Aaaand for the third part the gingerbread cottages.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
imma eat em up
More pretties, I love the icicles on the eaves.
Priceless.
Your Mom is incredibly skilled in the artistic medium of icing.
I especially love the icicles, bricks in the chimney, and the sea turtle in among the more typical gingerbread critters.
Thethys, I think that’s a star, actually, but you’re on spot about the rest
OT:
Hello Charly, my wife and I are starting to plan a trip to Prague to occur in early November of this year. It’s kind of a treat for my wife who collects dolls as a hobby and has always had an interest in the Eastern European designs. The Prague Doll Exhibition will be held November 7-9 this year and we will attend. Since the trip is a long one, and likely the only opportunity we’ll ever have to visit, we’ll spend a couple weeks in Prague. We are not expecting to visit you (or for you to join us) while we are in Czechia. That would be rude.
I know you are some hours away from Prague by car, so my asking for any advice/recommendations about Prague may well be like asking someone like myself, who lives near Detroit, about the attractions in Chicago. But, on the other hand, you might have some advice/recommendations which is not commonly found in the guide books or on-line travel sites.
Feel free to ignore this request if you like, I know it’s somewhat of an imposition, but I would find a short blog post about Prague (or Czechia in general) interesting. I am going through some of your older posts to see what I can learn. If you are not interested in a blog post, but would still be willing to have a short correspondence, let me know directly. I presume the blog authors here on FTB can access the email addresses of the commenters.
@flex, I’d love to give you some tips but from the top of my head, I don’t know about anything that is not to be found on various travel sites etc. Like Prague Castle, the National Theatre, and The Old Town of Prague. I am not a particularly cultured person. Be prepared that many buildings you will see are older than the oldest buildings in the whole of the USA.
If you wish to see something outside of Prague, if you go in literally any direction in the Czech Republic you will probably find some beautiful or decrepit castles even if you do not specifically look for one. Some of the best-preserved ones that are at least sometimes available to the public are: chateau Orlík, chateau Lednice, castle Karlštejn, and castle Křivoklát.
But we have castles in various stages of disrepair everywhere, there is even one just about 10 km from my home.
As far as galleries go, The Slav Epic would certainly be worth seeing, if it is available at the time of your visit (there are ongoing legal shenanigans surrounding it).
I highly recommend perusing the YouTube channel Honest Guide (-click-) as much as you can. The sad truth is, that Prague is infested with scammers who target western tourists who do not know local customs. You will get by with American English but you probably will also meet many people who will try to take money from you by any means, legal and illegal, short of violence (actual violence is not impossible, but not particularly probable, indeed less probable than in the USA).
When visiting restaurants, you might get cheaper and equally good food on the outskirts of Prague, out of the most obvious tourist routes.
Thank you Charly,
It is my preference when visiting a city to spend as much time in the city as possible. I know we will miss things in the surrounding countryside, but I dislike trying to cram everything possible into a vacation and returning more exhausted than when we started. The whole “7 European Cities in 10 days” guided tour idea seems silly to me, it’s like the only point is to be able to brag to your friends back home that you have visited Paris, or Amsterdam, or wherever.
I enjoy a more leisurely travel experience, knowing that there is no possibility of seeing everything we don’t even try. We’ll pick out things we find interesting, and make plans to visit them at our convenience. There may be one or two things we feel are “must-sees”, and we’ll ensure we get a chance to visit them. But then the rest of the time we tend to wander around and if something looks interesting we’ll pop in. I know this doesn’t work at all venues, you have to schedule tickets to the Uffizi or the Alhambra months in advance. Although, even if you don’t, you sometimes find a few tickets are available for walk-ups. You just can’t be disappointed when they are sold out.
We are looking forward to sitting in a cafe with a pilsner and an obložené chlebíčky. Or getting a trdelnik and coffee in the morning. Not that either my wife and I know how to pronounce any of these words yet, but we’ll learn before we go.
Thank you for bringing Alphonse Mucha and his Slav Epic to my attention. I have a memory of encountering Mucha previously when reading about Art Nouveau, I’ve definitely seen his posters. But if I have encountered his Slav Epic before it has passed from my memory. A little digging finds that the Savarin palace is being renovated to house the Slav Epic in Prague, along with other Mucha works. But that while a lot of the gallery will be ready later in 2025 (so we might see some of it), the Slav Epic isn’t planned to be moved from Moravský Krumlov Castle until 2026. But it also sounds like a full-scale, high-quality, reproduction may still be viewable at Municipal House (where Mucha also decorated the ceilings), but it’s not entirely clear if it’s still there. Both my wife and I are fans of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, and there appears to be a good deal of those styles of architecture and art visible in Prague.
