Fun facts:
Language Spoken: Although, many do not know nor can give you a straight answer... I am here to say, they speak Czech- it is a slavic language that is incredibly hard to even attempt, understand or wrap your head around in a few days (much less the year that our new friends we met have tried); so many rules and conjugations of not only verbs but the words themselves.
It is known as the city of a thousand spires - although it has in the hundreds.
The Vltava River runs threw the city.
It is a city so rich in history and culture- we marvelled at just the glimpse of it we were able to embrace and learn about.
FOOD
The food was delicious-EVERYTHING! We had goulash's, cabbage soups, tons of sausage and meats, sauerkraut, pastries, and the list goes on and on. I honestly felt like I ate and ate and ate, this entire holiday. Trust me, I am not complaining, it was all very delicious.
CULTURE
SO rich in culture. The girls favorite thing was going to the Easter markets and watching the dancers and listening to the Czech music. They really enjoyed joining in. The entire time we were in Prague, if we left Old Town Square (location of the Easter Markets where the dancing was going on), they wanted to go back- and would ask over and over again until we would end up back. Prague is known for their colorful painted eggs at Easter, so the girls each bought one so they could remember their Easter that they spent there.
OLD TOWN
Astronomical Clock
It was installed in the 1400's and is the oldest astronomical clock that still works. At the top of every hour, it chimes and goes through a little program (so much goes on, that I could literally write 5 lines of all the entire ceremony). What I found so interesting was under the clock you see the calendar clock-if you look closely you will see the white circle around it- in that white circle are names written and even Czech's today have to choose a name within that circle of names to name their children. If they want to go with a different name, they have to get special permission by the government to do so. Also on a Czech's birthday, they give gifts to people, but they also have a name day and that is when they get gifts. Very interesting, I thought.
Tyn Church
This gothic style church is very interesting. If you notice the 2 spires, they are called Adam and Eve. Adam is the left and is larger and broader and Eve is on the right and it is smaller.
St. Nicholas Church
This a baroque style church with quite the history.
The Estate Theatre
Mozart played here several times. In fact, Czech say that Mozart actually preferred Prague over Vienna and would had lived there had it been more economically feasible. Apparently, Mozart said that "Praguer's" truly understood his music. At least that is what our tour guide told us (haha).
Spanish Synagogue & Franz Kafka Monument
Different architecture
From Gothic to Baroque to Communism style to Cubism to just beautifully built and painted buildings. You will also see below the "black madonna"; this is basically a statue. People use to not be able to read so they would give directions with statues and have them outside their houses so they could distinguish to others which one was their house.
NEW TOWN
THE PRAGUE CASTLE
It is the largest castle in Europe. There are also the best view of Prague from it as well.
VLTAVA RIVER & CHARLES BRIDGE
Honestly, the river makes this beautiful town even more majestic. We bought a boat cruise down the river and threw some man made canals that they refer to as little Venice. It was very nice.
EASTER MARKETS
By far, the girls favorite part of the trip-we spent a lot of time here. The girls loved it!
OLD JEWISH CEMETERY & JEWISH QUARTER
Our tour guide told us so much information, I could go on and on... However, I do have to say that in the gravesite there are thousands (as in over 100,000) burials here. The sad thing about this is that, the land was not large enough for all the bodies, so there could be up to 12 people deep per gravesite.
The history here is so in depth, it would take ages to fully explore and understand.
THE JOHN LENNON WALL & BRIDGE OF LOCKS (love padlocks)
In the 1980's the wall became an area where "young" would have their voice.
THE CR COUNTRYSIDE
Jeremy felt the Czech Republic countryside was much like Colorado. Bottom line- it was gorgeous. On Friday on our tour of Vienna, we got to drive through a large part of the Czech Republic, and we really enjoyed that.
PRAGUE AT NIGHT
So romantic- beautiful! The national theatre below roof is 24 karat gold plated
JUST PRAGUE
No matter where you looked, there was a gorgeous building, or interesting statue, or history so in depth just standing there you wished you could had heard the stories from the building themselves. I have left out SO many details, a crazy amount of pictures-but hopefully, you got an idea of how much we enjoyed this trip, and how blessed we felt to experience this as a family.
A few cute pics of my (Jeanae's) three loves...
A FINAL NOTE
We left in love with this "new to us" city. We enjoyed the people we met, we thought the landscape/city skyline was brilliant, and well, God definitely has now placed a special family in the CR in our hearts. We were so blessed to join the Keller's for Easter service and then have Easter lunch with them. We had such an enjoyable conversation, and we love their hearts and desire to serve the Lord in a place so desperate for Him. Please join us as we start praying for the Keller's. Thank you Sarah H. for introducing us!
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