Italian Adventure 2012: Day 1

Day 1: Finally

Well as most of you know our trip got off to a late and slow start. We were beginning to think that something was telling us to not take this trip. But after a year of planning and looking forward to this we were going to make it work somehow. We changed around our original itinerary since we were starting 3 days later we didn’t want to try to cram everything in and be rushed everywhere again like last year. So we cut out Venice in hopes that next year when we are thinking of taking our cruise that we will take a couple days and do Venice since that is the port call for most cruises we are looking at doing.

So just when we thought things were going to get off to a good start we go to pick up our car and he tells us that he has jimmy rigged it because the part is on backorder and he knows we need to leave because of our reservations, REALLY, without asking first. But we trusted him when he said he would have done it to his own car if it meant going on vacation. So we finally are on our way Tuesday afternoon at 2pm. We are making good time and really enjoying the beauty of the Alps in Austria.

Wow, what a view :)

Just when we though it couldn’t get any better we show up to our hotel and our reservations say only 3 people, WHAT??? But the lovely people at Pension Spiegl in Seefeld, Austria are amazing to say the least. When she saw that we were 4 people she said no problem and showed us to our room and came right up with a fold out bed for our little man to sleep on and didn‘t charge us a dime extra either. We got all settled in and realized we had a balcony off of our bedroom and my goodness the view was breathtaking.

                                   Welcome to your first stop, Seefeld, Austria:)

        This was our cozy room with the balcony, the boys had thier own little room.

                             This was the view from our balcony, breathtaking.

We thanked the owner for helping us with our room situation and asked where we could go for a walk and she pointed us to a lovely trail. After about a 15 minute hike up many stairs the woods opened up to an amazing little pond (lake, as she called it). We decided to take a walk around and get the boys energy out before it was time to settle down since we had been in the car for 6 hours already. We made it around the lake just before the sun had completely set and headed back to the hotel.

The boys got settled in and ready for bed while Danny and I enjoyed our view from the balcony for a bit longer while watching some of the Olympics. We did not want morning to come although we were ready for Italy. Seefeld was just so beautiful, but it didn’t offer much for the boys in the form of a summer vacation, now winter is another story, so we may have to put this on our list to do again.

Morning came way too quick. We packed up and headed down to breakfast, which was great. The ladies here were just amazing and I just cannot say that enough.

                                                    Love European breakfast!

We were sad to say goodbye to Spiegl Pension, but it was time to get this vacation on a roll. We hope to see you again next winter Seefeld. Good bye.

Prague

Day 1:

After a long 6 hour drive, we finally made it to our hotel where we met up with Steve, Karen, and Vivi. The boys were very excited to get to see their cousin again. We unpacked the car and then Steve and I took the car to where we reserved a parking spot 20 minute walk from the hotel since he was our tour guide for the trip and knew his way around the city. After settling in a bit and chatting we headed out for dinner to try some authentic Czech food. I had the goulash, potato dumplings, and gravy and boy was it yummy. Danny had some potato baked thing, that he loved, but it wasn't very tasty to me, and a HUGE beer with his brother. The boys had pizza, which was nothing special.

After dinner we headed over to Old Town square and walked around the Easter market. There was a blacksmith pounding and sculpting, pretty cool to watch.

Since we were in the city center, we found a drain cover marked with the symbol of Prague and we had to copy this idea I stole from a friend. We are making our mark one step at a time.

We continued exploring Old Town when we came across a wax museum with Harry Potter in the window. "Wingardium Leviosa".

The buildings in this city were amazing. I love my black and white setting on my camera when taking pictures of the old cities we have visited.

Its never too cold for ice cream. The grandkids wanted to show Papa John that they was feeding their icemosis problem.

Karen and I all bundled up wondering what the kids were thinking getting ice cream in this weather. And then the daddies holding those nice cold beers in the cold. "Hot Chocolate?", yes please.

One of the beautiful sites in Old Town Square.

Day 2:

We atarted day two off with a hearty breakfast from the hotel and then a street car ride to the other side of Prague to explore the castle. We entered the Royal Gardens and explored a bit before coming to what was known as the royal's summer home, as you can see from the second picture, it was not far from the main castle.

I wanted Ryan to make funny faces to the palace guard, but I didn't get up there fast enough before he was posing for the picture for me. We entered the castle grounds and headed right for the cathedral. St. Vitus Cathedral is the largest and the most important church in Prague.
Apart from divine services the coronations of Czech kings and queens also took
place in it. The remains of provincial patron saints, sovereigns, noblemen and
archbishops are interred here.

We headed out of the castle just in time to see the changing of the guards. It doesn't compare to London's changing, but it was pretty neat to see as well.

Next we headed down the narrow streets of the castle where the servants and blacksmiths were believed to live and headed over to Petrin Hill where we headed up on the tram, but not before getting to see the US Embassy sitting ontop the hill. When we got to the top, we walked around a bit and found the mirror maze that the boys had talked about all day. It wasn't worth all the hype, but we had a little fun with the funky mirrors.

As we made our way over to the street car stop, we came across this art work at the bottom of Petrin Hill that is a memorial to the victims of communism.

We hopped on the street car and made our way to Charles Bridge. Charles Bridge is a stone Gothic bridge that connects the Old Town and Malá Strana. It was actually called the Stone Bridge during the first several centuries. Its construction was commissioned by Czech king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and began in 1357.

We ended our day by grabbing some dinner at the Easter market in Old Town Square, my favorite place in the city.

After a long day of walking, the boys had to partake in some ice cream before heading back to the hotel for some relaxation time with Vivi.

Day 3:

Happy Easter. We didn't participate in any Easter egg hunts this year, but the Easter bunny still found the boys and Vivi in Prague.

It was ridiculously cold out today, so we started our day inside the National Museum. The main building is closed until I think it was August of 2015, but the kids had a great time exploring the hands on exhibits in the newer part of the museum.

It was snowing on and off, so we stopped into a little place and grabbed a bite to eat. Today Czech food was on the menu. Boy are those bread dumpling delicious. After lunch we made our way over to the Jewish Quarter where we were hoping to check out the Jewish cemetery, but due to the holidays, they were closed all week. We were able to peak through the gates and take a few pictures. As you can see the headstones are pretty much stacked up on one another. In comparision to the other cemeteries this was not normal.

We finished our day again with heading back over to Old Town Square to finally watch the Astronomical clock go off. We had to kill about 45 minutes so we walked around the Easter Market again and listened to an old man play a saxaphone and sing, Vivi really loved this.

We headed back to the hotel to thaw out and relax a bit before we headed around the corner for some pizza, beer, and wine, for our last dinner in Prague. It was an early night that was finished off with some Uno and Phase 10.

Great trip. Danny is not a fan of city living, but said this is one city he could totally live in. It was so beautiful and I hope we make it back there before we leave Germany.