Europe Day 6- Czech us out part 2

On our second day in Prague we had GORGEOUS weather. First up we went out to see the Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral. We saw it from the river the day before, so we couldn't wait to get up there! This was one of my favorite things we did in Prague. I LOVE being able to explore things and picturing what it really used to be like. Like when we went to the ballroom and the first thing I thought about was wearing a tight corset ballroom gown and dancing. (Bryan said I was a typical girl because in the ballroom it took a good five minutes to figure out what the room was and I was already waltzing around in my head :)) We explored all the parts of the castle, and killed time before we could get in to the cathedral.

This area of the Castle was called Golden Lane. It was a mini "town" set up where the choosen blacksmiths, seamstress, etc would live. It was really fun to look in all the one room houses. We also went down underneath the houses to where the dungeon was, there were all sorts of torture items that were used back in the day. It was creepy :)

The walls right outside the castle had the most breathtaking view of the city. 

 

 

Once Mass was finished, we were able to go inside the Cathedral. It was CROWDED, but gorgeous nonetheless. 

After we left the Castle, we stopped for lunch and then explored the old Jewish Quarter. 

The old Jewish cemetery was unbelievable. It was grave on top of grave.  

 

While Kade napped, we headed back tot he Old Town square for a drink and to sit for a little bit. There was a celtic band playing, and it was just perfect!

This picture makes us laugh. We were walking and Kade saw this statue and told us to stop because he NEEDED to run around it 12 times. SO that's exactly what he did, then climbed to the top and showed off his muscles :)

 

There were a bunch of swans always swimming in the river. Kade got confused and thought we said they were "swams," and called them that the rest of the time. So did we :) We saw some people feeding them so we let Kade and Ella see if they liked goldfish!

 

For dinner, we had THE BEST view ever. I mean seriously the best. 

 

He was in heaven!

 

 

YOu had to squeeze down this ally to get to the restaurant where we ate!

 

 I so loved this day, and LOVED Prague!

Europe Day 5- Czech us out!

On day 5, we packed our bags and headed to Prague, Czech Republic! (P.S. I have had the title of this post in my head for a good 2 months now. I know, I'm awesome.)

We were sad to say goodbye to Nuremberg because we loved our time there, but we were so excited to see what Prague was all about! We had a 3 hour bus ride, and it was the fastest three hours ever. The scenery the entire way was breathtaking so it was nice to just sit back and relax fora  few hours. Once we made it to Prague, checked in to our hotel, we were off to see this beautiful city! This was the only day it rained on our trip, but it didn't really bother us. It sprinkled most of the day and only once did it rain hard. Our first stop was the Old Town Square. It was GORGEOUS. This is where we ate dinner that night and we would come back several more times on our time in Prague. We saw the famous Astronomical Clock, and then walked over to the Charles Bridge to check that out. I loved walking across the bridge, hearing the jazz band play, and seeing the Prague Castle high up on the hill. It was pretty perfect.

 

Ok, we saw a line of people rubbing this statue on the Charles Bridge. We had no (and still don't have a) clue as to why. But no worries, we rubbed it anyway! 

 

The streets of Prague felt very Parisian to us.

 

It was cold and rainy so we made a pit stop for some Czech beer. And ice cream for the kids!

 

This is the John Lennon wall. It was on our pull out map from our Prague book, and Bryan didn't understand why it was a big deal. Just a tribute to John Lennon. I had to go see it, why? Because I saw on the Bachlorette  last summer that they visited this wall. Needless to say, Bryan hasn't let me live it down :)

 

We tried these super amazing traditional pastries. My mouth is watering thinking about them.. 

BEAUTIFUL Prague!

Europe Day 4- Dachau Concentration Camp

On this day, we went to Dachau Concentration Camp. This day was different that any other day on our trip. We have all learned and heard so many things about the holocaust, but to actually go and visit a concentration camp and physically see where so much evil took place is a very humbling experience to say the least. When I was in college, two Holocaust survivors came to give a speech. Listening to their stories was horrific and they spoke about things that I couldn't even imagine seeing or going through. One of them spent time at Dachau so the entire time I was there I was thinking of her.

I was nervous about Kade asking questions and wanting to know where we were, but luckily for me he didn't. He just sat quietly in his stroller and Ella napped on our back. 

 

The first thing you do is walk though the gate and see "Work will set you free."

Most of Dachau was bombed by the Allies, so quite a bit was rebuilt. The survivors wanted it rebuilt and a memorial made to act as a reminder of what happened and to prevent this from happening again. 

Dachau was built to hold 6,000 people. At the time of liberation, there were 32,000 people. 32,000. I can't even fathom that. 

 

We walked through the gas chambers, and into the crematorium. The pictures in these rooms of what was found at liberation were gut wrenching.

 

It was emotional, and I remember not talking much and having a ball in the pit of my stomach the entire time we were there. 

After Dachau, we headed back to Nuremberg.  We ended the day on a much lighter note. We stumbled upon this really cool restaurant that was built in the 1400's by a group of nuns! How cool! The food was fantastic and so was our waitress! It was one of our favorite meals from the trip!