Quick and dirty, here we go. I don't promise accuracy as to what days things actually happened.
Day 1:
Cafe Louvre, which had the best mint tea. It used actual mint leaves, not dried, and it was so fresh and light! Plus it was served with honey.
Several other cafe stops happened as well, as they are a bit of an obsession for me/and maybe Matt is addicted to coffee. Plus some of them have excellent beers!
Then a quick nap to get us through the rest of the day, which turned out to be a good idea as we scaled a small mountain and saw some great heights.
Then dinner!
Day 2:
We had signed up for what was billed as a Secret Food tour for up to 10-15 people, but because a family had a last minute change of plans, it ended up being a private food tour, just us and the guide! He took us to several different, off the beaten path places where we sampled local charcuterie, wine, gingerbread, garlic (!) soup, and of course: beer! The guide filled us in on all the different types of beer pours you can get, including the milk pour (for the end of the night, it's basically all foam, you chug it and then go home to bed) and the cut beer (dark beer floated on light).
Guys, Czech beer is SO GOOD! They're all Pilsners, but they're delicious, super easy to drink, and magically do not make you feel bloated. Basically perfect beer, in my view.
We also learned that in most Prague places, you ask for light or dark beer. If you try to ask what type of beer it is (pilsner? IPA? stout?) you will get a weird facial expression and they will say "it's light or dark".
One last tidbit from our guide: Prague is relatively cheap, so lots of classics were filmed there. Including Eurotrip, and Mission Impossible! As we walked, he pointed out "Venice", "Paris", and the alley where Tom Cruise got beat up. Below is "Venice".
We had dinner at U Sadlu, which turned out to be our absolute favorite food place. We'd stopped there for a beer and lunch our first day as it was right around the corner from our AirBnb, and the server was super nice, translating the menu and generally helping us clueless tourists out. We went back for dinner, and let me tell you. We became obsessed. I know it didn't look like much, but I would've eaten their goulash with latkes literally every day, and been thrilled.
We went shopping at a local mall and also a local artisan shop, and one more cafe, natch, plus a beer garden overlooking the city. Part of the view:
Day 3:
We visited something called the Technical museum, which went through a broad history of technology through the years- from printing presses, to home appliances, airplanes, cars, motorcycles/bikes, and even 3D imaging:
We switched to 2nd AirBnb, which was very close to the beer garden, so we had to visit there again!
Went to a crepe place for lunch, then saw the Slav epics in a local museum. Since I couldn't remember the details, here's what Google says about them: they are "a cycle of 20 large [LARGE] canvases painted by Czech Art Nouveau painter Alfons Mucha between 1910 and 1928."
Here's a potentially forbidden (but non-flash) photo of one of them. Really beautiful stuff. Notice how it is floor to ceiling:
Day 4:
We took a guided trip to Terezin, a concentration camp, but not like you'd expect. It was not the fenced off caged area one might think of, but a garrisoned city. An actual city, with public buildings, etc. It was mainly used, besides to keep people penned in, as a way station, so the death toll there was much lower. But it was no less chilling and sobering for that.
Followed by watching the astronomical clock, which was first installed in the 1410! 6 centuries later, it still comes to life every hour for its routine.
We had dinner at U Tri Ruzi (Three Roses), a pub that makes their own beer. The food was good, but maybe the best part was our waiter. He was rude to us and everyone else there, but in a fun way that made these Bostonians feel like we were home. When I said I wasn't sure if I was ready to order he said "Why not?", and he brought a dessert over to the table next to us and placed it down, saying "here's your Caesar salad", greatly confusing them. Plus most of the tables were empty, but also reserved for people that definitely did not exist.
Literally every other table:
Day 5:
Got to see the Museum of Communism! Super interesting. Prague was Communist for 41 years, until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. It was the 30 year anniversary of the Czech Republic escaping the Communist regime, so there were activities around the city to commemorate it. The museum was a walk through those 41 years.
Visited a modern art museum that had an exhibit on that was SO CREEPY that I thought I might have a panic attack. For real, it was dark, everything looked like it might come to life and jump you, and there was sketchy music with someone groaning like they were in pain.
Matt loved it.
We visited the Prague castle grounds and Wenceslas Square as well, gorgeous views and buildings, as everywhere.
And the famous Charles Bridge that everyone loves. Even the pigeons are majestic there. Behold:
We went to Cafe Savoy for tea and pastry, which were I-can't-even-tell-you good.
Also took in some classic sights like the Kafka Head sculpture, which moves so the face turns around bit by bit, and the dancing building.
Day 6:
Went to Cafe Savoy for lunch because we had to go back!
And also took in the Beer Museum, where we learned a few interesting facts, such as how much the Czech people drink. The third image below of the progressively sadder men shows consumption of beer in liters per person, and Czech is in the #1 spot at 159 liters!
And the museum came with a tasting as well!
That's it!
And now just some pretty sights:
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| Tiniest alleyway in Prague, has a traffic light! |
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| The aforementioned gingerbread |
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| The Lennon Wall, which has been filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti since his assassination (much annoying the Communists, but the people won out and the wall remains) |
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| Swans! And not just 2 planted there like in Boston! |
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| Toma Hankse! |
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| This is just a random alley that I felt ridiculous photographing like the biggest tourist ever, but look at that ish! |
