Prague

On our way to Prague we sat by the nicest Czech woman who started giving us all types of tips on where to go in Prague and what to eat - for which we were extremely grateful.  We got on the conversation of why Adam knew Russian and started talking about missions and the church and next thing we knew we were telling her that families can be together forever.  We had a great ride.

As we got farther away from Germany a bunch of kids dressed in white got on the train and were swearing up a storm, I guess I didn't really realize that some words are universal, but they are, unfortunately.  Prague is known for its pub crawls and it was obvious that that is where these kids were headed.  One guy kept yelling, "SENSATIONAL!!!" over and over again.  Weird group of people.

We promptly found our hostel located on the main street in town and took our stuff to our room which we shared with 12 other people in the Orange Hostel.  After dropping our stuff on our bunks and locking our stuff into lockers we went out to test out the Czech food.  We found a small restaurant tucked into the back corner of an alley and ordered the Svitchcova which is a sirloin with sauce, whipped cream, and cranberries all served with bread dumplings, so good.

Sunday morning we set out to find church.  The LDS meetinghouse app wasn't working on Adam's phone so we had to guesstimate from what we could find on Google.  By some miracle we made it across town up to church where they had translators and also an English Sunday school class.  We met a wonderful family from Washington who were finishing up their 10 month stay in Prague with their six kids with ages between 1 and 12 - props to them for that.  After church we wandered back past the Prague castle and through town.

At our hostel we stopped in to read for a bit before heading out again.  While we were reading the cleaning ladies came in.  I quickly started trying to ask them about shutting the window.  The night before the window was stuck and wouldn't shut so it was super loud all night long.  These ladies started shaking their heads basically saying, "stop talking, we have no idea what you are saying."  I did my best charades to motion at the window to get them to help me shut it and they finally got the hint.  It was only then that Adam decided to pay attention and realized that they were speaking Russian and then he tried to help... but it was much to late, I had already played my charades.  It was then that a kid across the room from London piped in, "I was here last night and it wasn't even loud."  Then Adam put him right back in his place, "No you weren't, you got home at six this morning, you weren't even here last night." He promptly shut it and didn't say another word.  We later got to be pretty good friends with this kid who was on a weekend drinking spree from London.  What a way to spend the weekend.  

On our walking tour we were offered discounted tickets to do a pub crawl.  As some other girls said as we were offered the opportunity to go on a pub crawl, "By the second pub you'll be so wasted you won't even remember anything else."  Haha, so sad, but so true for so many of the people we met in Prague.

Monday we went on a walking tour of Prague and learned all of the history behind all of the different places.  The free walking tour started and ended at the famous bell tower.  We learned all about Franz Kafka and passed quite a few medieval torture museums.  

My favorite story was one about one of the churches in Prague.  

The story goes that long long ago the church used to store its treasures inside of its cathedrals.  One night  a thief hid in the chapel until all of the priests were gone.  After he had looted most all of the treasure the thief noticed a gold necklace on the statue of the Mary.  As he went to grab the necklace of the statue, Mary came to life and grabbed his wrist and wouldn't let go.  The thief wailed and yelled and struggled to get away, but his efforts proved useless.  In the morning the priests found the thief begging for them to help him get free.  Nothing worked.  The priests then told the thief that they must cut off the arm.  The thief was so relieved until he realized that they were not going to cut off the arm of the statue.  As soon as the priests cut through the last bit of arm the statue released her grip and resumed her normal position and the priests hung the arm at the front of the chapel to warn thieves of what happens to those who steel.  

The shriveled arm is still hanging in the front of the church.  Scary. 

During the next couple of days we enjoyed walking on St. Charles Bridge and through the town, eating gelato, and  trying more traditional Czech dishes like Goulash.  What a beautiful city.

After one more quick jaunt through Wenceslas Square we were back on a train and on our way to Vienna.