Czechmate!

prague Oh man I am good! Czechmate! Haha. I got plenty more where that came from too. I am not sure if you have caught on to my comedic genius, but what I am doing is replacing the word “check” with “Czech” in various phrases to come up with witty titles. I know, it is advanced comedy, but I think I have really got the hang of it!

OK now, where did we leave off yesterday? Ah yes, night two had finished with sushi. Naturally, after night two is morning three – and mimosas with breakfast! We never failed to be stuffed from breakfast before setting out for the day. Day three saw us head to the end of Wenceslas Square in order to get to the National Museum – our first stop of the day. It was not the warmest of days and so we were glad that we had planned a day of museums to keep us inside. The museum first started out with Czech history but, as Cindy pointed out, it kind of jumps around a bit. We then proceeded to the zoology and paleontology wings. We were greeted by elephants, giraffes, rhinos and the sort. We were a little confused until we realized that they were displaying animals from all over the world and not just Czech species – unless there is a long-extinct giraffe that used to be native to eastern Europe. To make things even odder, I believe the Czech national hockey team display of glory was between the birds and reptiles – but I may be mistaken. It was an interesting museum visit even if a bit confusing.

Finished the the confuseum (see what I did there? more advanced word play for ya!) we decided to not break tradition and start to aimlessly walk around town. We veered right coming out of the museum and somehow ended up in the Jewish quarter. Having already been there once, we were surprised that we ended up in that part of town again, and so quickly. We were sure it was further away. Nevertheless, it was lunchtime and we needed more food, this time keen on finding a cafe for a light lunch before heading to the Jewish museum. We turned around a corner and there was The Bakeshop – a highly regarded establishment that we read about in a couple guides earlier. We grabbed a couple of pre-made sandwiches, a salad and some drinks and sat at the tables looking out onto the streets to people watch. The lunch was decent, but desert is what they are known for and we now know why. I sauntered up to the counter again to scan the selection of exercise-canceling goodies and one called out our name – it was titled “Death by Chocolate”. Oh…. my…. god (think Janice from Friends OMGs!). This chocolaty, moist, rich cake was indeed worth dying for and we savored every fork-full along with our hot chocolates. If ever in Prague, make sure you get to The Bakeshop to have a sweets fix!

Now on a chocolate high, we made the short stroll over to the Jewish Museum. There is not a lot to the museum, but what is there is staggering. First was the Pinkas Synagogue – “After the Second World War, the synagogue was turned into a Memorial to the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia murdered by the Nazis. On its walls are inscribed the names of the Jewish victims, their personal data, and the names of the communities to which they belonged.” The list of names and dates that covered all the walls in the synagogue was impressive to say the least – a little over 77,000 in total. I could not take pictures inside but you can check out here for more info and pictures. The next memorable part of the tour is the Jewish Cemetery, which is just mind boggling to see. There are over 12,000 headstones in it, but there are many more people buried than that as it is believed that there is several layers of graves on top of each other. As a result of all this, the headstones are chaotic and leaning any which way, and often against each other. I tried to capture a few pictures that would give a sense of it being a jumble of stones.

Next, we were off to get more cultured. In the old square we had passed the Salvador Dali Exhibition several times and I wanted to check it out, so back into the maze of old town we went. The exhibition has a bunch of photos of the artist and his artwork, but not all of his famous pieces – it seemed to be a lot of his lesser known paintings and drawings. It definitely wasn’t Cindy’s cup of tea but I really enjoyed it – my favorite pieces on display being Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln and Le Cheval de Triomphe.

Cindy, unimpressed and thoroughly bewildered by Dali’s work and/or insanity, decided that we needed a lift of our spirits, and what better way to lift your spirits than with spirits? We were looking at the menu of a pub in the square and thinking that we were going to go in for a pint when a gentleman came out and offered us a free shot if we went in. Not ones to turn down free booze, his offer quickly made our decision easier. The George and Dragon pub was where we hunkered down for a few hours to enjoy our free shot, some pints and a scotch. With our spirits properly lifted, we headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner. We figured that with the countless pizzerias that we passed in all our walking that maybe they know what they were doing when it came to the Zza. We went to a little place called Pizzeria Giovanni tucked away in a small alley just off the square and were delighted to find another gem of a restaurant. Again, it had low ceilings, low lighting and smelled of cigarettes (you can still smoke in restaurants, etc in Prague) and reeked of ambiance, with most of the tables full or reserved – a good sign! Cindy ordered her usual, Hawaiian, and I had the Giovanni along with a bottle of wine. Now for those that don’t know, I am a self-taught pizza connoisseur – a pizza guru if I may say so myself – and my highly trained pallet was treated to one of the best pizzas it has ever tasted. It was stone oven cooked, the crust nice and light (but not crispy, that is key) and the toppings just blended perfectly with each other. A must-visit restaurant for those in Prague. After dinner, I dropped Cindy off at the hotel as her foot was hurting and I headed out to get some night photos around the city, many of which ended up being keepers even without having a tripod.

I know, I know! This post is getting long but there isn’t much more to left to the story. The next day was Valentine’s Day which ended up being Relax Day. Cindy got up and headed for a hot stone massage in the wellness center for the hotel and then we went for breakfast, followed by yet more walking around the city. However, we quickly realized that we weren’t in the sightseeing mood and headed back to the hotel where we napped the afternoon away. We needed it too, as we were tired! Well rested now, we got dolled up for our romantic candlelight dinner at Triton. It is a cool little restaurant on Wenceslas Square that is underground, and it is decorated with stalagmites to make it feel like you are in a cave. (Check out Cindy’s pictures as I didn’t bring my big camera to dinners.) There was live piano playing throughout dinner and the service was simply amazing. However, above and beyond that, the meal was probably the best meal I’ve ever had – at least I can’t think of a better one. The menu was as follows, all complimented with nice local Bohemian Chardonnay:

* Bohemia sekt Prestige Rosé Brut
* Pink shrimp cocktail and marinated courgettes sweetened with lavender honey
* Strawberry sorbet with champagne and thyme
* Grilled breasts of duck with dried apricots and shallot reduction with creamy potato
* Chocolate terrine embraced with hot raspberries and caramelized nuts
* Coffee or tea, petit fours

The next day, still remembering our fabulous dinner from the night before, we headed to the market to get a small piece of artwork from one of the local artists and then relaxed at the hotel before our flight home. And that pretty much wraps up the trip – which appears to have been mostly walking, eating and drinking. Oh, regarding drinking, we figured that we would try some absinthe while in Prague (kind of a “when in Rome” type of deal) and if you would like to recreate the experience then just go buy a bottle of Pine Sol and drink that. It is cheaper and probably tastes better.

All in all, a wonderful trip for our first in Europe. Next up is Dublin for St. Patty’s Day in less than four weeks’ time!

Here my photos for the last 3 days in Prague. Also, you can check out Cindy’s View of Prague here which has the photos of us and the restaurants of the trip – pretty much all the stuff I missed.