One last stop - Terezin

We've heard a lot about Jewish history and decided to make it to one last concentration camp on our trip - Terezin.

This one was a little bit different because it was a "model" camp with inspections.

This was a bathroom area that was built for Red Cross Inspection. None of the sinks have ever worked, but the Red Cross didn't do a thorough inspection...

Here's part of the memorial and grave sites. This was a concentration camp for political prisoners as well as Jews.

Here are the remains of train tracks that carted people of to other, more brutal, concentration camps. 

Enjoying Prague

On our last full day in Prague, we decided to take it much more slowly and enjoy the city.

We wanted to beat the crowd for a few famous sites so the first thing we did was head to Prague Castle. The castle area can be seen from almost any viewpoint in Prague - as the castle is built on top of a small hill. We visited the St. Vittus cathedral, which is beautiful and serene when it's almost empty. The mosaics are outstanding and probably my favorite part of this cathedral.

After we left, we visited the Golden Lane. The Golden Lane is part of the castle grounds. It is a preserved and restored street of old buildings that represents how the locals of the Prague castle grounds used to live. There are many small buildings with secret pathways, small stores, and a gallery of armor and shields.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying and exploring...This is a random public park...

My favorite Czech beer is Kozel - which I am still constantly searching for in the USA. 

Finally, we paid to visit an astronomical library with these amazing views of the city. A great way to remember the city!

Kutna Hora

Since we wore ourselves out trying to explore Prague, we decided to spend a day outside of the city to see the other parts of the Czech Republic.We went to a small town about an hour away from Prague called Kutna Hora.

We went to this church - decorated entirely of bones. It was pretty crazy. This was definitely a stop for Paul.

We also saw the main church in the Kutna Hora. 

This used to be their source for water.

Last, but not least, we took a tour of the salt mine. We wore helmets and white coats, but the tour was overall pretty cheesy.We got to see what the conditions were like at a salt mine, but it's just dark and cold..

The tour

Rick Steve's has all these recommendations and methods of picking a tour guide, but we still struggled. We ended up settling for a city and castle tour with a random tour group. After we paid, we realized that the lady we paid, who spoke perfect english, was not our guide. Instead it was a tiny, local girl that had not spoken one word of English - it was a little suspicious.

Luckily, she was very sweet and we loved her! She was a college student and was able to give us a great tour with lots of history about Prague. However, there was so much walking. This was was mostly because of our poor planning and over-ambition to see everything. After gave us a great explanation of how the clock works (even though I don't remember anymore) and the old town square, we made our way over the Charles Bridge and back up to the castle.  To be honest, the tour was a blur and by the end we were all tired and hungry. Here are some pictures!

By rubbing the dog on this plaque, it means I will return to Prague one day!

We made the long trek back up the castle and were exhausted.

After the tour, my family decided to throw in the towel and just get some rest, but Paul and I continued to wander around the city and found a dinner spot that we fell in love with. The people were friendly and the meat was delicious.

Marathon

Although we got plenty of rest the night before, this day felt like a marathon. We woke up really early so that we could see as much of the city as possible. However, we got a little too carried away and tried to see too many things.

Our first stop was  the Jewish quarter. Prague has one of the most well-preserved Jewish community in Europe. Hitler decided he should preserve some items and buildings so that one day it could be saved in a museum of the "extinct race." Disturbing, I know. I wasn't supposed to take pictures, but here are some pics of the eerie cemetery - where several Jews were buried - sometimes in layers...

After some wandering, we made it to the Old Town to find a tour - more to come in the next post. The astronomical clock strikes every hour and huge crowds gather to join the excitement. These pictures are from the morning, which is why there is no one in them!

Next stop - Prague

The next morning, we said our goodbyes to our tour group and made our way to Prague by train.

We spent most of our time on the train and finally made it to Prague in the afternoon. After checking into the hotel, we pulled out our Rick Steve's guide and started wandering the city. We learned a lot about the country's history and how it has overcome communism. Prague is random and quirky, which we quickly noticed when we arrived.

Tesla mosiac in a strip mall

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St. Wenceslas Square

Hidden statue in random building

Figure in the Communist Museum

Vienna

Vienna is a beautiful city that is all about high society and luxury. It highlights fancy hobbies, like going to the opera and the symphony. It is famous for it's Lipizzaner horse shows and famous boys choir. Even Queen Sisi's palace, who is the Princess Diana of Austria, was amazing! It had crazy artifacts, like this cloak and table setting.

It's a very pretty city, but everything was too classy for me. However, the two things I really enjoyed were the cafes. Vienna is known for it's over-the-top cafes with fancy cappuccinos and slices of delectable deserts. Try the Anna Cakes from Dumel bakery. I would skip the famous sacher-torte, which is totally dry.

My family also had a great time in the audio and music museum.