Europe: Beautiful Prague, May 19,2012 (and a birthday girl)

Before joining all the rest of the family on the main cruise, we took a one week trip with Judy and Bob to Eastern Europe. It was fabulous! I hope the Cannons enjoyed it as much as we did. Judy and Bob really know how to find the best tours, cheapest hotels, and most interesting places to visit, and they are the best traveling companions ever.

We left Billings on Friday 6:30 am, met up with the Cannons in New York, and arrived in Prague Saturday around 10:30 am local time. That long airline trip wasn't nearly as bad as I feared, and we hit the ground running when we landed.

Prague is unbelievably beautiful. I felt like I was in a fairy tale.

 Every building, many of which were built in the 17th or 18th century, was a works of art.

 Mom said that Prague was one of her favorite cities in the world. After roaming Prague for a few days, I totally understood why.

There is so much to see.

We took an excellent free walking tour of the city.

I'm pretty sure we walked an average of 79 miles a day that first week, but it kept us from feeling jet lag, allowed us to see as much as possible, and burned calories for refueling with gelato.

This is the St George Bascilica, with "Adam and Eve" steeples-the wider right tower represents Adam, the smaller left steeple represents Eve. Construction of the Bascilica started in the 10th century. One of the most mind-blowing parts of this trip was the age of things--the oldest building I've been in since living in Billings is the 1901 Moss Mansion.

Adam and Eve church from another angle.

 Prague has an amazing astronomical clock. It was installed in 1410, and is the oldest clock working astronomical clock in the world. On the hour, four figures representing vanity, greed, death, and pleasure become animated. The town hall next to this clock tower burned down in World War II, but the clock and clock tower survived.

A couple of things that are MUCH younger than the clock.

 Beautiful old buildings to the left of the clock tower.

We encountered very few cars in Europe. Most people walked, rode bikes, or took one of these horse drawn carriages. All of the horses wore these fancy, silky ear-cover thingers.

Intermission

Today is Hailey's 6th birthday. We celebrated by going to Costco to order her cake for her party on Saturday (chocolate with a rainbow and "Happy Birthday Hailey").  Costco is also home to watermelon and cute and cheap children's clothing.

Because it is Hailey's birthday, I personally blew up the plastic pool. 

I've got to get a pump. I've got permanent brain damage from all the oxygen expiration.

The girls had great fun running,

jumping,

and lounging in the pool.

We now return to our regular post.

There are interesting sculptures everywhere in Europe; Prague is no exception. This is Clock of Conscience by Anna Chromy 

I think this is the original gate to the city, built in the 900's. This is one of those things I may change my mind about later.

 The first of many churches we visited was in Prague. St. James is located in Old Town. It is a Baroque style building, originally built in 1232, and rebuilt in 1689 after it was destroyed by fire caused by invading French troops.

Wow. The experience of walking into a European cathedral never got old.

 This particular church has an *interesting* artifact: a 400 year old hand. Apparently a thief attempted to steal jewels left for the Madonna. The Madonna statue grabbed the thief's arm and the only way to free him was to cut off his arm. The hand hangs as a warning to would-be thieves.

This was definitely one of the most beautiful buildings we saw. 

Mom always pish-poshed the LDS temples, and it always kind of irritated me, but after visiting several cathedrals that were a part of her life, I suddenly understood.

From the acoustics, to the colors, to the art,

these churches are indescribable.

I could not get enough of them!

 

Europe: From Prague to Rexburg

For many years, Mom tried to talk her five children and their spouses into going on a trip together somewhere. It just never worked out--too many busy schedules full of children, jobs, and life. I feel sad, knowing how much Mom would have loved to be with us, her children, as we enjoyed each other's company. Mom was big on family unity. I think that is one of her many great legacies.

When Mom died in 2009, we decided to set aside a portion of our inheritance for that trip. After 2 years of discussion, David came across this river cruise down the Rhine. Perfect! Unlike my siblings, I had never been to Europe and I could hardly wait for the cruise to begin. I must say, not only did the trip meet my anxious anticipation, it far surpassed it.

