Day 4: Prague Castle!

After a solid 10 hours of sleep, we had a more successful morning with the coffeemaker in the apartment, and all of the Gentilcores and Somersets sat in the kitchen quietly, catching up on emails and filling up on caffeine and Czech Granola (which is delicious, by the way!)

The Somersets, ready to roll!

We received a message last night from reception that there was a special package waiting for us from Taste of Prague!!! So we ran over there, to pick up our very own special copy of The Taste of Prague Guide!

We got free access to the PDF when we booked our Foodie Tour (coming up Thursday!), so it was just super-duper special to get the hard copy!

Then, we packed up and were off!

We took the subway out to Tomas’ gym: BarBarGym, for some training.

It was an adventure just maneuvering the subway, but we did it – and ended up in Krizikova, also known as Praha 9… also known as The Karlin District.

Our workouts were great!

I’ve been rehabbing an ouchie shoulder and haven’t gotten to bench heavy in many months. Tony and I got to train together (a rare occurrence) and since I had a handoff I decided to test out some heavier benching – here’s 65Kg (about 143lbs):

 

After a shower, we walked down the street from the gym to visit a coffee place highly recommended by both visitors and locals alike – Mujsalek Kavy – for a much needed post-workout caffeine buzz.

After that we headed down to Meze for some lunch. Lemonade (or Limonady) seems to be all the rage here, so Dean had a few lemonades, I had a little vino, and we all had a very delicious and leisurely lunch.

Due to being outside of the city center and on the “other” (North) side of the river, we decided to walk to Prague Castle from the Karlin district. Here are some amazing photos of the city and our view along the way!

The castle itself was amazing! Beautiful views from outside the castle overlooking the city:

An amazing Cathedral:

Gardens, Crown Jewels, and CRAZY statues at the gates!!

After walking back down the steps we walked over the Charles Bridge – another highlight of the city:

We then stopped at Bakeshop (which is fast becoming my favorite spot for a coffee). I grabbed a muesli cookie and an espresso. Tony had a piece of carrot cake (his favorite):

We went home for a bit to regroup, and then went back to Old Town Square for dinner. Afterward we went on the search for a local delicacy, the trdelnik:

I’m not quite sure how to describe.

Note from Tony: I can……..f***in delicious. Even better with ice-cream stuffed inside.

Dough. Fire roasted. Sugar and cinnamon coated. And for the tourists, filled with something. Nutella, or ice cream, or some other decadent thing. Tony and I had one and it was delish!

Lindsay likened it to a churro, but since it’s not fried, it’s lighter than that.

Anyways, don’t miss it when you hit Prague!

Once back home, we settled in with some Netflix (we can’t find a TV station in English), and watched a bit of TV before heading off to bed. Another amazing day! Thanks for reading and talk to you tomorrow.

Lisa

(and Tony).

Day 3: Rain Rain!

Today started off with a coffee machine mishap.

Dean and I thought it would be smart to just use the coffee maker in the apartment, instead of running out for a little coffee in the morning.

Unfortunately, due what dean believes is a design flaw, I walked into the kitchen 10 minutes after starting the coffee to find brown water everywhere, and a vomiting coffee machine! So after cleanup, I headed out, once again, to what is fast becoming my favorite coffee place: Bakeshop:

After a little coffee and breakfast, the boys ran to their workshop, and Lindsay and I took our own separate little runs.

Lindsay (I can only imagine) probably actually ran. I, on the other hand, jogged about 20-40 feet, and then stopped to take a few photos…

Here is :

And then …

And also:

So after my jog/photo interval session, I took a shower and got ready for the day. It was rainy and gross, but we really wanted to get out to see the library, The Klementium.

First Lindsay and I made lunch from the amazing and CRAZY cheap produce we found at the farmer’s market yesterday, and then we set out!

It was cold and rainy, but that didn’t stop the tourists! They were everywhere.

After some walking around, we came across the building where the library was, but walked around all 360 degrees of the building before figuring out how to enter.

Unfortunately the next tour was not beginning for some time, and we couldn’t handle staying out that long in the pouring rain.

So off we went… this time finding the Nardoni Gallery! We checked out the Old Master’s collection, with a mix of some Picasso, renaissance, and Czech artists.

The weather started to improve, and we went on a manhunt for some laundry detergent… not the easiest to find in the center of an ancient city with a drove of tourists and the matching gift shops.

After the mission was accomplished, I found myself back at the Bakeshop for another espresso and a few treats for Tony.

We came home to relax a bit before the boys came home, and suddenly Dean texted Lindsay to explain they would stop by in a few minutes to pick us up so that we could have dinner at Tomas and Linka’s house!

Here is the AMAZING view from their roofdeck!

Lenka is 9 months pregnant, but was a spectacular hostess. Somehow, they got Tony to drink moonshine a second time (still not sure how this is happening), and Dean had him take a sip of Scotch.

Here is Dean and Tony with our wonderful host, Tomas:

Another amazing day! See you tomorrow,

Lisa (and Tony).

Day 2

After an amazing 12 hours of sleep, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed! I found the nearest open coffee shop, grabbed myself one, and brought one home for Dean. Tony was whipping up some eggs, and the boys were getting ready for Day 1 of “The Complete Hip and Shoulder Workshop” (available on DVD soon!).

Here’s Tony in our Rockin’ 1970’ European kitchen!

After the boys left, Lindsay and I headed out. Thanks to Zuzi and Jan at The Taste of Prague, I had many tips and guides for good food and sightseeing in the city!

Today’s itinerary was The Perfect Saturday itinerary, which is from their website. Making our way to The Vysehrad Fortress, we passed by the Philharmonic:

The Charles River Bridge

And then my favorite, the Naplavka Farmer’s Market!

Filled with produce, meat, homemade food and drinks, and plenty of local wines and beers, the market also had clothing and jewelry from local artisans. We grabbed some extremely cheap produce for the fridge back at the apartment, and then hit up the fortress.

Atop a long set of stairs, we had lazy lunch next to the fortress. It was a warm and sunny day, and lots of locals were out for some coffee or beer. We walked back home along the river, to meet up with the boys and hear about Day 1 of the seminar.

1:30am in Edmonton, 3:30 am in Boston, and 9:30am in Prague, @tonygentilcore and I dropping shoulder and hip shenanigans all weekend at @barbargym this weekend

A photo posted by Dean somerset (@dsomerset1) on May 14, 2016 at 1:26am PDT

Tony and Dean arrived back home around 6pm – just long enough to change clothes, freshen up, and head to dinner!

We ate at a local spot with “traditional Czech food.”

Not only did Tony have the Goulash – but he has a shot!

If you don’t know, Tony does not ever drink alcohol (he hates the taste). The Ex-Pat American next to me at dinner explained, “this is basically Czech moonshine”. I thought it tasted like tequila… Tony threw it back like a champ!

And I had the pigs knee. It was delicious!

After some dessert we walked back home and couldn’t wait to get some sleep.

Good night and talk to you tomorrow! Lisa (and Tony).