Getting my bearings in this great city...

A much welcomed late start, but I was still up with the lark (until I realised it was to be a late start and even then I didn't go back to bed). Breakfast wasn't that good and that restaurant downstairs on the ground floor, not that inviting, but it's more suited to breakfast than it is dinner.

I spent the morning wandering around. First I needed to check whether or not it was possible to walk from my hotel to the venue for the conference and it was possible: only 20 minutes at most so I don't have to employ a cab, meaning I save money.

Old fashioned rickshaw on Vaclavske Namesti.

 The walk is straightforward: up to the end of Truhlarska, turn left and then right into Na Prikope and left into Vaclavske Namesti (all these street names have accents over certain letters, but I'm not sure how to reproduce them on my laptop). Na Prikope is full of many of the big name shop brands you can find almost everywhere these days, certainly in the UK (Zara, Mango, Converse, Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and many more). It's a shame in a way that globalisation has enabled these brand names to plaster themselves all over the world, but there you have it. Stroll along Vaclaveske Namestic for about 100 yards and then cross the road and take Stepanska where you'll find the Radisson Blu Alcron on the left, my base for the next day or two.

Once I knew I could walk it, I wandered back to my hotel to change and then I set out again, in search of a lunch venue near the Radisson, which I found in the shape of Ristorante Italiano Buschetto, a very pleasant place where I enjoyed a light meal of grilled fillet of salmon with grilled vegetables and a glass of wine.

This guy sits in front of Restaurant Italiano Buschetto on Vaclavske Namesti

After the conference I headed back to the hotel, met a colleague and we had dinner in the same restaurant I visited yesterday, Al Forno, just a few yards to the left of the hotel. Now I'm sitting here, at the lap top, at my desk in the hotel, wondering whether to walk off the meal for a bit or just hit the sack. It's 10:15pm so I think hitting the sack might be best.

Prague's a nice place. A lot less chaotic than Istanbul and certainly the food is better and it's easier to get around. In other words, it's more western and more people here speak English, which is good news. Not only that, Istanbul is almost four hours away while Prague is just 90 minutes. It has a lot to offer in so many respects – decent food being high on my list.

Couldn't find any 'Boris Bikes' anywhere so it looks as if a cycle is out of the question, but I did a lot of walking today so all is not lost. Early start so I'd better go.

I was wandering around this bit of Prague.