Plague (Plahg) Brog: Heidi's Top 5

So, let's say you want to go to Prague, but you only have one day to do "not the usual tourist thing"?

I'm the kind of person that goes to the "big sights" just to say I've been there, but I really get my traveling kicks doing "normal" things around town.  I like feeling like I live somewhere, not so much like I'm just paying to stare at [granted, I know that I'm staring at really cool] things.  So, if your touristy style is sort of like mine, then you might think about checking these things out.

#5:  Walk around the Castle District and Malá Strana

Loreta Church

You don't get completely out of the tourist zone in the Castle District, but since it's up a pretty steep hill past the already steep Castle hill, there just aren't as many people up there.  I liked walking up to the Strahov Monastery with its bell towers and bright, white walls.  The roads near the monastery and down to the castle are all pretty quiet and residential, with little old churches and gardens around every corner, it seems.

Along Nový Svět

My favorite road in the Castle District was this little lane called Nový Svět that began behind a few hidden turns near the Loreta church.  The Loreta has a replica of what is believed to be the house St. Mary lived in during the Annunciation.  I would have loved to see it, but we were there after it closed.   Nový Svět ends at the gates of Prague Castle, which is convenient for reorienting yourself at the end of your walk.  I loved the windy streets, flower boxes, colorful walls, teeeeny houses, and intricate doors, lanterns, and doorknobs along this street.

Zámecké schody

To get down from the hill and back into the lower neighborhood of Malá Strana, take the stairs that run along the south of the Castle complex.  We came across the stairs by accident after using the more obvious, sloped roadway to the castle on our way up.  But, the stairs give you a totally better view and take you past some small, not-as-touristy souvenir and Trdelník pastry shops.  We bought our single souvenir along those stairs--a blown egg, dyed blue and etched with a traditional flower design.  It was love at first sight--I just hope I can keep it in one piece.

One last sales pitch-- the stairway is called "Zámecké schody" which just... makes me happy.

Churchill and I

Then, of course, there's Malá Strana, running along the river across from the older, more touristy part of the city.  We stayed over there, so we got to see it a bit.  I really liked seeing old German street names still painted on some walls from when Prague was under the Hapsburgs.  Plus, it's where a lot of the embassies are based, so we walked by our legal homeland for a bit and noticed that Great Britain had installed a Churchill sculpture on their block.

Then, of course, there is The Bambino.  It's a wax doll of the baby Jesus that is enshrined in a church in the neighborhood.  Apparently it has quite a cult following and you can easily find its church from all the Bambino souvenier shops across the street.  We saw the Bambino.  We were duly reverent about it.  We saw the photo on the wall showing when the Pope saw the Bambino.  The Pope!  So, you might want to see the Bambino--if only so you can keep saying "Bambino" as you walk to it.


Of course, one of the best things about >Malá Strana is its most beloved Cafe Savoy.  It was around the corner from our hotel, which I took to mean it was fate that we were meant to be together.

#4 Eat at Cafe Savoy and/or Cafe Imperial

Do it.  

I. Love. Good. Food.   And this is where you find it.

And when you go downstairs to the
restrooms, you can look through this
window into the kitchen!
Their gift to the Top Chef
fans of the world.

We just had soup for a meal at the Cafe Savoy and it was one of the most blissful culinary experiences I've had in my life.  SOUP!    Cream of Pea soup!  Of all the soups!  When I get an empty bowl with this pureed potato and crouton sculpture in the middle and then a waiter comes up and slowly pours my [unbelievably good] soup into the bowl in an arty, refined way?   Well, yes, I will love you forever.

I liked the Cafe Savoy because our waiter didn't speak a lick of English.  That can be scary...but it's also a good sign.  You know what else is a good sign?  The fact that this place is perpetually busy.  So, might think about making a reservation.  (Totally Worth It).

The apple strudel there was amazing too.  After struggling through trying to order our soup in really, really bad Czech to our poor confused waiter, there was absolutely no language barrier when we just pointed to the apple strudel display.  He looked at us with a huuuge smile and a knowing nod that said, "You really are intelligent beings, aren't you?"

We went there a few times.  For the strudel.  We were really annoying about the strudel, actually.   It was Hunn crack.

Cafe Imperial, after a late-night meal

I will pay for another train ticket
just to go get more of these eggs.

