New Year's Eve in Prague!

Prague Day 2 - Mucha, Communism, Market and New Year's Eve!!

Had a great day walking around the Old Town and visiting a couple of museums.  We started out with the Mucha museum, where are displayed many of the prints, posters and paintings of Alphonse Mucha, the Art Nouveau painter of Czech fame.  I love his work and the museum is well done.  We then walked on down to the Museum of Communism, which is on the second floor of an old, ornate building next to a casino and over a McDonald's!!  Its a very interesting display that walks you through the history of communism in the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia, with many artifacts and memorabilia of the communist years, lots of propaganda posters, pictures and films of the major moments in the history of communism in this country.  After we left there we wandered from Wenceslas Square down into the Old Town neighborhood where there is an open air market.  It was a lot of fun browsing through the market stalls, with lots of local artisans and their wares.  I had a light lunch of mulled wine and a trdelnik (my newest favorite food!!).  We wandered into some of the many shops in that area and finally made it to the Old Town Square where the famous astronomical clock is located and the square was teeming with New Year's Eve activity.  Lots of mimes, street musicians, magicians, festive lights everywhere, street food and crowds of people.  The smell of grilling meat, roasting chestnuts, trdelnik, hot wine, hot mead and lots of other delicious treats permeated the air.  It was cold, but so long as we kept moving we were able to keep from freezing.  We walked back past the Powder Tower and up through Wenceslas Square where New Year's Eve revelers were already starting to set off firecrackers.  Some of them are so loud it sounds like someone setting a bomb off!  We came back to our apartment about 4:30 so as to rest up and relax a bit before going back out for our evening river cruise.  A hot cup of tea and some Christmas cookies were sufficient to tide us over until the buffet feast on the boat.   

We went on a river dinner cruise on the Vltava River so that we would be in a good spot for the fireworks.  One thing we learned tonight is that Prague-ers LOVE fireworks and everyone sets them off all evening and into the night, non-stop.  While the official fireworks are at midnight over the Vltava River and many other landmark buildings in the city, there are thousands of fireworks going off from the minute it gets dark until well into the wee hours of the morning.  (As I write this it is 2:30 AM and the fireworks over Wenceslas Square are still booming away!)  We got down to the dock early, having made our way on the metro to the pier.  It was cold so I had another hot mulled wine to warm up while we waited to board.  When we got on board and got going they served the first round of drinks and there was a jazz band playing as we rode down the river.  The Vltava River has a lock just below the Charles Bridge so we had to go through the lock both going down the river and on the return back up.  We had a delicious hot and cold buffet dinner and enjoyed the ride up and down the river seeing fireworks going off from all different spots all along the way.  After a few hours, we got brave and went up on the top deck, outdoors where we could see all the buildings and bridges lit up and see the many different fireworks going off all over.  These are all private people who have bought fireworks and set them off, right in the midst of crowds, I might add!   Safety doesn't seem to be much of a concern here.  All night long we heard and saw sirens flashing as fire trucks and ambulances and police cars went careening all over the place.  As we got closer to midnight all the cruise boats congregated just north of the lock, right near the Charles Bridge.  At midnight all hell broke loose as all of the boats sounded their horns and thousands and thousands of fireworks went off in every conceivable direction.  I was spinning like a top trying to take them all in.  It went on for full twenty minutes (officially) but actually never really stopped as the private fireworks continued non stop all over the place.  Truly, you haven't really seen fireworks until you've witnessed Prague on New Year's Eve!  What a show!  We left our boat at 1:00 AM and went to get the metro, only to learn that we had missed the last train.  So we walked back to the apartment, through drunken revelers and accompanied by non-stop booms and bangs as firecrackers and Roman candles and all manner of other fireworks continued to be set off, often altogether too close for comfort.  The Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square were littered with broken champagne bottles and the detritus of fireworks among other things!  It really looked like "the morning after the night before" all over town.  We walked as fast as we could since being out among the drunken revelers many of whom were still playing with fire was a bit nerve-wracking!  We were much relieved to get back to our apartment and relative quiet.  So as it nears 3:00 AM I'm ready to be off to bed. 

Happy New Year!!  

Arrived Prague - Tram Adventure and Wenceslas Square

Prague Day One

We had an uneventful and smooth trip over leaving Rochester a few minutes late but making up the time to Detroit and then arriving Amsterdam and Prague a bit early.  We were met by the manager of the apartment where we are staying who drove us here and helped us settle in.  We are in a large, pre-war building right behind the National Museum which is at one end of Wenceslas Square, a major center of activity.  (Picture of the building above.) The apartment is spacious, with extremely high ceilings and huge windows looking out over the museum building.  We have a nice sized bedroom, a living room with kitchen area and breakfast bar and a full bath.  After we unloaded our luggage into the apartment, we went off to find the local grocery store to get in provisions for tea, drinks and breakfasts.  There is a Tesco market just around the corner and we had fun wandering through trying to figure out what things are when everything is in Czech!  After we returned from the food shopping we decided to crash for a couple of hours as neither of us had slept on the way over and we were bone weary by then.  After a two hour nap, we roused ourselves and went out to explore the local area.  We walked over to the national museum and then on through Wenceslas Square.  The Square is teeming with visitors as it is still high holiday season and Christmas decorations and Christmas trees are everywhere and carols are playing all over.  As we walked through the square there was an outdoor food market with all kinds of delicious hot foods - sausages, potatoes, dumplings- lots of good, hearty Czech winter food so the aromas in the air as we walked through the square were tantalizing.  I promptly treated myself to a cup of hot mulled wine and a special treat called trdelnik that they make out of sweetened dough that is roasted over an open charcoal fire until brown, then rolled in sugar, cinnamon and walnuts and served piping hot - it is delicious!!  Sort of like a fresh doughnut, but lighter and not fatty like doughnuts can be because this dough is roasted not deep fried.  (See pics included!) Wenceslas Square is like a cross between Trafalgar Square and Times Square with all kinds of historic buildings and monuments interspersed with stores and fast food restaurants. (Honestly, the number of McDonalds', Burger Kings and KFCs we passed is mind boggling.  Why do we Americans export our trashiest commodities???)   I was delighted to see a Marks & Spencers right in the middle of Wenceslas Square!  I noticed a few other British store chains here, and on our way back to the apartment in the early twilight we were serenaded by a Scottish bagpiper!!  As his music faded as we moved further away we then heard an accordion player doing Czech folk tunes!  It was quite an international experience all told!  We were trying to find a particular tram so that we could take a ride around the main areas of the city that are of interest to visitors, but finding the tram stop proved more challenging than we imagined.  When we did finally find the tram number we needed, we wound up going in the wrong direction and had to turn around and come back.  The good news about that was that we saw some regular neighborhoods in the city that are not part of the tourist track and learned that the Czechs take their dogs on the tram, even when its packed at rush hour!!  There are even specially designated seats for passengers with pooches!   When we returned to Wenceslas Square it had gotten dark and the lights on the buildings and the Christmas trees were really beautiful.  I've included one shot of the National Museum all lit up after dark.  We returned to the apartment to relax briefly and then went out for an early dinner, to a little place just around the corner from the apartment.  We are too tired today to do much else.  I had my first stein of Czech beer and I must say, for $1.25 a mug its the best thing going!  Then I had goulash with dumplings for dinner with apple streusel and vanilla ice cream for dessert.  I can tell that this will not be a low calorie trip!  We came back to the apartment early we are still pretty jet lagged and want an early night so as to be rested for a more full day tomorrow.  So far, Prague is a delight and I'm looking forward to getting further afield tomorrow.