The sun decided to make a summer appearance today so I walked to the nearby park at Vysehrad. Parks in Europe contain, you know, just a Basilica and a river and statues and stuff. No big deal.

This is the St. Peter and Paul Basilica. It was too large to take a proper picture of, but here’s the top part. The park is full of pathways, gardens, BENCHES, and stairs. The benches make up for the stairs, for the most part. On the west side of the park, a brick lookout allows for some stunning views.

Loads of people were milling around eating ice cream and taking sticky pictures like this one.

That’s the river Vltava shielded by my round face. There are lots of dogs in Prague as well, particularly small dogs. They like to pee on statues like this one.

After walking around the park–I didn’t see the whole park but I think I climbed every staircase at least twice–I went to have lunch. I had pork knuckles, which are surprisingly tender. Unfortunately my credit card (not the ATM card I’ve had to stop using) was declined, causing another full blown panic attack. This meant I had no card at all that would work, and I had to pay with my limited cash. Instead of pushing forward and walking to the Faust House, where Mephistopheles dragged our humble doctor, I came back to my airbnb to figure out my life. Apparently my credit card is fine and the card reader at the restaurant was to blame. This made me feel slightly better, but by this time my sweat pants were on so Faust will have to wait until tomorrow. I must say I am not pleased at having to deal with first the train craziness and strikes and delays and now not knowing what’s going to happen with my own money. For a sabbatical this has been stressful. Don’t be surprised if a future post is from an asylum.