Here he was in one of the most beautiful, most cultured cities in Eastern Europe, and he couldn’t risk the time to see anything.
He wanted to drop in on the Mucha exhibit, to study the Art Nouveau foyer of the Main Station, to wander among the artists on the Charles bridge.
Three Fates
_______________
By Jay8085 [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons
The vibrant capital of the Czech Republic on a walk through its parks, squares, bridges, breweries and literary corners
_______________
She walked steadily, down sidewalks, over the cobbled bricks of squares and gave her shadow little time to admire the domes, the baroque architecture or the Gothic towers.
She stopped once at a sidewalk kiosk and bought a large bottle of water, which she stuffed in the oversized purse on her shoulder.
Gideon regretted, when she kept up the clipped pace and the sweat began to run down his back, that he hadn’t followed her lead.
He cheered a bit when he realized she was heading toward the river. Maybe he’d get a look at the Charles after all.
They passed pretty, painted shops thronged with tourists, restaurants where people sat under umbrella tables and cooled off with chilled drinks or ice cream, and still those long legs of hers climbed steadily up the steep slope to the bridge.
The breeze off the water did little to bring relief, and the view, while spectacular, didn’t explain what the hell she was doing. She didn’t so much as glance at the grandeur of Prague Castle or the cathedral, never paused to lean on the rail and contemplate the water and the boats that plied it. She certainly didn’t stop to haggle with the artists.
She crossed the bridge and kept going.
He was trying to decide if she was heading to the castle, and if so why the hell she hadn’t taken a bloody bus, when she veered off and walked breezily downhill to the street of tiny cottages where the king’s goldsmiths and alchemists had once lived.
They were shops now, naturally, but that didn’t detract from the charm of low doorways, narrow windows and faded colors. She cut through the tourists and tour groups as the uneven stone street climbed again.
She turned again, walked onto the patio of a little restaurant and plopped down at a table.
Three Fates