Dobryden!
As you have probably figured out, this blog has become a difficult item to cross off my to-do list. Life in Prague has been so terrific. We have been having so much fun and have experienced so much in our (almost) 6 months in Europe.
Our trip to Switzerland and Germany went great! We stayed in some beautiful locations and drove through some magnificent mountains. Lucerne, Interlaken, Bern, and Freiburg were all breathtaking. We attempted to white water raft, but seeing as our visit was in October, most of those places had closed for the winter already. However, the trip was still a terrific success. Re-visiting some roots in Switzerland was very fun and I finally found a Swiss Army knife I liked, even though they were being sold at every corner store in the country.
We also visited the Christmas market in Nuremberg, Germany where we bought many Christmas presents for our family members. In fact, we bought Christmas presents from Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic. Nuremberg was cold, but fun.
Two weeks ago, we just finished Christmas holidays... 3 weeks of vacation. The first week, we decided to see Italy from north to south, spending about two days in each major city. We began in Venice, where it took us a few hours to realize that there were absolutely no cars anywhere. Nothing but gondolas and water taxis. Some of the best times in Venice was just wandering through the streets and getting lost. Two other small cities that we visited were the islands of Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for Italian glass and Burano is an old fishing village with brightly coloured houses.
After Venice was Florence. The city were the Renaissance began in the late 1300s. The art galleries and museums were fascinating. We went to the Galileo Museum of Science and the Academia where Michelangelo's "David" statue is housed. Both were incredible, but seeing an exhibit like "David" was quiet amazing. While in Florence, we took an hour train ride west to see Pisa. We spent an afternoon looking around Pisa, but the only thing to see there is Leaning Tower of Pisa. We went to the square where the tower is, ate lunch, then made our way back to our bed and breakfast.
Our final stop was Rome - by far our favourite city. We dropped off our bags at our B&B and made our way towards the old town. As we are approaching, we see the Colosseum rise up in front of us as we walk. Its size alone makes it larger than life. Witnessing such a large structure that is nearly 2000 years old was humbling. The first thing we did before getting our bearings was to purchase entrance into the Colosseum. It was definitely worth it. With our ticket, we were also granted access into the Palantino where many ancient houses have been preserved. We then took a stroll through the Roman Forum where most decisions and political activity happened. Sarah and I both were awestruck at the fact that we were walking through the place were the richest people in the known world would make decisions for the rest of the Roman Empire. We stopped for a break where we spent 14 Euroes on coffee and a dessert (mistake) and continued to the other Ancient Roman sites, like the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza della Republica, and finally - Vatican City. The Vatican was also in a league of its own because it had St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Vatican Museums (where Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel). Again, we had such an amazing week in Italy and we will definitely go back.
We spent Christmas in Prague and had Christmas day with our awesome Aussie friends, Ray, Olivia, Ange and the Neate family. We exchanged secret Santa presents, ate a massive lunch/dinner of lamb and roasted vegetables, and had a friendly game of Aussie rules Football. Crazy game. It was a great Christmas day and it felt like home, even though home is so far away.
After spending a week of sleeping in until 11am, we boarded a flight from Prague to Orlando because Sarah's dad bought the entire family a cruise! He wanted to surprise Sarah's mom for her 50th birthday, so he was generous enough to fly everyone down to Florida for a week long cruise. She was so shocked and surprised at the hotel on the morning of the cruise when everyone showed up in the restaurant, we thought she might have a hernia. The cruise itself kicked off with a great New Year's Eve party on the main deck and during the countdown, we all witnessed a fight! It was a great way to start off 7 days in the sun. The vessel made port in the Bahamas where we saw the famous Senior Frog's bar, next was St. Thomas where we spent the day on one of the world's most beautiful beaches, and finally St. Marten where we had a snorkeling adventure, rented motor scooters to tour the island, and spent half an hour watching planes on this beach. Both the cruise and the ports were such fun and we want to say a huge THANK YOU to Tony Cosh for his generosity and love for his family.
We are back from all these adventures and loving Prague still. Sarah has started an Outdoor Club at school where she will be taking the kids rock climbing, camping, hiking, and canoeing. In the next few weeks, Sarah's job requires her to go skiing for three days at a resort in the Czech Republic, fly to Paris for a four day IB Conference, and taking her Outdoor Club winter camping for a weekend. I'll be on the couch, looking across the living room at the chest of drawers and counting the knots in the wood.
I hope you have time to do whatever you were planning on doing before committing to this blog post, but thank you for reading.
More to come, I promise.
