Prague - part 2

We spent our second day in Prague with our friends, Ondrej and Katrina, who live near Prague and grew up in the area. They took us to a town about an hour away, to see a chapel made of all bones!!  It was fascinating and was not as creepy as you might expect. Then we ate at an incredible restaurant, and finally went to their father's zoo in dark.

The restaurant served duck, veal cheeks, lamb sausages and free-range, grass-fed chicken. Dishes were between $12-$15 each, and dinner, plus Czech wine, plus rosemary bread and fried chickpeas, with aperitifs and all other fancy dinner formalities. And the total bill was only $20 per person.  I'd eat here again :)

They also took us to their zoo at night. We played with the goats, fed the porcupine and the llamas, and enjoyed the meercats, monkeys, gigantic catfish and carp, pheasants, Hedwig-type owls, and a small white kangaroo. We also saw gerbils and monster gerbils - larger than the size of a cat! Never had I ever been in a zoo after dark before. It was awesome.

And the other three pictures are from the John Lennon free speech wall and then a random memorial to Mozart.

Farewell, Prague!

Berlin

Late one night in Prague, we went into a gelato shop with our friends, Kate and Matt and their baby Liam. In this shop, we briefly met two Texans. In Berlin, our first morning, we saw these same Texans on the subway platform! What a small world! We got their names - Brett and Will - but we parted ways again. Later in the day, at the Pergammon Museum, we saw them again! So we spent the rest of the day with them. They're believers, who went to Spain for a mission trip and then traveled through a few cities.

We met another friend, Pablo from Colombia, on our walking tour in the morning. He has been traveling alone all summer, so we invited him to hang out with us. We got the famous currywurst and blood sausage and potatoes for lunch together and we loved it.

Our favorite part of the day was a walk down Eberswalder Strasse. It was an incredibly lively and unbelievably hipster area. There were two experimental street bands playing on the sidewalk with large crowds. The kids were dancing on the street, the adults - most with beer or cigarettes in hand - were happily swaying to the music. Behind the crowds were countless vintage stores, busy cafés and a handful of ice cream stands. We listened for a while and then got some ice cream cones and then strolled down the road to a speakeasy.

Berlin has some underground bars that are discovered only by word-of-mouth. Someone told us of a place to visit, so we went :) The address we had belonged to a large, empty kebab shop with only one employee there. We looked around and eventually poked around the back of the kebab place, behind the bathrooms, where we saw a red, British-style phone booth there in the corner. A tiny sign on the door said that no one under 18 years old can enter. Given that I spoke the most German of us all (which is still quite little), I stood in the phone booth, rung the buzzer and awaited the unknown. To make the story short, we were permitted to enter, and sat down in a window-less room, which looked quite like many bars, overpriced cocktails and only three beers available. Nonetheless it was exciting.  Apparently, these exist in many large cities and they can be found through Google ;) Pictures were forbidden inside. But you can see photos of our group and adventures throughout the day.

Gutenacht!

Prague - part 1

Prague is an incredible city! We absolutely love it! They have really great food, lots of history, and a wonderful city feel. Even though they are lots of tourists everywhere, we still felt the local spirit.

Prague was never bombed during WWII, so all the original buildings remain. Thus, it's a lot more beautiful than most of the cities we've been through so far. It has architecture from multiple centuries, including fantastic churches and the large Powder Tower.

Prague also has great history, complete with many defenestrations and even holding the catalyst of the 30 Years War. The 30 Years War was fought over religion, Catholics versus Protestants, and it killed 10% of the population. On contrast, WWII only killed 7% of the European population. Wow. And it had an intense Jewish ghetto, where all the Jews were forced to live.

The pictures show the Franz Kafka memorial, a Jewish cathedral in Morish style, the sunset over the river from Charles Bridge, some subway art, the National Museum, other random beautiful buildings, and the dual-tailed lion, which is a symbol of Bohemia. And finally a menu serving Harney & Sons tea :)

There is so much to see in Prague and it's all beautiful. We want to come back here!

Stay tuned for part 2