Prague

Wednesday Dec 24-28

I had a terrible sleep! It took me over an hour to fall asleep (close to 1am) because my hips, knees, and legs were aching and I was coughing. I got up once to rub tiger balm on and then again to take an Aleve. Finally I feel asleep - but was awake before our 5am alarm! And, I have lost my voice - Merry Christmas Bill! 

It was lightly snowing when we left - maybe Vienna will have a white Christmas! 

We took a taxi to the train station and had enough time for me to grab a matcha latte - the train coffee shop - Strock -  was really nice and the pastries looked great! 

We played our first game of Quirkle Rummy - Bill won the first game. I won the second game. Bill had a nap and I closed my eyes for a while. He had his doggie bag strudel and I had my hard boiled eggs, banana, and the plums from the strudel. 

We arrived around 11am and took a taxi the our hotel, Mosaic House Design Hotel. We headed out in search of Christmas markets - we walked through a small one and then went St Ludmily’s Basilica. There was a Christmas Market in the square, although many stalls were closed, we were able to have a hot mead (honey, not beer) in a plastic Christmas cup and a beer. We had a delicious meal of sausage and fried ham. 

We hopped on a tram and went across the river to Charles Bridge. We walked across the bridge and had dipped down to the Christmas Market under the bridge to check it out - very pretty and everyone was very festive. We continued over the bridge and went into the Old Town Square that is surrounded by beautiful architecture and cobblestone streets and alleys. The sidewalk is black and white stones like Lisbon. There was a large Christmas market in Old Town Square - very pretty decorations, a huge tree, a large carved wooden nativity scene (from a giant tree stump?), and lots of booths with food, drink, and crafts. They do not have any mugs - just paper cups. So disappointing. This is definitely a popular spot today thought! Lots of people in the general area and lots of people wandering around the market. Nearby is the Old Town City Hall with a famous and beautiful Astronomical Clock and St Nicolas Church. The tall spires behind the Christmas tree is Tyn Church. We had a hot beverage and then headed back to our hotel to warm up. We are finally seeing a bit of the sun but it does not feel warm - despite not being damp, there is a cold breeze which is making it feel like -9 degrees. 

We had Christmas Eve Dinner at W Restaurant. It was a set menu and we had beef carpaccio and shrimp with our Prosecco. I had the ribeye and Bill had the filet mignon for mains. Bill ordered a whiskey along with our dessert -chocolate mousse and raspberries with cream. The meal was very good but the service was lacking. 

We watched Falling for Christmas and White Christmas from bed until late while enjoying some red wine. 

Thursday Dec 25

We woke up late and watched Office Christmas Party and drank Prosecco, ate some chocolate and nuts, and opened our presents. I love my new Tiffany bracelet!! Bill brought a pot of tea up to the room so I could soothe my croaky voice. It seems to be helping as I can actually talk a bit today. 

We walked down to Wenceslaus Square for a Christmas market among beautiful buildings and shops. There is a large skating rink and lots of food and drink here. No mugs! We found a spot that they are roasting a ham on a spit - the perfect thing for brunch! 

We did a bit of the walking tour in the area - New Town - we saw St Henry’s Tower and toured Jubilee Synagogue - we were harassed by the guard here because we wanted to return to tour the main floor after getting forced outside after looking at the displays upstairs. Then we walked towards the beautiful Municipal House. We popped inside to peek at the cafes - gorgeous! 

We strolled back into the Old Town and took a break at the Paris Cafe in Hotel Paris to warm up. I had tea and Bill hijacked my Pink Sour cocktail because he did not like his vodka and blackberry cocktail. We enjoyed the pianist playing some 80’s music, including the Wham Christmas song!! 

We walked by Powder Tower and then headed back to the hotel. 

We watched The Family Stone and then headed to SOVA for dinner. It was a lovely spot with a beautiful giant wreath - evergreen, eucalyptus, silver dollars, branches, holly, pines, balls, red strings and ribbons, white and gold strands, moss and thistles. 

I had a Becherovka Sour - herby and delicious! We had a bottle of red and a complimentary Prosecco for my birthday! Our amuse bouche arrived in a cloche filled with smoke. It had carp and potatoes in a tart - a nod to their Christmas traditional meal. We shared the scallop & shrimp ceviche and venison tataki appetizers - both were excellent. I had the duck breast and Bill had Zander. The duck was incredibly good. For dessert the ginger mousse and “cherry” were beautiful and delicious! We had a complimentary black currant digestive that I really enjoyed. 

We stopped by W Restaurant to collect our deposit back. 

At the hotel we had drinks in the lounge and played Sosig - a game to make sausages! Bill won by one but we really did not follow the rules 100%. Then we tied playing Quirkle Rummy. 

Friday Dec 26

Another sleep in morning since we stayed up late last night. We did not move very fast because we were watching Spy Game (and my tummy is not doing great). 

We walked to Wenceslaus Christmas market again. We had a sausage and roasted ham - this one was even better than the one yesterday. We had some cracklin’ with it - so good! 

