Prague, June 7, 1999

Prague delights us. Prague
itself isn't as expensive as we were led to believe
and is more beautiful than I had expected. The
buildings are hulking structures with elaborate trim,
some with fresco-style paintings on the outside...also
lots of great sculptures (yup, on the buildings). The
streets in many quarters are narrow, windy cobblestone
lanes that meander and change name at whim. The feel
is completely medieval -- without the stench, I
suppose.

We've done some of the tourist stuff -
walked through the grounds of the old Palace, climbed
the tower of the old gothic St. Vitus cathedral,
visited the tomb of Good King (now Saint) Wenceslas.
We watched an "astronomical" clock strike the hour
with a skeleton statue ringing a bell. In a stroke of
good luck, we arrived here during the famous music
festival and we watched a performance of Vivaldi's
"The Four Season" in a grand old church in old town
square-- the hall had delightful acoustics-- ringing
tones and amazingly long echoes. We will try and see
another performance tonight - not at all surprisingly,
Dvorak appears on many of the scheduled sets.

Our command of Czech has extended no
further than "Um" and "Ah." We're ugly americans for
this part of the trip. Maybe Estonian will be easier
to pick up (well, maybe not). We leave tommorow for
Helsinki and then Estonia.