I spent most of yesterday being too warm and carrying my jacket, so naturally today I went out in shorts and a sleeveless top, no jacket, and spent most of the day being too cold. It was lovely when I was in the sun, though, and I must have fairly stoked up my vitamin D.
This morning I took a walking tour of the old town and the Jewish Quarter. Rather than doing a photo dump all in one, I should try to give them a bit of context.
The Jewish Quarter was not what I expected. As well as genuinely Jewish things that are in my photos, there is an abundance of Parisien-style architecture and expensive shops – Rolex, Montblanc, Bulgari etc. In the early 20th century the place was completely gentrified and now the local Jewish population mostly can’t afford to live there.
After the fairly long walking tour, I headed up to the hill where the castle is for some lunch. Today I have a 24-hour ticket so I can be more mobile. I got a tram up the big hill but still had a fair walk. I passed Kuchyň, the expensive restaurant that the tour guides had recommended, but the entrance (a narrow doorway in a stone wall) didn’t look all that welcoming, so I thought I’d go down the other side of the hill to “Vegan’s Prague” restaurant. I found it, but it was on the third floor up a very steep, narrow flight of stairs, and when I got there, the balcony was full (only four tables anyway) and the staff were unfriendly. So I descended the stairs and climbed back up to the expensive restaurant, where there were loads of outside tables and the staff were lovely. I had a very unvegan but delicious smoked bunny rabbit salad. In my defence, it’s hard to get anything in Mitteleurope that isn’t heavy, so salad was a good choice. I also kept up my New Year’s resolution with a glass of fizz.
I walked down through Malá Strana (little town) to the centre and went to reserve my train ticket for tomorrow, one of my tasks for today. Unfortunately they had sold out of first class, but I have a window seat in second class.
My other two “tasks” were to try absinthe and go to the tearoom that Nastia recommended. And I wanted to go to the Speculum Alchemiae if time permitted, but as it was already after four, that wasn’t looking hopeful.
The tearoom, Lighthouse Tea Čajovna, was Japanese themed, very instagramable and relaxing, although getting there wasn’t relaxing because you have to go through a china shop full of very breakable things. The herbal tea I had was called Everlasting Beauty and was – fine. The way most herbal teas are fine. I had bao-zi sweet dumplings with it, out of a limited set of options, and they tasted as if someone had tried to make a dessert out of packing material. Non-European cultures just don’t seem to get dessert.
I now had less than an hour until the alchemy place closed, but on the metro I could get there in under half an hour so I decided to risk it. And I am so glad I did!
Speculum Alchemiae is a real alchemical laboratory from the 16th century that was sealed off sometime and only discovered after flooding in 2002. When I got there, the final tour was about to start. Daniel, who took the tour, is reminiscent of Richard o’Brian, despite having copious amounts of hair. He was very knowledgeable, with a nicely creepy, heavily accented delivery. There were only three of us on the tour and one of the other women, Anastasia, has a background in Eastern herbalism so she was quite knowledgeable about alchemy too. It was so much fun to be able to chat to people about alchemy who actually know what you’re talking about!
You get to the laboratory through a secret door in the bookcase, of course. There is a workshop with a special furnace, and a glass blowing furnace in another chamber. When people used to work here it must have been boiling. It was stuffy even with just the four of us down there, and no furnace lit.
I finally left the Speculum Alchemiae half an hour after it officially closed, and headed in search of absinthe. I had seen a rather cute-looking absintherie yesterday, so I tracked it down and at first I was their only customer. All three staff were very attentive and chatty (since they had nothing else to do), and talked me through the different kinds of absinthe. By my second glass, I was feeling very chatty too, and encouraging one of the barmen (Jan) to write his planned sci-fi book. I left feeling pleasantly mellow and very glad I had gone.
So it was a good final evening in “the restless heart of Mitteleurope” (as Kafka describes it). On to Vienna tomorrow!
K C Murdarasi 
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