A special visit

Last weekend I was graced with the beautiful presence of my friend Steph!  She flew out from NYC for five days, which also coincidentally happened to be the best five days of weather we've had in Prague.  Thanks for bringing the sunshine!  

We tore Prague apart, exploring & exploring & exploring.  

At the Lennon Wall - filled with John Lennon inspired graffiti and Beatles lyrics












Charles Bridge

The three of us (Steph, Dillon, Nat) took an excursion to the town of Kutná Hora, about an hour outside Prague.  It flourished in 1300 due to silver mining and is most known for Kostnice Ossuary, or the BONE CHURCH...
[cue scary music]
but really.  because this place was freaky.  

The outside of the church is simple, but the inside is decorated with elaborate sculptures made from 40,000 people's bones.  Apparently most of the bodies were victims of the Black Plague.  

Schwarzenberg Family Coat of Arms

The chandelier here is said to contain every bone in the human body

Morbidly fascinating.  It didn't seem real - more like we were walking around a film set.  Plus there was a Czech metal rock band who was shooting band photos there (what better place?).  There was nothing pious about it.  We didn't stay too long - when we really started to think about how these skulls were once people, we shuffled out.

 In front of St. Barbara, a powerful gothic cathedral.  We walked inside to discover the most beautiful stained glass windows.

The sun was so lovely that Steph and I decided we needed to rent a row boat.  We spent the afternoon peacefully paddling along the Vltava River.  

Such a stunning day!

"how do you quack in Czech?"

so much fun!

For a really magnificent view of the city we climbed Prague's miniature Eiffel Tower on top of Petrin Hill.  It was built in 1891 for the Jubilee Exhibition.  

The one thing that hit me when I was looking out from the observation tower is how huge Prague is!

There was a beautiful rose garden at the top of the hill as well

 

The leaves are starting to change colors here!

Catching a beautiful sunset with the Castle silhouetted in the background

 For another amazing view of the city, we climbed the Clock Tower in Old Town.  

Looking down:

I love this girl!

Guten Tag

OCTOBER 1-3: BERLIN, GERMANY

For our first trip out of the Czech Republic, we traveled with friends to Berlin for the weekend. As soon as we hoped off the bus, we instantly loved the vibe of the city.

"Berlin staged a revolution, was headquartered by fascists, bombed to bits, ripped in half and finally reunited - and that was just in the 20th century."

There are so many modern buildings with trendy architecture.

Monument to Soviet soldiers:

We came across a huge carnival in Tiergarten Park

Pretty sunset

ahaha

Reichstag

Our first evening, we visited the Reichstag - a building packed with history since 1894. The fire here in February of 1933 allowed Hitler to blame the communists, and helped catapult him to power. During the 80's, stars like Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd performed concerts on the lawn and blasted the loudspeakers towards the wall to reach out to oppressed East Berlin fans. Today, the Reichstag is used by the German parliament.

We waited about an hour and a half to get through security and inside the building. From there, we rode an elevator to the top and into a glass dome. We received a handset for the walking audio tour, which explained German history and interesting facts about the panoramic view as we ascended the spiraling ramp.

Glass dome on top of the Reichstag

Brandenburg Gate - built in 1791 as the royal entrance gate to the city

We found this sweet replica of the gate at an exquisite chocolate store... mmm. It was hard not to take a bite, but we did sample some rich truffles.

The Holocaust Memorial stretches out over 4.7 acres in the city. Photos can't quite capture its depth.

It consists of 2,711 concrete slabs of different height that are arranged in a pattern that feels like a labyrinth.

An unexpected highlight of the trip was Tacheles.. an old department store that was converted into an art house and is now filled with galleries and studios.

Think the Sistine Chapel of Graffiti.

Such a creative, unique place.

If we ever have money to spend we are going to come back and support these artists. These paintings are beautiful...

One of our favorites (this canvas was huge)

The amount of detail was mesmerizing

Word on the street is that the government is trying to close it down.. hopefully it doesn't fall victim to development!

The Neue Synagogue was completely destroyed by the nazis but was rebuilt in 1995.

Mysterious black pasta with shrimp for lunch (?)

Gendarmenmarkt - a beautiful square

Berlin has a reputation for its club culture, so we were excited to experience the nightlife. A highlight was convincing the bouncers at one club that we were Italian. We were warned that if it was apparent that we spoke English, we wouldn't get in. Somehow it worked... (we're still laughing about it). People here love their techno music!