Prague, Czech Republic

Our next exploration led us to Prague, Czech republic. The weekend that we went was just a regular 2 day weekend. So we headed there Friday when Mike got out of work and then headed home on Sunday. We did have to stop and buy a vignette for the Czech Republic as soon as we crossed the border. The vignette was 12€ for 10 days. We only did about half of Prague.....so there will be another trip there in our future.

We booked our hotel online and it wasn't exactly what we expected when we got there. We stayed out of the city at Hotel Kanarek. It wasn't a bad hotel but just different than we expected. Our room had 3 single beds and so my son ended up sleeping on the floor (which he actually prefers....lol). (Our room is pictured above) There was no air conditioning either and they did not offer fans. That kind of stunk but they did offer FREE breakfast which was a pretty darn good breakfast.

So our morning on Saturday started with us heading into town for our Sandemann's Free Walking tour. We love Sandemann's and their free tours. We took their tour in Berlin too (you can read that post HERE). When we headed into town we parked the car at the Palladium shopping mall. It cost us about 400 Crowns for the day.

Walking out of the shopping center to the beautiful buildings was amazing. I just love all the architecture. The buildings, statues, and paintings are so gorgeous. (For example, the picture above.) We even got to enter the city via the Powder Tower (pictured below). The Powder Tower used to be the gate to Prague in the middle ages. The future kings of Bohemia used to enter the town through this gate when they were on their coronation parade. The Powder Tower got it's name because gun powder was stored in it since the 18th century.

From the Powder Tower, we headed to the Old town Square. Old Town Square has been the heart of Prague since the 10th century. It is also where our tour was scheduled to meet up. We did get there early, as we usually do. So we walked around and explored Old Town Square a little bit. Getting some pretty awesome pictures, if I might add!

There are so many astonishing buildings, monuments and churches in Old Town Square. I was really intrigued by Tyn Church (pictured above w/ Jan Hus Memorial), Old Town Hall, St. Nicholas Church, and the Jan Hus Memorial(pictured above with Tyn Church). Along with so many more. That's not including the great street performers (pic below of bubbles from a performer) and acts that set up in the square.

The tour started at 10 AM. The tour was about 3 hours long and full of interesting facts and stories. We loved getting the history and stories from our guide, Andrea. The tour covered Old Town and New Town, hitting all the major buildings and sights. (pictured below is the inside of St. Nicholas Church in Old Town Square)

I especially loved the Old New Synagogue in the Jewish District (pictured below). The Old New Synagogue is Europe's oldest active synagogue! It is also the oldest surviving medieval synagogue of twin-nave design. According to legend, angels brought stones from the Temple in Jerusalem to build the synagogue in Prague......"on condition" that they are to be returned, when the Messiah comes. We were on our walking tour, so we didn't get to check out the inside.

However my absolute favorite part about this church is the legend that goes along with it! As legend goes.....The synagogue's genizah (a storage area in a Jewish Synagogue or cemetery designated for the temporary storage of worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics prior to proper cemetery burial) holds the body of Golem. Golem was created, from the clay of the banks of the Vltava river, to defend the Prague ghetto from antisemitic attacks and pogroms by Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century rabbi of Prague (also known as Maharal).

Maharal brought the Golem to life by placing the Name (an incantation) into his mouth. The Golem would preform menial tasks throughout the week, but on the Sabbath, he was required to rest. So, on the day before the day of rest, his master would remove the Name and make him dead. However, one week, the rabbi forgot and the destruction began. The Golem became enraged, tore down houses, threw rocks all around, pulled up trees and caused chaos throughout the streets.

Fortunately, the Sabbath had not yet been consecrated at the Old New Synagogue, and since it is the oldest and most honorable synagogue in Prague, everything is set according to it. The rabbi found the Golem and tore the Name from its mouth and the lump of clay fell to the ground in a heap. Startled by the events that had occurred, the rabbi did not wish to construct such a dangerous servant again. So, he took the pieces and locked them away in the attic of the Synagogue. That is where they still sit today......locked away forever. Pictured above is the the attic of the synagogue that supposedly contains the Golem's remains. As you can see there is a ladder that leads up to the door, however the ladder doesn't lead all the way to the ground. It starts about 5-6 feet up the wall.

