Even Yoda Would Recommend the Jahoda

After the walk down from the monastery, we found that rarest of items in Prague – an ATM.  We then stopped by the hotel briefly (around four pm) before heading back into Old Town and the Square.

 

It was much more touristy going across the Charles Bridge and into Old Town, but in not in a bad sort of way, but in good type.  It really is an international bridge – people of all types of nationalities gather (Asians, Europeans, North Americans) – at least from the Northern Hemisphere (and Aussies. . .always Aussies, relying on their accents to get beers purchased for them, among other freebies).

I wore my fabulous looking green cargo shorts for the first time – they have zippers to discourage pick-pocketers.  My bad ankle was killing me – I’m beginning to think my hiking boots have literally worn out their welcome after all these years.

We drifted with the human tide into the Old Town Square, where we watched the Astronomical clock again, wandered past stores, and watched tourists being tourists.  We bought some Gelato – get the Jahoda!  It’s strawberry, but VERY berry-esque – better, as Maddy noted – than any strawberry in the states.  By the end, we were all getting it, except Torie, who is loyal to her Stracitella (sp?).  I also liked the Raspberry (has a different name).  It’s always humbling when you try pronouncing something in their language, and they repeat the English translation back to you. 

Given my lack of foreign language skills, it’s always humbling.  The worst English speaker in a foreign country is better than my best attempt at their language.  Carol and the girls are all pretty good at Spanish, which also works in Italy, but it does them no good whatsoever here. 

I did find the house with the Two Golden Bears, which underwhelmed Mrs. Iron Tourist and our daughters, until I pointed out the door was created in 1590 (or thereabouts, hard to fact check on a train).  We also explored other side streets.

Looking for a new chandelier for our dining room (it’s currently the 16 year old contractor grade version), we decided not to pay their prices – nothing appealed to us quite like the Dr. Seuss light in our kitchen that we found on the island of Murano outside of Venice.

On the way back across the bridge, Julia spotted Brian Jacobs, with his mother and sister.  Brian is a rising sophomore at JMU and became friends with Julia on West Potomac HS swim team.  After he, Julia, Maddy, and Brian’s sister (Laura) had a lengthy chat (Carol and I were getting acquainted with their mom), Torie asked what are the odds of running into someone we knew from home in Prague.  I replied they are incalculable odds.  They were coming to the end of a three week trip through Budapest, Romania, Vienna, and Prague. 

After a brief stop at the hotel, we headed back into Old Town, although diverting off the beaten path to dinner at V Zatisi (“Still Life”).  As a foodie, choosing dinner locales is serious business for me on these trips – I’m always looking for something unique.  I pored over both guidebooks – Lonely Planet and DK Eyewitness Travel and settled on V Zatisi based on the Lonely Planet description, and it was delicious.  It has two approaches to food – either taking an entree and putting a Czech interpretation on it (such as my lamb chops or Carol’s veal) or taking a traditional Czech dish and gourmeting it up (another new word alert!).  The one complaint was that the meal took 2.5 hours – two hours would have been sufficient, but they dragged it out.  And, yes, I avoided Czech wine – went with a reasonably priced Priorat.  Looking back on it, I shouldn’t have chickened out, but that’s water (wine) under the bridge now.  Many of the comments I’ve read on Czech wine were not positive – and remember, this is a traveler who fell in love with Israeli wines (although I was underwhelmed by Greek wines).  This is not a cheap place to eat – but I do enjoy the opportunity to eat somewhere, and something, that not every tourist is having.

By the way, any traveler who doesn’t use the DK Eyewitness Travel books is nuts.  Lonely Planet is great for off-the-beaten or offbeat suggestions, but it’s hard to read and not well laid out.  The DK books are very well organized, and frankly, I should stand in a location and read it again as we are there – just to get more out of the sight we are currently seeing (hence, “sightseeing”).  Lonely Planet books are for that time of my life when I used to throw my tent on the back of my motorcycle and go or hitchhike to Scotland from London – those days are long gone.  DK is my primary source, with Lonely Planet used to fill in the blanks.

The walk back to the Hotel was a revelation – crossing the Charles Bridge, seeing the towers and the churches lit up at night.  Perched high on the hill, illuminated, Prague Castle is a stunning sight at night.  We tarried on the bridge as much as possible, hoping to lengthen our time enjoying the sights of Prague by night.  There was a more relaxed pace to the tourist rush on the bridge, as everyone enjoyed the sight.