I love Prague. It is one of the places where I want to spend much more time than a school trip allows. I'd love to rent a flat for a month some summer, maybe longer, and really get to experience the culture of this beautiful city. I feel this way every time I visit.
Karl had taken us on a short walking tour of Prague last night...into Old Town and down by the Charles bridge, but I did not write too much about it because I knew today was going to be packed. I was right. We had a great day. It was in the 60s and sunny for most of the day, but got a little chillier at night...and as you can see, we were out and about tonight. We signed up for a ghost tour. Our ambassador to the other side was another American expat. She was from Vermont and had moved here to further her studies. She does these city tours as her side hustle, lol. She was great and everyone was rapt with attention.
I don't really believe in ghosts, but I did capture this one picture that might make you wonder. If you look under the white light (behind the gate) you might see a silhouette of something unexplainable!
The tour lasted about 1.5 hours and capstoned a really long day. We walked over 13 miles throughout the cobble-stoned alleys and bridges. Our city guide was amazing. She was able to connect to our group immediately and our kids were constantly asking questions. It is always a great thing to see; we don't learn/teach much about this part of the world, so questions can be tough, but these kids were on point. We met her shortly after finishing our breakfast as we boarded the bus. Franz took us to the top of the hills outside of Old Town and she hopped on halfway up the hill. We entered through Prague Castle and explored the medieval grounds of St. Vitus Cathedral. The kids had fun posing as Czech guards (the President lives here) and taking pictures of the view of the city.
We walked down the hills to the Charles Bridge. It was quite busy, so we walked carefully through the crowds. It has a strong reputation for pickpockets and it is one of the reasons why I like to be there at night when it is empty and safer. The are lots of vendors and statues and selfies...so I reminded the kids to be vigilant. We are in for the night and no one reported anything bad happening, so our street smarts paid off! In Old Town, we were met with Prague still breaking down from the Easter market. I wish we were a week or two earlier, but the square is still quite cool. If I knew about this earlier, I would have had parents czech this out...a Webcam showing the city square (On my next visit, we will arrange a wave!)
We stopped here for an hour of free time. A bunch of the kids grabbed a coffee from Starbucks, but some were more adventurous. One of my favorite items in this part of the world is Trdelnik. It is a dessert food and in Prague you can get it stuffed with ice cream!!! It isn't the healthiest lunch, but we walked 13 miles today, so back off, lol. Here is what it looks like, but you will have to come with me next time to taste it!!!
After our lunch, we continued into Old Prague and saw the 13th Century Jewish Cemetery. It is a very interesting place. The graves of the dead were placed above those from years before. It fits right in to any horror story and yet still earns the solemnity that you'd expect.
After the Jewish Quarter, we headed back into Old Town. There I broke the group into halves. Some kids wanted to shop at the little souvenir stores and markets in the square, but others wanted to experience a European mall. We set a meeting time to gather in front of the Glockenspiel and I took some kids to the shopping center. It was not a long walk, but there are so many cool distractions when you are in a foreign city. We got to the mall and I think the kids were somewhat disappointed in how close to our malls it was, that said, they still bought things that you could buy at home, lol.
We meandered back to Old Town Square and I went to find the others...as promised none had left the square or the three main tourists roads that have all of the shops and restaurants. We were whole again and just in time to meet with Karl. He took us to our restaurant for dinner.
Tonight's meal was a hamburger with potato served over gravy. It was really good. The potatoes were whipped smooth and no butter was spared. The gravy enhanced every bit, but the burger was overcooked. Karl explained to me that European restaurants almost always overcook their beef. I am assuming it was a hold over from the Mad Cow breakout years back. Even well done, however, I enjoyed the meal and judging from the kids, I think they did too.
After dinner, it was time for one more Tdnelik before our ghost tour. Some kids bought that last souvenir and others just sipped on a cappuccino while awaited our guide. Eventually, Karl beckoned to our group. There is an archway near the cathedral and he said we'd be meeting our guide there at about 7:30. We were all huddled there when this very strange man approached. He was carrying a burger king bag and wore a long black trench coat. He stared at us. It was so creepy, but then, out of the bag, he pulled a lantern...he began to explain the dark deep secrets of the murderous history of Prague. Turns out, his name is Fred Strangebone and he is an actor and tour guide. He led us through the streets with the kids on every word. What a phenomenal tour!!!
We are back at the Meteor and the kids are up in their rooms (well most, there are four down here with me as I type). We were chatting as I worked on tonight's entry and they all loved Prague. I asked them what their favorite part was and most agreed it was being in a place where the signs looked different, but the smiles looked the same. We often forget that humanity represents itself through common denominators and one of those is the smile. As kids struggled with the language barrier, they learned that kindness resonates. It is one of the most important lessons to learn while traveling and it is why I do these tours!
Mr. Lavoie, still somewhat shocked at how things are today. The memories of a Charles Bridge filled with people stand in stark contrast to the bridge today...but we will walks it steps again...in due time.
Nice
ReplyDelete