Gosh... Haldita has been missing in action here. 'I'm sooooooo busy'.
Well, as you would have well gathered from the heading, it was a spare-of-moment decision, to take a trip (in more ways than one), to Prague. I would call it an open-air museum where the magnificence of baroque and Gothic architecture embrace one another with the flow of Art Deco, to present sights beyond one's imagination. Beauty in one mind-blowing building after another, where the eyes follow the lines of each sight, only to stop... at the next one and try to take in all this glory. 'Demasiado' is the word Hala and I kept repeating it. 'Too much'... In Spanish of course.
The story is bubbling in my mind...
It was the previous Saturday, that Hala and I, joined by Troy and Torsten, who are both tall, energetic, with a great sense of humour and extremely friendly in their general approach to everyone, went to Shoreditch to meet up with the lovely Shane for an evening of fun and music in a small underground club; the Nest.
As it happened, the DJ was not quite playing our tunes, so we ended up driving to Fabric with the three big lads and Hala in my (kind of) sporty car!
Although the music was totally to our liking, we did not stay long but before we left Torsten who had been living and working in Prague for the past four years, said:
"I'm off to Prague next weekend, to pack up and move back to London."
"Really," Hala responded with a sigh. "You know Prague is top on my list of places to visit. I've never been."
Torsten's eyes lit up in the dark: "Then, you must come with Troy and Haldita." He turned towards me and said: "I've told you before. Le Clan's eleventh anniversary starts on Friday night for 48 hours! Aaaand it's my favourite after-party club; come."
Troy's first response was: "Oh! I can't, I've been there 8 times and I'm busy with my new project."
The words left my lips without a moment's thought: "Brilliant. I went there some eleven years ago with a girlfriend in November and it was minus ten degrees! Would love to see it now in warmer conditions and besides, she fell asleep at dinner at 8.30 on me every night."
"Seriously?" Hala was more than excited. "I'm gonna change my ticket for next week. I was meant to be flying home next Sunday."
Torsten was very serious: "Yes, do it."
And so... We did it.
On Friday at about 10 am, we met up with Troy at Prague airport! He had flown on a different airline to us. The three of us went outside in the sun and caught a taxi to Torsten's; who had flown in the night before. As Troy went to pay the taxi driver, he turned around to us at the back of the cab and said: "Oh Oh... No good, the amount on the meter says 6-6-6. Nooooo good." We laughed at his comment.
We took the lift to Torsten's modern maisonette and shortly after, the four of us headed out for lunch at Kogo in Slovansky Dum (Slovak House). As we were let out the taxi, I asked:
Well, as you would have well gathered from the heading, it was a spare-of-moment decision, to take a trip (in more ways than one), to Prague. I would call it an open-air museum where the magnificence of baroque and Gothic architecture embrace one another with the flow of Art Deco, to present sights beyond one's imagination. Beauty in one mind-blowing building after another, where the eyes follow the lines of each sight, only to stop... at the next one and try to take in all this glory. 'Demasiado' is the word Hala and I kept repeating it. 'Too much'... In Spanish of course.
The story is bubbling in my mind...
It was the previous Saturday, that Hala and I, joined by Troy and Torsten, who are both tall, energetic, with a great sense of humour and extremely friendly in their general approach to everyone, went to Shoreditch to meet up with the lovely Shane for an evening of fun and music in a small underground club; the Nest.
As it happened, the DJ was not quite playing our tunes, so we ended up driving to Fabric with the three big lads and Hala in my (kind of) sporty car!
Although the music was totally to our liking, we did not stay long but before we left Torsten who had been living and working in Prague for the past four years, said:
"I'm off to Prague next weekend, to pack up and move back to London."
"Really," Hala responded with a sigh. "You know Prague is top on my list of places to visit. I've never been."
Torsten's eyes lit up in the dark: "Then, you must come with Troy and Haldita." He turned towards me and said: "I've told you before. Le Clan's eleventh anniversary starts on Friday night for 48 hours! Aaaand it's my favourite after-party club; come."
Troy's first response was: "Oh! I can't, I've been there 8 times and I'm busy with my new project."
The words left my lips without a moment's thought: "Brilliant. I went there some eleven years ago with a girlfriend in November and it was minus ten degrees! Would love to see it now in warmer conditions and besides, she fell asleep at dinner at 8.30 on me every night."
"Seriously?" Hala was more than excited. "I'm gonna change my ticket for next week. I was meant to be flying home next Sunday."
Torsten was very serious: "Yes, do it."
And so... We did it.
On Friday at about 10 am, we met up with Troy at Prague airport! He had flown on a different airline to us. The three of us went outside in the sun and caught a taxi to Torsten's; who had flown in the night before. As Troy went to pay the taxi driver, he turned around to us at the back of the cab and said: "Oh Oh... No good, the amount on the meter says 6-6-6. Nooooo good." We laughed at his comment.
