"Frog" (Prague in Haaken-speak), Czech Republic

I'm going to preface this post by saying that as this "blog" is really more of a journal you may want to skip the long, rambling, dry text which probably be summed up for most people by saying we stayed at a great place, and had a great time, saw the Old Town and the Castle and hope to get back before we leave.  There are pictures below.

Our first trip outside of Germany was a huge success.  The Hoopty, with it's newly fixed AC, performed well, we stayed in a beautiful and cheap apartment (sans AC), saw most of the sights and got a good feel for the city.  We left Friday night after Carissa got done with work and drove the 2 and half hours to Prague with a short stop at the border for the required Czech highway sticker and a truck stop dinner.  We made it to the apartment which was in the "Little Quarter" at about 8pm, unpacked the car, got the kids to bed and vegged in front of the TV for maybe an hour before we went to bed.

Our Apartment

Saturday morning the kids got up early to play Legos and watch Russian cartoons and we hit the streets at about 8:30am.  The apartment manager recommended a cafe in the direction we were headed so we stopped there for a great breakfast that included sausages, ham, cheese, hard and soft boiled eggs, a block of bleu cheese, musli, french fries, sunflower and pumkin seeds and hot chocolate that was literally a melted candy bar.  With our stomachs full we walked north along the river to our first stop, the Charles Bridge.  The construction of this bridge was quite similar to the Stone Bridge in Regensburg, and I think they were built around the same time.  The Charles Bridge, however, is adorned with some amazing stone sculptures roughly every hundred feet.  It also is lined with vendors and street musicians on both sides and book-ended by two stone towers.

Approaching the Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge

We started on the West side of the river and walked across and on into Old Town.  The bridge and the streets were packed with tourists and we wandered along trying to pick the road less traveled.  Haaken provided some laughs calling out to a vendor wearing a bandana (Hey Pirate! Hey Pirate!) and to a church fundraiser wearing some sort of traditional costume (Hey Rabbit!).

 Haaken and the Rabbit

Without really knowing where we were going we ran right into the Old Town Square which was next on the itinerary anyway.  This square is apparently the largest in Europe is lined with buildings of all different architectural styles which I really know nothing about other than it looks really cool.  We started with the Old Town Hall on which is mounted the Astronomical Clock.  This clock has two large dials that tell you the time of day in our time and Old Czech time, the position of the sun and the moon, the month and the time of sunrise and sunset if you know how to read it.  On the hour some of the figures on the sides of it move which everyone stands around waiting for but that Carissa and I found to be rather unimpressive.  We then climbed to the top of the Old Town Hall for a great view of the square and surrounding city.

 Astronomical Clock

Old Town Hall

At the bottom we proceeded to cross the square past the monument to Jan Hus (the Czech Martin Luther who founded the Hussites and died for it) to Tyn Church.  By this time it was extremely hot and the square was getting really busy due to the 4pm German vs. Argentina match. 

Tyn Church

For the match the square had a huge Television screen and beer and food vendors.  We stopped at an outdoor cafe for a drink and to watch the crowd.  After the drink we watched the start of the game with a couple thousand people, Germany scored in the first 3 minutes and the crowd went nuts.  End result of the game was 4-0 Germany, but we didn't see the rest because we decided to try and pack in the castle before dinner.  We walked a few blocks, got on the wrong Tram with no tickets, got off, realized the castle sights were closed and then hiked for about 30 minutes to a Rick Steve's recommended restaurant that was good, but didn't serve Czech food (Haaken and I split a cheeseburger).  We were totally wiped at this point (6:30pm) and walked home.

Old Town Square

Sunday we got up and were unable to take a hot shower because the boiler was broken.  We ate a light breakfast in the room and walked back to Old Town to purchase Elise's birthday present from Grandma Belle/Aunt Chris - a crystal necklace.  Rick Steve's said the Tram was really easy to use, but at least where we were reading never indicated where to buy tickets so we had walked literally all day Saturday and wondered how long the kids could keep it up.  We finally asked someone since we hadn't seen a metro or tram stop with a booth or machine to this point and were told that we could buy them at a hotel.  So we picked up some tram tickets and caught one over to the castle.  We started on the north side of the castle and strolled through the very impressive and expansive castle gardens and then through the north gate.  By this point it was lunch time and really heating up again so we ate at an outdoor cafe inside the castle.  I tried a Czech Budweiser, which is not the same as the Anheuser Busch variety but similar in quality.  Budweiser is apparently what you call a Czech citizen from the city of Ceske Budejovice.  The brewery in that town named their beer as such around the 15th century and then in 1876 Anheuser Busch started brewing their Budweiser.  This resulted in a legal battle in 1907 with Anheuser Busch for the name, which resulted in the Anheuser Busch only being able to market their Budweiser in North America with the Czech version getting the name in Europe.  Anyway, after lunch we walked over to St. Vitus Cathedral right in the middle of the castle complex, which, by the way is the biggest castle in the world.  St. Vitus was simiar to St. Peter's in Regensburg in it's French Gothic style, but it seemed much bigger and more elaborate.  The stained glass was the most incredible I've ever seen and there are an astounding amount of important people buried there which kind of freaked out Elise.  In fact, after visiting another part of the castle that had the remains of another person behind some glass, she told Carissa "I think I want to be creamated."  Anyway, it took us over an hour to get through it all.  Man I hope no one is reading all this - I'm getting tired of typing, this must be horribly boring.  We also visited the Old Royal Palace, a convent and the Rosenberg Palace all of which were unfurnished but still interesting.  Carissa said despite it's size, it pales in comparison to the castles she visited in England.

Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral

St. Vitus Cathedral

The kids were really getting tired now (5pm) as were Mom and Dad so we took the tram back to the apartment for some down time.  Haaken was out of control so we actually put him down for a nap.  At about 8pm we headed back out for dinner, which again was not a true Czech restaurant but was close and convenient and everybody ate (meaning Lydia).  Great pizza though.  We wanted to see the town at night so we jumped back on the tram and took it to Charles Bridge and then walked again to the Old Town Square for some ice cream and a horse and carriage ride that the kids had been begging for all weekend.  It was a beautiful night and the kids loved being out late so it was well worth the trip.  We finally made it home at about 11:30. 

Monday we had planned on visiting the Jewish ghetto, but by the time we got all packed up and then over the Charles Bridge, after buying Haaken a Czech football jersey and some paintings from a local artist we decided to head home.  Hopefully we can head back in the fall or spring.  When we got back I asked the kids what they like best - Elise: Old Town Square, Lydia: ice cream (gelato), Haaken: soccer jersey.