Prague--Finally

It was shortly after my arrival in Prague, that I realized I had truly returned to my home country.  The Czech people live on a diet of beer and pork and everyone wears scarves!  I was immediately at home.  My two and a half days in this amazing city were much too short and I already have a to-do list forming for my inevitable return.  That being said, I was able to do a good amount of sightseeing and try a number of local dishes (all described with photos below). 

When my plane was landing, I looked down at Prague and the surrounding countryside and my first thought was “Green”.  Even now as my train skirts the Vltava River on its way to Germany, I am amazed at how green everything is.  Perhaps, it’s an impression born from living in a drought-plagued state for months, but the land is lush and rich with trees and fields of crops, of which I assumed all were growing hops and barley.  The city, from above and passing through, sprawls with spires of clock towers and steeples filling the skyline above tiled red roofs, but, as you walk it, the city seems tiny.  The streets always appear to be filled with people whether it is masses of tourists photographing the astronomical clock or the locals strolling in front of designer stores on Saturday evening.  And the locals are incredible—eager to help and get to know you, comically understanding of the difficulty of their language.  In fact, my favorite moment was sitting at a pub (the Golden Tiger) with locals.  There were no open tables so I asked two Czech gentlemen (in their 50s or 60s) if I could sit at their table.  One spoke fairly good English (in fact, he’s training for the Boston marathon!) and the other spoke fairly good German, so we had a lively, if somewhat fragmented and stilted, conversation over beers.  Next thing I know, 3 hours had passed and they were out of beer (which they signify by putting a blanket over the tiger statue that sits atop the beer tap).  We called it a night and the Czechs paid for my beers! 

The streets are loud and clang with the trams and busses and metro, but nothing was more satisfying to me than walking down the cobblestone roads, winding through architecture that constantly made me stop for photos—every building seems to an architectural marvel (My guide book notes that nearly half of the buildings in Prague are considered cultural monuments).  It’s not a particularly clean city—there is graffiti and trash and some buildings are run-down, but the people are beautiful and the architecture is striking.  On a number of occasions, in different locations, couples were taking their wedding portraits (and Czech women choose some fabulous dresses!  Well, all but one).  It was remarkable how peaceful and thriving the city could be all at once, as I would turn down one street to find myself alone with a store on one side and houses on the other, thinking I had gotten lost only to round the bend and be thrown into a pedestrian square bustling with tourists and framed by cafes, bars, restaurants, tourist shops, and street vendors.  Once I emerged from the squares and winding alleys, I went to river and saw the quintessential postcard view of Prague—Prague Castle overlooking the Charles Bridge, a very fairytale view.  So here’s a brief run-down of what I saw/did/ate/drank around Prague…

Sights

Prague Castle: A large complex of multiple buildings that sits atop one of the hills just north of the river, overlooking the city and the Charles Bridge.  It was begun in the 9^th century as a royal residence and has been added to by subsequent royalty.  In front of the castle I watched an elaborate changing of the guard ceremony, complete with trumpets and trombones being played from the windows.  The two main buildings that I visited were the cathedrals, St. Vitus and St. George.  St. Vitus Cathedral (14^th century) is the climbing Gothic church that dominates the palace complex (and skyline).  Entrance into this structure is truly breath-taking with a long, daunting central nave matched only by the pillars of the arched aisles.  Huge stained glass windows parade along both sides, while clear glass with wrought iron panes let light in from the clerestory.  Everything is accented with gold—a trend that seems to permeate all Czech architecture and sculpture.  The enclaves around the side house elaborate sarcophagi of famous Czechs. In stark contrast to the cathedral is St. George’s basilica, a small and simple Romanesque church from the 10^th century.  The stuccoed walls carry little decoration, but the building does serve as a crypt for early Czech historical figures. 

Pissing statues: After winding my way down from the castle, I explored the cafes along the northern bank of the river and came across this pair of statues by local artist, David Cerny.   The statue is of two generic men peeing into a Czech-Republic-shaped puddle.  They are apparently (so say the guidebook) writing out famous Prague literary quotations (supposedly, there is a number you can text messages and the statues will spell out your text…sounds like a great way for a marriage proposal!)

Charles Bridge: From there, I made my way back to the winding roads of Old Town, across the Charles Bridge.  The stone bridge, built in the 14^th century, spans the Vltava River and is always filled with tourists, street vendors, and performers.  Thirty bronze and gold statues of saints line both sides of the bridge. 

