You may have also noticed that it has been over a month since I last posted. I can’t believe I have left it this long and don’t know why I have as it isn’t as though there isn’t anything to write about. New job, new car, training for my first 5K (you can see my training log on the right sidebar here on caringforapthy.com) and getting in better shape. I will try to not leave it nearly as long and will get back to updating regularly again.

We had our car pick us up to bring us to the airport, which is where the insanity began. After getting through security, we came to the airport bar which was filled with green-clad partiers downing drinks like they were Irishmen. What were the chances they were on another flight other than ours? Pretty much nil. Sure enough, our flight ended up being a scene from some college road trip movie with large groups of drunk people encouraging each other to be louder. I have never been on such an insane flight and the only thing to compare it to is the buses in Ottawa on Canada Day. We wouldn’t have minded it so much since it was only a 40 minute flight, but I was on the verge of getting up and going a few rows forward to shove the loud, high-pitched whistle that one bitch insisted blowing the entire time down her throat.

After landing and biding our time in the non-EU customs lines, we grabbed a taxi to get us to the Hilton. The driver was a very nice bloke who had quite a few ties to Canada – even though it seemed that everyone he knew that went there died young. His chattiness made the ride go quickly and next thing we knew we were at our hotel. We checked in and simply dropped off our bags as we had a concert to get to and still needed to grab a bite to eat. Food being the first priority, we made the 15 minute walk to the city center and found a lovely Japanese restaurant, thinking it was a sushi place but it having only a sushi sampler on the menu. Nevertheless it was very good even if it was expensive, just like everything else in Dublin, and I got the chance to taste a delicious green tea beer. It is very light and summery and I will be keeping my eye out for it locally if I can find it. Next stop – The Button Factory to see the Q-Tip concert.

What a great concert it was! The doors opened at 19:30 and we got there about 20:30, stood in line to get our tickets that were waiting for us and made our way inside. First things first, we needed a drink! After having procured the necessary spirits, we proceeded to try to find a spot to settle in for the show. The opening act was wrapping up their set and the main floor was starting to fill up. With neither of us on the tall side, limiting our view at concerts, we headed up to the balcony to see what was there. What was there was a fantastic spot on a side balcony right over the stage. We had a great view for the whole show and Q-Tip rocked the joint, mixing it up quite well with his solo stuff and some old A Tribe Called Quest stuff. Here is one of the videos that I took during the show and more can be found here. Quality has suffered quite a bit in the conversion and upload to Youtube as the originals have a much better picture.

Click here to view the embedded video.

After the show we made our way back to the hotel to rest up for the next day and night, as we new they would be a long one. We woke up and had a very good buffet breakfast at the hotel and then started to make our way towards the city center. On the way into town was St. Stephen’s Green Park and so we made our way inside to enjoy the sunshine and green, and it was quite deserted at 9:00am-ish. Next, we wandered through the streets towards Trinity College, which was the meeting point for our tour. This time we decided that we would take a historical walking tour of the city to learn more about the history of where we were visiting, and it was a great tour. It was a large group due to the holiday celebrations, but our tour guide, a Trinity College phD student, did a great job of showing us around the city and giving a 2.5-hour history lesson at the same time. Well worth it and I think we will seek them out wherever we go.

After our walking tour we grabbed some lunch and then wandered around some more in the Temple Bar district before meeting up briefly with a friend of Cindy’s from Harrogate. They went their own way and we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the evening festivities. We were supposed to meet Cindy’s friend Kat, who she went to high school with and now lives in London, but due to a passport issue (her not having it back from renewing it) she could not make it. Nevertheless, we met up with Kat’s boyfriend Ollie (the Englishmen), his sister Nicole (the Englishwoman), her boyfriend Dave (the South African) and Ollie’s friend Adam (another Englishman, a last minute substitute for Kat) at Busker’s Bar to watch the Ireland vs Scotland Six Nations Cup rugby match. Man, I have a new appreciate for rugby after that, watching it with knowledgeable people (Nicole plays) and getting a better understanding of the game – I really enjoyed it. The rest of the evening after the game was filled with Guinness flowing out of the tap and enjoying the spectacle of people making complete fools of themselves as the place transformed from a sports bar to a nightclub very quickly.

The next morning came a little too quickly, but a hearty breakfast filled the soul for some more sightseeing, the main focus being the Guinness Storehouse factory museum. It is seven floors about how Guinness is made and the history of it, with a small sampling on the third floor (shhhh, it was before noon). The seventh floor is the circular Gravity Bar with 360 degrees of windows giving you a panoramic view of the city, and a free pint of Guinness (this time it was 12:15), although I am quite sure the pint is worked into the price of admission. I really enjoyed the place and got myself a Dublin souvenir from the shop which has some exclusive items that can’t be found elsewhere. I really did grow a fondness for Guinness after the 7-8 pints the night before and then the tour. It is a mighty fine porter!

After the Guinness factory, we made our way back to the Temple Bar district for some lunch at Elephant & Castle where I had a tuna and avocado club sandwich and homemade ginger ale – oh so yum! We were both tired from our days of walking and partaking in the Irish spirit at the bars that we decided to head back to St. Stephen’s Green Park to relax on a bench and enjoy the weather before heading to the airport. I took the opportunity to pull out my telephoto lens and got some great shots of the ducks that seemed to be in a playful mood, one of which I have entered into a photo competition and it is getting a good response – see it here. With our relaxation mission accomplished, we headed to the airport and hopped on the short flight home, which was pretty uneventful except for the drunk woman behind us that proceeded to explain to the poor girl beside her about how she hates taking off (not the landing) and how when flying crashing is part of the risk – throughout the entire flight!

