Ok, so I've been really bad at keeping up with this blog during year three. Right now I'm about 5 months behind and we're getting ready to PCS in a few months. I blame it on work...even though I didn't work this summer :) I spent all my free time planning trips, but I ran out of time (and, possibly, motivation) to write about our adventures.  

In June we met up with a couple members of Ben's family in Prague. Prague had been on our list for a long time and when we heard his Aunt Amy and Uncle Bill were going to be there it was the perfect excuse to plan the trip.

We really loved Prague....once we navigated the crazy streets and found our hotel. Prague is definitely not an easy city to drive in. Our hotel was not in the Old Town, but close enough to be difficult to get to. We had heard horror stories of people's GPS's malfunctioning and not being able to find it's way. Even though Prague a big tourist destination, there are still many locals who do not speak English, and you can't even begin to sound out their language due to the awkward spellings and sound combinations. So finding your own way by trying to read road signs would not be easy. Thankfully, our GPS passed the Prague test with flying colors. We parked the car and said goodbye to it for a few days. The view out our hotel window looked pretty rough, but we were only a 10 minute walk away from the Charles Bridge and the Old Town.

The next day we met up with Bill and Amy and walked all over the city. We crossed the Charles Bridge and visited Prague Castle, then walked back to the old town to watch the Astronomical Clock. This incredible structures as built in 1410 and there is a legend about why it was broken. The story said that the clock was admired by many foreigners, but the builder refused to show construction plans to anybody. When Prague Councilors found out that he was going to make another, even better clock, they became jealous and blinded him so he could not finish it. Later he allegedly damaged the astronomical clock in revenge, and nobody was able to repair it.

It turns out that story is false. The designer was not blinded and it stopped working due to design flaws. After almost 100 years of not working correctly it was fixed, but those pesky German soldiers broke it again in 1945. After the war it was fixed and changed from Old Czech Time to Central European Time. It is still an amazing piece of work and some of the dials are original, but not all.


The atmosphere in Prague is relaxed and easy going. While standing on the tower of the Charles Bridge, you have a view of over 70 statues and gargoyles. The St. Vitus Cathedral at the castle has around 132 gargoyles, though we didn't even try to count them. We found a Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and it is one of the most interesting ones we have been to (and the cheapest!). The Czech Republic is famous for their crystal, so they have a huge guitar made from several crystal pieces hanging in the center. Our server was from England, but recommended delicious local beer and was very friendly.  
After dinner we walked around a little more and tried to get a glimpse inside some of the other churches. There were concerts going on, so you had to have a ticket to get in. We did see some beautiful chandeliers made out of the colored crystal through the doorway though. 

  After some shopping we called it a night. I would definitely like to return to Prague one day, but tomorrow we are off to Poland to sleep in a renovated barn and shop for pottery!