FINAL DAY IN PRAGUE

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We over slept a bit as the alarm didn’t go off, but that was really ok since today was a pretty chill day. We hadn’t really planned to do a lot of things but more just stroll around old down and the Jewish Quarter. We are at the point in the trip were we are pretty tired and our feet can’t take a lot of walking around (well might feet can’t). Jerry slept so hard and long in one position he woke up with a slight ear ache, so we spent a great deal of the day looking for an open pharmacy to buy some hydrogen proxide. In any event we went down to our breakfast, today they had the basic plus two hot items, bratwurst with onions and scrambled eggs with Vienna sausage, both were pretty good. We mapped out our days activities while we ate and drank our Nescafe.

After breakfast we were off, first to Wenceslas Square, I am not sure if this is where Good King Wenceslas looked down at the feast of Stephen, that was probably up on castle hill. The square is more of a long boulevard flanked on one end by a Large Museum and the statue of King Wenceslas the other leads to the passage way to Old Town. We slowly strolled down what was mostly a pedestrian only area. What is really here is a bunch of hotels and a lot of different architectural styles.

Old Town

When we reached the end of the boulevard we walked by Havel’s Market that is similar to Saturday Market, but permanent. From there we took the passage to Old Town Square. When you come out on to the square the first thing you see is Old Town all and the Astronomical Clock. Other sites on the square are: The house at the Stone Bell, Kinský Palace (a museum) Jan Hus, a statue of the spiritual leader of Prague. You can also get a carriage ride here; take a tour in a vintage car and many other things. We simply strolled through the square as we were pretty much museumed out. From Old town it is a very short walk and you are in Josefov (the Jewish Quarter)

Josefov

Again, this was mainly a walk by tour. The first site was Franz Kafka’s house which is on the corner of Maiselova Street (originally one of the main streets inside the walled Jewish Quarter) and the beginning of the Jewish Quarter walking tour. We strolled up the street and on the right is Maisel Synagogue. The original was destroyed in a fire but rebuilt in 1689. During WWII the Nazi’s used the synagogue to store furniture stolen from the Jews sent to concentration camps, or as the guide book so gently put it deported.

The next stop is Pinkas Synagogue. It is the second oldest synagogue in Prague. Both of these synagogues, the cemetery and the Spanish Synagogue can be toured with your admission price to the Jewish museum. We did not opt to make this visit.

We did make our way to Old-New Synagogue (Staronová Synagóa) and did go in (15% discount with Prague Card). Neither of us have ever been in a Synagogue so the fact that this was the oldest synagogue in Europe made it all the more significant. It is a very simple building and inner sanctuary is not anything like the ornateness of a catholic church. We of course had to cover our heads and they provided the appropriate item for that purpose. It was very interesting and the only thing we actually went in.

After completing our tours of both Old Town and the Jewish Quarter it was time for lunch. Since we were still in the Jewish Quarter we choose a kosher restaurant called Dinitz. What we had for lunch was obviously not Czech food, but instead good kosher food that you might find in Israel. Again, lunch was almost as much as dinner last night and without wine. The food was good but not really worth going into detail about (See Today’s Food for more). What was interesting to me was to see a Hasidic Jewish man (who also happened to be the bartender) sitting at a table with his laptop and cell phone. Not that Hasidic’s are like the Amish and shun all things modern; it was just strange to see as I associate Hasidic Jews with the old world and old ways.

That pretty much concluded what we had planned for the day. As I said it was pretty low key, Jerry was suffering from an ear ache and of course my feet wanted stop working. Since we had extra time on our hands with no real plans until dinner, we headed for Petrin Hill on the other side of the river in Mala Strana. When we got there the line for the funicular was pretty long and neither one of us felt like hiking up the hill so instead we just went back to the hotel.

