Things to do in Prague: independent cinemas

We always love to see a movie when we travel. It's a great way to get a break from all the walking, exploring and eating and actually enjoy a movie we haven't seen yet. It's also a great way to blend in with the locals. Many times, we are the only foreigners in the movie theatre. Cinemas are a strange mix of the familiar and the new: you are totally off the beaten track but in a familiar environment of a movie theatre, and vice versa: movie theaters are similar all around the world but with small differences: what are the seating arrangements? Are there trailers before the movie? What do people eat and drink? Do they talk during the movie?   

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We encourage you to go see a movie in Prague. Czechs absolutely love movies, or at least the ones we know. You do not need to learn Czech to enjoy a movie here: due to cost cuts, most movies are not dubbed but subtitled only (with the exception of family movies and some 3D movies), so if you understand the original audio (English, French, Spanish and so on), you just disregard the subtitles and you'll be fine. 

We also want you to visit the smaller, independent movie theaters in Prague. While you can see a Hollywood blockbuster in a huge, multiplex movie theatre, but why? They'll have the same things you are used to from home. Popcorn? Check. Soft drinks in ridiculously large cups? Yep. Bored teenage attendants? Yes sir. Instead, we suggest you visit an independent cinema here in Prague - there's more local life here than you would imagine. 

Here are our six most favorite independent cinemas in Prague: 

Svetozor cinema

If you want to see a great movie but don't want to venture out of the centre, head over to the Svetozor cinema. This cinema offers a great selection of new and older movies in two screening halls. Svetozor is also home to many film festivals so if you like a great documentary or movies from other parts of the world, this is the place to go. This is also an "English friendly" cinema (just like Bio Oko and Aero below): if the original audio is English, it will be noted in the programme.

The Svetozor also includes a really great shop called Terry's Posters (Terryho ponozky in Czech), which sells vintage Czech and Polish posters for American and other movies that were shown in the Czech Republic and Poland under Communism and after its collapse - the perfect souvenir from Prague in our mind!

When there, make sure you stop at the bar to buy a glass of Kofola, the Czech answer to the Coke. Many Czechs have very fond and warm childhood memories associated with Kofola: it is often sold on tap and served in beer glasses, so even the kids had "their own beer" to drink, just like the adults. However, no popcorn is served at Svetozor, as clearly shown in this cute advertisement: 

What to do before and after the movie? If you want to grab a quick meal before the movie, make sure you stop at Home Kitchen at the Jungmannova street nearby. One of our favorite bistros in town, Home Kitchen really does look like a home kitchen: two large tables do not sit more than a dozen people or so, but still, their great soups and breads lure people from afar. You can take something to the Franciscan rose garden at the end of the street and have it on a bench when the weather is fine. The movie theatre is just next door. After the movie, you'll want a drink (or at least we do). Walk up the Wenceslas Square and turn to Krakovsta street, the last on the right. You'll find Parlour, a small but great cocktail bar, in the middle of it. There's nothing like talking about a movie you've just seen over a nice drink. Trust us.

Bio Oko

Nestled in the same building as our rental apartment, Bio Oko is one of the few old-school cinemas with a balcony remaining in Prague (they also offer "alternative seating" - a few beach stretchers and even a car that you can sit in for that drive-in feel. It is seated in a 1930s Czech Bauhaus (functionalist) residential building and features a great bar in the entrance lobby, which can be very lively at nights. You can get some beer or our favorite Fentimans soft drinks before (or after) the movie. Bio Oko is the natural center of the district and attracts young and independent crowds. 

What to do before and after the movie? Well, for culture, you can head over to the National Gallery just around the corner. From there, you can visit Page Five, an independent bookstore and publishing house at Veverkova street, and Bistro 8, a local favorite for younger and artsy types that offers homey dishes throughout the day. After the movie, walk back to the centre through the Letna park that offers fantastic views of the city and a popular beer garden during the warmer season.

Kino Aero

The mother of all independent cinemas in Prague, Aero is the place to go for a truly serious movie lover. Again, you can have Kofola or beer at the bar and there's a fast food stand right in the courtyard of the cinema. The feeling is relaxed but the movies shows are all top quality. 

What to do before and after the movie? Definitely visit the National Memorial at the Vitkov hill before the movie for the best view of the city and a great exhibition about the recent history of the Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia. The park virtually leads to the area that houses the cinema. After the movie, we recommend you take tram no. 16 to the Namesti Miru stop and finish the day off with some Czech cuisine and beers at Vinohradsky Parlament, a Czech pub where Staropramen, a Prague-based brewery, really wants to replicate what Pilsner Urquell did with Lokals - a great pub with great beer and honest Czech dishes.