Another fantastic trip to add to the memory books, and maybe even a real book. I am not sure if I mentioned it, but I created a photo book with pictures from the Prague trip and I think I will do the same for this one. The quality is fantastic and it is a unique way of documenting our adventures. And now my short post is done haha. Here are some photos to chew on that show our trip – for night time pics look at Cindy’s as I left my camera in the hotel and we just took the compact with us.

And here is Cindy’s view and our night time shots….

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.

The journey started with Vince, the driver of our private car, picking us up at home in the E-Class Mercedes to bring us to the Leeds Bradford airport, where we boarded our Jet2 flight to Prague. The flight was fine except for our row companion, who decided that she deserved the window seat instead those of us who reserved it. I was in no mood to argue and just let her have it, being easier than trying to convince the big Czech woman with bad BO that they were our seats. After the 2 hour flight of her proceeding to sleep away in the window seat, we arrived in Prague at around 3pm, with the hotel limo waiting for us at the airport and then zipping us trough traffic to the K&K Central Hotel. We simply dropped off our bags and headed into town to see what was around us – which ended up being everything as the hotel truly was central. After wandering around for a few hours to get our bearings, which we never did even after 5 days in the maze that is the old town, we found a little restaurant for dinner and a beer. We thought the dinner was pretty good but in hindsight it was probably the least memorable and not the greatest value for money of the entire trip. Our bellies full of beer, and mine with beef stroganoff as well, we continued our discovery of Prague at night. We headed to the Charles Bridge which also granted us a view of the Prague Castle lit up at night. Prague is a beautiful city by day, but it truly shines at night. With our little feet and heads tired, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for what was to be a busy day 2.

Day two began with the buffet breakfast at the hotel – a breakfaster’s breakfast if you have ever seen one! First, the breakfast area is on a platform surround by a glass railing on the 2nd floor of the large room at the back of the hotel – it is as if you are suspended and floating in the middle of the room. Tres cool! Then there is the food, all of it extremely tasty and nothing lacking from the selection – champagne available to start the day off right. Breakfast was always something to look forward to, and we did!

After getting the energy we needed for the day, we proceeded to head to the Charles Bridge to get to the other side of the river, the plan being to climb up the hill to the “Little Eiffel Tower” and then march over to the Prague Castle from there. We proceeded to walk up the hill towards the tower, but it very quickly became mountain climbing on some of the trails. They were steep and our buns of steel were getting a workout! We would take a small break after we reached a new plateau, but the damn kindergartners from the school at the bottom of the hill were keeping a torrent pace, and we would be damned if they were going to pass us! The pain of climbing the hill was short lived though, and the views of Prague it gave us were easily worth it. Unfortunately, the Perin Tower (aka the Little Eiffel Tower by the locals) is only open on Sat & Sun and so we couldn’t go up. It was now about 11am and we started to make our downward (ya!!) journey towards the castle – a treacherous one at times with the combination of snow, steep trails and running shoes.

Once in town and heading towards the castle, we set our sights on finding a place to grab a bite to eat. We continued to do our technique of aimlessly meandering until we stumbled upon something, and it worked yet again. The place didn’t look like much from the outside with just a bunch of various advertisements, one of them announcing the special of beef goulash with dumplings and homemade strudel for 190kc, but what a gem we found. We walked into a low-ceiling, cave-like restaurant that smelled of cigarettes and we grabbed a seat to gaze around at all the nik-naks that filled the place – typewriters, irons and phonographs appearing to be the main themes. We ordered two of the specials and two Pilsner Urquells to enjoy with the ambiance this little treat oozed, which was exactly what we were looking for – Czech ambiance! The food and beer was delicious, and with our tummies full we had to bid farewell as we had more sightseeing to do.

To make an unbearably long story somewhat less painful, we walked around the castle, cathedral and surrounding area and took lots of pictures. You can probably follow the tour by viewing the photos. There, that saved about 3 hours worth of sightseeing ramblings by me. Let’s see, what did we do next after that…. Oh, we wandered around some more, went shopping in the big mall down from our hotel (didn’t buy anything but we were on the hunt for purple shoes for Cindy for the wedding) and then back to the hotel to rest for a bit before dinner. In our stroll trough town the night before, we came across a sushi place that looked pretty good and so that is where we headed back to after the sun went down, since we don’t have any sushi here in Harrogate and we are going through withdrawals. It wasn’t the best sushi we have ever had (that is still MHK in Ottawa) but it was still very good, and the service was impeccable. The waiter might as well have just sat down with us as he was always there just as we needed something. I am pretty sure we wandered around town again some more before heading back to the hotel to rest, 21 kilometers having passed beneath the soles of our shoes for the day. I valiant touristic adventure for our first full day!

Two nights down and two to go! I will post again tomorrow with the rest of the trip as I am sure you need a break as much as I do. Here are some pics from the first two days and there are plenty more to follow, as well as Cindy’s bunch. This trip was well documented photographically…

The squirrel and I had some fun…

This may be my last post for quite a few days as we are heading to Prague around noon on Wednesday. Woot! We will be spending four nights in the city and are really looking forward to it. I think we have internet in our room at the hotel, but I don’t know how good it will be or if it will be free. If it is usable then I may try to do a post from Prague (which would be really cool), but otherwise you can look forward to some pictures when we get back on Sunday night!