Prague, Czech Republic (take two!)

We decided to take our friends Kern and Dorothy to Prague and Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic on their great European adventure - mostly because Todd and the kids had never been to Karlovy Vary, and we hadn't been to Prague since about six weeks after we moved here in 2015.

Czech out my chips!  Sorry... couldn't resist.  Todd is literally crushing me in this picture trying to get the kids third row seat belts fastened.  Good thing he has long arms!

The ride to Prague was largely uneventful until we go to the parking garage (Mr. Park It.)  First of all - it was obviously not meant for large American cars.  And our car isn't even the largest of the American cars we see, not by a long shot. But they put us in a car elevator (!!!) to drop us down a floor.  Don't forget to bring those mirrors in!  Then they had us park in a spot along the wall where we couldn't block the car elevator.  Czech!

After our parking adventures, we went out to explore a bit before we had to check into our AirBnB. Prague has cute manhole covers.  In my recent travels, I haven't seen any cute ones so I was happy I found them in Prague!

I'm not sure we got 4 blocks before we stopped for some drinks at Kavarna Adria.

I just loved this picture of Kern with Natalie!

After lunch, Natalie and I wanted to do a little shopping, so we headed into C&A where she bought a few things.  The rest of the crew went and explored the surrounding area.  Honestly, I leave these guys alone for FIVE MINUTES....

A great view of the Narodni (or National, in English) Museum from the Mustek area.  The building is under construction and has been since 2011!  In front of the National Museum is Wenceslas Square with the statue of Good King Wenceslas.

While Natalie was trying on some clothes, I was in the window at C&A with the mannequins. These clowns were outside also pretending to be mannequins!

Now here's a phrase I never thought I would say: "Check out this gorilla made of colored pencils!" How cool is this!?!  I love strolling around cities and checking out store windows - you never know what you will find!

The last time we were in Prague, it was November.  And cold.  And I didn't feel like having any ice cream.  So the kids and I were really excited to finally try a Trdelník (and no, I don't know how to pronounce that!)  It's rolled dough that's then dipped in a sugar and walnut mixture and filled with soft serve vanilla ice cream.  Divine!

We continued our stroll around Prague with our Trdelník, checking out the architecture and window shopping.  Love the wrought iron balconies on this one!

What is going on here?!?  Gross!  Hungry fish eating dead skin off of people's feet?  Do they clean the water out every time? Or does everyone just put their feet in water that other people have put their feet in?  Gross!

Because... Czech Republic.  "I have an idea!  We can just put some wooden plyboard over this giant hole in the sidewalk!" "What?  You mean it doesn't fit or fully cover the hole?  Oh well!"

For dinner, we went to Restaurant Blatnicka.  It was an amusing experience.  The poor waitress didn't speak very much English (I mean... little to none!) so we had all kinds of problems, like when we got white wine when we asked for red.  Then the waitress walked away without even letting Dorothy order because Kern decided to ask a question about which meal he should order and the waitress thought he was ordering one for himself and one for Dorothy!  I think she was super annoyed with us.  We finally made the waitress laugh when we kept saying, "Chutna chutna!"  (Pronounced: Hutna Hutna, but as if you were getting out some phlegm at the beginning of the word.) Google translate told us this means, "Tastes delicious" but really it means something more like, "Yummy yummy!"  Which made us look officially insane.

This place had been packed earlier when we went to dinner, but when we walked back it was pleasantly empty and looking really pretty in the sunset at the Havelské tržiště market. 

After a long day and after putting the kids to bed, the four of us hung out and drank... a lot.  Todd was Lurch in the Addams Family at the GPAC this past winter, so Kern was trying to take a picture of him while he held his phone up (that had a real picture of Lurch on it.)  He could NOT get it together! 

This is legitimate laughter from my husband.  I think I've only ever seen this when Kern or the Wilmington crew are around!  I think this might be one of my favorite pictures of him ever.

In the morning, we made a little in-house breakfast at our AirBnB before heading out on a BEAUTIFUL day.  Don't forget to look up!  There's so much to see!

Our first morning stop was the Astrooohhhhhhh….. Bummer.  The Astronomical Clock is under construction until later this summer.  In defense of the repairs, it's the first full repair since World War II. But it was really disappointing for our friends who had never seen it before!  They did have a video playing, so at the top of the hour, you could see what it would look like if it wasn't under construction.

Todd has a much steadier hand than I do when it comes to taking panorama photos.  This one is of the Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock.

Looking west toward Little Square which is just west of the clock tower. The architecture in this part of Prague is phenomenal.

The Old Town Square is one of the most touristy parts of Prague, but it really is lovely.

The monument to martyr Jan Hus in front of some really pretty government buildings. Over 600 years ago, Jan Hus was burned at the stake for criticizing the Catholic church and stating that the Bible needed to be in languages other than Latin.  He was one of the very early reformers, long before Martin Luther and John Calvin.