 I only wish Mom had been there to enjoy it with us. 

 Our river cruise--except we started in Basel and ended in Amsterdam

Sorting through the thousands of pictures I took has been overwhelming. I took careful notes; even so, many of the places we visited are have already blurred together. There were so many breathtaking churches, fabulous foods, tasty gelatos, charming cities, and stunning vistas. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some things wrong. I reserve the right to change information, tell the story from my angle, and label pictures in a very general way.

That one cathedral in that one town.

Before I launch into Europe, I should mention Rexburg. When I got home on Sunday, I spent a few days trying to catch up, relearning to sleep nights instead of days (I now know how a newborn feels), and getting on top of laundry, phone messages, mail, and general life. On Friday Megan and I traveled to Rexburg so that Megan could go see Bill Cosby life with her significant other.

 Bill Cosby, not Megan's significant other. Bill had four sellout shows at BYU-I.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed time with cute little Brinlee, Ashley, and McKay, and Rexburg's delicious assortment of frozen yogurt, custard and gelati (not a misspelling-don't ask). So much for weaning myself off of frozen treats. The Backmans were in Utah, watching Jorden participate in a bike marathon. It's ok. I ate their share of ice cream for them.

This cute, tiny girl is taking her first steps. She's already pretty steady on her feet. She has the world's most expressive face.

Brinlee is sweet and so happy, no doubt because of her excellent mom and dad.

Since Brinlee turns 1 year old on the 22nd, I brought her this beautifully wrapped early birthday present.

Oooo...just what she wanted!

I think she likes it!

Up first: European Travels: Beautiful Prague

While We Were Gone....

....Megan did not starve, forget to go to bed, or work, or church. She wasn't murdered, robbed, or found wandering with amnesia. She didn't make the Billings Gazette with reported incidents involving police. She didn't even burn the house down, although she came close on that one.

After Megan got dressed for work today, Makayla said "You look beautiful, Megan!" You've gotta love Makayla!

 In fact, while we were gone, Megan was named "Employee of the Month". This means her name is on the Del Taco wall of fame, she got this super cool water bottle, AND (most importantly) a $25 bonus. You go, Megan!!

While we were gone, the baby robins hatched, grew up, and left the nest. Except for this last one. It appears her parents abandoned her, leaving her home alone while they flew off to Europe or something. 

I've name this last baby bird "Megan". Seems appropriate somehow.

While we were gone, Makayla got her glasses. She's still learning to look through them, not over them.

While we were gone, I missed these two terribly, and they claim they missed me, too.

While we were gone, it snowed a couple of inches. My yard managed to survive and grow out of control anyway. Megan was kind enough to cut the grass after it got 15.4 inches high.

While we were gone, Hailey made this objet d' art for me. It's made of paper towels, ribbons, buttons, and a variety of unidentifiable decorations. I like it more than most of the famous art I saw in Europe. It is proudly hanging on my fridge.

Hailey also had a gift for Stan. She collects nuts, bolts, and other metal things she finds as "stuff for Grandpa". It cracks me up that Hailey has noticed Grandpa's propensity to have a pocketful of "fix it" material, and gathers more of it to give him.

Now That We're Home..

...Stan and I took the girls to go look at a few cars.  After all, nothing says *fun* quite like an afternoon in a hot parking lot with a couple of little girls.

But I made up for all that fun by going to the local park

where we found the wading pools up and running.

Did I mention that I missed these two?

 Since we've been home, I've started sorting through the pictures from our trip. All 3422 of them. Nope, I'm not kidding: 3422.

I took extensive and careful notes, but the coming travel log is going to be full of pictures

of places I remember, but can't remember where, what, or when. I figure I've got around 16 travel log posts. Kids, fasten your seat belts! It's going to be a long and bumpy ride!!