Prague - Day 2

Jon is clearly still adjusting to the change in time (Prague is six hours ahead of NYC) because he woke up ready to attack the day at 6:00am. In my research on Prague, I read that the Charles Bridge is a beautiful place to watch the sun rise, so we showered and made our way over. While the rest of Prague was sleeping, Jon and I had the pleasure of walking across the Bridge with just a few errant tourists (admittedly most of them were in their 80's).




The architecture here is stunning - buildings have extravagantly detailed facades, painted beautiful colors and topped with red tile roofs. They just don't build like this back home! After wandering through some of the desolate streets, I decided maybe we shouldn't be wandering around a sleepy Central European city with a big camera around my neck. So we wandered back to Mala Strada, which is the less commercial side of town where our hotel is; it is a nice quiet neighborhood with all the small winding streets you would expect to see in a classically European city.

Last week at dinner, Dave mentioned his favorite breakfast spot in Prague is Bohemia Bagel. Yes, again with the American food (I promise we'll get adapted to the local culture soon). But this place was great. All you can drink coffee which is a necessity after waking up at 6am, a hearty meal and an eccentric old man accompanies by two adorable golden retrievers.

After all this early morning activity, we were zonked, so we took a half hour schlew ;) Eventually, we got up and made our way to the famous astronomical clock - just in time for the noon 'show,' if you can call it that.

We walked around the Easter Market - a lot of booths set up with Czech souvenirs - hand painted eggs and wooden toys. Of course, no holiday market would be complete without unhealthy foods, so we tried a local specialty called T which is basically roasted dough rolled in cinnamon, sugar and nuts - so finally we are trying some of the local delicacies.

We spend the rest of the day wandering around the city - seven hours of walking in all... down Pariska Street with all the international designers, walked to Bakeshop Praha in hopes of some treats, only to be disappointed and left with nothing; the New Town including Wenceslas Square and another Easter Market. The sausage stands actually piqued our interest, but we restrained ourselves from being total pigs (no pun intended).

Instead, we returned to the Old Town Square for lunch and sat down at an outdoor cafe. After realizing that the menu noted prices outside were 60% higher outside (no, that is no a typo), we opted to eat indoors ;) And had a delicious meal - Jon had a local specialty- goulash and I had a chicken kebab... not so local but good nontheless.

We made our way back to the hotel at 6:30 and after a much deserved nap, we went to Barock for dinner. Nice trendy pan-asian restaurant. We had spring rolls and tiger prawns to start followed by red curry beef for Jon and a lamb steak easter special for me - definitely a fun spot, though not just for beautiful women as the website suggested so Jon may have been a teensy dissappointed ;)

Jon asked the waitress for the local hotspots, so after dinner we searched out one of the spots she recommended. Not sure if she misunderstood or thought we were in search of a skeevy local joint, but after sitting down at the bar for 30 seconds, we looked at each other and booked it out of there! Instead, we strolled through the Old Town Square in search of some dessert. It's customary in Prague to seat yourself, but Jon decided to ask at the dessert spot anyway and the angry Czech woman kept telling him to go next door. Hmmm, very confusing. We decided to ignore her and sat down, ordered some mediocre Strawberry Yogurt Cake and Apple Strudel (no we are not depriving ourselves this weekend). Basically, this evening, we decided that service here is similar to London; waitstaff don't expect great tips, so they don't work for them either.