Prague Journal

Sunday, March 6, 2005

Matt arrived (from NYC) in Prague shortly after 8am, so Rick and I were on the 7am bus to the airport to greet him when he arrived. After many hugs, we brought him to our flat, fed him breakfast, and talked for quite awhile before we ventured out into the bitter cold, snowy weather toward town.
Our first stop was Malostranska námĕstí, the Lesser Town square, so that we could stroll across the (very crowded) Charles Bridge toward Old Town. We stopped to join the clockwatchers to see the clock strike 2:00pm before stopping for tea at the Prince Hotel. We then walked to Můstek, where we jumped on the metro (subway) and headed for the Sazka Arena to see HC Slavia Praha play the Liberec White Tigers in the second (of four) “extra-league” quarterfinal playoff (ice hockey) game. I only knew that the stadium was near the Českomoravská metro stop, but once we were on the train, we needed only to follow the hoards of others headed toward the stadium, which was almost adjacent to the metro station.
The multipurpose Sazka Arena was completed last April (2004) for the world ice hockey championship in Prague. According to the Sazka Arena website, it is the most modern multipurpose venue for sports, culture, entertainment, exhibits, fairs, and other events in Europe, featuring the most advanced technology, universal usage, sophisticated marketing, comfort and all-embracing services for spectators and visitors. The arena has seating for 18,000 spectators, 2,460 Club and Luxury seats, 66 Skyboxes, 4 Party Boxes, and 2,900 places in bars, restaurants and cafés. The jumbotron screen and American music did not disguise the fact that we were watching Czech hockey. The fans were appropriately enthusiastic, including large sections of fans (Slavia fans in red and Liberec fans in blue) cheering, clapping and chanting “Slavia do toho” (which, loosely translated, means Go Slavia, or Hit it, Slavia), with several bass drums and horns as accompaniment. It was an exciting game, and fun to watch. Slavia won 5-2, which put the home crowd in high spirits.
After the game we headed home for a modest meal (salad and soup), intending to retire early, but of course we stayed up until midnight talking.

posted by JWinn @ 11:24 PM