Evald

Evald cinema has a special place in our hearts: we went there for one of our first dates (and boy, what a memorable date it was: we chose the White Ribbon, and let us tell you - it's not a date movie. The movie theatre is very small but cosy inside with nice and comfortable seats. Very small cafe inside, so we'd suggest you bring your own drinks and food. Again, the movies shown in Evald are higher quality movies. The location is very convenient, right next to the MyTesco store at Narodni triad street.

After the movie, we would head over to RedPif for a nice dinner and some wines. If you like modern design, you will love RedPif: bare concrete and minimalist interiors with custom-made, wine-inspired window blinds and nice staff make for a great atmosphere. After that, cross the river and have a walk through the Kampa park.

Kino Mat

The smallest cinema in Prague with only 46 seats, the Mat feels more like a bigger room than a smaller movie theatre. Housed in a functionalist building from 1934, the cinema was installed in 1994 in the former nuclear bomb shelter in the basement. The building also includes a small cafe and restaurant. We don't recommend either, but the cafe will do to buy something to drink or eat inside.

What to do before and after the movie? We would start at the Vysehrad fortress, a place loved by locals and neglected by tourists, then walk down to the river, walk on the embankment to the next bridge and walk up to have some coffee at I Need Coffee, a lovely café owned by the former co-owner of Leeda fashion house. It feels like a bit of Berlin in Prague and we never miss the opportunity to go there when we are in the neighborhood. The Mat cinema is then a few minutes away by walk. After the movie, we would take the 22 or 6 tram to I.P. Pavlova and finish the day with some nice Czech dish and beers from microbreweries at the popular Nota Bene restaurant.

Kino Atlas

The victim of two floods in the past two decades, the Atlas movie theatre has always risen partly thanks to the contribution of its fans. The Atlas is located right at the border of the historical centre and the Karlin districts. Two cinemas (a large and a small one) and the cafe are housed in a listed functionalist building from 1942.

What to do before and after the movie? You should explore the Karlin district: have coffee to go at Muj salek kavy, something small to eat at Mozaika Crystal Bistro and some Czech sweets at Simply Good and walk towards the centre and the cinema. After the movie, have a great Asian-fusion dinner at the nearby Sansho restaurant, or enjoy some beers at Pivovarsky Klub.

The tickets to all these smaller art house cinemas will cost around CZK 100 (USD 5, EUR 4), but the experience will be, as they say, priceless.

Fin.

Jogging in Prague - our favorite Prague jogging routes

The temperatures outside are reaching 10C/50F and we've just read in the newspapers that the birds are returning to the Czech Republic after the winter, which means two things: (1) the spring is nearly here, and (2) it's time to kick it up a notch and catch up on some of these New Year's resolutions we have been neglecting so far. It's time to get a run. (A disclaimer here: we do run in two stages: stage 1: accessorize [buy shoes and apparel] - stage 2: run. We have mastered stage one nearly every year but we have found, through empirical research, that stage 2 is actually much harder to initiate. We don't know if your experience has been the same.)  

But the joking aside, let's be honest here: you cannot spend all your days just eating and drinking the mostly delicious food that can be found in the streets of Prague (assuming that you follow our advice). Sometimes, you have to make sure you also run off some of those calories you took in eating Czech food. And let's face it: Czech food packs lots of calories. And the calorie intake does not stop at food. The category that the Czechs love to call "calorie bombs" (which includes  virtually anything that's good) definitely includes something that accounts to a religion here: beer. Yes, in addition to panthenol and lots of B-vitamins, beer packs in an unholy amount of calories. Finally, we also must admit that Czech love big portions. When we visit the pastry shop as part of our tasting walks, our guests cannot believe they are eating the "mini" versions.

Our guests have often noted that given the type of cuisine we have here, they don't see many people who would be overweight in Prague. Two factors play role in this: first, Czechs do not eat Czech cuisine on a daily basis. There's only that many schnitzels and head cheeses you can eat in a week. We do eat lighter foods, although they may not be necessarily Czech. Second, Czech love sports (of course, there are exceptions): from the Small Football Prague Association (a 5-a-side amateur Prague soccer league that is incredibly popular among Prague men, including Jan) to skiing or trekking and inline skating, almost every Czech likes to move. As one of our friends recently said:

Everyone owns a pair of trekking boots, right?

(To which we politely nodded, too scared to confess that we actually don't.) But anyway, you get the point. Czech love sports. The two most popular sports (at least for viewing) are soccer in the summer and ice-hockey in the winter.

