Another overcast, drizzly drive for 4+ hours from Munich to Prague. There was a noticeable difference in the motorway as we passed into Czechia, first there was a speed limit—we would miss the autobahn and the ability to go as fast as possible. I wonder how much time it took off our drives in Germany? One more note on that, no matter how fast you think you are going in the left lane, someone will fly up behind you in a BMW, Mercedes, or Audi going far faster than however fast you are going flashing their lights. Stay out of their way, the left is for passing only!
On the way to Prague we stopped in Plzen. We would not have known the city existed except for the globally-available beer, Pilsner Urquell, brewed at the brewery by the same name. They recently contacted Three Taverns to collborate on a Pilsner in honor of their “Liberation Day” which they celebrate every May 5—the day US soldiers led by Patton advanced into Pilzen and liberated the city during WWII. Three Taverns brewed the beer, Metaleap designed the label, and it was released last month. (Read more about that here.) I can’t believe we would happen to be driving by that very city only a few weeks later and have the chance to stop and have a beer there. We also tried, unsuccessfully, to have lunch—it is a very small, very compact city, with lots of one way streets and a high degree of difficulty to get in and out of the city. We gave up and kept driving. Our reward was entering Prague well before sunset—what a city!
I didn’t know what to expect, perhaps something that looked like a Hollywood version of Eastern Europe, maybe brutalist architecture, and maybe even a little gloomy. Boy was I wrong! We crossed a river into the main part of the city passing by Dancing House otherwise known as “Fred and Ginger” (designed by the Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in cooperation with Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry; that bridge and all the others to our right and left were each impressive on their own. The streets are narrow and windy, the churches are plentiful, and the spires are nearly countless! Wow! We easily found our AirBnB, dropped off our bags and the kids, and went to park the car. The parking experience was something like parking at our AirBnB in Florence five years ago. We turned sharply and passed through two large wooden doors; to our left was a large glass window, easily two stories tall and 40’ long, looking at an adjacent apartment building. Overhead were arched, vaulted ceilings, over a long driveway that opened into the space between several adjacent buildings. Over the open space was an old glass (?) ceiling that covered 8-10 parking spaces. It was like something out of a spy movie, where a spy leaves his spare car loaded with weapons and foreign currency. We walked back to the apartment through a large park with a statue of “Good Wenceslas”, the same “Good King” from the Christmas carol! People were everywhere, hanging out in the park, drinking coffee (finally, coffee!), and the air was buzzing with energy. There were so many languages being spoken, I really have no idea where everyone was from. The best I can figure is that the city is so beautiful and central in Europe, perhaps people from all over the EU vacation there. One last general note, there were Ukrainian flags everywhere. Reading about only a portion of the history of the Czech Republic, we could understand why. They have been an occupied people for over a thousand years—by the Hapsburg’s, the German’s in WWII then the Soviets. Ukraine is much closer to home for them, and the older people there would easily remember what life was like under communism after WWII.
We walked throughout the city, constantly looking up in amazement at the ornate architecture and all the spires, and enjoyed the best dinner of our trip so far at La Bottega—lovely space, great food including hand made pasta, filet with red wine sauce, and sea bass filleted at the table with an amazing sauce of butter and mussels. Yum! Walking back to the apartment we stumbled into the old city. If all of Prague is beautiful, and congested, with windy streets, the old part of the city takes that far further. But gosh, people were everywhere, the old square was bustling and everyone seemed to be having so much fun.
The next day we walked back to old town to see the astronomical clock, the oldest in the world. It was really cool, tracking the sun and moon, and chiming every hour with the apostles passing by a window and a skeleton chiming the bell. We got overpriced candy from a shop on the way to Charles Bridge (I got a long colored marshmallow we all nibbled on for two days!) and walked over the bridge. Gorgeous!!! We then walked up the steep path and stairs to the castle (the largest castle in the world, now home to the President of Czechia) stopping for coffee in the castle gardens. Finally, we made it to the top for an incredible view of the city, watched the changing of the guard in front of the castle, and had a wonderful late lunch (lun-ner) at Kuchyn. We all had the braised hanger steak and mashed potatoes—so good and flavorful, the weather was amazing and the view was so pretty. We walked back down from the castle, back over the Charles Bridge, back through old town, and to the apartment for a much needed rest before going to the ballet.
You may recall that when Spiderman was in Prague with his friends during Spiderman Homecoming—the scene in the square with the carnival was actually filmed in a nearby town, they couldn’t close the main square in Prague to film there, and as many people as there are in the city, I can see why— anyway, when they were in Prague they went to the opera. I had checked in advance and gotten tickets to the ballet in the state opera house. Wow—the architecture of the building was amazing; none of us had ever been in such an old theater. We saw a modern program, Four Elements, which José and I really enjoyed, and the kids were confused by, but I am so glad we went. I really enjoy ballet, classical and modern, and would love to incorporate that more into our travels when the opportunity presents itself. The walk back to the apartment was late, but the city retained its bustling energy.
The next day José and I had breakfast downstairs from the apartment at a cafe called Mysak. It has existed for a century, even through communism—the interior and the pastries are amazing, as is the “deconstructed Eggs Benedict”—the best José has ever had along with the almond croissant. Sorry France. We grabbed the kids, finally awake, and walked through the Jewish quarter and over another bridge, passing the apartment we would want to live in if we lived in Prague (reminiscent of one overlooking the Met in NYC), and ending up at the top of many stairs at the metronome and a skate park—well, not really a skate part, but a place people obviously skate. No one was skating, but Alex was happy to see the first evidence that anyone in Europe does skate! We walked through the park and all around the neighboring streets passing many embassies, and into another more beautiful park with small lakes kids were swimming in and paths being traversed by tiny frogs (yes, tiny frogs). A long-ish walk back took us to U Parlimentu for our final schnitzel and Pilsner Urquell for another lun-ner, which allowed us to spend the evening back at the apartment watching Italian Job.
The next morning, before leaving Prague, we had to enjoy one more breakfast at Mysak. Alex heard us raving about it, so he got up to join us this time. In addition to the amazing food, we also got egg nog! We had seen it on many menus; apparently it is something available year-around in Prague, and this one was as good as any I have ever had—so good they sell it in bottles to go. If we could have brought it on the plane, we surely would have!
An uneventful exit from our spy parking place, and we were off for another gloomy 4+ hour drive to Salzburg…
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