Prague, Czech Republic

The kids spy Starbucks behind them!

This past weekend the kids had a 3 day weekend off from school, so we took off for a quick trip to Prague. I had been told how beautiful it was, and all the stories were true. The city has a wonderful, colorful, quaint, old European feel to it. The Charles Bridge, Old Town, Lesser town, Jewish quarter are all wonderful places to roam around. All the towers and gorgeous architecture are so charming. Even though everyone speaks Czech language, about 85% of the folks we encountered could understand or speak some English. The money was really confusing to me though - I went the whole weekend not really having a feel for how much anything costs. They dont use the Euro in Czech Republic. Also note that I thought I was going to Czechoslovakia, but no, it is Czech Republic. The taxi driver started clapping for us that we had brought our children to the CR. I got the impression that not many kids travel there and we hardly saw any on our whole trip. One main reason why - not many kid friendly things to do other than souvenir shopping (of which B has perfected! and she has a very sparkly Austrian crystal necklace to prove it) There are many Russian type of souvenirs which I guess are hold overs from the period they were occupied by the Russians.

The food was decent. B found her standard spaghetti bolongese at each restaurant. I had several Greek salads - which for some reason were on each menu. Unfortunately they continued the English custom of serving salad without any salad dressing. I really dont understand that but I do realize it's healthier. Even though the city is large, we ended up mainly roaming around the historical part of town. Saw the astrological clock do it's thing about 6 different times - should be seen, but a little underwhelming - especially after the 6th time. The weather was great, but man was that wind cold. We were bundled up most of the time, but still managed to eat ice cream a couple of times.

The kids MAIN highlight was finding the only Starbucks in town. We even took a taxi to get there. Shockingly sad I must admit. I've discovered that when our kids are away from the English language and visiting foreign lands, they REALLY seek out anything familiar. With almost a hawk eyed vision. Starbucks was very good though and packed full of people! Nice way to warm up from the cold wind.

We braved the public transport even after my disaster in Paris last year, ha! As we were trying to buy tickets from the machine which was all written in Czech, DA and I were really trying to figure it all out, figure out the money - which only accepted coins - and get children discount tickets - after about 5 minutes L spoke up and said, "wouldnt it be easier if you pushed this English Button?" duh, we could have done the whole thing in English! Their local subway is very simple and easy to make your way around. We never did get on the trams though because we couldnt find a route map to know which trams took you where.

The one main drawback to Prague is the amount of graffiti. It is EV ER Y WHERE! It is so sad to see such a beautiful city be vandalized in such a destructive way. After 3 days, we were ready to come home and what was L's account of the trip? On Monday morning he said, "well, it wasnt the best trip, but it wasnt the worst trip either." Hello! we are taking you all over Europe to broaden your horizons and that is all you can say! His defense was that there wasnt anything "exciting" to do in Prague. I agree. maybe that's why there werent any kids around. Only couples walking hand in hand along the Charles Bridge. Maybe DA and I need to go there without the kids next time. Any babysitters???