Even though our wonderful cruise director was still with us, he was no longer on duty. All the guests left our hotel by about 10 am, so Kieron was found sitting on a bench without his red Viking shirt or suit—just a regular guy after all. We said our thanks and hope to meet again. He was the best, or one of the best (Ahmed in Egypt was the very best!)
Not only has Kieron been terrific, but so has our travel agent. Somehow, he managed to upgrade our room for tonight. Since we’re no longer part of the Viking package, we now get a suite. Back to the room to quick-pack. The desk says they will move us to the 5th-floor corner room while we’re out.
With that good news, we were off by going to the town square and watching the astronomical clock again, one last time, dinging the hour with an apostle ceremony, as each of the 12 rolls to one of the two little windows, pokes his head out, then ducks back in again. On Monday, in between showers, we were here just as the air raid sirens went off for the monthly test. Oh, the timing… Blaa instead of ding, ding, ding. Since I’ve already taken great pictures of the clock, just cycle back 5 days if you’d like to see it again.
From there, we crossed the Charles Bridge to Lesser Town when a special church is. “Church of Our Lady Victorious” has been a goal of mine for a couple of days, ever since I remembered a sermon that Monsignor Boyer of La Canada gave in about 1983 or 4 about the Infant of Prague. The church had a local copy of the statue on display for a month or so, and it suddenly occurred to me—we could see the real one!
This was a Sunday and Mass was about to start, but we walked through the whole church — it was wonderful. The infant is dressed for ordinary time in green and beautifully housed among radiant silver and gold.
The story is that a rich woman received the doll as a wedding gift. She immediately gave it to the sisters here, and miracles started to happen. Through wars and destruction, it was thrown into a dump and lost both hands. Then it was found and the hands restored, and given to the sisters at this church where it is well taken care of.
We wandered a bit, then I asked a local tour guide—quickly got directions. Of course! They’re the most famous people here! Smetana and Dvorak both had gorgeous graves, but Dvorak was a national treasure, so he has the larger of the two. We stayed a few quiet minutes singing a bit of The New World, then moved on. Turned out that the attached church was art deco!
When we returned to the hotel and our new room, we found champagne waiting for us. What a lovely upgrade! After a few sips (or more) of champagne, we headed off to the Communism Museum. We took no pictures, but heard again about the incredible lack of freedom under Stalin and Brezhnev. Best card in the gift shop read, “You can’t find detergent in any of the shops, but you can get your brain washed!”
After dinner, at 10 pm, we did our own Prague at Night (since our wonderful tour the other day never made it to nighttime) We got the lights and the action and saw it all and know why many people call Prague their favorite European city. What a lovely ending to the trip. Good night.
After dinner, at 10 pm, we did our own Prague at Night (since our wonderful tour the other day never made it to nighttime.) We got the lights and the action and saw it all and know why many people call Prague their favorite European city. What a lovely ending to the trip. Good night.
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