The Nice Thing About Strangers
Creative Non-Fiction Short Stories. :) Travel, Oldsters, Love, and Compassion.
The Church Flirt
The church is freezing, though it isn’t particularly cold outside. Suddenly even attending Mass seems an exceptionally pious act.
The tourists walking through blow steam from their lips. They clasp their hands to warm them, though it’s a good gesture in case they also want to make a petition. The ceiling in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle is blue with golden stars. A woman gazes up at these stars, her scarf falling away from her red nose. An Italian man had grown distracted by the relics ages ago and began circling this woman instead. Finally moved to courage, he move close to her, “Wie gehts?” She raises an eyebrow first, then cocks her head in his direction, as though she isn’t too sure, but it seems someone is nearly standing on her feet.
She blinks. He grins. “Wie gehts,” he tries once more.
She must shake her head in English.
He adapts, “Oh! It’s German for ‘how are you?’ I thought you were a German.” To this she gives no reaction, but she lets him stand close as she moves to a set of candles, and he puts his arm around her waist to guide her.
–Prague, Czech Republic.
The Nice Thing About Strangers 
Wow! All this time and the line I was looking for was “I thought you were a German”…
Who knew?:o)
Haha! I was shocked at how it seemed to work. Perhaps she was just being polite (maybe a Midwesterner). 🙂 Give it a shot next time and let me know!
Love the photos – brought back fond memories. Story made me smile! Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Sure thing! Thanks for coming to visit. 🙂
lol enjoyed this one 🙂 awesome pics as always, Paige 🙂
How lovely! A blossoming romance in a beautiful place.
Are you Czech Paige? This brought back memories of my visit there…Prague is my fathers birthplace. If you are – Děkuji. This post is beautiful, if you are not..it is still beautiful 🙂
Oh wow! 🙂 I learned to say “Děkuji” in Prague, and said that to the security guard in this exact church. I have a note that he beamed when I sad it. 🙂 Alas, not Czech, but I did love my visit to Prague.
🙂 It is a beautiful country and your post took me back so thank you Paige.
Excelente relato, hermosas fotos!! Saludos