We have some friends that live in Grafenwohr, Dan & Kristine. We always
look for an excuse to go see them; this time we went to stay with them to
shorten the drive to Prague. We arose early in the morning to get started on
our trip in order to make the most of the day. We arrived after a mere 2 1/2 hr
drive. We parked, unloaded, and began to wander. We headed first across Charles
Bridge. It was a little rainy out, so it wasn't too crowded. We crossed and
headed up the hill to the Prague castle. We made it just in time to see the
changing of the guards. Upon entering the castle grounds, we peeked into St.
Vitus Cathedral. As we continued to wander, we stumbled on a toy museum and
went in to check out the old Barbie dolls. We descended the hill, wandered back
toward parking, passed the Jewish Cemetery and decided to catch it the
following day as our feet ached and the kids were getting weary. Dinner. It warrants a paragraph to itself. Being tired and not wanting to pay more for parking, we chose to eat at one of the restaurants at the hotel (We stayed at the Hilton). I had traditional Goulash. Being a picky eater, I expected not to like it but was pleasantly surprised. It tasted like a beef stew, minus the veggies. The dish was served with potato dumplings. Ben ate Svickova na smetane (sliced beef sirloin served in a cream sauce with a garnish of cranberries and bread dumplings). With a beer or glass of red wine, it was the perfect end to a long, rainy day.
We woke way before we wanted to (good morning, Avree). We had a lot still to see. We began this day much like the previous: find parking, hit the bakery. We also made at stop at Starbucks, as much coffee was going to be needed to get us going. We meandered up and down the narrow streets, perusing the souvenir shops filled with key chains, photo frames, crystal figurines and marionettes for sale. We strolled Old Town, gazed at the astronomical clock, tried to visit the Jewish cemetery (closed sat), then headed toward Petrin Hill. We took the funicular up to the top. There is an observation tower which is a small version of Paris's Eiffel Tower. Not feeling up to climbing the winding stairs, we kept going until we came to the mirror labyrinth. We entered, walked through a small maze of mirrors, and ended in a hall of distorting mirrors. Hearing the girls' laughs made it well worth the hike. This ended our trip, we walked back over the bridge and down through town toward the parking garage. It was a quiet drive back.
Although we left Prague, our adventures weren't over! We took our time getting up and going the next morning, and headed toward Pottenstein. It was about a 45 minute drive. We began the day by taking a ride down the rodelbahn. Next, we hiked through teufelshöhle, devil's cave. With time to spare before dinner we decided to rent a paddle boat. We enjoyed a quiet, relaxing ride until we were getting ready to dock and Natalie fell in the water. She says she was trying to catch a duck. A change of clothes and two minutes later, the kids were out and we drove down the street to our restaurant. We dined at Gasthof Schuttersmuhle, better known as Steak-on-a-Stone. They brought us our food on a hot, square stone, and you cook it until your perfection. The food was so good, the weather perfect, it was a great meal (maybe because the kids were asleep the entire time?!).
One more thing to tell about before I close. Have you ever heard about the great autobahn- the road with no speed limit. It sounds really great until you hit construction (frequent) or a stau. Coming back from the Bittman's we hit a stau, which added 3 3/4 hrs to our 4 hour drive. Not fun at all with kiddos in the back seat.
We are thankful for our friends all over the world, and look forward to the next time we get to meet up with the Bittman family.
Take care and God bless you, my friends,
Staci
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