#23 Boston - My Athletic Magnetism - November 11, 2006

That must have been what led the young and somewhat haughty young Spaniard who sat next to me on the flight from Zurich to Prague to uncomfortably lean over to my side, to the point where I had to push back a little to squeeze him back into his own seat. Little did I know that I possessed such superpowers over this impressionable contemporary – good thing his body odor was in the tolerable zone and there were no other attempts at staying in touch after the plane touched down. After a sleepless overnight flight and just having spent four not-so-exciting hours at Zurich airport with my colleague Jerry and his charming wife Sarah, I was probably too weak to put up much of a fight against his encroachment into my space, and so resigned myself to enjoying our brief hour-and-a-half relationship for all it was worth.

We finally arrived in Prague, I got rid of the Spaniard, and hoofed it to the reasonably swanky Intercontinental Hotel (http://www.a-prag.com/picture-detail?select=54), which was to be my home away from home for the next few days. Prague, my friends is an unbelievably beautiful city – one of the Grande Dames of European municipal royalty it dazzles its visitors with stunning medieval architecture, church after church line its narrow streets and tower its impressive town squares (http://images.google.de/images?hl=de&q=Prag). I lucked out big-time as the IC was in the historic part of town, just down the street the beautiful Charles Bridge (http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/pcat/3199/display/159226) invited for a morning jog and along the way presented a spectacular view of the castle and the Moldau River. From there this jogger headed into the narrow streets of old Prague, escaping the temptations of street vendors and the many shops filled to the brim with babushkas, Czech crystal and Russian fake fur hats (of which I had to buy one anyway).

Prague Impressions

Hotel – boy did I luck out. The Intercontinental is as good as it gets (for Prague that is) – the interior design was Frank Lloyd Wright-ish in nature, the rooms and the bathrooms impeccable (including the yellow rubber ducky in the bathtub) and the obligatory bidet, an appliance that has befuddled generations of travelers (including yours truly). I honestly think that there should be either an introduction to this confusing convenience (Bidet 101) or they should be banished from civilization altogether. So far they are just a curiosity in my mind. Breakfast was fabulous and included in the room rate (which is a tad on the expensive side for the budget-conscious, but not quite in the New York-ish price range). My tip if you go to Prague – stick with the American chains, with the exception to the rule being the Holiday Inn right next to the conference center, where one of my colleagues got a dirty spoon thrown at her, and that was just one of her collection of sad stories.

Food – hmmmhhh – dumplings, dumplings, and dumplings, goulash, goulash and goulash. Excellent Beer! Beer Everywhere! If you like home-style cookin‘ you are going to love it here. Heaps of meat, usually in a heavy sauce, and dumplings of every style known to mankind. Czech yeast cakes, good ice cream (The Cremeria Milano for one), and a whole lotta great ambience in charming backstreet restaurants. Food is dirt cheap in Prague, you can feed three people for dinner with soup, entrees and beer included for about 30 dollars. Did I say the beer was excellent? The service at the restaurants mostly left something to be desired - slow and not particularly attentive - and on Tuesday night, when a crazy group of us consisting of staff from MGH, the Dana Farber and at least three pharmaceutical companies (including one poor guy we picked up in the subway and who had no idea what hit him), we stretched the patience of the wait staff to the max. In particular when a chemist who was part of our group wanted to investigate the flammability of the Czech brandy Slivovitz (I did not try it but was told its taste had a close resemblance to lighter fluid) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz .


Culture – you cannot walk three steps without running into a theater, may it be Opera, Drama, Black Light Theaters (http://www.wow-show.com/en/), marionettes, jazz clubs – you name it!! On Wednesday night, my colleague Eunice and I attended the Prague State Opera for a performance of *Tosca* - what an experience!! The State Opera (http://www.state-opera.com/) is a stunning building, balcony after balcony with gold-lined neo-Rococo embellishments, a ceiling fresco – it just takes your breath away!! Tosca was performed to perfection, and I can honestly say that this was the first time ever that I cried at the end of an opera performance –it was so beautiful! Tosca is your quintessential Italian opera, where it is drama, drama, drama the whole way and in the end everyone dies – people get stabbed, get shot and jump off balcony. Sheessh! One thing I noticed when roaming the streets of Prague that there dozens of performances of Mozart’s opera *Don Giovanni* - I have since learned that this is due to the fact that Mozart finished the opera in Prague, and only the night before the premiere (apparently he was procrastinating) and only because his girlfriend or mistress locked him up in his room.

Getting around – quite easy, the subway is a good way to go; interestingly enough there are Green and Red Lines just like in Boston. It is cheap, and all the important sites, including the opera, can be reached with it. One has to pay attention to pickpockets in Prague we were told, so avoiding big crowds helps. Taxis are not too expensive either, however we were told only to take them either to and from the airport and from the hotel. One agrees with the cab driver beforehand on the fare, which avoids nasty surprises. Never ever to take a cab in the touristy areas in the center of town.

The Czech – a mixed bag. As mentioned, customer service does not seem to be a concept that has caught on with unbridled enthusiasm, and there is a collection of anecdotes – my favorite being the *cookie incident*, where I was refused a cookie, by the conference caterers, because the 15-minute coffee break had just ended, and the *were closed*. Under no circumstances was I to receive a cookie, I could have been on death’s door, wouldn’t have made a difference. There were notable exceptions, in particular the hotel staff at the IC, and my overall impression of Prague was a delightful one. (Now if they would just switch to the Euro, that darn conversion of the Czech korunas was driving us all mad!! Mad, I say!)

I am currently hailing from Neuenburg, my home town in Southern Germany, where all kinds of hoopla is happening – I already attended a party of the local baseball club, and the official opening of Fastnacht (Mardi Gras) – the official kick off is 11/11 at 11:11 AM every year and lasts until February. Tonight there is a little belated birthday party for me, and who knows what else is planned for next week.

I have been busy snapping photos with my new digital camera, and once I am back in the US, I will put them up on a website – I know already that there will be too many to send. I will return to Boston on the 18th to a very cold home, as my heating system decided to die on me the day before I left, and I foresee a tough time getting the HVAC guy to come to my house the week of Thanksgiving.

You of course received my photos from last week’s hike in the Blue Hills outside of Boston to celebrate my friend Rick’s birthday which was topped off with (my first ever) Brazilian meal in Cambridge.

I gotta go now, a quick walk with my friend Gitta, her daughter Lucia and Nemo, the dog awaits.

Bis bald.

Pet:)