My trip to the airport included an impromptu tour of Atlanta, initiated by a combination of rush hour 5pm traffic and President Obama being in town. In a quest for short cuts, Robert drove\u00a0us down side streets from Buckhead to the Bluff.<\/p>\n
\nAir France was fab with their usual chic, efficient, ironic service. The NOLA socialite next to me moved to join her husband and \u00a0Papillion dog, Mignon, and I had the row to myself.\u00a0The seat flattened out. I lay my head down, hoping to rest my eyes, and didn\u2019t wake up until they turned up the lights and were wheeling\u00a0breakfast down the aisle. Merci!\n<\/p>\n
\nLanded in\u00a0Paris and in less than two hours boarded the plane to Prague. I snorted when I saw the only difference between business class and coach on that flight was three rows and a curtain, but then the plane prepared to take off and only four people were in that section. I had my three seats across row to myself. They served\u00a0chilled shrimp and hot olive bread. The thing I thought was an odd turnip turned out to have wee tentacles, so I guess it was a squid of some kind. Gack. The tiny pastries made up for it.Landed in Prague much more alert and comfortable than I’d had any expectation to be. My driver was waiting with my name on a card. We walked to where was parked outside and across the street from the airport, but conveniently in front of bank with an ATM, so I grabbed the opportunity to withdraw some Czech cash.\n<\/p>\n
\nTraffic was heavy and the\u00a0cordial\u00a0driver explained the president of China was in town, much to the citizenry’s dismay. Havel was pro-Tibet; their new Prez is sucking up to the Chinese. People are wrapping themselves in Tibetan flags in protest. Don;t get me started on politics, I begged the driver, I’ve had more than enough of that at home. Obligingly, the talk turned to architecture.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe hotel staff were waiting for me with an umbrella though it was barely misting. My luggage was taken to my room while I was warmly welcomed. They were more than pleasant. They acted like I was an elderly relative who might include them in my\u00a0will. They had art recommendations and offered me some exquisite\u00a0praline truffles that were bliss on the tongue.\n<\/p>\n
\n \nI bounded out to find milk and another ATM \u2013 successful, though it took a few minutes of coaxing to get my phone to behave. And I saw this little bridge between two houses, my first taste of Praha charm.\n<\/p>\n![\"truffle\"](\"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/truffle.jpg\")
<\/a>There are only 19 rooms. It\u2019s reminiscent of\u00a0the Orfila in Madrid, only even more lush. The\u00a0walls feature\u00a0art by a local painter of city scenes, which here means medieval, renaissance, and 18 c architecture.\n<\/p>\n