Czech It Out: A Weekend in Prague

What an amazing weekend. I can't even remember what I did last week because the awesomeness of the weekend completely overshadows it (I didn't really do anything of particular interest last week anyway).

On Friday morning, three of my roommates and I packed a backpack each and headed over to the nearest train station--about a five minute walk from our apartment. We each bought a ticket and took a half hour train to the airport (this process was significantly less thrilling on the way home). We arrived at the airport about 3 hours early because we had no idea what to expect, and within 15 minutes, were sitting in our terminal wondering why on earth we left so early. 

As it turns out, if you don't have any baggage and security is reasonable, you can get to your gate pretty quickly. Once it came time to leave, we boarded the plane and arrived without issues in Prague. We were then picked up by a shuttle and taken to our hostel...or so we thought.

When we got to the place we were supposed to stay, the front desk told us there was "an issue with the room" (they wouldn't elaborate), so they called someone from another hostel to come pick us up, which was a real disappointment because the location of that place was prime--just off of Old Town Square (one of the main attractions in Prague). Within about 10 minutes, some guy named Robert came and told us he was going to be driving us to "his place". We walked over to his car (his personal car, complete with baby seat) and cautiously got in. He drove us about 10 minutes away, all the while giving us tips on things to do and places to see and generally not shutting up at all. 

The front door of Robert's Place--the Museum Inn

We were feeling very uncertain with Robert and "his place" anyway, but then we pulled up to the front door (pictured above). Without thinking, I walked right in when Robert opened the door (probably should have been a bit more cautious), but once we got into the actual room, everything was alright. It was well furnished with two twin beds and a queen. There was a shower, towels, sheets, and a kitchenette if we needed it. It really wasn't bad at all. 

Once we got our bearings, we ventured out for an early dinner at a place nearby that Robert had suggested. It was called Deminka and served American dishes as well as classic Czech cuisine all from an English menu. I ordered a dark beer (no idea what it was called) and the beef sirloin in cream sauce--I went for the classic Czech. It was pretty good, but had an odd citrus-y sweetness that I wasn't too excited about. 

Beef Sirloin in Cream Sauce with Bread Dumplings

This first place is also where we realized that beer is much cheaper to get than water. While a half a pint of beer was about 35 koruna (about $1.20), the same amount of water was 50 koruna! Needless to say, my friend that ordered the water was a little miffed. 

After we ate, we headed to the tourist attractions. Our hostel and the restaurant were at one end of Vaclavske Namesti, or Wenceslas Square, which is one of two squares of importance (to tourists at least) in Prague. We went through Wenceslas Square (which is really more of a boulevard) to Old Town Square--the location of the St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Prague Astronomical Clock. We kept walking and found ourselves at the Charles Bridge, so we crossed over into the area known as Lesser Town. 

A colorful corner of buildings in Old Town Square

 The St. Nicholas Cathedral at night

 An interesting find in a chocolate shop

One of the many beers lining the walls of the chocolate shop

(still regretting not getting it)

 Insufficient view of the Prague Castle at night

St. Nicholas Cathedral (yes, another one) in Lesser Town

After an evening of walking, we decided to go to a bar to relax for a bit before heading to the hostel. All of the authentic-looking pubs were really crowded and noisy, so we ended up in an Irish Pub in Old Town Square. After one drink each, we found ourselves exhausted and went back up to the hostel.

In the morning, we had great plans to go to a cafe suggested by Robert, but after about 20 minutes of searching for it, we settled for a place called the Colour Cafe (or something like that) where I ordered scrambled eggs with smoked salmon--a delicious choice. 

At 11, we began a free walking tour (through the same company that we got the airport shuttle) of the city. We started in Old Town Square and walked through the Jewish ghetto of Prague, some of the historical streets, to the Charles Bridge, over through Lesser Town and ended the 4-hour tour at Prague Castle. We had a great guide, he was very knowledgeable about the city and told us historical facts and stories about various sights along the way. 

Wenceslas Square

 365 day/year open market in Old Town Square

St. Nicholas Cathedral and Old Town Square

The Prague Astronomical Clock

It shows the astronomical signs on it according to 

which constellations you can see in the sky during that time of day/year.