Thank you for the tip on the YouTube channel, we’ll spend some time perusing it. We’re definitely looking forward to the trip, and we are starting the process of familiarizing ourselves with the city, the region, and the country.
@flex, I completely understand not wanting to wander out into the countryside. But if you are inclined to take a trip outside Prague for one day, I would recommend Castle Karlštejn. It is not that far from Prague and there is a direct train connection (according to interwebs, the ride takes about 40 minutes). I have never seen that castle myself, despite wanting to do so my whole life.
Trdelník is sold in Prague, but if you want really authentic Czech food, trdelník is not it. It is an imported sweet sold to tourists most Czechs do not like it at all.
If you want real traditional Czech foods, then one readily available in almost any restaurant is svíčková (tenderloin with cream sauce, dumplings, whipped cream and cranberries -- I personally hate it, most of my friends love it). Others are: vepřo-knedlo-zelo (pork with leavened dumplings and sauerkraut), bramborák (fried potato cake, my favorite food), pečená kachna se zelím a bramborovými knedlíky (baked duck with sauerkraut and potato dumplings), bramborová polévka s houbami (potato soup with mushrooms). Guláš (goulash) is also popular and widely available in many variations, as well as gulášová polévka (goulash soup).
Czech alternatives to fast food are various fried sausages and meat loafs served on paper trays with dark bread and mustard or ketchup. And grilled chicken. These are usually sold near most attractions and in zoos etc. That reminds me, if you like animals, Prague Zoo is not that bad and it will take you all day at a reasonable pace. Prague Botanical Garden is also worth the visit.
Should you have a hankering for a taste of home, there are McDonald’s in Prague too :-).
Well, okay, we’ll look into Castle Karlštejn, with that strong of a recommendation it’s worth while investigating to see if we can fit it in.
As for Trdelnik, now we know. I’m not going to say we will avoid it, but we’ll know that if we do get any we are marked as tourists. What do Czechs eat for breakfast? In Italy we found a little pastry shop which catered to the locals before the tourists showed up, and loved a pastry and cup of cappuccino to start our day.
Yes! We do want traditional Czech foods. Without looking it up, it looks like “brambor” is the root word for potatoes. I think I would like svíčková if it didn’t have whipped cream on it, that sounds a little odd. Even though I sure it’s not the American whipped cream which has an excessive amount of sugar, it’s probably more like crème fraîche, but still… it is possible to have too much cream. Bramborák sounds a lot like the latkes I make, but with marjoram rather than onion. I’ll have to try to make them sometime, but we love our latkes so I know we’ll love bramborák. I’ve always associated Guláš with Hungarian cuisine, so I look forward to the Czech version. As for pečená kachna se zelím a bramborovými knedlíky, that just sounds heavenly. I don’t get duck all that often, and my wife still teases me because at one of our old watering holes I used to get duck for dessert.
The sausages and meatloafs sound like they may be good for lunches while we are on the go. We may be too late in the year for the Botanical Gardens, but we’ll look them up to see. A lot of things seem to end their summer hours on October 31st, and we were talking about arriving on November 1st. We may see if we arrive a couple days earlier so we can visit some of the gardens before they close. They may not be as pretty as in the springtime, but there is beauty in fall too.
Harr-umph! It has been literally decades since I’ve eaten at a McDonald’s. For me, a taste of home would be a reuben sandwich with a brown ale, and fries on the side. My wife would like her hamburger, but it needs to be beef, please. She ordered one in Athens a decade ago and it was lamb. It disturbed her so much that I had to finish it for her. ;)
I do not think there is such a thing as a traditional Czech breakfast. A typical Czech breakfast would be something baked, either sweet pastry (donuts, croissants) or white bread (bread roll, bread bun) with butter and jam/marmalade on top. And either black coffee or black tea. Trdelník would fit into that and maybe some Praguers do opt for it since in Prague it is readily available. However, Prague is the only place I have ever seen trdelník.
Most hotels serve the traditional choices that I encountered here in Europe -- a bread and pastry buffet with a choice of dairy products, smoked meats and sausages, eggs and bacon from which one can assemble a breakfast of their choosing, including the American trio of bacon, scrambled eggs and white bread.
I haven’t eaten svíčková for over three decades but I think the whipped cream is not sweet. Indeed you will find that most Czech foods are nowhere near as sweet as what you might be used to from the USA. Our bread certainly isn’t.
