Notes from Prague (and Vienna, and Piestany...)

True, I've been back from Central Europe for 2+ weeks now, so this isn't exactly a timely post, but the info hasn't expired, so I'll make note of it anyway.

Only two wines were had in all of my 15 day trip: one was consumed in a quaint cafe in the little Slovak spa town of Piestany. My dad and aunt were promoting the qualities of Moravian wine (though I should have been more suspicious perhaps as my dad's most frequently used descriptor was that it is "very famous"). We had just spent the day tooling around the grounds of spa island, and we were up for some refreshment. Also, dad needed a smoke, I think. We sat in a near empty room of small cafe tables, and I ordered a "moravian riesling." Dad and Marta ordered beers. Guess who of the three of us had the best experience. The riesling wasn't offensive, to be sure, but it also wasn't anything to make note of (hence, I have no tasting notes, ps). Perfectly mild and nondescript, with just enough acid to tick it to the under-50 side of a non-Parker 100 point scale. And that's all I have to say about it.

My second wine glass of the trip contained a more interesting Grune Veltliner (which anyone should order just for the joy of asking for it out loud). The context for this was that my cousin Marek and I had been on our feet for 13+ hours in the grand and magnificient city of Vienna, and we were dying for a rest and grubb. While Marek ordered a .2 L Gosser, I opted for the Veltliner b/c come on, you can't go to Austria and NOT have one. This time, it was a crisp, refreshing experience and though it perhaps wasn't the best option to accompany my cream-sauce gnocchi dish, it was still quite nice.

Needless to say, there was much alcohol consumed during the overall vacation, and the other 98% of it took the form of beer (no slivovice on this trip, unfortunately). The standard Budvar, Pilsner and Krusovice while in Prague, and a new one this time called Staropramen. We spent one pub evening at the pivovary enjoying their light and dark versions. And the beer received the ultimate compliment when I dedicated 1/3 of my precious allotted "for declaration" luggage space to a bottle of it. We consumed it a week laterwhen Filip stopped in SF on his way back to Prague.

So what to say about the trip? It was fantastic. Among the highlights were meeting my nephew Adam, watching my sister glow w/ giddiness on her wedding day, hearing my babicka and aunts perpetually reciting the only English they know ("Eat, Cheryl, Eat!), listening to my father's running narrative about the history of individal castles in Bohemia and western Slovakia, and taking in the sights of Vienna at a frenetic pace over one weekend with my cousin Marek, the sculptor and architecture expert extraordinnaire.

It was over too quickly.