 A student folk band in the Prague Public Library

We saw them during a lunch break on the tour

 View of the Lesser Town and Prague Castle from Charles Bridge

View of the Vltava River from Charles Bridge

The city from Prague Castle

Prague Castle

Stained glass inside the castle

The rear spires of Prague Castle

 Gorgeous views were plentiful

 The Lennon Wall

Graffitied by the youth of Prague after John Lennon's death in 1980

The tour offered beautiful views of the city in areas where we wouldn't have thought to go ourselves. After the tour, we scrambled back to Charles Bridge while there was still daylight to get some more pictures. 

Paige and I sharing a moment

After getting some more pictures, we went back to the hostel--partly because I needed to wash my hair because a bird pooped on me on the Charles Bridge and partly because we needed to figure out where to have dinner.

We ended up going to a place called Hostinec U Kalicha (I only know the name because I snagged a coaster) and it ended up being a great decision. I ordered roasted duck with cabbage (first time having duck) and a pint of pilsner. The duck was pretty good, but what really made the experience was two guys from the kitchen came out and played folk songs on an accordion and bassoon--it was so awesome!

That evening, we participated in a pub crawl (which I now know are a total scam and not worth it at all), then ended up at a bar where we had a pint of pilsner (the local delicacy). We were drinking them outside and, still bitter from the pub crawl scam, we took the mugs as restitution. I'm currently drinking water out of it. 

In the morning, we finished up our visit with a few more tourist-y pictures of the Charles Bridge, purchasing some gifts for the folks at home and getting street food for lunch. You can see why this lunch was necessary...

"The Traditional" Wenceslas Sausage

A view of New Town Prague

The weekend was one I'll remember for years to come. Prague is truly a beautiful city: so clean, so quaint and an 80% atheist/agnostic population! My only regret is that we couldn't stay longer.

To those who haven't been: Go. You won't regret it. The people are very friendly, english is widely spoken, it's incredibly cheap (only spent 80 euro/$100 the entire weekend), and the views are unbeatable.

To those who have been: Go again. We both know it's worth it.

Things to look forward to this week: One of my roommates has her 21st birthday tomorrow that we'll be celebrating and a field trip to Liguria with my Strategic Management course for the weekend (includes visits to 4 different Italian companies, meeting the governor of Genova, a 5-hour hike in Cinque Terre, and a stop in Pisa and the Leaning Tower therein).

That's all for now! Thanks for reading.

Kasey Ann

A Week(end)'s Worth of Chocolate

This week started off quite nice. I'm feeling comfortable in Rome, I'm able to get where I want to go, I'm running and going to the gym...it's been nice. Between my morning and afternoon classes on Tuesday, I ventured over to a little cafe in the small streets of Trastevere (I'm really going to try to remember the names of these places from now on), I stopped by and got another falafel for lunch (though I think they may be giving me stomach aches), and then I went back to school for class. On the way home from that, however, I sprained my ankle like a fool. It wasn't even on cobblestone, either! Clenching my teeth from the pain, I hobbled down the 6 flights of stairs it takes to get to the tram. By the time I got home, my ankle was the size of a blood orange! All is well on that front now though, it's just bruised and still a tad swollen but it didn't stop me from having a good time this week!

This week's falafel

On Friday, my friends and I (and a bunch of other people from school) ventured to the city of Terni for a Chocolate Festival in celebration of the Valentine's holiday. To get there, we had to go to the Termini Train Station in Rome, and having only been to the dinky train station in Pontiac, Michigan, it was a bit overwhelming. We found the train and within an hour, we arrived in Terni. The festival wasn't as huge as I was expecting (supposedly it's a lot more crazy on Valentine's Day), but it didn't disappoint!

Pizza with buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes, lettuce, and salmon lox

"I Love You" Chocolate hearts

 The Licorice Booth

SO many truffles and chocolate-covered goodies

Sweet (ha ha) Chocolate Sculptures

Main Street of Terni

(note the mountains in the background)

 My First Cannoli

The Chocolate Festival overall was very cool. There was also a meat and cheese tent, but they weren't giving out enough free samples to keep our attention for long. The town of Terni is home to the burial ground and cathedral of Saint Valentine (Santo Valentino) himself, and after trying for an hour or so to find the basilica, we found out that it's about 10 miles outside of the city. It was nice to be in a city like Terni that was much more slow-paced (and surrounded by mountains, which was awesome). I'm a bit ashamed to say that I spent about 20 euro on truffles and chocolate that day...but WOW was it good!

