Czech me out . . . of Prague and onto Munich!

Before we start this post, Michelle wants to send a big Happy Birthday to her sister Jennifer. It was her 27th birthday on the 25th, and though this wish is 5 days old, know that I was thinking about you on your big day. We love you Jay!

Well we are back, and no longer in Prauge. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let us catch you up on what has been happening since we last posted. We settled into our room in Prague, and since we had the use of a washing machine (and a ton of laundry to do) we threw in a few loads in the wash. Unfortunately no dryer, so our room looked like one big huge clothes line by the time we went to bed. On the first day we slept in for quite a while. Once we all awoke and had showers (which we were badly needing at the time) we were off for a walking tour of Prague. The city is absolutely beautiful, with amazing architecture and old world charm. We can see why people were saying that Prague was not a city to be missed on a tour of Europe.

We walked all the way across the St. Charles Bridge and up to the castle of the Hapsburgs. The bridge is a beautiful place with many people selling their homemade crafts. Very tempting to buy them all, except transporting them across Europe is always in the back of our minds. The bridge is lined with statues of the saints, and there is one that everyone touches the feet of for good luck. When you look at this statue it is covered in black, but the place where people touch is a bright gold. It makes you wonder how beautiful they could be if they were all cleaned.

At the castle we saw that at the front they had two guards at the gate. We had fun getting pictures with them, as they could not move. We tried not to be too annoying, and compared with others there, we were easy on them. We toured the church within the palace walls, but as we arrived late we were not able to tour the castle. It was on our list, but we were never able to get back to that area of town. We know that we will see a big castle in Munich when we are with Marina, the one that the Disneyland castle was modeled after, so we are not too sad. Part of the problem with getting back to the castle was the rather large hill you had to climb to get to the top. As much as we love to walk, when you walk over 20,000 steps in a day, climbing hills a second time looses its appeal. Aside from the hill, it was a beautiful castle area and church, and we enjoyed our time there.

After the castle we walked down the hill and continued to explore the town. We then turned in for the day, as we had a long night the night before.

The next day we again walked around the town. We made a point to get back to the train station to confirm a train to go to Munich the following night. Unfortunately there were not 4 beds in the same compartment, so we were separated, at least on the books. We were determined to switch bunks with someone so that we could be in the same room. It makes sleeping much easier when you are not worried about someone stealing everything you have at the moment.

As we were walking we were surprised to see a big parade of people dressed in what we assumed to be traditional Czech clothing playing instruments we had never seen before. We stopped a moment to watch them pass by. Later on in the day when we walked past the old town square they were again playing music and dancing. It was amazing to watch. In the midst of this, we spent a few moments in the tourist information office and then it began to rain. And when we say rain, we mean RAIN. With thunder and lightening. An wouldn´t you know that the dancers did not miss a beat. All of the spectators ran for the overhangs, but they kept on going. And as we left the windows in our room open (with all the laundry hanging) and our umbrellas in the room, we were off as well. We ran through the streets, just like the crazy Americans we are, laughing all the way while everyone else stared in amazement. Some people laughed, and one even applauded, but I think they could all see how much fun we were having. It was a great moment.

We had dinner at a restaurant together and decided to see a marionette show. These are the puppets on a string. The one that was recommended was for Don Giovanni, which is like our Don Juan. It was all in the original Italian, so some of the action was understood, and some was not. It was in interesting show, and Duane commended that it was much better than the Punch and Judy shows he remembered. A good time was had by all.

We will have to update you on the third and final day in Prague as well as the night train to Munich and the first day in Munich tomorrow. We will try to get online and do that during the first part of the day, as we have a traveling day planned tomorrow. Marinas mom has rented a car to take us to the Neuschwanstein castle, which we are all excited about. Marina and her mom have already been so amazing to us, and it is great to know and be staying with locals in a city. More to come!

Aufwiedersehen!