Today I didn't wake up till 11:30 having not gone to bed until 3:40 in the morning and then not being able to sleep because the booms and explosions of fireworks continued right next to our apartment until 4:30 AM! So we didn't leave the apartment until nearly 1:00. We walked over to the river, near the National Theater where we had tickets for the opera for the evening. It was amazing how well the city had cleaned up the debris from last night! They must have had crews working all night long because it was truly a mess when we returned home last night. We checked out the opera house and then decided to walk across the Legii bridge to the Castle side of the river and walk along the river up to the famous Charles Bridge. On our walk along the waterfront we saw swimmers, in wetsuits, swimming in the middle of the Vltava river, right near the locks! They had spotters in kayaks nearby, but they were swimming around like it was middle of summer! Must have been a Czech version of a polar bear plunge! We found a lovely little restaurant - Dvorak Restaurant - near the Charles Bridge and decided to have our main meal of the day there. It was lovely. Hot mulled wine to start, rack of lamb with veggies and potatoes, and I had a nice Czech red wine with the meal. We decided to hold off on dessert, which was a great idea, as we learned later! We then walked back over the Vltava River on the Charles Bridge which was teeming with visitors and is lined with artists on both sides. When we got back to the other side we walked back to the National Theater for our opera. We saw "The Bartered Bride" by Smetana. It was a great opera, light, entertaining, and easy to understand as they put superscript above the stage so you can follow the dialogue which really helps a lot. The National Theater is a beautiful 19th century opera house, ornate, guilded, full of paintings on ceilings and walls, very opulent. During the first intermission we went outside on the balcony and saw enormous crowds gathered at the riverside for yet another fireworks show. We missed it as we had to be back inside before it began and by the time the opera was over the crowds were gone (thank goodness!) After the opera we went across the street to a cafe which had an enormous selection of desserts, cakes, and confections. So instead of supper we had dessert! I had a crepe with vanilla and caramel ice cream, and covered with caramel sauce and sprinkled with confectioners sugar and nuts, and inside a variety of fresh fruits. It was delicious!! We then walked some of it off on our trip back to the apartment. Its going to be an early night tonight as we are going out of town on a tour tomorrow and have to be ready for pick-up at 8:20 in front of our apartment.
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