Today, Mandy and Johan ran around visiting the Prague castle, while Malia and Kelly caught up on some much needed sleep. We all met with our Prague Food Tour guides, George and Leona, at the National Theater, one of the three places to see an Opera in Prague
Our first stop was Café Savoy with a beautiful, ornate ceiling. It was built in 1893 and the ceiling is exactly as it was then. It survived being destroyed because the owener's had the foresight to cover it with a false ceiling about a meter down, so it looked like any boring old ceiling. At one point during the Soviet occupation, they said it was even used as a garage to fix cars. So when the cafe was finally given back to the original owners the false ceiling was destroyed and black. Luckily, the knew what glory was behind it. They had saved the beautiful ceiling.
This was one of our first treats, a couple types of open faced sandwiches. The egg, radish, and potato salad is the most traditional, called Chlebiček bramborovym salátem.
We also had some amazing sweet treats at the first place, but we all were so excited to eat it and didn't think to get a picture until they were gone. They were Vanilkový věneček (donut with custard filling) and Laskonka (coconut meringue with chocolate and coffee filling).
Next, we went to a new old bar to try some traditional Czech liquor and cocktails.
First up, absinthe. They say the Czech's love their absinthe. It was never outlawed here, like it was in other countries. We learned that the proper way to make an absinthe cocktail is with this little water dispenser and a special spoon. You pour the absinthe in the glass, then put a sugar cube on the special spoon and slowly drip water over it until the sugar completely dissolves into the glass.
It ends up looking like this fine drink in Kelly's hand...
And Johan's
Next drink up was a flaming drink called a Becherocka Blue Blazer
It smelled like Christmas, it tasted like straight booze. I much preferred to just hold it close to my face and enjoy the dealicious orange and cinnamon aromas.
Last drink of the tasting was a Hruškovice/merunkovice/silvovice sour. It was the crowd favorite, it was still rather boozy but the egg whites gave it a creamy consistency that made it very nice.
Johan said this was a must have shot. You cannot tell that we are sitting on tiny little chairs on a window seal bench.
After our drink tasting, we walked across the old town square. George told us a story about what these sticks were used for. Supposedly, and Leona seemed to corroborate the story, the Monday after Easter men go into the woods to find these sticks. Then, they go to their lady's door and spank them with it. In return, the lady gives the man a decorated egg.
Our next stop was this long beer pub Lokál. It was about drinking beer and eating beer food.
From furthest away to closest:
Tatarák - steak tartar (yes we braved it, and most of us really liked it)
Smaženy syr - fried cheese
Pražská šunka - Prague ham
Nakládany hermelín - Marinated cheese
We finished our beers
And headed to Café Imperial... We only caught a picture of the soup called Kulajda - dill soup with poached eggs and mushrooms.
We all had a main dish too, we were definitely not hungry for it. But we were on a food tour, so we had to do what we had to do. Surprisingly, It was more meat and dumplings...
We slowly strolled home, all of us struggling to move and breath. Might not need to eat for days...
We had a nice relaxing end of our last day with Mandy and Johan hanging out and enjoying our apartment. They leave us in the morning. It has been an amazing trip with epic experiences together. They will finish there trip in Sweden with Johan's family. We stay in Prague two more days.
To say good night, here is a view Mandy and Johan caught from the Prague Castle. Kelly and I haven't experienced it yet, but we will tomorrow.
Ahoj! (Found out today that can mean bye too)