We arrive in Prague

We were met in Prague by our Gate 1 representative, Blanka.  By this time, we had been awake for 24 hours and were extremely tired.  We boarded a bus at the airport and Blanka immediately began to tell us all about Prague.  It was information overload and Dave fell asleep on the way to hotel, waking up in the middle of a very dark tunnel and had no idea where he was!

Our hotel was the Prague Hilton and was lovely!  

We checked in and headed to our room for a long overdue nap!  The plan was to meet the group at 6 PM at the hotel's rooftop bar - Cloud 9.  We woke up at 6:30 and knew we had missed it.  After getting ready, we took the elevator to the 9th floor in case the group was still there.  The hallways leading to Cloud 9 were dimly lit and wound around to a corridor with windows overlooking Prague.  We could see the Castle and St. Vitus and a great view of the city.  

No one was at Cloud 9 so we went downstairs and had dinner at the hotel restaurant.  The first course was soup served in a very interesting fashion - the server brought bowls containing small ravioli, roasted tomatoes, cauliflower, and mozzarella and then he poured a clear broth over it - delicious!! He then brought a small plate with a crisp cracker and cream cheese and mortadella wrapped in a sheaf of zucchini.  The entree was fried pork with mashed potatoes and a salad. We enjoyed "pivo" with dinner!  I had Pilsner Urquell and Dave had a dark beer.

The server was efficient but not very friendly until he noticed our last name as we were paying the bill. He said that Urban was a common Czech name and he had friends with the same last name.  

After dinner, we went to the little bar at the end of the lobby and enjoyed more "pivo." 

Joe, Jim and Kathy came in and said that no one had shown up at Cloud 9 so they had gone out to an Italian restaurant near the hotel and had a very enjoyable meal.  Kathy was tired and went to her room and Joe and Jim joined us at the bar for drinks.  We went back to our room at around 11:30 PM.

The next morning, we awoke at 6 PM and felt rested and acclimated to the new time. We had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel.  When a day begins with smoked salmon, it has to be good!!