So I just thought I had the Czech transit system mastered. I just thought I had figured it all out and could go anywhere in the city. My cohorts left for Germany already so I am now going it alone. I decided to take the underground subway to my hotel. I left at 5pm and it usually takes 20 minutes to get there. Let's just say it took 2 hours. I was 4 blocks away from my hotel and I decided to take a tram to get even closer. That was a mistake. Just because a tram number goes by your hotel does not mean it is going to go by your hotel any time soon. Apparently I took the exact opposite direction. At first I just thought they were going to turn around on another street. All of a sudden I was riding across the river again. I couldn't believe it, but I knew that bus number goes by my hotel. Guess where I ended up? The exact same place I was lost on Monday, back near my company. I reached the end of the line and had to get out. This time, instead of taking the bus back to my work and then going on the underground, I hopped on another "number 10" tram that was heading the opposite direction. Finally I arrive to my hotel around 7pm. I got a good view of the suburbs of Prague. I then was supposed to be on a conference call with Dallas but it got cancelled, so I headed off to find dinner. The problem with Prague is that none of the ATMs take my bank card, and I can just forget using my American Express or Discover card. They don't even know those words here. So I stop at KFC and they say they don't take credit cards. So I start my first adventure of the evening - find a cashier that takes visa cards. I walk around my hotel area for a little while and then I hit the metro. I stop at the first stop and walk down a long hill. BTW, my feet are killing me and I now know why all the girls here are thin - its the walking. I end up getting cash from my card and then decided to find a restaurant. I duck down and alley and find a nice local restaurant, luckily they had English on their menus too. I had a full coarse meal. I thought I was getting an appetizer when I ordered the Smasky Smyr(Fried Cheese). This thing was Spanky's caliber. It was like a fried cheese pancake. Yummy. Then I had ordered this Ramp Steak - chicken thingy. It was a steak split in half with a chicken breast inside of it covered in gravy. Man, that was good. I then ordered Corn and French Fries as well. Let's just say that I could not finish the whole meal. But it was good. I then looked around and discovered a casino nearby. I walk in and they do a metal detector on me and take my coat. It was weird in that I was the only one there. I wondered why, but the place was professional. The minimum blackjack bet was 100Kc or $2.50. I stayed for an hour and lost about 80$, but it was fun. I won a couple of big hands, but lost more big hands than won. The lady dealing was nice, it was even like she was rooting for me to win. Really I knew I would lose when I was playing, but did it for fun. The game goes way too quick when you are the only one betting and you can't sit out the first hand. Anyway, I found my way back to the hotel looking like a local without having to look at any maps. Friday night and Saturday are all free time. I am going to go on one of those bus tours around Czech. That should be fun. Provided I find the right bus.

Thought of the Day
"You must go forwards to go backwards to get out. Better press on."
Willy Wonka