Sometime in the middle of the dull, rainy fall me, Andrey, Andrey’s brother and his wife had a nice talk over WhatsApp. We were dreaming of how wonderful would it be to meet over the summer to have some fun together. And then that idea came into our mind – what if we really meet up that coming summer somewhere in Europe? We could go to Prague, Czech Republic ans try their famous pork knuckle, with their no less famous beer. That picture settled in our minds and we started to think about possible tourist attractions we could visit, other food we could try, etc. We asked our parents what they would think about that idea, and they found it attractive as well.
So with the time passing by, we bought plane tickets, booked rooms in hotels and added places we would like to visit on the map. Unfortunately my brother and his wife were not able to participate in our big family reunion, but oh well, things happen.
Finally the date of departure came. The evening before, we packed our suitcases and with anticipation of the coming adventure went to bed. However, the morning brought us news – our overseas plane is going to be delayed for two hours. The bad part is that we will miss our connection flight and it happens to be the only flight during that day. Andrey had a long phone call with a Delta representative, but finally a solution was found, so we went to the airport.
The problem we didn’t think about was the time of our arriving in the airport of Frankfurt Am Main. We were going to rent a car there and drive to Prague. But with all changes in the flights we lost 5 hours and were supposed to come to the hotel at midnight – and reception closes at 11 pm. Well, 10 Euros solved that problem, but my mom was waiting in the airport of Prague for us to pick her up and we couldn’t do anything about that.
The driving to Prague was on the hard side. We had a car with the manual transmission and I can’t drive such a car, so it left Andrey as the only driver in the family. Prague is kinda on the other side of Earth from Oregon, that makes the time changes drastic – about 9 hrs of difference between home and Czech Republic. Andrey was really tired and 6 hrs of driving were a challenge (especially after our recent major car accident). But we made it safe and sound to the hotel, than picked up my mom from the airport and called it a day.
Waiting for food
Next morning we were waiting for the rest of our family – Andrey’s parents and his brother Alexey with his wife Anna – they had their plane delayed too, what a coincidence! So after their arrival we went to have brunch to small nearby cafe named ‘Café Na hlas’. What an awesome place, I would say! The place is quiet and cozy, the food is delicious. So easy to overeat 😀
Finally after the refreshments we had a nice walk in the old city of Prague, the weather was so sunny and warm. BTW, Prague is a beautiful city, but crowded too – but what could I expect in the middle of a summer day? But still I kinda forgot how big the crowd could be. Anyway, we saw some fun places, the movable head of Kafka and hanging Sigmund Freud figure. We went to the famous Prague Charles Bridge and were ready to see something else when the rain started.
Grandpa
Grandmas
Statue of Franz Kafka, it always moves
Sigmund Freud
Charles Bridge
Uncle Alexey
Auntie Anna
First it was just a few drops here and there, but soon it was raining cats and dogs. Oh my, how we ran! But still, we came so the hotel so wet, the kids had to take a hot bath to not catch a cold. By the time they were done, the table in one other restaurant was booked and we went to try the pork knuckle. Finally!!!! I can say that it was definitely worth our trip 🙂
Pork knuckle