The Parents

◊ Well, I was in such a rush Friday that I forgot to write about how my parent's visit went. When they arrived in Prague, they began to panic because they could not get ahold of me. They didn't want to try my directions and the phone number I had given them was incorrect. Not that it would have done them much good. The arrived in the only 2 hour span I was not in my room all afternoon. I finally got their email around 20:00 and grabbed a tram down to their hotel. They were very happy to see me, and told me all about how wonderful their trip had been. There had been some problems getting through the Czech Republic that day, and so that only added to the stress of showing up and not knowing where I was. Every time after I met a new member of their tour, I was always greeted with "So you are the missing son!" They must have been very upset indeed.
◊ I showed them the view from my favorite hill over the city looking down the river that night. I got my bag of stuff they brought for me from home. After their tour of the Castle, Golden Way, and Old Town Square we met up at the astrological clock. I finally got my brief tour of the highlights of the Jewish Quarter, and then I introduced them to the CVUT campus and menza food. The place was just about to close down, so some of the food was very good, and some of it was very very bad. They seemed to like it though. I paid for it on my student card because I get food there very cheap, but they more than paid me back with dinner that night. After that I showed them Masarykova Kolej and my room mates. I also introduced them to the Russians. That was rather awkward because I don't think they understood my phone call to warn them we were coming. They are the kind of girls who never let strangers see them without makeup on. We still had more time to kill, so I had the bright idea of going to the top of the Petrin. It is a miniature Eiffel Tower sitting on a high hill and the top give the best view of the city anywhere. The lift up to the top was closed for repairs, so we climbed. And climbed. And climbed. Several times using crumbling paths straight up the hill. By the time we got to the top, the place had just closed down. Go figure. On the walk back down, we found the real path that winds gently back and forth down the hill, therefore it took us twice as long to go down as it took to go up. It is much fun.
◊ That night, their tour had a farewell walk down Wenceslass Square ending in a restaurant in an ancient beer cellar right across from the astrological clock. One cannot be closer to 'Tourist Central'. There was live entertainment, beer by the liter, and the best traditional Czech food I have eaten while here. My parents got a little bit of sticker shock when the bill came, but I had tried to warn them that the place was fancy. The kicker was that there was a 19% something tacked onto the bill. I am pretty sure that it was tax, but I cannot be certain. I still thought it was a wonderful evening. One that I sure could not have afforded by myself.
◊ Since they did not have to leave for the airport until 10:30, I said I would drop in for breakfast if at all possible. Thanks to Nelson not telling me our departure time for Berlin, I did not even have time to phone a good bye. I have now heard that their day in NYC went very well. They took themselves on a lightning tour of the major tourist sights, before heading safely home.