Praha

I’m sitting down at the beach right on a bench about ten feet away from the sand, staring out at Gli Galli islands, with my stray dog Chicha (which means “fatty” in Italian) at my feet, and one of the local artists to my right. He was painting the islands earlier, but I guess got bored with that, because now he’s now sketching a picture of me. It’s nice to be back in Positano.

I was in Prague for Easter, and it was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in Old Town, at a beautiful hotel right across from the astronomical clock and overlooking the square. Every hour the bell would ring and a friar would come out and blow his trumpet - it sounds like it would get old after the third or fourth time, but I loved it. Prague has a big Easter celebration, so in the middle of the square were about a hundred or so red tents selling arts and crafts and local Czech cuisine consisting of sausages, hot dogs, ham, goulash, beer, corn, and sweets.

Prague is a great place to just get lost in, which is one of my favorite things to do when exploring a new city. The building are all beautiful and different, so no matter what alley or road you go down, you’ll stumble upon something unique and charming. Of course we did the touristy things too - walked down the Charles Bridge (and took a river cruise around it), visited the castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, and explored the Jewish quarter.

For the first few days, Czech food was a nice break from Italian food - I even had kielbasa my first night there. Prague is famous for their goulash, which is kind of like a beef stew, as well as an interesting meat dish composed of beef, cream sauce, cranberries, dumplings, and whip cream. Sounds awful, but really wasn’t that bad. Though I never thought it would happen, I’ve actually tired of pizza and pasta, so the change in cuisine was nice. Although, ironically, after four days of Czech food we’d grown weary of it so went to an Italian restaurant our last night in town.I’ve taken a few more cooking classes since coming back to Positano. One of the chefs at my restaurant is friends with the chef at the restaurant next door, Buca di Bacco. They offer “real” cooking classes to tourists, so have let me crash a few (free of charge, thankfully, and we drink prosecco while we make gnocchi and fish dishes). I’ve gone back and forth a few times, but as of today, I’ve decided to definitely stay in Positano another month (through May 15). My current apartment lease ends in 5 days, so I’ve been talking to everyone I know trying to find a new place to live. I toured a few yesterday, and found a great one in the center of town, above a restaurant/wine bar, with a little terrace overlooking the sea. It’s bigger than I need - two bedrooms - but I was able to negotiate a good price, so I’ll most likely take it. I’m looking at another one later this afternoon that is supposedly right on the beach and cheaper, but the guy offering it is a bit sketchy. He’s one of the local doctors, and apparently doesn’t believe in buttoning the top four buttons of his shirt, so walks around showing off his grey chest hair and gold chains. So we’ll see... Hopefully this time tomorrow I’ll have something lined up.