Delivering a promise at Hotel Josef
Prague Writers' Festival, J Haynes' blog, 16 May 2007

Today is my birthday. I like to think that every day is my birthday. Nevertheless, thousands of hours and days and weeks ago, launched into life by my sweet mother. The same day her only sister got married and her brother played an important football game. I don’t know who won. Remember I was not there. It was, I have been told, an exciting day for all concerned.

Monday, 10 November: The location for all this activity was Haynesville, Louisiana. A town named after a relative who supposedly founded the town. Oil discovered in the area at the beginning of the 20th century. Many rich people as a result. Fortunately no oil discovered on our land. Otherwise my life would have been very different. And much less interesting. I happen to like the way my life has evolved. (A distant cousin who I do not know, whose name is also Jim Haynes, is reputed to be worth millions. I do not envy him his millions.) I left Haynesville in my mother's arms some five weeks later and have almost never returned. Both my mother and father are buried in the local cemetery along with many other relatives. Spending my first ten years in Shreveport, Louisiana, attended a local grammar school. It was a fairly typical American childhood. This was to change radically when my father accepted a position with an oil company in Venezuela. Thanks, papa. I have always been grateful to you and mother for this. My first flight from Houston. It took three days to get to San Tomé. Thus my wanderings begin and still continue. Many adventures and many trips. Many stories…
Old friend, John Flattau, calls to say he has arrived in Paris and that his hotel room is not ready. He asks if he can come over. And is soon here. He and I are taking my neighbor, Susi Wyss, on her first trip to Prague. Susi's mother was born in that corner of the world and Susi has never been there. Years ago we promised to take her and now we are delivering this promise. We are to fly very early Thursday morning.
John and I met many years ago, in 1960, when he was a student at Edinburgh University and I was running my bookshop. It was to be a profound friendship of now almost fifty years. After Edinburgh, John returned to his home in New York City, finished his studies at Harvard Law School, became a lawyer, then gave it up to start a publishing house for photographic books. Later John gave up publishing to become a professional photographer. I organized exhibitions for him in St. Petersburg, Vilnius, Warsaw, Budapest, Athens, Havana, Edinburgh and Paris.
Susi Wyss is an amazing creature. Born into a poor family in Zurich, she obtained a scholarship to attend the Beaux Arts College, married a fellow student and ended up living in Paris (via first going with her husband to South Africa). Her life has been extraordinary. She became one of the great courtesans of the 20th century. And the hostess of a salon in Paris that mixed Cabinet Ministers with pop stars, industrialists with actresses, and taxi drivers with multi-millionaires. Susi was not only one of the most beautiful women in Paris, she was also a fantastic cook. Her candid conversations in German, French and English enchanted everyone she encountered. Susi always wanted to travel to Prague and Bratislava. Her mother began life there. John and I once promised to take her. And now we were keeping our word, we were taking her to Prague.

Thursday, 13 November: Very early up and into action. Call John and Susi to make sure they are up. Agree to pick up John in the St. Michel RER Station. Coffee, shave and shower. Pack, dress and out the door. Walk the short distance to Susi’s apartment, ring her bell and tell her I am downstairs. We soon collect John and continue to Charles de Gaulle Airport. After we have checked-in, we learn there is a delay. Talk with a woman sitting next to me. Learn she is with the Czech Ministry of Environment. We decide to go up for a coffee. And then our flight is called.
Ninety minutes later we are landing at Prague International Airport. Quickly collect our bags, say goodbye to the Ministry of Environment woman, change money and then clear the passport entry procedures. A fellow holds up a sign with my name written on it. His name is Libor and he welcomes us to Prague on behalf of the Hotel Josef. He will drive us to the hotel.
Susi is super excited. She asks Libor to take the scenic route into the city justify. She wants the route that shows local architecture at its best. And Libor does his best to fulfill Susi’s requests. The morning sunshine certainly helps. Libor is an excellent guide. Soon we arrive at the hotel. When we have checked-in, Milena Findeis comes out from her office to welcome us. After Milena and I have embraced, I introduce her to Susi and to John. Milena and I met at the 2002 Prague Writers’ Festival. She mentioned that she was the Assistant Manager of a new hotel and gave me her card. When John and I decided to take Susi to Prague, I called Milena and she booked us into the Hotel Josef. Now I am in room 205. Susi is in 405 and John has 403. The rooms are large and beautifully designed. A large bowl of fresh fruit and a note of welcome from Milena is a further greeting. It looks like we are going to be pleasantly spoiled. (And we are!)
I immediately attack the telephone. Get Michael March straight away. He suggests he come to the hotel tomorrow morning for a walkabout and a long talk. It is agreed he will collect me at the hotel. Before we ring off, I tell him to give his lovely wife, Vlasta, my best wishes. Call next Ivana Bozdechovà and she tells me she will come to the hotel as soon as she completes a few chores at her university office. She is a Professor at Charles University of Czech Literature and Language. She also translates from English into Czech.
I call John and Susi and they will meet me downstairs in the lobby in thirty minutes. Ivana arrives, introductions are made, and it is decided that we will head out to find a place to lunch. Ivana suggests a place she likes called U trech madryeh kouli. It’s a short stroll from the Josef Hotel through the fantastic Staromestské nàm square to Havelska. Our Susi is over-come with joy. Almost speechless. She is enjoying every minute. She cannot believe how beautiful Prague is. John and I spent some time in Prague some ten years ago. And I have been in and out of Prague many times since 1981. John takes photographs as we continue on the way to the restaurant.
After our delicious lunch, Ivana has to leave us. She is teaching a class for another professor. We three walk slowly back to the hotel. Susi goes inside to have a siesta. John and I continue our walkabout.
In the evening, Ivana joins us and takes us to another restaurant for another fantastic meal.

