We departed dear, old Rhineland and ventured on... We stopped in Nuremberg in the morning, a historic city in Germany where little has changed since the Middle Ages. We drove across the border into the Czech Republic, where we were able to trade some English Pounds into Czech money called "crowns". The conversion was about 25 to 1, it was tricky navigating stores when the amounts were in the thousands, it seemed like a lot of money and sometimes it was.
Throughout our trip many countries have had bright yellow fields of Canola (the cooking oil) which are so vibrant and just absolutely gorgeous to look at. I could easily post 100 pictures of just Canola fields :) but have decided to only include a couple below.
We later headed to the capital of Prague where we settled into our Hotel, The Diplomat then quickly rushed off to see the city led by our Czech tour guide "Jan" pronounced "Yon or Jon" he just happened to look a lot like my brother Jeremy whose father's family was from Czech. Later that night, we headed to the Prague by Night Dinner Cruise. It was a great way to see the city. The traditional food consisted of salted fish, blue cheese chunks, onion rings, dumplings, cabbage and smoked pork. The wine and beers were all you could drink but the first drink we had was a traditional Czeck liqueur used as a digestive aid called "Becherovka", made of several spices witha cinnamon flavor. With enjoyable conversation, live accordion music and scenic sites, we had a fantastic evening.
On our second day in Prague, we saw the Prague Castle - the largest medieval castle complex in Europe - the Cathedral of St. Veitus, views of Charles Bridge and spent time in the Old Town Square where we were completly in awe of the decorative square that surrounded us. While directly in front of the famous Astronomical Clock, looking around I finally realized what all the fuss was about. Our friends Ram and Alexa Hately had gotten married in that very spot a few years prior which was undoubtably a magical experience. Each building beautifully decorated like an elaborate wedding cake in shades of pink, pale yellow, purple. It was asif we were transported to another world. I could easily visualize everyone in Boroque dress though the sea of people that surrounded the clock ten minutes before the hour were dressed in modern clothes. The closest experience I've had was possibly being in parts of Disneyland but much more historic and amazing. I felt like I was in a movie set. We watched the clock strike 5pm which set in motion a chain of events that had been carefully constructed by two master clockmakers hundreds of years ago. Everything about it had a specific meaning. There was a skeleton that pulled the chain that rang the bell every hour on the hour symbolizing that we all will die one day. Next to him is a man playing a guitar and shaking his head saying "no, I am not ready to die". There were other decorative symbolism as well which even included a second clock that only fully rites once a year. The clock had a list of traditional Czech names on it, each day a new name would be pointed to, so in addition to having a birthday, people also had a name day. At the gift shop next to the clock, we paid $35 for a few small souvenirs, which was grossly overpriced compared to less expensive lunch we later had including a sampler platter and a few giant local beers on the square. Next we headed through the square where we bought a Czech dessert called "Trdelnik" which to me tasted a bit like a churro. We continued walking through the drizzly cobblestone streets and because it was our official 5 year anniversary, Mr. Snider wanted to buy me a piece of Amber Jewelry one of the things for which Czech was famous for. We found the perfect piece at a small family store where mother and son proprietors, Maria and David treated us very nicely.
Breaking away from all group activities in search of a break we took the public bus back to our hotel which was a cinch, we had a bit of downtime at our hotel, The Diplomat, until our next excursion, the Boheman Evening in the so-called Lesser Town. Called this because it is situated next to the king's castle and where peasants lived, which in contrast was considered "lesser".
We bused to the dropoff point high above the city stopping to take pictures then walked down through the park where we saw many young couples walking hand and hand and "canoodling" as Kevin would say. For the holiday of "May Day" it is tradition for couples to kiss under a blooming tree. Of course we had to do it, too! We walked further down into where our diner would be and because the cobblestone road was so steep, combined with unstable shoes and a medical pre-condition, one of the ladies in our group took a horrible fall fracturing her leg. You could see the bone sticking out of her leg, it was so bad. We waited for the ambulance to come take her to the nearby hospital but needless to say her and her husband would no longer be joining our vacation group. They had to stay in Prague a few days then fly back to Australia. It was very unfortunate.
We had our group dinner at a very old and established Gypsy Bohemian Restaurant that had a family feel and an eccentric decor where you could find the strangest items in the most surprising places. The food was delicious though there was way too much of it. The house band was very good and the owner of the place even came out to play a few songs with them, they are his band and apparently they tour all over. The wine, of course, flowed then we all walked back to our bus snapping some gorgeous skyline night pics along the way.
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