“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
Albert Camus
Saturday
I sleep for ten hours.
I wake up to a grey fog and open the doors on the balcony.
It is cold. I stand there, naked, until I am shivering. I get back in bed and enjoy the feeling of getting warm.
When you live in a country where you are always warm, you never what it is like to get warm – you are always hot.
We walk to breakfast. My ears in the cold and I need to put my hands in my pockets.
Oak is everything you need in a coffee shop. 80s music, not too fancy. A great breakfast, laid back staff and first rate coffee.
We read for a while, drink too many coffees, talk about lunch.
We decide to stay an extra night in Prague. Somehow we have been given the executive suite. I was a little shocked at our place. Two balconies and a bath in the heart of District 1. It is more an apartment than a hotel room.
I was not surprised when we were quoted 700 euros for an extra night. We have one more night in the suite and have down sized for tomorrow night.
“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.”
Kurt Vonnegut
We take a walk through the city to kill some time before lunch.
I don’t think I have been in a city as beautiful.
There is a large Vietnamese community here. Arriving in the former communist Czechoslovakia for work and study, in some kind of communist passport, most stayed when the regime fell in 1989.
Dumplings for lunch. A tiny place, off the tourist path.
I go to the barber. Shell has a sleep.
I grab a bottle of wine to drink before dinner. You can’t go wrong with Chianti on the balcony.
Dinner reservations at Snasho, a short walk to Nové Mêsto.
Another cool place with Asian influence. The wine list is one of the most eclectic and balanced I have seen.
But it feels like a night for cocktails.
Tempted by the seven course menu, we go with the more conservative five course.
Moderation is rare these days.
First up is the softshell crab slider with wasabi mayo. Well made soft shell crab is special, and this is excellent. Not your usual coin sized tidbit, this crab is huge and it struggles to be contained in the bao bun.
The wasabi mayo clears the nose it pains my brain, but works well with the crab.
The second starter is duck and trout caviar open dumplings with miso butter and black vinegar.
Delicious.
Shell orders another cocktail. A Mojito with house made BBQ pineapple mezacal. I can’t resist the wine list and order a local white. Details below.
The customer service is on point. Professional yet relaxed, our man is the brother of the owner. A woodturner by profession, he knows the food and the wine and has the rare ability to not be around when you do not need him and to suddenly appear, like magic, if you need something.
Main course is beef rib eye and king prawns in an orange sambal curry with spiced potatoes and lemongrass. Sides are a cold shiitake mushroom salad, roti and coconut jasmine rice.
This place reminds me of SuperNormal in Melbourne. Asian fusion done well.
Desert is somewhat of an afterthought. Tasty, a Christmas pudding like cake with ice cream.
I am talked into ordering a dessert wine from Barolo that I have not heard of.
It is strange stuff and I am not a fan.
While the last course is a fraction anticlimactic, this has been an outstanding dinner.
The evening is turning chill and the sun has almost set.
The city seems otherworldly in this cold twilight.
Over the last few days there has been a lot of discussion about the future. How we might get off the rat wheel, escape the grind.
There has been a plan simmering in the background. A seed ready to plant.
It just takes courage to plant. Change is always challenging, but it is equally exciting.
This beautiful city and the time away from the desert and work may have given us the determination to take that step into the abyss.
Time to plant the seed.
Home.
Bed.
Wonderful night.
Tonight’s wine –
2020 Uggiano Chianti Classico Reserva (Chianti, Italy)
You can’t go wrong with Chianti, even in Praha.
2022 Malíčské Vinařství Ryzlink Rýnský (Malíc, Czech)
Everything a natural wine should be. Made from Riesling, long skin contact, natural yeasts and very slow fermentation, this is an incredible wine.
Malíc is not a wine region, it is a village in the north of Czech. The fact Malíčské Vinařství can get grapes to grow this far north is a miracle.
Made in tiny quantities, it is textured, powerful, and well balanced. It has the typical minerality of Reisling yet is backed with powerful citrus fruit. There is no real funk here, which is a credit to a winemaker who uses natural yeasts.
Maybe I am wrong about this natural wine business.
NV Cappellano Barolo Chinato (Barolo, Italy)
I had to do some research on this wine.
It turns out it was first produced in 1870 as a medicinal wine, with various herbs and spices added. A health tonic. This makes sense, as the wine was very medicinal.
A famous wine that I have never heard of and I doubt I will try again.