Last Update: Saturday, December 20, 1997

We arrive in Prague about 4PM, and I am trying to remember to call it the Czech Republic. The place seems very Eastern Bloc (Mission Impossible is one of my all-time favorite TV shows!). Adding to the imagery is the driving rainstorm. As we leave the ancient train station, our porter cautions us against paying the cab too much; he recommends waiting for the bus. Of course, we end up taking a taxi, paying 300 kroners (we have no idea how much this is), and we are driven to the Holiday Inn (biggest downtown hotel) which turns out to be right next door to the train station.

On the second night, we want to eat some local food and maybe see a concert (there are many Bach concerts in and around Prague during this season). I checked with the Concierge, and we decided on a duet that was to play some Dvorak music in a church (called a clementinium I think) in the historic district. I know nothing of this music (to me Dvorak writes a PC industry newsletter), but anything that we experience in this venue will be something I will want to remember.

So, we take a cab to the church, and wait in the line to buy tickets. Most of the other concert-goers are visitors to Prague also. Most seem to be from other parts of Europe, although there are some Americans and a few Asians. When the duet comes to play, we find that there is a woman who will play the piano and a man to play the violin. This very beautiful room is filled with paintings, sculptures and mirrors (even on the ceiling), and an immense organ, that has been constructed as part of the wall.

As they begin to play, it is clear that the acoustics in this relatively small room (the crowd is less than 100 people) are excellent. Feeling the vibrato of the violin (in this way), and the pedal work of the pianist make this more enjoyable than my typical CD music experience. With only slight difficulty, I was able to follow the music that they played from the program.

Certainly, this was an amazing experience and very enjoyable. The concert lasted about 2 hours and everyone seemed to have a great time. The duet came back out for one encore, and left to a very loud ovation. But, I could never have predicted what transpired during this concert.

My mother played violin when she was small (like her father). And on this trip there were many cases where she was very tired (above 60 years old), and needed to take small naps and the like. But she seemed very moved by the concert. She was soft-spoken (somewhat uncharacteristic) and pensive as we walked through the historic district to the Goulash restaurant.

As we waited for our order, she began to question me about the concert. Had I known about this before we came to Prague? Had I done some research that caused us to go to this concert? Did I know what they were going to play before I got the flyer from the Concierge? Of course, my response to all of this was: how could I? I do not know anything about Dvorak.

Well, it turned out that one of the songs that they played (called Humoreska) was her father's favorite song. And it seemed like a tremendous coincidence to her (he passed away about 10 years before). She was incredulous that I did not know anything about it.

This is my most coincidental experience, and it has led me to a few others as well as to books about the subject, like The Celestine Prophecy.

R.F.Williams, San Jose CA 95123