Last Post in Prague (perhaps)

This is my last blogpost from Prague--unless, that is, more airports are closed because of the Iceland Ash Panic. Right now the conference antendees from Ireland and Scotland aren't going anywhere soon and spent their breaks running around town trying to find a hotel room for no one knows how long. This is the building that housed our conference, where I spent from 9-4 every day (except for the 2 hour lunch breaks I always spent dogging it downtown), listening to people blather on.

Here is the rest of the courtyard.

It is the Michna Palace that was turned into a gymnasium by the soviets. It's a school now for what I don't know. But evidence of its past is everywhere as the walls are covered with photos like this of athletes with astonishingly--'solid' is really the only word for it--bodies.
I'd come back to Prague in a heartbeat: if you like to walk and own good solid shoes this is the place to be: the city is incredibly easy to navigate, the prices are ridiculously low and the people are really, really nice and helpful. I was dreading trying to communicate with the locals but, though only the hotel staff and a very few shop workers speak any English (or German), they all gave it their best and were really nice. (This evening I went out to dinner with one of my conference mates and I recommended that he try the blueberry pancake dessert; I had had it yesterday and was going to get it again. He was willing and ordered "two blueberries and two teas." The waitress stared at us, clearly trying to process what she heard, but then went back to the kithen. Then a waiter came over with the drinks menu, pointed to "Bloody Mary" and asked did we REALLY want hot tea AND Bloody Marys? No, we laughed, BLUEberry. Bloodyberry? he asked? Finally one of us thought to say "pancake." The light went on and he went back to the kitchen; we could hear the whole kitchen staff laughing about it for quite a while.) I also noticed that store workers would leave their stores unattended to go chat to the store workers next store. Twice I saw people go into an unattended store, take what they want, leave money on the counter and then go. Although I didn't seek out a wild night life scene, I was walking around by myself at night until 9 or 10 and never felt in danger and was never bothered by anyone. Also especially nice is the amazing mix of cultures and races, both wandering around as tourists and living here. The Czechs don't seem to assume that anyone visiting will speak Czech and the tourists can't speak to each other. The result is a peaceful cohabitation of relaxed self-concern. It is a really nice place to be.