Happy New Year

From 2013-12 December

We’re very happy about how we met 2014. After a lot of searching, trying to balance entertainment, view and quality of experience based on what we could learn from Boston, we booked ourselves a table at the Bellevue Restaurant (in Prague.) They won because of what people said about their food and because the pictures on their website convinced us that we’d enjoy a good view.

Not only did we enjoy fantastic food with a beautiful view, we were pleased also to meet a very professional staff and a group of funny and outgoing English people at the next table. The menu included many courses, and we had lots of time to enjoy them because we arrived around 8:30 and didn’t want to run out of distractions before midnight. We decided to make a point of enjoying our delicious food, eating slowly and chewing each bite more thoroughly than we would ordinarily consider necessary. We had fun stretching our meal out until we finally finished the incredible desserts at around 11:30.

At midnight the sky lit up with fireworks outside our window, and restaurant guests wished each other a happy new year in several different languages. (Šťastný nový rok in Czech.) Then we had to get home to our hotel, on the other side of Old Town Square. Our guidebook said that the fireworks in the street would be safe, but just barely. I guess that’s about right. We had to walk through lots of broken glass while avoiding skyrockets, showers of sparks and various kinds of small explosives. I guided Alla carefully, since she was already somewhat wounded from Christmas Eve and was at this time wearing a green sparkly mask. We passed several fireworks vendors, but didn’t buy any ourselves. We got to see plenty without lighting any of our own fuses.

From 2013-12 December

Alla slept in on New Year’s Day, so I went out alone to see the view from the top of the Powder Tower, tour the Moser museum and gallery, and listen to an opera performance on an open stage in Old Town Square. The sales lady at Moser told me about a delightful restaurant at the Hotel U Prince, where Alla and I ate dinner this evening. They have a beautiful rooftop terrace with glass walls and ceiling so we enjoyed a fabulous view with our quite tasty and modestly-priced dinner.

All told, I’d say that we’ve gotten 2014 off to a good start, and I hope the same goes for my readers. Happy new year!