Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for real...

"I don't trust a man who makes toys in a land where children are forbidden"

-Childcatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

It is quite amazing to have friends who understand my references to children's movies.  On this trip my reference was to the amazing movie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  You know the part where they go to that little town with the castle and toymaker? Where children are forbidden? Yeah, well the little city of Cesky Krumlov, is like the real version of that city.  While I was traveling I really had no idea where I was, because  I have no knowledge of the geography of Germany or the Czech Republic.

Our hostel in Prague was really nice.  It was in the old part of town and it was about a block away from the castle.  The ceilings in the rooms were so cool.  

Our first night in Prague we had to try Pilsner Beer which is made in the Czech Republic.  It was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted.  We think there was something wrong with it because it tasted like soap.  

It was funny to go to the Czech Republic and see Goulash on the menu.  This however was not goulash but was delicious anyway.

These next photos were taken in Cesky Krumlov, which is a small medieval town about 4 hours away from Prague.  It is the cutest little town full of winding cobblestone streets, painted old buildings, and complete with a castle on top of a bluff.

All of the buildings were painted.  Those stones surrounding the arch? Yeah those aren't real they are painted on.  and if you look close to the roof line you can see a little bit of the other paintings left.

This is the castle on top of the bluff.  See the balcony where those people are standing? That is where the photo of all four of us later on in the post was taken.

This building is where we ate lunch.

On the menu it said this was rasberry lemonade.  In the end it tasted like carbonated cough syrup.

Lunch for the day was chicken stuffed with ham and Roquefort cheese.

This is the best thing in the entire world! Blueberry dumplings.  Unfortunately after you eat them you have purple teeth for the rest of the day but it is so totally worth it.

And ten seconds later...

Sophie did not want a photo of her purple teeth taken.

I love going to foreign countries where prices are in the hundreds.  This 1000 Czech Kroner bill is worth about  $50.  I feel so wealthy carrying around 1000 bills.

It rained all day but it did not take away from the cuteness at all, but I still felt bad for the sellers at the outdoor market. 

Apparently there were bears in this enclosure.

This is entering the castle.

This is the photo of us on that balcony.

This is about the point where we realized, crap we have 5 minutes to get all the way across town to get to our bus on time, and started running.

And this is what you look like after running through the rain on cobblestones up hills (including a mud embankment) in order to get to the bus on time.

But Cesky Krumlov was probably the highlight of my trip.  I even bought presents for Mahri from a wooden toy maker there.

After the 4 hour return trip we decided we would be nice and eat at a vegetarian restaurant for Jess, the vegetarian of the group. 

The next day we went on a walking tour through Prague.  Prague was not damaged in WWII so some of the building date back to the 11th century.

This is trdelnik, its a sweet bread that is wrapped around a spit and then baked over a fire.  The dough is rolled in cinnamon, sugar, and almonds.

This bridge is Charles bridge and was built in 1357.

These locks have couples names written on them and the dates of anniversarys   So as long as the lock stays locked the couple will stay together.

One shop had a matryoshka of just about every team in the entire world, including the Packers.

And for my Australian friends they even had AFL Matryoshkas.

This is an astrological clock and was built in 1410 and is the oldest astrological clock to still be working.

And then there was a marching band of people wearing traditional clothing.

Apparently Protestantism was born in Prague by this guy, Jan Huss.  He was born in 1369, way before Martin Luther or John Calvin and eventually was burned at the stake for his going against the Catholic Church.

This church had a newly married couple come out about every 20 minutes.

You can see the "real" photographer in the corner and then surrounding the photographer is about 50 random tourists taking photos of them.

The building on the right of this photo is the only building that was damaged in WWII.

The long line of buildings on top of the bluff is the Prague Castle.  It is the biggest castle in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

When Hitler started building his empire, his plan was to have Prague be the cultural center, so he began building concert halls.  This concert hall however was already there, but he had one issue with it.  On top of the hall there are statues of famous composers, and one of them happened to be Jewish so he ordered the statue to be taken down.  The people who were ordered to take the statue down had no idea who the Jewish one was so they did what anyone else would do when looking to pick out the Jewish guy, they picked the statue with the longest nose.  Unfortunately, the statue with the longest nose happened to be Wagner not the Jewish composer.  So today the Jewish composer's statue is still on top of the building, but Wagner is no longer there.

The tower that you can see on top of the hill is actually an Eiffel Tower.  After Eiffel built the tower in Paris he came to Prague and built this one, and the Czechs like to brag that their Eiffel tower is a meter higher than the one in Paris (even though this one has an entire mountain underneath it).

Did you know that Hugo Boss was actually the designer of the Nazi uniforms?

This theater is the only remaining theater that Mozart actually performed at.  He also premiered Do Giovanni here.

Nothing like French Onion Soup in Prague!

And finally on the way home! I love traveling but by this time I just really wanted my own bed in my own apartment.  We took a night train back to Copenhagen from Prague and it took 17 hours.  I spent about 12 of those hours sleeping.  Sleeping on a train is probably the best sleep I have gotten in a really long time.  You feel like you are being rocked to sleep the whole time.

I had an amazing time on this trip! Berlin fulfilled my love of history and Prague fulfilled my little girl dreams of going to a fairytale land.  But play time is now over.  Classes start this week and I have more administrative stuff do to.  I recieved my letter saying that I had been granted my resident permit so now I have to register for my CPR number (basically a social security number).  I also still need to find a bike, and I need to find a post office.  Post cards are coming I promise!  I have also come to realize over the past week something that I hadn't really thought about before.  Life in Wisconsin is still moving on without me.  I talked to my sister, Katie, today and she has now moved back to school and is starting classes, and I received pictures of the kids I nannied for, first day of school.  It makes me a little sad to know that I am missing all these events but I love hearing updates from everyone so keep sending them!

Interesting Berlin and Prague Facts:

- The Prague Castle actually covers 18 acres

- The Czechs drink on average 43 gallons of beer a year

- Berlin is actually 9 times bigger than Paris, with an area of 344 Sq. Mi

- The first set of traffic lights in Europe was built in 1924 in Berlin.