Prague – Flytographer

As another surprise on our trip, I booked a short session with a Flytographer in Prague for Jonathan and me.  This year, 2016, will also mark our 15-year anniversary so this seemed like a milestone worth documenting.  We are totally awkward in front of the camera, and I hate my profile but we look like prom pictures when we’re both looking at the camera, and I was fuh-reezing in the outfit I had brought, but, as uncomfortable as we were I LOVED this experience and I know I’ll treasure the images.  Our photographer brought us all throughout parts of New Town that were so interesting and cool—places we never would’ve noticed on our own like the upper floor of the train station, Lucerna Arcade, and the cutest little garden coffee shop where we enjoyed cappuccinos with her after (and kind of during) our photo shoot.  It was really nice to sit and talk with another local, like we’d had the chance to do on our beer tour the night before.  I would totally book another Flytographer, but probably next time when the whole family travels—I don’t know if Jonathan and I could take all of the attention again!  It is truly wonderful to have images of the two of us on this incredibly romantic trip we had the chance to take together. 

Prague – Day 2

On our second day in Prague we explored both sides of the river a few times, from New Town to Old Town to the Little Quarter and Castle Quarter across the bridges.  The well-preserved architecture and details from a variety of eras is remarkable in Prague.  We really just had a great day spending time together, walking the streets, taking lots of photographs of golden spires and Art Nouveau facades, exploring churches, getting lost (especially in the Jewish Quarter), enjoying some street food and a yummy lunch, and basically just having not much of a schedule.  The weather was quite a bit chillier than Berlin—and I admit I wasn’t really packed for that cold—and we had some rain early in the day before it cleared up to a beautiful, sunny evening.  We did spend most of the entire day outside, though—there’s just so much to see in Prague, and all in walking distance. 

Early in the day we crossed Charles Bridge with the masses and headed up to Prague Castle.  Apparently, the day we were they were celebrating the 700th birthday of the Father of the Czech nation, Charles IV, at Prague Castle which drew a huge crowd.  We couldn’t even really get close to the castle but enjoyed the view of the city from on top of the hill.  After lunch (and a special excursion you’ll see in the next post) we decided to avoid the crowds a little bit and explore quieter parts of Prague.  We walked along Kampa Island and actually got some of our prettiest views of Castle Quarter and Old Town.  I think this relaxed time with Jonathan, strolling along the Vltava River at dusk is the time I’ll treasure the most in Prague.

The next day we took a train back to Berlin (a train we nearly missed—we fortunately figured out in time that we were at the wrong train station and were able to hop on the metro to the other train station, which was obviously different than the one at which we had arrived to Prague) and had one more half a day to enjoy Berlin.  It was a quiet Monday in Berlin due to the holiday Whit Monday so we nearly enjoyed the streets to ourselves.  We took a metro out to the largest piece of the Berlin Wall still intact, and now an art gallery, explored our favorite parts of Berlin again, tried currywurst, and then had a lovely vegetarian meal in an old chapel (couldn’t eat another sausage…).  Any images from that time ended up on Instagram.  Mid-May was just a lovely time of year to visit this part of Europe and it was wonderful to explore two cities I’d never had the opportunity to see in all of my previous European travels.         

{art nouveau facades, czech details, powder tower, and prague meridian used to tell time from 1652 to 1918.}

{old town square and tyn church.}

{old town square and waiting for a roasted trdelnik (not our favorite type of donut).}

{view of prague castle and charles bridge.}

{statues on charles bridge, a watch tower, and ornate buildings on the other side of the bridge in the little quarter.}

{church of st. nicholas in little quarter.}

{ornate details of little quarter and castle quarter and the view from the top of the hill at the prague castle.}

{views from charles bridge of old town prague.}

{back at old town square with the astronomical clock and tyn church.}

{the variety of the details and colors of the buidlings blew me away.}

{close to wenceslas square—art nouveau buildings, budweiser (the stolen name), sculpture of wenceslas riding an upside-down horse by artist David Černý.}

{dancing house (nicknamed “fred and ginger”) by architect frank gehry (of guggenheim fame) and lovely views from a quieter prague a few bridges up from the charles bridge.}

{our lovely late afternoon stroll along kampa island brought ust o some beautiful views of old town.}

{and back over the charles bridge one last time.}

Prague – Day 1

From Berlin, we took a train to Prague, enjoying the views of small German and Czech villages and vast fields of yellow rapeseed flowers and catching up on my Rick Steves Prague book.  That afternoon in Prague we explored a little bit, buying some handcrafted pairs of earrings for Ella and me at an open-air market and eating some street food, and also trying to get the lay of the land.  The Czech Republic apparently drinks the most beer per capita (and we love beer) but Jonathan was not looking forward to drinking pilsners all weekend (especially after drinking German beer for a week—he’s more of an IPA guy).  So, as a special surprise, I booked a “Craft Beer and Tapas Tour” around Prague.  We met our Charles University student tour guide, and group of about six others, at Wenceslas Square and hopped on the metro to head to a few brewpubs and breweries all around Prague. 

