Day 8: TRA la la la, LA la la la

Having been set free to explore the capital of the Czech Republic after our afternoon concert, we gathered in the evening at an art nouveau-style restaurant. Hopefully above you can see part of a colorful mural of a bucolic rural scene. The windows were of beautiful stained glass, and there were decorations on the walls, which were blue below and white above. A strolling accordion player and "his wife" the bassist came around in "traditional costumes" to serenade us. At one point, Dear Husband and I and another couple got up to dance a polka in the aisle. When they figured out we were a singing group, they played a couple of tunes for us to sing along to. Funnily enough, even "You Are My Sunshine" sounds like a drinking song, when played on an accordion. For their last number, they invited us to "sing in Czech"--i.e., the "tra la la las" of the chorus of a popular folk ditty. Imagine my surprise when it turned out I had learned the song at Sokol gymnastics coaching camp in Barryville, NY, the summer I turned 13! I still remembered most of the first verse and then joined in heartily on the chorus, which DH captured (below, left). I dug my singing manual out of the closet to find the words again. They go like this:

Tancuj, tancuj, vykrucaj, vukrucaj, vukrucaj. Len mi piecku nesrucaj, nesrucaj. Dobra piecka na zimu, na zimu. Každy nema perinu, perinu. TRA la la la, LA la la la, ...

"Dance, whirl around. Just don't knock over the stove! The stove is necessary for winter. Not everyone has a feather quilt for sleeping. TRA la la la, LA la la la..."

Dinner began, of course, with soup. The entree was chicken, peeled boiled potatoes, and--gasp!--mixed vegetables (below). Dessert was a delectable crepe with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, and below is all that was left before I remembered to snap a photo. But we were trying to finish our food as quickly as possible, so as not to be late to that organ concert we had been trying to find the night before, and which is the subject of the next post.