Days 1&2: Munich and Prague

First stop on the anniversary trip of a lifetime was Munich.  Though technically it was Frankfurt cause Mark drove us to the train station there... and our train left from platform nine, which made me chuckle and immediately think "and three quarters".  Shout out to my fellow Harry Potter fans :o)  Moving on...

We only stayed in Munich for the afternoon but we really wanted to see Dachau concentration camp.  So after booking our next few bus/trains for Prague and Budapest we took the metro out there.

It's not exactly a cheerful visit... but definitely worth seeing (especially when you don't have two toddlers with you).

So we spent a few hours wandering through the deserted buildings that once housed terrified and tortured prisoners and now holds a museum in their memory.

This sign at the entrance gate means "work liberates".  That was what the prisoners of war, and later Jews were first met with.  And work is all they did until they were either liberated by death or liberated by the end of the war.  It was so sad.  But you know what?  I appreciate living in Germany and seeing these things.  It's sobering, to be sure.  But I love this country and my heart hurts for this terrible thing in their past.

There are more pictures from Munich on my facebook album if you want to see.

That night we took a five hour bus ride to Prague and got soaked in a downpour trying to find our hotel. But after nine hours of sleep and waking up in a sunny, clean room we definitely felt better.  Our hotel was dirt cheap and so great!  After a big European breakfast of sandwiches (they like cold cuts at breakfast) we headed out to see what we could see.

I don't know much about Prague vs. Communism but this memorial statue was dedicated to those who were jailed and executed... and also to those whose lives were ruined by "totalitarian despotism".

Then we climbed up 215 steps (I think that's what the ticket gal said) to the top of the bell tower.  It was an amazing view.  But a little tough to climb all the way with our backpacks on.  Little did I know, the saga of "Jessica doesn't want to drag this backpack up these stairs" was only beginning! ;o)  It was pretty much the theme of our trip!

Another fun theme of our trip was people watching.  We have a new lens that we got for our camera that zooms the crap out of our other lenses.  So we can be creepers and take pictures of people being cute without them knowing we're creepers!  It's great :o)

Next up was a hike to "castle hill" where we got to check out the first of many beautiful churches and also a neat castle.  But we didn't pay for a tour so I can't offer you much more info.  See more pictures here, though.  

Then we crossed the Charles Bridge, which is big and beautiful and full of crazy-elaborate statues.

It took us right into old town, where we got to see the oldest working astronomical clock in the world!  It was pretty neat.  Probably even better if we had waited for the "cuckoo clock show" where all the figures come out to play... but I was hungry ;o) and both of us had aching feet and shoulders.

Next stop: dinner!  Authentic Czech goulash and dumplings (SO GOOD) and dark Czech beer.  We had live piano and guitar music during our meal... if that's not romantic I don't know what is ;o)

And that's Munich and Prague... the end :o)