(7/20/2012)
With
Thomas, Michael and Byron on their way to Wien (Vienna), Alex, Nick
and Joyce stayed behind to enjoy the Czech capital of Praha (Prague).
We checked in and settled down at the Chili Hostel, a raucous and
lively dwelling located in the center of the city very close to the
Vltava River. However, a long day of cooped-up driving and an acute
lack of belly-fullness led us almost immediately back out to the
streets in search of dinner, which we had no trouble reading. After
strolling by a few places closeby and inspecting the menus, we
eventually settled on some delicious thai food that looked reasonably
priced by US standards. We quickly discovered that, not for a lack of
quality, the Czech Republic is rather less expensive than the US. Our
“reasonably priced” thai meal turned out to be a rather large
feast in a rather fancy restaurant.
With
a new found abundance of belly-fullness and a temperate evening at
hand, we then decided to explore the Old Town section of Prague. From
the restaurant we meandered along the river to the famous Charles
Bridge. It was an odd mix of fascinating and annoying. Fascinating in
that the bridge has numerous historical sculptures and significance,
annoying in that it is a tourist hot spot and therefore set upon by
hosts of pushy merchants and their gimmicky wares, even at night.
Unfortunately, most of the interesting activities across the bridge
were closed for the evening so we ventured back to explore Old Town
Square.
Even
in the late evening and night, Old Town was brimming with life and
energy. Huge crowds flocking across the open square and spilling into
the narrow streets beyond. Along one of these streets was a small
Absinthe house that caught our eyes. Having never tried it before, we
were all game for a taste and asked the bartender to recommend three
can't-miss Absinthe experiences, which she did admirably, including
one that was fermented with a giant beetle of some sort (Alex chose
to try that one). Even ordering Absinthe is an experience. Because
the real stuff is at least 70% ABV, it is set on fire along with a
sugar cube suspended by a slotted spoon. The burning sugar is
occasionally dipped into the burning alcohol until it changes from
pale green to deep amber and the flames are suffocated. Then, you
alternate sips of the alcohol and water to bring out the complex
flavors (like opening a scotch). For the record, the beetle Absinthe
was the team favorite.
After
we finished our respective drinks (with much sharing, of course) and
on Rally-veteran Bert's recommendation, we had a mind to check out
Propaganda Bar. As it so happened, the Absinthe bartender used to
work there and, after giving us a look of surprise when we told her
that was our next destination, she gave us characteristically
European directions. That is to say, they were relative rather than
absolute. Armed with nothing more than a vague list of proximal
landmarks and a buzz from fermented beetle juice, we set out to track
it down. This proved to be an ultimately unsuccessful quest. Despite
numerous exploratory wanderings and questioning more than a few
locals (all of whom had never heard of the place), we acquiesced to
defeat and began the lengthy, but pleasant, walk back to the hostel.
Along the way we hopped a few fences (to avoid some particularly
rowdy locals) and took a detour to a basement bar for a couple of
local beers.
(7/21/2012)
The
next day began in fits and starts. After getting up early to re-up
the parking meter (parking in Prague is somewhat of a hassle as 90%
of the spots available are for residents only and tow trucks are only
too happy to enforce that fact), Joyce and Nick decided to get
breakfast at another of Rally-vet Bert's short-list locations: The
Globe. Alex, in the midst of his characteristically comatose sleep
cycle, tacitly decided to sleep in.
Run
by self-described “ex-patriots”, The Globe is a
coffeehouse/restaurant/bookstore that is particularly friendly to
American travelers (not that Prague isn't in general), and provided
the perfect location to adjust Joyce's return flights to accommodate
the previous delays in the UK.
With
everyone well rested and readjusted, Team Prague set out for a full
day of sightseeing. After fording the river of tourist on the Charles
Bridge again, the first stop was the St. Nicholas Cathedral (at
Nick's request). Although this is not the most famous building in
Prague, it turned out to be one of the most beautiful and ornate
places anyone on Team Prague had ever seen. It was almost hard to
gauge how intricate the inside of the building was because the
intricacy was so dense. Gold and bronze statues, carved marble, and
masterful woodwork covered every surface of the interior. Needless to
say, many pictures were taken. To top it off, there was a gold-plated
Porsche parked right outside the church as well.
After
the splendor of the cathedral, we set off towards Prague Castle.
Relative to the buildings around it, the size of the castle is second
only to the number of Gothic spines that adorned its roof (it would
feel right at home next to a giant porcupine). Unfortunately, the
full castle experience was uncharacteristically expensive, so we
opted for the free walking tour of the main room and its stunning
stained glass windows that appear dark and dull from the outside, but
positively glow with every color inside.
With
eyes sore from boggling and legs even more sore from all the walking
we returned to the hostel, but not before stopping off at yet another
Bert-spot (and his favorite at that): a donor kebabish. Although
Google seems to have no record of this place, we are 95% sure it was
not a dream or some hunger-induced hallucination. This was by far the
best donor any of us had ever had, and was high in the running for
best food ever. It really was that good.
A
few food comas and some internet research later, we decided to
further explore the Czech beer scene. Although the Czech style of
beer is nothing new, it is arguably the finest example of its breed.
Primarily pilsners (a style invented in Plzen, CZ), the fresh local
brews completely break from the dullness of their mass-market
American counterparts while somehow undercutting the price (0.5L
beers averaged about $1.50). This is a very welcome state of affairs
for a night of bar-hopping. Thanks to the previous research, we even
got to experience Propaganda Bar (apparently there were two places
with that name and we were actually recommended to the much less
sketchy one). With Prague successfully painted red (though most of
the city is already that colorful anyways), we called it a night and
prepared for the drive to Vienna the next day to meet up with Thomas,
Michael and Byron.
(7/22/2012)
The
next day started with some good news: Team Wien had decided to go on
a hike, which gave Team Praha some unexpected, but welcome, time to
do some general shopping, stock up on groceries, and visit the
(hopefully, thanks to this blog) legendary donor kebabish once more
before hitting the road to Vienna. It should be noted that this was
no mean feat since both people with modern navigation devices were
already in Vienna. We had to do this one old school. That sucked.
Leaving
Prague was challenging but doable, and the highways between the
cities were as easily navigable as the interstates we are used to.
Vienna, however, is another story. An unfortunate combination of poor
signage, labyrinthine one-way streets, and a serious case of
internet-enabled techno-coddling left us hopelessly lost in the
Austrian capital. After several double-backs and misguided guesses,
we were sitting at a stoplight discussing our next move when, through
the open window, a pair of Bosnian truck drivers couldn't help but
overhear our predicament. They offered to help and we pulled over to
plumb their comparatively infinite knowledge of Vienna for directions
to the hostel. In a matter of minutes, we were pulling up to the
hostel, checked in, and set about reuniting with Byron, Michael, and
Thomas that evening.
Stay
tuned for the next update!
No comments:
Post a Comment