Travel Russia Today

On this day, twenty years ago, my sister, three aunts and I were supposed to deliver a birthday cake for my cousin who was born on November 17 - a day that commemorates the tragic death of Jan Opletal, a student killed by the Nazis during the occupation and that has since become The International Day of Students. It was 1989 and people, mainly students, took to the streets turning the celebration of the Students' Day into a protest against the communist regime that was still desperately holding on to the power.

My aunts and I decided that the birthday party would have to wait a bit since we wanted to support the protesters. I was barely a teenager then and felt huge pride for being able to join the demonstration. It was the first time I really looked at people around me and felt a common bond. Before that no one on the streets of Prague would look into your eyes, nobody would engage in a conversation with a stranger. Now we were screaming in unison and demanded freedom. The feeling of change about to come was palpable, for me there was no question about it - it was in the smiles and the excitement of people around me. Some of the leaders of the demonstration decided to move from Vysehrad down to the center towards Narodni Avenue. A few minutes later, there were rumors of police and militia blocking the streets to contain the protestors. It was then that my aunts made the call to leave and finally deliver the now slightly damaged cake.

Later that evening, we found out from my grandmother who had stayed longer that people were brutally beaten as the orders came to stop the demonstration at all cost. My grandmother was saved by a stranger who unlocked the entrance door to an apartment building and took peoplein. I felt slightly embarrassed that I was saved by a cake, but I guess I should not complain. The events of that day led to more protests and eventually the end of the Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.

Today, I remember November 17 along with the whole country and I am grateful that it is only history now. People are free to celebrate or protest, voice their opinion and travel whenever and wherever they like. They are free to vote and free to be unsatisfied with the government. They are even free to scream at the current president as one of the student leaders did yesterday. And that is something to celebrate!

Oh, and happy birthday, cousin!

The restaurant scene in Prague has always been slightly irritating to me. It is only recently that it has stabilized and you will find the same restaurants exactly where you left them couple years ago. One of my favorite restaurants in Prague and a true constant in the city, is the Café and Pub At the Hanging Coffee in the Castle District. I loved it as a student and I love it now. It has always stayed true to what it is supposed to be – a great neighborhood pub with wonderful beer and food.

The story behind the name tells you how laid back this place is: A person eats his or her lunch, orders a coffee and then pays his bill adding one more coffee to it – leaving it “hanging”. A broke person can come in and ask: is there a coffee hanging here? If there is, he gets to drink it for free.

The restaurant offers authentic, no-nonsense Czech cuisine. If you are not hungry enough for half duck with cherry sauce, red cabbage and dumplings, you can sip your beer and munch on a herring or pickled cheese. Try to leave some room for dessert, their fruit dumplings are delicious.

So now you know where to get a cup of coffee if you lose your wallet in Prague!

All of us here at Exeter International, including myself, have been lucky enough to see and experience some of the most extraordinary things in the world. I have met with a KGB colonel (in the former KGB building), had dinner at Catherine Palace on New Years and toured Stalin's personal bunker. I am turning 30 years old and compared to most of my friends, I have lived life to the fullest!

With everything I have seen and done, I have to say our most "extraordinary experiences" are:

1. Private Tour of the KGB Museum with a retired KGB colonel (and don't let him fool you, he knows English)
2. Private Tour of Stalin's Bunker
3. Entrance to the Grand Kremlin Palace and Terem (located on the Kremlin grounds and STRICTLY closed to the public)
4. Backstage tour of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg (if you are lucky like me, you can even try on one of the costumes)
5. Hermitage Storage Rooms
6. The Amber Rooms Workshops of Catherine Palace
   
7. VIP entrance to the Strahov Monastery in Prague
8. Private Wine Tasting at the Matusko Family vineyard
   
9. Truffle Hunting in Livade
10. Private tour of the Maltese Chapel of Vorontsov Palace and the Suvorov Military Academy

If you are looking for something different, something beyond the ordinary than you are looking for us. We are the famous for making our travelers say "That was the best trip of my life!"

A while ago I wrote a blog about what to do with children when you go to Prague. Now, despite the fact that I do not have any children myself and am generally immune to their supposed cuteness, I want to give you some profoundly insightful advice about what to do before you actually get there. Make them read about Prague!

If your children read stories about Prague and its history before they travel, they will be looking forward to the trip, they will feel smart and engaged when the guide tells them something they already read about, and they will be able to see things from a totally different perspective. Although the American publishers, to my chagrin, generally ignore contemporary Czech writers (except for Kundera), there is a good number of original or translated books for children available in English.

