We had a wonderful time exploring the city of Prague in the Czech Republic. What a beautiful city, like something out of a fairy tale!
Prague castle at night. "The Golden City"
Jason and William in front of the river Vltava, Charles Bridge, Prague castle, and St Vitus cathedral
St Vitus cathedral and Prague castle. Prague is often referred to as "the city of a thousand spires". There are so many beautiful churches; most are no longer used for religious purposes and many are now concert halls. Most people of Prague are atheists, especially due to the former communist rule there.
Gotta love the Mercedes taxi
Another view along the Vltava river
I love this building!
The kids loved watching swans stick their heads in the water with their tails up in the air.
Starting out the river tour
Complimentary hot wine, coffee, or the "real" Czech Budweiser was served. People were quite surprised we only wanted water!
I love the colors and architecture!
Sailing the Vltava
William enjoying the boat ride
Ethan was right there with the "Captain" asking all sorts of questions. He learned what most of the buttons did, and how to steer. Ava was quietly enjoying the scenery.
An old entrance off the river for the brothers of Prague, still active there!
The Astronomical clock. The upper part was made in 1410. They say the creator of the clock was violently blinded, his eyes burned out with a hot poker, so he couldn't duplicate the clock anywhere else.
The calendar was added in 1870
What amazing detail!
The figures near the top of the clock move every hour, and all 12 apostles can be seen rotating in and out of the top 2 windows at the top.
Buildings in Old Town Prague
One of many ornate doors to a house
Lovin' the orange and the Prague lion on this building
Walking through Old Town
Church of Our Lady before Tyn
Church of Our Lady before Tyn. The surrounding buildings have been built so close you can hardly get a good view.
Isn't this building amazing?
Jason looking in our guidebook- where to go next? I swear, many tourists were stopped and took pictures of us because we have so many kids close in age.
I love the colorful mosaic in the center
Old Town Square and the Church of Our Lady before Tyn
Baroque Church of St. Nicholaus
Jewish Synagogue
Entering the synagogue with all the kids- yikes...
Just a little background... The Jews were persecuted in Prague, beginning with the pogroms when the Crusaders killed numerous Jews. In the 11th century they were forced to wear special caps or the Yellow Star of David. In 1781, the Jews were given civil rights, they could live outside the walled ghetto and had no restriction to schools or occupations... then Germany invaded.
Old Jewish cemetery from the 15th century and on. The Jews were only given a small amount of land to bury their dead.
There are about 12,000 visible tombstones and an estimated 100,000 burials here. There are 12 layers of graves!
Written prayers and messages placed in the wall.
Walking through the cemetery was a harrowing experience
I got the following information about the Jewish Cemetery online:
"It is surprising that the cemetery even exists, as Nazi policy was to destroy all Jewish cemeteries and synagogues. However, during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, once the Nazis drove all the Jews of Prague into the concentration camp at Terezin and then on to Auschwitz, Hitler gave specific orders to leave the cemetery in Josefov intact. His plan, once all the Jews in Europe had been exterminated, was to build a Jewish museum in Prague with the cemetery as the centerpiece to his “exotic museum of an extinct race”.
Sarcophagus
Statue of the Holy Roman Emperor, Bohemian King Charles IV 1350 A.D.
Charles Bridge
Detail of the start of Charles Bridge
Looking toward Old Town from Charles Bridge
Looking toward Prague castle from Charles Bridge
One of many statues along Charles bridge
Entrance to Prague castle. Ava got so excited when we told her we were entering a castle. She wanted to find a princess, but we never saw one. :)
This scary thing was on the castle wall
The infamous 'Piss Sculpture' by David Cerny. The puddle is in the shape of the Czech Republic and the two guys actually move and are writing out famous Czech literary quotations. What the freak?!? To top it off you can SMS your own message on your cell and they'll stop and 'write' it mid-stream. Gotta love Czech ART
Church of Our Lady Victorious
Prague's baby Jesus, a 400 year old wax figure that has supposedly protected Prague for centuries. Nuns actually change his clothing 70 different times according to a strict calendar. I love the Catholics ;)
Lennon Wall
The Lonely Planet guidebook says the following about Lennon wall:
"Dissidents in communist Czechoslovakia often revered Western rock musicians, especially John Lennon for flouting social norms. And after Lennon's 1980 murder this wall was painted with his image and turned into a graffiti-splattered memorial - repainted each time the secret police whitewashed over it."
