Prague - 1 of 2

"So, Prague . . . that's an interesting choice. How'd you decide to go there?" Yah, that was the normal response when we told people where we were going. I mean, most NORMAL people don't go to Eastern Europe for their first trip abroad. What can I say? We definitely are not normal. We like to be original and unexpected. Plus, we had heard from so many people how beautiful Prague was. And they were right. Prague was amazing. Unfortunately, the trip over there was less than steller. But, let's start from the beginning.

We woke up at the crack of dawn - yup, around 4:00 a.m. Why you have to be at Tallahassee Regional two hours before the flight is beyond me. I mean, it's Tallahassee - they have a total of like 5 gates! (yes, that's being overly dramatic, but you get my point). And since we are world-class procrastinators we didn't actually go to bed until around midnight. Needless to say we were exhausted. Then there was "bad weather" in Atlanta creating delays everywhere. So we were about an hour or so late. Thankfully since the problem originated in Atlanta we still made our connecting flight. Now New York . . . ah, New York. We arrive from Atlanta and realize that in order to get to our next gate we have to actually leave the airport and then re-enter and then GO BACK THROUGH SECURITY. Oh yes, you read that right. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. And frustrating. And then we end up on Czech Airlines which is even smaller than most of our airlines. Jeremy had his butt fully against the seat and his knees still hit the seat in front of him. And everything was in Czech! We didn't expect that. We figured it wouldn't start until we were actually IN the Czech Republic. So that was interesting. But what WAS nice was the fluffy blankets and water and headphones they gave you - for free. Along with the wine. Oh yah baby! Luckily, the movies were still in English!

After being awake for almost 24 hours we finally made it to Prague. Customs was a breeze (but as someone told us - they'll let everyone in, it's trying to get back into the U.S. that is the problem!) We step out into the airport terminal ready to take on the Czech world. We mentally prepped during the plane ride. No Americanized food while we were in Europe. That was the deal. We step out and see . . . The Holiday Inn and Courtyard Marriot and McDonald's and Burger King and KFC . . . the list goes on. I think my jaw dropped.

But let's move on (since I just accidentally posted this and wasn't finished, so I have to hurry before people start seeing the unfinished version . . . lol)

Here is some of the local architecture (I loved that so many of the buildings had flower boxes):






The bridges over the Vltava River in Prague are so beautiful!






This was an art museum:


They had a ton of public transportation:

As we walked around the city, we stumbled upon Havelska Market, the local farmer's market, that was set up in the 13th Century for the German trading community.

There are lots of little alley ways around Prague:


This is Tyn Church (pronouned Teen) in the middle of Old Town Square. For over 200 years it was Prague's leading Hussite church.


This is Parizska Street - it had all of the really expensive stores on it (Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Gucci, etc.). It was also the only street lined with trees leading into the town center, so that was an easy landmark.

Old Town Square has been the market square since the 11th Century - lots of history here! Today there are lots of outdoor cafes and horse & buggies.

Church of St. Nicholas viewed from Old Town Square.

This is a view of the Restaurant u Prince Terrace. It is located on the rooftop of the five-star U Prince Hotel facing the Astronomical Clock. It has the best view, but is supposed to be incredibly overpriced.

A view over the city from the top of the Old Town Hall. The Prague Castle is in the background at the top of the hill.

There were some beautiful murals made out of tiny mosaic tiles inside the Old Town Hall.

The Old Town Hall, which has the only elevator-accessible tower in town.

The Astronomical Clock. It takes several versions of time: two outer rings show the hour in Bohemian time and modern time. Arcing lines and moving spheres combine with the big hand and the little hand. The circle below the clock shows the Zodiac signs and was added in the 19th Century. At the top of the hour there is a very short show. First, Death tips his hourglass and pulls the cord ringing the bell; then the windows open and the 12 apostles parade by; then the rooster crows and the hour is rung. Unfortunately, the clock was heavily destroyed in WWII so most of it is a reconstruction.

This is the Pinkas Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter. The walls are covered with the handwritten names of 77,297 Czech Jews who were sent from Prague to the gas chambers. Unfortunately, the entire Jewish Quarter was closed on the day we were walking around town so we didn't get to see the inside of the synagogue.

In the Jewish Quarter:

Statues that were at either end of the Cechuv Most (one of the bridges that we used as a landmark).

Lamp posts on the same bridge:

Statues off the side of the bridge:

Stay tuned for part 2!

