Winter Trip Part 2: Prague and Munich

This is a continuation of my series about my Christmas vacation.  You can read Part 1 here and Part 3 here.

Waking up in Prague after 8 months uninterrupted in Kyrgyzstan was a bit surreal.  Although I was able to joke that problems with the shower head meant that I was living a cushier life in Kyrgyzstan than in my AirBNB in Prague, so many little things kept appearing, reminding me that I was back on a continent that I used to call home.

Our day, as it usually does when I’m with my dad, started at Starbucks.

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To my great surprise, I found my Peppermint Mocha rather unsatisfying… the peppermint tasted like Listerine and the mocha part was just too big and sweet.  It took me forever to drink, which, for those of you know me, is VERY weird.  I guess I’ve just graduated to cappuccinos and Americanos here in KG.  Kyrgyzstan (and my wallet) wins!

Our first day (of two) in Prague was spent mainly exploring the Jewish Quarter.  Now, I landed in Prague knowing that it was Czech and they had absinthe, and that I have a bunch of Czech blood in me.  Thanks to my mother, who ACTUALLY read up on where we were going, I wound up learning a ton about historic Prague and the forces that shaped it to be what it is today.

Some of the most amazing parts were the synagogues we saw.  The Spanish Synagogue may have one of the most spectacular ceilings that I’ve seen that side of Istanbul.

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The Spanish Synagogue

I mean, WOW.

That night, I was lucky enough to find an Uzbek restaurant, where I took my parents to try many of the dishes that I eat every day here in Kyrgyzstan.  We had traditional plov, pumpkin samsa, and manty.  The pumpkin samsa were definitely the biggest hit, but I’m optimistic that they’ll prefer plov when they try the real thing here!

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The Uzbek restaurant’s special banquet room.  We ate at a more conventional table just outside.

The next day, we set off to explore Prague’s famous castle, which is pretty much the largest in Europe.  Its large halls and interior courtyards still are home to many functions of the modern Czech government.  As a history buff, I was particularly excited to recall that this was the location that hosted the infamous defenestrations of Prague, when people got angry and chucked dissenters out the window.  We visited the very window out of which the dissenters were chucked, which is now somewhat humorously labeled with a “do not open the window” warning.

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St. Vitus’ Cathedral and its spectacular collection of side chapels and stained glass windows is a highlight of Prague Castle.

The next morning, it was onto Munich, another town to which I have strong blood ties but that I’d never actually visited before.  My mother’s family (and her surname) trace back to a village on the outskirts of modern Munich, which they left in 1870 to emigrate to New York City.  So, naturally I was very excited to reconnect with those roots.

Munich was a shorter stop, but that didn’t stop us from hitting up the famous Hofbrauhaus, where my mother used to visit in her spare time when she lived in Germany.

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Proust!

Munich also allowed us to continue our quest to taste ALL of the glühwein, which is a traditional Germanic hot mulled wine that my dad always makes during the holidays.  We visited several of their wonderful Christmas markets.

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Germany is AGGRESSIVELY Christmas and it’s the BEST.

Munich was a short stop, but we still got to see some of the highlights of the city.  After just two days, we were in the car and on to our main event, Kitzbühel, Austria.

Read Part 1 here and Part 3 here!

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