123 – Lost in Prague

NB – the first half is an insight to our marriage…some might think we need counselling. You can skip ahead to find out what we actually did in Prague – it was fun!

Have you ever been so angry you have purposely got lost…or hoped the person you are with would get lost? Well today I blew my casket with Mark, partly because we were lost. I then stormed off, leaving him lost in Prague and us both trying to find our way home separately.

Let me explain…I’m biased but would say typically I’m lovely, calm, very patient and manage my frustrations. However if I hold them in, and Mark gives me a good shake, I can explode…on a bridge in Prague. I literally said: “we have no idea where we are, I’m so angry with you!” With hindsight when I said before leaving the van in the morning, my phone battery won’t last the day, I could have made a note of the trams back, the street where our campsite was on, and checked Mark had sorted his data on his phone…a 2min task he has had a week to do.

Instead we ended up lost in Prague with no phones which was made more frustrating as the pups were already tired and as we were limited for time I’d flagged all the things to see…on my phone. W

A normal couple might have gone to a cafe or a tourist information and got a map, or heaven forbid worked as a team to remember the way back. Instead my anger was built on bubbling frustrations that I have to do all the driving, routes, find city attractions and then have him ask me where/what next? He is so laid back and just follows…which is nice in one way but puts all the responsibility on me. And when things go wrong, I’m expected to fix it. I got overwhelmed.

So I flashed my angry eyes, told him I was angry and all he does is blink because he only operates in neutral mode 😂🙈 So Ernest and I stormed off. He, Jasper and Mabel couldn’t keep up, and so we each made our own way home. 45minutes later he spots us on the ferry back to the van and sits beside me. And it’s funny… rediculous that it even happened. But it’s telling, our two approaches. He found a tourist information centre and got a map. I retraced my steps back to the first sight and then remembered the way home. We are very different, we think and operate in different ways. It was no different in Norwich; being on the road doesn’t change that. Perhaps the journey will change us a little but Mark’s not keen to change, he is confident and happy with himself, and I love him for that. Nobody is perfect… I’m certainly not. So until the next ‘blink Vs angry eyes’ we continue, safe in the knowledge we can laugh it off later.

***The bit about Prague***

With a long list of things we wanted to see and do, we were up and organised. We decided to walk the pups into the old town, through Stromovka and Letenska parks, then follow a sculpture route I’d planned on my phone. There is a great golum story linked to the old new synagogue (great name!) – the golum is supposedly buried there. And there is a gorrila with golden nuts that drew the largest crowd 😂

After a marital hiccup, we had lunch and got the tram into town again. Feeding Absinthe to a wife who doesn’t typically drink proved successful, and I felt quite tipsy on half a glass of the foul stuff. I think it added to fun tour at Speculum Alchemy – a quirky short tour in Prague’s second oldest building, with some interesting facts. It’s based in the Jewish quarter as Christians were hostile towards science whereas Jews weren’t. And a translation error means Moses has horns. The place really reminded me of some of Walter Moers drawings, I could easily picture his zamonian creatures living there.

The wierdest thing we saw was a mummified arm hanging from St James Bastion as a warning to others not to steal – you can just about see it in the top left pane of glass (we didn’t want to disturb the church service).

We had a tasty ice cream at Creme de la Crème (3 vegan options, and a small is huge!), then it was off to the sex machine museum. Basically people have been thinking up ways to put things up women for a long time… originally in the guise of treating hysteria. It’s amazing how creative us humans are 😂

It was then home for dinner and dog cuddles, when both our phones died (this time no anger as we knew the way back). At almost 9pm Mark was keen to go out again… unheard of! I’d pencilled either the Ice Bar or Cross Bar but the cost and tonights DJ put us off, so we went to see yet more sculpture.

Cities look so different at night, and Prague has so many hidden treasures, including a vegan gingerbread shop called Pernikovy Panacek that was open at 11pm (seriously my diet doesn’t stand a chance 🙈). Still we walked over 21 miles today…might even do the same tomorrow. Though it’s 1am now, I will likely be shattered.