Considering that this weekend has already started, and I am still talking about last weekend, you might say that I am a little behind on my posts. Alas, life here in Prague has started to become a little busier than during my first few days. I do somehow have the time to spend a couple hours each day napping. Sigh. To think of all that I could do during those hours, but then I would never have the energy to stay up late on Twitter and Facebook and then wake up early to go to work. A girl has to have her priorities straight.
Anyway, back to last weekend. I am still mourning the departure of Carly, Katie, and Jacqueline. I am sure they are very happy to be back in Rome, but I do miss having friends, native English speakers, and fellow Prague-newbies by my side. I have definitely started to meet people, but it is just not the same as having friends or friends of friends with me, and not even the same as having around someone whose first language is English. With those three here, I was game to try anything - isn't it strange how much confidence you gain just from having a body by your side? Or how much easier it is to meet people when you are not alone? Sense it does not make, and I really just need to get over being by myself. Yesterday someone asked if I was lonely. I wasn't sure whether they said lonely or alone, so I asked "lonely or alone" with a laugh, and answered, "well, both." I mean I am starting to love it here, I really am. I don't know if it is just living in a city, or because it is quite beautiful, or because I am on my own, but I am very happy, if the teensiest bit restless. Seriously, I am even enjoying the cold weather! What? Yup. I don't know what is wrong with me, lately! I bought crunchy peanut butter yesterday, too. Seriously, who am I becoming?
Okay, anyway. Seriously, back to last weekend. We did some very fun things, found some interesting places, and met some great people. In The Weekend: Part 1, I ended with our walk to Old Town. So, initially our plan was to go straight to Bohemia Bagel, and we were all starving because of our late start, but we took a million pictures along the walk, and then just kind of happened upon Charles Bridge. I mean, we couldn't just walk by; we had to take pictures, and walk across, and take pictures along the way, and then walk back, and then maybe take a few more pictures.
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| Charles Bridge |
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| Inside the arch of the Charles Bridge |
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| Statue on the Charles Bridge |
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| Me on the Charles Bridge |
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| A view from the Charles Bridge. One of my favorite pictures. |
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| Locks on the Charles Bridge |
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| The other side of the Charles Bridge |
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| Pretty much the same pictures as the last.... |
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| Cool soldier statue with a golden sword off of the Charles Bridge |
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| Another view from the Charles Bridge |
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| Cutest little old man ever........on the Charles Bridge |
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| Me, again, on..........well...you get it. |
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| Once again, faithful readers, THE CHARLES BRIDGE! |
So, at this point we were absolutely ravenous. I just have to say, to those of you who know that I suffer from Hanger Management Issues, I DID SO WELL. I was seriously the calmest, nicest hungry person you have ever seen. I was just dandy. I'm not kidding or being sarcastic. You all would be proud =)
For those of you who don't understand the term "hangry," please see below:
This term describes me perfectly. I'm not really proud of it, but it is very exciting that someone has created a word to describe this condition, and that other people suffer from it, too. Okay, so now you know a new word, cool. Back to the weekend.
Next stop, Bohemia Bagel, right?! Wrong. Not only did we not know how to get there, causing us to walk through many winding streets of Prague (I am not complaining, they were beautiful), but when we finally happened upon Old Town Square, we couldn't just walk through without a look-see at the big attractions there, namely the Prague Orloj, or astronomical clock.
Just so you know, it is really hard to take pictures of this thing. First of all, it is really tall, and there is just no place to stand to get the whole thing. Second, there are always tons of people crowded around, and I really hate having people that I don't know in my pictures. So, yeah, not the finest photography of the clock, but you get the idea. It is pretty neat. If you want a very short background on the Prague Orloj, check out item number 9 on my post The First List of Prague-isms.
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| GET OUT OF MY PICTURE, PEOPLE!! |
So, we saw the clock, and then we saw the Týn Church, which I apparently only took one really bad picture of:
And finally we decided that we absolutely had to find Bohemia Bagel. We weren't really sure if we were headed the right way, but we finally just kind of stumbled upon it. Katie and Jacqueline had read to completely avoid the place between 12pm and 1:30pm. We, of course, show up promptly at 1pm, and the place was a mad-house.
