Nebozizek

Our instructions were clear: at 5:45 p.m., a woman driving a red taxi would pick us up at the hotel to take us to Nebozizek, a restaurant about halfway up the Petrin Park hill. This is where we would have our faculty-staff dinner. Ordinarily, a taxi would be impossible because the park paths are for walking, not taxis. However, the funicular from street level to the restaurant is out of service for refurbishing, and the woman in the red taxi is the only one in Prague to have a permit to drive to the restaurant.

And this is what the view during dinner (again, we ate before we photographed; needless to say, the food was a good as the location):

And this is what some of our group look like, starting with the teaching assistants (left to right): Louis, Hilen, Wendy and Kirsten.

And Katka and Petr. Katka is a journalist in Prague and Petr is in charge of the American desk with the Czech foreign service; he formerly was press secretary with the Czech Republic embassy in Washington, D.C.

And Jim, who was celebrating his 37th or 34th or 42nd birthday, depending when you ask. That's marzipan covering the cake, which was chocolate with raspberry and butter cream filling. In case you have to ask, it was excellent.