Prague: Part 2

The river runs right through town.  That's the Charles Bridge above.

This day was sunnier.  Our plan was to go to the castle and tour as much as we could.  But first, we stopped at the Starbucks right in front of the Prague Castle.  Best Starbucks ever....or maybe just best location ever.  It had a perfect view of the entire city with an outdoor terrace and the cafe was down a tiny spiral staircase with another pretty outdoor terrace, cute tables by big windows with more views.  It also had hot chocolate good enough to finish in .3 seconds by our sweet (chocolate lover) girl.

We went all out at the castle and the joke was on us.  We bought tickets and two audioguides.  The castle is huge-it's the largest ancient castle in the world.  There are churches, halls, palaces, other buildings, and gardens which are all part of the Prague Castle.  It's the official residence and office of the Czech president.  It dates back to the 9th century.  So, the joke was on us because 1) Maddie decided that one of those audioguides was her new cell phone, 2) we were on a timeline with the kids and limited snacks, so we didn't have more than 1.5 hrs, 3) we made it through the main sight-St. Vitus Cathedral-before realizing that we should look for lunch, and 4) we walked around the castle grounds, seeing the outside of many buildings, saw soldiers, and walked through the gardens which could've been done FREE of cost.  So, if you are ever in Prague, with two young ones, just walk around the castle grounds, don't buy tickets and audioguides :-)  Those were mighty expectations with the kids in tow.

It was such a beautiful day and the castle gardens had awesome views of the city.

I have to say, I'm so proud of her (and us) with being potty trained and wearing underwear in the car and the entire time we toured around Prague.

She LOVED the soldiers with guns.  She marched like a soldier for days after.  She was more interested in them than she was the (make believe) princess that I said lived in the castle.  

The next day, we walked around, got through half (30 minutes) of a Rick Steves walking tour podcast.  We snacked on more Trdelnik and coffee.  We didn't really have any plans other than to walk around the city and see the sights that we could with the kids in tow (which pretty much means walking around outside is best rather than risking money and stress inside museums or castles).   But in Prague, the architecture is so beautiful, it didn't matter so much that we didn't get to go inside.  Walking around with a coffee and letting Maddie walk or sit in the stroller with snacks seemed like the best way to go for us.  There are things that I really wanted to see or do, but who knows, maybe someday we'll be back.  [those included- Communism Museum, Lenin Wall, walk through ALL of the castle, do some kind of tour to hear more about the city's history, visit a couple restaurants and try some typical Czech cuisine]

If we could remember Prague in a few words: trdelnik, segways, architecture, castle, oh and we also saw lots of Thai massage spas that had fish pedicures (these little fish that eat the dead skin off your feet.....so strange), there are a lot of shops selling crystal, and apparently marionette puppet dolls are as well.

There was a good Tex Mex restaurant recommended by the apartment owner, just a few blocks away.

I set up a *very* mini egg hunt in the family room of the apartment.  

The drive back was more than 2 hours shorter than the drive there thanks to no traffic and less stops.  Maddie did really well in the car.  She's pretty happy with snacks (Maddie and Bryce finished an entire tube of BBQ Pringles on the way there...) and the iPad.  She hardly ever naps in the car.  It's funny though, usually the last 30 minutes are tough on everyone and there's fussing/crying/wrestling the car seatbelt to try and get out.  Carter is not a fan of the rear-facing car seat, so that's been a new challenge as well.

It was a great trip-we got to see a beautiful city, everyone slept well, and the weather was nice.  #thankful