Prague

We are in Prague for the long weekend. You know, because we are European and we country hop like that.

We caught a flight on Friday night after Gord was finished work. The flight from Warsaw to Prague is only an hour, so it wasn't really a big deal. I had arranged for an airport transfer to the hotel we booked, and the driver was there and waiting when we arrived. He seemed nice enough, and everything was going according to plan.

That is, until we got into the van. The driver was a crazy maniac, but we have come to expect that here in Eastern Europe. The problem was really the van itself. It was somewhat worn, had no air conditioning and smelled like smoke with a hint of vomit. Surprisingly, we were able to overlook all of those things because we were really excited to be in Prague and we knew that the hotel we booked would be great. Here is the description from their page on Bookings.com:

Enjoying a prime location on Prague's Wenceslas Square, Premier Apartments was renovated in 2010 and offers luxuriously furnished accommodation with free Wi-Fi, LCD satellite TV, safes and fully equipped kitchens. The hotel is housed in a historical building. It has 24-hour reception services and airport transfer. Cleaning is done every 3 to 4 days and bed linen and towels are provided. Premier Apartments Wenceslas Square are within easy walking distance to historical monuments, shopping centres, jazz clubs with live music, restaurants and coffee bars.

Doesn't that sound great? Keep it in mind for later.

Our happy feelings started to fade after we had been in the hot stinky van for half an hour with hungry and tired kids who tend to get car sick when they have been in hot stinky vans for too long. Finally, we pulled over on Wenceslas Square. It looked so pretty at night, all lit up with people laughing and visiting while they enjoyed a meal outside. It seemed like the perfect home base for our Prague adventures. We started to get out of the van, but were told to stay there while Gord and the driver went inside. A little (long) while later, they came back and we started driving again. Wait, we thought, where are we going? Why are we driving away from all the pretty lights and happy people? Why are we driving through dark alleys with lots of graffiti and women who may or may not be working on the corner? As it turns out, our first stop was only where the reception office for the hotel. The apartment we were to stay in was actually some 900m away, on a much less happy street (by less happy I mean sad and scary). The driver pulled on to the sidewalk (because they do that in Eastern Europe) and let us out. That is when the real fun began.

The driver left without really showing us where to go. So, there we were, tired, carsick and disappointed on the side of the road with nowhere to go while Julia and Gord tried to figure out where the door to the apartment was.

We pulled all of our bags into a side walkway to get off the main street.

Michael slept through the whole ordeal (he was totally zonked since it was 10:00 pm by that time).

Lily was happy as always despite our circumstances.

Finally, Gord called reception for the hotel and was told where to find the door to our building. It turns out that it was in the side street where we were standing with the luggage.

Gord took the stairs up with the other kids while I took Michael on the elevator. By the time I got there, he and Krista had been inside and did not look any happier. The apartment reeked of smoke even though I had requested non-smoking. Other than that it was nice, but the smoke smell was hard to ignore. Our biggest concern was Michael, aka Mr. Athsma, but it was late so we had no choice but to wait until morning to deal with it. When we woke up, Michael was stuffy and coughed a little so Gord called to office for the apartments to ask what the penalty would be if we left and found somewhere new to stay. The man said we would be charged the full amount. He also told Gord that the apartment was indeed non-smoking. Gord told him that that was odd since there were no less than four ashtrays in the kitchen!

Long story short (or not really, I guess), our apartment is not where it was supposed to be, it has none of the amenities it was supposed to have and it smelled like the inside of an ashtray. However, we left the windows open all day and they sent someone to clean it again and now it smells much better. Michael seems to be fine, and in the light of day this area is not so scary. We had a wonderful and full first day in Prague, so almost all has been forgiven. Almost.

Tomorrow I will try to write about our adventures here, but for now I must go to bed. Goodnight!