Again, sorry for the delay in between posts. Since Mom Sterdis was here last week, we were very busy and spent the remainder of this week catching up on stuff. We had a great time with her. We showed her around Munich a little, and we also spent the weekend in Prague, in the Czech Republic.
Prague was awesome. It's an amazingly beautiful city with a lot of interesting history. It is the capital of the Czech Republic, and the largest city with a population of about 2 million. The culture is pretty unique since the country was influenced by so many other cultures throughout the years. We arrived on Friday afternoon and spent most of the day just walking around and exploring the city on our own.
We finished up the day with an amazing dinner at a nice restaurant in the city. Thanks to the very favorable exchange rate (1 U.S. Dollar = about 20 Czech koruna), we were able to have an awesome dinner at a really great price. On Saturday, we spent most of the day on a walking tour so that we could learn more about the history of the city and the country of Czech Republic. The Czech Republic has only existed since 1993. Before then, it was a part of the country of Czechoslovakia. We learned about Prague's role in WWII (there was a large Jewish community in the city), as well as what it was like under Communist rule. I can't imagine living under the conditions that they had. One interesting story: Towards the end of the Communist rule, there were many protests by the Czech citizens. One young student even lit himself on fire to prove his point. It's pretty crazy when you think about how recent this all was. On the tour, we also learned about Prague's most famous landmark - the Astronomical Clock. This large clock, installed in 1410, has several components. Just by looking at it, you can tell the local time, the time of day (day or night), the date, and the lunar phase. There are also some figurines that move on every hour, but we didn't hang around to actually watch it in person. Apparently, it is not very exciting and is often referred to as one of the most disappointing sights in Europe. Our tour guide however, was quick to remind us that most of the disappointment results from tourists' modern expectations. Thus, it is important to remember that this clock dates back to the 15th century. So really, it is pretty cool.
The entire tour was very interesting and we enjoyed it, despite the chilly weather. Afterwards, we enjoyed a lovely cheese plate and some Czech beers at a cozy pub. Of course, Matt enjoyed sampling the Czech beer. We found two kinds that he approved of haha. Later, we even had some time to do a little shopping. We had another great dinner at a French-ish restaurant in the city. Despite Matt's doubts (the restaurant is closing within a month and thus, had a very limited wine list), we had another fantastic dinner. The Czech cuisine (similar to German cuisine) seems to have an emphasis on meat dishes, especially pork, duck, and even rabbit. Both restaurants that we dined at served delicious variations of these. On Sunday, we took a bus back to Munich.
Here are some more Prague photos:
We had hoped for better weather and more time to show Mom Sterdis how beautiful Munich truly is, but alas, we will have to wait until her next visit in the Spring or Summer to do so. Our first time hosting a visitor from overseas was a great success (so we think haha), and we are looking forward to having more visitors in the Spring and Summer!
On Sunday, we are hosting a traditional Bavarian breakfast known as a "Weisswurst Fruehstueck." We'll take some photos and post more about that next week.
Until then... Cheers!
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