The "Golden City" with Paul & Friend

Paul

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Prague with our pals Friend and Paul from Charleston!  

Friend's fashionable socks to stay dry in sub optimal weather

Rainy weather followed them from their first stop in Berlin but did not dampen their excitement to visit Eastern Europe. 

Prague has been on our "must see" list for awhile so we were thrilled to arrive in less than 5 hours by trusty Nissan Altima.  

We met Friday evening in the city center at our lovely hostel where we shared a large room with 4 beds & private bathroom (great deal at less than 20$ per person).

 The hostel recommended the Prague Beer Museum for sampling Czech beers.

Me, Friend, Katie (friend of Friend from Charlotte), and Paul

My favorite was the Opat Chocolate (delicious dark and creamy with a hint of cocoa)

Old Town Square is a historic public space with pedestrian cobblestone streets.  There is an astrological clock, Kinsky palace, and a church with Gothic steeples.

While wandering Old Town, we worked up an apetite and found an authentic Czech restaurant with a menu specializing in game dishes.

Scott ordered duck and they served him what seemed like the ENTIRE bird.  It was accompanied by a delicious plate of dumplings, cabbage, and sauerkraut.

Friend and Paul each ordered the rabbit.  It was the first time in my life I witnessed Paul leave protein on his plate. 

Sadly, it seemed the rabbit reminded Paul of his childhood pet  

The next day, we went on a mission to see some historic sites.

Cool Gothic Statue - Katie was a cheerleader

We walked and jumped along the famous Charles Bridge 

Friend's belly button star of the pic

The Prague Castle is huge and dates back to the 1700s.  Today, the president of the Czech Republic has an office in the building.  

Cloudy rainy day photos did not turn out well

Scott captured some kodak moments among the tourists:

The Castle Gardens were beautiful and well maintained thanks to their robotic lawnmower (I want one!)

Concern: would it get stolen off a yard in downtown Charleston?

Friend promised we could wear matching pink pants on our next outing

We needed a break from the rain so we went to the Czech Beer Festival.  This event happens once a year so we had glorious timing.  The Czech Republic is famous for quality beer and is ranked Number 1 in the whole world for per capita beer consumption.

We liked the dark stout beers a lot!

The beer festival was smaller than the Stuttgart fest and had a larger variety of beers on tap at very low prices.

Our crew in the beer tent

The festival was full of locals and tourists: Bohemian rednecks, American Frat boys, Irish mobsters, and wildest of all British Stag Parties 
(stag/future groom/ass clown pictured below)

Katie says this outfit is "Euro-chic" but I doubt even Euro-Scoot would rock one

One British stag party of 8 dudes explained their tight knit bond by showing us their matching bar code tattoos on each right buttock cheek.  

Friend attempting to scan the bar code with her handy Iphone App

This festival had EVERYTHING we could have dreamed of on a rainy day! (karaoke specifically)

Scoots got the dance party started with an amazing rendition of Genesis

We ventured back into the beer tent a few hours later and it was packed!

Friend hysterically laughing (matchmaking at festivals is challenging)

Scott and Paul (both engineers) appreciated the open air urinals due to their efficiency and quality controls.

Don't worry Granny, these are not ladies just cross dressing Europeans

After the fest, we enjoyed a succulent meal at Hercegova Cihlena (thanks Mr. Smock) and then walked back along the Charles Bridge.

The city is most gorgeous at night with lights reflecting off the monuments along the river.

Gothic architecture

Fireworks why not?

The last day we explored the New Town which was modern and industrial. 

Building looked like it was made of bubble wrap

Paul stayed out late the night before so Friend motivated him to wake up and meet us at the "famous" John Lennon Wall.

Not sure why this is famous (no plaques or information) so Paul maybe wished he stayed in bed

Rain started pouring again so we found refuge at a unique Caribbean spot with a bright greenhouse jungle motif; the perfect rainy day atmosphere. 

Paul making one of his notorious toasts about life and pelicans  

Since Paul was not feeling great, we decided to celebrate his upcoming birthday (sadly Scott and I will miss it this year) and Friend ordered him a surprise flaming shot.

I think our waitress Shakiraa had a crush because she brought along a fireworks display and blasted Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday to ya" over the loud speaker while leaning in to kiss the birthday boy!

Our last night out in Prague was filled with live music.  First stop was a seedy dive bar with an unimpressive Eric Clapton cover band followed by an amazing Czech Blues guitarist at the Republic Jazz Cafe.

Friend is a super geek (like Terri) and brought her journal and glue stick everywhere to track her travel experiences

Friend appreciated her first trip to Europe and felt people seemed more engaged in dinner conversations without TVs or cell phones anywhere in site.  She also appreciated the clean private restrooms, bakeries, and

salad dressing in spray bottles.

On the flip side, she was appalled by the "poorly dressed children in Berlin, unacceptable dogs in bars, and graffiti."

Friend's eloquent summary of Prague:

"amazing to be surrounded by this place, so old and dark yet so peaceful at the same time. I'm not big into energy yet I believe in it when I feel it and this city has it flowing through its mortar. "

P.S.