon.