Prague, pt. 2

First, pictures from our first day in Prague:

One of the gorgeous views from the Vyserhad

One of the external doors of the basilica at the Vysehrad

One of MANY attempts to capture how amazing the basilica interior was. 

Tuesday in Prague we chilled out in the apartment. I went to the store to get some groceries and Jay worked. I made a pretty nice lunch with some gluten free pasta I found and some really yummy local salami. After Jay was done working we wandered around Old town, and got pictures of the astronomical clock. Later, we hung around so we could see it ring at 6:00. It's a little creepy. When it rings the little skeleton on the upper right moves and rings a bell. Jay said it reminded him of Pirates of the Carribean. I said it reminded me of my own mortality and the inevitability of death, but whatever, different strokes.

The astronomical clock in Prague

We went to the Jewish quarter, walked around the New Old Synagogue, which is the oldest active synagogue in Europe, and we went inside the Spanish synagogue. The décor and beauty rivaled any cathedral I've visited yet, but it was also very sad. They had a lot of history about the Jewish community of Prague, and I found myself getting very emotional. That's all I'm really willing to write about it here.  

 

The exterior of the Spanish synagogue

After the Jewish quarter we went to get ice cream at a place we knew would have a good sorbet selection. Jay had lemon and raspberry sorbets. I had mango, coconut, and mint-melon sorbets. We decided that if we were going to eat dinner out we needed to go somewhere with Czech food. So we found a place I'd marked on the map as having a gluten free menu. We went, Jay got a beer (that was pretty awful cause he felt the need to get the beer whose name he kept seeing all over the place, but it was a pilsner, and Jay prefers dark beers. I'm also pretty sure they poured a double pint without asking.) I had a not great czech wine followed by a good Pinot Noir. When we were walking through old town we passed a series of food booths and one of the things that a couple of them had were giant hams turning on a spit. So we decided to try some Prague ham for an appetizer. Dairy free was tricky for them, so I got what was called a small Mixed Grill, while Jay got Goulash and Dumplings. Mine was a big platter of grilled chicken, pork, and beef, with a few grilled veggies. The meat was delicious, but I developed a severe case of the "meat sweats" which I don't think I'd ever believed were a real thing before. Jay's goulash was delicious, but we were both stuffed and didn't really come close to finishing our dishes. I think this restaurant mainly serves locals, along with the odd tourist who finds it because it has a gluten free menu. The two men working the floor were very friendly, and barely spoke English, but we managed great. After that we walked home and chilled out till bed time, which was at 9:00. Don't judge me.

Wednesday morning we left for the train station on the early side so that we could stop at a cafe we'd been passing. The coffee was delicious and Jay was regretting not having gone sooner. Then we stopped at a Sweet raw Food place, which was all gluten free and vegan. I'd gotten a couple slices of cake from them the day before to go with lunch. So we went in and I got a vegan cheesecake that was mostly quite good. They served breakfast too, and I'm kind of sad that we didn't eat breakfast there one day. 

Prague is the first place we've visited where I've really wished we had more time. I think part of that is because it's so jam packed with tourists that it takes twice as long as expected to get anywhere. I think Prague is objectively cooler that Budapest (has cooler things) but Budapest was a lot more fun for us because there weren't nearly as many tourists. Vienna feels like the sophisticated and slightly aloof older sister of the other two cities. 

Up next: Train trouble in Dresden and the beginning of SO. MUCH. WINE.