Friday 13 July 2018, off to Prague!

Up early to finish packing - always a bit stressful. Then I had an 8.45 doctor's appointment in Zurich and the traffic on the Seestrasse was rather busy. All well though, and we are just finishing our last-minute checklist - water plants etc. before getting the bus and train to the airport. Our Swiss flight leaves at 12.35.

View from the bridge

I'll finish this blog when I get home on Monday. I have packed a new holiday diary! And will take lots of photos.

Later on. In spite of rumours to the contrary, there wasn't a very long queue at checkin or security at Zurich Airport.  We went to one of the bars in gate C and enjoyed a glass of German Riesling and shared a small foccacia sandwich. While we were sitting there, I saw ZIWA member Benthe Trueb and her man friend, and we had a good chat about her famous Christmas tea parties. She was heading to Scandinavia with her friend.


Our Swiss flight was on time and quite short; but we

Boat traffic on the Vltava

only got a dry bretzel to eat. At Prague airport we had a very long wait for our suitcase. But we quickly got a taxi and headed to our hotel, the Three Storks. It was in the Mala Strana or Lesser Town to the west of the river. The receptionist there was very friendly and also keen to sell us lots of tours. We declined. The hotel had been modernised and we had a very nice room, but I wouldn't say it was 5 Star. We did have WiFi but the TV stations left a lot to be desired.

We walked down to the famous Charles Bridge, a pedestrian bridge crowded with locals, tourists, vendors and musicians. We took pictures of the view over the River Vltava. We noticed that many of the statues and towers along the way were very black and sooty although a few had been restored to their yellow sandstone colour. We noted that there were many passenger boats offering river cruises as far as the weir, as well as pedalos and small boats.

Laura and me at Augustine - a great find

Later Laura arrived and we met her in the hotel bar where we enjoyed a campari soda. Then we enjoyed a very delicious meal at the nearby Augustine restaurant. We sat outside in the courtyard until it started to get dark. We tried some Czech wines which were very good. Back at the hotel, I slept badly though.