We walked to the National Museum and had to queue up outside because it was full inside. Just when we had decided to leave and return later, we were all allowed to enter. As per usual we had an issue with the cloakroom but eventually figured it out. After climbing multiple stairs and walking by more stairs and elevators, we entered the sculpture room. Off this was the rock room, dinosaurs, and then found the area that had the history of the  Czech Republic. Bill seemed to learn a lot about the ruling of Charles and Wenceslaus. I think it all went over my head. 

We had a bottle of Prosecco while snacking on truffle popcorn at the very sexy Alcron lounge at the Alrcron Hotel. The drink menu is fun - great drawings of infamous people related to the hotel that have inspired the cocktails, including a short explanation. 

Due to my cold and roiling stomach, I have zero energy today, so we headed back to the room and I had a nap.

We crossed the river to have dinner at Czech Slovak. It was a charming little spot and we had very enthusiastic service. We asked about wine and were treated to a small tasting of three great red wines, we selected Manan - very good! We had chicken and pork pate and Prague snails - yum! I had the duck confit with sautéed cabbage and Bill had the venison (deer, boar) goulash - both were amazing. For dessert we had red wine soaked pears with absinthe flambé! Overall a great meal, with great service, at a great price! Well worth the chilly trek! 

We had a couple of cocktails at a popular bar - Hemmingways.

Joe Berlinger doc on Metallica  I started with a French 75 and Bill had a scotch. We decided to try something different since we had drink envy. We had Winter is Coming in a black goblet and an Absinthe that came with a tower. We enjoyed our drinks and great service by a girl that reminded me of Dr Mel King in The Pitt. She did a great job of sharing the inspiration for the bar and describing our cocktails. We were able to unwind and enjoy the drinks while people watching in our cozy oversized leather chairs by the bar. 

We returned to the room and finished watching Spy Games. 

Saturday Dec 27

We woke up late and had to hop on the tram to the base of the castle - which comes no where close to the castle. We were faced with a mountain of 121 steps (seems like more) to get to the base of the castle fortification. We had been surprised with how busy Prague was and after our arrival discovered that all the timed entrances to the castle were booked.  Luckily we found 1 guided tour that we reserved but because they didn’t have us pay online didn’t know if we were even going to get in. I waited in one line and Bill circled the other courtyard and cathedral looking for the right ticket office. My back was throbbing, so I waited on a cold iron bench while Bill battled the crowds to pay for our group guided tour. Unbeknownst to me, he was accosted by an angry lady inside who called the ticket agent a “bitch” - Drama!! 

Eventually everything was sorted and we started the tour, escaping the massive throng in the small ticket office. Our guided tour began in St Vitus Cathedral. The highlights were the St Wenceslaus Chapel - with over 1,300 semi-precision stones and frescoes depicting his life. The Coronation jewels are stored here - 7 important local figures have to be here at the same time to open the vault to view them. We saw replicas later on in the tour. There were beautiful stained glass windows and a massive silver tomb behind the altar for St John of Nepomuk - most spectacular tomb I’ve ever seen. Outside was a large and beautiful mosaic of the Last Judgement. 

From there we did a quick tour of two rooms in the castle - a banquet room and we had a sneak peek from a balcony with a gorgeous view of the city (a nice perk from a guided tour). 

After the tour we were starving - so we descended partway down the hill to a Pivo & Basilico Caffe Restaurant. Bill ordered a large beer and I had a hot tea because I was chilled to the bone! The lemon ravioli and branzino with spinach was really good. Before lunch we stopped at an ornament store and bought our peacock for the tree! So pretty! 

We hopped on a bus and stopped at St Anthony of Padua - it had a large detailed nativity scene. 

We went to the National Art Gallery - Trade Fair Place. It has masterpieces spanning many periods of history. I enjoyed the Picasso - Self-portrait, Paul Gauguin’s - Bonjour Monsieur Gauguin, Bohumil Kubista’s - The Promenade in the Rieger Gardens, Ludvik Kohl’s - St Vitus Cathedral, Rudolf Alt’s - Tyn Church with Krocin’s Fountain, Jiri Jilovsky’s - Hradcany in Winter, Jan Sararik’s - Boulevard Des Italiens, Milos Jiranek’s - Showers in Prague (a naked butt), Claude Monet’s - Orchard in Bloom, Antonio Hudecek’s - Moonscape, Josef Tulka’s - The Death of St Ludmila, Emil Jan Lauffer’s - Kriemhild’s Accusation, Gustavo Klimt’s - The Virgin, Vincent Van Gogh’s - Green Wheat Field.

Bill thought it was interesting that they took a functional 70s corporate building intended for trade and developed it into an impressive world renowned art gallery. They did an interesting way of categorizing the art - all landscapes were grouped together, all portraits were grouped together, and so on. He thought that was a unique and interesting way to display the art. He liked that Munch and Picasso pieces that were combined with other artists works. 

We then did a beer tour of Pilsner Urquell. It was cheesy, but as expected. Nothing can match the Guinness tour in Dublin! 

We had planned a big blowout meal for dinner, but I had mistakenly booked our reservation on a date in October instead of December! They did not have any room for us, so we headed back toward our hotel and had tapas and wine for dinner - good warm up for our trip in February to Spain! 

December 28 

Back to the frigid Canadian winter! It was nice to be home for a snuggle with the girls!