Prague

As my last post was getting pretty long, I thought maybe I should dedicate a special post to a very spectacular special place. We spent the last two days of our week in Czech in Prague. Here's a few pics.

The Jewish Quarter. This clock is above a synagogue. This small area was where Jews in WW2 were confined before being deported to concentration camps.

A huge church. Even though communism was strong here, there is a very strong presence of religion, in the churches and also a lot of statues dedicated to Roman Catholic saints.

This is the building where Einstein was professor!

Typical Czech food. Dough balls that are deep fried, and then covered in caramel sauce on the left. The rigiht shows dough that is wrapped around a metal turning stick above a fire and slowly roated. Delish!

Prague from above the city

The King's castle overlooking the town.

Val-pal :)

We had a boat tour which was nice, as it was in English! Woohoo!

Crosses on a bridge

An photo from 50 years ago. This massive statue overlooked the city. The statue was torn down, and replaced by a metronome, symbolizing the passing and change of time.

Typical houses in the richer area of town.

Front seat in the bus, right beside the driver! Woop woop!

Heading home after walking around the city for about 8 hours

Modern glass building beside the old square concrete structures of communism.

Huge cathedral.

Changing of the guard. Even today there is a very strong presence of the military in this area. Army trucks go along the street regularly, and Police also are everywhere. They are known to be corrupt, often accepting bribes.

I think a shot fit for a travel magazine!

Isn't he so handsome? He wouldn't come back with me unfortunately. (This is me trying to kiss him, in case you can't tell. It's hard to keep from smiling when kissing this handsome man!)

Beautiful beautiful buildings. The center of Prague is very touristy. One can get a sense of the tourist culture there, as almost every shop is named 'Souvenir shop'. Here again we got a bit lost, but got a much better sense of the city.

Handmade goods, sold for very cheap.

We found an opening in a wall, and it lead to a tower overlooking the river!

Aging walls. I overheard someone explain that the darker area was the more Greek style (I think?). Afterwards a more medieval style was plastered over top.

"The memorial to the victims of communism is dedicated to all victims, not only those who were jailed or executed but also those whose lives wereruined by totalitarian despotism."

This was the memorial.

The Prague Éiffel Tower'

American Embassy in Prague

Hot dog vendor. These small tourist stalls lined the streets of the new city. It was so much geared towards tourists, that I could not get a sense of what Prague was like walking through this area.

Live music on the bridge

Here is the view from the tower, mentioned above.

Just before this we were sitting and resting in a park when two people came and practised their slack-lining (tight rope walking). One of them was amazing, doing flips and belly flops on the rope. We also gave it a try. It brought back high-school memories, as we also had a slack line at school. Pretty fun! I really enjoy meeting locals as this is how one can get a better sense of the culture. Most of the people we met on official tours with the bus people were very posh and cultured, many even from America. However, when we wandered out of the main tourist district we saw so many hippies walking around. The Bohemian style of dress also originates from this area (quite hippie looking as well.) It was pretty neat!

On the way back we had to wait for the rest of our group to finish thier dinner. We waited in the children's play area :) The only down side: The balls were not very deep. Thus I have a very swollen elbow from diving in.

We spent the weekend at a camp with about 25 young people from church. I don't have pictures, but it was a pretty great weekend as well. It's a bit awkward for me not knowing Dutch very well, but everyone is so kind and they speak English pretty well also. All in all a great week!

All the best,

Kim