Hello from Prague
Arrived in the beautiful city of Prague yesterday after I was “lucky”dog enough to get a free biz class upgrade on Delta coming across the pond. How do you ask? Well they oversold coach and since I am a platinummedallion why not? Memo to Michele Bernstein who does the menus for DL’s biz elite – I have to tell you DL does an awful job of honoring your food. The flight attendants didn’t do a good job of cooking the food via the microwave. The soup was cold the rolls weren’t warmed through properly and were hard as a result and they never offered people the ice cream dessert. Not that I needed it but it is nice to be asked. I watched the movie “the reader” on the way over and I can’t recommend it enough it was very good.
When I arrived in Prague the ground transportation company didn’t come pick me up – so that sort of sucked. Got to this communist looking Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza – that screamed government hotel in the old days but was pleasantly surprised the rooms aren’t bad at all. When we asked out hotel CSM about the property – he said it was started in 1953 but finished in 1957 and it was used for training Russian soldiers hence they have 16 meeting rooms. The lobby bar is absolutely beautiful – although expensive a bottle of water there cost me about $15.00 USD last night. The hotel isn’t located in the best of areas. To get to the city center you have to take a tram and a subway for about 20 minutes to get to where you need to be. Which is exactly what I did. Since I am a foodie by trade that is exactly what I took pictures of – lots of food.
Holiday Inn Crowne Plaze - Prague
Beside the stand was a little ice cream store front. I got a lemon sorbet – 1 scoop for .15 krom which was .75 USD – I like this because it is portion control none of the oversize ice creams that you see in the US. The Europeans LOVE their ice cream and there is never a shortage of gelato shops anywhere in Europe.
Lemon or as they say Citron Sorbet
This is a pic of the 2 ladies working the storefront. They were happy actually to have their picture made.
Next I went to the Communist Museum. It gave the history of Czekloslovakia and how they became communist after WWII – thanks a lot France for selling them out at the end of the 1930’s. What communist life was like for their folks and then the fall of communisium in the late 80’s early 1990’s. This small museum was next to the McDonalds and housed a cheap casino in the same building.
Poster of the Communism Museum
There are lots of interesting things to learn about in the museum but one of the things that I read about – was the sports in a communist country. We laugh as the heavy athletics part of these sports at the Olympics were heavily particpated by communist countries – they explain why in the museum. Joseph Stalin wanted the youth of these countries to be very athletic in nature because if they ever had to go back to war their folks would be in good shape.
Then they did an area that talked about the propaganda on how in factories at times they would have people putting on gas masks because they were told the US could invade them at any time. Can you imagine growing up being so scared of this. Then they talked about the shop keepers in the grocery stores were very low paid. In order to make money they would take the items that were so hard to come by and hide them under the display cabinets in the shelves this way when the wives of government officals came in they would have them in stock and these folks would tip the shopkeeper for taking care of them.
Bar of chocolate from communist czech
After the museum – I took a little walk around a section of old town. I hit about this famous astrolonomical clock to see wood statuettes of saints appear.
The Astronomical Clock - Prague - Old Town
After all this walking it was time for a snack – so I had a trdelnik the Czech equivalent of a doughnut. Best eaten hot, straight from the baker. Who am I to argue. That is exactly what I did.
Tredelnik - a Czech doughnut
As I was walking around the streets I came across a nice brewhouse that I thought was lovely and then the next picture is this seating is on a swing which I thought was kool as can be.
Pilsner House
These individual cabana's are actually gliders
For dinner – I went to a Thai restaurant – my faovorite cuisine. This restaurant was located near the St. Charles bridge. In Czech they are known for their glass/crystal etc. Many of you know there are a ton of shops all over the city. This restaurant was unique because a glass maker displays his wares throughout the restaurant giving it a great environment. Then in the downstairs area is his showroom. Seriously – I just had a snack of chicken larb – jasmine rice – it was beautifully presented.
Jasmine Rice
