Snow Road Trip to Czech & Saxony, Germany - Day 4: Prague
First we visited cafe called the Spot for breakfast. I had French toast with fruit. It was delicious and definitely one of my best dishes during the trip! I wish I could have it every morning. I think J had Breakfast croissant, filled with bacon, avocado spread, scrambled eggs and caramelized tomatoes. I guess he liked it. The Spot was J's pick. Another success, J!
We walked to the Old Town square. A worker was shaking the giant Christmas trees to shake snow off.
The Christmas market wasn't open yet and there were less people. It was a good time to take a look at the historical buildings and monuments at the square although the Christmas market dominated the square and it was difficult to see the entire square. I am not complaining. I like Christmas markets. It would be ideal to be there both in the holiday season and in another season.
The Old Town Hall has a medieval astronomical clock on the south side of the tower. When the clock strikes the hour from 9 am to 11 pm, the procession of the Twelve Apostles sets in motion. It was about 15 minutes to 9am at that time, but it was too cold to stand in front of the clock even for 5 minutes. We escaped in a Starbucks nearby, J bought a hot drink there, and returned to the clock a few minutes before 9 am. The show was simple and modest. Watching it once was enough.
We headed to the New Town, south of the Old Town. On the way we passed by the Estates Theatre, a historical theatre that was open in 1783. It was the place that the world premieres of two of Mozart's operas, Don Giovanni (1787) and La Clemenza di Tito (1791) were staged, which Mozart himself conducted as was the custom then. It is said that Mozart was very beloved in Prague. La Celemeza di Tito was the opera that Mozart was commissioned to write for Leopold II, King of Bohemia's coronation.
There was a memorial statue of Il Commendatore, a Mozart's Don Giovanni's character, outside the theatre.
The building was beautiful. It remains mostly in the original Classicist style today.
We kept walking south, to the New Town area. More we walked, more charm of Prague we discovered.
We stopped by Cathedral Church of Sts Cyril and Methodius, a Baroque-style Orthodox church that the paratroopers involved in "Operation Anthropoid" hid in. We couldn't enter the church at the moment because it was the time for church service. Moreover it was Monday. The crypt with the National Memorial to the heroes was closed. Perhaps next time.
Near the church was Dancing House. Built in 1996, the modern architecture was inspired by the dance skills of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, an American dancer couple who appeared in several films in the 1930s. The stone building represents Fred and the glass building does Ginger. I am not familiar with the couple or their dance, but the concept was interesting.
Dancing House stood at the corner of the block along with the River Vltava. Prague Castle we visited on the day before was seen far away.
While it was enjoyable to explore the New Town, it was pretty cold to stay outside. It was time to warm up ourselves with a cup of tea.
Opened in 1902, Café Louvre is a classic grand cafe in the New Town, at where famous figures from the cultural and political, such as Albert Einstein who was working at the Prague German University, used to spend time. The interior wasn't impressive and I felt the place was kinda touristy when I see T-shirts or souvenirs with the cafe's logo for sale. Meanwhile the cafe was pretty busy and seems popular anyway.
We were back on the streets. Where to go next?
We walked back to the Old Town and popped into a store of JANEK Chocolate, a chocolate maker, based in Uherský Brod, a town in the southeast of the Czech Republic. We tried a couple of pieces. They were ok but didn't make us to buy a box.
We also stopped at Havel's Market, the only preserved market place in the Old Town, dating back to 1232. The market almost turned into another Christmas market.
A pile of cute gingerbreads made me smile. : )
Luckily I found one of the vendors selling Vosí hnízda, one of traditional Czech sweets that I wanted to try during the trip. Vosí hnízda are a type of cookies in the shape of a beehive, containing dough made of ground cookies, walnuts, cocoa powder, sugar, butter and rum, and a little round biscuit for the bottom. They are traditional made during the holiday season, so I thought the chance that I would find one was high and I did!
Well, my expectation might have been too high. Those Vosí hnízda were just too sweet and less flavorful. I guess they were too chilled to taste in the below-zero outdoor temperature. I wanted to try another Vosí hnízda although sadly I didn't have a chance to do so.
Next we visited Kolacherie, a small café and a craft bakery, specialized in Kolache, traditional sweet Czech pastries.
Kolache are round sweet pasties made of yeast dough, usually filled with poppy seed paste, cream cheese or jam and sometimes topped with crumbles. I tried one with while poppy seed filing, which was one of the traditional fillings. It was tasty. I wished I could try one more with a different filling, but I was already full.
The bakery makes savory Kolache, one of which J tired. I think he liked it.
We wandered the Old Town more and ended up to the east district outside the Old Town. We walked enough to be ready for lunch. We took an Uber to Holešovice, a district in the north of Praguea, on the other side of the River Vltava. Our destination was Dim Sum Spot Letná. It was J's idea to have a nice dim sum to have a break from rich Czech or European dishes. I totally agreed with him. Plus, the lunch trip gave us a good opportunity to see a new part of Prague.
Dim Sum Spot Letná was a casual, bright restaurant. We sampled six different steamed dumplings, including those filled with tofu, pork, and shrimp. They were pretty good. While we were there, I felt something on my throat and couldn't stop coughing. Interestingly I started hearing other customers coughing, too. The staff at the restaurant must have known the situation and they opened the door wide-open and ran a portable fan. I guess they were cooking something with hot pepper and the kitchen and dining rooms were filled with peppery smoke. Watching their quick response, I assume that it wasn't the first time that they cause the problem. Some customers might have not realized why they were coughing...
Holešovice was much less touristy, where local people's daily lives can be seen. There was a craft beer shop that J was interested in checking out. The shop opened at 3 pm. We walked around the area for a while and looked for a cafe to wait until 3 pm.
We found a cafe just on the opposite side of the road from the beer shop. The cafe was plain but quiet. We both had a cup of chai latte and relaxed to 3pm. J picked up some bottles of beer. It became cloudy, darker and a little windy by then. Time to go back to AirB&B.
To be continued...