One of my favorite authors is the critically acclaimed writer and illustrator Peter Sís. His Three Golden Keys (ages 4-8) will undoubtedly excite your children’s imagination and expose them to legends about the magical city of Prague, including the one about Golem or the brave prince Bruncvik and his friend, the two-tailed lion that became the symbol of the Czech State. Another wonderful book is The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (ages 8 and up) inspired by Mr. Sís’s own transformation from an innocent and clueless child into a rebellious teen and an aspiring artist whose hopes are crushed by the Soviet invasion in 1968. Once your children read these books, they will understand more of what they are seeing in Prague and what formed the people they encounter there and you will be spared their yawns and eye-rolls in the museums, synagogues and churches.

Just 5 years ago, our typical traveler was retired, well educated, well traveled and about 65 years old. Oh, how the things have changed. More and more we find ourselves planing trips for travelers of all ages, especially those between 5 and 15. We have had to reevaluate our programs and explore new options such as making your own matryoshka doll in Russia or creating your own marionette in Prague.

A few of the biggest challenges with planning a trip for multiple generations is:

1. Keeping everyone interested in the program- I'm bored is the last thing a parent wants to hear on a $30,000 trip. Our goal is to find out as much as possible about each traveler. Though the parents are paying for the trip and will ultimately have the final say on what will be planned, we still want to understand what the children like and more importantly dislike!
   
2. Finding a hotel with connecting rooms or multiple bedrooms- With all the new hotels popping up across Eastern & Central Europe and Russia, we are finding more and more options for family accommodations. A few of the hotels even stock the hotel rooms with games, toys and if need be a crib (best bet for this is the Four Seasons in Prague- they know how to make a kid (& parent) happy).
3. Keeping within the budget- We understand that planning a trip for the entire family can be quite expensive. Our consultants are experts in cutting costs and helping you save a few dollars! For the 2009 season, we developed a new program called "Go Green". This program not only promotes the environment but also saves you money. Our Go Green programs promote the use of public transportation, such as the metro, bus or taxi, instead of using private cars. This in turn saves the traveler about $500-800 per day and more importantly helps to save the environment.

So when you begin putting together your family travels this year, think about Exeter. We are your one stop shop for family fun.

While touring Prague last summer, we found ourselves in the very crowded Old Town Square around lunch. There were charming cafes everywhere but it appeared that all the outdoor seating was taken. I was with a Prague resident who told me she had just the place to go. I must confess I was quite disappointed when she lead me into a dark hallway of the U Prince hotel and got onto an elevator. It was so beautiful outside, the last place I wanted to be was in a dark air conditioned hotel restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised when the elevator doors opened to the outside and a set of stairs. We climbed the stairs and I gasped as I looked around and realized I had a 360 degree view of Old Town and the rest of Prague before me. The rooftop terrace had seating for about forty people and most tables had umbrellas to shade you from the sun. After being seated and looking across all the red terra cotta tiles, I realized I had a clear view to the castle district.

The menu was lengthy with a good mix of traditional Czech specialties and continental food. Of course, all of the food tasted even better when matched with the Czech beer, Pilsner Urquell. After lunch we took advantage of the view and captured some gorgeous pictures of the area. We then descended back down to the town square. Instantly we were engulfed by the crowds and for an instance we debated about retreating back to our new found sanctuary.

When I visited Prague last November, one of the most pleasurable experiences I had was the visit to a glass artist’s manor and gallery. Manto’s work will definitely wow you and, trust me, you will have an even more amazing time hanging out with him and his wife.

I joined a group of ladies that were visiting the manor on that day. We even got to see a video of how he works on the glass – he does it so naturally you would think it is that easy! But the best part was towards the end, when, after drinks (for inspiration!), we all got to make our own piece of art. Manto will walk you through what is needed to have one of the most personable souvenirs you can bring back from your trip to Prague. And with at risk of sounding pretentious… mine turned out beautiful and it is now on display in my house. And, of course, at the end you get to autograph his artist wall.

I also had a chance to visit his gallery a week before the grand opening! The gallery is located in a baroque house in old Prague, within walking distance of the Mandarin Oriental hotel where I was staying. The gallery holds some of his most fantastic work, and is very much worth checking out.

