NEW YEARS!!!

My brother came back to Prague with me to stay for a week or so around New Years.  We had an amazing time, I took him sight seeing during the day to Prague Castle, St. Vitus, Charles Bridge and all the other Prague-ian sites.  Then we went to all my favorite bars and restaurants in the evenings.  He was especially enamored with The Pub, a bar with beer taps on every table and you get to pour your own drafts. 

At Pivovarsky Dum, an awesome brewery.

My brother and I had a similar visit two winters ago when I was living in Florence, and we both discovered our mutual love of Kebabs (in the european/middle eastern sense.  not the skewers of meat on a grill)  After our trip to the above brewery, we went to my favorite Kebab place in town and reminisced about times past.

Photo op on the walk up to Prague Castle, view of Mala Strana behind us

At U Sudu with some friends

This is definately one of my favorite bars in Prague, and as such definately made the list of must-see places.  It is called U Sudu, which means the cask in czech.  The top floor is a very small, narrow wine bar that looks like its maximum occupancy is about 15 people, including the bartender.  But if you walk down the tiny walkway and around a corner, you see an ominous set of stairs winding down.  Downstairs you end up in the first of many big caves (previous wine cellar for the above bar).  There are four large caves connected by tunnel-like passages.  There are two different bars down there, and one cave devoted entirely to Foosball tables (they take their Foosball very seriously here...) We spent a while down in the cave until the smoke from everyone's cigarettes was so concentrated it made your eyes burn, at which point we surfaced for fresh air and a change of venue.

The next day was the 30th of December.  A friend of mine came into town from Germany to join in on the New Years festivities.  The three of us had a pseudo-classy evening at the Opera watching Carmen (it was AMAZING) before heading to The Pub to meet up with some friends and pour copious amounts of beers for ourselves.  It was a lovely preamble to a rediculous New Years....

On New Years Eve, a big group of us went to a local pub for some food and beers.  We all had very delicious, hearty, traditional Czech meals which allowed for the overzealous drinking which was about to occur... We stayed there for a few hours, then at around 11 we headed back to my apartment to grab some champagne and fireworks.  My roommate was having a party at the apartment, so of course we stayed for a few shots of Becherovka (imagine Jaagermeister with more cinnamon....)  We left in time to make it to the river for the fireworks at midnight which were FANTASTIC!! They must have gone on for a full ten minutes, it was amazing!  And all of my friends had the same idea and brought champagne, so we pretty much ended up with a bottle apiece for the show.

After the fireworks we headed off to find a bar.  Somehow I ended up at the head of the group, and when I saw strings of flashing lights I was drawn to this bar like a moth to a flame.  We all went inside and grabbed drinks.  It was absolutely PACKED and was a lot of fun.  I started looking around, and felt a strong sense of Deja-vu... Everything looked curiously familiar, and then it hit me.  We were in O'Che's, the bar I have been wanting to go to and trying to convince my friends to go to (it's in the center and more expensive than the places we frequent) since I arrived.  I had made it there once before when my parents were in town and we were drawn (again like moths to a flame) to the Guinness sign outside, only to discover it was O'Che's after settling inside and commenting on the amount of Che Guevara posters.  Apparently I can only find this bar when I don't know I'm going there, like some kind of booze filled bermuda triangle...

At O'Che's.  This picture makes me laugh, I think my brother's worried someone will take his last sip of beer...

Still at O'Che's

O'Che's was crazy packed tho, and rather pricey, so after a drink or two we headed out to find somewhere else.  We finished the night at a small bar whose name I don't remember.  Then had a lovely 6AM walk home.

End of the night

It was quite the successful New Years, full of amazing people and unforgettable moments.  We paid dearly for the copious amounts of booze on New Years day, staying in bed and watching movies on my laptop as penance.  Then, sadly, my brother went back home and I went back to work.