Czech-In
Sorry for the long break in writing. I have been very busy with work and decided to give myself a bit of a break from the blog world. I missed it though!
A couple of weeks ago I had to go to Prague for a meeting. It was lovely. I don't often say this after a business trip - but I am definitely going back. Maybe I can organise a nice long weekend in the autumn when the Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese tourists have left. I think that was the most touristy place I have ever been in my life. I couldn't find an spot anywhere in the city away from digital camera-weilding freaks.
Especially in the hotel. My goodness. The Angelo Hotel looked so very promising when I walked in - modern luxury and first class service. They booked me in to the executive floor - you know, free coffee and tea in the hall and all access to the printer...executive fluff. Beautiful anyway. Except once I turned away from the reception desk, a huge mass darkened the light coming in from the glass-fronted building. A double-decker tour bus crammed with tiny, little, old, Spanish persons was parked two feet from the front entrance. And the bus started to burp Spanish geriatrics two and 3 at a time.
They were all over the place. And for the next 12 hours, I spent countless minutes sharing elevator rides with confused and distracted Spanish biddies who couldn't figure out how to use the key-card activated elevator. And so many of them had rooms only one flight upstairs to boot. The breakfast room was chaos. the staff just gave up. Usually you have to show your key-card and room number, not that morning. The staff just shrugged as if it was a free for all and I was on my own. I managed to elbow my way to the fruit bowl and also managed to slide 2 pieces of bread in to the toaster - the kind they have here in European hotels where there's a lever to put the toast down, you turn on a timer and then lift the lever up when the toast is done. Someone stole my toast. I bet a Spanish person stole my toast. Just a hunch.
Anyway - I did manage to get out and walk the city - it's astoundingly beautiful. St. Nicholas Church, Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, National Theater so intensely old and historic and colourful and pretty. I didn't get to the Jewish Section or obviously to any museums so I have to go back.
I did have a chance to eat at a lovely restaurant for lunch my last day on the banks of the Vltava river at the foot of the Charles bridge. It was lovely and sunny and breezy and we watched the boats, groaning with tourists, zip up and down the river.
My food was incredible. My starter was beetroots, sliced over sour cream which was over a healthy layer of pesto. It was so good and I will be repeating this at my next dinner party. Just have to figure out if the beetroots were cooked in plain water or flavoured water.
I had a chance to spend some time with the country manager of our Czech operations. She's lovely. She told me that when she was 13, they were allowed to exchange currency for the first time - The Czechoslovakians had to have special vouchers to allow them to change Czech money. They could go only to Germany and buy luxury goods for the first time.
She told me of that first day of shopping as if it were the fondest memory in her life. She bought herself a pair of real denim jeans. In Czechoslovakia, there was no real denim. They only had clothing made from other materials made to look like denim - apparently pretty yucky. So she treasured the experience buying a pair of real jeans. Then she bought fancy toilet roll -you know - with flowers printed on the paper. She thought this was the ultimate in luxury and style because of course, she grew up with brown, sandpaper-style toilet paper before. Then she bought the single most important thing on her list. She got a Barbie Doll with a full set of clothes.
She had heard of Barbie and seen pictures of Barbie but of course, had never the opportunity to have one until she was 13. She didn't care that she was a teenager pining for Barbie - she got her Barbie doll at last.
It's no surprise that since Czech republic has been open and she has become professionally successful, she has travelled as often as possible. I guessed that she and her husband had taken what I refer to as 'The 2 pilgrimages' to the states - I was right. They have been to Disney World Orlando and Disneyland in California. I guess when you don't grow up with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald and MacDonalds being shoved down your throat, you kind of find the concept of Disney rather attractive. If you grow up with nothing like an amusement park anywhere nearby and never seeing spectacles that are Disney parades - it's all a fantasy come true when you do experience it.
These trips make me realise I can't take anything for granted. I loved my time in Prague and I can't wait to go back.
I think Prague for a birthday weekend in October.
posted by Brussels Confidential @ 2:29 PM
