More sightseeing, running and beering for our visitors' last two days

Monday May 5

Carol and Dag took off on their own this morning to visit Prague Castle, which was high on their list of things to do while they were here. We saw the castle when we were here in October, so we hung around the apartment until we met up with them at noon in front of Strahov Monastery, another of their must-see places.

We wandered around there a little bit, then into Malá Strana (Lesser Quarter), the castle district, and the 15th-century streets of Nový Svět. We ended the afternoon’s tour at The Three Fiddles Irish pub, where the bartender spoke English and they served Kilkenny and a great fish fry.

Dinner was traditional Czech: Jack made goulash with potato dumplings. It was delicious and we’re probably going to bring a couple of the goulash spice packets home with us so we can do it again.

Tuesday May 6

Dag and I headed out first thing this morning for my scheduled 5-mile run. It stretched to more like 6.5 miles as I took him down the entire length of the (occasionally challenging) paths extending east from our park, before we turned back to retrace our route.

After we’d rested and got cleaned up, Jack and I took our guests back up the hill to the National Memorial, which boasts an outstanding, 360-degree view of the entire city from its roof. A few hundred Czech Army soldiers were up there this morning as well, rehearsing for a commemoration ceremony which will be held there on Thursday, the 80th anniversary of V.E. Day.

Our last stop in the show-Carol-and-Dag-around-Prague tour was a trip to Vyšehrad, an old fortress which is now a public park. It’s got history, a beautiful old cemetery (with the likes of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák among the residents), great views of the city, and — bonus — a beer garden. (P.S. the beers you see in the photo below cost us $2.50 each.)

In honor of their last night here (and my birthday), our friends took us to dinner at the little traditional Czech restaurant across the street from our apartment. It was a terrific ending to a great birthday.