Our search for a pharmacy was to no avail, as it was a bank holiday, Liberation Day, not overly celebrated here but a bank holiday none the less. However, the woman at the front desk did find a 24 hour pharmacy that was open and just a few blocks from the hotel. Jerry was able to get something for his ear at last.

The rest of the afternoon we just relaxed, Jerry took a Disco Nap, I did some blogging tried to work but the alternative way to connect that my IT guy came up with made my home screen so small I had a hard time seeing it. So we just relaxed drank some wine and eventually dressed for dinner.

U modré kachničky (The Blue Duckling)

For our last dinner in Prague we choose a pretty nice place in Mala Strana. As you might have guessed from the name they specialize in duck, but also have traditional Czech food and a very nice selection of wild game. There special tasting menu was Asparagus & Strawberries; every single dish was either made with Asparagus, strawberries or a combination of both. It looked good but we really came here for the wild game.

The only unfortunate thing was that it was full of entitled Americans. There were also some French, but they were not behaving like the American’s especially one table. I will explain. When we first came in they put at in a small room between two larger dining rooms, it was close to the kitchen door, but not in a bad way. We were perfectly happy with the table. After we ordered and the waiter brought us our glass of Rose, he said he would have a much better table for us in one minute. He then moved us to possibly the best seat in the house (or what I would refer to the Mafia table). From my seat I could see the entire restaurant and the entrance so would be ready for that sudden machine gun attack. The bad part of this table was the 4 east coasters at the table next to us. They were in their 70’s and bitchy. They evidently have nothing better to do or talk about so they spent the entire time talking about how much the disliked Martha Stewart. They were very tiresome, but fortunately they were at the end of their meal and gone within about 20 minutes

We pretty much ended up having the place to our selves, most of the tables were close to being finished when we came in and it was pretty full when we first got there.

The restaurant is located in the heart of Embassy row; there are at least 20 foreign embassies within a 5 block radius. The waiters spoke several languages by necessity I am sure. The food and the experience were both worthy of our last night in Prague. The food was at the top of the list of food we have had on this trip. We started with a wild game pate wrapped in bacon, the basket of bread was full of way to delicious breads ranging from rye to walnut and the butter, OMG haven’t had butter that could since we left Paris. I won’t go in to great detail of everything else we ate as it is all listed below, but I will say that the Soups in Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic are all phenomenal, so I couldn’t leave Prague without one final taste of soup. Tonight’s soup was traditional Czech potato soup. This is not anything like potato soup in the states. It is not creamed based, it is a nice dark beef broth, garlic and nice chunks of potatoes, it was very good and with the warm rye bread and butter, Heaven.

After dinner we took the tram home and got to see the castle at night. No pictures as we were on the tram and they wouldn’t have turned out. The tram was really crowded as the Opera had just finished and everyone was on their way home.

That pretty much wraps up Prague. Prague is a great city and a must to visit. The food is very good, the people are very friendly, the language is easier to pick up the basics than Hungary, and it just has a small city feel. I think that someday in the future Budapest will feel this same way. Prague has the huge advantage of not being touched during WWII unlike Budapest which is still rebuilding.

There is a lot more to do and see in Prague, we pretty much it the major must sees. There are a lot of museums and historic things to see. For Jerry he enjoyed all of the various types of architecture, the city pretty much has a little bit of everything from Gothic to Communist era.

Last stop Berlin

Today’s Food

Breakfast at the hotel – standard fare with some good brats and onions and scrambled eggs.

Kosher lunch at Dinitz – Jerry: Small Greek salad and humus plate, Chris: Chicken sandwich & fries (this was not your typical chicken sandwich, perfectly cooked and on a Baggett.

Dinner at The Blue Duckling – Appetizer, wild game pate with bacon and cranberries; Jerry – Roast pheasant breast with dark beer plum sauce and almond croquettes. Chris – Czech potato soup; Fallow deer saddle with rose hip sauce and Carlsbad dumpling.

Wine – 2010 Frankovka (excellent red)

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