Saturday began with a nice run along the Tiber River (my first since the sprained ankle). In the early afternoon, we decided to walk to a place called Eataly, which at the time, we could only describe as the "Italian Whole Foods" (I now know that it is SO much more). I took about a half hour to get there walking through some odd neighborhoods, but when we stepped through the doors, we knew it was well worth the trip. The store is four floors of downright amazingness. The first floor has fresh fruits and veggies along with gourmet kitchenware items. Floor two housed a 50 meter wall of craft beer from around the world (it was tough not to go straight for the American ones) along with a meat and cheese wing (where they were making their own mozzarella) and a pasta wing. Floor three had cafes, bars and seafood on one end, and the other was entirely dedicated to wine. We spent an entire hour milling about the place trying to see (and taste) everything--we walked around most of it twice trying to nab some of the samples that were being passed out. It was difficult to even think of buying something because it was incredibly overwhelming (although I did get a couple bottles of Italian craft beer).

After going back to our apartment for a couple hours, we set out again in search of the best pizza in Rome. We were told by many people to go to Dar Poeta in Trastevere for amazing pizza, so that's what we did for our Valentine's dinner. We got to the restaurant around 7 and ordered some wine. The menu had about 30 pizzas on it, one of my roommates and I decided to go halvsies (we both ordered our own pizzas and then split them when they come so we each got half of 2 pizzas). I ordered the Dar Poeta which had mozzarella cheese, hot pepper, zucchini, sausage and garlic--note the absence of sauce. My cohort ordered the Superbufala which had tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella cheese, artichoke, olives and pecorino cheese.

The Dar Poeta

The Superbufala

Caitlin and I sharing a Valentine's moment

We had a great time. The pizza was absolutely FANTASTIC (get ready Mom and Dad, we're going there when you come in May). We'll definitely be returning to Dar Poeta this semester as well--way too many pizza choices to only go once!

Today, we had great plans to take the train to Orvieto, a historical town between Rome and Florence, but we didn't make it to the station quite early enough, so travel times were inconvenient and ticket prices we higher. Instead, we headed over to the giant flea market that happens in our neighborhood every Sunday. Thousands of tents cover a span of about 10-15 blocks selling everything from books to jewelry to clothing to kitchenware for way cheap!

 These guys were selling seeds, nuts, and pickled fish!

Many of the clothes are used, the rest have unknown origins

A few tents like this had hundreds of bottles of 

shampoo, soap, makeup, shaving cream, etc.

My biggest question with all of this is where the heck are these vendors getting all of their supplies? The clothes, the shoes, the scarves, the name brand makeup...how do they get it? After walking along the streets of the market for about an hour and a half, I ended up only buying a belt for 1 euro. One of the ones I brought with me has just about had it, so I figured it was worth the splurge.

That's about it for now. Things to look forward to this week include a possible wine night tomorrow night with chicken cutlets by Chef Danny and a trip to Prague over the weekend!


Thanks for reading,

Kasey Ann

Food and Sightseeing...But Mostly Food

This week basically started on Thursday when I had possibly the most amazing* meal of my life. *Though the food was certainly all very delicious, the meal was more amazing due to the sheer amount (four courses and endless drinks) that was included for only 15 euro. The restaurant is called Tony's (of course it is, right?), and it's located on the picturesque side streets of the downtown Trastevere neighborhood. I arrived in a group of 14, and after seating us in two tables of 7, the wait staff immediately brought water, wine and bread.

