Czech it out

This blog post is dedicated to my dear uncle Mike. Every morning he rushes to his computer to check my blog in order to ooh and ah and my pictures and remember long gone glory days. Mike, I know that you have been anxiously waiting for this post written about your old stomping grounds. Now sit back, relax, and live vicariously through me.  ;)


The first thing we stumbled upon in Prague was a street fair:

 I bought a crepe (I guess I was still in a French mood) and Kristen and I bought bracelets:

 My first real cultural experience in Prague goes as follows: I was standing in a group talking with friends and minding my own business when an old Czech man attacked me from behind with a big slap on the butt. Then he just kept on walking. Really weird. And pretty funny.

Later we had a walking tour of the Old Town Square. What a beautiful city! The buildings are so old and have so much history! See for yourself:

My favorite part of Prague was St. Charles bridge, a famous bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague. It is decorated with statues but the most famous one is the statue of John of Nepomuk. The story goes that the queen of Prague made a confession to a priest named John of Nepomuk. The king was a very suspicious man and pressed John to tell him the queen’s secret. However, John would not break his commitment to her and was executed by the King by being thrown into the river. So they say that if you rub the statue of St. John and make a wish, then it will come true! I made a really good wish!

One of the cool thing about Prague is the money! They use Euros but they also have their own money which we affectionately (and incorrectly) call “Czechers”. They are really called crowns and the exchange rate is 25 crowns to 1 Euro. As a result, we felt really wealthy carrying hundreds of crowns around.

While exploring the city I found one of my favorite churches in all of Europe! I have visited many European churches and after a while they all start to look the same. However St. Vitus Cathedral was so amazing! It is the largest church is the country and it is a beautiful example of Gothic architecture. Here are some pics

 In the afternoon, I bought a Matryoshka doll at this cool store:

Also, we marveled at the existence of this restaurant in Prague. Why?

We ended the day by eating delicious traditional Czech food in a bar and watching the Fußball game on T.V. Unfortunately, Deutschland lost to Italy. But it was still a fun night!

The next day we went to Český Krumlov, a small city in the south Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. Katelyn and I bought some cherries to eat from a country Czech man:

The town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and it is not hard to see why. It is so quaint and It was like going back in time. Most of the architecture of the old town and castle dates from the 14th through 17th centuries! What a wonderful afternoon!

Next stop in the journey: Hallstatt, Salzburg and Dorfgastein! What time is it? Austria time.