Manto is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

While visiting Prague over the summer, I had the opportunity to visit the famous Estates Theater-where Mozart performed Don Giovanni. The theater is beautiful and a definite must see while visiting the city. More than the theaters beauty or history, the real excitement for me was being taken around by the maestro of the theater, Mr. Pavel Vondruska-a sweet man who just makes the experience that much better.

Mr. Vondruska is a famous actor and musician in the Czech Republic who has starred in numerous feature films such as the Oscar winning film-Kolja. Pavel's career started many years ago as the conductor for the Estates Theater. Pavel invites his guests to admire the beauty of the theater and to fall in love with it- just as he has!

After he showed us around, we went backstage to see what happens behind the scenes. At the end of the tour, he took us to his little secret place-a room where the actor and actresses go after the performances. There was, of course, a piano and he sat down and played one last piece for us. Not only were there goose bumps but tears when he was finished.

Mr. Vondruska hugged each of us as we walked out and it is a memory I will forever have in my mind. It truly was a fantastic experience and I recommend anyone who goes to Prague to do it…it’s one you will never forget!

I have so much respect for parents who have the stamina and patience to travel with their small children. Dividing your attention between bags, strollers, passports and children who run around, throw temper tantrums or annoy other travelers, seems like no vacation at all. I have to trust that experiencing a new destination and seeing it through your child’s eyes must outweigh all the above. Here is my contribution to make your trip easier: a few tips for touring Prague with your children.

Prague is so picturesque that your kids may at first believe you took them to Disney Land. Even the usual sites like the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge and the Jewish Quarter are so impressive that your child will surely enjoy them as much as you will. But when you are up at the Castle, you may want to stop by at the Toy Museum. This wonderful museum has a large collection of toys from Ancient Greece, through medieval wooden toys to the first barbies. If you have daughters that like sparkly things, you should not miss the Loreto, a monastery near the Castle, with a nice collection of heavily adorned ritual objects including the famous diamond monstrance. Before you leave this side of the Vltava River, you could take a short funicular ride to the Petrin Hill, a wonderful public park where you will find a replica of the Eiffel Tower (made for the World Exhibition in 1891) and a small Mirror Maze – it never gets old seeing yourself in various distorting mirrors.

Two sites for the more scholarly children: the Technical Museum on the Castle side of the town and the National Museum on the other side. The Technical Museum has several collections but the most impressive one is the one about transportation as it contains real historic planes, steam locomotives, cars and bicycles. The National Museum, located on top of the Wenceslas Square, is despite its impressive and serious neo-renaissance building probably the quirkiest museum in Prague. While they have many interesting temporary exhibitions, their main focus has always been the Natural History and Anthropology. Whenever I went there as a child, I felt transported back to times when geeky European scientists and explorers traveled the continents and brought their exotic discoveries back to the enthusiastic public eager to learn about the far worlds. The most popular item in the zoological collection is the huge whale skeleton that hangs from the ceiling above the displays of other animals. Although I find the museum interesting, be warned that the zoological collection consists mainly of dissected animals, so it may not be suitable for every child. The Prague Zoo is a good alternative and a trip there can be made by boat from the city center.

It is painful for me to admit it, but Prague’s reputation as a safe and friendly city suffers due to the rampant overcharging by its cab drivers. Granted, the situation has somewhat improved since the city’s mayor, Pavel Bém, went undercover a few years ago and took a cab disguised as an Italian tourist (with a fake goatee, lots of gel in his hair and expensive sunglasses on his nose). He expected to be overcharged, but was utterly shocked when the cabbie with a disarmingly straight face asked for what was about ten times more than the real fare. Since then, the police have been closely watching and the culprits are fined or have their license suspended. Even still, it is quite common that tourists who do not understand the Czech crown and cannot gage the distances traveled in cab, end up paying outrageously more than they should.

The solution is either taking the city’s efficient public transportation or calling a reliable taxi service. The one that I always use is the AAA. You can call the number 14014, you can even send an SMS or order the service online: http://www.aaataxi.cz/Taxi-order/. The website also allows you to calculate the price of the route you are about to take.

If you cannot wait and need to hail a cab on the spot, which I strongly discourage, you need to be firm, ask for the price in advance and insist that the driver turn on the meter. The maximum price to travel from the city center to the outskirts should not be more than 730CZK/about $40 (does not include waiting- 5CZK per minute).

