Europhile: C'est ma vie!

U Vinoteky

Blue neon lights in the window recall a herna bar – a place with dirty patrons, large fingerprint-stained glasses of pilsener, and the ever-smiling faces of gambling machines – but the old wooden sign bearing a bunch of grapes and the purple-tinged “Moravskych vin” title suggest something else. It’s a welcome sort of a place, coming in from the cool Prague twilight. The door shuts quietly and a dog looks up at you trustingly. Inside it’s smaller than you think it will be, and the patrons look up at you from their cigarettes and wine glasses that don’t stay full for very long. There’s a football match on the only television and everyone is glued to the screen, except perhaps the older gentleman by the door. It’s a corner pub and the bar takes up the lion’s share of the corner. It’s all wood inside, and bunches of purple grapes hang low overhead. A chalkboard advertising the “Finest Wines and Spirits” hangs to one side, and despite being written in English, seems to fit. A Tullamore Dew sign hangs opposite, partially hidden by a lazy cloud of smoke. The bartender is friendly here, and he tips his head when he notices you. Co si date? He asks what you will have. He doesn’t mind that you’re foreigners. You order your glasses of červené vino, and he fills them from the large glass pitcher on the counter. He brings two generous glasses of red wine to the bar, and takes a large Mattoni bottles from the old man next to you, topping it up with Rulandské for the trip home, or wherever he might be going. Then Slavia scores and the ruddy-faced man to your right you starts yelling in a hoarse voice, pounding fists on the table. A man on the other side of the bar yells back – and you think, perhaps he’s just not a fan. Or maybe he’s agreeing, it’s hard to say, but the bartender smiles indulgently and the place begins to feel just a little bit homey.

posted by europhile @ 08:56