Postcards from Italy

I think I just had one of the most amazing meals of my life, all for under 20 dollars.

Let me back up a few steps. I am in Prague; I just departed from my Cross Cultural Encounters travel group in Bulgaria and got off at the connection city rather than taking the plane all the way back to Copenhagen. Unfortunately I forgot to tell the airlines this so I am getting off the plane for 48 hours in Prague without my bag; hopefully it will be on the other end waiting for me. So the first thing I do is buy a bus pass, change some money, and buy deodorant, a bar of soap, and a toothbrush/paste. Hey, if im going to wear the same clothing for the next three days i should be able to smell ok.

I am staying in a great backpacking hostel. I actually got the information from a little brochure off the wall at our guest house in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The alphabet here is no longer cyrillic but is still something foreign, albeit in romance language script, so it is a little difficult to navigate. After finding the hospital and finally figuring out the bus system, i took a shower and started to explore the awesome city of prague.

Given at this time its about 6 pm, I grab a roll and some water and hit the streets of the old town. Wow. Incredibly old towers and spires sitting in some of the most picturesque squares I have ever seen, all lit up at night. And this is against a background of sex shops and north african immigrants pushing drugs and hookers. Whooo Europe. I am starting to realize that the best way to explore this city is by wandering its streets and attempting to get lost; the mix of architecture and wierd storefronts is friendly and surprising. In my attempt to get lost I get a steaming cup of mulled wine, some of the best hot beverage I have ever drank. Unfortunately however this sped up my apetite and being lost it took a long time to get to the resturant I decided to dine in on the way downtown.

This resturant is unreal. It is a cellar bar complete with authentic czech bar food, aka MEAT. There are 6 beers on tap, rotating every week, and ove 200 varieties of bottle beer from the czech republic alone. Let me remind you that the lager-style beer was invented in Plzen, Czech Republic, and these guys know how to make their beer. In fact, Budweiser is a butchery of a wiezen, or pilsener, style beer. In any case, over the course of the meal I had three great brews: a light but complex unfiltered pale lager. This was standard mug fare, but still had some punch, and surprisingly was the least interesting of the beers. My favorite was an incredible smoked dark special on tap; it tasted like the smoke was peeled off of lox and combined with sweet cedar all in a malty cared-for beer. And the foam head was soooo delicious and thick. This beer tasted like a meal in and of itself, and I can say is one of the best beers I have had in a long time, and is called a Rauchmarzen, I need to find these when i get home. The last beer, which I washed down the dregs of my meal with, was a semi-dark malt with hints of citrusy wheat and a nice european hops kick which bit through the fat in my meal, a real necessity.

Maybe I got a lilttle carried away there. In any case the food was also awesome. Given that I could order so few things on the menu (almost everything had meat in it) I was not expecting anything good to come of it. I was so wrong. First came the friedd cheese skewer I ordered. Each golden brown block was a different cheese, and each equally delicious, especially with the vinegar-based radish slaw that acccompanied it. Next was a garlic and chili-infused spinach side, which was excellent and also happened to be the only vegetable on the menu. To round out the meal, and easily my favorite item, was a pan-fried catfish fillet with a barbeque-tinged french dressing underlaying it. The meat was flaky, crispy, and moist (what a wierd word) all at the same time, and I have to say I need to learn how to cook fish.

OK so today was just grinning walking around this soviet turned bohemian paradise and eating and drinking like a king for cheap. Still, I have enjoyed the solitude, and look foreward to my day tomorrow. I plan on exploring the old jewish quarter, the smetana family (my mom's side) has pre-WWII roots here, and then exploring the old Prague castle built in the 4th (or 9th?) century. I also plan on eating some more great food, reading the latest Economist (one of my favorite magazines, thanks ace freedman) and doing some reflecting on Bulgaria and my time in Denmark. I may end the night with a pub crawl, but we will see on how I am feeling. I also plan on ending the day watching the sunset over the Danube river, should be baller.

I am sooooo lucky with my life right now. And I have an awesome new haircut by a non-english speaking Bulgarian woman. More to come.