Prague: New Town

Jeff and I took our time getting up and moving in the morning. We had our free hotel breakfast. Guess what I had? Yep, bologna! We decided today that we were going to checkout the castle and then walk around New Town. Going up to the castle provided some nice views although it was a bit hazy. We toured the castle grounds and admired the architecture. We were there walking around for about 2-hours. The castle grounds were huge and Jeff was telling me that it was in the Guinness Book of World Records. At 12pm they had the changing of the guard so Jeff and I stuck around to watch the processional. It was cool, but again, there were a lot of tourists.

Prague

The Church

Guards Marching

Tourists - Changing of the Guard in the Back

We made our way down the hill and ran into a unique little stand where there were selling these cinnamon tubes. It's like a churro, but shorter, wider, and hollow. We stopped and each had one of these things called, "Trdelnik". It was good!

Trdelnik

Prague through a Trdelnik

After, we continued down and headed toward the Charles Bridge. As we were crossing we saw a small little Czech Festival with music and booths down below. We headed down the steps and found out that this was a food festival. They had sausage, fries, soups, beer, pastries, nuts, etc. All looked very good! We sat and ate some sausage and then after we had some of the pastries as we listened to the live music. It was fun!

A Pig.....or what use to be one

Jeff Eating Sausage

We continued across the Charles Bridge and made our way to the New Town area. Sadly, there wasn't a whole lot in the new town area. We walked around for quite a while before heading toward the Old Town area. It was a day full of walking, walking, and more walking. On the way back to the hotel Jeff and I decided that we wanted to try a Budweiser. We walked into one place and we decided to leave because the smoke was so bad. You are still allowed to smoke in restaurants and bars out here. We found another place with a Budweiser sign, but they switched their beers just days before and hadn't taken the sign down from out front. Oh, there is one thing I forgot to mention. Most places that we visited in Prague only serve one type of beer. They might have a couple of kinds such as light or dark, but they only serve the same brand. So, we made it back to the hotel before our Budweiser so we'd find one later. At the hotel we rested and even Skyped with Ma, Dad, Hea, Lily, and PupPup.
After, we decided to go out for dinner. Both of us wanted something more traditional tonight. I looked online and found some three recommended places. We took the names down to the hotel clerk and he said, "This one is touristy, this one have have never been to, and this one is where I go to eat". So, Jeff and I had the same feelings, we'd go where he eats. He recommended that we try "Svickova" which he said was the national dish. He explained it as beef and dumplings in a good sauce. We knew exactly what to order. So we jumped on the tram and headed to this place called, "U Ceskych Panu Medieval Restaurant". We got there and they were all booked up for the night. The guys there were pretty rude about it too. So, we jumped on the tram to find the place that the hotel clerk had never been to before. We took the tram for a distance and walked a few blocks toward this place called, "Cervena Tabulka". On the way after we had walked quite a bit I said, "You know Jeff, they only reason we are going out of our way to find this place is because of a review I read on the Internet, we can go anywhere we want." Well, I thought it was funny. We passed by this place where there was a good looking women sitting at a bar by herself. Jeff was trying to encourage me to go have dinner there. I said, "No, having an attractive woman at the bar does not constitute as a good place to eat." We walked on. We made our way to Cervena Tabulka and found a table. We noticed that it looked more like a cafe, but it was nice. Well, they didn't have Svickova on the menu so we left. We walked back toward the Old Town and we passed by the restaurant with the attractive woman and Jeff said, "See they have traditional food here and they have Svickova" and he pointed to the menu. We both looked and saw exactly what it said. It read, "Svickova Strogonoff". I started to laugh! I laughed all the way into the restaurant!!
Now, there is some back-story to this. For the longest time Beef Strogonoff was one of Jeff's favorite meals. Then one day many years ago while we were preparing for a family backpacking trip to Loon Lake we stopped at REI to buy some backpacking food. Well, Jeff picked up the Beef Strogonoff and said, "Oh, this will be great!" Well, I had it before and didn't like it and I've never been a big Beef Strogonoff fan to begin with. I urged Jeff to pick something else, but he assured me that it would be fine. Well, on the trip we made this backpacking dish and it was awful! It was beyond awful!!! No one....and I mean NO ONE ate it. Since then, none of us have ever been able to stomach Beef Strogonoff and it because synonymous with "liquid laughter"....thanks for reading!
So I couldn't help but laugh as we were on this quest for Svickova and finally found it. Well, we got in the restaurant and it turns out that traditional Svickova was not Beef Strogonoff. We were saved! We ordered potato soup, svickova, and beer. It was amazing! A very awesome last dinner in Prague! Jeff turns to me and asked what the name of this place was. I didn't know. When we looked into it the place was called, "Steakbar Nostalgie Music Bar Kobra". Sure, whatever! After dinner we had to continue our quest for Budweiser. We found our Budweiser at an African-themed pizza restaurant down the street called, "Zaama Zaama". I have no idea where they come up with these names! Here is where I explained my "Theory of Proximity" to Jeff. The closer you are to the source, the better the food will taste. So, according to the Proximity Theory Chinese Food would taste better in Hawaii than it would California because Hawaii is closer to China. Mexican food would taste better in California then Germany. So, it you wanted good Haggis AND good pasta....TRY FRANCE!! It's a silly topic, but I had fun with it. Anyway, we ordered our Budweiser and it arrived. Jeff got "Extra Strong" and I got the basic lager.
Now I bet you are wondering why we went through all this trouble for some Budweiser of all beers? Well, I didn't know this until Jeff had a conservation with a German fellow at the tech conference. Apparently, Budweiser is completely different beer in Europe. It's made in the Czech Republic. It is totally different than the American version and from a totally different company. I had no idea! Out here it's a good beer. So, we had to try it. It was good too! Now, Czech beer is not my favorite beer, it's good, but not my favorite. German beer is better I think. Czech beer isn't bad, just not my favorite. It's a little bitter for me. Jeff seemed to like it though.
Well, we grabbed a cab back to the hotel and went straight to bed. It was an enjoyable, but long day.

Jeff: Moments before his iFlip broke

Prague