Goulash is of Hungarian origin, but to us, it is a beloved adopted child and most restaurants that cater to locals do serve some form of it.
“Brambor” does indeed mean potato. “Brambor/ový/ová/ové” means “made from potatoes (masculine, feminine, neuter)”. S far as languages go, Czech is one of the biggest pains in the ass in Europe, if not the biggest.
If you wish to take a leisurely stroll among the trees without leaving Prague, go to the Royal Game Reserve (Stromovka). It is an all-year round accessible park.
Here is an American preconception for you… I just realized that Prague has a decent public transport system, including buses and a subway. I know I have traveled enough that I should have looked for it before now, but when travelling in the US you just never consider that there may be decent public transportation options. For the most part it looks like Prague is compact enough to walk to almost everyplace we’d like to go. But there are a few places on the outskirts which look interesting, and now I know we can get there easily.
For what it’s worth, it looks like a train trip to Castle Karlštejn is only about 40 minutes one-way from the main station in Prague. This could easily be a day trip. Thanks for that tip.
I have been surprised at how much of the information on Czech websites is also translated to English. Other countries I’ve traveled to, or had working relationships with the people in, tend to use their native tongue exclusively more often. This isn’t a complaint, Americans should learn second languages, or at least a few words in the local languages for places they will be visiting. If nothing else, I’ve found saying “thank you” (which I think is “Děkuji vám”), in the local language helps tremendously. It shows you have an interest in more than just the architecture or art, but in the country itself and people who live there. “Please” (“Prosím” or “ráčit”?), is another good word to learn, but not as important as Děkuji.
Prague public transport is pretty comprehensive. I have friends who live in Prague and they only use cars when traveling outside, within city limits they use public transport or just walk. For about twenty bucks you can have a ticket for three days that should work for all trams, trolleys, busses, and Metro within city limits.
AFAIK many official Czech web pages have an English version. Do not expect as much English on the ground, although there will be some at tourist destinations.
For “Thank you” you can use just “Děkuji” The “vám” is more formal and archaic, usually used in written communication and and rarely in spoken form.
“Please” is “Prosím”. “Ráčit” is an archaism that I never heard of and I had to look it up although it is in my native language :-)
Other useful short phrases:
“Dobré ráno” (Good morning)
“Dobrý večer” (Good evening)
“Dobý den” (Good day -- most common greeting when meeting someone/entering a place)
“Nashledanou” (See you -- most common greeting when leaving someone/somewhere)
“Dobrou chuť” (Enjoy your meal -- In Czechia commonly said to an acquaintance or family member when they are about to eat something, the reply is “Děkuji”)
“S dovolením” (Excuse me -- for when someone is in your way and you need to go pass them)
And not particularly useful to tourists, but commonly used and thus added for fun:
“Jdi do prdele” (Fuck off -- literal translation would not make sense in English, it is just “go in the ass”)
“Kurva” (Whore -- a common exclamation used when things go awry, not to confuse with false friend with similar pronunciation -- curve)
“Fakt jo?” (Really?- a common expression of surprise about something, the t is silent and thus => do not confuse with similarly sounding “Fuck you”)
I think Americans should learn a foreign language as a matter of course at school. Here in Europe, it is common to have mandatory second (and sometimes even third) language education from elementary school onwards, even though most people do not reach good proficiency. Americans could profit a lot, culturally, if they had to learn a second language, it does open one’s horizons a lot. However, the most useful languages in that case would probably be Spanish, Portuguese, and perhaps French or German. Definitely not Czech, we are not that important and our language gives even us headaches in school. Czech spelling is easier than English because it is phonetic with very few exceptions, but Czech Grammar is an absolute nightmare.
Howdy again Charly,
I thank you greatly for the suggestions and knowledge you have generously passed on. You have given us a good deal to think about, several phrases which I know will some in handy, and some good suggestions about what to see which we may not have stumbled upon on our own.
I hope I haven’t taken too much of your time. I know that I enjoyed our short correspondence quite a bit, but I can’t think of any topics I still have questions about. If you are at all interested, when we return I’ll share with you my wife’s instagram account where she puts up all our photographs after a trip. We have been looking forward to this visit for the last few years. Our last trip, several years ago now, was to Grenada, Spain. But my wife has been talking about seeing the Doll show for at least a decade, and I’ve always been interested in visiting Prague. It’s been on our list for a long time.
Best regards,
Flex