With the winter nearly behind us, we have decided to start jogging again, especially since Jan has, admittedly, let himself go a bit over the holidays and the winter months, indulging in way too much food recently (he blames Zuzi, of course). We think Prague is a great jogging town: parks actually make up for one fifth of its area, so you don't have to run through traffic unless you have to or want to. The cobblestones may pose a problem for those who are not used to it, but they are present only in the centre and are easy to avoid. The terrain in Prague is also very varied: flat areas or hills, asphalt or dirt, we have it all here. The convenient, safe and reliable public transport system helps, too: if you ran too far and don't want to walk back, there's always a tram stop nearby to take you there. Many of our guests say they need a run after the tour. Well, we listen. As a complimentary service to our guests, and a public service announcement to everybody else, we bring you a few jogging routes in Prague we really like. Of course, if you're an experienced runner, you may try some routes that are more local, but we are focusing on those near the centre:

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The "Riverside Run"

This route basically runs along the river. The shortest run (green) just copies the river embankment from the Zofin island to the Vysehrad castle. Please beware that the embankment below the Vysehrad castle hosts farmers' markets on Saturdays, so be careful - you may end up slowing down there, or, even worse, stop for a juicy sausage or a sweet merengue roll ("kremrole"). The middle route extends over to the other side of the river. You have to take the railway bridge under the Vysehrad castle to the other side and then negotiate some rubble on the Castle side behind the bridge, but after that it's all smooth sailing. The longest route is really recommended only in the early morning, because it takes you over the Charles Bridge. But it's a treat if you can summon the will to wake up and go for a run at about 7am at the latest. 

View Riverside jogging in a larger map

The Letna park run

We absolutely adore the Letna park: beginning just a few steps from our rental apartment, the park is an oasis of green that offers some stunning views of the entire centre. If you run from the historical centre, you have to cross the Cechuv bridge and negotiate some 200 stairs first (possibly ending with a recreation of the famous Rocky scene) but from then on, all the routes offer a fairly flat profile, save for the longest one, which takes you down to the Expo 58 building past the National Technical Museum. You may meet lots of other joggers and inline skaters on the way, especially in the spring.

View Jogging Letná in a larger map

The Stromovka park run

Our home turf (we live just about five minutes from one of its gates). The Stromovka park is the largest and the most popular park in Prague for jogging. We love jogging there in the morning of a sunny day: it just lights you up. The shortest route is the "classic round" - about a mile long, it circles around the inner parts of the park and attracts many joggers. The 5k run is something Jan likes to take at times: the parts around the Tesla Arena have some traffic and include cobblestoned parts, but it really is exactly 5 km - Jan vouches for it. Finally, the longest route actually crosses the river to the Troja district and heads over to the Troja chateau and the Prague ZOO under the Santa Clara vineyards. The scenery is beautiful there, and the Vltava river adds calm to the run.

View Stromovka run in a larger map

We hope you enjoy the routes that we have prepared, but if you don't like to run alone and look for a guided run, definitely contact our good friend Filippo of the awesome BIKO Adventure tours. In addition to really great bike tours, he also offers interesting jogging tours through Prague. Have fun!

Three tips for Prague with kids...

Some of our guests arrive in Prague with kids. We love kids, pay special attention to them on the tour, and (without bragging too much) we think that kids love us back, at least on the tour…  We always try to provide traveling families with tips that might help them enjoy Prague as a family. Some parents then to avoid the major sights and take the family "out of the beaten path" (gosh, we love that cliche) but that's not a bad thing: we actually think that’s where kids can interact with local kids. (No, there’s not going to be too many local kids playing at the Charles Bridge.) To help parents navigate their way through Prague, we have designed three itineraries that we think your kids (and you, of course) will like. 

Now we should first and foremost issue a disclaimer here: we do not have kids ourselves. However, we grew up in Prague, and still can remember the places and the things we did and loved growing up, and we have many friends with kids who can help us out. We created three full-day itineraries that the whole family could enjoy. You can combine them or do them in parts - it’s all up to you. That said, we don't think you necessarily have to have kids to enjoy these walks. There's lots of culture and fun stuff and food along the way, anyway! We do describe things we like ourselves, so if you are like us, you may like them too.

Itinerary 1: “Everybody loves chocolate, pizza and mirror mazes!”

Everybody loves a cup of hot chocolate, right? If you can subscribe to that notion, start your day at Choco Café. Their hot chocolate is phenomenal and a single cup contains about a whole bar of chocolate. If you want to go local, buy the "Horicke trubicky” rolls (a thin wafer rolled into a large canoli-style pastry and filled with whipped cream) and dip them in the hot chocolate. You can definitely skip lunch if you have this chocolate after breakfast because it is very, very rich. On the other hand, please avoid if your kids tend to go out of control after a substantial sugar intake.

