Praha, bitches!
Mar. 25th, 2019 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geowench(I know y'all don't need a by blow over every day, but I've pretty much written one for myself because I haven't done any journaling yet and I don't want to forget.)
Well, we are here at long last! Arrived Wednesday after about a 24 hour journey. Thankfully we were picked up at the airport by one of E's Czech grad students (he is not teaching, but is supervising a couple of PhD students here). He dropped us off at our AirBnB and informed us that we were due to have dinner with some people in 2 hours, yikes.
We checked out our apartment, which is quite nice, and larger than expected, and freshened up a bit, then checked google maps and headed down to the tram station (about a 7 minute walk) to go to the restaurant which was chosen to be easy for us to get to. So we ate with a bunch of E's colleagues.
Let me take a minute to write a love song to the marinated, fried cheese that is a Czech speciality: Cheese, I love you, and I expect to return to OK twice as fat and twice as happy.
I was absolutely dropping after two hours, so we cut it short and came back and crashed into bed.
Next day E had to go to work! We had no food, but I had brought some instant Starbucks coffee, so we drank that black and then he headed off to the Czech Academy of Sciences, and I was left to try and figure out how to get us some groceries. After wandering around a bit, I found the local grocery store and bought as much as I could carry in the one bag I had brought with me. Even though it's a small neighborhood grocer, they had a good 30 or so types of fresh bread/rolls, and three aisles of cheese. OMG. Did I mention the fatter and happier thing yet? Then I tried to log onto work, which I was unable to do. Ah well. We went out to dinner that night, and had a mediocre meal at a local pub.
Friday E again went off to work and I had to figure out how to work long distance. Eventually I was able to get myself logged onto the server longlong distance and so got my hours in. I also bought a few more groceries so that I could make dinner that night.
Saturday we did the touristy thing and took the tram to the center of Prague where we walked across Charles Brdige and up (and up, and up) to the castle, then walked back down and across the bridge again, then walked to the astronomical clock. Even though it's still March, the numbers of tourists are astonishing. I'm glad we did this excursion when we did because I cannot imagine doing it at the height of the season. Anyway, it was only midafternoon after all that, but I was exhausted, so we took the tram back home and took a nap. (I am not as spry as I used to be, but I am definitely in much better shape than I have been the last two years -- I would never have been able to do all those steps on our last two European adventures.) I again cooked dinner.
Sunday our big adventure was to take the tram to the big Tesco Extra (an English chain, go figure) to stock up on groceries. So this place was like a Walmart or a Target, covering 2 floors (with cart escalators, very exciting to us Okie yokels). It was just part of an enourmous shopping mall. We walked around a bit and bought a coffee maker and then went in to Tesco for some groceries. We had both brought our backpacks (you have to pay for plastic bags at grocery stores) to carry the groceries home, plus I bought a cute little burlap shopper for my local shopping excursions. After another nap (jet lag is real), we went out for dinner at a very nice place that was a big improvement over the previous place. I anticipate this place becoming a regular spot for us.
So that brings us to today, which is Monday. E is at work, and I am here at the apartment, working away. I took a nice long midway walk, and made myself some lunch. I've got dinner (chicken thighs and potatoes, plus a salad) prepped and ready to go in the oven in bit. My plan is to make myself leave the apartment every day (unless it is storming) to take a walk and explore a bit and get some exercise. On today's walk I found a pho restaurant and two donner kabob places, which I am thrilled about.
So that is life in Prague. Very pleasant - more so than I expected, actually. Spring is definitely here and my winter gloom and doom seems very far away. I need to set some goals for myself, because there are definitely things I want to accomplish while I'm here.
In the meantime ... there are already four varieties of cheese in my fridge, and they are asking to be eaten.
Well, we are here at long last! Arrived Wednesday after about a 24 hour journey. Thankfully we were picked up at the airport by one of E's Czech grad students (he is not teaching, but is supervising a couple of PhD students here). He dropped us off at our AirBnB and informed us that we were due to have dinner with some people in 2 hours, yikes.
We checked out our apartment, which is quite nice, and larger than expected, and freshened up a bit, then checked google maps and headed down to the tram station (about a 7 minute walk) to go to the restaurant which was chosen to be easy for us to get to. So we ate with a bunch of E's colleagues.
Let me take a minute to write a love song to the marinated, fried cheese that is a Czech speciality: Cheese, I love you, and I expect to return to OK twice as fat and twice as happy.
I was absolutely dropping after two hours, so we cut it short and came back and crashed into bed.
Next day E had to go to work! We had no food, but I had brought some instant Starbucks coffee, so we drank that black and then he headed off to the Czech Academy of Sciences, and I was left to try and figure out how to get us some groceries. After wandering around a bit, I found the local grocery store and bought as much as I could carry in the one bag I had brought with me. Even though it's a small neighborhood grocer, they had a good 30 or so types of fresh bread/rolls, and three aisles of cheese. OMG. Did I mention the fatter and happier thing yet? Then I tried to log onto work, which I was unable to do. Ah well. We went out to dinner that night, and had a mediocre meal at a local pub.
Friday E again went off to work and I had to figure out how to work long distance. Eventually I was able to get myself logged onto the server longlong distance and so got my hours in. I also bought a few more groceries so that I could make dinner that night.
Saturday we did the touristy thing and took the tram to the center of Prague where we walked across Charles Brdige and up (and up, and up) to the castle, then walked back down and across the bridge again, then walked to the astronomical clock. Even though it's still March, the numbers of tourists are astonishing. I'm glad we did this excursion when we did because I cannot imagine doing it at the height of the season. Anyway, it was only midafternoon after all that, but I was exhausted, so we took the tram back home and took a nap. (I am not as spry as I used to be, but I am definitely in much better shape than I have been the last two years -- I would never have been able to do all those steps on our last two European adventures.) I again cooked dinner.
Sunday our big adventure was to take the tram to the big Tesco Extra (an English chain, go figure) to stock up on groceries. So this place was like a Walmart or a Target, covering 2 floors (with cart escalators, very exciting to us Okie yokels). It was just part of an enourmous shopping mall. We walked around a bit and bought a coffee maker and then went in to Tesco for some groceries. We had both brought our backpacks (you have to pay for plastic bags at grocery stores) to carry the groceries home, plus I bought a cute little burlap shopper for my local shopping excursions. After another nap (jet lag is real), we went out for dinner at a very nice place that was a big improvement over the previous place. I anticipate this place becoming a regular spot for us.
So that brings us to today, which is Monday. E is at work, and I am here at the apartment, working away. I took a nice long midway walk, and made myself some lunch. I've got dinner (chicken thighs and potatoes, plus a salad) prepped and ready to go in the oven in bit. My plan is to make myself leave the apartment every day (unless it is storming) to take a walk and explore a bit and get some exercise. On today's walk I found a pho restaurant and two donner kabob places, which I am thrilled about.
So that is life in Prague. Very pleasant - more so than I expected, actually. Spring is definitely here and my winter gloom and doom seems very far away. I need to set some goals for myself, because there are definitely things I want to accomplish while I'm here.
In the meantime ... there are already four varieties of cheese in my fridge, and they are asking to be eaten.
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Date: 2019-03-27 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-29 06:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-29 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-27 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-29 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-29 06:41 am (UTC)Lidl is originally German, but now Pan-european. We have one very near us at home and do much of our shopping there, but as it is a discounter, it is limited in what it can offer, so needs to be backed up by Tesco and the other chains.
Meanwhile, unless you find a restaurant that caters for vegetarians and vegans, vegetable choices are limited when eating out - but then, no point in going to a restaurant and eating something you cook every week at home!