Day trip to Dresden

I have gotten a lot of slack from people lately. Everyone wants to know why I haven't posted anything about our Europe trip. Truth is - we didn't end up going. We decided to stay in town and camp out in the house for 12 days. What? I can't pull one past you, huh? Ok, fine, I've just been extremely busy catching up with work since I got home. But I'm tired of hearing all of the whining, so I put my nose to the grindstone to be able to get out at least SOME of the photos. In fact, this is only a very small portion of our trip. While we were in Prague we decided to take a day trip to Dresden, Germany. While it did cut almost an entire day off our Prague trip (which does sadden me greatly), Dresden was also amazing. The way the city was devastated during World War II and how it has come back to life - wow. It was so beautiful! There was so much green space, which I think is why we ultimately loved it so much. We always like to check out areas where the doggies can play when we are in new places. And when we ate lunch at a nice little outdoor cafe in the town square, we truly experienced the language barrier for the first time since being out of the United States. Lunch was interesting to say the least. We ordered traditional German crepes and cold German beer. We got a few laughs from the locals at the table next to us (at least, I interpreted it as laughing . . . since you know, they could have been talking about why Susan Boyle from Britain's Got Talent got a makeover for all I know. It's not like I could understand them. But since I'm a little paranoid, I tend to believe that they were snickering at us young Americans).

It was a short day trip, but we got to see the highlights. And we did at least make it back to Prague in time to go out and have an dinner at an authentic Czech restaurant. But more on Prague at a later date.

We almost ate at this Italian restaurant on the river - mainly because of the Beer Garden! But we resisted since we had eaten Italian the day before.


This building has always been a cigarette company. But they didn't want it to look like a factory so they disguised it as a mosque. So the pillars are actually smokestakes. It currently belongs to Phillip Morris.


There were some beautiful "homes" (more like castles) on this hillside right on the river. There was green space all around the river, as well as biking and walking trails. It was so beautiful! The yellow house below with the vineyards (on the left) was owned by a gold maker. Yah, this was his summer house. Must be nice. In the second photo, the castle-like home with vineyards (on the left) was owned by the inventor of mouthwash. The other castle looking home has been turned into a hotel.




I forget what this next building is (you better get used to that saying because I'll be writing it a lot - there was so much beautiful architecture in every country and I just snapped away . . . but of course I forgot what most everything was. :-( Sorry!) But, in Dresden they like to call it the lemon juicer. Hehe, it really does look like one doesn't it?!


After googling the phrase "Dem Vaterland Zu Zier Und Ehr" I realize that many people have taken a similar photo as mine and yet no one has explained exactly what this building is. Sheesh!


The next photos are of the church in the middle of the main square. It is right next to the Opera House and the palace. In fact, the Royals had the green bridge built (in a photo below) to connect the palace and the church so that they wouldn't have to walk outside during bad weather. Very smart, these Germans! Notice the different colors of the stone that makes up the church. The story behind the different stones is that the church was practically destroyed during WWII. But they had the skematics of the church, so the engineers disected the rubble of the church, and logged each piece manually. They then identified the missing pieces of the church and had those remade. So the dark, black stone is the original stone from the church that was inventoried. And the lighter stones are the remade pieces. Interesting, huh?!






And here is the palace . . .










This mural tells the story of the monarchy and the details depicted in the mural also comment on the history of the country for its leaders' style, religion, etc. For example, in the second photo, you can see that the first hoof of the horse is stepping on a rose. The rose was the symbol of freedom of religion essentially from the previous monarchy - that king allowed the people to practice any religion that they wanted. When the son came to power he banned all other religions except Catholicism - hence why his horse is stepping on the rose. But if you look very closely, you can see another rose directly behind the horse's back hoof. This rose symbolizes the king that came next that once again allowed the people to practice whatever religion that they wanted.




The statute in the square. I can't for the life of me remember who it is of though. There were way too many statutes of men on horses on our trip!


The Opera House. It was undergoing some reconstruction, which is why you can see scaffolding in the picture. I actually didn't take many photos of the Opera House because there was just so much scaffolding everywhere that it really wasn't as beautiful as it normally would have been.


This was like a huge courtyard inside the palace. Originally the entire city was walled in to protect the citizens. I believe this is part of the city walls.






This is still all the courtyard in the palace. But if you look at the photos in order, they show how the wall connects around. Think of it as a fake panoramic!






It was a great trip! I'll try to get the rest of the photos together as soon as possible!!!