On Saturday we set out for the 4.5/5 hour drive. Along the way, we travel on the Autobahn, many portions of which are unlimited. When I say unlimited, I mean there is NO speed limit.
Contrary to the United States, there are rules here that are actually followed, such as not riding in the left lane - when you're in the left lane, you're there briefly because you're passing. Also, no passing on the right - there's a REALLY steep fine for that.
Periodically, the speed limit will appear, sometimes as 100 kph, sometimes 120 kph. (100 kph = 62; 120 kph = 74).
Anyway, hubby was excited to try out our car, a 2012 Ford Focus hatchback, and see when the car would actually top out (it's supposed to top out at 119 mph, or 191 kph). Once he got going and saw the signs for unlimited, he had the pedal all the way to the floor.
Guys - my ears started popping. I couldn't see the speedometer and I was OK with that. Here is a picture taken by J from the backseat - you can see the speedometer a bit, the dial very far to the right, but it wasn't at his top speed by any means.
The car did exactly what it was supposed to, top out at 119. Hubby, having gotten a taste of driving as fast as he pleased, was visibly upset that he couldn't go faster. (We can reset the feature that tops out the car at 119 mind you, we just haven't done that yet). He was also irritated when there were speed limits, and to be honest, it felt like we were traveling on a snail when we were back down to 120 kph. So crazy.
As far as gas mileage, whenever you go over 80-ish you're not going to do very well, but considering there were four people in the car plus luggage, we averaged 20 mph over the course of the trip. It probably helped that in the Czech Republic, there are speed limits so we weren't going nearly as fast as we were in Germany.
Once we crossed into the Czech Republic, the "border" is pretty much a letdown, because it's very open. The only thing we needed to do was stop at a truck stop and buy a sticker for the car. That's it - nobody asking how long we were there for, no display of our passports, no stamp in the passport. Very anticlimactic. Oh well.
As soon as we got back on the road, we knew we were in a different country by the road signs we couldn't possibly read. Czech is most closely tied to Polish, and you can see lots of Eastern European influences in their language with a plethora of accents, making it next to impossible to pronounce. Luckily we had J's GPS which easily guided us into the city.
J and S had booked us a "home away" which is a pretty cool option that's widely available in Europe. A home away is essentially an apartment rental that's typically cheaper but more centrally located than hotels. The boys parked the car in a garage they found while the girls waited for the owner to let us in the building and give us the keys. Here is our neighborhood:
We were in the very top of a building and had the option of walking up four flights of stairs or taking a super small, super sketchy elevator. Once we were there, however, we were greeted with great views:
The entire apartment had room to sleep ten people, so there was plenty of space. Upstairs there were three rooms, and this was ours. All the beds were singles, some pushed together. (That was nice to not have someone encroaching on my sleep space for a change.) Note the Ikea!
Everything in the apartment was Ikea - the beds, linens, shower curtain, lights, furniture, plates and mugs - everything. In fact, the entire COUNTRY looks like it was bought at Ikea. I cannot tell you how many times we recognized Ikea products when out to eat and around town.
Here is our living room zone:
And the top floor leading to the bedrooms:
After we got settled in, we hopped on the super slow wi-fi and selected a place for dinner. We were told that it was better to eat on the earlier side so as to avoid crowds. We were really glad we did - we got the last place in a restaurant and subsequent people who walked in either turned away or had to stand and watch us eat the AMAZING food we had.
We started with our beers - the country is known for its Pilsner beer, but hubby and I don't like it as much as a wheat beer. Pilsner is really clear, really filtered. Luckily I found a dark brewed Kozel to have. Yum.
Our appetizers were a baked brie with cranberry served with toast and also Prague Ham served with mustard and horseradish. Both delicious.
The main event was even better. Hubby got a pork tenderloin studded with garlic in a cheese sauce and I got the goulash in a bread bowl. Hubby has always said he didn't eat pork so I think we finally have a convert. He LOVED it.
I loved mine too:
That's not a typical sourdough bread bowl you might see elsewhere - that's some of the best rye bread I've ever had. The meat and sauce were perfectly spiced and this was probably my favorite meal in Prague.
Our bill? For four people, drinking seven beers, two coffees, one hot chocolate, two appetizers, four mains, and two desserts came to about 1800 crowns.
Don't worry - the Czech crown is worth 5 U.S. cents. So, the meal was about 89 bucks. You feel like a huge deal slapping down 1000 notes on a check, I must say.
After taking our time and probably making everyone waiting to eat completely irritated, we walked through the main square where they had the Easter market setup. The hubby got a Trdelnik, which is a rolled sweet bread that looks sort of like a wide bracelet. We walked around for a bit, and then found a bar to have some more beers and watched a football game. We were pretty spent so we decided to call it a night and headed back home, which thankfully was only about four blocks from the center of town.
Stay tuned for day #2 next time!
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