Thursday, December 25, 2014

Prague: The End

For our last hurrah in Prague, we booked a Segway tour of the city.  That's how we roll when we binderless, doing things backwards.  The kids wanted a one hour tour.  The three hour was a better deal.  We ended up with 4.5 hours on the Segways on one of the coldest days of our visit.  It didn't help that the weather note in our room the night before said it would the -warmest- day of our visit so our girls didn't wear globes, Jonathon was out in a t-shirt and light jacket, and we all wore fewer layers than we should have.  The ride was great even with Katherine tearing down a cobbled street out of control and Rebecca running off a path in park and her Segway meeting a tree.  She jumped off prior to meeting the tree so had a bruised butt and muddy leg to show for it. Everyone knows the Segway company owner died in an "Off the cliff on a Segway" accident, right?

So we touched on lots of things we' never got to visit.  The castle.  The Museum of Music.  The Kafka museum (should have seen the guide's face light up when he said he'd never met American kids who had actually read Kafka... Both the girls read "Metamorphosis" in school). The Church of Saint Nicholas where Mozart played. And lots of others spots.  It's beautiful and clean and fresh and old and there are dogs everywhere out for walks.

We had lunch at Pasta Fresca, the place that raised eyebrows as 12 people without a reservation.

But looking back, what Ian and I both go back to (besides this crazy layover in Athens) is that we should have stuck purely to market food.  We wished we'd eaten more of what we tried, and tried more of what was offered.  It was far better than any of the restaurant food we had, and far far cheaper.  We want more hot cider, more crepes, more Prague ham, more sausage. More fried things, and heavy bread, and Trdelniks, and all of it.

Prague grabbed hold of us.

In the evening, Becca and I went next door to the Hyberia for an abbreviated "Swan Lake."  Let me say right off that we're pretty sure it was a student show.  Not to say they aren't talented, but clearly designed for the tourist masses.  We enjoyed it and didn't have to dress up.

On our way back to the hotel we saw the Christmas markets starting to come down. :(

This morning we were packed up and ready for the airport shuttle at 7:30 a.m.  While our flight didn't leave until almost noon, Katherine's to Paris left before 10.  We weren't sure the shuttle would show, being Christmas morning and all, but it showed right on time and we were the only passengers.  Best deal around as the shuttle makes one stop and that's right in front of the Old Town Marriott.

Katherine departed, made it to Paris, and should be nearly back to VA now.

We are still sitting in the Athens airport Sofitel, because it's Christmas Day and everything is closed.  Our Christmas feast was at a sandwich shop in the airport, and our bit of Greek culture came from the small archaeological museum in the airport.  The rest of the time we've napped, watched TV, and enjoyed the Greek Christmas cookies the hotel left in our room.

Soon we'll depart on the very short flight back home, and while we won't technically be back in time for the holiday that doesn't really matter.  We spent some time with our WHOLE family together this past week, and that's what matters.

Merry Christmas, all.

1 comment:

  1. What a wonderful Christmas whole family time/memory! We are loving having our college one back, too. It just feels complete, doesn't it!

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