Planes, Trains and Automobiles

We recently took a trip to Vienna. The 8 hour train ride was WAY less expensive the 2 hour flight, so we decided to take the train.

None of us had ever been on a passenger train before, so at the beginning of the trip everyone was very happy and excited.

We had our own six seat cabin, which was great, since there were six of us (Gord had to work so he stayed in Warsaw).

There was even a plug in for the computer, so the kids were happy the whole time.

Well, maybe not Michael. He started to lose it around 7:30, which is normally when he is warm and cozy in the bathtub, not hurtling down a railroad track. Krista has a great picture of him watching a movie and eating candy (which normally makes him really happy) but he is still crying and crying. I guess when you have had enough, you have had enough.

We got off the train at around 8:30 p.m. We were all really excited to be there, and the city looked beautiful even from the small part we had seen out the train window. Paula had expertly planned the rest of the trip from the train station to the apartment. One subway ride and a short walk and we would be at the apartment by 9:00 to pick up the keys. Easy peasy. However, when we tried to get on the subway which would take us straight to the apartment, we were told that the section of the subway we needed was closed for the summer. Doesn't that seem like information you might put up on your website? Just sayin'.

We were told that we would have to take three different subways (which meant three line transfers) to get to our destination. Our new instructions were not really clear, we had no idea where we were going, it was already dark out, Michael had been screaming for an hour and we had all of our luggage with us. Did I mention the tired kids and stressed out moms? This is really where things started to fall apart!

It was around this time that Lily got tired and decided she missed her dad. Frankly, I was starting to miss her dad too! However, my Lily is still willing to smile for the camera even when she is crying her eyes out.

Lily's crying made Mia and Vinny start to cry. Doesn't Paula look happy?

Finally, at about 10:30, we arrived at the subway station near the apartment. The manager came with his van and shuttled us there, and all of my kids were in bed by 11:00, a mere three hours past when they normally go to bed.

All part of the adventure, right?

I think the thing my kids miss the most about home (aside from Buster, of course) is pancakes. In our real life, I make homemade pancakes for breakfast about twice a week. Here, I don't really have the ingredients or kitchen items needed to make them from scratch. My friend Paula discovered a grocery store in Warsaw that sells international items, so we went there in search of pancake mix.

We found it, as well as other things like syrup, cookie mix and American mustard. The kids were so happy! Please notice that the macaroni and cheese is not Kraft Dinner, but is produced by Kraft. It did not taste the same. Is that weird? Anyway, I digress. The pancake mix we were able to get came in a shake and make bottle. You just add water, shake it up and make yummy pancakes. Easy peasy!

The bad news is that one bottle made six tiny little pancakes. One for each of us (except Gord, who was at work). Given that I paid about $100 Cdn for the groceries you saw above, we will not be having pancakes again while we are here.

Too bad though, because they were a big hit!

My Favourite Part of the Trip

Technically, we are on to new adventures. However, I would like to say a few things about our last day in Prague. Our last full day there, we went to Prague Castle.

The castle was wonderful, of course, and the cathedral was breathtaking, of course, but my favourite part was a separate palace we came across in the castle complex. After we climbed the hill to the castle grounds, we went into the first building where it looked like we could buy tickets. Our intention was to gain entrance to the main palace, but it turned out that we had stumbled upon Lobkowicz Palace. The Lobkowicz family used to be one of the richest and most powerful families in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). Then, the Nazis rolled in and took everything from them. They got all of their belongings back after WWII, only to have the Communists come in and take everything from them again. With only the coats on their backs, they sought asylum in the United States and became an average, middle class, immigrant family in Boston. Can you imagine? After the fall of Communisim, they were amazingly able to get everything back again. The most interesting article I read about them after our visit was called The Prince is a Pauper from Boston Magazine: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/the_prince_is_a_pauper/page1. If you have a moment, you really should read it. It tells the story of William Lobkowicz, who was born in Boston and had only heard stories about his family history from his father and grandfather. He took on the mission to find and claim all of his family's belongings (including palaces, castles, paintings, manuscripts, couches, silverware...you name it) and the difficulties and challenges he has had in knowing what to do when you inherit 12 run down castles and all of their contents. Really, really interesting.

Prague - Day Two

Sunday in Prague we went to an English speaking mass at The Church of Our Lady Victorious.

It is the church that houses the Infant Jesus of Prague. For a full panoramic tour of the church, click here: http://www.pragjesu.info/en/panorama/child-jesus-church.htm.

It was a lovely mass, filled to capacity with people from all over the world. During mass, tourists were coming in here and there and then an entire tour group came through. At first, I was not impressed with people wandering in, looking around and taking pictures during that time. However, I tried to think more charitably about it and considered that maybe those tourists would get something they needed out of being in the church during mass. Maybe they would be inspired or comforted or something from having been there. Of course, my new found charity was challenged as soon as we got back to our seats after receiving Communion only to find tourists sitting there. I love how just when you think you are growing in virtue, God likes to offer you a little challenge to grow further!

After church and lunch, we went on a 2 hour boat ride down the Vltava River. It was beautiful and serene (minus the sound of children complaining they were bored, of course). Krista said it was her favourite part of our visit to Prague (which means she has gotten really good at tuning the kids out!).