In memory of the Velvet Revolution, when in 1989 the Czech people overthrew the communists
Don Giovanni Marionette theatre. Mozart composed the "Opera of Operas" for Prague and premiered in 1787.
Don Giovanni Theatre
Marionettes, hand carved and hand painted puppets. We bought Queen Anne here
St Vitus Cathedral
Our family
Czech guard
Guards marching by
A beautiful fountain inside the courtyard outside the cathedral
Ava had to carry all of her Littlest Pet Shops in a bag all day, or she went crazy
St Vitus cathedral
One of the entrances
It is gigantic, pictures don't do it justice
This is referred to as the Golden gate, above the archway that royalty entered for coronation ceremonies. The Golden Mosaics are spectacular.
A Nativity scene outside the cathedral, all made of straw
How in the world did they build these cathedrals?
A beautiful stained glass window in St Vitus cathedral
Every cathedral we enter, William either cries or tests the acoustics by being very loud. So I took him outside to chase pigeons while Jason and our other two walked through with the audio guide. Those poor pigeons!
William, our little world traveler. It's funny because he will eat anything: Afghan and Turkish, German and Thai.
This door is where royalty entered the cathedral directly from the castle, through a private corridor. William got behind the roped area, I guess he feels he's the King! It wasn't very funny to me, until Asian tourists and others started videoing and taking pictures. They thought it was hilarious and cute, especially that I was telling him to come back and he'd flash his dimples and say "No!"
Looking into St Wenceslaus Chapel
This is where King Wenceslaus is buried and many precious jewels and relics are kept. The Bohemian crown jewels are accessed from this room, through a door with seven locks.
St Wenceslaus (from the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas) was Duke of Bohemia. His brother had him murdered for political and religious reasons.
Organ
What a beautiful pieu
Again, you got to love the Catholics :) It's too bad this depiction of John baptizing Christ is incorrect. It's beautiful nonetheless.
The other side of St Vitus
Large room in the palace
Ceiling of the records room
St George's basilica, the oldest church building in Prague castle's walls
Inside St George's basilica
The view of Prague from the castle
We ventured out to a small Christmas market
We had the best Trdlo, a yummy warm sweet bread. The dough is cooked on a circular steel tube then rolled in sugar and cinnamon.
Old Town Square Christmas market. It was a good thing we went to the smaller market, because this one was too crowded!
This tree was unbelievable! By far the largest decorated cut tree I've ever seen.
Old Town Square all lit up
The Nuremberg Christmas market is the largest in Germany. We were able to visit the market on our drive home from Prague. The market can be overwhelming, there are many people, a large number of tourists, many beautiful things to see and purchase, and tasty sweets and bratwurst to eat :)
Jason and William in front of the largest German pyramid we've seen
Jason enjoying some of that bratwurst
Prague castle at night. "The Golden City"
Jason and William in front of the river Vltava, Charles Bridge, Prague castle, and St Vitus cathedral
St Vitus cathedral and Prague castle. Prague is often referred to as "the city of a thousand spires". There are so many beautiful churches; most are no longer used for religious purposes and many are now concert halls. Most people of Prague are atheists, especially due to the former communist rule there.
Gotta love the Mercedes taxi
Another view along the Vltava river
I love this building!
The kids loved watching swans stick their heads in the water with their tails up in the air.
Starting out the river tour
Complimentary hot wine, coffee, or the "real" Czech Budweiser was served. People were quite surprised we only wanted water!
I love the colors and architecture!
Sailing the Vltava
William enjoying the boat ride
Ethan was right there with the "Captain" asking all sorts of questions. He learned what most of the buttons did, and how to steer. Ava was quietly enjoying the scenery.
An old entrance off the river for the brothers of Prague, still active there!
The Astronomical clock. The upper part was made in 1410. They say the creator of the clock was violently blinded, his eyes burned out with a hot poker, so he couldn't duplicate the clock anywhere else.
The calendar was added in 1870
What amazing detail!
The figures near the top of the clock move every hour, and all 12 apostles can be seen rotating in and out of the top 2 windows at the top.
Buildings in Old Town Prague
One of many ornate doors to a house
Lovin' the orange and the Prague lion on this building
Walking through Old Town
Church of Our Lady before Tyn
Church of Our Lady before Tyn. The surrounding buildings have been built so close you can hardly get a good view.
Isn't this building amazing?
