Second Day in Prague

Our second day in Prague, we went to Church and then to the Jewish quarter. I was impressed by the various forms of persecution that the Jews experienced, including limiting what professions they were permitted to engage in, limitations on where they could live, expulsion at whim, et cetera. And yet they still endured.--Dad

While the first day we logged over 16,000 steps, today was only 10,000.--Dad

A tombstone from the Jewish cemetery in Prague. The caption begins: "An upright and faithful man . . ."

Just in case you need some high-heeled sneakers

Back in the old town square

Posing with the street mimes

The next day was Sunday. Church started at 9 (!!), but we made it in time to get a great seat in the back next to the stack of Children’s Friend magazines and crayons and paper they have stocked there for kids. A missionary translated the service and did great until the last speaker who was an older man and must have been using a lot of idiomatic phrases, because everyone in the congregation was responding with laughter, etc. but he had no idea what was being said. I feel like that sometimes in Germany. Just when you think you are understanding church pretty well, someone will get up to speak and you are sure it is a completely different language. I think I counted at least 7 sets of missionaries there.

After church we went to the Jewish Quarter, starting with the Spanish Synagogue, which is built in the “Moorish Revival Style”, which seems to mean there is a central dome, and the walls and dome are intricately painted in the Moorish style--dark background with gold interlocking designs. It was beautiful. On display there were different Edicts from the Prague government both forbidding and then granting rights to the Jews. Definitely a long history of persecution there. The Synagogues and the Jewish Cemetery are all run by the Jewish Museum group, and at each Synagogue there is a different type of display set up. At one of the synagogues the walls were covered with very neat, precise lettering indicating the names and birth dates of all of the Bohemian Jews from that area who had been killed in WWII, in another there were displays of textiles used to cover the Torah or the alcove where the Ark was stored in synagogues--all of these were dated as being donated to the museum during 1942-45 as part of the Jewish Artifact Recovery program, and one of the Synagogues explored the history of Judaism in Prague (that was the kids favorite--ha ha--I wished I could have had more time in that one, though). Then we went to the Jewish Cemetery, which is the largest in Europe, and spans a time period from the early 1400s-1786. The Jews in Prague were a force to be reckoned with, but were also repeatedly discriminated against and when they weren’t allowed to be buried in the city graveyard, they decided to make their own--without permission. It was a sobering and sacred-feeling site. The tombstones are literally on top of each other. Some are still vertical, others have collapsed sideways, some are still legible, others not at all, and many close to the walkway have small stones placed on them--apparently that is a Jewish tradition that perhaps evolved from earlier times when stones were placed to cover graves and indicate where they were, but that now shows respect and love for the deceased, and that they are not forgotten.--Mom

First Day in Prague

We have been blessed in Germany, for the most part, with fairly smooth flowing traffic. We have only been caught in one or two Staus. Heading off to Prague, made up for it. We were in about seven different Staus. One detour around a Stau even had two Staus of its own. It took us three hours to travel what normally takes a half hour. Fortunately, just after Nürnberg after the traffic headed off to Berlin, the traffic cleared out. So it took about eight hours for what was originally estimated as a five hour trip. As a result we got into Prague much later than we had hoped.–Dad

Stau! What the photograph does not show is the movement of the vehicles. That is because there wasn't any.

We got in really late. We didn’t get into the apartment until 11pm.–Noel

We found a great apartment to rent in Prague with 3 large bedrooms, beds for everyone, a living room, great kitchen, and two bathrooms--one with a tub!!! Our house in Heidelberg does not have one, so that was exciting for all the kids.–Mom

It was really cool. The apartment is wonderful, it has a TV, office, a great couch, some really cool stools, a really good stove, two bathrooms, everything you need, and enough beds.–Noel

Prague is an ideal medieval town.–Noel

Prague is a medieval town, but has a lot of beautiful buildings from other times as well.

A lot of walking. The train was really fast. Prague is so beautiful, majestic and picturesque.–Rebecca

If we were writing a travel brochure we would say “Come to Prague, the ideal medieval town: So picturesque and majestic, you’ll be snapping photos.”–Samuel

At the Charles Bridge.

