Date Night #14 - Dilly Dali'ing in Old Town

Date Night 14 - April 12, 2008
Temperature: High - 55 °F/13 °C; Low - 39 °F/4 °C
Location: The Gallery at the White Unicorn (Click here for map)

Have you ever had a really strange dream? One filled with odd images, weird figures and stories that make perfect sense - but only while you're still dreaming? Maybe they're fueled by bad curry. Maybe by stress. Whatever caused the weird dreams, Salvador Dali must have had a lot of them... and then remembered them well enough to paint them as well! I guess they don't call him a surrealist for nothing!

Spring is springing into full force here in Prague. This means not only the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining more, but also that tourists are popping up all over Prague in the busloads! We walked across the Charles Bridge, dodging packs of tour groups, heading towards Old Town Square through the quiet courtyards of the Klementinum. We'd seen the sign advertising the Salvador Dali exhibition at the Gallery of the White Unicorn for months now - and decided that tonight was the night to finally get around to visiting it! The collection was pretty large - a combination of paintings, prints, ceramics and even some small sculptures, as well as a collection of photographs of Dali, taken in Paris by Czech Photographer Václav Chochola. Well worth the visit and the Czk 150 admission fee.

Our appetites worked up by the weird weird art, we headed off to find some grub. Not being especially good at planning these things ahead of time, our dinner selection was the first thing that caught our eye from the current issue of Prague in Your Pocket. Unfortunately, that first thing was U Musketyra (At the Muscateer). Just down the road from the National Museum at the top of Wenceslas Square, the restaurant is easy to miss unless you're looking for it. The basement was dark and a little dingy... decorated with fake wooden shields and swords. Service was decent (and even in English)... but the selection was pretty slim - no goulash to be found, despite the advertisement for "Moravian Wine, Czech Cuisine" outside the restaurant.

The garlic soup was tasty, but the cheese plate consisted of a slab of butter just about as large as the three varieties of bland cheese. We settled for two plates of just average Pork and dumplings, and left without too big of a dent in our wallet (Czk 500 for appetizers, entrees and drinks).

Surreal art, followed by real food. Not a bad night out!