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  • Day 65

    Prague, Czech Republic (Day 2 & 3)

    October 9, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ 🌧 59 °F

    What we did:
    - Met for breakfast in the hotel to eat and plan the day. A lot of collective time spent googling the horrific Hamas attack on Israel and watching the news coverage. So sad 🙏
    - Headed out to wander the town square and went up to the Black Angels bar rooftop for views overlooking the famous clock tower and city. Grabbed some drinks and talked lakehouse and Christmas plans!
    - Walked around town some more and then grabbed lunch at a delicious meat market! Trent was in heaven.
    - Then headed off to do a 2-3 hour walking tour of the city. Great guide and interesting viewpoints on the locals, history, and buildings. Probably a bit long but all were glad we got a walking tour in.
    - After our little endeavor into learning, we naturally had to try and forget what we learned with a mini pre-dinner bar crawl. Had some more Czech beers at “Pivnice U Kata” and then returned to Black Angels bar to hit the basement bar this time around. Self proclaimed “top ten bar in Europe” we definitely enjoyed the speakeasy ambiance.
    - Headed over to our Celebratory dinner for Sally’s bday and a thank you to both Sally/Doug for making the trek over! Dinner was delicious with great food, vibes and conversation. Going to be hard to go our separate ways.
    - Post-dinner nightcap at a local Irish bar still open! A wannabe Kurt Cobain was shredding the guitar and our ears while a group of wasted college kids tried to dance in the front. Quite the scene but love a good nightcap 🤘
    - Around 11:30 Sally/Doug headed back and Steph/Trent headed to another bar, Hemingway House, to meet Trent’s friends David/Jess for a beer. They were over for Dave’s work and happened to be in Prague so it was nice to catch up for an hour or so! We hadn’t seen Dave since early June due to a series of surgeries, so great to see him doing well!
    - Woke up and enjoyed another hotel breakfast, debriefing further on the trip!
    - Headed out for some coffee recommended by our tour guides rcalled “Kavárna Obecní düm” (how do kids in these countries possibly learn the alphabet?). Great old school cafe by the Powder Gate - old school in architecture but embracing the future with little robots driving around bussing the tables
    - Headed over to the Lennon Wall! Really just a standard wall with a bunch of graffiti and pictures until you read the history. Pretty cool how significant a symbol it was for not just the Czech over the years, but also people all over the world as a symbol to promote freedom, peace and happiness.
    - After the wall we grabbed some final drinks at a river front restaurant “Bricks” overlooking the Charles bridge. Trent asked for a pretzel and the heavily offended waiter scoffed and informed him “this isn’t a pub, sir”. Stephs second hand embarrassment was palpable
    - Absolutely amazing week! We’ve said it a few times in these writeups this week, but we are so fortunate they made the trek over to make some lifetime memories 🙌

    What we ate:
    - Breakfast at the hotel - pretty solid!
    - Lunch at Naše Maso. Absolutely delicious “dry-aged” burgers for Trent/Steph (best of the trip!) and Pastrami sandwiches for Doug/Sally
    - Dinner at La Finestra in Cucina! Truffle pasta appetizers and ribeye/filets for all! Great staff and presentation! They brought out a small scale to weigh the truffle they put in the pasta. They then brought out a large tray with an array of steak cuts to pick from. Then the Somm came in to select a great cabernet pairing. Best steaks of the trip!

    Fun facts
    - Trent had the meat sweats after the onslaught of meat from the day. He ate a dry-aged burger, half of Stephs burger, half of a pastrami sandwhich, his 12oz ribeye, and many bites of Sally/Steph’s filets…. a bit repulsive to type out
    - Prague is nicknamed the town of 100 spires and it certainly lives up to it
    - Prague's astronomical clock is currently rated the #4 most overrated thing in Europe and we have to agree. Mona Lisa in Paris, The mermaid in copenhagen and Manneken Pis in Brussels beat it.
    - The Lennon wall started in 1980 shortly after his murder as a nonviolent protest by the Prague youth against communist oppression as they really embraced his music preaching peace and freedom. The government frequently whitewashed it, installed cameras and guards and yet locals always found a way to creatively paint over it again. The “velvet revolution” of 1989 is when locals nonviolently won against communism and it became a central rallying point for celebrating their new freedom. It’s now been replicated and used symbolically all over to fight for peace.
    - Doug and Sally confirmed that this trip made them much more comfortable with traveling Europe. Let the travelling begin!
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