This weekend we had some beautiful weather in Prague. On Saturday there was blue, blue sky and it was around 23 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit). Dana and I walked around Vyšehrad and ended up at the restaurant Rio’s Vyšehrad for lunch. They are just across from the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (Chrám sv. Petra a Pavla) and have a nice outdoor seating area. We enjoyed the food, but the service was v-e-r-y slow. We waited over an hour to get our two identical plates of simple chicken sauté and two mini-scoops of white rice. We were certainly not in the best mood by the time the food arrived. To top things off, the bill that was brought after another lengthy period of waiting included a 10% tip. This was only listed as a cryptic “DPT” line on the bill that we had to inquire about in order to understand what it meant. The menu had no mention of a service charge being added to the bill. Very irritating, since it is not common in the Czech Republic for a service charge to be added automatically. Plus we wouldn’t have had tipped 10% in this case as spending close to two hours at lunch that eventually left us hungry was not our idea of a Saturday afternoon.

Later in the day, Dana and I grabbed dinner at U Šemíka, which is just below Vyšehrad at Vratislavova 36.  It was our first time there and we enjoyed our whole dining experience - from service to food quality to ambience.  We look forward to going back.  If you are looking for food in the Vyšehrad area, our tip is to try U Šemíka.

Once again on the subject of restaurants and smoking. Jeff and I were out by Anděl today and we needed to get a quick bite somewhere. It was a bitterly cold day that took everyone by surprise, us included. We were not dressed for the weather and longed for a warm place to pop in for the half hour we had to spare. We remembered that Káva Káva Káva was basically across the street from where we were and we got all excited at the prospect of pastries and hot coffee.

As soon as we entered the crowded café, we realized that our idealized coffee break was not going to be all that rosy. The place was literally shrouded in cigarette smoke. We looked for the non-smoking room. There was none. We asked a girl at the bar and were sent to an area containing about six tables that had a sign on the wall banning smoking during lunch time starting at 11 a.m. It was 11:30. The “temporary non-smoking section” was just a bit less smoky than the main room, apparently due to the fact that one of the customers was smoking despite the sign and that the area was not in any major way divided from the rest of the interior. It didn’t take long for Jeff to start coughing.

What were two hungry, time pressured and increasingly angry non-smokers to do? We skipped the coffee, had our apple strudel put in a to-go box and ate it on our laps sitting on cold metal chairs outside the café’s front door, shivering with cold. Two girls were already sharing the lone table there. At one point, one of them got up and went inside to use the restroom. When she came out, she uttered to her friend: “God, it’s so smoky in there, my eyes are burning!” I only wished someone could take a picture of us, the “weirdos”, in this ridiculous moment.