Prague - Day 2

Saturday morning we woke up to another beautifully sunny and crisp day in Prague.  How could I have been so down on this city?  It really is gorgeous. As a good friend of mine said,
"context matters" and apparently my two previous trips it was not in the best context.

These are the "pancakes" covered with powdered
sugar and drizzled with chocolate. 

Everyone is hungry (of course) so the first item of business if finding a place for breakfast.  The night before we past by a cute little cafe with "pancakes" written on the little sign outside.  The kids remembered this the next morning because pancakes are something I just haven't made here.  In Seattle the kids ate Kodiak  Power Cakes pancakes nearly every single day.  So we find the cafe with the pancakes and boy were the kids happy.  Actually, we all were.  The breakfast was delicious.
For the rest of the day the kids really did redeem themselves from all of the whining the day before. 

They were the most amazing little adventurers.  We walked ALL over the city.  We walked down adorable pedestrian streets and in and out of museums and churches and through plazas and across bridges.  There were some of the most amazing musicians and street performers I've ever seen. 

The kids took it all in.  We popped in souvenir shops and candy stores.  By the way, I don't think I have ever seen more candy stores in a city.  Most of them had HUGE barrels filled with bulk candy.

It was so fun and honestly, I thought my days of this kind of city discovery and travel were over once we had kids but they were even having fun.

We walked across the St. Charles Bridge.  Josie doesn't remember it from when she was two but it is the one place I do remember from my previous two trips.  The latter of the two was when the US economy crashed (September 2008)  I vividly remember reading about the banking crisis and the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers while on this trip.

We walked up to the castle and back down again.  After all of the walking and touring we all had a treat.  Another trdelnik because they are just so darn good!  The dough is rolled out fresh and then it is wound around a skewer and grilled right over an open fire.  Then dusted with sugar.  So SO good. 

This time Josie got a caramel filled one, Benjamin chocolate again and Marty filled with ice cream because he just wanted the soft serve ice cream and I just wanted a plain trdelnik.  Delish!! Benjamin seemed to have chocolate smeared all over his face the entire weekend.

We decide to head back to our airbnb to take a little afternoon break which was much needed after all of the walking around.  On the way back we stumbled upon an Ice Pub.  There was a guy with a rose frozen into a huge block of ice.  The kids were fascinated.  I have to say I was too.  Josie has the Ice Hotel in Sweden on the very top of her "must see" list.  It gives me the shivers to even consider it although, I must admit, it does look cool.  We talked about maybe going there after our break.

We head looking for dinner and end up going to the Ice Pub. Afterward we agree on a traditional Czech restaurant because it has schnitzel and fries which Benjamin likes, it has goulash which I wanted to try - when in Rome, I say! Apparently The Czech Republic is also known for their beer.  The first pilsner came from here and it is where Budweiser originated.  So, again, while in Rome, I had to have a huge mug.

and it had vegetarian dumplings for Josie.  Unfortunately when we were seated the guy said that they were fresh out of dumplings.  UGH!!  It is so hard to finally agree on a spot and then come to find out they don't have the one thing you came for.

Apparently Ruda Pivrnec recommends
his own farts!!  

Fortunately, Josie settled for vegetarian pumpkin soup.  It was really good.  All of it.
We all went to bed happily satisfied with our bellies full and our minds expanded from our discovery of beautiful Prague.  Oh, and we also ended up walking over 9 miles that day.