Saturday the 9th was my last full day in Prague. I needed more time. I’d enjoyed Berlin but Prague was just more fun for me. I had several things on my list to see and do but some of them like the library (closed on weekends, doh!), the castle and the Charles bridge would have to wait for another visit. I did say that this was a scouting trip, after all! With the time and energy I had, a leisurely trip by tram to the Mucha museum and an afternoon in a cafe eating, drinking and people watching became the days’ plan. The PID app gave me a route to get to the museum and let me pay for the transit ticket on my phone. A side note: I have to compare the Czech trams to the Green Line above ground. I think that we have a lower expectations of noise in the US; we expect cars, subways, and trams to be noisy and loud. The screeching, squealing, rattling that I know on the Green line just does not seem to occur here; and people speak more quietly on the tram because of it.

Alphonse Mucha (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha), his work is so iconic, so closely associated with Art Nouveau movement, that most people in the US have seen his work even if they did not know the artist. The Mucha museum does not have all or even most of his work; the man was extremely prolific! It does have good examples of his posters, oil paintings (never knew he worked in that medium), sketches, photos etc as well as a very fine documentary about his life. I bought some postcards which needed stamps for international delivery and fortunately, the central post office of Prague was a short walk from the museum.

I just liked the way the Prague main post office was set up – you walked in, used a touch pad to describe what sort of business you needed to conduct and a queue ticket with a number popped out. Then you sat calmly on a fairly comfortable bench waiting for your number to come up; it was so easy and relaxed. Maybe I’ll send postcards out; maybe I’ll keep the postcards. I don’t know.

After the post office, I took a two hour people watching lunch break with wine and a shrimp Caesar salad. I returned to my hotel and partially packed for my departure the next day. It was absolutely necessary to make time for another visit to the Orange Bar! I went with gin cocktails this time.