Snowy Day in Prague

It seems no matter what or where I am I wake up around 0700 so we were ready to go by 0830 after having our donut for breakfast at the hostel. The hostel was about 20-30 minute walk from the Old Town so a bus ticket was in order. The ticket was about 26 crown or 1 euro and took us right to the Charles Bridge. The rain from yesterday was now snow so our first looks at Prague castle were thru a haze of flurries. I think we had a special travel moment this am with the snow and no other tourists.

The free tour on the agenda didn’t start until 1030 so there was a couple of free hours to walk across the Charles Bridge, take photos and shop a bit. I had to hit the garnet stores! By the tour time we had seen the charles bridge, been down Karlova street and photographed the astronomical clock and old town square.

At 1030 the guide was waiting at the meeting point hoping no one would show up for the tour in the snow. The tours are run by college students that do it is a part time job – they basically work for the tips. She was a bit hard to understand but she was a sport about guiding us around in 20 degree weather. She took us from the old town to the new town and ended in the Jewish quarter. The highlight was in the WARM national library where there is a seemingly endless tower of books that appears to hold up the ceiling. The tour was over by 1300 and we tried to make a beeline for lunch. When I say tried I mean that we couldn’t seem to find anything very easily even with a map because the streets are very curvy and change names frequently.

One of the maps had mentioned a pizzeria that appears to be in a cave where you can watch the guy flip your pizza dough. The place was called pizzeria Kmotra Kavarna near Wenceslas square. The order of the day was margarita pizzas with the beer I promised myself yesterday. It was great to be able to thaw out in a nice cozy environment. By the time lunch was finished it was almost 1500 so we headed back to Karlova street to see about the marionette show – Don Giovanni. Supposedly this opera was Mozart’s gift to Prague. The show was 1 hour 15 minutes for 1000 crown. The theater felt like it was in the attic of an old house with wooden benches. The puppets put a funny twist on the opera and I was glad we were able to fit the show in.
I had read in Rick Steve’s book about a tea house – Dobra Cajovna or “Good Teahouse” – where they elevate tea to an almost religious ritual. So of course we headed there. When you sit down they bring you a long menu of teas and a bell. After you finally decide what you want you ring the bell and a “tea monk” comes to take your order. I got some kind of phoenix tea that tasted pretty bad and Curt got a cinnamon flavor. The problem was they didn’t give me the sugar I’m used to dumping in my tea! But the place was cozy and warm!

After tea and just down the street was our second show – the WOW show at the Blacklight theater. It was definitely an experience. The tickets for this one were 1100 crown for an hour show. The storyline was about the dancers trying to find their inner child. It was an interactive theater with rain falling on us, bubbles, snow, big beach balls the audience bounced around and last but not least actors dressed up as giant spiders that came to harass the viewers. The display was amazing because it seemed as if the actors just disappeared from the stage. It can be related to a somewhat tamed down Cirque de soliel show.
Of course when we came outside to walk the rest of the way home it was snowing again. As we were fighting the map, the snow and the highways with no sidewalks Curt decided we should just take a taxi and in 5 minutes we were safe and dry back in the hostel. Tomorrow we leave early to head back to Germany and the snow awaiting us there. See you next week for Thanksgiving from Vienna!