My European Exposure: Prague Take Two with Two of Our Favorites

Sometimes in life you get to experience blessings that you never could have imagined. Such was the case when my BFF Cindy and Laurel's BFF Mackenzie, who happen to be mother and daughter, flew across the ocean to spend two weeks travelling Europe with Laurel and me. We've been the best of friends for 17 years, ever since our little pig-tailed girls were two years old. For the first five years of our friendship, we were blessed to work together, with side by side offices, which basically meant we spent 40 hours together every week, talking non-stop. After a huge life change in 2003 and multiple cross country moves for our family over the next several years, that 40 hours a week we used to spend together dwindled down to a couple of days twice a year. So to be given the gift of two weeks of uninterrupted time together, with our now grown daughters, was beyond amazing!

The first stop on our two weeks of whirlwind travel was Prague. Our family went to Prague during Christmas time last year, and I knew then that I wanted to come back and experience it in warmer weather when I could enjoy it a little more.

We arrived in town around lunch time, so the first order of business was finding some lunch. Mackenzie told me she didn't want to anything in Europe that she would normally eat back home. I absolutely love this girl's sense of adventure and that she was ready to dive head first into international cuisine and enjoy new experiences! We dined at Restaurace Mincovna, right off the Old Town Square in Prague, and enjoyed traditional Czech cuisine. It turned out to be one of Mackenzie's favorite meals during their two weeks with us.

After our meal, we ventured into the square where we just happened to run into a parade that was apparently part of a world theatre festival taking place there. There were performers from all over the world dressed in amazing costumes.

Next up was the astronomical clock which put on quite a show at the top of the hour.

After we watched the clock do its thing, we admired some beautiful buildings on our way to the Charles Bridge.

The Charles Bridge is really beautiful. It dates back to 1357 when it was commissioned by King Charles IV. The Bridge is paved with cobblestone and lined by 30 Baroque style statues of religious figures. Vendors selling paintings and jewelry fill the bridge from one end to the other. The views of the Vltava River with Prague's magnificent architecture as a backdrop are truly amazing.

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this man and his marionette performing for people on the bridge. How cute are they?

Once we made it across the bridge, we stopped into St. Nicholas church. I wasn't expecting to be wowed by this church, not really having read anything about it beforehand, so I was definitely surprised when we got inside. St. Nicholas was built in 1735 as a Baroque style church, but became a Russian Orthodox church in 1870. Today is serves not only as a church, but as a venue for concerts.

This was an interesting statue to me, just because it was made in Foy, Belgium, a place we visited back in the spring. Foy was one of the towns in the midst of the Battle of the Bulge site in WWII.

One of my favorite things about this church is that you are able to go up to the balcony level which really gives you an amazing view of the church and allows you to get much closer to the pipe organ and those beautiful pipes.

Sunlight streaming through the windows of ancient churches is one of my absolute favorite parts of living in Europe, and this church may just be in my list of top five favorites so far!

After spending a really long time in St. Nicholas, we headed up the hill to the Prague Castle Complex. Someone, who shall remain nameless, accused me of trying to kill her with all of these stairs. I promised that it would be worth it and that we'd have an awesome sweet treat as a reward, and alas we made it to the top!

It was indeed worth it for this bird's eye view of Prague!

We toured the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, the church that is located within the Prague Castle Complex. The third church built on this site, St. Vitus was constructed in 1344 and was witness to coronations of Czech kings and queens. The outside of this Gothic cathedral is so interesting, and the stained glass on the inside is magnificent.

Check out those gargoyles!

We snapped a couple more pictures before heading back down those steps in the direction of our reward.

What was our reward? Trdelnik!! Laurel & I had one of these delicious pastries during our previous trip to Prague during Christmas time, so we had to let our friends in on the yumminess. The pastry dough is rolled out, wrapped around a wooden stake, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, then cooked over an open fire. They are delicious just like that, but this afternoon we added fillings like ice cream and Nutella. After all, we had climbed a lot of stairs!