Stalin

    Good morning Dora. Happy birthday! We will be thinking about you all day. Have a big party today and blow out all the candles.

    Last night's meal was sketchy. We decided to try a small outdoor cafe down the street from our hotel based on a raving recommendation from a British couple I talked to. Doesn't say much for what they are used to if this was a place they would return to. Laura picked through a potato pancake with chicken and cheese on top, and I wolfed down a platter full of spaghetti with spinach and Parmesan cheese on top. Worst thing really was the unfriendly service. Not exactly rude, but surly enough to leave a bad impression.

    Public transportation in Prague is very efficient, and with our handy universal pass we hop on anything that moves and travel all over town. Yesterday we made our way down to the old Jewish town, where they had a town within a town of their own back in the 1600's. Then across the Vlatava to a spot high above where a giant metronome slowly fans back and forth, built on the site where fifty years ago stood the world's largest statue of Joe Stalin. It was blown up after the fall of communism.


    As a stopgap measure, we are going to post photos to Laura's Facebook page. The first three should be on there...... On to the Prague Apple store for help with posting photos to the blog. We are halfway there, but haven't succeeded yet. Spent much of the afternoon trying to find an app to help, but no luck so far. Funny how the server here puts Czech or Russian on the screen at random times. How can  a person use google translator when the instructions are indecipherable?

    On to the subject of WC's, as they call them here. Public toilets are pay as you go, so to say, some with attendants, some with toll booths. Of course we don't have proper, if any, coins. So it's best to use a restaurant or bar, and these are located in the bowels of the establishment, probably to discourage use by passersby. Built in what apparently were former pay phone booth sized closets, these privies force you to squeeze past the door to close it, wedge yourself between the sink and wall, and sit on a toilet the size of a competition frisbee. The ubiquitous round brush is necessary at times because the drain out the bottom of the bowl has the diameter of a Czech coin. Forget about reaching and ripping the toilet paper while seated, this requires twisting and reaching for the roll. But they've been clean, and no graffiti so far.

    We leave Prague tomorrow morning on our bikes. Adventure awaits.