Then, there's the Cafe Imperial.  It's a little less expensive than the Cafe Savoy (neither one actually being expensive in comparison to American or other European prices), and I had some pretty great food there too.  It's located closer to the main tourist center, a couple blocks away from the famous "Powder Tower."  I'll always love the Cafe Imperial because they let me order Eggs Benedict and Boar with Dumplings at the same time, at 9:30pm, without giving me too much of a "you're weird" eye roll about it.  It was my first try at eggs benedict, and all other egg dishes are now ruined for me.  It was that good.  I could have eaten their eggs benedict all day long till the end of time.  

I'm drooling as I type.  It's very embarrassing.

#3:  Compare Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque religious architecture

One of the cooler things I thought about our Prague trip was that I got to see fantastic examples of a Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque church in the same day.  For anyone who has taken and actually remember a bit from Humanities 201 and 202, that's sort of the architectural order big European churches went in history (And I know I'm excluding others like Rococo, Renaissance, Neo-gothic, and all that).   I loved my Humanities degree, and so I still remember a lot about the way arches and vaulting changed through the middle ages and through the renaissance into the modern age.  But, it was so amazing to see all those lectures played out in real life in a 12 hour period!

We went to a birthday concert for Paul at St. George's
Basilica, building began in 920 A.D

Had a tour of St. Vitus Cathedral, building
began in 1344 AD

And we wandered (overwhelmed) through
St. Nicholas Cathedral, building
began in 1702 AD

It's getting physically painful for me to refrain from launching into a very spirited regurgitation of four years of humanities lectures in reference to these three pictures, so I'm just going to move on.  Quickly.

#2:  Walk through the Old Market Square and across Charles Bridge at 10pm (or later)

And it helps to have a handsome
companion on these romantic
wanderings

I understand that touristy places begin to be touristy for a reason--usually because they're really cool.  So, here's my thing.  You totally need to see the area around the  Old Market Square and walk across the Charles Bridge when you go to Prague.  Totally.  They are really beautiful, amazing places.  But, my favorite time to go through these main attractions was definitely late at night.  Everything is lit up beautifully, you can stroll across the river without a crowd.  You can stop and listen to that dude play Mozart melodies with water-filled crystal goblets or watch the puppeteer putting away his marionette show.  You can climb the astronomical clock tower and see a beautiful view, grab a cup of hot chocolate, and it's all just very romantic .  I loved it.  It was my favorite time to be out and in the city.

#1:  Petřín and the Funicular

All time favorite thing.  It was so incredibly not-touristy to ride that funicular to the top of Petřín hill that I could hardly contain my glee.  Plus, if anyone has watched more than one season of The Amazing Race, you know that there is usually some kind of funicular that someone is going to have to ride at some point, and this was my Amazing Race funicular.    It made me incredibly happy.  Plus, only crazies would hike all the way to the top of that hill without some transportation help.  


Once we were at the top, I decided that Petřín was my favorite place in Prague.  See the rose garden, the observatory, the mirror maze, the mini-eiffel tower observatory, and hike around in all those miles and miles of trails through the trees and across the apple orchard meadow.  It didn't hurt that we were there right when all the leaves were changing colors.  It was so beautiful.  It was actually the only place we deliberately went to see twice.  I think you might end up doing the same thing when you go to Prague.

You might find me there.  Right on that second bench on the right, looking out over the meadow toward the city, eating my Trdelnik.

Plague (Plahg) Brog: Sgraffito and Metalwork

It was kind of hard not to notice it...

Plague (Plahg) Brog, The Great Strudel Adventure

We had a handful of "missions" we decided were essential during our trip to Prague.  They ranged from "Ride Funicular" to "Eat game in elegant setting" to "See Wenceslas' tomb" to "Find THE STRUDEL."

Way, way back, five months ago, we checked out a series of travel documentaries from our little public library.  One was a thirty-minute episode on Prague and though it included a variety of very interesting facts and places (the cafe where you can pay to throw stale donuts at anyone you like, for example), we kind of fixated on the little, one-room, orange-painted, neighborhood Strudel bakery that was located somewhere in the mysterious outer limits of municipal Prague, or, as the ever-positive hostess of the show said, it's "a little off the beaten path."

I mean, look at the SIZE of that thing!