I have to say, one of the most awkward situations is walking into a restaurant and just not knowing what to do, especially if you don't speak the language: does somebody seat you, do you just grab a table, do they bring a menu, or are you supposed to order at the counter? Then, do they bring your food to you or will they shout some number that is hiding on your receipt and you are responsible for picking it up yourself? See, this is why it is helpful to have friends; if you are doing something wrong and look like an idiot, at least you are not alone!
The place was packed, so while we looked at the menus, we hovered like vultures around the tables of people who looked like they might be finishing up. We finally snagged a table and continued to hover while a grumpy-looking lady came and cleaned it for us. Whatever. We ordered, we sat, and we relaxed. The food was really good and pretty cheap, and almost creepily accurate to the online info, at 1:30pm the masses had dissipated and left a very calm, cozy, and comfortable Bohemia Bagel to us and what appeared to be some locals. We ended up spending almost two hours here, but it was totally necessary and totally worth it. Having experience with spending a whole day sight-seeing, Jacqueline shared that it is definitely worth taking the time for everyone to relax, eat, and in this weather, warm up. Otherwise, you end up with grumpy people who start getting on each others' nerves and don't enjoy themselves.
On a somewhat related side note: I started developing an obsession with mint tea, which is really just a bag of dried mint leaves steeped in hot water, when I visited downtown Staunton, Virginia with Kala, Steph, and Carly around November. I was surprised to see it on the menu board of almost every cafe I walked by here in Prague. I finally decided to try some at Bohemia Bagel. Ohmygosh. Most places here make it with fresh mint leaves, and serve it with a little pot of honey. It is pure sunshine in your mouth. If I thought I was obsessed with mint tea before this trip, holy cow, now I am addicted! Most people here seem to like coffee and all of the fancy coffee drinks that are the norm here (cafe americano is so not normal), and don't get me wrong, those are dang good, too. My choice, though? Fresh mint tea with honey. Every time. Uuuugghhhh it is soooo yummy! I am going to have to get (another) mint plant when I get home (and make sure that I don't accidentally kill it this time)!
So, this one is obviously in a to-go cup, but usually they serve it in a tall, clear glass, and it is very pretty, as well as being ridiculously tasty.
While I, of course, was in love with my tea, the food was really good, too. I ended up with pastrami & Swiss on a bagel. It was so delicious, until I got to the part where they put on some kind of mustard with horseradish crap in it. Yuck. This really sucked, because without the nasty condiment, this was amazing, and with it, well, not my favorite. Or something that I would eat again, actually. Next time, just no condiments. Ew.
The pickle was really freaking good, too.
I am really bad at taking pretty pictures of my food, because I just want to eat it. Everyone else is like sitting and taking a picture on their camera and a picture on their phone and uploading that crap to Instagram, and I am over here just shoving my face. Then I'm like, oh, yeah, I should take a picture to share this experience with my friends and family. So pretty much there is always at least one bite taken out of my food before I remember to photograph it. Sorry, guys.
So, we ate, we talked, we relaxed, we warmed up, and we headed back out. We walked around a bit, and made our way to the Powder Gate (which we kept calling everything but the Powder Gate: the Powder bridge, the Powder wall, the Powder door, etc.), which is conveniently located right next to the Municipal building.
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| The Powder Gate while snow falls |
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| The Powder Gate...in the sun |
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| Zee top of zee Powder Gate |
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| Zee other zide of zee Powder Gate |
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| The beautiful Municipal building |
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| Municipal building entrance |
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| We started sneaking around the Municipal building because we didn't want to pay for a tour |
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| More sneaking |
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| Not sure what exactly this is, but it was pretty, and is in the Municipal building, across from the "American" bar |
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| A model of the municipal building: view 1 |
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| A model of the municipal building: view 2 |
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| A model of the municipal building: view 3 |
There are a couple cafes inside the Municipal building that are supposed to be really great, but we had just eaten, so maybe I will get the chance to go another time. I also plan to come back and do a guided tour. If the inside is half as beautiful as the outside, it will definitely be worth the time and money! They also often have concerts here, so maybe I will attend one of those, as well.
