My Prague City Break – Part 2

It’s amazing how exhausting a three week “vacation” can be. I finally feel recovered from my trip through the Baltics, and thus bringing you part 2 of my trip to Prague.

For part 1, click here.

Me & Prague Castle

Day 2 According to Lonely Planet, the Prague Castle is the most fairytale-like castle in Europe. That is a bold statement considering that number three on that list is the inspiration for Cinderella’s castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein (Bavaria, Germany). After seeing both, I would have to disagree with Lonely Planet. The Prague Castle is definitely one of the most beautiful castles in Europe though, and a sight to see while visiting the city.

The entrance to Prague Castle

To call it a castle is somewhat of an understatement. It is more like a little city, complete with streets, a cathedral, palaces and houses. To see everything would take a couple days, but the ‘short visit’ ticket will get you through the main sights in 3-4 hours. If you do choose the ‘long visit’ ticket, rest assured that both tickets are valid for 2 days, so you’ll have plenty of time to see everything.

Cathedral of St. Vitus – Prague Castle

The audio guides were not working the day we went, and on top of that you couldn’t take photos inside many of the sights, so we just walked around, reading the few signs that were in English and taking mental pictures. Tickets for long and short visits to the castle are CZK 350 and 250 respectively. That evening, we booked a table at a famous Jazz bar. But before we went there, we had to go to Prague’s #1 Mexican restaurant, Cantina. I’ll admit that I stumbled upon this restaurant after browsing Lonely Planet as they rank it very high up on their list of places to dine in Prague. Despite our trepidation (Mexican food in Prague? Seriously?) we decided to check it out.

Margaritas at Cantina

It turns out that the Cantina is a very popular restaurant in Prague, and when we tried to book a table that afternoon, we were told they were completely booked. We stopped by anyway and ended up getting a spot at the bar. The food was decent enough considering our proximity to Mexico and the margaritas weren’t too bad either. The restaurant is small though, and I got the impression that even with a reservation parties of two still end up at a small cramped table.

U Maleho Glena

The jazz bar we went to was called U Maleho Glena. This was another place we had to book a table at in advance. The ‘club’ is tiny, but they packed at least 30 people into the room. The music was good, as were the cocktails. The service, on the other hand, was not so good. We ordered a second round of drinks during the break between the first and second set, and the server did not bring them out until after the second set. The bar was very busy, but the people next to us ordered after we did received their drinks promptly while ours seemed to be forgotten. Still, the music was great and it was well worth stopping by to hear some great music.

The Entertainers

Day 3 On our third and final day in Prague, we decided to just roam around the city and take in some of the unique sights. We started the day with brunch at the Grand Café Orient.

The Grand Cafe Orient

The food was divine and it was made even better by the beautifully decorated room. The café was built during the Cubism movement, which is reflected in the design and décor of the café.

The food was amazing!

Coffee time…

And then this!

Next we popped into a confectionery store, where people could watch as they made some of the sweets right in the shop. We watched as this gentleman took this large piece of candy…

And rolled it until it was condensed to this small sweet, while still maintaining the design in the center…

Later in the day, we strolled over to U Medvidku, home of XBeer-33, the Strongest Beer in the World (their words, not mine). Unfortunately they had sold out of this particular beer so we had to settle for one of their other brews. If you’re interested in trying the XBeer-33, I don’t recommend going on a Sunday.

On our way back to the hotel, we stumbled upon an absinth bar. Granted, with a selection like this, it was difficult to miss…

Absinth Bar

Yes, we had a glass, and I can say with utmost certainty that I do not enjoy absinth. Perhaps it’s an acquired taste, or maybe it’s not and the green fairy alone makes it all worth it. Well, there was no green fairy that evening or buzz of any sort for that matter. I think I’ll just stick to my vodka sodas from now on.

That brings me to the end of my Prague weekend break. I highly recommend a stop in this city if  you have time during a European trip. It only needs 2 days really, food and drink are super cheap, and it’s a very easy city to get around.

Ciao,

Sheila

Advertisement

Found myself in the city near Piccadilly

Who has been the worst blog updater ever? That would be Me!

I feel that emergency eye surgery is a good enough excuse though. Well, that and dealing with moving BACK to London.