The Free Walking Tour ended directly across from the Rudolfinum at the Vltava River, which runs through Prague. The Rudolfinum (pictured above) was a beautiful building, as well. It was constructed during the years 1876-1884 and named in honor of Crown Prince Rudolf of Hapsburg. It was originally designed as an art gallery and House of Artists, but in 1946 it became the seat of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. We didn't get to go inside but when we go back to Prague, I think we might. If you want to check out the inside or get more info, you can click HERE.

The Vltava River separates the Old Town/New Town area from the Castle area. We weren't able to actually cross the Charles Bridge this trip but next trip we are definitely doing it! However, the bridge we were close to was so beautiful and we got some great views of the Castle area (pictured above).

After the walking tour, we headed to find somewhere to have some lunch. We found Potrefená husa!  We ended up having a pretty great traditional Czech lunch! Hubby got goulash in a bread bowl, I got the traditional Czech plate (with meats), my daughter got fried cheese and mashed potatoes, and my son got a cheese burger with fries and mayo. (our lunch is pictured above)

After lunch, we headed back towards Old Town Square to see the Astronomical clock hourly "show" and then go up to the top of the Old Town Hall and see the city from there. The Astronomical clock (pictured above) was pretty neat! There is so much history to it and all the parts have so much meaning. It was constructed in 1410. To check out the story on the Astronomical clock, click HERE!

The view from the top of the Old Town Hall is so beautiful!(Pictured above) The price to go to the top of the tower was 280 crowns for a family ticket (2 adults and up to 4 children under 15). If you want more information on individual tickets or hours, you can find it HERE. There was both a staircase/ramps or an elevator to take to the top and of course, I made us all take the staircase/ramps. You could see for so far from the top. The Old Town Hall (pictured below) has quite the story of it's own, as well. Check it out HERE and HERE, if you are interested.

One VERY important fact about Prague is that it is famous for coining the term defenestration! The two most famous defenestrations took place in Prague. Defenestration means to throw out a window and in Prague......the things thrown out the windows were people! For more information on this (which is actually very interesting) click HERE.

By now, we were absolutely exhausted and ready to just relax and take a load off of our feet. However, we told the kids that we would take them to one of the bulk candy stores and let them pick out some candy. So, we did and then on our way back to the mall, to get the car, we stumbled upon the neatest toy store! Sparkys Toy Store.......it was so cool.....it had a carousel, slide from the second story to the first (pictured below), giant Hulk statue, cars the kids could race, giant claw machines, and so much more.....The kid's absolutely loved the store.....and we didn't even buy anything. They just liked looking around and playing.

Sunday, we woke up early and checked out of our hotel and since we knew we had to head home that day.......we didn't want to plan anything that took too long. So, we headed to the PRAGUE ZOO! For a family ticket (2 Adults and 2 Kids) it was 600 Crowns and parking was 100 Crowns for the day. For more information on individual ticket prices or annual passes, check HERE. The Prague Zoo isn't too big so it only took us a couple hours to walk through it and explore. However, they had a really fun and active polar bear that we got to watch swim and he came right up to the glass at us. There was a baby elephant too(pictured below).

When we visit zoos, which if you have been following the blog at all you know is VERY often, we always try and find something unique and memorable about each one. Something that stands out above all other zoos that we have been to. This zoo, I would say it was the mountain goat exhibit(pictured below). It was, BY FAR, the BEST mountain goat exhibit that I have ever seen in any zoo. They had plenty of room and tons of rocks to climb and play on.

After a few hours, we left and made the 3 hour drive home. We really did have a great time this weekend and I can't wait to go back to Prague to do the other side of the river. Also, just an FYI for anyone that wants to know......the local currency of Czech Republic is the Czech Koruna (CZK) or crown for short. For comparison, $1.00 = about 24 crowns and 1€ = 27 crowns.

Thanks for reading about our trip to Prague, Czech Republic. Please leave me a comment below and tell me if you have ever been to Prague and if so, what was your favorite thing that you did/saw there? If you haven't been.....tell me what you would most like to see/do. Until next post.....get off the couch and start exploring the world we live in! ♥

Burgruine Hunting.....Trip 1

So when we only have a normal two day weekend to kill, we still want to explore and check out the world we live in! That led us to Burgruine Hunting (aka.....castle ruin hunting). So on this specific trip we headed out to search for 4 different ruins but only ended up discovering 3! However, it was an amazing adventure and definitely worth the trip!