This was not our boat, but another tour on the river at the same time. You get the idea.

We sat on the top deck, and arrived too late to get a seat with an umbrella. It was smokin' hot!

These are a few of the sights from our boat ride (which I was hoping would come with commentary so that we would know what we were looking at, but did not):

(The Dancing House)

When we got off the boat, we headed to the Old Town Square for supper. We had super delicious Czech food. Gord and Krista ordered the goulash, and I had roast duck with dumplings, saurkraut and cooked cabbage. Oh, how I love good food! I think food has been my favourite part of this whole trip. Owen would like me to tell you that he killed his first wasp that evening during dinner. Maybe when we get home that can be one of his official chores!

The Old Town Square is home to this astronomical clock. It is one of only three in the world, and apparently the only one that is functional (this picture is sideways, fyi).

PS It turns out that we booked our holiday on the same weekend as Prague Pride 2011. At first, we noticed an unusual number of really well groomed men travelling in pairs. Then we started to notice the rainbow flags. However, it was the 6'5'' man dressed as a woman who was dressed as a butterfly that really tipped us off. When we passed closer by the butterfly and heard him talk, Owen said "Dad, I think that woman is a man!" Needless to say, this aspect of our weekend inspired all sorts of questions and comments from our sheltered homeschool children!

Our Long Weekend - Day One

When we woke up on Saturday morning, we really had no plan for our time in Prague. In fact, we didn't even know where we were going to eat breakfast. We chose the first place we saw after leaving our apartment, which was a hostel across the street (http://www.mosaichouse.com/) that had an all you can eat breakfast buffet of buns, deli meats, yogurt, muesli, fruit, eggs etc. We have become quite taken with Eastern European breakfast items, so we were very happy with this assortment. Not as happy as Gord was though, when he found out he was allowed to play the guitar on the wall.

When we were finished, we set off to try and find Old Town. However, it proved to be harder than we had expected. We really had no idea where we were going. The funniest part was that every time we stopped to try and read the map, there were other people doing the same thing on the same corner. It was not a long weekend in the Czech Republic, but since it was a long weekend in Germany and Poland, there were tourists everywhere. EVEYWHERE! Eventually we made it on to a tram and across the river to the area we were looking for...sort of...kind of.

We thought this was a statue of snakes. It was actually a timed fountain, which we found out when it suddenly shot water at the kids. They were a little surprised...and wet!

We got off the tram, and came across some people in a big line up. Big line ups mean there must be something worth seeing, right? We asked someone what it was for, and were told that it was to buy tickets to take a train to the top of Petrin Hill. The girl we talked to assured us that if we didn't want to stand in line (which we try to avoid since the Science Centre episode) we could just walk up the hill. She thought it would take about 20 minutes.

No problem, we told the kids. We are Canadian. We can walk up a little hill. We live at the base of the Rocky Mountains, for Pete's sake!! It turns out that it was quite a steep and long hill. It took us about 2 hours! We were glad we walked though, because we made many discoveries on the way up that we wouldn't have made if we had taken the train.

There were all sorts of interesting statues and monuments.

There was a fantastic view of the city from about half way up the hill.

There was even time for a romantic picture. Aw, come on, how cute are we?

We found a beautiful garden that reminded us of the Secret Garden. It had high walls, beautiful flowers and a gate to get in. The kids could have played in there for hours and hours.

It even had a tree you could climb into. This garden reminded me of Hanna. She would have loved it!

And Grandma Janet would have loved the rose garden we found.

In the rose garden, there was a maze you could walk around. It was another big hit with the kids!

There was really only one pitfall on our walk. About half way up, we saw a sign for a Magical Cavern, and the kids really wanted to check it out. When we got there, the man told them that there were pictures of fairies, elves and princesses inside. They were totally excited! When I stepped in, all I could see were pictures of half naked girls on horseback. Oh sure, some of them had fairy wings, but it wasn't exactly what we had in mind. Besides, I wasn't really comfortable with the smell of pot I encountered on the way in. There were many tears when we told the kids that the Magical Cavern was not for us.

Later in the day, we found the church that houses the Infant Jesus of Prague and walked across the Charles Bridge. Both were really interesting, but for some reason I can't seem to find the pictures we took of either. Maybe Krista will put some up later.

Prague

We are in Prague for the long weekend. You know, because we are European and we country hop like that.

We caught a flight on Friday night after Gord was finished work. The flight from Warsaw to Prague is only an hour, so it wasn't really a big deal. I had arranged for an airport transfer to the hotel we booked, and the driver was there and waiting when we arrived. He seemed nice enough, and everything was going according to plan.