The EYE

My eye is doing better. I’m stuck wearing glasses, which isn’t too bad except for when it rains (which it does just about every day). I’m really hoping that by November I can get back to contacts. On sunny days, I am still rocking the big sunglasses since they are so big, I can wear them over my glasses. They are pretty amazing and I’ll probably keep them for those sunny days when I’m too lazy, tired, or hung over to wear my contacts. People who wear contacts know the days I am talking about.

LONDON

I have officially moved back to London and started classes. I’m living in a two bedroom flat in a student housing building very close to central London. I definitely like it here and I’m close to 3 tube stations that can take me pretty much anywhere in London. For places that are close, I can take the bus or even walk if I have my umbrella with me.

SCHOOL

It’s definitely taking some time to adjust back to “school life”, especially since for the past 12 months I’ve been living the “do nothing life”. We had induction for 2 days last week and that definitely helped. There are about 30 people in our class who come from all over the world with totally different backgrounds. It has been fun getting to know everyone, where they come from, and why they’re doing this short but intense program.

I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t a little intimidated at the beginning. Again, after doing things on my own time table this past year, I know it is going to be an adjustment getting back into school mode. I just have to remind myself I’m 5 years older than the last time I was in school (I can’t believe it has been that long!) and I can definitely do this if I just manage my time and focus.

Oh, and we started a blog for our program where we’ll be talking music biz. You can check it out here.

Etc, Etc.

I started reading “Dirty, Sexy, Politics” by Meghan McCain a couple of days ago and I totally recommend it. Whether or not you’re into politics, whether you are republican or democrat, it doesn’t matter! It is a fun read. Also, for my friends in Nashville, there’s an entire chapter devoted to her night out in our amazing city after the Presidential debate at Belmont.

Finally, if you haven’t already, you should check out The XX. Amazon is selling the digital CD for $6.99 (iTunes has it for $9.99), and I’m not even sure if the physical album is available in the US yet.

Sorry for the boring photo-less post, but I promise to put up  a more exciting post soon.

Ciao,

Sheila

Just A Little Bit of Pixie Dust

Now, think of the happiest things – Peter Pan

For little baby Leone’s baptism, Dario and Paola decided to have a big summer/baptism party. The theme: Peter Pan!

Captain Hook's Pirate Ship

The party the second Sunday after I arrived and everyone spent a good amount of time preparing. The entire property was transformed! Masks, costumes, fairy wings, and sets were all created and just about everyone who attended played a role.

The "set" for the party

Water balloons for the big attack

Once the kids arrived, they were shown a music video with a montage of clips from the movie set to the song “L’isola che non c’e’” from the Italian version of Peter Pan the Musical. Then, all the kids (and several adults) were assigned roles from Capitan Hook and the pirates, to the Indians and the Lost Children. They all got dressed in their costumes, masks, and face paint and then they were off on their adventure!

The kids starting on their adventure!

My favorite thing that was built for the party was Capitan Hook’s pirate ship! It was amazing! The pirates were armed with hoses, water guns, and water balloons so that by the end of the “attack” everyone was drenched!

The Pirates preparing for attack

Attack!

Then the Indians captured some of the adults, and the kids had to pick raspberries to help free them.

Picking raspberries

The ransom paid to free the adults

From here, they headed back up to the ship where attack number two took place, and soon everyone had jumped into the pool!

The whole thing took maybe 1.5 hours and all the kids (and adults) had a blast!

Sangria!

Of course, there was a ton of food, and Dario even made sangria from scratch and it was wonderful! Perfect for the summer heat. Here are a couple of the appetizers we munched on.

Bruschetta

mozzarella, eggplant, and tomatoes

Unfortunately, around this time it started to rain so we had to move the party inside, but the fun continued as we ate hot dogs and cut into two beautiful cakes that Paula’s aunt Silvana made (see photos below). Little Leone slept through most of the day, but I have a feeling there will be more parties similar to this one in his future.

Lion cake for Leone

Barbie cake for Allegra

As promised, I’m going to showcase a different Italian city during the next few posts. Last time I wrote about Milan. Now, check out my post on Bergamo.

Ciao,

Sheila