There is always a guy in the Old Town Square blowing an insane amount of bubbles that my kids love to run and jump in, getting themselves doused with ewey, gooey bubbles.  But they do have a good time, and the bubbles always make for great pictures.

For example... this cute pic of a couple having wedding pictures done.

Everyone squinting in the sun in the Old Town Square, with the Clock Tower behind us.  And the bubble guy.  He's there too.

We bought tickets for the Hop on Hop Off bus so we could get up to Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral.  My kids look THRILLED to be here.  To be fair, it was getting much warmer at this point.  But not warm enough for one of my kids (take a guess!) to be complaining as if it was the end of the world (and it wasn't even lunchtime yet!)

Meanwhile, Kern and Dorothy decided to do the "prom pose with a water bottle and a smartphone" in front of St. Vitus Cathedral.

Outside of the entrance to the courtyard where St. Vitus Cathedral is, stands a little guard with a bayonet.  He's not quite as still or imposing as the guards at Buckingham Palace!

We have been to St. Vitus before, but our friends have not.  There was a line forming on the left side of the Cathedral, so we got in line, not really knowing what the line was for.

Turns out the Archbishop of Prague was having a mass inside of St. Vitus and we were waiting for him to leave so they could re-open the Cathedral.  His name is Dominic Duka and he's also a cardinal-priest in the Roman Catholic church.

This was me pretending to be Natalie not knowing Kern was behind me doing whatever it is that he is doing.  Meanwhile, we waited in line for about 20 minutes before realizing that the church wasn't going to open for another couple of hours.  Ho hum. 

We decided it was lunchtime so we made our way down the 208 steps down Thunovska.  The view from outside of the Matthias Gate of Prague Castle is really beautiful!

Down the steps we go! Me and my little buddy.

At Pivo Basilico Café for some lunch down the steps from the castle.  I don't know why I'm calling out the bartender here.

After lunch, we made our way back out into the sunshine. I snapped this pic of Prague Castle from down below and little did I know that on the Column of the Holy Trinity, the Illuminati was spying on me with his little eye!  

We wanted to take Kern and Dorothy to the Charles Bridge, and just before you reach the Lesser Town Bridge Tower, you are rewarded with a series of beautiful and ornate buildings!

The Baileys and a Dorothy looking back down Mostecka from under the Lesser Town Bridge Tower near the Charles Bridge.  Also:  My kids.  Tell me which kid takes after which parent.

The Lesser Town Bridge Tower on the west bank of the Vltava.

The south view from the Charles Bridge.

The Old Town Bridge Tower stands at the other end (the east end) of the Charles Bridge and for a few coins, you can go inside and climb to the top of the tower for some great views!

The views are great from the top of the tower.  This tower was built in the mid 1300s, around the same time that the Charles Bridge was built.  Bohemian kings used to walk from the Old Town, through this arch and across the Charles Bridge to St. Vitus for their coronation.

Perspective.  It's a warm day in May and everyone is visiting.  Now imagine this bridge in August.

See? I wasn't kidding when I say she makes this face a lot.  But I love being in the tower with my girl and Prague Castle, blurry in the background.

 When you've just gotta floss by the Vltava River while waiting for your river boat cruise.

More views of the Vlatva River (see the tiny Eiffel Tower on the left, up on the mountain?)

Prague Castle towering over the Charles Bridge.  I think I mentioned this in my other Prague post, but the wooden trash catchers protect the Charles Bridge from large debris that might ram the bridge supports during periods of flooding.

The Charles Bridge and the entrance to Old Town Prague.

The boat turns around up near Štvanice Island.  That big boat on the right is a Boatel.  A hotel in a boat!

When we were safely back on land, we went back into the Old Town Area for some different views of the Old Town Square and the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn.

Two (or three!) can play at this game!  We ate dinner outside in the courtyard at U Balbinu.  Lots of beer and green beans.

We wanted to get some drinks on our way back to the apartment and stumbled across this super weird Mini Market, complete with bongs depicting many... er…. ummm… Karma Sutra positions!  Let's just say that Dorothy and I are blocking everything that was fun.  Czechia is the honey badger of Europe!

We got up early the next day to drive to Karlovy Vary, but not before one more view of Fred and Ginger on our way out of town!

Until next time, Prague!

Garmisch and Munich, Germany (take ... oh I don't know, I've been here so many times!)

Grant won a *MAJOR AWARD* from the PTA's Reflections program this spring.  He wrote a poem titled, "Climbing a Tree Within Reach" for his enrichment class (which is the precursor to the gifted program - they don't put second graders in the gifted program.)  Well, he wound up winning first place in all of Europe for all elementary school submittals!  We are SO proud of him!  They had an awards ceremony at the Edelweiss Resort down in Garmisch that we went to so we could support our little buddy!

