A Dora the Explorer Day!

Get ready…..pour yourself a Czech cold beer and join me on my adventure!!! This one is long….

My partner in crime, Boots- was quite the trooper today and impressed me keeping up with this 4.5 hour walking food tour. We trekked all over this quaint, charming medieval city. On our walk to meet the tour we passed by a few Casinos- she was in her glory, might have to check them out tomorrow night. Although we learned they are really a store front for money laundering schemes, ha. I’m our compass and we are grateful I inherited my dads ability to read a map, understanding the lay of a new land so quickly, I did not get this trait from my mom for sure. 🙂 In any case the day began meeting this group of 8 other travelers with a Scottish guide we would spend half the day with, a wonderful group.

As you know I love to get everyone’s life story. Family of 5, were from Florida- parents celebrating their 25 th anniversary with 3 daughters in tow. The dad was an adoption attorney, small world. One Asian girl, Camille- solo traveler currently living in London originally from Singapore. She is the middle of 3 girls and was super funny explaining how difficult dating is and her online disgust, saying she will never get a husband hence solo traveling to still have these experiences, we liked her. She was funny, as she shared that her and her sisters live in other countries. When I inquired if her parents were bummed she said if they weren’t so awful we would have stayed, I couldn’t believe her bluntness. Lol. Then a newlywed couple originally from TX, now living in Denver for the guys residency. They were married the same day as Adam. All Americans led by a Scottish stand up comedian who married a Czech hence living here for 7 years. He was a great teacher and entertainer at the same time. He brought this old city to life for us. I definitely am someone who needs/enjoys a tour guide, this is how I learn as the old buildings finally unfolded their history like a great story book with detailed colorful pictures. Shelton style we got to stuff our faces non-stop while taking it all in. One stop was inside a bell tower, the ones with the clocks outside. This was very cool, on top of the tower on the 8th floor we were served a sauerkraut soup(bohemian)Sounded gross and was actually mouth-watering delicious. Danielle, you would have loved it! The only person I know that makes sauerkraut 🙂 it was super flavorful with potatoes, Sour cream, cabbage, and many spices. We learned all about the history of ginger bread and ate 3 types of cookies at a gingerbread bakery. Many people use these as Wall decorations in their homes. Another yummy place, called Sisters which is famous for a dish called Chlebicky(open-faced sandwiches) in my opinion their version of bruschetta, we tried 3 diff kinds. My favorite spot was a place called, Spiele, where everything is served on a stick, tapas style. They charge you at the end of the meal by counting all the sticks. Interesting concept and where I enjoyed my second Czech beer, craft style and a wonderful duck dish with a dumpling. Which by the way dumplings are everywhere and not the type of dumpling your imagining. These are different from place to place depending what main ingredient is used. More like a bread yet boiled, all about soaking up sauces. We ended the tour with a traditional dish svickova, not my fave….a beef brisket type dish with cranberries, and lots of mush…haha. All the food is heavy and meat. As well apple strudel was served our second time. Not sure we should ever eat again…..thank god we walked a ton, phew.

The places we walked and history we learned on this tour was off the beaten path which I love. He shared with us that Czech people don’t seem friendly because they expect others to be proper and earn friendships. He told us about a woman getting a 3 year paid maternity leave in Czech Republic, if you have another kid the 3 years start again. I mean talk about a country that cares about the family and appreciates the hard work it takes to be a mother and raise a child. I was impressed! As well all the trinket stores are owned by the Russian mafia, all stores have to charge the same- bizarre weird facts but none the less very interesting. People here hate the Russians worse than Germans. I’m curious if everyone would agree with all he shared now since going on a second tour….

So, we finished that tour, rested for an hour and chose to do a car/ driving tour. Thanks to my mommy, co-pilot(boots)- think Dora 🙂 I’m used to walking everywhere, my feet were thanking her, the cobblestone streets really do hurt your feet. May get a Thai massage tomorrow night as these shops are on every corner. We were picked up by the cutest young guy named Martin in a 1940 convertible Alpha Romero Spider. We felt like royalty! They have tons of old-fashioned Car tours that drive the entire city. Good thing we did this as we realized we were missing so much of Prague hanging in just the old city. Which by the way remind me of Jerusalem in the sense that the old city is separated by gates to enter and so much resides outside of those city walls. In any case we finally saw The Castle, holy moly. It’s the largest historical castle in the world-who knew??? I really know nothing about this part of the world and love learning history when shared by experience. Did you know this place was a communist country until just as recently as Nov 1989, started in 1948. I was surprised to learn this fact. Many buildings were built during the communistic times and look like black jails, described as a hungar games type structures. Just crazy that this existed during my life time. As well that Czechoslovakia separated in 1993 to become the Czech Republic and Slovakia which most people did not want. We saw the Charles bridge which is dreamy , like out of a movie, actually many movies are filmed here in Prague due to all the different types of Art Deco and how it changes building to building. All colorful and with such rich history, 9th and 11th century buildings told us many stories today. Perplexing to fathom in my brain and imagine what it was like to walk these streets, especially when they share stories of the Nazi’s marching the streets and pointed out the building where gold of the Jewish people was stored after being confiscated. To think that part of our travels has really not even begun yet. We saw one purple colorful synogauge today but the Jewish ghetto tour is tomorrow. Thank goodness we will walk again as I’m still ful! 😜

We passed by a beautiful mural, thought of Stephanie, it’s huge and in memory of John Lennon, all graffiti artist contribute. It was started in 1980 when he died and was covered up by the communist, then repainted, covered, painted, etc- so it’s many layers. It has his face painted in different areas, lyrics of songs, beautiful art with many colors, near a 600 yr old tree which was huge and lush. As we rode in this convertible with hair blowing in the wind the church bells were ringing, it was 8 pm, I truly felt like we were in some surreal setting, pinch me! We ended the tour, an 8:30 dinner reservation at a Michelin rated restaurant awaited us. We shared….Dover sole, yummy!! Walked back in the dark on a cold night….thankfully. I welcome the cold air! It’s now midnight as I pluck away with one finger on my I pad in the lobby of this cute hotel. So many people are chatting away at the bar, while I’m curled up on this couch, ready to go get in bed with my book.

Love and miss you all! I truly could travel the world regularly!
Love Laurie Sue, AKA, Dora today 🙂 xo