Sixty Days of Spring

By Marjorie Shields

A bit fact. A bit fiction. A cozy romance. A travel guide to Prague with great photographs. Travel writer Maggie Reeves and her friend Jean spend the months of April and May living in magical Prague. Maggie dispenses travel advice and interviews Dagmar, the ghost of the former owner of their apartment while falling in love with the city, the people of Prague and with Derek, a local restauranteur.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marjorie Shields
• Release date: Nov 9, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301777754

Marjorie Shields

My "home" is a UPS mail box in Santa Barbara, CA and when I'm not renting an apartment for three months at a time in Punta del Este, Uruguay or Nelson, New Zealand I stay with family or friends in the USA. When I get too old to deal with airline travel I plan to live in a Road Trek or Pleasure Way van conversion while roaming from one national/state park to the next. It's not for everyone. You wouldn't like it if you have pets or grandkids but it works for me and it might work for you.

Book preview

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Sixty Days of Spring

By Marjorie Shields

Copyright 2012 Marjorie Shields

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. All photographs were taken by the author and therefore copyrighted. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Tablet of Contents

Chapter 1 Praha, The Czech Republic

Chapter 2 Easter

Chapter 3 Beginnings

Chapter 4 Dagmar

Chapter 5 Meetings

Chapter 6 Maggie

Chapter 7 Jean

Chapter 8 Picnic

Chapter 9 Nutella

Chapter 10 History

Chapter 11 Ceske Krumlov

Chapter 12 Communism

Chapter 13 Art

Chapter 14 Proposals

Chapter 15 Petrin Park

Chapter 16 Endings

Ms. Lillian’s Next Adventure

About the Author

Spring

The season of hope and renewal.

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Chapter 1

Praha, The Czech Republic

Don’t move! I’ve got to get a photo of this! Maggie squealed. She backed out of the bathroom and grabbed her camera.

Great! A photo of my big butt in my robe and curlers falling off a ladder. How rude! Jean grumbled from her perch on a stepladder as she stretched to reach the shower curtain hanging over the bathtub. I suppose it will be featured in the next issue of One Bag Limit.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to use it in the Prague article. This is for my personal use. Just in case I ever need to blackmail you, Maggie replied as she snapped several pictures. I can’t understand why anyone would go to the trouble of hanging a shower curtain and then leave a foot wide gap between it and the tub.

I had to mop up about a gallon of water this morning, Jean said as she unhooked the shower curtain from the rod and reattached it to one of the clotheslines hanging over the tub. We Americans get a lot of stuff wrong but we get bathrooms right. I guess we’re lucky to have a shower curtain. I remember staying at a place in Greece once where there was a shower but no curtain or enclosure. The whole room got wet," Jean reminisced as she crawled down from the ladder.

And I don’t get bidets - they may be great for getting your bottom clean but that’s not the only place people get smelly, Maggie said. It may save water but when you ride buses a lot you wish more people would take a shower.

This place is such a kick. Dagmar’s stuff everywhere. Enough weird teas to drown an army in the kitchen and Grandpa’s ties in the armoire, Jean said as she started taking rollers out of her hair.

I guess we have to be thankful we found it. And having the grocery store so convenient is great. It does seem odd that the family hasn’t cleaned out all of this stuff, Maggie said.

You might have been checking out the kitchen when the real estate agent said that a daughter who lives in the US wants to have one last look before she okays clearing it out. You would think the niece would be comfortable getting rid of the teas and the ties, Jean said.

Not to mention the cosmetics and lotions, Maggie snorted as she studied the bottles and jars crammed on to a small stand next to the bathtub.

And the furniture barely fits. The armoire and the pictures are huge. They had to come from a larger apartment or a big house. Well, that’s enough housekeeping for today. I want to get down to the Old Town Square. I didn’t realize that Easter was such a big thing here, Jean said as she folded the ladder and leaned it against the wall in the entryway where they had found it.

I’m almost ready, Maggie responded. I can be out the door in ten minutes. I’m glad I remembered to bring a warm jacket. It may be April but there is still is a nip in the air.

It was a strange apartment. Friends forever, Maggie and Jean had decided to spend the month of April and May in Prague. Two years before, in celebration of Maggie’s divorce, they had taken a Danube river trip. The trip included a bus trip to Prague and they fell in love with the city. Now Maggie was supporting herself writing for travel magazines and when she was given Prague as an assignment she suggested that Jean join her and that they stay on after she finished the research for her article. Jean welcomed the suggestion. Her husband had passed away the previous spring and she didn’t want to be at home for the anniversary. They contacted a real estate agent on the internet and made arrangements to rent an apartment. After only three days in their apartment, a major plumbing problem in the building forced them to find a new rental. The real estate agent was helpful but the apartments she showed them were a long way from the Old Town where they wanted to stay. They were getting desperate when she phoned to tell them about this apartment and warned them that it wasn’t normally rented but had belonged to a friend’s grandmother who had recently passed away. High ceilings, tall windows and all of Grandma’s stuff. But it was convenient to the Old Town and a big grocery store. Maggie slept on a sofa in the living room with a large, ornate armoire, a desk and an overstuffed chair. Jean opted for a day bed - which strangely- was in the large room containing a stove, microwave and kitchen table. What must have been the bedroom was locked. Several oil paintings in large gilded frames and family pictures hung on the walls. The apartment definitely had character.

Lots of character.

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Chapter 2

Easter

Did you see the stilettos that young woman was wearing? How do the girls walk on these cobblestones in shoes like that? I may not look glamorous in walking shoes but I would rather wear them than twist my ankle, Maggie said as she looked back over her shoulder.

Have you forgotten the platforms we wore when we were younger? They were probably just as dangerous, Jean replied.

They were winding their way through the streets that lead into the Old Town Square. It was filled with people - locals and tourists enjoying the pre-Easter festivities. The sky was clear and the air chill but there was an air of springtime renewal. The few trees still had no leaves but light green buds held promise and hope. Steamers of crepe paper and Easter eggs hung from the branches and the normally open, spacious square was filled with wooden booths selling food and souvenirs.

Wow, every time we walk into this Square, I am awestruck, Jean remarked as she came to a halt and turned in a circle.

Maggie tugged at her sleeve. "Come on,