From Choco Café, walk to the river bank, and turn left to the National Theatre. Cross the bridge and stop half way on the Strelecky ostrov island. Kids might enjoy the obstacle course that has been recently developed there. Continue further to the Ujezd area and take the funicular to the very top. It’s a great ride with really nice views of the city. When you’re at the top, you absolutely MUST visit a venue that no Sunday walk with the kids could do without when we were kids: the mirror maze and the mirror hall with the funny (distorting) concave and convex mirrors. We loved them, and we think your kids will, too. 

After the climb to the top of the Petřín lookout tower (a small copy of the Eiffel tower), head over to the Prague Castle via the Strahov Monastery. We actually prefer the walk itself over the Castle itself (but then again, we've seen it already). The walk on the slope to the monastery offers great views of the city and space to run around. Do not make the mistake of taking the shortest route possible from the Monastery down to the Castle. Instead, turn left at the Loretta and walk down to the New World, an absolutely empty but fantastically picturesque area that avoids the crowds, and walk on into the Deer Moat, a beautiful park in the steep valley below the castle. (Deer Moat is usually closed during winters.) Beautiful gothic church or monumental courtyards full of history? Whatever! Your kids may love the Museum of Toys the best out of the entire castle.

We reckon this whole trip tool a few hours, and by the time you’ve visited the castle, you’ll be starving. There is an easy - and very popular - fix for that. Walk down to the Malostranske namesti square (about 10 minutes from the castle), hop on the tram (line no. 5) and go to Pizza Nuova for dinner. Who does not like pizza, right? And you’ll be eating well: the pizza there, praised by the famous Heston Blumenthal himself, is delicious, and the pasta dishes do not lag behind in quality. The restaurant is quite family oriented and kids love to run around the place, chased down by parents and members of staff.

Now, we have another tip after the kids have fallen asleep or passed on to the babysitter. Hemingway Bar. You know that after a day like this, you’ll be in dire need of a drink. And when you’re at it, you should do it well: Hemingay Bar is a local favorite and the place to go to for delicious drinks. Try one of their Becherovka drinks to taste a bit of the local poison!

Itinerary 2: "Walking with Animals”

This walk is more suitable for lovely and sunny days because there is some walking involved, mostly through the beautiful Stromovka park, our “home turf”, if you will (we live just behind the corner). One of the biggest parks in Prague, the Stromovka is a magnet for young families, joggers, dog walkers and even cross-country skiers when the snowfall allows it. Kids are welcome: the park incorporates several playgrounds and offers many activities for kids.

We start the walk at the Holesovice Exhibition Grounds. Built in 1891 for the Centennial State Fair (which also saw the development of the Petrin tower and the funicular to the Petrin hill, among other things), the Exhibition Grounds occupy a special place for all the kids (and adults) in Prague as the venue for the St Matthew’s fair, the annual fair with rides and shooting ranges and hot dogs and balloons and cotton candy etc. that takes place in March and April. Beyond this popular (read "crowded") event, the grounds today seem a bit derelict, especially when compared to their counterparts in Vienna or elsewhere. Still, the grounds accommodate the first stop on our walk: the Sea World ("Morsky Svet" in Czech). The Sea World is basically a series of smaller or larger aquariums showing the Czechs (who sadly live in a landlocked country) what fish and animals can be found under the sea. The Sea World organizes recurring daily events like the “shark feeding” and many others.

Walk into the Stromovka park past the Planetarium observatory and follow on to reach Vozovna, the old-tram-depot-station-turned-restaurant for a small snack. The food or coffee are nothing to write home about and not worth a special trip, but it is great as a stop on your way, and especially if the weather is nice, the visit can turn into a really pleasant experience. Did we mention there is a playground right next to it?

From there, walk past the “big circle”, avoiding joggers and in-line skaters, through the railway underpass and across the first bridge onto the Cisarsky ostrov island. If your kids love horses, they are going to love this place. The Cisarsky ostrov island is home to the Prague stables and features proper competition grounds for parkour competitions (not the hipster urban parkour but the real one, with horses). 

After that, you cross the pedestrian bridge and turn left, waling along the river banks. After a minute, you will reach the gate to the Troja Chateau and their beautiful English garden. When you’re finished walking around the chateau, just cross the street from the side entry to reach the gate into the Prague ZOO, one of the top ten ZOOs in the World according to many surveys. In addition to the animals, the ZOO offers a kiddie train ride, a cable car (yes, the ZOO is set in a mountainy landscape), lots of playgrounds, a mountain walk with an unusual view of the city, and so on. You really don’t have to be a kid to enjoy the ZOO. Well, at least we love it. If you don’t like crowds, though, avoid the ZOO over sunny weekends.

The area offers something for the parents, too: in addition to the Troja Chateau with the beautiful English garden, you can enjoy the Botanic Garden, and the St Clara and Salabka vineyards that offer tastings of their wines. During the high season, you can get back to the centre by taking a steamboat. The ride back to the Jewish Quarter is nice and takes less than an hour.

