june prague festing

another thing i love about living in czech republic: days in prague. because i’ve lived in prague for two months and been there dozens of other times, the activities i find most enjoyable these days  involve taking advantage of festivals and trying out new cafes and restaurants.

and yesterday it feels like we did it all. after the exotic food festival got moved back a day (booooo), we hit up the italian food festival happening in havlíčkovy sady, a large park south of namesti miru in vršovice (prague 10). i have to say, i wasn’t expecting to find such a beautiful parisian style park with lovely views from the top of the hill on the south side of the city. if you’re in the area, i would absolutely recommend a visit to this overlooked hillside park! the festival was modest but fulfilling, and i loved the festival card system– it’s much more fun to load a card to pay than pay with cash! add a little bit of prosciutto and grappa and it was a brilliant experience.

then off we were to the vintage fair, in malá strana just north of kampa island by the franz kafka museum. there was reasonably priced vintage goods, beautiful brogues just a size too big for me, a fashion show, dj, eats, drinks, & arts and crafts. basically, all the best things. alex chilled out by the river with a club mate, gabi and i made flower garland headbands.

if you’re not familiar with the fountain below (called proudy, designed by who else but david černy), you can find it near the entrance of the franz kafka museum: two dudes, standing on the czech republic, taking an eternal leak. their hips swivel so they can spell out famous czech quotes with their “pee”. it’s been rumored that you can text a message to them, but i think this is either untrue or discontinued, as there was no number in sight.

then it was time to be perked up by not one but three tiny cups of coffee at můj šálek kávy in karlín (105 křižíkova), which translates to something like my cup of coffee. i was lured here by promises of some of the best ice cream in the city and top quality single origin pour-over coffees. really appreciated the relaxed residential vibe the east end of křižíkova and the outdoor seating under big leafy green trees.

my sampler set came with a guessing game– for this former coffee trainer, this was too much fun! it didn’t make the “cafes i love” list yet, but i enjoyed my visit and truly both the coffee & the ice-cream were delicious.