CZECH THIS OUT!! ( Yes, I did say that...I know I'm a dork.)

Thanksgiving in PRAGUE! Last year was Amsterdam...this year was Prague. I felt kind of guilty for missing Thanksgiving TWO years in a row but Tia really wanted to go to Prague. So... being the good sister that I am, I made the sacrifice and went ahead and went with her. I'm just nice like that. It's always our tradition to eat a muffin at the start of any adventure. I know that's a random, strange tradition but that's what we do. So while we waited for our flight out we shared a muffin.

The flight went well even though we had a layover in Denver AND Frankfurt. It didn't seem too bad and we were really excited when we finally arrived in the Czech Republic!The first order of business was to sample the beverages in Prague. Coke Light tastes nothing like the Diet Coke that I know and love but in a pinch it will do. Tia loves it but I prefer my soda to taste like soda as opposed to cough syrup. I'm weird like that. We realized on that first day in Prague that we were most likely going to freeze to death sometime on our trip. They would find us frozen solid on a park bench somewhere. Two poor Arizona girls who thought they could survive in subzero temperatures. Actually, I don't know how cold it was but I know that it was stinkin COLD! We both had many layers on (I look like I'm 25 pounds heavier in all the pictures because of all the layers...not cute!) but we were still cold. So we had to make some purchases. Tia looked for gloves the whole time and never did find some she liked!I found some cute gloves and a hat right off the bat. It made all the difference. Once I had my hat and gloves on I was fairly certain that I wouldn't freeze to death after all. When Tia would reach a point where she was afraid one of her fingers would freeze and snap off in the cold I would let her borrow my toasty gloves for awhile. Told you I'm nice!Prague is AMAZING... and these pictures don't do it justice. We just couldn't capture it in pictures. We tried! This a picture of The "Orloj" or the CLOCK. Thanks to our new friend, Vincent, we learned so much about the history of Prague. Vincent was from Paris but he was so knowledgeable and shared with us the story behind the clock. It's an astronomical clock that was made during the year 1410. The city council was afraid that the clockmaker was going to make a similar clock for a different country so they poked his eyes out with a hot fireplace poker. So he had someone lead him to the clock where he proceeded to take out some parts. It was 30 years before someone was able to fix the clock. It really was beautiful even though it has such a brutal story behind it!Old Town Square...Some other things Vincent taught us....In 1989 there was the Velvet Revolution and the people were freed from communism and Soviet influence. In 1993 Czechoslovakia was split in two and the Czech Republic was founded. Only twenty years ago, Prague was a communist nation. Some of the people dress and act like communism is still alive and kicking. It was a little strange. I won't go into it because this blog is going to be long enough. But it was interesting.We went into the local supermarket and had a look around. WAY different than what we're used to. Here's Tia trying to figure out what the mystery vegetable was.We took a nice long walk up the hill to the cathedral and the palace. Wow! What a place!

The cathedral was absolutely amazing! No picture can capture it. You just have to go there and see for yourself!

We were able to go inside and it felt wrong to take pictures...but we did anyway. Everyone else was taking pictures so we thought....well...what the heck...we will too. It was massive!

Tia and I got a kick out of the door to the post office. No phones, no guns, no dogs, no bank robbers...and no ice cream cones! They can be dangerous you know.

The entrance to the palace had a big gate with two statues on each side. I don't think you can see too well but one statue is of a man beating another man with a club. The other statue is of a man stabbing another man with a knife. Nice people. Apparently it was to serve as a reminder of what happens to people that don't behave.

View from the top of the hill...again...the pictures are so deceiving. It was WAY more beautiful in real life.

For dinner, Tia and I wandered off the beaten path and found a cute little pizzeria. It was adorable inside and the pizza was decent. Considering the pizza sauce was just plain tomato sauce. Hey...who needs spices, right?

My world phone was not working. No service. Apparently the lady that works for Verizon is a liar. She assured us that we would have no problems but she has some repenting to do. Thou shalt not lie. So it was awhile before we were able to call Joey and Justin. They were worried that something horrible had happened to us because we weren't able to call. Finally, at the end of the second day we found a little internet cafe and we were able to call home. They were very relieved to find out that we hadn't been captured and turned into slaves. (Their imaginations can get away from them.) Here is Tia on the phone while Justin yells at her for not calling sooner....

My turn to get yelled at.....