It was clearly the kind of place that no normal tourist would ever know about (+5 points).  It was clearly a "real" experience since the one guy who ran the store obviously understood absolutely no English (+2 points).  And finally, you got what was some of the best apple strudel in the world for around $2...and it was, like, the size of your leg (+1000 points).



We were going to find this place.  We were going to find it and buy a strudel and eat it all right there on the road curb in front.  It was going to be glorious.

We spent nearly an hour online looking for the address of this mysterious strudel bakery, and we found it: confirmed by a picture of the orange paint and the gigantic pastries.  Also confirmed that this place, with no other name than "Strudl" had no phone number or website.  We knew it was a risk to trek into the boondocks without knowing if it even still existed, but we decided to take it (plus there was a review from August 2011, so ...that was good right?).

The day of the Strudel Search was Paul's birthday and that was his dream birthday cake.  And, like, what bakery isn't open on a Saturday morning?  And what dream bakery isn't open on the exact day is has to be open to fulfill a good man's pastry dreams?  I ask you!

I'm sure you've all guessed by now that after walking three and a half miles up and down hills, along freeways, under overpasses, and past sketchy nightclubs with names like "Go Go Go," we found our Strudel Place.  Still painted orange.  Still with its three-item chalk menu (apple, poppy seed, or cheese strudel).  Still with its $2 prices.  Still squeezed in on the first half-floor of a large, communist-style apartment building.

Still...closed since the day before for a vacation.  Not to open again till ten minutes before our train from Prague left the station.

It was so. so. so. sad.

We solemnly vowed, right then and there, that we would someday return and claim our arm-sized strudels! It's going to happen, people.  It's going to happen.

Since it wasn't going to happen that exact weekend however, we "settled" for the jablkovy zavin (apple strudel) of the Cafe Savoy.  A slice only the size of your entire hand for $2, granted.  But, man, if this orange-painted strudel place is supposed to be "The Best Strudel in the World" then I'm at a loss as to how it can be any better than what we ended up "settling" for.  It might, in fact, defy the laws of the universe.

I guess we'll see...

But as for the Cafe Savoy, well, we might have gone back twice within a three hour period to get apple strudel.  The waiter might have rolled his eyes just a leeeeeettle bit at us.  But he can't get perturbed.  He's the one peddling the addiction.  But the cafes are a totally different story, one I'll tell later.

Plague (Plahg) Brog, Day 1

When your husband has a slip of the tongue and says "What should we write about first in our Plague brogs?" as you stand in the middle of a beautiful, old town square...you remember it.

***************************

It took eight hours to get to Prague from our little city station way up here on the coast.  Which, if you think about it, isn't so bad.  That's like a trip to Seattle from Coos Bay.  The trains, however, are a little hit and miss. Our first train was fast and had down-filled seats and a soothing voice that said, "Meinen damen und herren..." every time we approached a major stop.  Our second train made everything below our eyeballs fall asleep.

So it goes.

The major upside was that the trip between Dresden and Prague was gorgeous, as we stayed in a river canyon for most of the way, surrounded by beautiful fall colors on the trees and little villages clustered along the cliffs.  Everyone should go somewhere beautiful in October.  Everyone should go see fall colored trees.

When we arrived in Prague, we were a little skittish.  That happens when you spend five hours on a train reading guidebooks that say things like, "Pickpockets abound!"  (Besides, who even uses the word "abound" anymore?)   So, we shuffled off the train with our bag wrapped around our arms, giving shifty looks at everyone until it took us about fifteen seconds to realize that Prague was just a regular city and we didn't have to walk around with our backpack zippers twisty-tied.  Wallets went into inside coat pockets or deep layered, zipper pockets in our bag, and that was about all we had to do.  We didn't see any pickpockets abounding, at least.  But, maybe that's just a summer thing.

We pulled 3000 koruna from the atm (nothing makes you feel richer than countries with a 25 to 1 exchange rate).  And set off to find our hotel.

Mala Strana, the best place to stay in Prague.  AND  I want you to know that I totally took this picture.

We got lost.

And then we found our hotel.

Then we went on an adventure to find something diverting and hopefully involving classical music.

We got lost.

And then we found out that, in Prague, there are about 1599345 different classical concerts happening every night.  We chose an oboe-featuring quartet that was playing Smetana and Dvorak.  It was in the basement of a palace and was heated--or so it prominently told me on the flyer.  'Bout had an oboe-beauty-induced heart attack there, but I recovered and we went to go find something to eat.