Jason looking in our guidebook- where to go next? I swear, many tourists were stopped and took pictures of us because we have so many kids close in age.
I love the colorful mosaic in the center
Old Town Square and the Church of Our Lady before Tyn
Baroque Church of St. Nicholaus
Jewish Synagogue
Entering the synagogue with all the kids- yikes...
Just a little background... The Jews were persecuted in Prague, beginning with the pogroms when the Crusaders killed numerous Jews. In the 11th century they were forced to wear special caps or the Yellow Star of David. In 1781, the Jews were given civil rights, they could live outside the walled ghetto and had no restriction to schools or occupations... then Germany invaded.
Old Jewish cemetery from the 15th century and on. The Jews were only given a small amount of land to bury their dead.
There are about 12,000 visible tombstones and an estimated 100,000 burials here. There are 12 layers of graves!
Written prayers and messages placed in the wall.
Walking through the cemetery was a harrowing experience
I got the following information about the Jewish Cemetery online:
Sarcophagus
Statue of the Holy Roman Emperor, Bohemian King Charles IV 1350 A.D.
Charles Bridge
Detail of the start of Charles Bridge
Looking toward Old Town from Charles Bridge
Looking toward Prague castle from Charles Bridge
One of many statues along Charles bridge
Entrance to Prague castle. Ava got so excited when we told her we were entering a castle. She wanted to find a princess, but we never saw one. :)
This scary thing was on the castle wall
The infamous 'Piss Sculpture' by David Cerny. The puddle is in the shape of the Czech Republic and the two guys actually move and are writing out famous Czech literary quotations. What the freak?!? To top it off you can SMS your own message on your cell and they'll stop and 'write' it mid-stream. Gotta love Czech ART
Church of Our Lady Victorious
Prague's baby Jesus, a 400 year old wax figure that has supposedly protected Prague for centuries. Nuns actually change his clothing 70 different times according to a strict calendar. I love the Catholics ;)
Lennon Wall
The Lonely Planet guidebook says the following about Lennon wall:
In memory of the Velvet Revolution, when in 1989 the Czech people overthrew the communists
Don Giovanni Marionette theatre. Mozart composed the "Opera of Operas" for Prague and premiered in 1787.
Don Giovanni Theatre
Marionettes, hand carved and hand painted puppets. We bought Queen Anne here
St Vitus Cathedral
Our family
Czech guard
Guards marching by
A beautiful fountain inside the courtyard outside the cathedral
Ava had to carry all of her Littlest Pet Shops in a bag all day, or she went crazy
St Vitus cathedral
One of the entrances
It is gigantic, pictures don't do it justice
This is referred to as the Golden gate, above the archway that royalty entered for coronation ceremonies. The Golden Mosaics are spectacular.
A Nativity scene outside the cathedral, all made of straw
How in the world did they build these cathedrals?
A beautiful stained glass window in St Vitus cathedral
Every cathedral we enter, William either cries or tests the acoustics by being very loud. So I took him outside to chase pigeons while Jason and our other two walked through with the audio guide. Those poor pigeons!
William, our little world traveler. It's funny because he will eat anything: Afghan and Turkish, German and Thai.
This door is where royalty entered the cathedral directly from the castle, through a private corridor. William got behind the roped area, I guess he feels he's the King! It wasn't very funny to me, until Asian tourists and others started videoing and taking pictures. They thought it was hilarious and cute, especially that I was telling him to come back and he'd flash his dimples and say "No!"
Looking into St Wenceslaus Chapel
This is where King Wenceslaus is buried and many precious jewels and relics are kept. The Bohemian crown jewels are accessed from this room, through a door with seven locks.
St Wenceslaus (from the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas) was Duke of Bohemia. His brother had him murdered for political and religious reasons.
Organ
What a beautiful pieu
Again, you got to love the Catholics :) It's too bad this depiction of John baptizing Christ is incorrect. It's beautiful nonetheless.
The other side of St Vitus
Large room in the palace
Ceiling of the records room
St George's basilica, the oldest church building in Prague castle's walls
Inside St George's basilica
The view of Prague from the castle
We ventured out to a small Christmas market
We had the best Trdlo, a yummy warm sweet bread. The dough is cooked on a circular steel tube then rolled in sugar and cinnamon.
Old Town Square Christmas market. It was a good thing we went to the smaller market, because this one was too crowded!
This tree was unbelievable! By far the largest decorated cut tree I've ever seen.
Old Town Square all lit up
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