What do you get when you have the Pope, a Jewish holiday, a Czech and a Russian?

Since the Pope is in town and we can’t see the castle , we decided to spend the day in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. I was especially interested in seeing the cemetery, and the synagogues are supposed to be beautiful. Well, guess what? Apparently September 28th is a Jewish holiday. Yup. Closed. Everything. We enjoyed the day around the city, taking more photos and wandering the alleys and side streets. We stopped in a café intending to have some apple strudel and a coffee/tea for breakfast (but I’m sure you have guessed by now!) no one serves strudel before noon here. Tom settled for a croissant and I had an omelet. We showed them though! We skipped lunch all together and had strudel inste ad! Unless you consider the deep fried dough filled with cheese, (or the icecream and beer on the boat tour we took) to be lunch.




Speaking of the boat tour, we went on a tour of the Vlatava River, which was great fun. As you board the boat they offer you your choice of beer or coffee. (Coffee for Tom, the delicious Czech Pivo for me!) Then they come by with your choice of icecream bar or plum filled gingerbread. Now, does this seem odd to anyone else? Beer and icecream? You don’t think we said no though, do you? I am beginning to get a clearer picture however as to why I am walking my a** off and it’s still the same size as when I left home! The tour itself was interesting and we learned some things we hadn’t heard form our guide the day before. Everything was going smoothly until our boat captain(who spoke six languages and could do the tour in all six if necessary) mentioned that the Czech Republic currently has no government . I asked (silly me) how that happened. He began to explain, and during the conversation he happened to mention that he really likes Putin (Russian leader). The Russian guy on the tour asked what the guide based his opinion on, and…. Well…things got a wee bit tense. It was pretty interesting to listen to a Czech and a Russian (with VERY opposing points of view ) discuss politics. Let me just say though, at one point I was really happy that I know how to swim.