First Night Out in Prague, Parts 1 - 4

Part I

Although I’ve been in the Czech Republic for over two weeks now, the way my travel itinerary worked out and combined with the fact that I had a week long RBE course, I had yet to go out in Prague (or “Praha” as it’s called in Czech) on a Friday night. After wandering the streets of Prague, we decided to get a coffee at a local coffee shop, Segafredo, to warm up and get a little caffeine fix.

The waitress recommended what turned out to be quite a fantastic restaurant – a Cuban restaurant named “La Bodeguita del Medio.”

I opted for the lamb chilindrón or in Spanish "chilindrón de cordero", which featured spicy pieces of lamb in a red wine sauce and was served with Cuban baked potatoes - "mojo." I couldn’t resist a side order of their “Sleepy” black beans as an additional side dish. I ordered a great red Chilean wine, which I believe is called Syrah Rapel from the El Bosque Estate winery. To top off such a great meal, a couple of the guys, myself included, ordered Cohiba Siglo II Cuban cigars.

Of course, I can’t forget to mention the price – only 1200 Czech crowns (~$60 USD). What made it so authentic, besides the décor and blaring Caribbean tunes of Salsa, Merengue and Bachata was the fact that their cigar server was actually a Cubana!

I found it quite intriguing that a Cuban woman in her mid to late 50’s would be working in Prague of all places. I inquired about her story. She recanted that she had received work authorization in 1979 to work in the Czech Republic in the textile industry while Czechoslovakia was still under communist rule. Since she got married in 1982, the Cuban government granted her permission to leave the island. Although she still goes back to visit, she admitted that she was accustomed to her life in Prague. However, she certainly perked up when she was able to speak her mother tongue.

A couple of T-birds who lived right across the street from the restaurant met us outside to take us up to their fabulous apartment. On to part II…

Part II

It is very difficult to describe what the “Thunderbird Mystique” is all about in a succinct fashion. Instead of merely defining what it is, I find it may be easiest to put some words around it by telling a story. If you can imagine historic Prague architecture from the 1700’s, which is still quite intact, the apartment building we entered was a blast from the past. It featured the kind of old school elevators that you typically only see in the movies. We finally made it up to the third or fourth floor and we entered the apartment to see a live jazz quartet jamming out some of modern jazz’s finest tunes – “Blueberry Hill”, and “When the Saints Go Marching in” – in English. The lead was a 77 year-old, white-haired man who played the trombone and had a swollen upper lip from playing so passionately. I haven’t listened to such great jazz music since the days of my “History of Jazz” class as an undergraduate. The tenants of the apartment, Wake and Mike, were great hosts. They had a fridge stocked full of Budvar, a beer made by the original Budweiser brewery (more on the name confusion in a different post).

Of course, no party would be complete without two bottles of Absinth. Watch out for that stuff. It is 70% proof and burns all the way down! The living room (and whole apartment) was so expansive that a few of the guys would, after doing a running start, slide onto the floor as if they were stealing second base –classic frat boy behavior. After the band was clapped off from their final song, we jammed out to some songs that all of the Monterrey boys sang in unison, including “Pásame la botella.” Next on deck? Why clubbing of course.

Part III

The club we went to, Zlaty Strom Bar & Club, wasn’t my selection especially since our waiter from La Bodeguita del Medio had recommended several other places with a more “mature” crowd. However, we had a good time, save the lone T-bird (will remain unnamed) who vomited on the stairs by the entrance – definitely not a good look. I’d suggest putting the absinth bottle down. The music wasn’t great and the vibe didn’t possess any real ambiance that a great club in New York or London would feature. Nonetheless, one cool aspect of the club was that they had rotating hair stylists who cut the patrons’ hair – for free! I doubt I would trust my mop to a drunken 21 year-old bartender/hair stylist, but it was entertaining in any event. I forgot to mention that in Prague apparently it isn’t illegal to roam the streets or even the subways with an open beer bottle in hand. Not that I would do that, of course. I ended up meeting some Mexicans at the club who were also studying in Prague. Since the last train leaves Prague for Čelákovice at 12:10 am, we had to wait until morning to catch a morning train in a few hours.

Part IV

After roaming the streets of Prague in desperate search for a shawarma, we decided to head to Toby’s neighborhood, Andêl, which is located to the east side of Prague’s river, Vltava, the longest river in the Czech Republic. I respect his taste for apartments. Unlike the first apartment, which was huge and had great location, Toby’s was small, but had all of the finest amenities – nice furniture (a comfy couch to sleep on), flat screen TV, internet, and a fabulous bathroom with fixtures that would make many Manhattanites jealous. We had some good conversations until it was time to get a little shut eye.