So we headed from Rose Barracks towards Burgruine Donaustauf near Regensburg, Germany! This place was so crazy beautiful. We had to find parking and then walk up but when we came to the entrance, we were pleasantly surprised by the most gorgeous cemetery. I know that may sound crazy but I love seeing cemeteries! I love how much emotion and love are present at them!

After spending probably far too long walking through the cemetery.......we walked up to the castle ruins......which were far from disappointing!

They were beautiful.....and the sights from up there were something that you couldn't get from anywhere else!

After Burgruine Donaustauf, we headed to Burgruine Laaber. Burgruine Laaber is just north west of Burgruine Donaustauf. This ruins actually were semi-disappointing. It seems to be more of a hall/pavilion for events. However, there was a free bathroom there, and as anyone travelling in Europe knows, those are few and far between!

The views from the actual ruins were pretty, though. There just wasn't much to see as far as ruins go. There is VERY little left of the actual castle and it is more modern and up to date architecture than expected.

After Burgruine Laaber, we headed towards Kallmünz. This was WAY more interesting than Burgruine Laaber! When we first got into the town we parked down by the river and that was so beautiful. There were people having picnics, playing in the open field, fishing, and just enjoying their time.

We walked around a little bit and then found the entrance to the trail leading up to the castle. HOLY MOLY.....it was a LOT of stairs and steep slopes but well worth it when we finally got to the top! The views were beautiful and the ruins were pretty cool too.

The only thing that I found sad was that, even though many of the remaining walls were blocked off to tourist traffic, there were people allowing their children to climb over the barriers and climb on them anyway. Some even joining their children. I found this highly disrespectful, but I go to use it as a teaching experience with my children. I explained to them that not everyone follows the rules and that just because someone else does something they shouldn't, it doesn't mean it is okay for them to do it.

Once we got to the other side of the ruins, we found a cool sculpture and we found that there was another path up to the castle, other than the stair one we took. So that one may be easier for older or handicap individuals. However, we took our crazy path back down, to throw in a little exercise! :)

We had planned originally to check out one more ruin but by the time we left Kallmünz, we were all exhausted and ready to head home. So that was the end of our day. It was such a fun and exciting day. We discovered some hidden treasures that were such an adventure.

Even though not all the places we visited were what we thought they were going to be, it was worth making the memories and experiencing the places that we got to see! Until next post......get out and explore the world we live in! (Feel free to share a pic of your most recent adventure in the comments!)

The Devil's Bridge and Bastei Bridge

Our trip to Berlin was on a 4-day weekend and we absolutely loved spending Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Berlin. We headed home on Monday early in the morning because we wanted to make stops at The Devil's Bridge and Bastei Bridge on the way home. So, we headed towards The Devil's Bridge first thing Monday morning.....

It took us about 2 hours to get to the parking area to start our short walk through the woods to The Devil's Bridge. It was a short walk and very easy, could definitely be done with a stroller. When you first get to the opening and see the bridge, it is just so beautiful.

Then, we walked around to the bridge and got to check it out a little bit up close. You are NOT allowed to walk on the bridge because it is so old and they don't want the bridge to be damaged but I would definitely say that you should still take the time to check it out.

It is worth the time and effort to see how beautiful it is. There are hikes that you can take all around the woods there as well and if we would have more time, we probably would have taken a couple.

You can go to both sides of the bridge and check it out from both sides, as well. We only checked out one side but on the other side I did happen to get a pic or two of the statue and other rock formations. It is just a really pretty bridge and worth the time to check it out.

After the Devil's Bridge, we headed to Bastei Bridge. We heard many things about Bastei Bridge and how beautiful it is and what a great place to check out and see in person. It took us about 2-2 1/2 hours to get there from the Devil's Bridge. We ended up getting kind of lost and couldn't find the bridge for a while but eventually we found it. There is a hotel RIGHT at the top of the stairs where you head down to the bridge. I think it may have been easier (and a whole lot less stressful) to put the hotel into our GPS to find the bridge itself. The name of the hotel is Radeberger Bastei - Hotel Gastronomie Natur.

