Prague 2 years later...

A long time ago, my aunt Carmela came to visit us in Germany. When I asked her places that she may like to go, she had suggested Prague in the Czech Republic. A flight there was about an hour long but figuring in taxis, getting to our airbnb, and the cost of the flight, I made the decision to drive the five and a half hours to get there.

She graciously sat in the car for HOURS as we drove into the Czech Republic. We had no idea that it would take around 12 hours to get there. Not only was there a Stau (crazy traffic), but we also got pulled over.
Back then, we shared one car (Matt & I), and it was from America. We drove a GTI Volkswagen. Now, from what I can decipher, our car is American spec. Meaning that in other countries there are different standards for what the car comes equipped with- like fog lights. Driving out in Europe, especially in the winter, there is a lot of fog.
Now, when we lived in Germany we had only a German number and it was a small fortune to call someone from out of country. I got pulled over about 30 minutes into the CR & spent quite a while explaining to the policemen that I didn't know what they were pulling us over for. Maybe an hour later we finally used charades and got across to one another, that I and my car came from America and that it didn't in fact have the fog lights they were looking for. I got let off- either as a warning or out of frustration (I'll never know).
This story that is being told years later, is only what I could interpret from the situation while it was happening. I'm just assuming that the "winter package" on a European car package is what the police were looking for.


Anyway, since I'm reviving the blog I thought it would be ridiculous if I didn't at least add these photos to acknowledge one of my greatest and shortest trips.

This is one of the first pictures I had taken when we got there.. notice how dark it is...

Apparently I didn't take any photos of this bridge in the daylight, but it was beautiful. 

This bridge also had vendors set up along the walls and a lot of people were out. 

These Christmas markets are everywhere in Europe. 

This is a windy picture of Carm at the top of the bell tower. 

Views from going up

This picture looks like an accident, but the building on the left is here we stayed. The pinkish building in the middle held the airbnb we rented and it had an awesome shot of the Church of Our Lady

Famous red roofs of Prague. 

We went to the Prague castle. It was the most oddly put together encampment of buildings, nothing seemed to match. 

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

One of my favorite trips I've ever taken was to the Neuschwanstein Castle. 

My sister and I grew up on Disney and when we got wind that the castle that Sleeping Beauty's castle was based on was within Germany- we HAD to go. I waited two years to take this trip and I would only take it with her. :)

This castle is a nineteenth-century Romanesque revival palace in southern Bavaria. It was created by Ludwig II of Bavaria out of his own pocket. Sadly, Ludwig only slept for 11 days within his palace. On a more positive note, it was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's castle. 

 Full History Here

I love Bavaria. 

I also love horse and carriage rides. My first one was magical, it was taken up to the castle by these two beautiful beasts! 

I was pretty pumped. 

I think Christina was too! 

Breakfast: Cheesy Pretzel

On the way up.

I asked her to take this photo with me, and because she loves me so much, she did! 

First photos up close of the castle. It's a gem I know.

This is what it looked like to get the guided tour. We took the line on the left.

Happy Christina!

Here's the sad part about this wonderful tour: no photos inside. I cannot begin to tell you how phenomenal it was to see. In the wikipedia link above you can see all the ornate furnishings within, but I have no photos of my own. 

This was at the end. We could take pictures of the old kitchen. It was some very exciting stuff.... as you can tell.... yeah.

Even though we didn't get photos inside other than that glorious piece above these words, the view started to make up for it. Here is Chris looking out at the view from the back of the palace.

It can't get much better than this!

Last minute photos before we left.

Crepes we had for "brunch" after we toured the castle. 

I'm so so thankful I got to see such a marvelous structure. It has put every castle I've ever seen to shame. If you're ever in the are, please take the time to see it! Get a guided tour, our guide was pretty funny and was super helpful in answering all of our questions. 

Goodbye you beautiful castle, you!