Our first stop was Vinohradský Pivovar (brewery) which was in this cool old brewery building from the late 19th century that had been updated to reopen as a brewery in 2014.  The walls were so thick and the ceilings and windows rounded, so the space kind of felt like a cave.  They offered unfiltered pilsners, an amber beer, and even an IPA (you can guess which one Jonathan tried).  I thought our tour would be a few tastings at each brewery and light “tapas” food as described on Viator when I booked the tour, but we got one or two full mugs of beer at each stop and platters of food (which was great because I know we never would’ve known what to order on our own to get a sample of good Czech food).  After the brewery, we headed to a beer hall in New Town that had the biggest selection of beers, including several IPAs.  We enjoyed a few beers here—this was Jonathan’s favorite spot for the IPAs and sausages.  Next stop was right outside Old Town, Restaurace U Pinkasů which is the original brewery that brought pilsners to Prague (pilsners are the style of beer originally from Pilsen, just like budweiser to Czechs means the style of beer from Budweis, a point of contention for Czechs).  We were a pretty rowdy crowd by now, as you can imagine after several large mugs of beer—but luckily we were doing quite a bit of walking to each new spot.  Our last stop was in Old Town at Pivovar U Dobřenských, a small brewery with herbal beers where we enjoyed beers and dessert to close out the night of gluttony. 

After our fun night of brewery hopping, we decided to walk off some of the beer and food by exploring the Old Town.  We headed to the Charles Bridge and then to Old Town Square.  I couldn’t believe how crowded the streets were at 11pm.  I had read that the Astronomical Clock of the Old Town Hall strikes on the hour until 9pm each day, but we just happened to catch it going at 11pm (which turned out to be crowded even at that time, but a lot less crowded than the daytime on the hour).  That was probably a sign that we were visiting in high season for Prague tourism.  Berlin was not nearly as crowded, but I guess Berlin also doesn’t have the small, cobbled streets you find in Old Town Prague. 


{watch tower and statues of charles bridge, view of the vltava river and prague castle, and klementinum (national library).}


{charles bridge, vltaka river, and prague castle; tyn church in old town square; old town hall; astronomical clock; and, the powder tower.}

Berlin

For the second year in a row, Jonathan’s German-based international company brought him to Germany for a meeting in mid-May.  This meeting, the Garmisch meeting (I think the very first year it must’ve been in Garmisch), brings employees from all over the world to different parts of Germany.  There are a lot of work meetings but the company also showcases different parts of Germany.  Last year Jonathan flew into Frankfurt and had the chance to tour Bad Nauheim (where Elvis Presley was stationed during World War II) and Bad Kissingen.  Jonathan was relatively new to the company when they went on the trip last year so we weren’t sure about how the meeting timeline worked (they don’t tell the attendees where in Germany they are going from the airport) or if spouses ever met any of the other attendees over there so I unfortunately didn’t get to join Jonathan and take advantage of one airline ticket to Europe already being covered.  This year, however, his company flew him to Berlin (!) and since I had a big birthday this spring I might’ve had a little more pull, so I finagled my way on to the tail end of his trip.  I arrived in Berlin the afternoon before Jonathan’s meeting ended, so I had one evening to explore on my own.  Our hotel was in Western Berlin so I wandered around Kurfürstendamm boulevard where I saw the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and explored KaDeWe (a giant department store with a 6th floor gourmet deli, where I picked up my dinner).  I can’t say I was the best solo traveler—didn’t feel comfortable lugging around the big camera so any photos I took will be in this month’s Instagram post and you wouldn’t find me sitting at an outdoor café alone for dinner.  I took my dinner to go from the deli, headed back to the hotel, and had an early night…in my defense, it had been a long trip over.

It was a wonderful surprise to see Jonathan at the hotel by 7:00 the next morning!  We were out early and walked from West Berlin, along the full length of the Tiergarten, into East Berlin before enjoying breakfast.  Jonathan had told me before I packed that they were having warm temps over there, so luckily I was prepared for the lovely, sunny 80-degree weather we enjoyed while in Berlin.  It was just the most glorious spring weather for the activities we had planned—walking, biking, and sitting outside at biergartens!  I had pre-booked a bicycle tour of Berlin (there is a lot to see in a day) which we joined under the TV tower at Alexanderplatz.  The several-hour tour took us to Gendarmenmarkt flanked by the German Cathedral and French Cathedral, to Humboldt University where the Nazis burned books in the square, to Checkpoint Charlie, remnants of the Berlin Wall, and a guard watchtower before stopping for lunch at a biergarten in the Tiergarten.  After lunch, we biked by the Reichstag (parliament building), Brandenburg Gate, site of Hilter’s Bunker, and then to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  Especially considering the weather we had that day, by bike really was the best way to see a lot of Berlin. 

