Praha, Pivo, Prosim

Ok, here are some random links of places I’ve been so far… these are some I can remember. If I could recall all the bars I’ve hit in 5 weeks, the list would be much longer. Speaking of bars, all but one of the places I’ve been do not have cover charges. This surprises me. Although I’m not a ‘club’ person, I fully expect to pay a charge when entering the premises of a club. Nope. That is good. Popocafepetl is the only place that has charged at the door and that’s because of the band. However, since these places don’t charge at the door and they are more trendy and hip, the drinks are more expensive. But, that’s going to be true of any city. The bars/clubs in Old Town certainly get more Kc per beer simply because of location. Actually, last night I paid the most so far for a beer since I arrived. Sixty Kc for a beer is rather pricey here even though it translates to less than 3USD. If one is outside of Praha 1 (centrum), one can expect to pay probably 25-40ish for a drink.

Another issue of going out is how to find my way home. The streets (especially in Old Town where I now live) are often windy and change direction. My internal navigation system (despite my vagina) is usually pretty on target but when you are making twists and turns on curving streets, it’s hard to know which direction you are going. There’s also the issue of not even knowing street names and not knowing how to properly pronounce the ones that you do. Go ahead and look at a detailed map of Old Town and Praha 1. You’ll see what I mean. Also, because I’m a female living alone in a foreign country and don’t speak the language, I have to be mindful of how much I drink and know my way to get home. That said, I’d like to stay out later and have a few more drinks but the idea of wandering around aimlessly at night is stupid and irresponsible.

Most of these links have English menus on the main pages so just look for the Union Jack flag or a little icon that says EN.

Popocafepetl in Mala Strana–cool cellar atmosphere next to a wine bar. Mala Strana is on the other side of the Vltava and a really nice area of town. Pretty much at the bottom of the hill where Prague Castle is located.

La Casa Blu was a place we hit up last night. It’s a Latin-themed joint with plenty of tequila shooters, etc. Alas, I stuck to the beer because it’s the most affordable and delicious! There was actually a surprise Jagermeister promotion while we were there which was hilarious. Three girls in bright orange tops and black skirts and orange wigs came in holding portable yellow flashing lights….they were followed by a dude wearing a furry deer costume and a dude with a big black bag. Of course the wardrobe was all sponsored by Jager and they traveled around the bar for a good hour giving out shots and promotional Jager stuff. The guy in the deer costume never lost his motivation despite probably roasting in the stupid outfit. They had whistles and danced a lot all the while getting girls to take their tops off in exchange for free Jag shirts.

I can’t say much about Aloha Cocktail because we were only inside for about 15 minutes but I can say it’s yet another cellar type club that looked very cool. But, it was Friday night and busy so we went to the next destination.

Bohemia Bagel is popular with the expats as they have well, you guess it, BAGELS! It’s a bit much in so far as money goes but they serve American style breakfast items so sometimes it’s worth the extra 50Kc to get a taste of home. The Old Town location is about 2 blocks from my crib.

A neighborhood Middle Eastern restaurant, Dahab, is right around the corner. I hit up the deli area for lunch yesterday and had falafel which, by the way, if you haven’t had it, get it. It’s vegetarian and quite flavorful so you can feel a bit healthy despite it being fried. The nicer restaurant portion of Dahab looks super cool so I’ll have to check it out later.

Just a place in Zizkov that we went a bunch of times. It’s right around the corner from the Biscupcova flat and next to the tram stop so it was really convenient.

They say Palladium is the biggest shopping complex in Prague and they (not sure who THEY are) are probably right. Palladium certainly isn’t the biggest mall I’ve ever been in but it’s really nice and has some higher-end shops. I think I blogged about the ‘food court’ before so be sure and navigate to that part of the site. The all-you-can eat sushi place looks really cool with the rotating conveyor belts of food.

Potrafena Husa has a few locations but we went to the one in Andel a few nights ago. New and quite popular and the service staff is all men. The dude employees were not happy that night. I think they hated us. I had the traditional Bohemian potato soup that was served in a crispy bread bowl. Delicious. Potatoes? Check. Bread? Check. Sold.

The night we went to Potrafena Husa, we had quite an international group. Oh, and let me say that despite the reputation Czechs have for being surly and unfriendly…well, the ones I have met have been very nice and generous and accommodating. So, it was myself, the Brit boys, 2 Czechs (Antonin and Jarka), a Sicilian (Sandra) and a few other Americans. Jarka is a student from the Intermediate class and Antonin is her boyfriend or as he said, a ‘friend with benefits.’ They are super cool people so when we did our party at Amigos in Vinohrady last week, they wanted to meet up again. Jarka is a full time German and Russian teacher and takes English on the side. Impressive. Of course that’s on top of being a native Czech speaker. Sandra is from Sicily she and teaches German, Italian and English. Holy Christ. Just speaking one language makes one feel a bit useless.

Another super cool Czech I’ve met is Blanka– also from the Intermediate class. We were required to give freebie one-to-one lessons but since I didn’t do one with the bank employees, I had to give one to a student from a class. I met Blanka at a cajovna (tea house) in Vinohrady and our 1 hour session turned into three. She had promised to bring me some moonshine Slivovice (kind of a plum brandy/Schnapps) and she did not disappoint. Free booze is my favorite kind! Anyway, my opinion of Czechs? Cool peeps once you get them to chatting. They aren’t initially willing to talk much but once they do they are very nice and curious.

In other random news, I got up this morning to find the sky had NO clouds at all. This was a first in the 5 weeks I have been here. Apparently the winter months are quite dreary, bleak and gray so when the sun comes out, it’s a good thing. Being the nerd I am, I quickly got my shit together and headed out on foot to take some pictures. Again, I need to run some stuff through Photoshop, but when I do, I’ll upload and share with all of you! But, as I sit typing this at 11:30am, the clouds have moved in and to that I say BOOO!

 Lastly, I still need a job! But some interviews are scheduled so that gives me hope!