The first day we figured out how to get a pass for the trains/trams since you can’t purchase tickets on the tram itself (find a main train station and buy them from the machine--luckily there was one not too far from our apartment, and also fortunately it had an option to translate into English). Then we headed into the city on the subway to go to the castle. I’m pretty sure that the many public transportation opportunities were a highlight for most of the kids.--Mom

The light at the end of the tunnel of the longest escalator of the trip, ascending from the subway in Prague.

My three top experiences: the castle, the Charles bridge, and the Faschings parade with people in costume.–Rebecca

Faschings on the Charles Bridge

The castle in Prague

The changing of the guards at the castle was quite a production with trumpets and marching and fancy costumes, and the guards even switch over the sunglasses from the old guard to the new one.

They're changing the guard at Buckingham Palace (oops, wrong place, wrong rhyme)

Waiting for the changing of the guards

Thanks to the changing of the guards, the line to get into the castle itself shrunk from about 30 minutes to 10 minutes (yahoo!). According to the Guinness Book of W. R., the Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world. It is really multiple buildings that make up the castle complex. The most impressive building to me was the St. Vitus’ Cathedral. It was huge and so beautiful.

St. Vitus' Cathedral

The cathedral from the back

There were stained glass windows and soaring ceilings, beautiful golden mosaics on the walls inside and out, a special side chapel dedicated to King Wenceslas, beautiful stone tombs of Kings and Queens, stunning artwork in the side altars, and one of the prettiest organs I have ever seen.

The Cathedral interior

Stained glass inside St. Vitus'

Prague sustained very little damage during the World Wars, so the views from the castle on the hill over the old city were also much as they have been for centuries. They call Prague the “City of a 1000 Spires” with good reason.

City of a thousand spires

We also walked through the Old Palace (from 1029), the Golden Lane--mostly old shops, including fortune tellers, and pubs with doors that only reach up to your shoulder, the torture Dungeon, and the beautiful courtyards. It seemed that everywhere we looked was a great view of something.--Mom

In "the golden lane". If you want to feel tall, just visit a medieval building.

What I liked best about Prague was the giant bubbles that one person was making in a park. What I liked about the bubbles is that they were huge.–Spencer

Blowing bubbles in the park

The next famous site we saw was the Charles Bridge, begun in 1357, which until 1841 was the only way to get across the Vltava (Moldau) river. Now there are 8-10 bridges.

The Charles Bridge over the Moldau

On the way there we were delighted by a woman using sticks and strings to blow enormous bubbles, and bubbles within bubbles in the park, and also by flocks of swans gathered along the banks of the Moldau. The Charles Bridge is exclusively pedestrian. It is 10 meters wide and about ½ mile long. There are 30 statues positioned on the sides of the bridge (now all replicas, the originals are in a museum).

A statue on the Charles Bridge

There are also street vendors, performers, and some beggars as you walk along the bridge. There are three bridge towers, and some of us were able to climb one of them to see the fabulous view of Prague’s old town and Jewish Quarter, as well as the view across the river to the castle on the hill.

The east tower on the Charles Bridge

The rest of the day was spent walking through the old town, arriving in the square just in time to see the Astrological Clock chime (we might have thought it was more impressive if we hadn’t just recently seen the amazing one in Munich…), looking at shops filled with Bohemian jewelry, traditional puppets, more Bohemian jewelry, and eating turtlenecks. :-) --Mom

The astrological clock

The old town square in Prague.

Traditional marionettes

A “turtleneck”, actually a “Trdlo” (plural “Trdlnik”), is a traditional pastry made by wrapping dough around a wooden form and then setting it on a rotisserie over hot coals. It is then covered with cinnamon sugar, with or without nuts. It can also be slathered with nutella, caramel, strawberry jam, etc. on the inside, or they make special ones in the shape of cones that are filled with cream or ice cream.

Trdlnik (turtlenecks)!

Of course, we had to try them all in various locations (except the ice cream one, much to Sydney’s dismay…) and we highly recommend them! --Mom

We discover trdlnik.

Am Heiligenberg

East of Heidelberg are two mountains, one north of the river and one south. The one on the north is called Heiligenberg. On top of Heiligenberg are three groups of ruins: St. Stephenskloister, the Thingstätte, and Michaelskloister.

St. Stephenskloister

The tower at St. Stephen's cloister

The little tower felt really high, even though it wasn't.--Samuel

Samuel has acrophobia. The tower was really neat. It was a really simple structure.--Noel

The view up there was amazing.--Rebecca

Heidelberg Schloss from the tower. The tower is just so high I can't look.

