“Honeymoon In Prague 1” contemporary figurative painting. acrylic on wood 30 in x 24 in

“Honeymoon in Prague 1” contemporary figurative painting

We spent our honeymoon in Prague in the Czech Republic.  It was the first trip to Europe for me, so it was fantastic just to breath the air and stumble down the twisted streets, dazed by all the beer and baroque architecture.  For my wife, a longtime resident of Manhattan, the experience was a little different.  Instead of cozy cafes and trendy cocktail bars, there were roaring pubs and drunken hockey fans in town for the world hockey championship.  Every street was filled with large groups of drunken men, all at least thirty years old, most in their 40s or 50s.   Darlene was aghast by the site of men the age of her father roaring drunk in the morning.  All were wearing the jerseys of the national teams.  There were many groups of Swedes, all behaving like a bunch of drunken vikings.  Their jerseys were gold and white.

I had a complete blast, but I think Darlene couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and get into bed.  I booked us into the one place with the most intense sense of history:  our hotel had been the political prison used to hold dissident artists before the fall of communism.  It was right across the street from the police station, not too far from the Charles Bridge.

I kept having perverse thoughts about calling Tiny (my mother-in-law) and saying “Tiny, I got your baby girl staying in a converted prison in Eastern Europe and I spent all day drinking myself cross-eyed drunk with a bunch of hockey fans.  And she’s cold, too.”  Tiny is always concerned about Darlene being cold and usually ends phone calls and visits by encouraging Darlene to wear a sweater.

This isn’t one of Darlene’s favorite paintings.