Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Cesky Krumlov was another smaller town we wanted to mix in between the bigger cities. It is a charming little place with St. Vitus Church on a hill in the center, surrounded by red roofed buildings, and a large castle on its border. The main attractions are historical sights which have been restored and are open for visitors. I truly don't know much about the history but here like in Berlin we saw many school groups walking around taking notes. Other than the historical aspects of Cesky Krumlov the streets are lined with cute toy shops (we found that the Czech Republic is kinda known for there hand crafted wood toys) and cafes. 

^^ St. Vitus Church^^

^^Our hostel was super cute and quit enchanting, from its large hobbit like door (it's the one to the right, and you cant tell but it is a very short and fat door. I loved it), up the crooked stairs lined with old clocks and into our room with a view of the street below. We had a relaxing time.^^ 

^^ Little Lizzy taking a peek^^

We were only there one day, so we took no time to get from our hostel and into a raft. Lizzy took a little nap while Blake and I paddled down the river enjoying the view. 

I loved how the town center is surrounded by the Vltave River. This made it a little tricky navigating our way to our hostle but it was totally worth it. On this trip through Europe we had been doing a lot of walking and sight seeing, so adding a little raft ride around the town was a nice change.

After the river we walked around the town, and its castle. The castle is not in use and does not house anything precious, but it was fun to use our imagination on our tour of the grounds. We did find however that after restoring the castle they left a family of bears that live in its moat. Yes, that's right in the moat. This may seem like a sad life for a bear, but it was all set up like a zoo enclosures. However it was still quite shocking when we first discovered them. 

^^inside St. Vitus Church^^

^^Lizzy at dinner with her new toy^^

^^ Again we had meat topped with whipped cream and cranberry sauce, along with a side of dumplings.

And just like that we were back on the road, this time to Austria. We were amazed at how many castles we spotted along our drive through Germany and the Czech Republic. I am so glad we had a car to explore and be spontaneous. 

Prague, Czech Republic

^^ Did not get the whole Clock in the picture.... but that is what you get when you ask a stranger to take our picture.
From Berlin we drove to Prague, it was a bit of a choice whether to stay in Germany and head down to Munich or to the Czech Republic. But I was far too pumped about visiting Prague not to pass it up. Prague had very little damage after Wold War II compared to the other major cities is the area so it felt like going back in time. 
It also turned out to be a refreshing stop because it was much warmer. Somehow I did not think of Europe being so cold in May.... not sure way, but I was pretty much freezing the whole time. However on this day I could go without a jacket and it was wonderful.

^^ Blake's power stance at Prague's Power Gate

Out of all the places we have visited over the years, Blake resembled the people of this city the most (for me it was Istanbul). Blake might have appeared to fit in, although the language was near impossible for us to understand. Most places we can find some Latin roots but not in Czech. However their greeting is ahoj, which is pretty much the best.

The city is a walking one. We started at one end and spent the whole day seeing sights. We started in the Old Town Square at the top of the hour to see the astronomical clock and "The Walk of the Apostles". It is the oldest working astronomical clock in the world and its pretty impressive for being built around 1410. We then made it to the top of the clock tower to get a good view of the city and the Tyn church, which I think is the prettiest little Gothic church. 



^^ this man greeted us at the end of the bridge and introduced his family of dogs.

After, we headed over the Charles Bridge, to the Prague Castle. The bridge is like an alley of statues. As we walked across in mid day it was full of people, performers, and tourists. But pictures of the bridge at dawn and dusk look amazing and something you would find out of a story book. 

^^ view from the clock tower to the Prague Castle^^
Once on the other side we braved tinny cobblestone alleyways and a million steps with a stroller to get to the Prague Castle. It was a lot of walking! But for some reason I loved it, made me want to move to a city were we don't need a car. Too bad its too hot in Florida for such a city. 



^^ this head was the size of Blake's thumb nail...



On the Castle grounds is St. Vitus Cathedral. This Cathedral is also one of my favorites (Prague wins for Gothic workmanship). The doors were so impressive, we have more pictures of them than anything else. However the whole castle grounds were amazing, we sat outside and enjoyed its beauty awhile before making the trip back to Old Town. 
Throughout all the walking we were surprised by all the churches we passed. There are many famous churches all over the city, but many others in between that seems to be thriving. No wonder Prague is called the city of a thousand spires.

Along the way we stopped at street vendors for Trdelnik (a cinnamon roll on a sick), potato chips on a stick, reclette (melted cheese over potatoes), and fresh ginger bread. We were so full that we never stopped for lunch. We did however stop for dinner which was a little different. I had beef with dumplings and whipped cream (the sweet kind) and cranberry sauce on top. The mixture of sweet and savory was 50/50 and I really liked it. To drink there was an assortment of homemade lemonades, I got raspberry and cucumber, it was really good but not sweet at all like I was expecting. We also stopped at a bakery and got dessert (on this trip we ate so many pastries it is not even funny!) the honey cake and chocolate truffle cake were to die for. Ever since our trip to the bakery we have been trying to find cakes that are similar with no avail. 

I will leave you with more wonderful pictures of Prague's red roofs. 

Side note: In the Czech Republic, Prague is called Praha, which I think is much prettier and can't understand why the name changes in English.