We have passed into Czech Republic and the country side with the fall colors is dazzling! We could see one large city in the distance... probably Brno... but mostly it is very small villages and farm land that we see. Harvest is over for the year so other than corn   I can't tell the crops. Stevans says the average worker makes about $1,200 per month. We figured out that one gallon of gas for the car is about $8.00, and a Kentucky Fried Chicken Dinner is $9.00.

Well, we have made it to our hotel in Prague. It is in a residential area, not in the city center, but the subway is right next door, It is quiet here and our room is huge with a separate living room, hall and bath. This bedroom is as big as our living room at home!

There is a Chinese Restaurant across the street that Stevans says looks bad from the outside but has the best food ever! It is his favorite place to eat. We will meet at seven for dinner there.

We drove into Prague and I am already so enamored with this place. I can't wait to see it tomorrow.

We walked across the street for a late dinner at the Chinese restaurant run by Vietnamese. Many fellow travelers were there and it was a welcome change from so much of the meat and potatoes we've had lately. Of course it is not the beautiful food we had on the ship, but it was a very varied menu with pictures of what it would look like so that was easy... and it was very inexpensive.

Just in time to get back to the hotel!!

I must start this off to my daughter-in-law Cristina. Mea Copa, mea Copa! You were right; this city is truly breathtaking. It is beautiful in a different way than Budapest, but it is becoming my new favorite. I know you all think I say every place is beautiful, but that is not true. Still if you could ever see this city you would understand!

Today we got on the bus and drove around the city. It is a really marvelous city that was not destroyed during all our wars. It did take a hit in the late 1800's when they decided to "modernize" but still all is beautiful. They took down many ancient buildings but they didn't lose them all as the First World War interfered with their plans. Thank God! Probably the only good thing that war ever did.

Speaking of God, the Czechs are not religious. They think about only 20 percent attend churches... or believe. The others are atheists or agnostics. The history of the Czechs is a big cause for this. At first all the people in the country were Catholics. At one time the Pope was discriminating somehow against these people (probably a business choice on his part). At that time NOBODY spoke against the Church but one person Johan Huss ( I think his name was something like that) spoke against the church saying it was not right to do that. The church reacted badly having him burned at the stake. This proved to be bad news as the people all loved Johan. Instead of scaring them all into submission to the church, the people left Catholicism. Of course the Lutherans swooped in and converted them. This went on until the Royalty (staunch Catholics) forced them to join the church again. Well as you know when a religion is forced on you, it doesn't work that well, and the people took a different avenue... respect religion, but don't belong or believe! Some did however and our friend Larry tells us that was the start of the Monrovian Church which is still big in Wisconsin. The people of Prague also saw how belonging to a religion gave reasons for more division with the people... with the Jews problem for instance. Of course lately when the government asks the people to state their religion (because they feel this is a personal matter and no business of the government) the people sometimes leave it blank or put something crazy. The last time they had this survey 20% said their religion was "Jedi"! I guess it's "In Starwars they trust!"!!

The Church at the castle is the Church of St. Vitas. You may know of the disease by that name and it is taken from the plight of this poor guy. Some faction.. I didn't get exactly who... wanted him dead. To kill him they boiled him in oil... but he didn't die. His skin was black and he was in great pain so they tried another method... I think hanging... but that didn't work either. Finally they cut him in many pieces. For enduring such pain and certainly bad luck, he became a saint. This church was named after him, because when the royal family tried to get a relic to put in their church, they got the arm of St. Vitas. Later they bought the rest of the body for the church so he would be buried all together, but many other churches claim that they have relics of St. Vitas... perhaps he had many legs, arms, etc? The church started being built in the 1400's but was never completely finished until 1930's. It wasn't that it took that long to build, it just got postponed by wars.

We spent some time in the square at the castle area where the President of the Czech Republic has his office. We watched the changing of the guard which was pretty neat. It is hard to be a guard... much like our guards at the tomb of "The Unknown Soldier " in Arlington.

The politics... like all countries... are somewhat corrupt. It always seems like "business as usual" and the young people here are fed up and "do not want to vote for the better of two evils!" For that reason the voting turnout is not great. People can legally drive, drink, and vote, at the age of 18, but they can legally have sex at 14 years old!

Our first stop this morning was the Castle District. Oh my gosh... soooo lovely!! The colors of the trees make the castle area... well everyplace... even more beautiful than you can imagine. The national tree is the along the road to the Castle District to mix with the reds, oranges, and purples of the other vegetation at this time.

Janet and I bought a dish that sounded like Halachy which was potatoes fried with bacon and cabbage. It was very good, but they gave us too much and it was quite expensive. We wish we would have bought just one to share. We ended up feeding much of it to the pigeons... they loved it. Jerold had a sausage sandwich. We lost Michael and never found him until it was almost ready for us to go!
 

We shopped until it was time to meet Stevans and then he showed us all how to use the subway and get back and forth from our hotel. We arrived at the hotel with just minutes to spare before we were off for the optional country-side visit.
 

Our trip out to the countryside of Prague ended up to be really fun….a wild party to end this wonderful adventure. At first it looked as though it would be a bust as the drive out there was long. We visited one tiny town that was in the Sudentenland. The home dated back to the 1700’s and was made with wood logs cemented between. The driver drove so fast and we had gone through some incredible forests with bright red and yellow foliage. I wished we could stop for some incredible fall photos but by the time we came back through it was too dark.

Remember that although this historic town is super old, people actually live in all these homes. It was very quaint.

The next place was where we would eat and party. The guy who owned the place was a real entertainer. He’d retired when he was in an accident and could no longer tour. We sat as he served us a wonderful Czech meal…potato soup, pork and potatoes, and a great apple roll dessert…one of the best we’ve had. Then he sang to us in Czech while a lady accompanied him on the keyboard. He then introduced four dancers in their native dress who performed five or six polka dances, each very different and one with wooden shoes. We were surprised that the polka started in Czechoslovakia, not Poland.

The blurb about this tour said it was unlimited drinks and boy did they mean it. They served beer, wine (red and white), cokes, diet drinks, coffee and water.

They took our order and kept it coming all evening. You could change your preference at anytime. He and the dancers were very good and they involved all of us as well.

Soon it was our turn. The guy danced with Arlene, a great little dancer from our group and then asked more to join. Several couples, including Michael and I, danced, while our host asked every woman in the group to dance…and there were many.

We were all pretty spent by the time we started home, but everyone was so glad we’d gone on this adventure.