My European Exposure: Prague on a Very Cold Day

As I sit here typing, we are 20 minutes into the new year. Laurel & I are watching fireworks going off in every direction from our window. I'm definitely ready to close the book on 2014, as it was the final 12 months in a year and a half span of high stress and great loss. Here's to a much better year in 2015!

It started snowing here on Saturday and continued off and on through last night, so we have quite a bit of the white stuff around here! Before the snow began, we drove to the Czech Republic to spend some time in the capital city of Prague. It is home to about 1.24 million people and definitely has the bustling, big city feel to it. The high on Saturday was about 28 degrees, plus we got a late start, so we didn't spend as much time there as we would have liked. We'll definitely be going back again when the weather is warmer (like, maybe above freezing)!!

There were lots of street performers around, which I always think are interesting. Not everyone in our family shares that opinion, but they are the same people who are afraid of clowns...lol!

The Christmas Market was still going on in the city center, so it was packed with people.

I think the most interesting thing we saw was their medieval astronomical clock. It was installed in 1410, making it the third oldest of its kind in the world, and it still works today. It has three main components: an astronomical dial representing the position of the sun and the moon in the sky; an hourly clockwork show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months of the year. We heard the hourly strike of the time across the market place, but missed seeing the show of figures. It's something we'll be sure to catch next time around.

After we had dinner, we took a quick walk through the Christmas Market, specifically to find a stall selling trodl or "hollow bread". The dough is wrapped around a pole and cooked over a fire. Ours was covered in cinnamon, sugar, and almond slivers. It was toasty warm and SO good!

After a couple of hours, we had endured all the cold we could stand for one day and started making our way back to the car. I'm so glad we were there long enough for twilight to come because the Christmas tree in the center of their Christmas market was magnificent against the night sky.