Prague and the Czech Republic!

Prague was our first stop on our mini Eastern Europe tour.  We arrived in the afternoon and quickly went to see the Slav Epic which is a set of 20 paintings by Czech artist Alfons Mucha.  The paintings depict the history of the Slav people from early times.  It's a pretty cool way to share their history and is... well... HUGE.  Each of the paintings are gigantic.  This picture gives you a sense of scale (that's Shannon in front).

My favorite painting was the first which shows the Slavs as early nomadic pagan people hiding from invaders (probably Huns or Germans).  The fear of the people is poignant and the struggle of the Slavs as they are surrounded by more powerful neighbors is a common theme throughout history.  Finished in 1938, this theme continued after the paintings were finished with Nazi and eventually Soviet control.

We finished this day with a great Czech meal.  Czech food is a delicious spin on meat and potatoes.  They also have great beer around here.  Many say it's the best in Europe.  While my heart still lives with German Weissbeer, Czech beer is a close second.

You may notice, that glass says "Budweiser"... what gives?  Well, the Czechs have their own Budweiser beer which is entirely different (better? blasphemy! ok, probably) than our Bud.  The name actually is from a region in the Czech Republic so it basically means "Beer from Budweis" it reasons that multiple groups starting making beer in/inspired by this region.  For more on the ensuing legal battle, check here.

The next day, we walked the sites of Prague and learned about their (non-beer related) history from a Rick Steves audio tour.  The main square area with it's big astronomical clock were particuarly cool:

To end our site-seeing day, we headed over the Charles Bridge to Castle Hill where we had a fantastic panorama of the city:

We finished our Prague visit with another hearty dinner and a bizarre Black Light Theater show.  Pretty weird modern art stuff worth checking out if you're ever in Prague.

Our time in the Czech Republic was pretty short, but here's some of our notes:

-The history of the Czech Republic left them as a pretty consistent underdog.  This vibe was felt throughout the city and we kind of appreciated it.  While Austria is full of palaces and "the high life" it was nice to come to a place a lot more down to Earth.

-The Velvet Revolution, which ended in the end of Soviet control in then Czechoslovakia in 1989, sounds pretty incredible ousting the commies peacefully without any causalities.  It's crazy to realize this happened in our lifetime.

-Our money goes further here and this was one of the first place (besides Italy) where this was true.  This means we ate (and drank) really well.  The Czech Inn (enjoy that pun, we sure did) was the best hostel experience we've had in Europe.

-Besides beer, we also tried Grog which is water, rum, lemon, and honey.  Delicious, especially as the weather chills down.