Mar 1st – Day of Random Excursions around Prague

Waking up at 10am, yes we actually got up and out when we said, Geoff decided that after we make a little breakfast at his apartment we’d go get some native Czech lunch. With Nixon in the car, we headed off to the outskirts of Prague to a monastery. Inside the monastery walls there was a great little restaurant that Geoff thought we would like going to. When we got there, the monastery was white and gave a lighter atmosphere, which was a nice change from the old, dark, and gothic architecture in the main part of Prague. Once Nixon was connected to his leash, we walked in the walls surrounding the monastery and to the right of the church was a tiny restaurant just like Geoff said! The monastery is still functioning and if we had more time, Geoff said you can see the monks walking around the grounds praying. Cool! Inside the restaurant, it was very old and familiar. It looked kind of like a tavern with wooden floors, walls and ceilings. There were even old farming tools on the walls and there was a set of beams above us holding old shucks of corn…or maybe it was wheat. Either way it was cool. The waiters were dressed in flannel shirts and pants while the waitresses had a similar shirt but with long skirts and aprons. Nixon was a huge hit everywhere we went and today was no exception…the waitress and people sitting around us would come to pet him and she even brought him a bowl of water! I had the ‘Monday Mixture’ which was cabbage, meat and dumplings in a skillet, Rachel had a similar dish but with duck and bread dumplings as well, and Geoff had a potato bread which looked like a huge piece of meat. My dish was okay, the taste of the food has more of a vinegar taste and reminded me of sauerkraut. But I was proud that I still tried it, but maybe Czech food isn’t for me, J. After we left the restaurant, Nixon was feeling very anxious since his visit to the vet; he has worms and got his meds, so now Geoff was on a countdown until they either came up one way or the other. Since Nixon is so young, Geoff has to make sure that he does get them out and, as gross as it sounds, not re-ingest them…if you have dogs you are very familiar with this concept. I walked him out and he immediately started chowing down on grass…poor thing, his tummy must have been aching. Then, while Rachel and I waited in the car since it was frigid, Geoff took Nixon to the nearby lake for his first encounter of the water and the ducks. He was so pooped from investigating the ‘funny looking white things that quack’ that he slept in the car. From there we went to the electronic store to get my new camera! Thank goodness Geoff was there because I can’t even begin to understand what to choose or look for in electronics, let alone understand it in Czech. And I love my new camera! Side note, thanks again Geoff! I’m still getting used to it though. After the department store, we went to have desserts in old town square for my belated birthday. I had what looked like an apple pie of some sort while Rachel had a carrot cake. My apple ‘cake’ was like ground beef, or I mean how it is shredded like ground beef, but apples! And had a cream cheese icing on top. It was pretty good…can’t take the place of a real cake though…can’t believe they don’t exist here! Then Geoff needed to run an errand before dinner and we wanted to investigate more of old town square, so we were off. Nixon was not happy that he was not coming with though and made quite the fuss. Funny. We went by a shop and got pashminas (scarves that are really warm) and wandered more around the streets with the natives. Then by that time, Geoff was coming round to pick us up and go to a Mexican restaurant…yes I know, but it’s really good, authentic and we were both missing tex-mex like crazy! We ordered a couple of drinks and our food, and I have to say it was pretty good! I had fajitas, of course, Rachel had a gordita and I can’t remember what Geoff had. After dinner, the four of us headed back to the car and went back to Geoff’s apartment. While Geoff went to sleep, we watched more movies and then took Nixon out to walk before we went to sleep. He went happily and then raced back to the apartment…it was cold and he wanted to be in his bed! Once we came back up, I cleaned off his paws and we went to sleep.