Day 3...7/27

We woke up early and headed to Bohemia Bagel for breakfast 'n' blog. Afterward, we went to Josefov, the old Jewish Quarter of town. It was absolutely beautiful with it's old synagogues and buildings.

Our luggage was supposed to arrive at 11 (which it DID NOT) so after an hour of waiting at our apartment, we decided to head out to lunch. We had pivos, sprites and some odd Czech fare: sausages (salty and gamey), some delicious rye bread, garlic toast, fried cheddar jalapenos (their version of the jalapeno popper?) and the "fragrant" cheese platter. The cheese was so weird....Roquefort (yum) and some sort of soft white cheese that tasted exactly like manure smells (REALLY.) and the worst....a gelatinous golden colored blob of "cheese" that looked like Shrek's snot and tasted like manure would TASTE (if I had to try it). Weird but fun....I WILL try any food once....AND everyone in my family tried everything. GO US! :)

After lunch we went on the subway to Vysehrad, a large citadel. We had to hustle back to the apartment to get there in time to meet the people bringing our luggage (fyi...hating Delta right about now). Our luggage arrived-FINALLY- and we bolted to go see Prague Castle. It was very beautiful. I had the honor of being shoved aside (HARD) by a guard whose way I got in. COOL!

After visiting the castle, we wandered back to the other side of town, stopping along the way for a pivo break. We decided to try a meal of traditional Czech fare.....and we were all lured into the restaurant by the sight of big, beautiful pretzels hanging on a stand in the center of each table. We seated ourselves and immediately started eating the pretzels. Troy looked around and noticed that NOBODY else was eating the pretzels. Our server walked up then (at which point ALL 5 of us hid our pretzels like a bunch of naughty kids) and Troy asked him about them...turns out that they were 75 cents each! Proof that the Andersons can be dorks on any continent.

Dinner was interesting and delicious. Troy and all the boys ordered Czech ribs...a lot like the American version minus the BBQ sauce but served with garlic mayo and a Czech BBQ type sauce. I went even ore traditional and ordered the "knee of pork", It was the whole knee of a pig served on a tiny little spit with 4 sauces: coarse dijon, smooth dijon, horseradish and the weird Czech BBQ sauce. It was very good.

I also ordered a bowl of goulash, a traditional Czech soup. NO...stop right there!!!! It's not the same goulash you're thinking of with the elbow macaroni that we'd occasionally eat in th e70's. This was a rich, garlicky tomato based brothe with big chunks of potatoes and tender bits of beef. Easily the best thing I've had here. Of course, nobody in my family loved it the way I did...taste is so subjective. :)

After dinner, we wandered for hours. At the Kafka museum we saw statues of 2 naked men peeing (which my kids LOVED...OK, I did too), in a park we saw giant bronze statues of naked babies crawling (which again, my kids LOVED) and we saw a huge free concert on a bridge. It was weird Slavic music so we moved on. We walked past the site of the Velvet Revolution (the quiet protest that ended Communism in the Czech Republic in 1989). We moved on to the famous beer hall, U Flecku. It's a huge tourist trap but it's the oldest beer hall in town---it's been running since 1499. They make their own beer, which we sampled and the kids had a Fanta before heading "home" (which really, our apartment is like home now and it's probably bigger!).

After going to bed, I slept for 2.5 hours before insomnia struck. I guess I spoke too soon about beating insomnia, huh? :) Our plan for Wednesday is to head out by train an hour east to visit Kutna Hora and the famous "bone church" there. Maybe, hopefully, fingers crossed, I'll be able to sleep on the train rides!

:)