The Astronomical Clock: This famous Czech monument rises up at one end of Prague’s Town Hall in Old Town Square.  It sits at one end across from the church of St. Nicholas and the church of Our Lady, as well the statue of Jan Hus, cafes, and delicious street food.  The clock itself dates to 1490 and is a thing of bewilderment. The elaborately contrived clock identifies solar, lunar, and stellar movements.  There are paintings of the apostles, statues of death and greed, and a short performance of bells every hour.  It is easy to swing by and see, but not at easy to tell time from it.

Jewish Sector: My visit to the Jewish section of the Old City included a tour of three synagogues, a ceremonial hall and the Jewish cemetery.  It’s a great visit—in addition to being architecturally beautiful, two of the synagogues and the ceremonial hall function as museums, presenting in well-laid-out and labeled cases various implements of Jewish worship, from copies of the Torah (dating back to the 1300’s) to silver chalices and burial dressing gowns.  The third synagogue, Pinkas Synagogue, dates to 1553 and now serves as a moving Holocaust memorial, with its otherwise undecorated walls, covered with lists of names—the names, birthdays, and days of disappearance of Czech Jews (77,297).  Having just read about the various memorials commemorating September 11, I found this somber and simple display quite affective.  My favorite part of this area though was the Jewish cemetery.  Until 1787, city officials declared that the city’s Jewish population could only be buried in this area (ca. 100,000 bodies, 12,000 tombstones); by the time the law was changed, the cemetery was overwhelmed with burials.  You can wander through the broken and fallen tombstones.  The graves are arranged in twelve layers underground and the tombstones fall over one another—the guidebook accurately describes it as looking like fallen teeth. 

Food and Beer

Like I said, I love Prague’s concept of eating!  Everything is meat and beer, usually with bread and mustard and the occasional cheese.  Meats of choice are typically pork (roasted or in sausage form) or roast duck.  They love onions, pickles, and paprika.  It does feel like every other store front is a shop and then there’s a separate take-away stand in front.  The take away stands were amazing (basically the equivalent of the booths from Wurstfest)—24 hours a day they sell sausage, burgers, fries, and schnitzel!  I, unfortunately, never tried one, but everyone said they are a great quick and cheap meal.   As for beer, Prague is the home of Pilsner (which I love) and the beer (pivo) is dirt cheap (around $2 for .5 liter!).  I sampled the standards—Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus, and Budvar (the original Budweiser), plus a few darker beers that were remarkably light in body, and some Pilsners from specialty brewers.  Here’s a brief breakdown of my samplings.

Jama Café: an ex-pat sort of dive/rock bar with cheap beer from some local breweries (I had a Prince Max?) and a range of bar food, including Tex-Mex, chicken wings, and Gulaș (chunks of beef, paprika gravy, red onions, and potato pancakes).  Can you guess which one I had?

Café Louvre: A great ‘grand café’ in the Austrian style, with towering ceilings, embroidered wall-paper, and an excessive use of crown molding lit by elaborate chandeliers.  I went for a leisurely breakfast, had a great espresso, fresh juice, ham, cheese, butter, bread, and a soft-boiled egg.  Food was decent; they’re better known for their desserts and pastries, which did look scrumptious.  But it is a beautiful place to have a meal.

U Kocoura: A local haunt near the castle, which specializes in a yeasty beer from a local brewery, Bernard.  I had a snack of ham, bread, mustard, and horse radish.

Street Vendors in Old Time Square:  They mainly serve three things—a hot potato salad, a pretzel-like pastry ring, or a huge hunk of ham off of a spit.  Can you guess which one I ordered?  Yup, it was the ham and it was so satisfying.  It was really difficult to actually use my knife and fork to eat as opposed to just walking around with the hunk of meat.  Word to the wise (which was not me in this instance), watch how much ham they give you.  They charge by the 100g and you don’t really need all that much.

Café Savoy:  Another glorious grand café in a posher district on the other side of the river.  This place had a decadent menu and mouth-watering desserts on display.  I opted for two small plates, which I immediately realized was one too many, but it was nice to try and a range of dishes.  The first was buttered discs of toasted French bread topped with baked goat cheese and served with a side of greens and walnuts coated with honey.  The second plate was three boiled frankfurters served with grated cheese and three different types of mustard!  A little pricey compared to the rest of the places I went, but definitely worth the visit (it is recommended by a leading Czech food critic).