Our next stop was the Jewish Quarter to try to find the Old Jewish cemetery. Our first sighting of the place was through a tiny barred window in a locked door in one of the walls of the cemetery. If you know me, you know I have a strange obsession with both Nazi history and Judaism. The sight of this cemetery is really the first true piece of European history related to that that I have gotten to see. I think the picture speaks for itself:
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| Headstones on headstones on headstones |
We didn't get to go inside or take a tour, because by this time it was too late, but we walked around the cemetery and found some neat vendors! One adorable man had some very pretty jewelry, and when we all walked away empty-handed we were kicking ourselves. Why we didn't buy anything, we weren't sure, but we spent the rest of the weekend talking about going back, and finally did on Sunday morning before the girls left for the airport. We probably could have haggled with they guy a little, but he was just too sweet. He probably saw us coming from a mile off.
When we finally returned to my apartment and checked on Carly, she was feeling much better than that morning, and we all headed out to eat. I guess the girls have had a hard time finding burgers in Italy, and I had read a review for a place online, so we headed out to Yes Burger. Half burger joint, half Mexican food, this place had a serious complex. We were, again, extremely awkward, and I think we did the order, sit, eat sequence wrong, but English was not well spoken or understood here. We managed just fine, though, even if the staff thought we were asses. While the burgers were good, they were about 10% burger to 90% toppings and buns. Not exactly the perfect fulfillment to a burger craving, but still tasty...and extremely messy. Like I said earlier, I always forget to take pictures before I eat, so, you'll just have to imagine this one: an extremely large, messy burger covered in huge hunks of dripping vegetables and a falling-apart bun. See? You got it.
We walked around Old Town Square a bit, and got lost in the side roads. We went down an alley that had a few restaurants that had been recommended to me by my tour guide, and found a really hoppin' bar that we honestly should have just gone into. Instead, we walked around the absolute least-populated part of Old Town looking for a bar. Prague is kind of a big deal in the party scene, and this was a Friday night. We knew we had to just be in the wrong place, but we had no idea where to go. On a recommendation from Tereza, we headed to I. P. Pavlova (a tram/metro stop) in search of a bar.
We are an extremely indecisive group (a trait that I think plagues my generation as a whole), and we spent a whole lot of time trying to decide into which place we should go. Don't get me wrong, there were tons of places, we just couldn't figure out which one would be the best one. As we were deliberating outside of one place, a Czech guy came out and started spewing Czech at us. We all stared, dumbfounded and catching flies in our mouths, when finally one of us asked, "English?" The guy put up a finger, signaling for us to hold on a second, and headed back inside. Two seconds later, he came out again, and spewed more Czech, making the "come with me" motion. We all just kind of looked at each other and shrugged, and followed him inside. Mistake. Talk about a smoky bar! Not only that, but the guy that invited us in walked away and stood behind another table filled with, I assume, his friends. We were left standing awkwardly in the doorway while everyone else attended their business. We never would have been able to get to the bar anyways, because the place was packed. We promptly left and filled our lungs with the somewhat-more-fresh Prague city air.
Plan B: across the street, there is an Irish Pub with the menu in like six different languages. We figured that would be a safe bet. Another wrong. Not being welcome here would be an understatement. We walked in, did the awkward stand-around that we had gotten so good at, and finally approached the bar. I can order beer in Czech, and that is about it. I did so, and so did the girls, and the pissed-off looking bartender served us, glared, and walked away. We made our way to a tiny stand-up table in the absolute worst spot, and gained a few more nasty looks from the bartender and other staff as they kept squeezing by us. Finally a table opened up, and we sat until we finished our beers. So, note to self, even if the restaurant has the menu in 800 languages, they still might not want you there! Go figure.
At this point, we just wanted some dessert, and walked around seeking some out. Another mistake! We must have walked around for an hour, totally in the wrong area, yet again. We were definitely in a very residential area, with very few restaurants or bars, and none with much of a party atmosphere. When we finally got un-lost, we decided that chocolate, junk food, and wine would do the trick for the night. At this point of the weekend, I was feeling pretty bad. People come to Prague to check out Europe's biggest nightclub and to try absinthe. We were eating chips and cookies and watching Pitch Perfect. Little did we know that the next night was going to be just the thing!
Check back to hear about Carly, Katie, and Jacqueline's last full day and night in Prague! Stories of the castle, a beer tasting, getting lost at 2am, and our night out to come!
To be continued. Stay tuned for The Weekend: Part 3!
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