Prague

By Alan Downs

I’d been to a late night jazz club in the centre of Prague and was making my way home when she approached me in the main square, I knew she meant trouble. She began to stroke my arm and muttered something about a cheap hotel. I shrugged her off but at this point I noticed a man running towards us so I ran as fast as I could towards the tram station and jumped on the nearest tram. Fortunately the tram left virtually straight away and the man gave up the chase. The difficulty I now had was that I didn’t know where the tram was going, I realised that if I stayed on the tram up to the terminus point I could ask the driver where we were and how I could get back to central Prague. This is what I did and he advised me to walk alongside the motorway for about three to four miles. Eventually I got back to my pension about 3.30 in the morning.

Apart from this minor mishap, our time in Prague was perfect; being in Prague with my parents for a short holiday was very special to me, it gave me a lot of pleasure organising this holiday with my parents in mind. It was easy for me to almost act as a guide for my parents because I’d read about the city before we left and I’d had a fair bit of experience negotiating foreign cities in the past. 

We went many times to the atmospheric Charles Bridge with a haunting gothic tower at each end of the bridge. Another time we climbed to the top of the Town Hall where you can see out over the beautiful red rooftops of the old town and the myriad gothic spires and onion domes of the churches and cathedrals.

Some of the gothic spires are almost trapezoid in shape and look as if they have been squeezed and pulled upwards by a giant pair of tweezers. The city itself is full of old streets and many of the buildings have painted facades. 

Apart from my enforced detour to the outskirts of Prague, the holiday went very well and we all have very special memories of our visit to this beautiful old city.