Ultimate Europe Trip 2016 Day 11: A Czech Date Night
Yesterday was a truly great day. And sometimes on trips it can be really hard to figure out what to do after them. This morning we woke up late after 8AM which for me is unheard of. I must be on vacation. I went for a run while Jenn continued to sleep. I once again grabbed us our morning drinks after my run at the Starbucks around the corner.
Today is one of the few days on the itinerary that had nothing planned. We didn't have any tours planned, places to visit, or things to see. It was a free day and to be honest we weren't really sure what to do with ourselves. We decided to get going a little after 11AM without a real plan or idea of what to do. We just started walking and decided that we would wing lunch and see if we could find a place just by walking. We passed through Old Town, all the way to the Charles Bridges and over it. It was yet another beautiful day here in Prague.
After we took some pictures and enjoyed crossing over the Charles bridge we upped our lunch search. We went off the beaten path to avoid the tourist traps and found a great place a couple blocks away from where the Charles Bridge lets out called Konírna Restaurant. The restaurant according to the menu and further research after the fact is known for genuine Czech food. I started with Krušovice pšeničné (a great wheat beer) and Jenn had a water.
For our main course Jenn went with the pork flank with mashed potatoes. It was nice and tender but it needed more sauce/seasoning as it got old quickly. I had their game burger which was a mix of boar and venison and was served with fries and coleslaw. My burger was incredible, another great burger in Prague along with good fries and bad runny coleslaw. It was a nice lunch but not as good as many of the meals we've had here in Prague so far.
From lunch we continued to walk without a real plan or motive. It was only a couple of blocks later we found a gelato stand and Jenn got a scoop of chocolate chip gelato on a cone. It wasn't as good as the gelato we will get when we get to Italy but it was still a nice refreshing dessert on a warm Prague day.
We continued to walk back towards where we spent a lot of of our Segway tour yesterday near the Prague Castle. We went to one of the most incredible Starbucks on the hill of the Prague Castle overlooking the city of Prague. We stopped in hoping to find a Prague Starbucks mug that matches the last two we purchased but sadly came away unsuccessful. It didn't stop us from sitting down taking in the beautiful views and spending sometime looking at a world map where patrons put a pin in where they were from.
After spending enough time to catch our breath and enjoy the peace and quiet of the Starbucks we continued up the hill back to the Prague Castle. On Sundays it appears Mass is held on a giant screen near the Prague Castle. There were hundreds of people watching it and we even stopped for a few minutes to gaze at the spectacle. From there we made a very similar walk down the hill as we did the day before on the Segway. It was a rare moment on this trip where we didn't have anything to do or anywhere we needed to be. On the way down we did stop in at the gardens of the Prague Castle and took in the beautifully kept grounds.
We were back at our hotel after the two-mile walk and decided to sit back and relax. The only thing left for the day was to figure out what to do for dinner, always a burning question. We looked at Jenn's suggestions and compromised by going to an Italian restaurant for dinner. We made the lovely walk to La Finestra In Cucina a little outside of old town.
The restaurant is stunning, a lot of exposed brick, beautiful windows, and one of the nicest interiors we've seen in Prague. We both started with a glass of red wine. Jenn had the Barbaresco and I had the Chianti. Jenn is just better at picking wines, her wine was a lot more dense and full of flavor, mine was a little on the bland side.
For our entrees Jenn will not surprise anyone but she went with the Pappardelle with lamb ragout, vegetables and sage. The noodles were extremely fresh and the lamb ragout was out of this world. I had to stop myself from going over and grabbing more off of her plate. For my entree I went with a sous-vide rabbit leg, chickpea purée, baked white endive, baked garlic sauce and porcini ravioli. The rabbit was out of this world, much better then the rabbit we had at the Jules Verne in Paris. It was tender and the sauce was incredible. More then anything the presentation of both dishes were amazing. It was hard to even want to eat anything off of these plates they were so pretty.
Because the entrees were so good we decided we had to get dessert. We went with an apple panna cotta that was served with a chocolate moose and hazlenut ice cream. I don't consider Jenn and I huge dessert lovers, but this was one of the best we've ever had. We were scrapping every last piece of it up. Jenn favored the apple panna cotta and I was all over the chocolate moose.
We left the restaurant a little after 7PM and the sun was just beginning to set as we walked along the Vltava. I can't count the number of times we stopped to take pictures and at some point Jenn spotted a number of couples jumping in to these pedal boats on the river and grabbed my hand and led me toward one of the stalls where you can rent one.
Only a couple of minutes later we were peddling our way into the Vltava to take in the beautiful evening. The boat couldn't have been easier to drive. Pedal to go forward and you have a bar to steer the boat. We made our way around an island and decided the best thing to do was to just float in the middle of the river, watch the sun set, and look onwards towards Prague Castle. We used most of our hour with the boat before pedaling back to the dock and going on our way. It was one of those unplanned surprises that truly made today so special.
From there we walked another fifteen minutes or so to our last stop of the night, Prague Golf and Games. It's an indoor mini-golf course located in an old warehouse. Getting there was sort of tricky as the place looks abandoned outside of a small sign for the mini golf course. The place had a really cool vibe, all black lights with the courses using bright neon lights. When we arrived there was no one near us so we got to play the entire 18-holes without anyone bugging us. The entire experience was just a ton of fun. I of course demolished Jenn but she came on strong towards the end. It was such a random yet fun place to go, something we normally wouldn't have done in past trips.
After our amazing time mini-golfing we walked back to our hotel and called it a night. Although it was a Sunday night for us it felt like an amazing Friday night date night. It was fun to get out and just enjoy Prague without having anywhere to go or be. It was yet another incredible day on the Ultimate Europe Trip.
