Suzanne and Tom in Eastern Europe

Suzanne and I arrived in Prague this afternoon with our friend Katja, who flew in from New York.  Everything went smooth as butter and we even got to bring on our toothpaste and deodorant.  Strange that we're to the point where that feels like a luxury.

Prague has been beautiful, despite the drizzle.  Our hostel is great and there are lots of young travelers around to meet and get advice from.  We're in a dorm room of about 20 people, and so far the accommodations seem really comfortable.  There's a bar above our rooms, which I'm stepping away from a few moments to write this.

We went to a nice Mediterranean dinner at a beautiful restaurant.  The food was good, but the price was terrific.  And we're not even in Budapest yet.

Anyone who has been to a bar with me, knows I'm not generally one for beer, but to Suzanne and Katja's delight, I am really warming up to it, since it is so damn good here.

Tomorrow is Prague Castle and hopefully the opera Rigoletta.  We met a fellow traveler who gave us lots of advice on the Eastern Europe opera scene.  And it seems she knows her stuff, since she is in the midst of a three-month opera expedition and is also an opera singer herself.