Czech Republic

Why go?  The Czechs love beer.  In fact, according to a 2012 study conducted by Kirin, it has led all nations in beer consumed per-capita for the past 20 years.  I have to admit that the idea of having some fresh local "pivo" was a huge draw for me - as was the famed Old Town of Prague.  

Learn the language.  Czech is spoken by over 90% of the country, and can be a pretty daunting Slavic language.  My best bet was to stick with simple phrases like "pivo, prosim," which means "beer, please!"  

Get there.  We took a train from Vienna to Prague that had one changeover somewhere at the Austrian border.  The crazy thing about this was that we had only one minute to change trains, according to the schedule.  The problem was that our train was consistently running five minutes late.  Luckily, in this case, the other train was also running ten minutes late, so we were able to make the transfer.  

Read before you go.   I decided to take a break from non-fiction and re-read The Metamorphosis by one of Prague's favorite sons - Franz Kafka.  Kafka was born in Prague, and there are statues and a museum dedicated to his legacy in the city.  The Metamorphosis is an absurdist novel that follows a traveling salesman who wakes up one day transformed into a large insect - definitely recommend if you are looking for a short read 

Weather advice.  Unless you are planning to ski, travelling to the Czech Republic in mid-June is a great time.  Like Austria, our AirBNB did not have air conditioning, and we did experience a mid-level heat wave.  That said, a fan (and some solid Pivo) really did the trick for dealing with the heat.  

Expenses.  Austria ended up being about 1.5% of our budget and 2.5% of our time - and we had no big expenses.  We had an unbelievably nice AirBNB with a huge kitchen and fully stocked refrigerator (thank you, Ivana & Adam!).  That said, food was largely cheap, as was the beer.   

Three “Must Do’s”

• Must eat(s).  There are several raw cafes and lots of good restaurants to check out in Prague - one of our favorites was My Raw Cafe (their vegan strawberry milkshakes are unreal).  That said, if you are looking for something a little more touristy and unhealthy, I recommend the chimney cake from Good Food Bakery (see below).  
• Most impactful experience(s).  The Charles Bridge at sunset is a really great walk - and offers some great views of the city - although, it can be crowded during tourist season.  Another great way to experience the river is to take a paddleboat tour - which we did at sunset.  
• Must see(s).  The historical Old Town is full of tourists, but it is where all the action takes place.  There are lots of good restaurants and bars, souvenir shops, busking musicians, and things to see - including the "Astronomical Clock."  We would take a walk through and check out out a different side street every day.  

Teachable moment.  Our teachable moment came after flying out of Prague on our way to Japan, and also involved patience.  Our flight from Prague to connecting Warsaw went smoothly, but there were problems at immigration in the Warsaw airport.  Our connection window was only an hour, and it took us two hours to get through the immigration gates - which worried us, since we were embarking on a long, overnight flight.  The queues were completely overrun and everything was pretty chaotic with folks cutting in front of us, claiming that their flight was about to leave.  We ultimately caught our flight to Tokyo, but it left three hours later than initially scheduled, due to waiting for folks to get through EU immigration.  

The Wrap.  Alexandra Bracken once wrote that "all cities are jealous of Paris, but Prague is the envy of Paris.”   This was high-praise and left us with high expectations, having just spent two weeks in the "Ville Lumière."  But, I have to say that Prague delivered.  It all started with our AirBNB hosts, who were pros when it came to recommendations and accommodations.   When we arrived late in the evening, they left us a fridge full of food and beer, as well as some fresh pastries from the bakery down the street for breakfast.   

I will end with one of my favorite moments on our first full-day in Prague - we got a tip from our hosts about a food truck festival happening a few miles from our apartment.  We arrived in the middle of a huge celebration - everyone smiling and dancing.  They even had gluten-free, dairy-free banh mi's at one of the food trucks - which made my wife very happy.  As I sat on a picnic table overlooking the skyline and drinking a cold Bernard Pivo, I felt we had found an apt conclusion to our three months in Europe.  

A deliciously cold pilsner at a food festival in downtown Prague