Itinerary 3: “Sunday with something for everybody”

The third walk avoids the centre completely, and is a great local activity for an afternoon. Just like the previous walk, this one also takes place mostly within the district of Prague 7.  

You will start at the Main Market in the Holesovice district with some food. Now, if it’s Sunday, you must visit the Sunday Family Brunch at SaSaZu. The Asian fusion restaurant, and the holder of the Bib Gourmand award, provides an army of nannies, lots of X-Box consoles and other games for kids, while the parents can enjoy a fantastic meal, get a quick massage and moms can get their nails done by the nail artist provided. In addition, kids prepare crepes for their parents in the kitchen with the chefs. It’s a very lively event with lots of expats visiting, so your kids can play with other kids and understand them, too. If you are not doing the walk on Sunday, we recommend instead visiting Hall 22 where local farmers sell their produce. It can be an educational event. 

From there, walk to the Dox Centre for Contemporary Arts along the Osadni street (possibly buying nice cupcakes at Patissier at Osadni 5). The Dox centre, in addition to their exhibitions and an excellent design shop, organizes art classes for children and a toolkit for kids to turn their museum visit into a treasure hunt-like game. We think you can spend hours there. They also have a cafe inside if you’re thirsty.

After the visit, take the tram from the Ortenovo namesti stop to the Letenske namesti stop. This is the part where itinerary 2 and 3 overlap: if you get off at the second stop (Vystaviste), you can visit the Exhibition Grounds, the Sea World and continue on to the ZOO (see above) from here, if you wish. But you can continue on, up to the Letna district. When you get off the tram, you can ether walk back on the main street for a minute and have great cakes at the Erhart Café, a great 1930s-style patisserie, or turn right and walk to the National Technical Museum, stopping at Dum kavy in the Jireckova street if you crave good coffee along the way. 

Nestled in the Letna park above the city, the National Technical Museum has been one of the most popular places for kids for nearly a century. A great exhibition (with texts in both Czech and English) of old and new cars, aeroplanes, trains, with installations about household products, astrology, photography, household products, TV broadcasting technology and so on. Fun for hours. Don’t forget to visit the small petting zoo behind the National Agricultural Museum next door!

From there, definitely visit the Letna park. Did we mention it has a huge, fenced playground? I guess we didn’t. The park is one of the most popular parks in Prague that offers stunning views of the city and great connectivity to the centre. We would recommend you walk the whole length of the park, finishing at Hradcanska subway stop. 

Once you reach the stop, you can opt for any of the three suggestions we have for a great finish to a great afternoon. First, you can walk to the Prague Castle through the Royal Gardens, which is about ten minutes by walk from there. Second, you can take a tram for two stops to the Vozovna Stresovice stop and visit the Museum of Public Transit, a place we loved when we were kids: a museum devoted entirely to old trams, buses and subways. Third, you can walk for about five minutes and finish the day in a creative way at Vypalene kotatko, a cafe devoted to DYI decoration of porcelain products. Basically, you can buy any product they offer (cups, pottery, hair brushes etc.), use their brushes and paints, decorate the products in any way you desire, and let the staff complete the glazing and baking process of the porcelain with your decoration. We know you may not have the time to pick the products up a week later or so (which is the standard time for that), but we think they might be talked into shipping the finished products to your place. Well. you can at least try, right?

No matter where you end up, we wish you a great time! If you follow any of our suggestions, please share your experience in the comments below! 

Crashing a high school prom in Prague

Jan's prom photo, 1996 (Jan's on the very left. The photo is a clear proof that some things get better with age.)

We think it is clear by now that we absolutely love immersing ourselves into new cultures when we travel, and we want our guests (and everybody else, for that matter) to do the same while they are in Prague. Today, we want you to experience coming of age as it's done here in the Czech Republic. We want you to visit a high school prom at the famous Lucerna dance hall dating back to 1907 because the "ball season" starts today and lasts until March.

"Visit a high school prom? You can't crash a prom just like that, right?" we hear you ask. Yes, you can in Prague. Czech high schools sell tickets to their proms and you can walk in even if you don't know anyone, or speak the language. The tickets are reasonably priced, ranging from about CZK 200 (EUR 7.5 in Jan 2014) to CZK 300 (EUR 11) for a ticket with a table. You can see the program of the ball season in the Lucerna hall here (in Czech only).

But why should you visit a high school prom? There are so many reasons we don't know where to begin. We think it could be the experience of your trip if things go well. As a foreign exchange student in Houston, Texas for a year in the mid 90s, Jan has been fortunate enough to experience two proms in two different cultures. And boy, are there differences! 

