Not a Bad Way to Turn Thirty...

My birthday was last Sunday and Rand had a 4 day weekend for Columbus Day so we decided to head to Prague in the Czech Republic for a few days. Not that we have seen everything in Europe but this city will be really hard to top for me. We had heard how pretty a city it was and we were not disappointed. It is incredibly beautiful, the architecture very ornate, and the history so interesting. Of course, as usual with the kids we skipped the museums but there was so much to do there that we left still with things that we want to come back and see. We rented a little apartment that was pretty much a 10 minute walk from most things. We spent our first day exploring the Old Town and saw some beautiful cathedrals (Tyn Church, pronounced Teen & St. Nicholas) and the Old Town Hall which had a great view of the city from the top. We even splurged on a horse-drawn carriage ride that took us through the Old Town and Jewish Quarter. I think Owen felt like royalty on that ride because he waved at every one we passed. We walked through the Jewish Quarter and looked at some synagogues and peeked at the cemetery there (we were too late to buy tickets to tour them.)
The next morning we took the tram up to the Prague Castle that overlooks the city. This is an amazing complex with St. Vitus Cathedral in the center surrounded by the palace, St. George's Basilica, and many gardens. We didn't go through the cathedral because the line was more than an hour long but we toured the Old Royal Palace, Basilica and palace grounds. We walked through the Little Quarter on our way down from the castle where many palaces still stand that housed Czech Royalty throughout history. We kept thinking we would walk down at least one street with boring nondescript buildings but never did. I'm really serious when I say that every building in Prague is beautiful. We walked back across the Vltava River over the Charles Bridge, built in the mid-14th century and one of the most visited sites in the city. We rented a paddle boat to go out on the river and let the kids feed the ducks Cheerios. Our last evening we walked down to Wencelas Square with again beautiful architecture, we especially admired the National Museum building. Sunday morning on our way out we stopped to see the Wallenstein Palace gardens and the Czech Senate building. We cannot wait to go back and hope to take many visitors in the future. Here are just a few pictures (we took over 100 so I'll spare you). Remember you can click on any image to make it larger.

View of the Castle and Little Quarter

Left-Old Town Hall & Center-Tyn Church

St. Nicholas church in the Old Town (there's another one in the Little Quarter)

Enjoying our carriage ride

View from the top of the Old Town Hall

Can you tell I just love this church

Prague Castle (it was a little foggy that morning)

St. Vitus Cathedral

I love the gothic architecture

Owen & Evie on the Palace wall (Little Quarter's St. Nicholas church in the background)

View of Charles Bridge and the Castle Quarter

Rand and the kids on the bridge

Street walking down from the castle into the Little Quarter

View of New Town from our paddle boat

New Town (the building with the rounded and gold roof is the National Theatre and was about 2 blocks from where we stayed)

National Museum in Wencelas Square

Wallenstein Palace & Gardens

Czech Senate building (with the pillars)