It's my party so I'll bail if I want to

My birthday has been a rather unpleasant event for me for a long time now. I don't remember when it started. But this year, turning 37, it had to stop.
I booked myself a city trip to Prague, February 4th-6th. Why Prague? "Because Helsinki was already completely booked", I like to quip. I had my flight tickets, knew in which part of the city my hotel was and that there was a big Alphonse Mucha exhibition I wanted to see. Apart from packing, those were the only preparations I had made.
So upon arriving at Vaclav Havel airport, I had to figure out how to get to my hotel without being ripped off by taxi drivers. A shuttle bus delivered me in the center of the city, where I immediately spotted a supermarket of a common Austrian chain. I felt at home!
It was freezing cold and it took me a little while to get my bearings with the help of a small tourist map, but then I was on my way to the hotel. 4km walk at 0°C after nightfall (only 6pm though) in a country where a language is spoken that I don't understand. Which also makes it difficult to memorize street names, as I soon realized. I saw much of city center, passed by Kampa museum with its disturbing baby sculptures, walked under Charles' Bridge and ended up asking for directions at an Ibis hotel approximately 300m from my actual destination. Close enough ;)
The hotel was fine, had some Central European charme to it, but unfortunately I didn't feel very safe there and also had an allergic reaction to the detergent used for towels and sheets. I was in for a sleepless itchy 2 nights' stay...
The city itself however was beautiful beyond belief. I loved wandering around, retracing last evening's steps in daylight (and still cold weather). I took a few pictures, but not too many, as I wanted to experience Prague with my own eyes - not through a lense.

The Mucha exhibition was stunning, I spent hours wandering around, enjoying the detailed sketches, the epic paintings of later years. One floor down in the same building, a Salvador Dali collection was open for visitors too. An admirer of his work since highschool days, I had to pay him a visit too. Now I know: Don't go see Dali's works when sleep-deprived. A walking nightmare.
For lunch I treated myself to Vietnamese, as I had stumbled across one and had heard one of my students praise this cuisine  many years ago. I'd like to say he was right, but that day in Prague I wasn't convinced. A negative factor that cannot be ignored was the fact that smoking is still allowed in many restaurants and cafés in CZ. Another reminder of my Central European upbringing in the 1980s & 1990s...
The afternoon was dominated by my attempts to find the Fashion Museum. I think I spent hours looking for it and when I finally found it - well... Let's call it quaint. What was announced as "The Czech Republic's first fashion museum with vintage shop" was... well, one room, some clothes and shoes along one wall and "the history of the little black dress" on 4 mannequins along the other. But hey, it was free and warm.
After buying a picture postcard I walked back to my hotel, but sleep was elusive again and I couldn't wait to make my way back to the airport by public transport.

I'll definitely return to Prague one day, but I will stay away from Hotel Petr and its detergents.

Maybe I'll be celebrating my 38th in Helsinki.