Don't plan an eight-hour train/bus trip for your birthday when you are carrying 30+ kilos of luggage and expect to have too much fun. I did get birthday hugs and wishes from Jaime and Tim, a birthday phone call from Botswana, lots of emails and facebook messages, and a Magnum ice cream bar before the bus left Nuremburg. And the trip wasn't that bad, just long. The birthday improved markedly when we arrived at our Prague couch surfing destination around 7:45 pm, and Evgeny (from Russia, near the Black Sea) immediately realized we needed dinner, and promised to take us to a salsa dancing club with some of his friends later that evening. Dinner at a nearby restaurant was a miracle dish of kale, bacon, cheese and potato dumplings that tasted much healthier than it probably was. Oh, the caloric joys of being back in Eastern Europe. After dinner, Evgeny took us to the promised salsa club, where I realized I don't really have any idea how to salsa. I felt bad for the toes of the guy who asked me to dance. Luckily, just watching with a Czech beer in hand was perfectly acceptable for the rest of the evening, and eventually the salsa gave way to non-ballroom dancing music I could actually move to.
Since the real birthday was a bit of a bust, Jaime and I decided to just pretend that the next day was the celebration, and live a Bohemian lifestyle to the fullest in Prague. The first requirement for acting Bohemian is to find good food, preferably in a café. We were feeling quite hungry and desperate when we got to the Old Town Square at 10:30, and almost succumbed to the evilness that is tourist-land breakfast fare. Prague has become something of a tourist mecca since the fall of the Berlin Wall, particularly for Americans, and the town square, featuring a unique clock tower, churches, cute architecture, and statues, is the center of tourist activity. While the square is prettier in the summer sunshine, the atmosphere was much more appealing last time I was here in winter, when gluhwein flowed like Niagara Falls from the taps of the temporary holiday village on the square, and the tourist hordes were either smaller, or you were tipsy, so you didn't care. The experience in the restaurant on the square that we almost ate at went something like this:
*Look at the menu at the entrance. Breakfast looks affordable enough, and it is served until 11!
*Sit down at an outdoor table. Realize the breakfast menu the waiter gave you (in ten languages) is more expensive than the one you looked at outside. BUT, it says the prices are 50% cheaper if you sit inside. Waiter confirms the prices are cheaper inside, but not a full 50% cheaper.
*Move to table inside by the window.
*Indoor waiter brings bread and another menu, which doesn't feature breakfast.
*You ask for a breakfast menu, and the waiter says that breakfast is only served until 11. But it's not 11 yet, you say. The waiter assures you it is after 11, even though your watch says it is 10:40.
*Leave, fed up and still really hungry.
But the food would have sucked, and leaving was certainly kinder on our stomachs. Instead, we found a little juice bar that also served delicious baguette sandwiches. The perfect snack to stave off our hunger for another 20 minutes until we found the café of perfection! If you find yourself in Prague in the future, please find au Gourmand Café (www.augourmand.cz) and prepare to be wowed. I haven't had hot chocolate so thick and rich since my first trip to Spain 12 years ago. I'm not sure which crepe I liked more: the sweetness of the apple with brie and walnuts, or the savory cheese and mushroom. Since we had walked in the rear entrance of the café garden, we didn't see their display cases until we left. We contemplated buying quiches or pastries for later, but decided to get something that traveled better to share--so we settled for the chocolate chip cookies to take back to Evgeny that evening as a thank you for his hospitality. They were so delicious he made sure to get the address for the café so he could go back for more.
Nutritionally satisfied, the Bohemian adventure continued with a stroll across the river, up the hillside, past a giant metronome (we don't know why it's there) and a double bench swing (that didn't actually swing very well), and through the park to Prague Castle. Aaagh, we were back in tourist land. These people are so uncultured! Ok, yes, I know we were also tourists, but I get skittish in the massive hordes of photo-snapping, oblivious, check-something-off-in-your-guidebook people. Nor can I understand the couple we saw in St. Vitus' Cathedral where the man was filming a stained glass window and the woman was reading aloud from her guidebook the description of the Biblical scene depicted. I pity the family and friends that are forced to sit through that film showing.
Eager to escape the tourist lemmings, we opted not to pay to take the unguided castle tour. Instead, we made our way down the hill and toward the Charles Bridge. We stopped at a hair salon where Jaime got a Czech haircut from a lady who didn't speak much English. The blowdryer made her hair a bit poufy, but after a wash that evening, the cut actually turned out quite good-- excellent considering the limited stylist-client communication.
A walk across the Charles Bridge took us back to the old town, where we found a café on a quiet side street and had a fruit salad and mint ice tea. Refreshed and re-Bohemianized, we started to make our way toward the opera house for our final dose of Bohemian culture for the day: the 7 pm ballet performance of Swan Lake. Of course, on the way, we window shopped for clothing, and stopped for more culinary happiness at a quiet restaurant near the museum: I had the zander fish, and Jaime had the schnitzel. And the waiter managed to convince us we wanted dessert. It's my birthday celebration, and the only cure is more sacher torte!
We went to the ballet wanting to feel cultured, but instead left Swan Lake somewhat confused. The dancing and costumes were certainly beautiful, but no program was provided for the show. Unfamiliar with the tale, we struggled to understand just what the storyline was. Why don't you people talk? When you flap your arms, I think I've figured out you're a swan, but I don't understand what your leg-wiggling and all those pirouettes mean! And good god, prince ballerino who looks like Owen Wilson in "Zoolander"…put some pants on! Your tights are too tight! And are you in love with a bird? It's never going to work! Back at Evgeny's we looked up the plot--apparently, the prince is supposed to be choosing a wife, but while hunting, falls for a girl who has been cursed by a sorcerer, and is transformed into a swan by day/girl by night. The prince falls in love with her because he pities her (wow, that's romantic), and wants to profess his love to her (and break the curse). But the prince is tricked by the sorcerer into thinking that another girl is the one he loves (she is transformed to look identical), and he professes his love for her by accident, meaning that the spell can't be broken. There are various endings with varying degrees of sadness, but the ending we saw was actually fairly positive: the prince kills the sorcerer and almost drowns in the river, but doesn't. The girl finds him, permanently turned back into human form: happily ever after, curse is broken, hurrah. All you need is love…even if it's from a bird.
Our cultured day wasn't quite over though. Evgeny had prepared dinner for us, so after watching the end of the World Cup qualifier (Russia beats Wales, 3-1!) we had yet another meal, which was quite tasty (pork and salad). Then, Evgeny told us how he is trying to translate Seinfeld episodes into Russian for broadcast (I think on Youtube). So if you ever see the Russian version of the episode where Jerry freaks out the masseuse, thank Evgeny. And if you understand the lines:
Elaine: "It's a slap on the wrist!"
Jerry: "Yeah, but I still don't see any dinner invitations forthcoming,"
in their Russian version, thank us too, for clarifying the English meanings.
Before finally turning in, Evgeny showed us videos of him and his fiancée in ballroom dancing competitions (impressive), and another of him as a 10-year-old in an ice skating competition (even more impressive!). He was one of the champions of his region in Russia when he was skating!
Completely cultured out, we went to bed. Vienna is on the agenda for Thursday, and more artistic endeavors and culinary adventures are sure to come.
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