Hey everyone! We're still a day or so behind on our narrative, but we're slowly catching up and once we get back to AZ and have a steady internet connection again we'll be flooding you with photos, don't you worry.
Okay, so Wednesday. Yesterday (Tuesday) we were running around all day long, so Wednesday we took it much slower. It was nice in a way, but on the other hand we just wanted to be out there seeing EVERYTHING. Not even six days in Prague is enough to feel like we're getting enough. It's been awesome.
I woke up very early and beat all the tourists to take photos at Charles bridge and sort of just get out early. It's nice to be awake before the rest of the world.. sadly Prague never sleeps so that didn't work. Here are some pictures!
My favorite is the one of Dad running down the bridge, because apparently this conversation happened:
Dad: Do you know why it's called Charles Bridge?
Ashley: No. Why?
Dad: ...No idea. I just know it's the bridge Tom Cruise runs down on Mission: Impossible.
The rest of us got a slow start to the day, but we had Laurel all to ourselves today so we made the most of our morning and afternoon.
We took a train into the city to this big grey ("Communist-looking" according to Dad) museum. Inside, we got to see an amazing art gallery by the famous Czech artist Alphonse Mucha.
You probably recognize him better for his art nouveau pieces.
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| This is his "Les Saisons" series, one of my favorites. |
I expected it to be a small gallery of small, abstract paintings all about turmoil or something (in other words, I was afraid I wouldn't really like or appreciate it), but when we got into the gallery, we found 20 gigantic paintings softly lit in a huge dark room, and they instantly took our breath away.
There was so much detail and realism in the faces of the people, in their clothes, in their movements, in their surroundings, and in their mythological and historical symbols. Not only was each piece huge, each was so realistic and had at least one figure breaking the fourth wall, so it seemed like you were in the scene with them--like you could step right into the painting. It was amazing, and I learned so much about the Slavs.
I highly recommend it. It's in the National Gallery in Prague.
After that, we met up with James and he took us out for a very Czech lunch. James says the place we ate at has the best authentic Czech food he's ever had (and he's had a LOT of authentic Czech food in his lifetime), so we just let him order everything for us.
We got a huge spread of delicious Czech foods. HUGE. I don't even remember everything we tried, but Laurel commented that it was all beige, and Dad ended the meal sighing, "How do they eat like this and still walk around?"
Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of our meal or the restaurant, but here are some of the postcards!
Later, the McConKids all came home from school and we cousins all sat around and talked while they did homework. I played Clue with Wilson, Hyrum, and George, and almost beat them all.
Around dinnertime, the whole family got on the metro and we headed to Wenceslas Square. We emerged right in the heart of the city, and it was beautiful. It was like videos I've seen of Rome--narrow streets with European buildings towering above you so it's like your'e walking through the Narrows. Every building here is gilded with elaborate stonework, statues, paintings, and/or gold accents.
James took us to a restaurant where we all got amazing gelato with the richest flavors. I got a scoop of Nutella and a scoop of peanut, and it was like a frozen gourmet Reese's peanut butter cup.
We then headed to the old town square. There were street performers and crowds of tourists clogging the streets. We passed a mime, a giant bubble blower, dancers, contortionists, teacup pigs, pythons, musicians, and a girl painted gold who just posed like a ballerina statue. Evie and Ashley (our resident ballerinas) posed with her in exchange for a few coins.
On the way into the square we saw the world's oldest astrological clock. It's over 600 years old, and it's the most complicated, most beautiful clock I've ever seen (and anyone else has ever seen, arguably). It tracks so many different things--months, dates, moon phases, seasons, even the names people had to call their babies if born on that day.
Apparently the guy who made the clock wanted to move away from Prague, so the king had his eyes gouged out so that he could never replicate such an amazing clock. To get even, the clock maker stole a tiny piece of the clock that left the whole thing not working for about 100 years, until someone figured out how to repair it.
Also in that square was a statue of Jon Has, who was the Martin Luther of the Czech Republic. He preached that the Czechs should have the Bible in their own language, and he was burned at the stake for it. We saw a painting of him in the "Slave Epic," and apparently one of my relatives thinks we're distantly related to him. So we had to take a picture by that statue, even though it had scaffolding around it for repairs.
Then we went to the famous Wenceslas Square, which was much bigger than I expected it to be. There were vendors everywhere. Everyone else headed home after a few minutes, but Evie, Car, and I stayed for another hour just getting a look at all the souvenir options the Czech Republic has to offer.
When we were all back home, we had a big salad dinner and Dad entertained the kids with his best scorpion stories. Then we watched the beginning of "Mission: Impossible" so we could look at all the Prague architecture that we now recognize.
Okay, that's all for Wednesday! I'll probably write about today (Thursday) tonight, too, if the photos continue to upload nicely.
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