Day 4

 Ahoy from Prague! The internet is a lot better here so I was able to go back to previous blog posts and add a few more pics if you want to check those out. I am also getting 2 done in 1 day! Crazy. We hopped on the bus to Dresden, Germany this morning, the capital of Saxony. Dresden was heavily bombed at the end of World War II so all of the structures have been rebuilt over time. The structures that have very dark bricks are original (and burned from the bombings in 1945) and the structures that have nice clean looking bricks have been redone. We were given a brief walking tour of the city and then set off to explore on our own. Most of the kids wanted to eat, shop and mosey around, so I don't have a lot of pictures of them, but I added some of the sights we saw on our guided tour. The Church of our Lady was completely destroyed during the bombings and was only recently rebuilt (2005) at a cost of 180 million Euros. WOW! They kept true to its original structure though. After our free time in Dresden we met up and got back on the bus for the drive to Prague. The border crossing was anticlimactic because all EU members are free to cross without inspection. We made it to Prague a little early and got to do a little sightseeing on our walk to the restaurant. We stopped in the old town main square and say the Church of our Lady Tyn and the Old Town Hall (which hopefully we will be able to climb up tomorrow and get some great pictures of the city). We had a traditional style Czech dinner which consisted of a rich vegetable soup, roast beef and dumplings, and a pastry for dessert. If I had to wager a guess, I don't think the kids really liked the main course. It could have something to do with the whipped cream and berry compote on top of the roast beef (I found it delicious, but I was hungry!) I'll try to get them to give czech food another chance tomorrow. We're back at our hotel now and the wifi is flowing! Tomorrow we have our visit to the castle, walking tour of the city, underground tour, river cruise, blacklight dance show, and free time! It is going to be a busy day. Enjoy the pics below! And if anyone wants to leave comments, I'll pass them along to the kids (they're checking the blog as well!)

Procession of Dukes

Church of our Lady

Inside the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady)

Old Town Dresden

Jordan at the Zwinger Palace

Nymph Baths

Chilling before the bus ride

Prague Castle and Vltava River

In front of the Church of our Lady Tyn

What is with all these peace signs???

Roast beef with cream and berry compote on top...mmmmm