December 3: Prague Surprises

If you have followed my blog for a while, you may remember that last year I visited Berlin, where friends of ours live. Ines was our au pair when Alyx was little and we were expecting Trevor, back in 1993 and 1994. She was from East Berlin and spent a year in the au pair program. While she was with us in upstate New York, she met another au pair, Martin, who was from Austria. They met, fell in love, and have been together ever since. They now have two kids, Luis and Maggie, who I had the chance to see and spend time with last year.

When I started planning this trip, especially once I knew Alyx and Cindy would be joining, I reached out to Ines and Martin to see if they might be able to meet up somewhere along the way. They decided to come down to Prague and spend a couple of days with us. And the best part was that it was a surprise, because Alyx and Cindy had no idea.

Ines had told me that they were going to arrive in Prague “11 to 12am,” so I assumed they meant late Tuesday night and that we would see them at breakfast. When I sent them a message this morning, though, they said they would actually be arriving around 2pm, which completely changed the timing and my expectations for the surprise.

After breakfast (included on the lower floor of the hotel), Cindy, Alyx, and I, along with Jane, wandered through some of the other Christmas markets in Prague. I told them I needed to be back at the hotel around 2pm to get a little work done, which gave me a natural reason to be in place before Ines and Martin arrived. Meanwhile, I kept in touch with Ines as they got closer, found parking quite a distance away, checked in at their hotel, and started walking toward us.

As they made their way into the Old Town area, I shared my Google Maps location so they could see exactly where we were. At that point, they were only a few minutes away, and everything was falling into place for the surprise.

Cindy, Alyx, Jane and I went into a cute shop and were picking out some ornaments. Just as we came out, Cindy looked up and across the street and said, “Robin, that looks like Ines… Robin, that IS Ines!” She ran over and gave Ines and Martin huge hugs, and then Alyx and I did too. I took a video of the moment and it was so fun.

The funny part was that Ines did not think anyone would recognize her, so she had planned to walk up to Cindy and ask a silly question. But Cindy knew her instantly, just as I knew she would. Cindy and Alyx also thought we had simply run into them by chance, until we explained that we had been planning this for months. I had let a few people in our group know, so almost everyone except Alyx and Cindy were in on the secret.

Jane headed back, so the five of us wandered through the streets and Christmas markets, catching up. Alyx reminded us about the Lamp Lighter ceremony, a tradition on the Charles Bridge each day around 4pm. The lamplighter comes through and lights each lantern by hand. There were so many people on the bridge, but we happened to be standing in the small park where he began, so we had a great view and watched him light a few of the lanterns.

After exploring a bit more, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and meet up with the group.

I had made a reservation for the group tonight at Kampa Park. I have eaten there both times I visited Prague and really loved the food and the view, since it sits right on the river next to the Charles Bridge. Everyone had originally planned to come, so with our group of 11 plus Ines and Martin, I guaranteed a reservation for 13 people. As the day went on, a few people ran out of energy, so we ended up with 9 of us for dinner, which still worked out nicely.

Some of us walked over, and others took a car through Uber, Bolt, or a cab. I had typed “Kampa Park” into Google Maps, but it had led us to the wrong side of the bridge. For a minute I could not figure out why the restaurant was nowhere in sight. Once I realized the mix-up, we walked back about 10 minutes to the correct location and finally found it.

Once we settled in, we had a wonderful meal. Great wine, delicious food, and really good conversation. A few people ordered a special dish where they brought out an entire prime rib and sliced it right at the table before serving it with a small salad, vegetables, and potatoes. It looked amazing.

When the server brought the bill, he said there was a little problem. Someone had already paid most of it, so all that remained was a small portion and the tip. No one would admit to it, and we never did find out who our mysterious benefactor was. It was such a kind and thoughtful gesture, especially after the chaos of yesterday!

We left the restaurant the same way we arrived, and those of us walking went in search

of the tiny alleyway where only one person can pass at a time. There is a traffic light at each end that tells you when it is your turn to go down the stairs. From there we crossed back over the Charles Bridge and hoped to get dessert at one of the markets, but it was after 10 and everything had closed. So sad.