My hometown’s Christmas Markets have just been listed among the 12 top markets in Europe by Travel & Leisure. It’s well deserved. No matter what your religion is, if you travel to Prague in the winter, you will enjoy browsing through the stalls filled with gifts: colorful hats, puppets, wooden toys, Christmas decorations, and much more. You will love sipping the hot spiced wine and listening to Christmas carols.

I just feel obligated to warn you about one bizarre thing regarding Christmas in Prague: the carps. In late December just before Christmas, not only at the markets, but also on almost every street corner, you will find large cisterns teeming with carps. In the US, this fresh water species is considered rather a filthy inedible bottom feeder. Not so in the Czech Republic; here it is a once-a-year delicacy that can be prepared in many different ways – in wine, with stuffing or breaded and fried. It is a question of tradition to have a great carp on your Christmas table and people stand in long lines to secure one. If you travel with kids, you should know that while it is exciting to watch the fish swimming around, you may want to protect your child from witnessing the final stages of the carp’s life – the merciless blow of the butcher’s mallet and the not so pretty gutting. The more fortunate of carps though are bought alive, kept home in the bathtubs for children to watch and learn before the family takes the carp to the river and releases him hoping that the waters of Vltava are clean enough for the fish to survive. Or, well… why should I lie to you… after the children develop a natural attachment towards the innocent creature, it is up to the father to play the butcher and kill it at home. If you make friends while you travel to Prague, ask for carp stories. Children and fathers alike will have plenty. And do try the carp. It’s delicious.

I went to Prague this last month on one of the regular yearly visits to my hometown. It is always hectic to try and see all my relatives and friends, to indulge in all the home-made delicacies that my grandmas prepare just for me and to catch up on what is new in town. This time it seemed that there is a lot of construction going on. Shiny new malls take over the beautiful historic landmarks like the functionalist building of the Czech Commercial Bank or the complex of barracks and stables from the eighteenth century on the Republic Square. This made me worried about one of my favorite little museums in Prague, the Cubist House of the Black Madonna.

I rushed through the Celetna Street to see if it’s still there. Oh well, the bookstore that used to be on the ground floor was replaced by a clothing store, but at least the Museum is still open and as far as I can tell, it is not going anywhere. Foreigners usually stop in front of this intriguing building designed by the genius functionalist and cubist architect Josef Gočár, but never venture in. Big mistake!

The permanent exhibition here is devoted to the art of the first half of the twentieth century and to Czech cubism in particular. Not many people know this but Cubism had huge influence on Czech artists, including architects – there are several Cubist buildings in Prague. The exhibition is modest as far as quantity but of such high quality that I could spend hours staring at the sculptures, paintings or even furniture by Josef Gočár, Otto Gutfreund, Josef Čapek (brother of the writer Karel), Václav Špála or Jan Zrzavý just to name a few. I love everything about this period of Czech art, it was blunt, uninhibited, intelligent and fun and, to put it simply, beautiful. If you have time in Prague, do not miss getting to know it!

See it in January and February at the Estates Theater

The people of Prague take great pride in the fact that Mozart felt so good in their city that he said: “My Praguers understand me.” They love music and relish in the claim that every Czech is a musician. I am the exception to this rule, although I do love music. I also love surprises and crazy ideas. A famous Czech musician, Martin Smolka, and a popular actor and screenwriter, Jaroslav Dusek, came up with such an idea a few years ago. They created a unique opera inspired by the victory of the Czech Ice-Hockey Team at the Winter Olympics in Nagano.
An opera about ice hockey! It is an outlandish idea, right? But if you think about it, operas tell a love story, celebrate heroes, and culminate in a tragedy or victory and, for Czechs, Nagano was exactly that; a love story of mythical proportions – almost a century long obsession with hockey. A Czech hero of the 20th century – the genius goalkeeper Dominik Hasek whom some wanted as the next Czech president is the opera’s hero, defending his goal with a powerful counter-tenor. And finally a victory that was celebrated by thousands of fans crowding the Old Town Square and boosted national pride that is usually nonexistent among my countrymen.
The Opera Nagano (in three periods and overtime) premiered at The Estates Theater in 2004 and is now coming back to mark the 10th Anniversary of that epic victory in 1998. If you travel to Prague in January or February, you should not miss it. It will not only give you an insight into the psyche of those gloomy looking Czechs, but will surprise you with beautiful music, unexpected stage setting and costumes and especially, the great sense of humor.