Our Wine Bar ft. Alex & Fredrick
A light pale green door with dim lighting & good company to start off the night. Nestled in the back corner, Janine and I made friends with our waiter. He happened to be the owner, holding a friendly demeanor and witty humor. He let us try two wines, and we chose the later, named Pavlova, which was sweeter to the taste.
We asked if we can have the cheese platter and immediately he resorts, “You go to back and make the cheese?” It took us a few seconds to realize it was a joke through his thick French accent. But we laughed and he prepared the cheese platter for us and explained the details of how old, where, and the classification of each cheese. One was Parmesan, another blue cheese, and the other two I frankly can’t recall as they were my least favorite. A small dish of juicy pineapple and fresh bite size slices of bread were placed next to the platter. We drank, nibbled, laughed and planned our upcoming adventures.
When our wine was a quarter full, Janine asked our kind waiter to pronounce her name since he seemed French, as her last name derived from France. Alex, our friendly waiter, happily positioned a chair in our direction, sat down, and perched his glasses on top of his nose. I wrote down “Janine LaGarenne” on paper so he could read. He pronounced it with a thick accent. Janine attempted to repeat. “No,” he said, “LaaaaGareenee,” and nodded with a smile. He then motioned to his chair and asked if he could sit a while to chat with us. Of course we responded yes. We then sat and chatted with this nice older man for 45 more minutes.
He talked about one of his favorite comedians, his home town, how he went to the airport once and got quizzical looks from the security. They saw he was Czech, French, and some other ethnicity and they just waved him through. At the end of our chat, he ended up getting our favorite wine out again and poured a little bit more of the sweet juicy wine on the house. As we were checking out with the bill, (not check because of czech. . . punny) Alex then introduced us to his friend Fredrick who was the only other person left sitting at the bar. It was well past closing time but we all were enjoying each others company. Fredrick taught me how to say, “na shledanou” which translates to goodbye in czech. Janine and I then walked a couple steps back to our apartment, grins across our faces, happy to have had such genuine company for the evening.
It’s been almost three weeks now in Prague and as I’m taking in all the little things. Learning more about the atmosphere, social customs, and how to navigate the grocery store and checkout, allows me to adore this country more and more. The metro system is now easy breezy. Although the system is in another language, ionically enough, I find it easier to navigate than an American one. There’s only 3 lines, A, B, and C and I already have my stops memorized, where my University is and where my apartment is. Through it all, as I stood tonight in the cobblestone streets looking down at the buildings, I couldn’t help but think how grateful I was and counting each blessing as it comes. As Janine simply put, “How can you not wake up happy when there’s yellow and pink buildings out the window?”
Will update more soon, but wishing you the best week. If it’s a tough one ahead, remember to count the blessings in your life and not the curses.
Cheers to counting our blessings, wine nights and good company. Here’s a sweet picture of Alex below, being his goofy self to brighten your day.
xx,
Shelby
Alex when I asked if I could take a picture of him. He chose this pose.