Oh yes, Prague. You walk on uneven cobblestones everywhere and squint at street signs that read "Bořivojova" or "Na Zderaze," or exhort you to "Vstup!" Whatever you do, don't "Vchod" when you're supposed to "Východ."

Anywhere you are, you can look up and see the spires of a building older than forty of you laid end to end.

You walk out of dinner at night, and across the river is a long castle spread on a hillside and spangled with light: Medieval towers protrude above it in what looks like a small keep but turns out to be a huge cathedral, saturated with monumental scuptures from each of a dozen centuries.

Your meals will consist mostly of flour and water, unless you eat meat, in which case they will consist mostly of meat and only then of flour and water. You will find it hard to avoid the pizzerias, more common than espresso stands in Washington State (USA), but you will be surprised that pasta is easier to get there than pizza.

You will be perplexed by the rounded retro-futurism of the radiokomunikace tower, like the rocket Tintin takes to the moon.

You will be oppressed by cigarette smoke everywhere you go.