Adventures Elsewhere - Prague

On our journey to Prague, our GPS took us on some crazy back roads to get there.  We thought we were lost.  It was a tad unnerving, but after driving in what we thought was the middle of nowhere for an hour or so, we were able to find it alright.

Prague was amazing, but we had a rude introduction when the Prague police pulled us over for driving in a no parking zone.  He said our fine would be 1000 koruna.  I had no idea what a koruna was worth so my heart was sinking into my stomach.  Newel left to go exchange for koruna.  He took awhile to get back and the police started to question me about where my husband had gone.  I felt like crying.  I just wanted to enjoy Prague!  Fortunately, Newel came back.  He took longer because he went to our hotel to ask if the fine the police gave us was legit.  1000 Koruna is only about 35 euro so that worked out.  Ugh.  It was a bummer and I don't want to complain about it because it's over, but I still wanted to write about it.

Once we got the police out of our hair, we got to our hotel which was kind of like a step-up from a hostel.  Our room had twin beds and we shared a bathroom with the other rooms on our floor.  Here is what we did after we checked in to our hotel and ate some delicious Czech food:

Walked around Old Town Square which included the Astronomical Clock, Tyn Catherdral, St. Nicholas Church, Charles Bridge, Lesser Town, and Bethlehem Chapel.  I think I was a little peeved and maybe semi-traumatized from the police so my picture taking diminished somewhat while we were there.  Here's a good one of Newel in front of Tyn Cathedral.

The next morning, we walked to Prague Castle which had amazing views (see one of my favorite pictures I took below).  

Prague Castle included St. Vitus Cathedral, the royal gardens, and guards that don't move (like in London).  We later went to the banks of Vltava River, crossed St. Charles Bridge and walked through Old Town one last time before getting on the road heading to Munich.

Overall impressions of Prague: very touristy, tons and tons of people, major traffic - which Newel loved ;).  It reminded us of New Orleans; so many fun things to do and see but kind of crazy too.

What I want to remember:

1) Dinner with Newel including the waiter commenting that he must be the only man in Prague not drinking and then telling me he was a keeper - I've always thought Newel was a keeper for many reasons including him not drinking.

2) Walking around Prague, holding hands - that might sound silly, but I just felt grateful to get to hold hands with Newel in one of the coolest cities in the world. :)

3) The views from Prague Castle.

Things Newel wants to remember:

1) The details of our hotel - I forgot to mention that it was built in 1467.

2) The restaurant we ate at including our meal and the bread

3) The old buildings and architecture

Lessons learned:

1) Do more research before seeing Prague including background/history on all the attractions as well as places to stay outside of the city and so you can just take the tram to get to where you want to go.

2) Money isn't the most important thing (I was bugged about our driving violation fine),

3) Things are only as traumatic as you make them (again, bugged about that police incident, but it's all good now).

Adventures Elsewhere - Dresden

I know what you're probably thinking because I've been thinking it too - Is she ever going to finish blogging about her Europe trip?!  It was over 6 months ago!!!  I know, it will end soon.  I think my subconscious still wants to be in Europe so I'm dragging out my posts as long as possible. :)  My goal is to get all my posts about the trip up by the end of this year.  My track record for blogpost frequency makes it look like I won't be able to do it, but I shall!  You also might wonder how I can still remember enough to write about our experiences, but the good news is that I took notes about our journey as the travels occurred when we were driving from city to city.  So my recollections are pretty legit.

Anyway, so DRESDEN.  I loved it.  Newel said it was his favorite city he served in and it was my favorite city we visited in East Germany.  Here's some of what we did when we were there:

We walked around the Neustadt (new city) and saw Newel's old missionary apartment.  Then we checked into our hotel which was one of my favorites - Motel One.

 We then walked across Marienbrucke and caught this view of the Altstadt (old city).  I was so taken aback by this view when I first saw it.  I couldn't believe I was in such a beautiful place full of so much history.  Then we walked more along the River Elbe.

In the Altstadt we saw the old opera house, Dresden castle, and Fraunkirche (Church of Our Lady).  The Fraunkirche was bombed and destroyed during WWII and then was later rebuilt a few years after Newel finished his mission.  When he was in Dresden, it was still a pile of rubble so it was really cool for him to see it completed.  We climbed to the top and got these amazing views of the city.

We then walked and walked and walked and walked!  We saw the Golden Rider statue of August the Strong (major king of Saxony).

The next morning, we walked to the Zwinger - a massive party palace partly inspired by Versailles.

And then we went to the Praguestrasse where Newel did missionary work.

What I want to remember about Dresden:
1) How much Newel loved seeing it again and talking about what it was like to serve there.
2) All the moms with babies - and they all rode bikes and had baby bike seats in the front of their handle bars.
3) The view from Fraunkirche
4) Walking in the Neustadt down Rothenburgerstasse
5)  The unevenness of the sidewalks because of all the big cobblestones - this was a little detail Newel had forgotten
6) Sitting and people watching with Newel in the Praguestrasse

He is the Gift

This came to me via email at a perfect moment.  I was feeling stressed with all things related to Christmas and my never-ending to-do list, but then I watched this and now I feel all better.  I once again realized that my lists don't really matter and getting it all done doesn't matter either.  All that matters is that I remember the Gift of Our Savior; that I remember His love and that I remember to share it with others.  He is the Gift.