Prague vital statistics:

• Population (2018): 1,294,513 (city proper); 2,594,325 (metro)
• Latitude & longitude: 50˚ 05′ N, 14˚ 25′ E
• January average temperature: High 1.3˚C (34.3˚F), low -4˚C (25˚F)
• July average temperature: High 24.4˚C (75.9˚F), low 12.7˚C (54.9˚F)
• Time zone: GMT+2 (6 hours ahead of U.S. EDT)
• Language: Czech
• Currency: Czech Koruna
• Exchange rate: US$1=22.2 koruna
• Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city center: $747.05

My concerns about Prague are twofold: (1) It’s too expensive, and (2) it’s too touristy.

Expensive? Yes. In terms of rent, it’s the most expensive city on my itinerary. In terms of supermarkets and restaurants, however, it’s comparable to the rest of Europe (except extremely inexpensive Romania), slightly more expensive than Croatia and Slovenia, but slightly cheaper than Spain and Portugal. But is it too expensive? The jury’s still out.

Touristy? Yes. Prague is the most cosmopolitan city on my itinerary, and the biggest tourist destination. The tourist hordes here are as vast as in Washington, D.C. But is it too touristy? Again, it’s hard to say at this point.

But let me back up. My 27 June 2018 journey to Prague was not without suspense. I bought an evening flight from Cluj to Prague via Warsaw on LOT Polish Airlines. Other than the steady rain (of course; the weather was tempestuous throughout my two weeks in Romania), my city bus ride to the airport went off without a hitch. But shortly after I arrived at Cluj’s small, cramped, but adequate (the food consisted only of snacks, but the selection of alcohol was satisfactory) airport lounge, I learned that my flight was delayed an hour and 20 minutes. That would be a problem, since my scheduled layover in Warsaw was only an hour. I could only hope that my connecting flight was also delayed.

On board the first flight (both were on Canadair Bombardier regional propeller planes, the usual aircraft for my short intra-European hops), the flight attendant told me he didn’t have any information about whether my connection was delayed, although he did have information for other passengers with different connecting flights. (Side note: LOT has the hottest stewardesses among the airlines I’ve flown. There was one blonde bombshell each on the two flights I had on 27 June. But I digress.)

On arrival at Warsaw, a LOT employee told me that my connecting flight was on schedule and that boarding had ended. She told me to proceed to a certain gate where they’d arrange a hotel for me and get me to Prague the following day. That sounded like a bit of a hassle, but I shrugged my shoulders. It’s a risk you always take with air travel.

But in the customs line (although Romania and Poland are both in the EU, only the latter is in the Schengen border-free zone; therefore you still have to get your passport stamped and go through customs formalities when traveling between them), I glanced at the departures board and saw that my connecting flight to Prague had in fact been delayed and was currently boarding. Happily, the immigration official perfunctorily stamped my passport, and the security line (again, necessary because I was traveling from EU-with-an-asterisk Romania to full-EU Poland) wasn’t too long. After I got through, I hastily threw my things back into my Sri Lankan man-purse and sprinted about 20 gates, ducking and weaving through the Warsaw airport foot traffic. In the end, I made it to my gate with five minutes to spare and a huge grin on my face as I stepped into the airport shuttle bus with my fellow passengers, sweating and coughing (I’d swallowed a bug while running). I made it.

The second flight, once I’d made it on board, was routine, and on landing in Prague, I set about my usual new-country tasks. I’d exchanged my remaining lei for Czech koruna on my way to the airport in Cluj, so I didn’t need to find an ATM. I did have to find a way to buy a Prague bus/metro ticket; the ticket windows were closed (it was now past 10pm), but I found a machine and bought a 90-minute pass. Then I found the airport bus stop, boarded the first bus, and then transferred to the Prague metro.

After 10 minutes on that and another 20 minutes’ walking (it was actually only 10 minutes’ distance, but you try orienting yourself in a strange city late at night; you’ll make a bunch of wrong turns too), I arrived at my Airbnb in Prague. My host was nice enough to wait up for me even though I was an hour late, and I got the keys and got settled in.

Thursday, 28 June, my first day in Prague, was not a great day, weather-wise. It was gray, rainy, and cold. A good day to sleep in until 1:30 in the afternoon. Once I’d finished with my beauty sleep, I explored the neighborhood around my apartment and bought some food and other supplies at a nearby supermarket and drugstore. Unexciting stuff, for the most part. But Prague is a city with plenty of hidden charms, as well as the more obvious ones that draw all the tourists.

And it’s 2am, time to quit. I’ll continue this post tomorrow.