Firstly, you don't pick a date for the prom. We get awkwardness and embarrassment from an entirely different source: in the Czech Republic, you go to your prom... with your parents. The students dance with their parents and their teachers but as the night progresses, the adults start to leave and the kids finish with a party. Ballroom dancing is a big part of the prom anyway: virtually all high school students in the Czech Republic take classes in ballroom dancing (which is seen as a part of general education here) so they showcase the skills learnt to their parents during the prom. 

The other stark difference is the presence of alcohol and tobacco. As a senior at high school, you can legally both drink and smoke (the legal age for that is 18). And boy, people do enjoy both plentifully. (We must note that the Lucerna is famous for its entirely ineffective ventilation and A/C system, too. If you absolutely can't stand smoking, you should probably avoid this one, although you can find spots that will be smoking-free, and the dance floor is smoking-free, too.) 

Finally, the Lucerna dance hall is a fantastic place that is closed to public unless you visit a concert or a prom. It surely shows its age but it is a fantastic place for a prom: with a vast dance floor, three stories of balconies, several bars and lots of hidden stairways and corners, you can be both in the spotlight and hidden away, depending on your mood. The dance hall is soaked with history: many great from Louis Armstrong, Jacques Brel or Ray Charles to the Grateful Dead or Marilyn Manson have performed here.

So what are you to expect? We've found a nice amateur video that, the kitsch and quality (and the horrible misuse of an Adele song) aside, walks you through the itinerary of a Czech prom quite nicely. First, the dance show: the more talented students (those who took the advanced ballroom dancing classes) do a small performance for the audience. Then the seniors get on the floor, there might be a speech and lots of photos taken. After that (at about 7:50 mark) the individual classrooms collect money for the booze for the party later. Who's throwing the money? The parents and the grandparents, of course. Finally, lots of ballroom dancing and, ultimately, a party.

What you should expect, food-wise? Not much, really. Chlebicky, the Czech open-faced sandwiches, are likely to be sold on the spot, perhaps with other small foods. This is not a fine-dining event. Alcohol will be aplenty: lots of beer, harder liquors and wine (although don't expect a sommelier explaining the terroir or the kind of berries you should be getting in the bouquet). The prom is really about "having a ball" in all the possible meanings of the expression. The atmosphere is very cheerful and often emotional. You are parting with your childhood and becoming an adult. 

One final note and tip: Don't try to get in wearing jeans and sneakers. You will not get in, even with a ticket in your hand - there is a dress code. If you do not have a suit or a dress, we recommend whatever formal you have for the bottom part of your attire and cover the rest with your coat and scarf. Tickets can be bought at the booth in the Lucerna palace directly or in any of the Ticketpro points of sale beforehand (for some proms only).

Have fun! If you decide to go, share your experience in the comments below (incl. photos, if possible).

How are the streets in Prague paved?

They say people can watch three things indefinitely: the fire... the sea.... and someone else working. However, the work of the people who pave the cobblestoned streets of Prague is painful to watch. The sheer intensity of the labour is perhaps too close for comfort. We think that the biggest mistake you can make when doing this is thinking about how big an area you have to pave, one stone by one. It's like building the biggest puzzle game ever, again and again, every working day, nine to five.

When we talk with our guests during the tour, one thing comes up repeatedly: the cobblestones in Prague. They are a mixed blessing, really. For a foreign visitor, they are beautiful and romantic, although they do lose points when it comes to comfort. You can leave those high heels at home because you will hardly ever use them in Prague. Local women are an exception - they are simply used to them and seem to have the ability to levitate above the stones in even the highest heels. Czechs also generally like them for their clear benefits and advantages.

First, there are the looks: the cobblestones look better than the cold asphalt. More importantly, they look cleaner than they really are - the uneven surface is forgiving to every cigarette butt and candy wrapper people may leave behind. Corporations also like them when they can order logos to be made out of different-coloured stones in front of their offices. Finally, the stones are recyclable - when a pipe bursts underneath them, you can easily take them out and then put them back again. That is why paving the streets with cobblestones has become a popular pre-election gimmick: many local politicians set out to repave the main streets in their district just before the election to show that they truly care.

Which takes us to the disadvantages of cobblestones. Firstly, their "recyclability"  became a huge problem when Prague hosted the World Bank/IMF summit in 2000, as the protesters from all over the World took to the streets of Prague and used the stones as ammunition against the riot police. Many streets in the centre were stripped of all the stones and became simple dirt roads. (Ouch!) Also, the comfort - or the lack of it - is an issue, especially when the big stones are used to pave the roads. Yes, never buy a used car from Prague because the stones will ruin the entire suspension. Finally, the cobbled streets are demanding in terms of the required labour and time. There is virtually no automation involved, and each stone has to be hammered in manually. Many of our guests were simply fascinated by the work involved in paving the streets when they saw it in action.

