Student Journals: AIFS in Prague, Czech Republic

Tori Kuhr
University of Puget Sound
Charles University, Czech Republic

I do not remember the exact date but it was during our first week in Prague. Tempa and I left the dorm in search of a place to eat dinner. We decided to head up to the Monastery that was not far away. A boy we had met, Sean, had recommended it to us, as he had heard it was a great place to eat. When we got inside the grounds of the Monastery we noticed there were a few different restaurants, but Sean had mentioned that the restaurant was in a wine cellar. We found a sign advertising “Peklo” the restaurant in the wine cellar and we started following the tiny path that was lined with candles and lamps. When we arrived at the little house behind the church, it seemed extremely tiny for a restaurant. There were no other people around, and there was something about being there alone, in the dark, that was kind of disarming. Tempa and I stared at the little house, approached it, and peeked our heads inside the door. The door opened to show an open staircase leading down into the restaurant. We looked in but did not go down the stairs. The matre’d was looking at us from the desk below and we felt very out of place, as the restaurant was in fact very upscale. We quickly closed the door and headed back down the path, vowing to come back for dinner one night when an occasion warranted it. Looking back at the little house, one would never realize that a full-scale restaurant lay underneath, in a wine cellar.

From there we walked around the courtyard looking at the old church that was now a gallery, walking around the existing church, and viewing at the other restaurant menus. We found another exit, one that went down a few starts and a little archway tunnel. But before taking exiting the area and heading back out to the street, I noticed an archway gate up ahead and called Tempa over. As we stepped through the gate, the sight that beheld us delighted us. We walked a few paces down the little pathway and then turned right to stand in what was a viewing area equipped with one of the binoculars that you have to pay a few crowns to use. We were looking at the most beautiful sight, Prague lit up. We were standing on the other side of the river, up past the castle, on the side of a hill, and we had found the most perfect view of Prague. Behind us stood the great white Monastery house lit up by lights and in front of us, the city. Directly in front of the Monastery, it was evident that in warmer months, a restaurant would appear, a restaurant with a breathtaking view. Besides a few lamps to light the footpath, we were virtually in the dark, which made the view even more perfect. We joked that that spot would be the perfect place to get married. To have a wedding in the Monastery Church, and then a reception in the restaurant that overlooks the city. We deemed this place the most romantic spot in Prague and from that point on we kept it our little secret. We would visit it many times, each time marveling that we were living in that city.