Prague!!

Prague has probably been on my bucket list since I first lived in Germany in 99/2000.  Barry and I were poor and couldn't afford a trip.  Or else we didn't budget properly, or do our research...all of those actually.  I remember wanting to take an MWR bus trip there from Wiesbaden, but it was  $50 for each of us, and we couldn't afford it at the time.

I had wanted to go all summer, but with Andrew's school schedule, and moving in, we never quite found the time.  MWR was doing a trip labor day weekend, so I snagged tickets for that and the kids and I went.  I wish Andrew could come, but he did tell me to travel without him sometimes as he would be busy with work or school, so we did.

MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) Trips are over priced in my opinion.  Perhaps not for an individual, but for a family they definitely are.  The price for myself and four kids was just over $200, and that pretty much included transportation only and a two hour walking tour, but I wasn't comfortable driving to Prague by myself yet, so I was willing to fork out the cash. The day was a bit of a whirlwind, I think we left around 0530 and got there around 0830.  I took out 5500 Ck, which is about $227 US Dollars, which was more than enough spending money for us.  I did pay for our lunch with my credit card though. Next time we go, and there will be a next time, I will not take a tour, and I will make sure to do my research so we know what to see.  By the time we were done with our walking tour, and lunch, it was already past 12 noon, and the kids and I had to be back on the bus by 4:30.

Somehow I forgot to go to the Old Jewish town, and didn't realize that till we left, but Prague is so close to us that we can go back. When my mom comes to visit next year, we will take her there. How I forgot that, I don't know, but like I said, it was a whirlwind.  We simply didn't have enough time. We also didn't have enough  time in the day to visit the castle complex, which is actually the largest in the world!  From what I learned from our tour guide, every King in Prague added on to the castle grounds, and did not destroy the previous king's buildings.  We also missed the sex museum, which would have been a riot, but perhaps not a good idea with a 10 year old around!  I will say though, walking through old town and the pedestrian zone was a bit underwhelming, despite the fact that I loved everything we saw! It was too much shopping and not enough sightseeing for me. Walking through old town you will see shop after shop after shop of Marionette puppets, pot infused liquor, absinthe, candy, crystal and glass.  We did find a really cool candy shop where we each got a few little things.

You know how Germany is famous for it's sausages and beer? Well I think Prague is famous for the Trdelnik, a baked doughy goodness filled with all sorts of sinful delights. It is a dough that is rolled out like a snake, and wrapped around a cylindrical hot metal baking something or other (sorry, I don't know the name haha), and covered in cinnamon sugar. It comes out like a baked cinnamon  dough cone. The one I had was filled with a hot apple mix with raisins, and topped with whipped cream. The kids had a plain cylinder one with ice cream in it. You can get all sorts of toppings in them, and I am excited to try it again in the future.

I did not take this picture! 

The architecture of Prague is stunning, that's the only way to describe it.  Old and beautiful.  I loved seeing the Astronomical clock and all the buildings in the square.  But again, I think I was a little underwhelmed.  Perhaps I might feel different if we have more time to explore? Four hours was simply not enough time to walk around and see all we wanted to see.

A view of the city from the first stop in our tour, the Monastery above Prague. 

  In the Old Town Square

Look at the architecture here!!

I love views like this!

We stepped into a Marionette shop that I LOVED! I didn't purchase anything here, but I did get a marionette Witch at another shop.  The legend has it that Witches are lucky to have in your home, and the uglier the witch, the better!

This one reminded me of the Tale of Three Brothers Beedle The Bard (Harry Potter)

I want to go back to this shop and get another marionette, I LOVE this Dragon! 

And lastly, the Astronomical Clock.  "The Orloj is mounted on the southern wall of Old Town Hall in the Old Town Square. The clock mechanism itself is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; "The Walk of the Apostles", a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures—notably a figure of Death (represented by a skeleton) striking the time; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. According to local legend, the city will suffer if the clock is neglected, and its good operation is placed in jeopardy and a ghost, mounted on the clock, was supposed to nod his head in confirmation. According to the legend, the only hope was represented by a boy born on New Year's night"

Regensburg, Part Two

I don't even remember what to write about Regensburg since we went so long ago.  Oops. Well, long enough that my memory isn't very fresh.  I really think I need to get a blogging notebook to take with me when we go somewhere so I don't forget what we did! I'm kicking myself for that today because I am seriously drawing a blank as to what happened that day.  It could be because I was so sick yesterday that some brain cells were fried, but geez...I have plum forgot what to write about for Regensburg.

After we finished up at Walhalla, we headed to Regensburg to look around and eat the famous sausages! We focused mainly on the pedestrian zone, or old town.  The main goals on our list for the day were the Regensburg Cathedral (Dom St Peter), the famous Wurstkuche, the old stone bridge, TK Maxx and MAC.  Yes, we had to get some shopping in!

We parked pretty far away from the sausage place, so we meandered through the pedestrian zone and gradually made our way there for a late lunch. This stand is famous for it's sausages, it is over 500 years old and has been making sausages in the same place!  They still cook it with coal powered ovens in a little stand next to the old stone bridge, right on the edge of the Danube River!  We loved it though, and anyone who comes to visit us will be taken there.  Outside the stand are a few, and I mean, a few, tables and benches and you have to fight your way in to get a table.  Like the hunger games!  I was like a vulture looking for a table, and Andrew was getting annoyed with me, he said we should go somewhere else.  I was not going to miss those famous sausages after driving over an hour for them. After about 10 minutes,  I saw some tourists get up, and I immediately snagged the table.  We ordered 7 plates of Wurst and sauerkraut, and had tons of brotchen to go with it. I am not one that typically enjoys sauerkraut, but this I inhaled. When you go, make sure you keep track of how much bread you eat.  We had probably 15 rolls through the 6 of us.  Apparently they charge 1 Euro per roll.  Oops.  They never advertised that, or else we missed it.  Our bill was around 100 Euro for all 6 of us, including drinks.

When our bellies were satisfied, we walked halfway over the stone bridge, took some pictures, and then made our way to the Cathedral, Dom St Peter.  This was absolutely stunning!  It's too bad the outside was covered in scaffolding (as was the bridge, so I didn't get very many good pictures), but the inside was gorgeous.  I love old churches.  Medieval History has always been my favorite to learn and read about, so seeing it in person is even better.

We also went down into the crypt, and I think that was fairly new, but it's pretty neat as there are some relics down there (I did not get good pictures of that, unfortunately), and a lot of the Bishops are buried in the crypt or other areas of the Cathedral. 

Once that was done, we headed to do our shopping, and then headed home. Nothing too exciting, except we stopped at a fantastic gelato place.  I want to go back there, wish I had written down the name of it.  And then...I realized I lost our youngest daughter's ID card.  Oh crap.  We searched everywhere, even called TK Maxx to see if they had it.  I think it fell out of my purse while I was paying at the register, but of course they could not find it.  This ruined my gelato experience, which means we have to go back for more, haha!

All in all, we had a good day.  I really like Regensburg, but unless family or friends come to visit, or we go back for shopping, I am satisfied with the touristy part.  We just need to go back to do a Danube cruise, but I am not sure when we will get that done.  We have three years though, so plenty of time!