The streets around our home were recently re-paved, so Jan grasped this opportunity to interview the workers about their job. The video proves two things: (1) Jan exhibits a striking failure to multi-task for a former conference interpreter and babbles like an idiot when he shoots videos, and (2) people paving the streets of Prague are extremely reluctant to give interview and are clearly surprised when anyone wants to talk to them. We post the video anyway, in all its naked glory. Just enjoy the view of other people working. And please turn on the English subtitles (CC as closed captioning). Enjoy!

Mushroom picking in Prague

We always try to persuade our guests to step out beyond the ordinary and do something they may not even have planned to do while in Prague. Not that it's mandatory. But it could be definitely fun, and this time of the year offers a great opportunity to do something that probably was not on your list, and is food related: picking mushrooms in Prague. As we never forget to highlight during our tours, Czechs (along with the Germans and perhaps Slovaks) must be the world champions of mushroom picking. This is definitely a cultural phenomenon not shared by all the European cultures: the Spanish cringe at the idea of pickled mushrooms, a delicacy here in the Czech Republic, and mushroom picking is illegal in the Netherlands (and we're not talking about "those" mushrooms).

Mushroom picking turns into a craze especially during the fall season, with popular daily newspapers dedicating multipage inserts to the best mushrooms, the best locations where to find them, and the best recipes how to cook them. The only year when people did not pick mushrooms was 1986, the year of the Chernobyl disaster: the Communist government downplaying the effects of the blast and withholding information from the people, the myth was that the mushrooms were full of radioactivity from the acid rains that allegedly followed the tragedy.

Nevertheless, people do love picking mushrooms. Not really an adrenaline-packed activity, we would liken mushroom picking to a blend of fishing and golfing: you get to walk through beautiful surroundings while waiting for the perfect "catch". The best time to go is early in the morning, especially after a night rain. And preferably on a working day to avoid the crowds of other mushroom pickers. If you have a morning to spare and do something really local and different, we think mushroom picking is the activity for you.

"How do I know which mushrooms to pick? My travel insurance does not cover poisoning by mushrooms!" We hear you ask. Don't worry: if you are not sure which mushrooms to pick, you can visit the "Mushroom Advice Centre" in the centre of Prague, run by the Czech Mycological Society, a publicly-funded organization, and their experts will sort the basket for you on the spot. Just remember: never store the mushrooms in a plastic bag, and opt for ventilated storage instead.

Now, there are several places where the locals go to pick mushrooms, but in the interest of simplicity and convenience, we will just mention one, which has already been tested by several of our guests with good results: the Kunraticky les forest. Getting there is easy: just hop on the subway and get to the Roztyly subway stop in the Haje direction on the red "C" line. Walk out and you'll see a dense forest on your right. Getting there takes less than 30 minutes from the centre. The forest is well organized and includes well-marked, color-coded routes that will lead you back to the Roztyly or Chodov subway stops. Other points of interest in the forest include a small zoo of local forest animals and - if you venture far enough into the Kunratice part of the town that feels more like a village - a nice branch of the Lokal pubs (called U Zavadilu) that offers great Czech dishes and beer (and is located near a bus stop that will take you back to the subway stop).

Don't have a full morning to spare? No problem. You can still get a taste of how the Czech cuisine uses mushrooms (which we think should be the cornerstone of vegetarian, or any, Czech cooking) in some of our favorite restaurants in Prague, although, sadly, not many restaurants have made full use of what we think should be the king of autumn seasonal menus here. Čestr offers a lovely mushroom sauce with their array of steaks and a mushroom salad, although it is not available every day (and they also make a wonderful truffle sauce to go with steaks and a roast chicken with truffle stuffing if you think truffles belong to the mushroom family). If you want to taste a great Kulajda, a slightly sour creamy potato soup with dill mushrooms, head over to Essensia in the Mandarin Oriental hotel, although be prepared to spend some serious money there. For a cheaper, but still delicious, version, visit Café Imperial. Finally, Mlynec seems to be making great use of mushrooms in their revamped Czech-inspired tasting menu (although we have not been there yet after they reopened the restaurant).

Charles Bridge - Early Morning Edition

One of the things we always recommend to our guests is that they visit the Charles Bridge, one of the main sights in Prague, early in the morning. That is the only way to see it "naked", without the crowds of large tourist groups that visit the bridge later in the day. It is also the only time of the day the Charles Bridge is truly used by the locals for its original purpose - as a bridge. Later in the day, the locals tend to avoid the Charles Bridge and the crowds on it, opting instead for the two bridges on each side. Now, when we give this recommendations, many guests generally like the idea of an empty Charles Bridge, but really dislike the idea of waking up early. You don't do that when you're on vacation, right?

