If I Could Live in Any Czech Palace...

The area surrounding Prague Castle is filled with these elaborate palaces where many state officials and dignitaries lived through Czech history.  Across the street from the subject of this post and down the block from Prague Castle is a set of palaces where the film Amadeus was filmed.  I instantly fell in love with the palace in the above picture.  The amount of detail contained in the facade of this building is astounding.

I went with the large photos for this post but I encourage you to download these photos and look closely at the intricate reliefs and patterns in the walls.  From the back to back cournucopias on top to the guardian faces in the bottom row.

The curved overhangs feature vines with leaves that are shaded.

Even the most basic design block is simple yet elegant.  There is a terrific balance of light and dark in the pattern that seems to create a perpetual sunset over the front of the building.

There were no shortcuts, even the inside courtyard is filled with the same gorgeous decoration.  If only it was still a home and not a museum, perhaps I would be able to hold on to an irrational desire to live here (that little hiccup will probably not stop me anyhow).

A Simple Change to Food Branding

This caught my eye on the way up a street in Lesser Town (found at the end of the Charles Bridge, opposite Old Town Square).  Now if Red Lobster did something as simple as changing the color of the lobster apparently they could achieve a four star rating.  Quite impressive.

Look What I Found on My First Run!

So, the other day I had decided to go for a run to work off a little of the superb pivo from my first week here.  I have been here long enough now to have a pretty good sense of direction even with the winding narrow roads.  I started Feed the Animals in my headphones and started heading down hill.  After about five blocks or so I had stumbled upon the entrance to a local park, at first it looked very forrest like and steep.  The steep part was correct but the forrest observation only lasted a little while.  Once out of the trees I was met by the hill covered in grape vines, it was a full vineyard in the middle of a park, in the middle of the area that I live.

The vineyard is beautifly landscaped and is the perfect serene scene along the running path.  The main vineyard house lies at the top of the hill surrounded by a stone terrace.

Off of the main house there is a festive and comfortable looking, open air wine bar and beer.

These picturesque vines stretch halfway across the park.  When I came back to take pictures, I found a hole in the fence where they had been planting new vines.  Once past the perimeter, I was able to sneak a few white grapes off the vine.  They made the perfect saturday morning snack!

Czech Mounds

This is a Czech candy bar called KOKO.  This candy bar was alright, nothing special.  Like I said it tastes pretty much like a Mounds bar, just a bit thicker and shorter.

Euro Hotdog!

So this food is a slight departure from its American counterpart.  And this is a real hotdog not a worst or a brat.  They take something similar to a hoagy role to start.  Each of the stands has a set of metal spikes that toast the role from the inside out.  Then they put some ketchup or mustard in the bottom of the hoagy hole and then put the hotdog in so that there is an even amount of condiment all around.  Only slightly different but still pretty cool!

A few interesting Chezch foods

Dobry den,

So, for a while I will probably be talking mostly about interesting czech food that is different from the food in the US.  Mostly because I am in Prague and I love food!  So this post is about what it actually looks on the bag of chips, Turkey Dinner Chips.  And yes, it does taste like turkey dinner!  Now its not quite like Thanks Giving dinner but most certainly a turkey dinner with all the spices.  The after taste is something like a chicken bullion flavor.  There are more flavors in this dinner line including steak and ham.

Sanbittér

So this is Sanbittér, it is delicious.  It is an Italian, non-alcoholic, cherry flavored apertif (aka digestive, aka bitters).  I was first introduced to this refreshing liquid while touring Senoma Valley in California.  I decided to try it as part of my quest to find epic sodas of the world.  I had forgotten about Sanbittér until the hot summer months when I craved its refreshing un-sweet taste.  I searched high and low in Dean and Delucas, gourmet markets, and ethnic specialty shops but have only found it at one establishment in the city, Abraco on 7th street.  It's a great little coffee shop with good food as well but at $2.50 a Sanbittér I wanted to find it at cost.  While my searched moved away from Abraco, I took two important lessons with me.  First, you cannot store Sanbittér in cold.  It must be left at room temperature or it will loose its carbonation.  Second, Sanbittér goes very well with a citrus.  On with the search!  At that point I turned where anyone turns when they cannot find something, das interweb.  Very easily I was able to find these nifty ten packs at the Amazon in the gourmet section.  Since then I have been enjoying and sharing the summery joy of Sanbittér.  A particularly good looking use that I have found online is a delicious concoction of Sanbittér, lime and Amaretto, it would probably make a great after dinner drink!