Valentine's Day!

The girls had a Valentine's Day party in their class. We went to the nearest "papyri" to buy paper and stickers (and tape and scissors) to decorate boxes and make valentines. We even found a box of wrapped chocolates to stick on the cards. I was feeling proud of myself for finding these things...

Brady surprised us with chocolates and a card--for the girls. And he and I went out to Casa Andina for Cuban food. Romantico and Delicioso. G and P's classmates gave them all kinds of nice trinkets, toys, and candies. A happy day for us all. (Oh, and we shared our chocolates with the boys so they were happy too.)

I'm including this photo of Finn because it's in the sunset room--or macaroni and cheese room. This is the actual color of the walls.

FUNicular to Petrin Fortress--Feb 13

Today the kids and I  set off for Petrin--for the second time.  This time I had the RIGHT book and map...

Posing at the Namesti Miru tram stop...Brady bought a good camera here in Prague. I have the cheaper one with me today...Pictures are not as nice, but we are happy--and this one does do black and white, see?

The little depot at the bottom of the hill...What the camera does not show is that it was right before sunset. Beautiful! And all the hundreds of love-stricken couples we traveled with thought so too. Clearly this is an activity for lovers, unbeknownst to us. And after all, it was the day before Valentines Day--which is celebrated here.

The "venacular" vernacular for funicular--Finn's joke--Pearl and Georgia now still don't quite know how to say it...

 We scored the front car--even though we had to stand for the 7 minutes it took to ascend the hill.

 Our view as we moved up the hill backward.

 Our tram stopped to let the one descending go by. You can see where the tracks divide.

 Petrin Fortress--what I didn't get is the "Hunger Wall", the stone wall that surrounds the fortress. A king in the 13oos (forgotten his name...) had the poor build it in exchange for food. Generous!

 We climbed the tower--where I was overcome with vertigo and nausea--dumb, dumb--and were rewarded with this view.

 Pearl has a touch of my fear of heights, but held strong.

 The wonderful (blurry!) world of Disney...

The Eiffel Tower of Prague. Doesn't look as threatening now...

Date Night

Sat. Feb.11,2011

Last night I had an adventure. It was just Dad and I. First we crossed the Saint Charles bridge. Second we saw a lot of views and walked a lot. Third we took pictures of statues built onto the wall and a lot of paintings. Fourth we crossed the Saint Charles bridge again, and went to get some ice cream. Sixth we  went to the town square and looked at a huge and I mean HUGE statue. Here's 2 things about the trip: first of all it took 2 whole hours. Second of all it was pouring rain on us! <3 Pearl

Kutna Hora!!!

A broad view of the lovely village!

There was a great park and stone bridge and below the castle and Italian Court.

The kids were enamored with this sweet old dog. I wasn't enamored with the doggy doo on the trail down...

The village was filled with narrow, winding, stone backstreets. A great place to wander.

The rooftops with cathedral in background.

Lovely!!

Aslan? Kutna Hora seemed a place he could reign.

The Sedlec Ossuary

ADVENTURES IN THE BONE CHURCH:

BROUGHT TO YOU BY KREASEFACE KILLAH

 AN OLD LADY LURKS ON US FROM AN UPSTAIRS WINDOW

 CHILDREN SURROUNDED BY THE REMAINS OF THEIR VICTIMS

 ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF THE DEAD

 ...OUCH!

Kutna Hora/Sedlec Bone Church(Ossuary)--an hour by train from Prague

We took a train on a Saturday to the nearby medieval village of Kutna Hora and Bone Church.

 Here are a few interesting  things we saw during the trip down. Hector thought this billboard was "so cool, dude!"

 Georgia and Pearl loved this smoke tower. (Don't know why we didn't get a pic of the train--it was a classic old red and turquoise "little engine that could." The kids loved the glassed-in compartment where we sat. Finn loved his ipod...

 We all loved the bright colors of the painted houses in the otherwise mostly run-down town where the Ossuary was located.

 We enter the Ossuary--where the bones of over 40,000 people are artfully arranged. Truly fascinating and downright weird!

The entrance...

The Toy Museum

We went to the Toy Museum but only got photos of the Barbie exhibit. Georgia's comments follow.Look at all the barbies! My favorite was one from the movie "The Birds".

Pearl and I had fun saying which ones looked like who.

There's Finn and Dad!