I spent most of today feeling very wistful, wandering around town with a sad smile on my face, staring longingly at the river, the buildings, the crazy protester wearing huge angry signs I couldn't understand. It all looked so beautiful.
I started off wandering over and up to Vyšehrad, the other castle, which has its very own pretty church, as well as a cemetery with such luminaries as Antonín Dvořák (the New World Symphony guy) and Karel Čapek (playwright and coiner of the word "robot"). The church really is quite pretty.
Then there was more wandering...to Kavarna Slavia for lunch, to U Sudu for wine, to Kampa Park for (a very expensive but very good) dinner, and to U Rudolfina for a final beer. All the while staring wistfully and snapping pictures when the lighting was right.
I'll miss Prague; I feel oddly comfortable in this city. I don't know what it is about it...maybe it's just the right linear combination of Ljubljana and New York, both authentically city-ish but beautiful and not too tense. I could hang out here a while longer.
And I'll miss this summer. It's been a new and exciting experience, full of good times and bum times ("...I've seen 'em all and, my dear, I'm still here. Plush velvet sometimes, sometimes just pretzels and beer, but I'm here."). Anyway, I'll write a big final post back when I'm in the states. Ah, the States, where people speak my language, washing machines and driers function, and you can go from zero to a large cup of filter coffee in just a few minutes. And the States, where most buildings were designed in the second half of the 20th Century, it's easier to find bad food than good food, and two glasses of wine a day will set you back $17 and make you look like an alcoholic. But most of the people I care about are back in the U.S.A. And more than anything, New York is my home, and so I must return. My journey must come to an end.
Will do, irritated Prague residents. Will do.
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