Last summer we were on our way back from Berlin when we took a little detour for a one day visit to Prague.  We were at the end of our vacation and didn’t expect much more from it, but after little walk in the city center I was totally hypnotized.  Surrounded by wonderful buildings, lots of people partying and having good beer down in the narrow cobble-stoned streets, no cars or any other vehicle in sight and the atmosphere felt a little like fairy tales.

I felt like I entered a different dimension in space-time and decided Prague deserved more than one day.  Unfortunately we had to come back home but I promised to myself thought I’d come back to Prague sooner or later.  A few weeks later Martina moved from Firenze to Prague and when she invited us for a visit we did not think twice.

We spent there the last weekend and found that in winter the medieval city center of this doorstep to the stars is even better, white snow everywhere and a little less tourists in the way.  Martina was very kind to be our guide and brought us to wonderful places we would have never reached otherwise, also telling us about the many juicy legends of the city such as Golem, places where you can do something to make a wish come true, devils and a water spirits with green coats living in the river, eggs being used to cement Charles Brigde and many others.

It was freezing cold so we had frequent breaks in all sorts of cafés and pubs.  One of the best places we visited is U Flekú, a famous brewery established back in 1499.  They brew their own lager, Flekovsky Tmavy Lezák, which is dark, tastes great and is not sold anywhere else in the world and also serve Becherovka a bitter liquor typical of the Czech republic.

When you tell your friends you’ve been to Amsterdam they immediately start jokes about hemp and prostitutes in the red light district. It is unfortunate this city built up such a bad reputation, because actually there are better reasons to visit it. Nowadays the red light district is more a tourist attraction than a dangerous place. At night you can see families walk there with babies and strollers, as well as crowds of Japanese elders following the guide with the flag in her hand while looking at the ladies behind windows. You immediately lose any lust or transgression will.
Amsterdam is built on canals, not so different than Venice, except that bridges in Amsterdam have no staircases and houses always have a little street between the canal and their facade. This allows Amsterdammers to easily move on a bicycle. The whole city has been developed as a series of concentric semicircular canals. While Manhattan is a Cartesian city (you identify places by street, avenue pairs, that actually work the same as x,y coordinates), Amsterdam uses a polar system (ρ,θ).  You know, I’m a geek so be patient   Put in easier words you have to think in terms of which angle you have to rotate around the Dam, and how far you are from there. By the way, New York used to be a Dutch colony and was called New Amsterdam, before being sold to the English. And moreover Harlem and Brooklyn both inherited their name from cities in The Netherlands.

The thing immediately shocks you in Amsterdam is the lack of car traffic. Everyone moves on foot, by bicycle or with public transportation. Cars are extremely rare, maybe because parking in the city centre is almost impossible. We had to park our car under the Olympic stadium, a few kilometers outside.

If you visit the city there are a few things you mustn’t miss:

• The Van Gogh Museum is impressive. You can see hundreds of original paintings ordered chronologically and accurately commented by both written and audio guides. Some of those pieces is astonishing. Close to this museum you could also visit the Rijksmuseum, that holds some of the best masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer, but unfortunately it’s currently under restoration.
• You haven’t really tasted a Dutch beer until you enter a Dutch brown cafè. Imagine an old pub, where walls got brown by centuries of thick smoke and warm conversation and nobody cared to dust off the bottles. You will find sand on the floor, the barman will be very chatty and ritual while drawing your glass of beer and you will definitely feel like a travel back in time, when sailors used to meet in these places.
• You should also try a white cafè, modern stylish architecture spaces where the light dominates and elegant people have a coffee or a salad while they read a book, take the sun on the terrace, or do some business on their laptop.
• Of course you should take a look at the old buildings with their narrow and tall facade crowned by the typical gables. Most of them are built on wooden foundations and have a forward leaning facades with large windows. The best way to look at buildings is from a boat, e.g. with a canal tour.
• Try a glass of Genever, the typical local liquor, similar to gin.

And remember, the weather changes dramatically every ten minutes, so in the same day you often find yourself changing several times from t-shirt to sweater to water-proof raincoat and back.