Friday, 14 November: John and I are up early and meet downstairs for a superb breakfast. Susi sleeps. She is not a morning-person. John goes out to photograph Prague. I wait in the hotel for Michael March. Sit and read and observe the coming and going in the lobby. Michael soon arrives and he suggests a coffee house he likes. We stop at the Big Ben Bookshop briefly so Michael can leave a note for someone. Minutes later, we settle into a corner, drink our coffee, and begin to talk about mutual friends and the next Prague Writers’ Festival. Michael tells me the new American Ambassador to the Czech Republic is extremely helpful. As promised, our coffee is excellent. Michael reports that Gore Vidal, Amos Oz, Arundhati Roy, and Edna O’Brien have agreed to attend. I can claim to know Gore Vidal and Edna O’Brien and to have spent some time with Amos Oz in Edinburgh. Arundhati Roy was supposed to attend the Prague Writers’ Festival in 2002 the year I attended, but she was forced to cancel at the last minute. Damn, it would have been fun to have met her. We talk about mutual friends. I learn that Spiros Vergos is in Athens (so now I know why I was unable to get him on the telephone). I give Michael news of John Calder. Our talk is interrupted when I spot through the window John Flattau walking pass. Jump up, and go out and give John a shout. He joins us. Introduce two New Yorkers to each other. Talk turns immediately to Manhattan.
Some time later we three head for the Hotel Josef and find Susi in the lobby. She looks fabulous. Michael leaves us and we promise to meet again for dinner. Susi is hungry. The hotel staff has recommended Kolkovna. So has Ivana. It’s a short walk and we immediately are pleased with the place. Susi loves it. Our waiter, Robert, speaks excellent English. He has family in Santa Monica, California and recently spent time there. Susi has, at last, the Czech meal she has been dreaming about, just like her mother’s cooking. (But not as good she claims.) John has a vegetarian soup that comes in a bread bowl. One eats the bowl when one is finished with the soup.
Full and contented, Susi returns to the hotel. I have an appointment to meet Eva Kacerova, an old friend. John has met Eva and decides to come with me. We take a taxi, get caught in a traffic jam and are late. Both John and I are rarely late for any appointment. So I feel terrible. Borrow a telephone and get her at her office. I apologize for being late. She left a few minutes before we arrived. She tells me to call Steve Gove. He has started a Fringe Theatre Festival. Eva thinks I would like him. I promise to call him.
John and I walk slowly back to the hotel. We pass Dagmar and Ivan Havel’s restaurant, Cerny Kun, in Vodickova. I tell John how I was asked to deliver a letter from Solidarity in Warsaw to Vaclay Havel in November 1981. Daniel Topolski, Katherine Hilliard and I drove from Warsaw and arrived two days later in Prague. We gave the letter to Ivan Havel when he informed us that his brother was in prison. I once had the rights to produce an English-language premiere of an early Havel play when I was Artistic Director of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. Only at the last minute, for reasons I never discovered, rights were withdrawn.
In the evening, Susi, John and I attempt to dine in a restaurant that someone in Paris has recommended to Susi. Alas it is full. We are refused entry. We cross the street and eat a simple meal in a place called Karavella. Another culinary blast.

Saturday, 15 November: John and I meet once again downstairs to start the day with another superb breakfast. The Hotel Josef certainly knows how to send its clients out in the morning with a smile of their faces. Back in my room, make a few telephone calls. Again unsuccessful. People are away for le weekend.
John and Susi want to go to Kolkovna again. It is certainly easy to go along with them. Robert is our waiter again. John has his same vegetarian soup again. I have garlic soup. Susi is equally modest. Walking back to the hotel, Susi picks up several stones to take back to Paris. I pass a quiet afternoon in the hotel room, reading, writing and making a few telephone calls. No luck in trying to reach Steven Gove.
In the early evening Michael March comes to the Hotel Josef. We all walk the short distance to his and Vlasta’s apartment. The place is beautiful. Just like Vlasta. Out on a balcony, Michael tells us about the recent flood and points out how high the water rose. It is shocking and hard to believe. We are all thinking about dinner. Michael suggests a place he likes called Kogo. Susi is very hungry. It’s a long but delightful walk through many narrow and crowded streets. Finally we arrive. And it has been worth the effort. We are all super pleased. Outside the restaurant there is an exhibition of portraits of world leaders: Havel, Castro, Bush, Putin, etc. All large photographs with eyes filled with tears. Very bizarre.

Sunday, 16 November: Our last morning in Prague. It is a very early start for John and myself. Once again downstairs for the morning ritual. To our surprise, Susi joins us. And she is shocked. She sees the tables over-flowing with cheeses, hams, bacon, different kinds of breads. Why did we not inform her she demands. But I think we did. She cannot believe her eyes. She is surprised by the abundance. Everything is delicious. Why, she asks out loud, did she not discover this sooner?
Upstairs we pay our bill and check-out. Milena Findeis wishes us a good trip to Paris, says he hopes that we enjoyed our stay in Prague and in the Hotel Josef, and that we will come again soon. We assure her that everything was delightful. And thank her and ask her to thank the hotel staff. Especially the breakfast chef.

Smooth flight to Paris. Goodbye beautiful Prague. See you again soon I am sure.