That is why we visited the Charles Bridge early in the morning ourselves to show you what you should expect if you indeed decide to go, or if you are still jet-lagged and don't know what to do when you wake up early in the morning and can't fall asleep. We took these pictures in the spring at about 7am, just as we were heading out to the Main Train Station to pick up Jan's cousin and her boyfriend arriving in Prague on the overnight train from Slovakia, due to arrive at 7.30.

Obviously, you can see that the bridge is pretty empty and offers some very nice views when the day starts. You will see a few people on the bridge: council workers cleaning up the bridge, the occasional jogger, a few photographers taking advantage of the opportunity, and a few locals going to work. We absolutely love the atmosphere of the place just as the city is waking up. We'd recommend that you walk to the Old Town and just get lost in the narrow streets between the Charles Bridge and the Old Town Square. Trust us. You may make memories of a lifetime. And when you get hungry, start the rest of the day in one of the places we recommend.

Enjoy the day!

Picnic in Prague

Our lovely guests joining our todays' tour, Eleanor and Max, have expressed a wish to have a picnic in Prague. What a great idea! To be honest, having a picnic in one of Prague's plentiful parks is one of our favorite things to do in Prague when the heatwave hits. "Why?" We hear you ask. We'll tell you why!

First of all, having a picnic in a park among locals is a great way to relax after you've had enough of the crowds occupying the main sights in Prague. Second, Prague is a hilly town so many parks offer splendid views of different parts of the town. Many of our guests ask where they can get a romantic meal with a view, and for some, a picnic may be the answer and the memorable experience you will be bringing home with you. Third, it is perfectly legal to have a drink or two in public places; therefore, nothing stops you from enjoying a nice bottle of Bohemian or Moravian wine with the picnic, or enjoy a chilled lager or ale from a beer specialty shop. Finally, some really nice food can be had in the shops surrounding some of our favorite spots for picnic, so you won't be hauling heavy loads across the city. The only slight niggle you may have about the whole experience is the fact that you may, at times, be eating your food about two feet from a hungry labrador staring at you with those hungry, sad eyes. But they never stay for long, trust us!

And because we want our guests, including Eleanor and Max, and you to make the best out of your stay in Prague, we have put together a small map of our favorite places for a nice, calm and tasty summer picnic. The map does not stop at the recommended spots for picnics but goes beyond that: it shows the suggested shops where you can find some delicious food to bring with you.

Kampa park

Ah, the Kampa park… Jan used to spend all his high school days over there, hanging out with his friends… usually not studying. The Kampa is a very hip, local park in the centre. Just a few meters off the Charles Bridge, one of the most crowded sights in Prague, it has still retained its local character. You will find everything there: dogs running around, people throwing frisbees, practicing tai-chi, playing the drums etc.

Petřín hill

The ultimate picnic with a view. We have been recommending this place for a picnic for over a year now, and it still is hard to beat when it comes to the view. After you're finished eating, you can follow on to the Strahov monastery and the Prague Castle. And if that hill seems intimidating or you're not feel like climbing steep hills in hot weather, there's a solution: simply buy a ticket for the funicular car and get off at the middle station. Easy!

Letná park

The Letná park is a place where people in Prague love to go for jogging, roller-blade skating, riding bikes or simply having a cup of beer in the local beer garden. The whole park becomes alive with the first spring days, and stays that way until the fall. The park is a place that makes you realize there's more life in Prague than just the centre, and may invite you to explore some other districts, including the Letná itself.

Stromovka

If you want to have a picnic like a local, you must visit the Stromovka, the biggest park near the centre of the town. The Stromovka actually includes designated picnic areas where grilling is allowed, including benches and tables. Nothing will disturb you there, save for the occasional train running through the park. If you'll see horses, don't panic: there's is an equestrian centre near the park. Follow the horses and then follow on to the Prague ZOO and the Troja chateau.

Riegrovy sady

A very popular park that is the perfect place for a late picnic: the park offers a great view of the Prague Castle and the Old Town in the sunset. You don't have to bring beers along, with a wildly popular beer garden just a few steps away. The park also doubles as the gateway to the Vinohrady district, which offers lots of great food and architecture.

Vítkov hill

The Vitkov hill may not be on the first pages of your guide book but we think it is an absolutely awesome place for several reasons. First of all, you'll find solitude there, if you want it: the slope offers many hidden parts and small areas that offer at least some privacy. Second, you will see Prague from a different perspective - either the centre over a huge railroad track coming out of a tunnel underneath the hill, or the Zizkov district from one of the designated picnic areas along the old-railway-now-turned-into-a-cycling route. Third, you can visit the awesome National Memorial at the top of the hill, and enjoy one of the most stunning views of anything you've ever seen.

Show Picnic spots & where to shop on a larger map