The tower made me think that Rapunzel's tower would not have needed to be seventy feet tall. Twenty would have worked just as well.--Sydney

Around the tower were a lot of ruins that we climbed around on. I am not sure whether we were supposed to do that but it was fun.--Rebecca

Thingstätte

Getting a good look at the audience

 
I thought the Colosseum was cool. I liked it because it had so many stairs and it could get so high. It would be a cool place to play tag.--Spencer

When I first walked in, it looked like a huge theater, but Mom had called it a Colosseum and Noel and I were arguing about whether it was a theater or a Colosseum. And then Dad starting talking about it was.--Rebecca

This is the view. The theater holds about 8,000 frenzied fans.

At first I thought it was an ancient Colosseum but Dad was trying to have us guess how old it was. Then I said, "Oh, this is the Hitler stadium." And I was right and it was built in 1934 [for Nazi rallies].--Sydney

It looked like a huge theater with a lot of steps. And apparently this is where Nazis gathered to get stirred up in the anger against their brethren.--Noel

From here we can watch a poor player strut and fret his hour upon the stage.

The Thing was an old Germanic institution (perhaps better attested in Iceland) where once a year citizens would gather for a big festival and transact government business. The theater was one of 400 Thingstätten built by the Nazis for their rallies. It actually has seen little use since then. Apparently some Americans used to use it for sunrise services on Easter. It is also the site of occasional summer concerts, and a big festival on Walpurgisnacht.--Dad

Michaelskloister

The Michaelskloister was founded in 970. The buildings were built around 1030. The monastery was abandoned about 1500. It was associated with the monastery at Lorsch, of which a couple of buildings still survive.--Dad

Michaelskloister from the tower. If you look carefully in the center of the church you can see the outlines of the foundations of a Roman period temple.

Into the Labyrinth. I hope a Minotaur isn't waiting in the center.

The St. Michael's cloister would have been really cool to live in, except it would have potentially been easy to get lost in.--Sydney

Are you sure we are not lost?

There were two towers on each side and from the bigger one you could see everything. It was like a big maze. If there weren't so many rules about climbing over things then it would make an awesome playground.--Noel

Wait! What happened to the walls on the second floor? What happened to the floor?

I liked the labyrinth because it would make an awesome playground but would also make an awesome hide-and-seek place.--Spencer.

I loved playing in the ruins.--Jacob.

Jacob playing in the ruins

I did not go up the big tower, I thought the little tower was high enough.--Samuel.

A monastery is a place of contemplation

I think that it would be worth going to again. It was super awesome.--Adam

Nuremberg, Munich, and Neuschwanstein

After New Year's we took off for a (three day) trip across southern Germany. If you are thinking that it was warmer in the southern part of the country, think again. Southern Germany is where the Alps are, and so it was mountains, snow and cold.--Dad

Day 1

NUREMBERG

Nuremberg is a city in Bavaria that is famous for both its Bratwurst, which we had twice, and its Lebkuchen (the German word for Gingerbread). This was the first stop on our three day tour, and from the very beginning it was snowing. The first thing we did was to stop by the castle.

Nurnberger Schloss

Us at the Schloss

The castle has two main attractions. The Sinwell Tower, which is featured in the picture below, and the Deep Well, which is a good 50 meters deep. This picture shows us going down the stairs of the Sinwell Tower, which will give you a good idea of how tall it was. Featured in this picture is (from top to bottom) Noel, Mom, and Sydney(?).

On the stairs at the tower of Nuremberg castle. That's a looooong way down!--Noel

The well was the next stop on our tour, since it was only a few feet away from the tower. The guide for the well lowered some lit candles into the well to show how deep it was.

Thirty meters is a long way down.

They also have a display case showing things that they pulled out of the well in 2012. There are a couple pencils, a wallet, a toy Manny from Ice Age,  and a lot of rusted coins stuck to rocks and other objects.

The most beautiful woman in the world and two of her sons.

Just hope that no one says: I live in the Fachwerk house.

No, it was the Fachwerk house on this street.

This either means that we are being invaded by giant bronze bunnies or Albrecht Durer was here.

The Kettensteg over the Pegnitz

We walked across the bridge after that and soon came to the river, where we took a picture with this Santa hat umbrella cover. Featured in this picture is (from left to right) Sydney, Rebecca, Mom, Noel, Adam, and Jacob.