So we headed down the stairs to the bridge! There are a LOT of stairs......this is definitely not something you could do with a stroller nor something that a person with a wheelchair could do. So please keep that in mind for those of you who may not care for stairs. There are probably around 300 stairs, at least.

The bridge is beautiful and there are a few different places that you can see it from before you actually walk on the bridge itself. The views are so gorgeous. I loved to see the vastness of the rocks and foliage.

This bridge you can actually walk on and see the sights from. While we did walk on the bridge, we didn't go all the way to the end to explore like we would have liked to. It was SO busy and there were SO many people on the bridge, that we decided that we would just go back closer to winter when it wasn't so overwhelmed with tourists. This bridge goes out and dead ends. It doesn't really lead to a road on the other side or anything.

My favorite part was the cool views that we got to see from the bridge and through the rocks on the other side of the bridge. Since we live in Germany, we plan to go back in a few months and make it all the way to the other end of the bridge to explore and back.

While I plan our next trip........Take time out of your busy schedules and EXPLORE the world you live in! 

Our Weekend In Berlin

So our first 4-day weekend in Germany since we have been in our house.....and we decided to go to BERLIN!!!!

So we headed out early Friday morning towards Berlin. It was about a 5 hour drive to Berlin, from where we live, so when we got to Berlin we headed straight to the BERLIN ZOO! As most of you know.....I am kind of a zoo addict. LOL! The Berlin Zoo (or Zoologischer Garten Berlin) is the oldest & best known zoo in Germany. It is also the ninth oldest zoo in the WORLD! On top of that, the Berlin zoo has the greatest diversity of species in the WORLD!!

The zoo also has an aquarium on the grounds that you can go into as well. (For an extra fee) The landscaping of the zoo is one of the best I have ever seen at ANY zoo that I have been to and the animals look truly relaxed, happy and very well taken care of. HERE are the prices for the Aquarium.

You can check HERE for the zoos hours and HERE for their pricing. The zoo also has several feedings and shows that you can watch. The feeding and show times can be found HERE! Also if you just want to check out the zoo map, you can do so HERE.

After the zoo, we were wore out and ready to head to the hotel for the night. It was such a hot day! 99 degrees while we were at the zoo! YUCK! LOL! We reserved our room at the Holiday Inn in Mitte. It was just outside Berlin. Our room was really nice and for a GREAT price, especially considering the prices we saw when looking at the hotels in downtown Berlin! We paid about 70€ per night for us and the two kids. The ONLY drawback was that there was no air conditioning, and it was a HOT weekend! They did provide us with one stand fan to use though.

We drove to Berlin but once we got there and found (FREE) parking in front of our hotel, where there were VERY limited places, we decided to leave our car parked and just use the U-BAHN system instead (saving us 15€ per night for parking). The hotel was only about a 5 minute walk from the U-BAHN station and it was REALLY easy to use.

We headed out bright and early on Saturday morning because we scheduled a walking tour at 10:00 A.M. that started at Brandenburg Gate. We needed to buy our U-Bahn tickets and figure out how to use the subway before even heading to the Gate so we wanted to be sure to give ourselves enough time.

It was so easy and quick that we got there about 1 1/2 hours prior to our tour time so we explored the area a little and of course, checked out Brandenburg Gate (pictured above). Then we got ourselves a drink at the Starbucks located right where the tour started. We did our tour with Sandemanns tour guides and it was so amazing. We took their free tour and booked it online about a week prior. The tour was a walking tour that took about 3 hours. It was a great tour FULL of interesting information. The only thing that they ask is that you tip your guide with what you think he/she deserves. We tipped our guide 20€ because he was really awesome! If you would like to find out more about the tours that Sandemanns offers or to book the free tour for yourself, you can do so HERE!

The tour hit many influential places including Brandenburg Gate, Pariser Platz, Adlon Hotel (where Michael Jackson held his 3rd child over the railing outside his hotel room), Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (pictured above), Berlin Wall (pictured below), Checkpoint Charlie, Site of Hitler's Bunker & burned body and so much more.

After the tour we decided to check out a few spots that the tour touched on but we didn't feel we got to explore enough. So we stopped at a little Italian place and decided to get the buffet for lunch. The buffet was on sale for less than 10€ per adult! It was a pretty good meal. Then we headed down to check out Checkpoint Charlie (pictured below).

