Prague Journal

Wednesday, June 29, 2005.

We were awakened at 6:30am by a call from Czech Airlines informing us that Ari and Elana’s bags had arrived and would be delivered to our flat shortly. We are only 15 minutes from the airport by car, so we anticipated that the bags would come soon. In fact, they did not arrive until after 9am. So, despite Elana’s joy at having her own clothes to wear, we got a bit of a late start on the day. Around mid-morning I escorted Ari and Elana to the castle, where they spent most of their day. We started at the Summer Palace and walked through the garden to Prague Castle.
Just as I left them at the castle entrance, I received a call from Bill and Peggy who had arrived in Prague earlier in the morning from the U.S. So, from the castle, I went to the Crowne Plaza Hotel where they are staying. This hotel was built between 1952-1954 and evolved from a combination of the architecture of Social Realism known as “Sorela” and “Art Deco.” The hotel has elements strongly reminiscent of buildings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s in the U.S., but its spired-dome roof is distinctly central Europe. The interior was designed architects and craftsmen from the First Czechoslovak Republic who were still active at that time. Noteworthy are the dominant tapestries, stained glass, mosaics, and chandeliers. The furniture, which is, after renovation, still used today, was manufactured in the style of the Czech cubists, in the spirit of art-deco and also partly patterned after the presidential library in Prague Castle. Rick uses the fitness center in the hotel, since it is only a 5-minute bus ride from our flat and a short tram-ride to the castle.
Bill and Peggy, both of whom teach at the University of New Hampshire, are in Prague for a few days before they head to Brno, where I will join them for a conference. We had coffee in the hotel lobby, after which I escorted them to the center of town so they could tour the Jewish museums. We agreed to rendezvous for dinner downtown at U Pinkasů, and set as our meeting place the prominent statue of Josef Jungmann at Jungmannova square. Joseph Jungmann was a professor of rhetoric, poetry and Czech language and literature in the early 19th century, who wrote the first Czech-German dictionary. U Pinkasů is tucked away behind the square, easy to get to only if you know where to look.
Ari and Elana are 24 years old, Bill and Rick in their 60s, and Peggy and I not much younger, so the six of us seemed an unlikely mix for dinner conversation. But, in fact, Ari will be starting a PhD in International Relations at Penn in the fall, so he is a professor-in-training so to speak. Elana is an artist who will start an MFA program at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Ari and Elana have just spent two years in Jerusalem, so they are worldly beyond their years. We have known Ari since he was 8 years old, so it was nice to interact with him on an adult level. The food was good – mostly traditional Czech cuisine, including a sampling of every dessert on the menu – and the service excellent. Perhaps because we have come so often, we are always treated well.

posted by JWinn @ 9:31 PM