Prague - Beauty and Beer

The first thing I noticed in Prague is how absolutely beautiful the downtown area is, especially high on the hill where the 17th-18th century government buildings are along with a massive cathedral. As it started to get dark, I wondered through this historic district with my group and descended down a crowded, narrow, cobblestone street to the rest of the city. We met the bus at our hotel and unloaded our luggage while our bus driver pissed off a bunch of Czechs because the coach was blocking most of the street.

Later that night, after being lost for awhile, a small group of us found a drinking establishment that had been recommended to us. It is a place that could never exist here in the States. The beer taps are actually in the middle of each table. A little digital display keeps track of how many liters have been poured at the table since the last bill was paid. When you’re ready to leave, you signal a waiter and pay the tab. Until then, pour your own and drink up. As if that’s not enough to encourage overindulging, the bar assigns each table a number and actually projects a visual count onto the wall of how much each table has consumed. If your table passes the quantity of beer quaffed by another table, your corresponding mug on the display will swap places with the other table’s mug. Yes, the entire bar is set up as a drinking contest. Even if such a place could ever open their doors here in the States, they’d quickly be sued out of existence when some drunk got in an accident on the way home. Ahhh… Prague.

I spent much of the next day exploring Prague on my own and it continued to blow me away with just how beautiful it really is. I mostly just walked all over the place including back up the hill to the historic government buildings and cathedral. It was good to see everything in full daylight. Unlike many of Europe’s major cities, Prague was not heavily damaged by either of the World Wars, so block after block of its grand old buildings are still fully intact.

I should note that while absolutely worth visiting, travelers should expect Prague to be crowded with tourists. Gone are the days soon after the Soviet Union dissolved when Prague was a very inexpensive, mostly undiscovered gem. Word is out and even in November some areas were quite crowded. It’s not what I’d call cheap either, but like I said, it’s definitely worth seeing.