After Checkpoint Charlie, we headed down to part of the Berlin Wall (pictured below) that was still standing and the Topography of Terrors Museum. Unfortunately, I found out after we already left that there was a cool Checkpoint Charlie museum that we missed :( However, we loved seeing the wall and experiencing the history there and the Topography of Terrors Museum was free to get into and explore. You can get more info on the Topography of Terror museum HERE.

After another long, HOT day we decided to head back to the hotel and relax a little. Especially, since we knew we had another busy day planned for Sunday. Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast and headed to Potsdamer Platz. Potsdamer Platz is where Berlin's first traffic light was erected. We were headed to Legoland Discovery Center. We left early again to make sure we were there when they first opened but arrived too early so we headed to the Sony Centre (pictured below) which was HUGE and set up for the launch and Berlin's screening of the new Ice Age Movie! They were setting up the red carpet and everything.

We decided to grab some Starbucks and walk around and explore until Legoland opened. The Sony Centre is absolutely breath taking! Legoland Discovery Center opened at 10 A.M. and we were the second people in line. It was a lot of fun but smaller than I thought it would be. If you want to check out the list of rides and attractions in the building you can do so HERE.

When we bought our tickets for Legoland, we also purchased tickets to the AquaDom Sea Life. It was much cheaper to buy the joint attraction tickets then to buy them separately. They have other combination tickets  available as well with Madame Tussauds and with the Berlin Dungeon. We paid 26€ each for our combo tickets for the two attractions. If you are interested in the other combo tickets, you can check those out HERE.

So after Legoland, we jumped on the U-BAHN and headed to AquaDom Sea Life Berlin. Sea Life Berlin was an fun little aquarium to check out the different sea life species and after purchasing a new AMAZING coffee cup as my souvenir, we headed over to the hotel across the street which housed the AquaDom! The AquaDom is the largest, free standing cylindrical aquarium in the world! The best part though, you can ride an elevator through the center of it all the way to the top to observe the over 97 different species of fish swimming inside.

By the time we got done with the AquaDom, we were all pretty hungry.  Right outside the AquaDom is an AMAZING little Restaurant called Andy's Diner and Bar. It is seat yourself, so go in and have a seat inside or pick a table out front. The service was GREAT. Our waitress spoke great English and she was so friendly. The food portions were HUGE and the food was so good. The best part, the prices were reasonable. It cost us less than 50€ for all four of us to get meals and Mike and I both got an alcoholic beverage as well.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel because we found an underground tour the night before that we wanted to take and it left at 3:00 P.M. We jumped onto the U-BAHN and headed back to the hotel. We got into the area in time to go pick up our tickets for the tour from the Berliner Unterwelten tour company. They do guided tours called Berlin from Below.

They offer 5 different tours to choose from and most of them leave at different times. We wanted to do Tour 1- Dark Worlds and that is what Mike thought that he bought tickets for. However, once I looked at the tickets (while he ran to get Anthony's passport because he accidentally told the lady Anthony was 6 instead of 7.......and kids HAVE to be 7 or older to go) I noticed that he had bought tickets for Tour M - Under the Berlin Wall.

We had about an hour before our tour started and nothing to do until then so we decided to grab a drink and let the kids get a dessert at the little Italian restaurant near the meet point of the tour. The restaurant was called Ristorante Bella Italia. It was a cute little restaurant. We sat outside and enjoyed the cool breeze. The kids each got an ice cream dessert. It was a nice little break before our 2-hour walking tour. At first we were iffy about this tour but it turned out to be a lot of fun and VERY interesting.

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel to enjoy some cool showers and grab some dinner. We ended up ordering room service for dinner since we were so wore out. We knew that we had to leave early in the morning for our trip home and so we relaxed and went to bed.

All in all, Berlin was a lot of fun! We know that there are many things that we didn't get to see but the things that we did see were so historical and amazing. We all loved our trip and hoping we get to go back there again and explore more.

While our trip wasn't over because we had a couple stops planned for our ride home, the Berlin portion was. Berlin was an exciting, educational, and beautiful trip.

Until next post.....Get out and explore the world we live in....