Blog 17b “After”

Before Andy’s wallet was stolen, we were having a lovely four days in Prague. We had toured the Jewish Quarter and Prague Castle. We had crossed Charles Bridge many times. We had taken the Jazz Boat cruise and walked along the river and winding side streets. We saw the Old Town Hall with its Astronomical Clock. https://www.prague.eu/cs/objekt/mista/188/staromestska-radnice-s-orlojem We had had fun at the Beer Festival. Our plans for Sunday were open so we would have time to walk more shops and maybe take in a concert.

The ‘after’ started on Saturday night. First, we had a restaurant bill that we needed to pay, in cash, and we had no cash. I could insert a long, boring story here about how hard it is to have American credit cards in a foreign country, and how HSBC is the worst international bank – but, instead I will say that after a few phone calls and trips to a nearby ATM we did have the cash for the restaurant. Good; making progress.

Then, we knew we would need a police report. Andy has had his identity hacked a few times – this is always step number one, get a police report. Relying on iPhone maps as we do, we looked up the closest station and started walking. At this point it is important to remember that we were having a lovely time just a few hours before. Eating and drinking beer at the side of the river. As we approached the station, Andy was in dire need of the restroom, or water closet as they say here. We rang the bell and several minutes later the door was finally opened. A young man of no known affiliation with the police sat in a chair by the entry, the door and window to the officer’s room were closed. Andy made a bee-line for the restroom, which left me standing alone in the middle of the waiting room. At this moment the police officer opened his door and started speaking to me in Czech. Of course, I am an American, I don’t understand Czech at all. This made the officer angry and he said more things to me in Czech. I know this because the young man with no purpose told me this much but was unwilling to translate what I was saying back to the officer. Finally, I tried to say, “Thank you, we will try another station”, but this was lost in the air. The angry officer turned and went back behind his closed door just as Andy came out of the restroom. They never even saw each other. Clearly, this station was not going to help, but I was relieved that I did not end up in a cell for the crime of being a typical American tourist who can only speak one language.

Sunday should have been our ‘do our last things’ day and ‘get on the plane home’ day. It was not. Among the credit and bank cards, that we were able to cancel within hours, was also Andy’s Biometric Residency Permit (BRP). This is essentially a credit card sized visa that indicates we are allowed to live in the UK. We both have one, we both must carry it when we travel. We both must show it to the Border Control agent at the airport gate when we arrive in the UK. Andy could not go back, he had lost his BRP with the wallet. So instead of final sightseeing trips, we began working on our ‘to do’ list of getting the police report submitted and getting paperwork in order so Andy could return to the UK. Our adventure in Prague would have to be extended until we could figure all this out.

Generally, we assume that the two of us together can figure most things out – we still think this is true. But we have also benefited by the serendipitous kindness of strangers in our travels. While we ate lunch on Sunday, Andy and I discussed the next steps in the Police Report; finding an English-speaking police officer who can take the report in English and then create the Czech report for the files, and then having the document translated into English. Our waitress overheard us say ‘translate’. She offered to translate something for us thinking it was a map or guidebook, but we said no, and we explained what we were trying to do. She knew which police station to go to. She called the police station to make sure an English-speaking officer was on duty. She explained the situation to the English-speaking officer, so we would not have to start at the beginning in the station. She explained to us how to get there. This was so helpful. The English-speaking police station is not indicated on the iPhone map. FYI, it is right next door to the American Embassy.

First half of the police report task was completed Sunday afternoon; the report was written and filed. We had a copy. Translating would have to wait until Monday. What could not wait was the fact that we needed to find a new hotel. Andy did some great searching online, and we began our relocation to the K+K Central Hotel in the Old Town. https://www.kkhotels.com/prague/hotel-central A beautiful, Art Deco style hotel that has been recently refurbished in a great location. As we learned a few days later, when a tour bus arrived, it is a Rick Steves approved hotel; location, service, and value.

We ended up adding five days to our Prague trip. During this time Andy was able to work with his company’s legal department to determine the best approach for returning to London, and he was able to work with his team in London over his phone and tablet. It is not possible for me to write a paragraph for every place we went, or even for every day’s activities. We had a great time. The weather was perfect too, allowing us to be out and about at any time of day or night – and eat almost every meal at an outdoor café. Below is a summary of where we went and what we thought of the experience. We loved Prague and would not think twice about going back – but after nine days of seeing the sites, we don’t feel like we really need too.

Where did we go?	What did we think?
Walking tour of Jewish qtr/Syn	Difficult content, but worth it
Walking tour Prague Castle	Huge place, interesting. The history of Prague
Charles Bridge	Easy, ‘must do’, crowded. You can climb towers, but we did not
Jazz Boat	Comfortable, food + music = ok+  Funny to us how much jazz there is in Prague
John Lennon’s Wall	Phenomenon. All can add, changes by the minute
Kafka Moving Sculpture	Amazing and shiny. What would Kafka think?
Municipal House – Concert	Excellent skills, lovely presentation
Municipal House – Tour	Very interesting, plenty time for pictures. Housed 1st meetings after Velvet Revolution
Fred and Ginger building	Frank Gehry colloborated in the design of this building. Love/hate with locals.
Museum of Communism	Explains so much of their history
New Jersulem Synagogue	Beautiful and inspiring. Exhibit re: Jewish Czech history
The Technical Museum	Huge! Planes, trains, automobiles; + building with 5 floors of so many areas of science/industry
Reduta Jazz Club	They compare themselves to Ronnie Scotts in London, its fun, but it’s not Scotts.
Kafka Museum	Very interesting, disorienting, informative
Museum of Karla Zemana	Original special effects filmmaker. Fun
Museum of Musical Intruments	Would have liked more music played, but interesting. Old artifacts