It's A Magical City

It took awhile for the magic to begin. We landed at a rather drab airport, drove past graffiti-covered-buildings and communist-era drab, concrete apartments. Then we entered Old Town and spent our first night out in Prague. We chose the restaurant for its traditional Czech food and the beauty described in our guide book. We weren't disappointed. 
When you entered Karkova, you couldn't help but notice the repeated archways, covered underneath with copper leaf. Very dramatic!

What I liked best were the small touches. I learned about cabinet cards at Silver Bella. There pictures were cabinet cards times ten! The portraits of the two men who started the restaurant were transfered to what appeared to be seafoam green silk. There were gilt flowers decorating the pictures.

This was the most charming alcove, again covered with visible squares of copper leaf. 
Two old sepia photos were hung on the back. Old books (contain my excitement!) were placed on the shelf below on the left. Three old pitchers in graduated size were the main objects on the right. Handmade antique lace hung above, like a little curtain. A pleasant vingnette, a decorator might say!

I ordered duck. I got half a duck. Jud order roast pork. He got an enormous pork hock. It came with three sauces.

That wasn't all. We also were given a huge platter of side dishes. There were two kinds of sauerkraut, sweet and sour, dumplings, made to dip in a soup bowl of butter and homemade white bread with a crunchy exterior. We turned down potatoes and got another loaf of the homemade white bread. We ate the duck. the sauerkraut and a few dumplings and had big mugs of the local Pilsner. 

When we were done, we strolled down the narrow cobblestone streets of Old Town. 

We window shopped. This local bakery that had it's stools arranged in precision at each window. What interested us the most was a modern spiked light which was surrounded by a very interesting old-appearing relief medallion.

We were very lost. The starry lights of one of the many area churches directed us home. Jet-lagged but giddy-happy, we crawled into bed at our rental apartment. It is somewhat bare-bones, but smack-dab in the middle of the action.

Tomorrow we will have Pork Hock and leftover dumplings for breakfast!!!