T-shirts from all of the represented schools!

EEEEEK!  How handsome are these two?!?! 

He's such a ham walking the red carpet!  Isn't it awesome that I got two uses out of this white suit!?!

This one though... am I in trouble, or what?  She's dying to walk the red carpet, anywhere and everywhere!

So they call Grant up to receive his first place award for his poem, and they have a photographer there who was taking some pictures and of COURSE he cannot be serious.  The child has no idea how to be serious. He had the room in stitches!

OK that's a little better, but he still looks like he's up to something!

Getting all of the kids up on stage with their awards was like herding cats.

He knows Daddy is taking his picture so of course, he makes this face.

If you want to know what exactly it was that won him FIRST PLACE in the Reflections contest, it was this lovely poem written Dr. Seuss style.  He wrote it in his enrichment class (which is the precursor to the gifted program.)  I had to ask him... Singapore?  Really?  How does he even know what or where Singapore is???  And of course, in typical boy style, he just shrugged and said, "I don't know!"

One of my two bright and shining stars.

Mrs. Lockhart was his kindergarten teacher a couple of years ago, and she is pretty involved in the PTSA so she was there with her sweet husband.  We made Grant and Billy Overton snap a pic with Mrs. Lockhart.  See?  He smiles nice sometimes!

Aaaaaaand then we are back to this!  Where does he get this?!?

That's my boy.  We are so proud of him!

We clean up pretty nice!

After the ceremony, we went back to our room for some lovely views of the Alps at dusk.

Under the Alps and moon and stars.

Here is what it looks like in the morning, panorama style. I never get tired of the views in Garmisch.  I think I've actually said that line here on this blog before, but it's so true.  We snapped a few pics after breakfast and sped off to Munich because our friends Kern and Dorothy were flying in from Seattle in the afternoon.

PLUS, we wanted to get to Munich, get checked into our hotel and find a place to watch the royal wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry!

I actually bought a day package of unlimited data so I could just live stream the wedding from the BBC website.  Quick!  Let's go to the English Garden and sit under the Chinese Tower and watch the wedding!

I'm obsessed, leave me alone.  My kids were pretty into it, too!

If you can't be AT the actual wedding, I'm pretty sure this was the second best place.  With a Maß of beer on a sunny day in the English Garden in Munich!  I love that I captured the moment Harry was putting the ring on Meghan's finger.

He truly insists on doing this!  Hey Meghan Markle, are you ready for this?  This is what happens when you've been together for 15 years!

OK that's a little better!  Also I just realized... did you know that a Maß is as big as my head?  Maybe bigger!  Pro tip: Don't forget to return those massive mugs and get your pfand back when you're done!

We have been to the English Garden many times, but we have never actually gone down and watched the surfers on the Eisbach River. It's in the southern part of the garden on Prinzregentenstrasse and it's great fun to watch.  (Google Eisbachwelle if you're in Munich and want to see this!)

Who says you need to be near the ocean to surf!?  There is a pipe under the bridge we are standing on that funnels the water through very quickly and spits it out on the other side, making these great waves.  Surfers stand in line and go one at a time, alternating from each side of the river. If they manage to stay up, it seems like everyone was really respectful of the other surfers and would purposely fall so that everyone got a chance to surf in the cold, fast moving water.  They float down stream a bit and hop out on the concrete side of the river embankment and get back in line for another try.

The area is pretty famous, so lots of people come out to watch the surfers.  I really wanted to be a judge and give them numbers based on their performance!

After we watched the surfers for a bit, we went back to the hotel to pick up our friends Kern and Dorothy who had just arrived after a long trip from Seattle.  The first stop (naturally) was the Hofbräuhaus! 

My husband is a bad influence.  Kern thought it was funny that Todd does this to me and now had to do it to Dorothy!

Having fun at the Hofbräuhaus!  Prost!

The next morning, the kids and I had to get back home to get ready for the week but Todd, Kern and Dorothy stayed in Munich for another night.  Todd took them down to the Marienplatz and they were having a rally for FC Bayern München!  Todd said that the rally wasn't for another hour or so, so they didn't stick around because he didn't figure Kern and Dorothy wanted to. Hence, he did not get any pictures of Manuel Neuer for me! Boo.....  But he did get me a flag!

Oh my word... Grant has been randomly obsessed with the Illuminati lately and Todd found THIS in Munich!  Did you know that in 1776, the Bavarian Illuminati was formed?  It's was a real, secret group that was formed to oppose the influence of religion in government.

This looks about right.

Their time in Munich was capped off by yet another trip to the English Garden for another Maß of beer.  Next it was back to our home for a few days of traveling around local cities, like Nuremberg, Regensberg and Bamberg!  Meanwhile, I had to work...…..