Kindness and community 2017/09/13 Prague, Czechia

Zach is an American gentleman who has done a dance tour of Europe by motorbike. We compared stories, how the kindness of strangers and dance community can shape your experience, the beauty of 'paying it forward'. Thank you Zach for welcoming me to Prague with a hosting offer, cake, and a shortlist of your favourite places in the old town.

Maitrea translates as loving kindness, how fitting. At this elegant vegetarian restaurant, I met the lovely Rumena – a British homeopath in town for a conference. We teamed up to explore the old town, and pooled our knowledge of Prague's history, its many churches, Wenceslas the fratricidal king. We saw the newest oldest synagogue, the Kafka museum, the river banks and bridges. Rumena and I bonded over hats and strudel... between us we bought 3 Tonak hats! Zach! We might be as stylish as you are one day ;)

One of the great things about the dance odyssey... it takes me well off the tourist trail and into real, lived-in neighbourhoods, groovy little bars, creative studio spaces. Cycling does not look so appealing on these busy, hilly, cobbled streets, and rentals are expensive. Still, by public transport I found my way to Cafe Pavlac on the other side of town, with surprising speed.

Apparently I was very lucky to find this blues night because they are few and far between. I got there way too early, but relaxed and did some writing over dinner. When the Martin Chik Blues Band came on, I was the first one on the dance floor... alone at first but found a partner before the song ended. I had a great time leading and following with all the dancers I could get my hands on. The room filled up with dancers and drinkers ... maybe 6-8 couples on the sealed concrete floor. A good turnout considering that there are also two lindy parties on tonight. The band were awesome, and the mix of fast and slow songs was challenging. The last song was fast -- we danced lots of big, wild and silly moves and ended with a little arial... fun!

After walking all day, 2 hours of dancing was enough for me. Luckily there was direct tram to my BnB, right outside the venue. I'm so happy ... all bluesed out, carrot cake to go and a new woolly pearly hat for the suddenly cool Autumn. Prague, you are a classy town.

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