Prague, Czech Republic

 


Ahoj, from Prague in the Czech Republic!  We live about 3 hours from Prague, but it took us 2 full years here to make it out.  The trip was worth the wait.  Filled with old cobblestone streets, history, and royalty, this was a perfect place to spend a weekend.


We started our trip with an evening visit to The Church of Our Lady.  This is a Gothic-style cathedral that was started in the 14th century.  Interestingly, the outside of the church is Gothic-style, while the inside has mostly Baroque-style furnishing.  


Day 2 we spent exploring and touring Old Town Prague and the palace.  


New things the kids learned: 

One of the most fascinating sites to see in Old Town is the Prague Astronomical Clock.  It was installed in 1410 and is still functioning today.  It is the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world that is still operational today.


The Prague Castle was built in the 9th century and this is where the office of the president is.  This castle was a seat of power for kings of Bohemia, the Holy Roman Empire (which we've studied quite a bit), and Presidents of Czechoslovakia.  In fact, the Bohemian Crown Jewels are in a hidden room somewhere in the palace.  This is the largest ancient castle in the world.


While there, we were able to witness the changing of the guard, which the kids all agree was probably their favorite experience while we were in Prague.


From the top, near the palace, with historic views of Old Town Prague.






The kids also all agree that their favorite food while in Prague was the Tredelnik, a chimney cake that gets filled with all sorts of goodies.  We all chose to fill them with chocolate and gelato.




Quite possibly the most unique experience we've had as a family in Europe happened while we were in Prague when we visited a local Beer Spa.  


The first beer spa was documented 2000 years ago.  At a beer spa you take a beer bath, which also can include beer drinking *for the adults.*


Beer baths have been used for their medicinal purposes for thousands of years as brewery yeasts were used to treat many ailments.  


While some think this would be an odd place to find children, it actually is quite common to find children attending these spa sessions with their parents as the brewery yeast used in the baths is very good for their skin.  


While the girls enjoyed one tub, the boys enjoyed another.  


There was a cooling shower just around the corner when people began to feel too warm or too sticky and a big bed of straw to dry off on.


Mike enjoyed the beer tap that sat at our fingertips, while the kids enjoyed beer bread and other goodies.


It was a great family experience we won't soon forget.  


Prague was magical and we were so thankful for another opportunity to travel.



Until next time, Prague!  Cau!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

Image
  Halo, from Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia!  This place has been a bucket list item since we arrived in Europe.  When planning the trip to Pula, we figured we'd just hop over for a day trip to the national park.  Do not recommend this.  It's a 3 hour drive from Pula, and it was just a tad too far to make it an enjoyable day trip.  If we were to do it again, we'd drive from home to Plitvice, stay the night and hike the next day and then do the drive over to Pula.   Plitvice may be the most beautiful place on earth that I (Christy) have ever been to.  Everywhere we looked there was something new and breathtaking to take in.  The water colors were incredible and there were different shades with every step we took.  The waterfalls were magnificent.  It was 100% worth the visit.  We only wish we had more time to hike other areas of the park.  This was another quick trip, so we did a collective answering of a few ...
Read more

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Image
Zdravo from Lake Bled, Slovenia!  This trip opened up our travels after our second COVID lockdown.  Sadly, in our planning of this trip, we realized that they had not yet opened hotels for tourism yet, so we used Lake Bled as a pit stop on our way to Croatia.  I am so glad we didn't decide to completely scratch this to get to our final destination more quickly.  It was an incredible backdrop to eat lunch and enjoy some time by the water.  Since it was a quick stop, we did a collective question-answering session.   What was one thing we learned?  Legend has it that fairies created Lake Bled.  Lake Bled was a fertile area that attracted shepherds by day and fairies by night.  The shepherds brought their sheep to feast on the lush grass of the valley.  The fairies loved to dance through this grass at night.  The fairies did not want the sheep to eat through their dance floor and so they petitioned for the shepherds to build a fenc...
Read more

Paris, France

Image
  Bonjour!  From Paris, France.  Isn't Paris a bucket list item for most who travel Europe?  And it was just as magical for us!  We drove in after a quick stop in Riquewihr and immediately got started.  We spent most of our first day at and around the Eiffel tower.  I'll let the kids tell you all about it! Logan (Age 12) Favorite thing I did in Paris:  There were several things I enjoyed.  My two favorites were seeing the Eiffel Tower sparkle and shopping for pointe shoes.  I was in the store with a few dancers from the Paris Ballet! Favorite food: The soft-serve ice cream we had by the Eiffel Tower. Shopping for pointe shoes in Paris One thing I learned: The Paris Opera Ballet is the oldest national ballet company and many European ballet companies can trace their origins back to it. Brody (Age 10) Favorite thing I did in Paris: Seeing the Eiffel Tower light up at night. Favorite food: gluten-free pizza! One thing I learned: The French ...
Read more