W5 of Y2

Czech Republic - The Pearl of Europe

Jeremy got home after being in Italy all week and we turned around and made a quick get-away to Prague, the capitol of Czech, this weekend. Since the fall of the iron curtain this bohemian city has been a popular tourist destination and was on our top 10 places to see when we found out we were moving to Europe.

We both agreed that Prague definitely had a very different, unique feel to it. So many interesting things to see here. We were actually only in the City for about 6 hours, not nearly enough time to see it all. However, we were able to see some of the top attractions. We left the kids at home with Alyse so all of our pictures seem quite boring without any cute little kids in them. Jeremy is not nearly as good of a model for me as the kids are!

The city was packed! They had Easter markets going on everywhere as well as a half-marathon that seemed like people from all over the world came to run. We were surrounded by so many different languages! I loved it!!

The language is so different from the other languages that we can at least recognize.

The money was equally as foreign. We had 115 Euro and exchanged that for this! We thought we were rich until we realized how far 1000 Kronig got you.

Old Town

Franz Kafka Square - 85,741 keys make up the word "Revoluce" (Revolution). The keys were collected by people all over Czech to remember the Velvet Revolution that toppled the Communist regime out of the country.

Old Town Square - 27 crosses marks the spots where protestant leaders were executed, one of the turning points of Czech history in 1621

Old Town square and the Gothic Church of our Lady in the background. This is where we had lunch. It was great for people watching. You can also see some of the Easter Markets here.

Pig knuckle for lunch.... before

..... after. That was the best tasting knuckle I've ever had!

7 people would ride these bikes with drinks in the middle and seemed to be having a great time! Right in front of us at lunch one of the bikes ran over a pedestrian! The Policia even showed up. It was quite exciting.

This is the girl that got ran over. She seemed to be really hurt. She iced it for a while and then ordered lunch like it was no big deal.

More Easter Markets

Old Town Hall and the famous astonomical clock. The clock shows figures of the 12 apostles every hour. It was built in 1410 and is unique in that its' original clockwork has been in operation from the beginning to present time - for 6 centuries! It was out of commission for the first 100 years though. After the clock maker had completed the clock, the Prague Councillors burned his eyes, blinding him, so that he wouldn't replicate his work anywhere else. Out of revenge he stuck his own hand in the clock, breaking it. No one knew how to repair it so it just sat for 100 years!

Side view of Old-Town Hall

Here is a video of the clock right at 2:oopm

Walking the streets of Old-Town
Powder Gate: Built in the 11th Century and was one of 13 entrances into Old Town

New Town

The Coat of Conscience (or The Empty Coat). A famous sculture by Anna Chromy outside the Estates Theater where Mozarts' Don Giovani was first premiered in 1787.

Municipal House. The independence of Czechoslovakia was claimed here in 1918.

Parizska Street. This is their version of Champes d'Elysees

TGIF!!! Can you believe it!?

We had to go in, just for a minute!

In the distance you can see the famous Charles Bridge (famous for it's Gothic statues) and behind that, on the hill, is the Prague Castle. It is the largest Midevil Castle in the world! Inside the castle grounds are churches, palaces, towers, courtyards, basilicas, etc... The Gothic towers in the middle is St. Vitus Cathedral.

The Ghetto

There are 6 Jewish Synagogues left in Prague. This is the Satronova, the oldest built in the 13th century.

Maisel Synagogue

Old Jewish Cemetary with Ceremonial Hall and mortuary.

There are over 100,000 bodies buried in this very small peice of land. They had to pile the bodies on top of each other. This was a very somber part of the trip. It was Saturday, the Jewish day of worship, so we couldn't go inside.

Well, I know that was a really long post and maybe a little boring for some of you. But, it was a great trip for us and one that I don't want to forget. It's nice to be able to go somewhere like this and learn so much all in just a day! Where can you do that in the US??