Where to next if you're strolling through the city?
There is the Mozart museum, in a villa where he stayed while visiting Prague. But obviously because I'm dedicated to theater, I'm a huge Franz Kafka fan. If you are in Prague, you have to take a bit of Kafka with you to read; I think his writing and work is synonymous with the city. You should not fail to view the New Jewish Cemetery, where Kafka is buried. It's a beautiful and very moving cemetery, a very potent spiritual­ landmark. Try and find his grave, which is not too easy, but I am sure there are guidebooks that tell you where it is. It was kind of curious to me, because, through drama school, I had read his work and a lot of his plays. So it was great to be in the streets where he walked, to visit the city where his brain was teeming and his pen was racing.

What should you read on the way there, to get into the proper frame of mind?
I would read The Metamorphosis.

Okay, now that we're well read, we'll need some coffee and highbrow conversation. Where would you send us?
I remember the beer. They have beer on tap pretty much everywhere you go. But, yeah, there are a lot of coffeehouses. The most famous one is Café Slavia, an art-deco landmark with a great view of the river. Then there's Dahab, a tearoom that was recently opened by a man known as "Prague's king of tea," who imported varieties of tea to the city after the 1989 revolution. Café Louvre is an inexpensive restaurant/café in a French style. Then, there's Municipal House Café, another great art-deco coffeehouse. In all of them, you get that sense that people are going out and catching up over a quick cup of coffee and then an evening of beer. It has a wonderful social vibe.

Café Slavia is the coffee shop that Czech president Václav Havel frequented while in office. Did you come across any other cultural landmarks?