cafe savoy — Diary of a Sugar Dandy

Oh Captain! My Captain!

How my mind reeled when I heard these words, half asleep on some pills from Boots and midway across the Atlantic headed to Prague. Over a year ago mama and I signed up for a Danube Cruise on a new boat from Avalon Waterways. Yes, yes, I know- Prague is not on The Danube. We start here and then drive to Nuremberg to meet the boat.

I decided to lull off to Dead Poets Society but of course I couldn't sleep until it was over and a very melancholic sleep I had thinking of Robin Williams and this elegy written for Lincoln by Walt Whitman. And hell, I'm about to go on a river boat cruise where we will here the word 'Captain' innumerable times during announcements, cheers and dining table exchanges. See, the mind reels on overnight flights.

Vacation. The time for the mind to rest, ponder, stretch and learn. Although I never remember until I am on one of these amazing trips with mama that there is a rare moment to rest. We are constantly on the go seeing the wonders of the world and then cocktailing to slumber in the evenings. But what memories!

We landed in Prague Sunday morning from JFK and many of the boat group where on our flight. This trip was organized by some folks at mom and dad's yacht club so we are delighted to know lots of the people on the little boat that holds 166.

I'm used to traveling with mother in her spangles, glittery eye shadow and endless wardrobe but it's still a wonderful thing when I see the rest of our group of Southern dames equally bedazzled and hootin' and hollerin' at each other. It's like traveling with Designing Women and I revel in it.

When we arrived at the hotel (a mammoth Hilton not directly downtown built for large groups like ours and perfectly nice but not on my must stay list) nothing is ready and the guide encourages us to dine at the snack bar. Honey, I've been snacking for 12 hours. Daddy needs Euro nourishment. And thank Gawd my friend Marion was just here and sent me a list of must visit dining destinations.

Mother and I hail a cab and off we zizz to Cafe Savoy, a divine coffee shop with interiors from 1893. We order Viennese coffees and an amazing fresh omelette and brioche. The owners of this and several other top notch spots here focus on local vegetables and meat and even mention the variety of pigs they use and the name of the butcher. Bravo!

Once we finish grazing we still have two hours till our room will be ready so we cab it over to the Charles Bridge started in 1357 by old King Charles himself. Apparently from what I read 'construction began on Charles Bridge at 5:31am on 9 July 1357 with the first stone being laid by Charles IV himself. This exact time was very important to the Holy Roman Emperor because he was a strong believer of numerology and this specific time, which formed a numerical bridge (1357 9, 7 5:31), would imbue Charle's Bridge with additional strength'. Hey, it's still standing! Maybe he was an 11'er.

While the bridge is chock full of tacky tourists and crap peddlers it's still a wonder to stroll across and admire the old town from its angles. Mother wondered why the gold star bursts weren't twirling in the wind that are places atop this saints head. Let's blame it on the jet lag but I'm really glad that question came out of her mouth.

Saints with beanies!

When we reached the end of the bridge we were at the end of our rope of exhaustion. We found a cab and headed back to Chez Hilton where our room was ready and we passed out for four glorious hours.

We rose to attend a 6pm reception in the ballroom to hear more about our time in Prague from our guide and then mama and I headed to another restaurant owned by the Cafe Savoy people called Lokal, a modern beer hall serving more amazing locally sourced traditional Czech food. We had two Kozel dark beers immediately and then we dined on:

Sliced pork with whipped horseradish cream
Beef cheeks with potato dumplings
Roast beef with bread dumplings and whipped cranberry cream

YES! Everything was perfection and after that light little meal we officially called it a day and took a cab back to pass out for the evening. So far we are definitely Prague-matists.