Meeting "Under the Horse"

I see that my photos did not post yesterday. I’ll try them again.

Yesterday afternoon I went searching for the Post Office to get a couple of stamps to mail some business letters to the States. Wow! Is it a spectacular building. I would love to spend a week with Gary in this city. The architecture demands a knowledgeable companion to help you know what you’re seeing.

The system for buying stamps is also pretty amazing. I had to find an information office and ask what to do…which wasn’t easy because they only spoke about 10 words of English in Information. As you come in the building, in the corridor, there are automatic number-dispensing machines. I think that you get a different number depending on what you want to do. There was a menu in Czech with about 10 buttons that seemed to give people numbers for different “lines.” I just pushed the top button and it was the right line. You wait in the Union Station-like hall until your number comes up on a digital display, along with the teller you should go to. All in all, it took me about 45 minutes to find the place, figure out how, and buy two stamps 

Next, I went looking for my Czech text books. Vaclav Square has several bookstores. The first was three levels. I found texts on level two but not mine…only “advanced” in the same series. I took it to a clerk and conveyed that I needed “Elementary”…I suspect she guessed fairly easily that I was a beginner  She went somewhere and found it in about 15 minutes. They didn’t have the second one. I went to another store, found the texts on the 4th level, didn’t find the book, but did find an English-speaking clerk who suggested another store. The 3rd store was a fantastic maze of multi-level levels. There were information officers at about 4 positions on each level. Otherwise I can’t imagine how anyone would find anything. Down one escalator…to the back of the level…up a broad half-flight of steps…down a second escalator…to the front of the level…down a broad half-flight of steps..tah dah…found not only the workbook, but also envelopes, twine, tape, and a notebook, which I had sought unsuccessfully in several other stores. Eureka! And, I found my way back out.

I had a date at 5:30 to meet a contact from the Donors Forum “under the horse” at the Lucerna on Vaclav Square. I had watched for such a place while book and stamp shopping. I figured it must be really obvious, but I could find it. I stopped in the Grand Hotel…which is dripping with old wood, has a front desk with pigeon holes for keys (like the movies and the Island Hotel in Cedar Key), and looks like a divine place…and asked the concierge. He was nice and walked me outside to point out a mall entrance across the Square. Through it and past a block and a half of stores along an internal corridor, I came to a domed atrium, with a horse. I’ll try to post the picture. Glad I reconnoitered or I’d have missed my meeting time.

I went back to the apartment to drop off my purchases and change out of my hiking-around clothes. Went back to the Lucerna and had a really good meeting. I hope I will almost surely do some work with the Donors Forum on communication issues. They are helping companies implement a system for measuring the impact of their corporate giving. I am eager to see the template they’re using. It was developed in the UK.
Pavlina was interested in the work Kathy Viehe and I did on the topic and asked that I send a copy of the paper before we meet again next week.

I walked home in the rain. It is still raining this morning. From the weather map, I am guessing that it will rain for a couple of days…maybe turning to snow. I bought a thermometer, so I know that it is 2C outside my kitchen window.

I'll have to post the photos later...suspense builds!