On our last day in Prague we spent the whole day exploring. We walked and we walked and we walked. I wish I had a pedometer on because I know we put some miles behind us.
We walked along the river towards the Charles Bridge and there were so many photo opportunities...we couldn't resist! It was absolutely gorgeous!

In front of the Opera House.....


Eventually we ended up back in the Old Town Square. They had set up a Christmas market and we did some shopping at all the little booths set up.
We also thouroughly enjoyed sampling all of the traditional Christmas "treats" that are

sold. Out favorite was the Trdelnik...it was this bread that was rolled onto a stick and cooked over fire and then rolled in powdered sugar. It was delish and we enjoyed more than one of those!

Roasted chestnuts..we didn't buy any of those because we weren't sure how to eat them. They were WHOLE chestnuts...roasted. Like the song. They smelled good, though!

Langose....this was like fry bread. Except they put katsup and cheese on it instead of cinnamon and sugar. It would have been better with cinnamon and sugar. Just my opinion.

Mmmmmm....Super waffles. They have carmel in the middle. We had these in Amsterdam last year and fell in love with them! We were so happy to see the super waffle booth! Divine!

For lunch we ate at Mozarts old house. He lived in this house in 1787. They turned it into a restaurant. We had a leisurely lunch and thawed out. How weird to sit and eat in Mozarts house! Who gets to do that!? The restroom smelled like a sewer but that's okay.

On the last evening in Prague, we were walking by a store and Tia noticed this bag through the window. We stepped inside to get a closer look and fell in love with this handbag! How cute is that!? Well, it was 900 Czech crowns which is about $45. I had almost that much money left but if I bought the bag I would be completely out of crowns. I didn't want to exchange any more money because they rip you off! So I wasn't going to buy it but Tia talked fancy to me. She's dangerous to go shopping with! She can talk me into things. She listed all the reasons why I deserved this purse! So I gave in and bought it. Which left me without any Czech money for the rest of the trip. We were leaving in the morning so it was okay but Tia had to buy me a bottle of water. She took pity on me since it was her fault I was broke!

The legend is that if you rub this statue on the Charles Bridge that it will bring you good luck. Tia and I both rubbed away. I'll take some of that!
On the bridge....Did I mention that it's cold in Prague?
You can see the palace and cathedral behind us. They had just turned on the lights to light it up. So beautiful!!On our last night in Prague they were having a tree lighting ceremony in the Old Town Square. Tia thought it would be a neat thing to make our way over and check it out. I distinctly remember stating that it would be really crowded and maybe we shouldn't. Apparently, every person in Prague comes to this thing. Once we got there we realized that we had put ourselves into quite the predicament. It was EXTREMELY crowded. We found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a tightly compacted crowd. A restless, pushing crowd. We were trapped and couldn't move much less get out. It was scary. I'm not gonna lie. I don't even have claustrophobia but I could feel a panic attack coming on. The tree lighting ceremony was beautiful but I just wanted it to be over so I could breathe again. This picture was taken when we still were having fun..right before we became sardines.

On our last night we went to a nice restaurant for a nice dinner with our fellow travelers from Explorica. Not many people know that Tia has some issues with meat. During our stay in Prague she wouldn't even let me buy a Coke light from a shop that had meat in it because maybe someone touched the bottle with meat juice on their hands. Like I said...meat issues. So she doesn't announce that she's a vegetarian to people. She just pretends to eat what is served to her and doesn't make a big deal about it. Well... the last night, at dinner, we are served duck. I guess it was duck. That's what we were told. Unfortunately, Tia and I got the giggles. It looked like they took the guts from the duck and served them with the cooked meat. Even I couldn't eat it and I don't have meat issues. Tia was so horrified and we ended up disgracing ourselves by sitting there giggling uncontrollably. I hate it when we do that! It's so embarrassing. The other people at our table just looked at us with blank looks on their faces. They don't know how we are, so they were confused. Sometimes we laugh. Hard. And can't stop.
Prague was amazing. Prague was wonderful. Prague is someplace that everyone should go and see. It's the hidden gem of Europe. When people think of going to Europe they think of Paris or London or Rome. They should be thinking "Let's go to Prague!" It is SO worth the trip. I loved every minute of it. Thank goodness I have the greatest husband in the world who lets me be me and takes care of the family while I go on my adventures! I can't wait for the next one....(*after I graduate!)