After our bike tour we had time to enjoy another beer at a biergarten in Gendarmenmarkt (it was dunkelweizen and hefeweizen heaven for me—some of my favorites).  I had also reserved a time slot to enter the Reichstag building and eat dinner at the rooftop restaurant.  The glass cupola on the top of the building was very cool to explore and photograph.    

Berlin is a beautiful city and the juxtaposition between Prussian Berlin and Communist Berlin is so interesting.  I never got a chance to visit Berlin during the 4 years I lived in Germany but I was in 8th grade living on a USAF base in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.  I loved this opportunity to finally explore this city filled with so much history, so much of it, as Jonathan pointed out, in our lifetimes.  I keep hoping we get a chance to head back to Berlin soon with the kids.  It was just the perfect trip.

{victory column and the brandenburg gate, leading into east berlin.}

{berliner dom and the communist tv tower.}

{french cathedral, german cathedral, and the concert house, all in gendarmenmarkt.}

{humboldt university and the square where the nazis burned books.}

{checkpoint charlie, trabis (the little communist cars), an inner berlin wall memorial, outer berlin wall remnant, and guard watchtower.}

{memorial to the murdered jews of europe.}

{back to beautiful gendarmenmarkt to enjoy a hefeweizen at a biergarten.} 

{the stoplight ampelmännchen and the berliner dom.}

{back to the branderburg gate and then on top of the reichstag building.}

{inside the glass cupola of the reichstag.}

{the reichstag building (with our shadows) and the memorial to the politicians who opposed hitler.}

{my favorite square again—we ate at a lovely restaurant in the red-roofed chapel on our last night in berlin.}

{berliner dom and more of humboldt university.}

Latta Plantation Field Trip

Jack’s 4th grade class took a field trip to the living museum of Latta Plantation in late April and I was lucky enough to chaperone.  The days of chaperoning field trips are coming to an end so, even though I got a large group of rowdy boys to myself, I enjoyed every minute of it with my boy.

Instagrammin’ in April

I love April!  The weather was gorgeous and this particular April was a special birthday for me.

hornets game! | weekend getaway to greenville, south carolina with my mom and sister. | birthday celebration with my tennis buds—tennis and then dinner and drinks! #andcupcakes | tough game for a defender. #centerback | sweet olive | more fun volunteering at promising pages. | beautiful day for a walk. | 40th birthday adventures at kiawah island resort. | field trip chaperone to latta plantation. #lovemyboy

My 40th Birthday

In lieu of a party, on the actual day I turned 40, I wanted to wake up somewhere beautiful.  I wanted to be out of town, away from wiping countertops and doing laundry, and with my entire family (including Olive).  Luckily, my birthday landed on a Saturday and the kids had a long weekend out of school.  We love the South Carolina lowcountry and Hilton Head Island, we decided to venture to the smaller and more exclusive Kiawah Island Resort for a very special birthday celebration.  What a beautiful, quiet place.  We enjoyed plenty of bike rides, beach time, dog walks, fancy meals, and lots of birthday love.  Jonathan and the kids prepared a ‘40 Reasons’ they love me slide show for my birthday.  I got some wonderfully thoughtful tennis and sour beer birthday gifts.  And, we ate my birthday dinner at the ultra-fancy Jasmine Porch at The Sanctuary Hotel (when we walked into the hotel Ella said, “This looks like Downton Abbey!”).  How fancy, you ask?  Ella had filet mignon off of the kids’ menu.

On Sunday, we explored parts of Kiawah we couldn’t reach by bike—the Kiawah Resort Ocean Course golf course and the Ryder Cup Bar.  The course has remarkable ocean views, and the spectacular houses we saw on the way in weren’t half bad either.  Jonathan had to fly out on a trip out of the Charleston airport, so we visited the Angel Oak Tree (a 400-500 year old giant oak tree outside of Charleston) on our way in to town and ate lunch at The Obstinate Daughter on Sullivan’s Island (highly recommend) before dropping him off.  Before heading home on Monday, Ella, Jack, Olive, and I enjoyed some more quiet beach time (there really weren’t many people on Kiawah) and an al fresco breakfast of gourmet bagel sandwiches.  It was an amazing 40th birthday weekend—definitely lessened the blow I was feeling saying goodbye to my 30s.  (I know, insert eye roll here.)

I only took a few pictures on the big camera—most pictures were from my iPhone and ended up on Instagram.