After another round of unimpressive Czech food yesterday (we tried a “Czech feast for two” at the restaurant across the street that the guy at reception recommended and it was a giant portion of various meat without much taste), we’ve officially decided to give up ordering “traditional” Czech dishes at restaurants since the Czech diet of massive quantities of meat and starch doesn’t suit us.  Instead, today we went looking for eurodogs, a type of hot dog which involves sticking a wiener inside a baguette that has a hole cut into it instead of a cut-open bun.  Unlike what we read on TripAdvisor, in the middle of October, eurodogs are not easy to find…

We had a rest and took a day off from sightseeing yesterday, so today we took the metro back to Powder Tower, one of Prague’s 13 originial city gates built in 1475.  We had ended our day in this area on Sunday and I wanted to go back to the nearby Municipal House to inquire about concert events since the Czech National Symphony Orchestra plays here.  Unfortunately Paul’s work schedule conflicted with the evening concert time so we weren’t able to hear them play.  In hindsight, we should have gone to see the National Symphony Orchestra on Saturday since they only play a few times a week and done the Don Giovanni Marionette show on Sunday since they play everyday, but hindsight is always 20/20

From here we followed our plan to walk to Wenceslas Square, named after Saint Wenceslas, patron saint of Bohemia (like me, you might know him from the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas) and then continued to walk to the main square, Staroměstské náměstí (Old Town Square).  On TripAdvisor I had read that there are many hot dog vendors here, but we couldn’t find a single one as we walked around!  Since we now had our minds set on eating hot dogs, we continued walking for another 30 minutes until we got across Charles Bridge, a large pedestrian only bridge that connects Old Town to Prague Castle, but couldn’t find anywhere that sold hot dogs! 

When we got to the St. Nicholas Cathedral, we were ready to give up on our eurodog search when I spotted a small stand near the tram station that looked like it sold food.  We walked over and were happy to find that they sold hot dogs, but not the eurodog kind (oddly enough, they use hamburger buns for the hot dogs)!  At this point, it didn’t matter what type of bun it was, we just needed food so we grabbed two large hot dogs and happily ate them as we walked around to find the entrance to the cathedral. 

After almost 8 months in Europe, we’re rather bored with churches (although I still enjoy looking at some of the interiors), so when we found out it’s 89 Czech crowns (about $6 Canadian) to go inside, we both decided we’d rather have another hot dog!  I waited for someone to come out the exit to have a peek inside to see if it might be worth going into, and the rather snotty French lady coming out gave me a condescending look and pointed me at the entrance.  Busy-body know-it-all tourists like these, I must say, is one of my biggest pet peeves – it’s not like I’m trying to sneak into the church, I just want to see what it’s like inside so mind your own business!  If I want your help I’ll ask you!

Since we’ve spent two days in Prague without trying any “Czech specialty dishes,” we set out today to explore more of Old Town and find a Czech restaurant to eat at.  Unfortunately, our decision to randomly trya place called Restaurace U Golema turned out to be a bad one, and our first experience of Czech food was deeply disappointing.  Hopefully it can only go up from here…

We started today at the Prague Metronome, a giant metronome in Letná Park on the spot where a giant statue of Stalin stood in the 50s.  I’m not sure what the point of the metronome is, but the climb up a steep set of stairs to get to it was worthwhile because you get a pretty good view of Prague from where the metronome stands.  The metronome itself was neat, but without the view, it would not have been worth the climb!

From there we crossed the Chechuv bridge to go back to Old Town and ended up in the Jewish Ghetto, which is a beautiful area full of really pretty buildings.  Although the synagogues here had the prettiest exteriors I’ve seen so far in Europe, we didn’t stop to go inside because we were focused on finding somewhere to eat.  As we wandered around checking out restaurants, we ended up on a street full of designer shops, and window shopping momentarily distracted me from the need to eat.  But, after a quick peek at LV to compare prices to buying in Canada (you save about 15% by buying here), we decided to try the next restaurant we saw which had “Bohemian specialty” dishes on their menu.

Although the Restaurace U Golema has an interesting theme (it’s decor/name is related to the story of Golem, a Jewish folklore about a rabbi who created a monster named Golem) and a large menu to choose from, the food left much to be desired.  I chose a dish of wild boar from their “fresh game menu” and it didn’t taste fresh at all – the boar was completely overcooked, the sauce was wacky (like a combination of gravy and chinese pineapple sweet and sour sauce that usually goes on chicken balls), and the potato croquettes it came with tasted like tater tots.  Paul ordered the lunch special which came with a tastless beef broth soup, a plate of beef goulash with potato dumplings that tasted ok but not great, and a wacky dessert which tasted like those sweetheart candies you used to get for halloween crushed into a cake.  Even the Czech beers (Pilsner and Budweiser) we got for drinks left much to be desired – I asked for a sweet beer and the guy brought me a Pilsner, which actually has a very bitter aftertaste – to the point where halfway through, I couldn’t drink anymore. 