We took the lift to Torsten's modern maisonette and shortly after, the four of us headed out for lunch at Kogo in Slovansky Dum (Slovak House). As we were let out the taxi, I asked:
"What's thank you in Czech?"
Torsten answered a word, not dissimilar to 'deekeyoo'.
"What?" I asked again.
"Just say deeke for short," Torsten answered.
"Or dik, dik." Troy grinned.
"Dik, dik?" I questioned. "You're kidding me, right?"
"Dik so much." Hala laughed.
"Guys, guys... Deeeke." Torsten added.
At the airy, off-white, modern restaurant, we took our seats close to the glass, fronting the outdoor, green space. The table got bigger after a lengthy fabulous lunch of pasta and red wine. We were joined firstly by the smiley Yvan, an American friend of the boys, I had once met briefly in London arrived, followed by Arnost, who only stayed briefly. Arnost was on his way home, to get ready for the beginning of his birthday celebrations that evening at a new restaurant their friend had opened, followed by Le Clan. We were, of course, to accompany Trosten to the events.
We left the restaurant on foot at around 4 pm, to be shown around this marvellous city, by our host; as in a fast-forward movie on a DVD. To keep following his long steps and try hard to take in all the names was quite an ordeal, nevertheless, worth every second. But how many 'wonders' can a city hold? Plenty.
The massive Old Town Square leaves the eyes wide open with the magnificence of the architecture and the mouth speechless.
The two small wooden shutters at the top of the building open at the strike of every hour for the statues inside to twirl with music. Torsten then whizzed us off through the backstreets to astonish us further with the view of Charles Bridge. And St Vitus Cathedral at the far end.
The lack of sleep from the previous night, due to late night packing (a mere 12 kg leather luggage to check in! made Hala very proud of me) and an early rise to catch the flight, added by the wine at lunch and all the sightseeing, was taking its toll on us. We paid a short visit to Yvan on our way back home.
Hala and I decided to be sensible and miss the birthday dinner for a couple hours' sleep, in order to join the boys and their friends later at the next destination... On a party boat. And fell fast asleep, not realising I had set my alarm for 10.30 am and not pm. We dreamed through the PINGs coming on my Blackberry from Torsten and the missed calls made by Troy!
One hour later, the downstairs door slammed shut and we saw Troy climbing up the stairs, with his arms up in the air: "Where are you girls? We tried to call. Com' on up you get. We're meeting everyone on the boat."
And so... The night to remember began to kick off.
You guessed it... To be continued... TBC
Torsten answered a word, not dissimilar to 'deekeyoo'.
"What?" I asked again.
"Just say deeke for short," Torsten answered.
"Or dik, dik." Troy grinned.
"Dik, dik?" I questioned. "You're kidding me, right?"
"Dik so much." Hala laughed.
"Guys, guys... Deeeke." Torsten added.
At the airy, off-white, modern restaurant, we took our seats close to the glass, fronting the outdoor, green space. The table got bigger after a lengthy fabulous lunch of pasta and red wine. We were joined firstly by the smiley Yvan, an American friend of the boys, I had once met briefly in London arrived, followed by Arnost, who only stayed briefly. Arnost was on his way home, to get ready for the beginning of his birthday celebrations that evening at a new restaurant their friend had opened, followed by Le Clan. We were, of course, to accompany Trosten to the events.
We left the restaurant on foot at around 4 pm, to be shown around this marvellous city, by our host; as in a fast-forward movie on a DVD. To keep following his long steps and try hard to take in all the names was quite an ordeal, nevertheless, worth every second. But how many 'wonders' can a city hold? Plenty.
The massive Old Town Square leaves the eyes wide open with the magnificence of the architecture and the mouth speechless.
The two small wooden shutters at the top of the building open at the strike of every hour for the statues inside to twirl with music. Torsten then whizzed us off through the backstreets to astonish us further with the view of Charles Bridge. And St Vitus Cathedral at the far end.
The lack of sleep from the previous night, due to late night packing (a mere 12 kg leather luggage to check in! made Hala very proud of me) and an early rise to catch the flight, added by the wine at lunch and all the sightseeing, was taking its toll on us. We paid a short visit to Yvan on our way back home.
Hala and I decided to be sensible and miss the birthday dinner for a couple hours' sleep, in order to join the boys and their friends later at the next destination... On a party boat. And fell fast asleep, not realising I had set my alarm for 10.30 am and not pm. We dreamed through the PINGs coming on my Blackberry from Torsten and the missed calls made by Troy!
One hour later, the downstairs door slammed shut and we saw Troy climbing up the stairs, with his arms up in the air: "Where are you girls? We tried to call. Com' on up you get. We're meeting everyone on the boat."
And so... The night to remember began to kick off.
You guessed it... To be continued... TBC
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