Thanks, Dad!

As I have mentioned before, the idea for this blog came from Dad. He's been blogging since before he and the fam moved to France (www.afreehand.blogspot.com). He has given me lots of great advice on how to post videos and such, and it has made the blog more interesting. Thanks again, Dad!

Erin and the Crossbow

The day we visited the Prague Castle, we wandered for hours. In the attic above the shops of the Golden Alley, Robert found a place with crossbows and targets. Mom and I went in search of target practice. I paid 50 Krowns (about $2.50) to shoot 5 times. It was lots of fun! Initially, Mom and I thought that the guy running the stand had poked holes in the target so I wouldn't feel bad, but upon closer inspection of the video, it appears that I actually hit the target a couple of times! I'm so much deadlier than I thought I was!

Caveman waiter

This is the caveman restaurant that I begged everyone to visit. We sat on giant rocks, ate with our hands, and were sniffed (and coughed on) by the wait-staff. Other than the fact that Mom, Gramma, and I are all sick now, it was lots of fun!


I rolled the dice with the cavewaitress, and because I rolled "an eye", I had to drink something called "unbelievably disgusting hog-wash". Here's how gross it was!

Here is the famous Astrological Clock in the Olde Towne Square, Prague. We saw it many times during our visit, but this was the only time I got to see the "show". Maybe Tim will post his gorgeous daytime photo that he took (hint, hint).

Loose in the streets of Prague!!!!

Here are some more pictures of Prague.

Erin and I on the edge of the Vltava River. The castle is back behind us somewhere in the dark.




Welcome to Prague Castle!



St. Vitus Cathedral in the Prague Castle Grounds. Reputed to be the third largest cathedral in the world!



At night time the gargoyles of St. Vitus shoot laser beams from their eyes as seen in this photograph.


The castle grounds at twilight.






Mala Strana and St. Nicholas Cathedral at night. Mala Strana is Pragues oldest neighborhood.


Charles Bridge walking towards Old Town (Staremestka).

Thoughts on Prague

While I still have internet, I'd like to list some things that I've noticed...

1) The toilet paper seems to have been designed by either my father or the communists. It tears off in 2-square portions. And it is neither soft nor cushy. The toilets have odd flushing mechanisms; they don't have handles, but rather "buttons" to push, which consist of two separate sections. Having experimented with all possible combinations (e.g. just the right, just the left, or both at once), I have concluded that it really doesn't matter which button you push. They all use the same amount of water, the swirl is always clockwise, and it is mostly a matter of entertainment/ confusion.

2) There is only one place that makes dark beer in Prague (all other "Pivo" is Pilsner Urquell, which is no longer my favorite because it is the only pivo to be found most places in Prague). It is called U Fleku, and we ate dinner there last night. It has been serving beer (pivo) since 1499! It was rowdy, loud, cheerful, full of song. In other words, there was not a Czech in the house. We sat with a lovely Bulgarian family who are moving to South Carolina. In the next room, there appeared to be about a zillion Germans who spent the entire evening being serenaded by the tuba and accordian. They all sang so long and loudly that we all wished we knew the words! We tried to think of some American drinking songs, but only came up with "American Pie" and maybe the Grant Union Fight Song. Any suggestions?

3) I miss the sun. We've only seen it about a day and a half so far. It hasn't rained, but it's been foggy and smoggy the past week. In Gunnison, one of our claims to fame is that we have an average of over 300 days of sun per year. Not so for Prague.

4) There are not many places to see geology in Prague. Although the buildings appear to be made of stone, they are almost always actually made of cement. Inside St Vitus Cathedral (construction began during the 10th century) there were fossiliferous floor stones and columns:

When we visited the Jewish Quarter (Josephov), there were lots of Marly Limestone headstones in the cemetary. Interestingly, the cemetary holds roughly 12,000 headstones, but approximately 100,000 people. They ran out of room, so they began burying people on top of eachother, and hauling in new dirt to cover everyone up.

5) Trdlo is my new favorite food. It is suspiciously like an Elephant Ear that one might find at the county fair, except for the fact that it is often covered in whole Hazelnuts. It's also fun to say.

More photos

This is a caveman restaurant that we visited. No silverware, no manners, nothing else like it! We had so much fun eating with our hands and being grunted at by the waitstaff (who yell and grunt and dress like cavemen/cavewomen). We played a primitive dice game and I rolled an eye, so I had to drink some "unbelievably disgusting hog-wash", Robert got his face painted, and Tim had to eat lettuce. It was great fun! I'm still trying to figure out how to get a video clip posted successfully (still having computer issues), but until then, here are some examples from the menu:

PS- Tim, Robert, and I ordered Turo's Pee, and Mom had the Tobacco Juice. This was all drunk from earthenware bowls.


Until I can get my video of caveman waiters posted, check out the website:

Mom and I went to the Prague TV Tower. It is a huge, weird building on a hill that overlooks the entire city. And yes, those are giant babies crawling all over the tower.

We rode the elevator to the 8th floor observation deck. We got there right at about sunset, so we got to see this:

Here is a poster for the Museum of Communism. I want this tshirt!

Here is the parting shot for the day- the ubiquitous McDonald's sign. It true, there are 9 zillion McDonald's in Prague. Like Starbucks in Seattle.

We did actually eat lunch there one day because it was quick (all our other meals have taken a minimum of 2 hours). Here's a picture of the menu: