March 28, 2026

Dawn over Prague. My window open on big industrial headquarters, like Lilly and KPMG, through whose windows one sees people at their desks deep into the nght. Walking tour of the old city yesterday morning. Everyone was freezing and the rat-a-tat guide walked so fast he made himself pant, so it was no fun for me. By the end I could hardly walk; unfortunately, I mean that literally. Learned a lot, though, and saw the sights we were meant to see. Clear light over the beautiful town, dressed up for the Easter Markets. Great gray heron flew by us on the Charles Bridge. Our guide hated folklore, so that any question that hadn’t to do with flat history went sneeringly unanswered. He pronounced “Czechs” as “Chicks,” which startled me every time. “The Chicks finally established their own Republic.” L and I had Prosecco on the hotel mezzanine while the tour finished without us. Supper at Gate, in a part of town which was fascinating to me becuase of its alluring ordinariness. Best duck ever, A couple of bedtime vodkas at the lobby bar with its energetic bartender, who received my last zloti as a tip. Managed without Czech crowns. I find this gargantua of a hotel mildly loathsome. The atrium is gorgeous, but all its energy goes into brutal gorgeousness and none into client comfort. L and J love it. Breakfast is sybaritic.

Took the trolly, which Jim understands and I do not, to Wenceslaus Square, of enduring fame, and to the Natural History Museum. Their model of the male Neanderthal looks exactly like me, if I let the hair on my head grow long.