U Sadlu: A medieval-decorated restaurant, appropriately located down a set of winding stairs.  An extensive menu (and wine list), but I went with one goal—to have a dark beer and roast duck.  The beer was delicious—the aftertaste of a porter, but none of the heaviness that I typically associate with porters I’ve had in the states; it was lighter with a little crispness.  The duck was fabulous!  I love duck anyway, but they roasted it perfectly with the skin slightly crisp.  It was served on a bed of pickled cabbage, which I was not such a fan of.

The Golden Tiger: This was my favorite bar—the one mentioned in my introduction.  It’s definitely more of a local establishment, but I highly recommend it.  It is a long, narrow room with tables and benches around the side, there is a smaller back room with three more tables, and a bathroom.  The wood bar is along the wall and next to the door, it consists of a waist high counter with a beer tap in the middle (on top of which sits the tiger).  Behind the bar are shelves of glasses.  All they have is beer.  All they have is one kind of beer that they brew.  You sit down and the waiter (of which there is one and only one bartender) brings you a beer.  He puts a dash mark on a piece of paper and sets it in front of you.  When your beer is empty, he brings you another one and makes another mark.  This continues until you put your coaster over your beer or until they run out of beer (and the tiger goes to sleep).  As I learned from my Czech friends, they open at 3pm and serve until they run out of beer (usually around 11pm).  Go here.  Famous people go here.  We saw two people from the Czech national hockey team (I didn’t—and still don’t—know who they are, but everyone else was really impressed, and they waved at us when they left!).  If you can’t find a seat, ask someone to join they’re group, and merriment can be had by all.

U Pinkasu: Another local establishment that serves a famous dark beer, which is marked at 18 degrees (the Czech equivalent of 8% alcohol).  The menu looked amazing although I was only passing through for the beer.  The restaurant is quaint and traditional on the inside, but the beer garden out back is a narrow alley between the historic building housing the restaurant and an old church.  Needless to say it’s pretty beautiful to have these two pieces of great architecture framing your experience with a delicious beer.

Nightlife

So I’m not really one to fully get into the nightlife of Europe, especially central Europe, which (from my experience) primarily consists of crazy late-night dance parties that, on dull nights, end at 7am.  I did not go that route.  And yes, it’s true that Prague has “central Europe’s largest dance hall” (5 stories!!!); I cannot tell you if that’s good or not….but here is what I can tell you.

Karaoke: It exists everywhere.  And it’s time everyone accepted its awesomeness.  So, sure it seems to be a little hit or miss in Prague (as in there were only three Czechs at the club we went to), but it’s growing.  I went to a tiny bar on the outskirts of central Prague run by very nice people.  The beginning was slow—some Italians, English guys, and my friend and I.  My friend, CR, is a friend of a girl I go to school with in Austin.  He’s lived in Prague for almost three years, teaching English.  We sing.  Then the Americans arrive—a large and noisy group of 20-year olds that are all studying abroad for the year in Prague.  I have to say the students were very attractive and good singers, but conversations mainly focused on how long their classes were (3 hours at a time!) and where they could get weed, plus they were constantly bugging the KJ to sing out of turn.  Poor cultural representatives indeed.

A night of ex-Pats: On Saturday night, I met up with CR and some other of his English-teaching friends to watch a friend of theirs sing at a bar, and then we all headed to a local bar for the after party—a tiny bar (12x12) packed with people.  Most of us ended up drinking just outside on the street (which is perfectly legal here, unless you get too loud).  The cops came by to get us back inside because of a noise ordinance violation.  We ended up heading out around 2:30 and getting pizza.  What was striking about this evening was the tight, almost separate, community that these ex-pats (mostly American and British) have formed in Prague.  They mostly teach English for various schools and businesses; most of them had never been to Prague before they packed up and moved here; most of them have been here for three years or more.  They love Prague.  Few plan on leaving.  But (at least from my brief 2-night impression) this community seems to exist separately from the tourists and separately from the locals.  They have their own bars and restaurants, they’re own friends. A sort of fascinating sub-culture.

Well, that ends my Prague adventure.  In a lot of ways, Prague reminded me of Austin—lots of walking, street food, dog-lovers, and people in skinny jeans.  I liked it a lot, but, I had to move on.  I hopped on a train for a scenic ride to Berlin and will have more stories for you all soon.  Let me know how I’m doing and spread the word for people to read!

More pictures to come (I promise) in facebook or picasa.  I'll let you know!