First Day in Prague

We’re in Prague!! After 3 flights and a couple of layovers, Group 1 arrived in the Czech Republic at about 11 AM. We were picked up at the airport by a coach bus and met our guide, Vaclav Lojka who will show us around Prague. First stop was the hotel Clarion in Old Town. Here, we unloaded the bags, checked in our rooms and took showers. We met in the lobby and took a short, but cold walk over to the Old Town Square for lunch and to walk around the Christmas Market. Everyone was on their own for lunch, so people went to various eateries around the square.

Jack, Connor, Bergen , Carri and JP went to a cafeteria style restaurant that said they had traditional Czech food. It was a bit intimidating not knowing what we were getting or how much we were paying! We all had some sort of chicken dish and rice or potatoes. Luckily most people here know, or at least understand, English. We had some anxiety thinking that the codes they had written down on our food orders were the prices. Turns out the lunch was actually quite reasonably priced and the potatoes were not over $10 and the sodas were not $5 like we thought! The Czech Crown is their currency and it is roughly 20 Crowns to the dollar…taking 2000 crowns out of the ATM (about $100) is a bit disconcerting. It seems like a lot more than it is.

The Christmas market has flea market or fair type booths all around the square. The vendors were selling Christmas ornaments, art work, jewelry, food items, beer, and beer trinkets, and hot wine…a big seller. It was VERY COLD. Much colder than we are used to in Colorado. While we were watching the Astronomical Cl,ock go off at 4 PM a life size nativity scene caught on fire. At first the group thought the smoke was part of the clock show but it turned out that someone lit the nativity on fire and it spread to nearby trees. And according to Jack Sunderland, the rumors are true Czech women are beautiful.

We are waiting for Group 2 (the second half of our group that left on a later flight) to arrive sometime right before we walk over to dinner.
Carri Tedstrom