Czech Republic - Prague Pt. 1

After two days and one night in Amsterdam, Mike and I headed off to the Czech Republic to see the homeland. We bookended our trip to CZ with stays in Prague and in between we traveled to the southeast of the country to visit family in the Moravian towns of Zlin and Bzenec.

We arrived in Prague on a Monday night after a short flight from AMST and took a cab into Old Town where our hotel, Hotel Rott was located. After dumping our gear in the hotel and having a chat with the very cool night manager, Jiri, about where to go and what to do, we set out. First off, let me just say that I knew Prague was a beautiful city, but it blew away my expectations. Amazing.

We took a stroll through the Old Town Square and took everything in just long enough to be pegged as tourists. Since it was January and nearly 10pm on a Monday night, the square was deserted but for a few lone sentinels oddly spaced throughout the giant square. We didn't get more than ten feet before these guys began to zero in on us. They were real entrepreneurs and very diversified in the wares they were selling ...everything from pot to prostitutes to where the good sports bars are (no joke re: sports bars...."yes, we're just in from American and are just DYING to grab some wings, Bud Lights and watch sports in some ridiculous imitation of an already bad American idea). After shooing these guys off one by one, we got to look around and see some amazing works of architecture, most notably, the Prague Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Hall Tower and the Tyn Church. More on the Clock later. 

Old Town Hall Tower

Prague Astronomical Clock

Old Town Hall Tower/Prague Astronomical Clock in foreground
and Tyn Church in the back center. 

We hustled to a few underground "cave" bars that I'd done some online recon on before the trip. First, we headed down to Double Trouble Bar & Club which I was very excited to see. The place is one of the coolest bars I've ever been in, but unfortunately we were the only people in it. That, and the fact that it had a terribly cheesy logo and signage that kinda took away from the exposed brick and polished timber of the bar and tables. 

Mike in Double Trouble Bar looking up at Satan 

Another underground bar -- the name escapes me for some reason.

We left there and headed out in search of more fun and walked down towards Wenceslas Square which was equally as deserted. After getting approached by a few more "entrepreneurs" we headed to an underground bar right around the corner from our hotel in a place called Alternatiff Area where we ran into Jiri from the hotel having a couple beers while on "break." Had a great time with him and then made our way back to the hotel for additional hijinks which may or may not have included air banding in our hotel room at 2am to the elevator music that was playing thru the TV. Mike was on bass and piano and I handled the electric xylophone. A concert for the ages.

The next day we logged some serious foot-miles and saw much of the city in both Lesser Town and Old Town. We woke up and headed east across the Vlatava River via the Manesuv Most bridge and then made our way up to Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral. Mindblowing. 

The Castle and Cathedral on the hill.

To our right and left wear massive and very impressive stained glass works.

After checking out the inside of the cathedral, we paid 150 Czech Crowns (6 euros) to climb the South Tower of St. Vitus. From here, we got some great shots of the city.

Nice cock.

After the Tower, we walked through Lesser Town and over the famous Charles Bridge and headed back into Old Town and then onto Wenceslas Square. 

On Charles Bridge. 

Also from Charles Bridge. 

Good King (St.) Wenceslas in front of the National Museum.

One Czech king-saint and two Czech king-clowns in front of Natl Mus.

We regrouped for an hour of so back at the hotel and then headed out for some authentic Czech eats at U Vejvodu. It was all we could hope for, and for our Omaha friends, it convinced us that the food at Bohemian Cafe is very, very legit. Good Driving Omaha! 

Mike preparing to destroy.

Happy Fat Matty.

Once we were physically able to move after finishing dinner we went around the corner to an Absinthe Bar and had ourselves a real absinthe cocktail. Not bad -- Cris would have loved. It was a very cool place with a mellow coffee shop feel and we took some time to relax go over the days events and talk about the rest of the week ahead. 

We finished off the night at the Chapeau Rouge Bar & Club where we had a couple more pilsners (what's two more after a dozen, anyway?) and chilled. It was a pretty cool bar, but we preferred the more quite, basement bars. 

Look boss, dee plane!

I love the smell of pilsner in the morning.

The next morning, Wednesday, we walked to the Florenc Metro stop and hopped on our bus to Zlin four hours away to stay with relatives Jirka and Mirka. More on that in upcoming post...

Prague you were so very good to us. Can't wait to go back. Maybe we'll wait until it's not below zero, though.