Here I am with my mom and Lukas (my mom's cousin's son...does that make him my second cousin?, I get confused with all those terms...). He graciously let us stay in his apartment whenever we were in Prague, which we returned to a few times between train rides to other relatives' houses.
Here I am with Jiri and Zorka (my mom's cousin). They helped us out start to finish, driving us around Prague, to and from the airport and even lending us their mobile phone for the duration of our trip.
We also needed them to hold our hands on the way to catch the subway, the escalator is fast and steep! On our first day, they showed us around some of the historical sites in Prague, a beautiful city even in gray, cold March when we were there.
Here's the Astronomical Clock (1891) located in the Old Town. My mom said that after the clock-maker finished building this, the powers that were took out his eyes so he could never build another one like it. Brutal!
My first Czech meal (potato pancake, roll and a sausage) almost 100% Czech except I opted for green tea instead of beer. Horrors! (I know dad...).
My parents have one of these types of carvings at their house, so I took a picture. I found myself distinguishing between what in my family life experience was distinctly "Czech" and what was just "us." I even made a list in my journal of random things that made the not just "us" list such as: changing into comfortable clothes (teplaki) when you get home from being out; picking mushrooms: blowing your nose as hard as you can and not just politely wiping it; Jesus, not Santa coming to give you gifts at Christmas...It's not strange or weird! It's just Czech!
Jiri works in restoring old artwork in historical Prague, so he knows a lot about the different types of artwork associated with each era. We had our own personal tour-guide, complete with an excellent sense of humour!
This is the ceiling in the St. Nicolas cathedral at Malostranske Namesti (1703). This is the largest of Prague's churches founded by the Jesuits. Particularly impressive is the dome fresco from Franz Palko, showing The Celebration of the Holy Trinity, filling the 70m high dome.
A view after crossing Charles Bridge.
A menacing statue against the blue sky...don't be fooled though, it was cold! I had to borrow a toque and gloves from Lukas.
This is Karlstein Castle (1348) which is about 30 km southwest of Prague. Jiri and Zorka drove us out to do some sightseeing. It became the place for safekeeping of the Czech coronation jewels, which were kept here, with the exception of several short-time breaks, for nearly 200 years.
Near Karlstein was the cemetary where my mom's uncle (Zorka's father) was buried. I had never been to a relative's grave before, it was a meaningful experience, these flowers were at the gravesite, so we picked a few and put them on his gravestone.
Also nearby is the house that my mom and Zorka inherited from their grandmother. She saw fit to give it to her only granddaughters as an inheritance, I thought this was rather amazing and forward-thinking for the time in which she lived. My mom often talks with fondness about this grandmother, she displayed a lot of wisdom in her life and had a joyful disposition, often able to smooth out the differences between people. Zorka and my mom have long since sold this house. If I remember correctly it is near the birthplace of Martina Navratilova (the famous Czech tennis player).
