Prague, Czech Republic

Waking up in Vienna was breathtaking and so relaxing. The fact that we only had a three hour drive ahead of us the next day meant we could sleep in and enjoy our lavish Austrian hotel room. And we did. It had to be around nine am when I finally ran to the market to grab some breakfast. I bought some streusel that was to die for along with milk and baby food that were also amazing. All hail to delicious Austrian food. As we drove away, I felt as if I didn't get to take a big enough gulp of the city. I felt like there was so much I missed. But we were on our way to Praha (Prague) and I couldn't have been more excited.

The drive was beautiful and the kids were great. It was hot and we passed a water park that I was so tempted to tell Leon just to stop at so we could cool off. Thankfully, we didn't and because of our late start we pulled into Prague in the late afternoon which left us very little time to see the city. 

To our surprise, the employee helping us check into our hotel room spoke fluent Russian. She told Leon that most locals speak Russian because of their history and relationship with the country. This was exciting for my Russian missionary man. He loved that he got to use his Russian throughout the day. It even kept us safe from the Czech thieves, commonly known as parking lot attendants.

We started out our adventure in Old Town Prague. We walked around this beautiful square with vendors selling yummy pastries, bohemian treasures, and some of the coolest mugs I've seen. You bet I picked one of those up for Poppi to drink his "Lemomade". We saw the beautiful old churches surrounding the square and the famous clock, known as the orloj.

This clock is famous because it is one of the oldest clocks in the world. It was installed in 1410 and is the third oldest astronomical clock and the oldest still working. It apparently has mystical astrological meaning. It is really confusing and no one can tell you what all the gadgets really mean, but it sure was beautiful. The King of Prague loved it so much that he didn't want any other city to have another like it, so he had the clock makers eyes gauged out. Too much? So is medieval times.

After we ooed and awed over the town square and loved on the bohemian souvenirs, we headed to the Charles Bridge. It was unbelievably hot and we were starting to be thankful for the lowering sun and upcoming dusk. The bridge was ridiculously ornate and had some really bizarre sculptures like dogs eating interesting parts of a man's body and such. But it also had beautiful religious sculptures. I love seeing religion in Europe. It is a big part of their heritage that I miss. There were also many artists and jewelry vendors. The view of the city was so magical. I just sat there on the bridge a while and looked out on the river thinking about how incredibly blessed I was and how surreal moments like these are.

The Entrance to Charles Bridge

The statues of Charles Bridge

The view

More from the bridge

Oh, this magical view

As we made our way across, I spotted a playground. Ellie was overjoyed and so naturally, we found ourselves on the other side hunting for it. Of course on our hunt we got lost and got to enjoy roaming around this amazing city a little more. I fell in love with all of the "New Age"/ "Hipster" traditions this city holds. One of my favorites was a fence full of locks that have couple's names written or engraved on them. Many of them had dates of anniversaries or little messages or poems to one another. It was really quite precious. Another was an awesome park with a huge chalk board that read: Before I die I want to... and people would write all the things they wanted to do. We also found a beautiful courtyard across from the Charles Bridge that we played around in and took pictures of the amazing view.

We are lost and not even mad about it.

The Charles Bridge

Sometimes it's hard to get a picture of all of us.

Bubba enjoying the courtyard views. Oh, how I love him.

The lock gate. We should have left a lock, but we were not prepared for such fun.

After our courtyard photo session, we finally found the playground! And then we realized that it was closed. But we wouldn't let that get us down, we just hopped the fence and played anyway. I decided to keep watch and Leon played with the kids. The Czechs didn't seem to mind.

After the park, we decided it was time for dinner. Leon is serious about his European food. This means he never wanted to eat anywhere touristy and wanted to ensure we got the authentic dinner experience. As you can imagine, this made picking a restaurant near impossible and with two hungry kiddos and a hungry nursing mama the pressure was on. To find a more authentic Czech place we walked down the river a bit and found a beautiful park with interesting water fountains and statues. Don't mind us exploiting our kids.

It was in this park that we found the chalk board that I previously mentioned. We played chase and looked at the clouds and I thought about what I wanted to write on the wall. Much of the wall was covered in "Love deeply" or "be in love" which is something I have already done, so I thought harder. After much deliberating, I finally figured out what I would write. Leon and I decided that we would pick different sections of the wall to write on and see if we could guess who wrote what.

Looking at the clouds

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Can you find mine?

Yep, there it is! SAVE A LIFE.

and there is Leo's WATCH BYU WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (typical)

We quickly chose a restaurant after leaving the park. It overlooked the river as the sun was setting and was beautiful. The food was awful but the scenery was gorgeous. Whatever, it had WI-FI and I wanted to check my e-mail so bad and therefore I left happy.

It was off for more wondering after dinner. Honestly, I could have wondered that city for days. It came to life at night. Leon and I headed back to the square to take in the ambiance of the night. We still needed our magnet and some souvenirs.

I looked pretty haggard in Prague, but I had some great arm candy

We made it back to the square and had two sleeping children. I was in heaven. The church looked like sleeping beauty's castle, there was gelatto, and I was listening to beautiful music from street performers. Leon jumped in on a tour of the town square given in Russian. He was able to tell me more about the clock and history of the town. I got to hold my Mr.'s hand and share his ice cream. It was wonderful.

The old church

Clock tower

Prague town square

Our parking was up and we were getting tired, but I just couldn't leave Prague. I was feeling desperate and knew I just needed more. We rushed to our car to ensure we wouldn't get overcharged and sure enough we did. But thanks to Leon's russian he was able to sort things out. We drove up to the castle and walked around the grounds. The church was impressive. My cultural palate was full and I felt like I was stuffing down the most amazing tasting food without savoring every bite and it was killing me. We were the only tourist at the castle that night and I just stared in awe at the beautiful architecture and the amazing city below us. I laid on the ground and just looked up at the beautiful church. How could I say goodbye to this place? I decided right then that I just had to go back.

I wish picture did justice to the views

The church

Jet was a party animal

The gates to the castle

And then I could tell that my husband was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Ugh, where was the party animal I married lol? The sweet man was making all my dreams come true and it was time to let him sleep. I knew we had to go back to our amazing hotel room and get ready for our next excursion. I had such a hard time peeling myself away from the city. I love you Prague.

Our hotel

Breakfast with my silly goose

The Charles Hotel is forever in my heart. Ellie's toy princess was bought right before our trip and made it's way to every country with us. She even played with us at breakfast that morning. But as we were packing up the car Leon realized he forgot something in the hotel room and brought the princess with him to get it. It wasn't until we were half way to Berlin that we realized he left the princess in the room. Ellie was devastated and so was I. Leon couldn't have felt worse and he promised Ellie he would do anything he could to try and get her doll back. I was not hopeful. We called the hotel and those wonderful people found it and shipped it to Mimi's house in California for free. They sure did make a little girl and her mommy really happy. Did I mention I love Prague.