Prague, July 6

This morning, Alexandra and I got up relatively early and walked to Charles and Martin's hotel, the K  + K Central Hotel on Hybernska, very close to the Obecni Dum and exhibiting a beautiful Art Nouveau flavor very much intact in the staircase, the elevator cage, and the stained glass windows.  Charles and Martin were prompt, and we exchanged hugs and greetings, then sat down for breakfast.  It was a buffet, and so all of us had whatever we wanted.  The coffee was especially good.  Afterwards, we took off for the Castle by tram, then got out and walked the ramparts to the Schwarzenberg Museum, an over-the-top sgraffitoed building, where we viewed the resident Baroque art collection as well as a Japanese exhibit.  After that we turned our attention to the Sternberg Palace, an early 18th c. building.  It houses a European art collection, mostly ranging from the 14th to the 18th c.  Among the stars were works of Dürer, Cranach, Bronzino, Breughel, Rembrandt, Rubens, and El Greco.  From there we were off to see the terraced gardens which Alexandra and I had seen and I had described a few days ago in a blog entry.  Both Charles and Martin seemed to enjoy them.  Upon descent we had lunch outside the Waldstein Garden, after which we walked the gardens, which I had also described in a previous entry.  Then we caught the tram from Malostranska to the National Gallery once again, where we saw Mucha's Slav Epic cycle as well as some superb works from the permanent collection, which included Klimts, Schieles, and many wonderful examples of Art Nouveau paintings and sculptures.  Following that visit, we had a bottle of rose from a local vineyard, and then Alexandra and I said goodbye and let them go to take showers and rest before going to a concert of Vivaldi and Mozart at the Obecni Dum's Smetana Hall.  We walked home, and Alexandra will be going to get some pizza in a few minutes.  By the way, last night, Alexandra, Dempsey, and I went to the restaurant Lemon Leaf, a Thai restaurant where I had a fine soup and spring rolls, Alexandra had curry, and Dempsey had a lamb curry and jasmine rice.  Then we went to the bridge nearest to us and watched a short fireworks demonstration before returning home.  Dempsey had bought dessert takeout at Lemon Leaf, so we had black sticky rice with mango when we came back.  Tomorrow, last day in Prague.  Don't want my stay to end!