That is, until we got into the van. The driver was a crazy maniac, but we have come to expect that here in Eastern Europe. The problem was really the van itself. It was somewhat worn, had no air conditioning and smelled like smoke with a hint of vomit. Surprisingly, we were able to overlook all of those things because we were really excited to be in Prague and we knew that the hotel we booked would be great. Here is the description from their page on Bookings.com:

Enjoying a prime location on Prague's Wenceslas Square, Premier Apartments was renovated in 2010 and offers luxuriously furnished accommodation with free Wi-Fi, LCD satellite TV, safes and fully equipped kitchens. The hotel is housed in a historical building. It has 24-hour reception services and airport transfer. Cleaning is done every 3 to 4 days and bed linen and towels are provided. Premier Apartments Wenceslas Square are within easy walking distance to historical monuments, shopping centres, jazz clubs with live music, restaurants and coffee bars.

Doesn't that sound great? Keep it in mind for later.

Our happy feelings started to fade after we had been in the hot stinky van for half an hour with hungry and tired kids who tend to get car sick when they have been in hot stinky vans for too long. Finally, we pulled over on Wenceslas Square. It looked so pretty at night, all lit up with people laughing and visiting while they enjoyed a meal outside. It seemed like the perfect home base for our Prague adventures. We started to get out of the van, but were told to stay there while Gord and the driver went inside. A little (long) while later, they came back and we started driving again. Wait, we thought, where are we going? Why are we driving away from all the pretty lights and happy people? Why are we driving through dark alleys with lots of graffiti and women who may or may not be working on the corner? As it turns out, our first stop was only where the reception office for the hotel. The apartment we were to stay in was actually some 900m away, on a much less happy street (by less happy I mean sad and scary). The driver pulled on to the sidewalk (because they do that in Eastern Europe) and let us out. That is when the real fun began.

The driver left without really showing us where to go. So, there we were, tired, carsick and disappointed on the side of the road with nowhere to go while Julia and Gord tried to figure out where the door to the apartment was.

We pulled all of our bags into a side walkway to get off the main street.

Michael slept through the whole ordeal (he was totally zonked since it was 10:00 pm by that time).

Lily was happy as always despite our circumstances.

Finally, Gord called reception for the hotel and was told where to find the door to our building. It turns out that it was in the side street where we were standing with the luggage.

Gord took the stairs up with the other kids while I took Michael on the elevator. By the time I got there, he and Krista had been inside and did not look any happier. The apartment reeked of smoke even though I had requested non-smoking. Other than that it was nice, but the smoke smell was hard to ignore. Our biggest concern was Michael, aka Mr. Athsma, but it was late so we had no choice but to wait until morning to deal with it. When we woke up, Michael was stuffy and coughed a little so Gord called to office for the apartments to ask what the penalty would be if we left and found somewhere new to stay. The man said we would be charged the full amount. He also told Gord that the apartment was indeed non-smoking. Gord told him that that was odd since there were no less than four ashtrays in the kitchen!

Long story short (or not really, I guess), our apartment is not where it was supposed to be, it has none of the amenities it was supposed to have and it smelled like the inside of an ashtray. However, we left the windows open all day and they sent someone to clean it again and now it smells much better. Michael seems to be fine, and in the light of day this area is not so scary. We had a wonderful and full first day in Prague, so almost all has been forgiven. Almost.

Tomorrow I will try to write about our adventures here, but for now I must go to bed. Goodnight!

Weird Science

Today we went to the Copernicus Science Centre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernicus_Science_Centre). It is a brand new state of the art facility here in Warsaw. We tried to go last week, but when we got there around 11:00 am there was already a massive line up that looked like it would take about 3 hours to get through. Who is crazy enough to wait in line for three hours to get in here, we thought, and went to the zoo instead. Then, thinking we were ever so smart, we decided to show up this morning at 8:30 am (a half an hour before they open) and beat the rush. We were all feeling very proud of ourselves as we got off the bus, walked around the corner and saw...a massive line up!

This was the line in front of us. The line behind us just grew, and grew and grew.

It was shorter than the line last week, and the building hadn't even opened yet, so we thought it wouldn't be so bad and we decided to stay. When the doors opened, the line went fairly quickly...and then not so much. We finally got into the exhibits at 11:30 am, three hours after our arrival. Crazy!!

Krista and Michael fairly early into our wait.

My friend Paula and the kids at about the 2 1/2 hour mark.

Once we finally got in, we were not disappointed by all the great hands-on exhibits. It was super fun and informative. It really was a great place to take the kids...at least from their perspective.

Owen in the hamster wheel.

The kids playing with pan flutes.

Michael played with these marble ramps for over an hour and cried when I made him leave to have lunch.

Lily in a bubble.

Julia in a bubble.

Owen on the moon.

From my perspective, it was a little stressful. I had four kids wanting to go in four different directions in a really big and crowded building. In places like that, I always find myself repeating 1, 2, 3, 4...1, 2, 3, 4 in my head as I try to count the kids and return home with as many as I went there with (and preferably the same ones!).

It was also a little stressful because our kids would stand in line and wait to try something, only to have some kid jump ahead of them. For whatever reason, there seemed to be an extraordinary amount of line jumpers there today. It was a little frustrating, which is evident in this picture of my friend Paula:

All in all, we had a fun and very full day. Am I going to go there again? Probably not. However, I am glad we stuck it out and went there today. If you are ever in Warsaw, you should definitely check it out. Try to get there early though, make all your kids wear orange hats and be prepared to battle the crowds!