Nuremberg by the river.

 Day 2

MUNICH

We rode a train into Munich and got off around the Glockenspiel. The Glockenspiel is the most famous attraction in Munich. It is basically a giant mechanical grandfather clock that rings twice a day (11:00 and 12:00). These metal people go around in a circle and spin and pretty much create a story. First there is a jousting tournament, the first time around both knights miss, the second time one of the knights is knocked over. Second comes spinning men going in a circle, kind of like dancing. The last part has a bird squawking  We waited for it to start, and watched it.

Let the merriment begin!

The jousting match

There's nothing I enjoy more than a country dance . . .

Then we went inside a nearby store to get warm, and to find a stroller for Jacob, who did not want to walk. Turns out you have to go out of the city to get a stroller but we did get an awesome picture of Spencer with Lego Santa. We also went to a cool toy museum, but I don't have any pictures of that.

It's a bit after Christmas, but Lego Santa is still in Munchen.

After the store we walked around the Victualienmarkt (food market) for a few minutes, and found a place to eat. We had some of Munich's signature Weisswurst, or white sausage, pretzels, a few people had spicy Chili (not super spicy), and some got Nuremberg sausages with Sauerkraut. Featured in the picture are Samuel, Rebecca, and some random people in the background.

A cozy tent lunch in Munchen.

As the sun sets we bid a fond farewell to Munchen.

Day 3

 NEUSCHWANNSTEIN

(otherwise known as the Fairy Tale Castle)

It was snowing the entire time we were in Fussen, and it wasn't just light snow all the time. It was really thick and hard to drive on the roads. Hiking up and down the trails to the castles was like hiking in the middle of a Utah winter. Samuel is demonstrating how deep the snow is, and you can see Jacob and a few other members of the family in the background. (It's hard to tell who they are)

Look at how thick the snow is! We don't have anything like this in Heidelberg.

The first castle we went to was Hohenschwangau, which literally translates to High Swan District. It is this blocky yellow castle that was remade from the ruins of a fort by the Bavarian royal family.

Sameul, Noel and Rebecca by the little summer cottage of the Wittelsbach family.

 

A member of the Wittelsbach family graciously gave us a little tour. He said he was sorry but we could not tour the top floor because that was the children's area and little Louis had not cleaned up the play room.

Jacob when he wasn't throwing snowballs or trying to stomp on clods of snow.

If you look closely you can see Hohenschwangau and the little tourist village around it. This was where Mad King Ludwig II grew up.

Castle Hohenschwanngau on the long way up to Neuschwanstein.

There are two ways to go up to castle Neuschwanstein, the short way and the long way, which is over twice as long as the short way. Two paths diverged in a snowy wood, one well traveled, and one that was not traveled, at all. We took the road less traveled by, and ended up taking the long path, which was basically hiking for 45 or so minutes in a freezing snowy wonderland. We got some awesome views of both Castle Hohenschwangau and Castle Neuschwanstein, which translates to New Swan Stone. Featured in the picture below is Mom, Samuel's glasses, hoodie, and hat, a lamp post, and Neuschwanstein itself. Fun Fact: The Cinderella castle in Cinderella is based on Neuschwanstein.

We took the long way up! But we got a great view of the castle!

More pictures of the path up.

Spencer is trying to catch snowflakes.

The road goes ever, ever on . . .

They didn't allow pictures inside the castle, but it was breathtaking.

Neuschwanstein gleaming in the sun. We decided to take the short way down.

The family photo at Neuschwanstein. We are the huddled mass at the base of the tower in the middle of the photo. I had envisioned this from the Marienbrucke but that was closed.

Neuschwanstein from the courtyard.

This is the little tourist village at the bottom of the mountain. We are all warmed up and refreshed from the warm lunch we had and are ready to hike back down the mountain. You can see Sydney, Adam, Samuel, Noel, Spencer, and the mom's back in this picture.

Family photo. Can you see Neuschwanstein in the distance through the falling snow?

The Wittelsbachs seem to have outgrown their little summer cottage and started a new one. It should be great to see it when it is done. This is the view from the old one.

This is how much snow fell while we were seeing the castles. It was snowing the entire time. It was really cold in the car as well.

But we were only gone a couple of minutes! Just kidding, actually six hours.