Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Prague Christmas Market Food

'Twas the month before Christmas
And all throughout Prague
Little stands sprang right up
With walls made of log

I went to the market
On Wenceslas Square
But Old Town's is better
It's prettier there

They sold lots of trinkets
To the tourists' delight
But I care not for dolls
Or rocks filled with lightsBut this fest was festooned
With some stands that sell food
Not really that cheap
Just some of it goodWhat first caught my eye
Was a big roasting ham
This was the real deal
It didn't come from a canI wished nothing more
Than to have me a slice
Then I saw a small sign
And it showed quite a priceIf you should want
Such fine meat in your hands
It costs 90 crowns
For each hundred grams

Visions of cheaper food
Danced in my head
So I moved through the crowd
For some sweet, sugared breadOne street-fired dessert
For those in the know
Is a round rolling snack
It's called a trdloThis sweet is not measured
By grams or by pounds
Each one that you eat
Will cost 50 crowns

For cheese and some ketchup
On top of fried dough
You can go to the stand
That's selling langošeOn sausage, on corn cobs
On beers you can suck
On these you can count
If you visit this truckHot mead can be had
Should you so request
This honey's got sting
It puts hair on your chestA favorite of many
Who come to the square
Is mulled wine, called svařák
They sell lots of it thereIt cost 40 crowns
For each plastic cup
It can help keep you warm
It can help light you upI'd seen just enough
It was high time to flee
I jumped on my ride
Good old tram 23

And I thought to myself
As I rolled out of sight
I don't love Christmas markets
But for some, they're alright

9 comments:

Michael Carøe Andersen said...

Aaaw great poetry :)

And I agree the Christmas market's nice and all but doesn't really get me in the Christmas mood.

Pivní Filosof said...

Being an atheist from the southern hemisphere, I love xmas markets. Where I come from xmas is a BIG FAKE, here is moe authentic. Though, I must say that the ones in Prague have still quite a bit to learn from those in Germany, but i still love them.
Great piece, BTW, makes up for the rather dodgy previous one. Sorry, mate, not the standard we are used to :)

Brewsta said...

Good eye, Max. I certainly didn't slave over Amigos like I did for maze.

Just wanted to get those pix out there after many months and knew I wasn't going to do a full post on the place.

Plus, my mojo was not working so well that day. Some days, you just can't pull it out of the hat.

I also realized that perfectionistic tendencies were keeping me from posting as often as I used to.. so I thought I'd slap it together and hope for the best. Caught me.

Anonymous said...

Nice text! I was around Prague the last days and I like the Christmas Market. All the best.

Anonymous said...

The bard speaks again :) Aren't they removing the sausage stands around the Wenceslas area some time this year? I admit I tried one and it was quite acceptable. HNY2008

Brewsta said...

Yes, sausage stands are on the way out. I left an update on the top of my post on sausage stands. Here's a Prague Post article on it:

http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2007/12/12/city-bans-sausage-stands.php

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Brewsta said...

Dear readers,

This "Daniel" appears to be a spammer, leaving solicitations for a hotel website, disguised as complimentary blog comments. I've gotten a ton of them on many posts.

I would recommend avoiding any business contact with such dishonest and deceptive people.

I would NOT recommend clicking on or patronizing this "Prague Hotels" website -- www.prague-hotels.org.uk

Doris said...

You're right about the Old Town markets. My grandson especially enjoys the petting animals. My favorite for shopping, however, is the one at Nam.Miru--more compact and quieter. There's also a french pastry shop down the street from there with wonderful treats!