St Martin's Day

It is that time of the year again. Time to parade around Bechhofen with lanterns and to eat brats infront of a bonfire. It was cute to see Sadie take pride in the special celebration for her and her school. The kindergarteners had songs and poems prepared, but Sadie didn't want to participate. I didn't push it since she dropped to the ground and ducked around the pulpit, when it was her turn at the church program.

The happy family: our three kids, and Mr happy pumpkin man. Micah is sporting his new pair of shades.

The lantern Sadie made at school. She was so proud of it.

A random Taylor story: Taylor is pretty disgusted with his runny nose. All day he has been complaining about how messy it is. Before I figured out what was going on he screamed, "get it off!" I asked him, "what is it?" "I don't know!" he answered.

On the way to buy crystal

We had heard that crystal was cheaper outside of Prague, so we prepared ahead of time, buy finding an address for a shop in a city north of Prague. We entered the address into our GPS system and began the trip. We left Prague confident that we would find crystal at half the price with little effort. We should have worried.

The roads were old. We drove through small villages and we weren't too surprised when the GPS told us to turn onto a small country road. It started out paved. An older couple walking their dog looked at us concerned when we drove by. I am still wondering, why didn't they stop us?

Gradually, the paved road became a one lane dirt road, with ditches on both sides. Finally, it dumped us onto a mud filled field. By this time it was too late. We couldn't turn around. The only way out was driving forward.

Fortunately, my friend Nikki has skills, farming skills. She grew up on a farm and knew how to drive in the mud. She even has a perfect record of driving through mud without getting the car stuck. I sat in the passenger seat with my eyes closed and my fingers crossed, saying my prayers. Nikki maintained her perfect record, although the car skidded and slid, the wheels spinning.

We made it out, barely. The crystal did end up being about 50 percent cheaper than in the city, but double the effort. After the initial embarrassment wore off and we had a good chuckle over the experience, it was totally worth the drive. Although, next time, I will take the freeway, which the GPS somehow overlooked.

This is where we switched drivers. The road was straight ahead, parallel to the line of trees.

Kafka

The Astronomical clock in the Old Town.

I had forgotten that the Kafka had lived in Prague, but it was a pleasant surpise to discover one of the houses he lived in. This house is located on the Golden Street, just outside of the castle.

The street is the "busiest street in Prague." We were lucky to arrive early enough to beat the crowds. There are cute little shops located in the houses, where once black smith shops were located.

We left the city with a couple determined to come back and and bring our families. There definitely is more to see, the Jewish Quarter for one thing. We left in the afternoon and headed to a spa town to check out some crystal shops.

Trip to Prague

Last week, my friend Nikki and I left our kids in our husbands' care to take a girls trip to Prague. We left early but arrived late, due to too much chatting, eating M and M's, drinking diet coke and Dr Pepper. It took us a while to realize that our GPS was malfuntioning.....we took back roads, instead of Autobahn. We arrived in time for dinner and to walk around the Old Town.

The next morning we awoke early and headed up to the castle. We crossed the famous Charles bridge. This is a view of the castle from the bridge.

This Cathedral is located on the castle grounds. It is the oldest standing gothic church in Europe. It is the most impressive church I have seen in Europe yet.