Middle East Feet: May 5

So after arriving in Prague, we hit the Metro and got to our station pretty quick. It was very busy when we got off and once we came to the surface, we were slightly disoriented. Trying to figure out what street is what, etc. Our hotel was a little off the beaten path, but it was still a Movenpick and a pretty good hotel overall. We were actually not that far out of town, just off the maps we had. Well, we finally found the street which we thought was the right way to go. Soon we passed a sign that said “Movenpick 300meters”…so we did make it! Awesome!

We were lucky again, as they let us check in at 8:00am which is unheard of. I guess that is the nice thing about traveling mid-week during the non-tourist season. It was a smoking room, but luckily it was not too bad. We showered and changed, plus sent our laundry out. We only packed a few outfits so we could travel light with the idea that we would get our laundry done in Prague. (That was an expensive idea) We hit the ATM to get some Czech Koruny in our pockets. The exchange rate was not as favorable, as it was only $1USD to 16CZK. We walked towards the metro station and hit up the McDonalds, which are everywhere. I know some of you are like…”That boy eats fast food a lot”. Actually, I thought about it the other day. I have had fast food 3 times since I have been in Doha. Plus I do not have access to one of my favorite breakfast sandwiches, which is the McD’s Sausage and Egg Biscuit. Mmm. Plus it is an economical way to eat so we can splurge on Lunch and Dinner. (And…I’m on vacation)

Anyway, we stopped at the metro station and bought a 24 hour pass. It was about 5-6 dollars, but well worth it. It allowed us access to all Metros, Trams, and Buses in the city for 24 hours. That is very helpful when you finish in one area and want to get to another.
We had no specific agenda, so we walked towards what we thought was Wenceslas square. From where we came up and according to the guide book, we were there. However, it did not look like the guide book showed. I studied it some more and the walk towards Wenceslas square and the opera house were really similar. They both had items on the way in about the same place, which is weird. I realized that we should have turned right about 4 blocks back…so we had to backtrack. It is no big deal, because we didn’t really have an agenda. By this time it was getting to be around noonish, so we decided to stop and have a cold drink. We found a nice old trolley car in the middle of the road that had a great view of the national museum. Turns out, while I was reading the book for our next leg, I realized that we were once again at a historical spot enjoying the restaurant. That is twice…how funny. The place we were at was Café Tram 11. There are two old tramcars which make a unique cafe. Tram 11 operated at the Vaclavske (Wenceslas) Square from the beginning of the 20th Century to 1974. This tram was borrowed from The Public Transport Museum. The motor tram car number 2077 was manufactured in 1927 at Ringhoffer in Prague. It was transported back to Prague in 2000 and renovated into the cafe it is today. Both these tramcars remain on the rails where they used to operate.

Through the keen research I do while on a trip, I found out that the National Museum is free to visitors on the first Monday of every month. Guess what? It was the first Monday of May! After our break, we headed towards the National Museum, but not before stopping to pay our respects to Jan Palach and to see King Wenceslas’ statue. King Wenceslas is the king you all know from the Christmas Carol. Jan Palach was a university student who in protest to the communist occupation in 1969, set himself on fire on the steps of the national museum. A cross now lays in the ground where he fell. This whole square is very popular and many events have happened here. In 1989, at the shrine for Jan Palach and others who shared his cause became the rallying point for the Velvet Revolution. Over 250,000 people gathered here and started the process of separation from communism and Soviet power.

The museum took a couple of hours and was mainly a ‘bones and rocks’ type museum, which usually doesn’t interest me as much as some of the others. They did have some really amazing species and artifacts, but I can only take so much. A temporary exhibit near the back was interesting and followed people from the beginning of time to the moon. Interesting.
After the museum, we decided to grab a late lunch. We went to Uflecku Restaurant and Brewery, which was listed in the guidebook as a really good time. This is a restaurant that only one type of beer is served. When you sit down, you take a coaster out of the holder and put it in front of you. You immediate get a beer from a guy walking around serving it, which is his only job. The waiter came not too long after and I ordered some awesome bratwurst, kraut, and potatoes. Man was it good. They have people walking around playing the accordion, etc. It is a great atmosphere. We stayed at Uflecku for a while then decided to head back to the hotel as we had some special guests to meet.

We got back to the hotel, but they had not checked in yet. So we went to the room and decided to take a nap for a little while, until they got here. About 30-45 minutes later, the phone rang…and they were here. They wanted to clean up, so we planned to meet them in the lobby in about 30 minutes.

Who are these mystery guests? None other than my cousin Erin and her mom Aunt Betty! Did you ever think you would be tooling around Prague with your extended family in the states? Me either! But it was great to see them and introduce everyone...I knew Prague was going to be a blast.

The hotel was split into 2 parts. One on the bottom of the hill, and one on the top. It is connected by a tram car so we went up to take a look. That is the executive, club section. A really nice part of the hotel. The restaurant up there was a little pricy, so we decided to check out another restaurant in the guidebook.

It was a metro ride and a short walk away, but we decided to head there anyway. When we got there, we were glad we did. It was a traditional restaurant that had a great feel to it. Very similar to the Uflecku that you saw earlier, but still really cool. They had 2 guys walking around playing the accordion and a tuba. They sold old military Czech hats and we ordered a platter in which we could all eat off of. It was an absolutely awesome time. Even better, on the way home…we ran into a hedgehog. You thought Erin won the lottery. She got her picture with it, was playing with it…very odd…I did mention she is the cousin from Virginia…right? Not WV.
After a very long evening of dinner, beers, and chatting…we decided to make our way back to the hotel and get to bed for a great day on Tuesday.