After lunch we continued walking and shopping, but the bad food/beer made me start to feel nauseus and we ended up heading back to our hotel early.  Worsening our lunch experience, when we got the bill we found out they don’t take credit card (even though this isn’t exactly a cheap restaurant), so we rounded up the total to the nearest 100 and left cash.  But, when we got back to our hotel, I looked at the receipt and noticed that they had included a 15% service charge, but that amount was shown in smaller print under the total so I didn’t notice it when I first looked at the bill and we left an extra 10% tip for bad food and bad service!  From now on I’ll have to examine our bills more carefully before paying…

After a brutally long 7 hour train ride in one of the old school style trains where you sit in compartments containing 6 seats/compartment, we arrived in the much anticipated city of Prague yesterday.  We spent some time at the mall next to our hotel and then crashed early, catching up on some sleep.  Today, we headed out to begin exploring Prague, starting at the huge castle and finishing with a marionette version of Mozart’s Don Giovanni opera.  So far, Prague is not quite living up to the hype everyone gives it…

Prague Castle is, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the largest coherent castle complex in the world.  Unlike other castles we’ve visited, there is no clear “entrance” because it’s made up of a number of palaces and ecclesiastical buildings.  When we got there, I didn’t have a clue where to begin!  We checked out a garden, wandered into what we think is a free art exhibit featuring a Czech artist named Josef Čapek, and then ended up at Saint Vitus’s Cathedral at the center of the castle complex.  Since there was a huge line up to go in (despite the cold weather, Prague still has a lot of tourists), we decided not to bother and went to the nearby ticket office instead to figure out how to visit the inside of the castle. 

Unlike most other castles we’ve been to, at Prague castle you choose the type of “tour” you wish to have (basically choose the number of buildings you wish to visit).  The Old Royal Palace can only be visited as part of the short or long tour, not on it’s own.  We opted for the short tour, which includes a self-guided visit to the Old Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica, and the Golden Lane with Daliborka Tower.  In hindsight, we may as well have  just done the long tour, which includes several other buildings (including the National Gallery) for not much price difference.

The Old Royal Palace was mostly just big empty rooms which probably would have been more intersting with the audio guide, but Paul and I argued again about the importance of listening to an audio guide (he still hates them), and since we hadn’t eaten lunch yet, I let him win and opted for no audio guide so we could finish our tour more quickly.  Perhaps having the guide would have changed my opinion, but from what I saw, there’s not much worth seeing!  You don’t get to visit much of the Palace, and the parts you do see are very poorly organized (you can’t tell which way you’re supposed to turn because it’s a bunch of small, seperate rooms/towers branching out from the main hall in different directions rather than following one specific path from start to finish). 

St. George’s Basilica was a nice but small church, which took a grand total of 15 minutes to see.  I think it would have made more sense if they charged you to go into Saint Vitus’s and made St. George’s free!  The last part of our tour, the Golden Lane, was completely ridiculous – it’s just a street full of small gift shops!  I don’t know why they make you pay to go to a street full of shops, but they do.  The only thing that made this part worth seeing at all was the Daliborka Tower at the end, which houses a small prison in the lower part.

Once we finished touring the castle, we headed across the famous Charles Bridge to Old Town, in search of somewhere to eat.  Unable to decide on a restaurant, we ended up in the main square, Staroměstské náměstí, where we saw numerous vendors selling various types of food.  We decided to try some fire-roasted pork, which was delicious and juicy at first, but tasted not so good when it got cold 10 minutes after we got it because we were eating outside in zero degree weather.  When we noticed a couple of homeless guys nearby, picking leftovers out of the garbage, we offered them the remaining half of our cold pork and they happily accepted.  They were even more happy when we returned a few minutes later and gave them hot wine, which we had accidentally bought while trying to order goulash soup at the next stand we went to.  At least nothing went to waste!

After eating a bit more, we wandered around Old Town, getting pestered at every street corner by people handing out flyers for concerts happening this evening.  We considered a few options, talking about what kind of concert we would maybe want to see, and just as Paul brought up the fact that Don Giovanni was first premiered in Prague so that might be cool to see, we stumbled upon a marionette theatre featuring Don Giovanni.  We went to inquire about tickets for tonight’s show, and the lady said there were only 10 tickets left.  We decided we may as well give it a try, purchased our tickets, and then went to wander around to kill two hours before the concert.

This was the first time either of us has sat through an entire opera (although I’m not sure if tonight’s performance was a condensed version because it was only an hour and fifteen minutes long) and it was quite an interesting experience.  A few years ago, at a fundraising event, we bought our way into the opera The Marriage of Figaro with the UBC Opera faculty (they actually put us in costume and on stage with the chorus), and that was the first time I had ever heard entire pieces of opera music.  It sparked an interest in opera music for me, but I didn’t pursue that interest any further.  After tonight’s show, I’ve decided to take more of an interest in opera music and we’ve both decided that we’d like to see an actual opera (not a marionette version) before we leave Europe in about 8 weeks time, so we’re on the hunt for a good opera to attend. 

The marionette version was funny, but I was a bit dissappointed at how simple and low-budget the show seemed.  The music and singing was from a recorded version, the set was nothing special and the marionettes themselves are all for sale for 5500 Czech krowns at a shop down the street so if you can master the art of marionetting (and the guy at the shop made it seem easy, although I’m sure it’s not that easy), you could put on tonight’s show by yourself at home!  At 800 krowns per ticket, I just expected a bit more…

After a day of exploring in Prague, I feel like it is a truly beautiful city, but it’s overly touristy year round and the two main touristy things we did today were a bit of a dissappointment.  I had expected Prague to be one of my favourite cities because of what most people have told me, but so far, I think I liked Krakow better…