We got lost.

Wound up at the Grand Cafe Orient around 9pm which was magical.  It's an old flapper-era cafe with 1920's music playing in the background and at the top of an almost surrealist, wavy, oblong spiral staircase.  What better place to have pancakes and duck?  No better place I tell you.

Came to find out later that it's in a building called the "House of the Black Madonna" which is a famous example of cubist/art deco architecture.  Huh.  The things you accidentally find when you get lost in Prague.  Go for the style, not necessarily for the food, though the hot chocolate was very good.  There are other cafes that are so, so very much better if you want a culinary experience, and I'll tell you about them later.

We wandered back over the Charles Bridge around 10pm toward Mala Strana, slowly taking in the beautiful old square, old town, riverfront, and the castle on the hill.

Getting some good luck from St. Jan of Nepomuk
on Charles Bridge at night, castle in the
background.

Old Town Square at Night

Then we got lost.

Dreaming of Boar

Cafe Imperial in Prague

We leave for Prague on Friday morning and while Paul is spending his days in an apoplexy of glee about seeing Prague castle, I have to tell you that my particular fantasies revolve around the food.

We're going to eat out at the Cafe Imperial and the Cafe Savoy at least once each just so I can enjoy everything about them--the huge windows, those gorgeous tiles on the ceiling, and the food.  Oh, the food.

I'm kind of set on having my first eggs benedict at the Cafe Imperial, because it has such good reviews on its eggs dishes (and 4 euro for an eggs benedict breakfast?  sign me up!)

And for dinner?  Who can beat having traditional wild boar with ham dumplings?  Or a leg of hare?   Did you hear me?!  A leg of hare!  I mean, HELLO CZECH REPUBLIC!  I'm totally eating rabbit, boar, or both by the time we get back to Germany next week.

Convalescent

"We have been ill at the outpost.  Terribly ill with chills and the feint.  Some vapor or corruption of the water has overtaken our small party."

I actually don't know if people ever said "the feint" but it sounded like something someone would write to their friends and family if they were sick in a faraway land.

And so it has been with us.  Which mostly explains the lack of writing...though, I suppose, being sick you might expect me to be spending more time on a computer writing.  But, it's just not been happening.

Instead, we spent our convalescence trolling the internet for hours and hours at a time looking for cheap deals to Prague and Istanbul.

Galata Bridge in Istanbul

 Then we actually purchased things like train tickets and hotel reservations!  --What brave new world is this?--  Instead of just watching the Amazing Race and sending pining looks to the TravelZoo Top 20's, we're actually, you know, doing them.

For example, getting  Lucia di Lammermoor tickets for
14 euro at the Prague State Opera.

Which caused us to send out weak, sad-sounding cheers and then fall back into our bed wheezing.  Occasionally, in the darkness of our be-blinded bedroom, one of us will occasionally get up the energy to say "Hey.  We're going to Prague and we're going to hear Pachabel!  In Prague Castle!  On your 30th birthday!...what!? ::nose blowing::"  or "Istanbul.  We can get a Turkish Bath in Istanbul and go to the Spice Market and see the Hagia Sophia ...what?! ::cough::"    It's very exciting over here in The Garrett, let me tell you.

I also think part of our exhaustion, other than the sickness, might have something to do with this:

Miles Walked

Sunday: 4.2

Monday: 7.2

Tuesday: 2.5

Wednesday: 7.4

Thursday: 4.5

Friday: 3.4

Saturday: 10.3

Yes, I've been keeping track.  Mostly because I find mapmyrun.com semi-addictive, but also because keeping track of distances is just something I do.  So, check me out, I've gone from walking .3 miles a day to walking 5+ miles a day--Welcome to Europe.

Schloss Schwerin (Schwerin Palace) - We went to there.*

And I'm proud to report that, even with watery eyes and sore throats we sucked it up and ventured forth on Saturday to go look for an adventure.  I'm sorry to anyone who touched a door handle after us--but it really was a lovely day!

We went to Schwerin and Wismar and found a palace and a friendly swan and a freaky ghost and a pig bridge and a monument to mooning.  You should check it out at this link (for the internet beginner, that means you can just left-click on these words right here.).

*Shout out to all the 30 Rock fans.