Making friends with booze

Last night I ate at Plzenska Restaurace u Dvou Kocek, literally the restaurant "by the two cats". They used to name buildings by the decorations above the doors instead of using numbered addresses, but that all changed to make it easier to collect taxes. The atmosphere was great and there was live accordion music. I wasn't sure if I would get a place to sit, but they found a spot at the end of a table where a nice older German couple was already sitting. I ordered a Pilsner Urquell and connected with the gentlemen with a friendly raise of the glass. The couple seemed very nice and we smiled at each other as we ate our meals. They both ordered shots of what I assumed was vodka so the next time the waiter came by I offered to buy us all a round. The lady politely declined but the gentleman gladly accepted. What the waiter brought out was not vodka, but a slightly yellowish liquor that had a cinnamon and licorice flavor, my best guess is that it was Ouzo. That lubricated the conversation and soon we were chatting amiably in English together. He told me they were on holiday here in Prague, that he'd been to the U.S. on a few occasions for work and pleasure, and that they had sons and daughters living in Austria and Italy. I shared some about my travels and work as well. The gentleman ordered us another round of beers and we passed the time very pleasantly. I ended up giving him my card and he promised to write. I took a picture of them and he snapped one of me and his wife, which I promised to send to him when he wrote. The food was good and a bit spicy, I would definitely come back.

I had to leave to get to my play. I only got lost once on the way there. The Black Light Theatre is small and intimate. I sat fairly close but to one side, it would have been better to be sitting more towards the center because many of the effects were oriented that way. The show, Aspects of Alice, was entertaining. It was a bit like being on a dreamy drug trip with lots of floating objects and people, friendly giants, disembodied hands, dancing flames, and even some gratuitous full frontal female nudity, which is always a nice treat. It was an enjoyable evening.