After about 5 minutes had passed, they brought more bread--focaccia--which probably isn't as good in the US, but it's a flat, pizza crust-type bread that the restaurant baked with rosemary and a bit of salt on top. The first course was the appetizers. We scrambled to make room on the table as the staff brought out a plate of two types of bruschetta--one with tomatoes, basil and capers, the other with a sort of olive tapenade--, a plate of fried zucchini sticks, a plate of calamari (both of which came with a red dipping sauce), and a plate of fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes with basil and chunks of fresh parmesan (I think it was parmesan...). To be honest, I could have been done at this point and still been happy. But the wait staff came back out, refreshed our wine with a bottle of house-made red, and brought the first main course--penne al vodka and gnocchi with pesto. I'd never had penne al vodka before, but let me tell you, it was AMAZING! I'm not a huge gnocchi fan either, but the pesto sauce was delicious as well. Next, they brought out three plates of chicken parmesan--cheese melting and sizzling on top. I only had a couple bites of this because I was really getting full, but it was amazingly delicious as well. For dessert, they brought out cups of tiramisu. I'd never had it before, so I had to try it despite my rapidly expanding stomach, and like the rest of the meal, it was spectacular.

My stomach and I were basically this cat after the meal

Tony's is definitely a touristy restaurant--every customer there was speaking english, but I'm very glad we decided to go, and I may even go back at the end of the semester once I feel hungry again.

The next morning I felt the distinct urge to go running, so despite the rain, I ran over to the Tiber River for a beautiful 4.5-miler. Once I had come back and showered, my roommates and I decided to go on the actual tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It was 12 euro for a two-day ticket to both and the plan was to see the Colosseum on Saturday and the Forum on Sunday when the weather was better.

Below are a few pics I got at the Colosseum. It was really hard to imagine what it looked like in its prime. The building was subject to quarry (practice of taking out pieces of the brick/stone to use for building other things) when it stopped being used (before the Romans decided that they should preserve it), so it didn't look like any kind of arena at all. You can see evidence of quarry on the outside of the Colosseum (and pretty much every other ancient building) in the small holes in the stone.

In the lower left hand corner of this one, you can see the only seats left inside the Colosseum

The ground level was covered with wooden boards while the arena was in use, 

as shown a bit in both of these pictures (above and below)

Just as we were leaving, we saw this man whom we all agreed must have been Elvis (or at the very least, an Elvis impersonator). I tried to get a decent picture, but in case you can't see, he's got obviously Elvis-like hair and an American flag scarf.

After the Colosseum, we headed down the main street of Rome (Via del Corso) towards Piazza del Popolo, a large, open, Time's Square-type space. The piazza was beautiful of course, but what really made it cool was a couple selling homemade bubble-blowing apparatuses that they were demonstrating for the crowd, filling the piazza with giant bubbles.

From the Piazza del Popolo, we walked up a few steps to the Villa Borghese Gardens, where we ended the day's adventure. Originally the home and surrounding property of the Borghese family, the gardens became public domain when the family could no longer afford to maintain them and donated the grounds to the city of Rome. The gardens were full of statues and busts of unknown people, including Voldemort, apparently.

Much of the Villa was just green space

Though other parts were filled with statues and monuments

Sneering alongside Lord Voldemort

The next morning, we kept with the plan to head straight to the Roman Forum. I had somehow lost my ticket, so I had to buy another one anyway (yes Mom and Dad, I'm an eeediot), but everyone got the audio tour and we headed in.

For those that don't know, the Roman Forum is crazy old and crazy huge. Originally built during the reign of the Roman Republic (the time in which Rome was ruled by 2 consuls rather than a king or emperor), the forum was used as a meeting place, a city center, the home of the vestal virgins and a place to hold legal court. As time passed, the forum became overgrown and was actually known as the "valley of the cows" for a time before Mussolini began excavation on the place to uncover its original glory (for his own dictatorial agenda, of course).

Anyway, walking through the ruins was truly amazing. Just being among buildings from centuries ago (like 300 B.C. era) really gave you some perspective.

This was a view from atop the Palatine Hill (just another part of the Forum, really)

After the Forum, we headed back to the apartment for some much needed rest, and to work on homework (or to watch Seinfeld, in my case). Also, before I forget to mention it, the fruits and vegetables here taste AMAZING! Those of you who have your  own veggie gardens may know what I mean, but vegetables just have something more here. You can really taste them, and let me tell you, they're terrific. Specifically the tomatoes...I could talk for hours about this, but I'll digress for now.

Thanks for reading!

Kasey Ann