Krakow here we come….

Omg!! I am living the life of luxury, have never been in a first class train section in my life. Julie, you would not believe it and yet I’m realizing my mom would never have survived that Thai night train. Lol She has all her pillows, back supportive devices thanks to Aunt Marlene to prop her back, neck, and shoulders to find comfort in this cushy unreal business class train Car made for only 6 guests. Wow!!! Picturesque windows with views of us leaving Prague as we just pulled away from station for this 6 hour journey. A 3.5 hour train, than transfer to a 2.5 hr bus to our next stop of the Central European tour.

To catch up on yesterday and our last full day in Praha, the correct terminology for Prague. We were picked up at our hotel by Elina, a lovely middle aged blond lady whom lived in Czech Republic all her life, her accent was so strong that we had a bit of a language barrier which became comical by the end of the 3.5 hour walking tour. It was a private tour which was nice for us to ask questions. Yet I will say i started to understand what the Scottish guy meant by unfriendliness of Czechs or being proper to earn your respect. As much as she was nice, she was a bit cold, and warmed up by the end of our time together. She let me take a photo with her and Ryan did the same on her own camera. We made our way to the Jewish Ghetto area learning more history of war days here and all the stories of centuries ago. So many dark stories of being beheaded, burnt at the stakes, I mean life was rough. It made me think that when you hear about your past life stories and all the tragedies you may have lived through, it’s all true….we live like royalty today compared to the terror our ancestors lived through. Just another perspective. We passed by beautiful Protestant churches, peeked inside at the elaborate styles of decoration, snapped photos. We made then made our way to tour 4 different synagogues that had stories of the holocaust. We walked though a cemetery from the 15th century that 12,000 people were buried, which was not as big as you would think as it’s 12 levels deep. This was mind boggling to me that it went that far down into the ground. Coffins are on top of each other 12 stories….. crazy! We learned all about Mordecai Maisel and toured his synagogue and museum, he was a financier of his time and built up SO much of Prague buildings in this area. We saw like in all these types of places that remember the holocaust, rooms upon rooms of names written on walls, always a sobering sad site to lay your eyes upon the amount of humans who perished. Truly crazy that these real peoples lives were ended in such a horrific gory way. The art work children created while in the Camps etc was on display. Very interesting, some happy paintings and others dark. I thought of how Steph would interpret these pieces as an art therapist. We toured the ceremonial center and learned all about the burial society and their duties during this time. Truly incredible.

My absolute favorite was the Spanish Synagogue, this place was an artistic beyond stunning beautiful building. 12 slots/windows filled with purple stained glass to acknowledge the 12 Jewish tribes. An organ on the wall, a beautiful bimah, the ark in these places were beautiful with fancy Torah coverings. I would have loved to have gone to the concert here tonight as Elina shared the acoustics in the place were incredible.

The tour was over, it was 3.5 hours of straight walking no breaks, I had tired my mama bear out. She was ready for a break. We found a bar, I had a yummy dark espresso martini, she a baileys on ice. We sat for a while, regrouped and walked around the old city to find lunch. We shared a grilled prawns dish and homemade gnocchi with salmon and spinach In a cream sauce. We had heard how great the gnocchi is here, yes I know I’m not in Italy but it was so good! We then made our way back to hotel……the travels and walking – boots needed a nap. Perfect for me I am reading an intense book that it worked out to relax. We will be on the go again tomorrow and got fully rejuvenated.

We ventured out later for another Michelin rated restaurant( yes My daddy really rubbed off on my mommy) she loves her good food 😉 Cafe Imperial awaited us….we had tried for a Thai massage but last min, the 2 places we walked in were full. Dinner was yummy….we shared. I had my own onion soup, she chicken soup- we are total Americans ha ha, yet we were adventurous eaters with the dinner….the waiter who was attractive and SO friendly and nice recommended the Veal Cheeks….something Terri would order made me a bit apprehensive but he said it’s what they are famous for….served with a sweet port sauce and puréed potatoes. Omg creaminess in the potatoes that it reminded me of cream of wheat and the cheeks tasted like the most tender short ribs, mouth watering yumminess! Oh, also….I finally found the herbal vodka, unsure if I wrote about already but I had been on the prowl for this so I was psyched to try it before leaving Prague. I tasted it as a shot to get the real flavor but chose to have it in this blackberry cocktail. It was tasted a bit licorice ish and herbal. We exited with no dessert as I’m saving myself for the Viennese pastries, and knew I would devour croissants at breakfast again 🙂 We wandered around grocery stores on our walk back to hotel, got fruit for the train and tried to go to bed early since 8am train. A grocery store in a different country is always interesting, so many things to explore, lol

I never can sleep on vacations, always too excited for what’s to come next, like a kid in a candy store. By midnight we had the lights out, I stayed up until 1:30/2 researching Segway tours as I think we will do one in Vienna or Budapest. As well read yelp reviews for restaurants in Kraków. I found an interesting looking perrogi place I want to try. Off to sleep.

We had our last breakfast, seriously this place has the most buttery croissants, soft, pull apart, crispy, yet light- I ate 2 with my 2 soft boiled eggs. We got picked up by Stanley who carried my moms bags, transported us and walked us into train station where Martina awaited us. Talk about easy way to travel and be taken care of. I got my photo taken with Martina, went over all the details for the remainder of trip, asked her about her life/job/travels etc 🙂 She has no more clients currently in Prague and is headed to the country side today to work from her computer, what a life 🙂

We are on this moving train, I’m gonna snuggle up with my book and this Pink Winka alcoholic drink( similar to a wine cooler)and stare out the window. The country side between Prague and Poland is in the distance.

A happy birthday shout out to Vince 🙂

Thank you to everyone who has commented or emailed, We love all the feedback always.
miss you xo
Love Laurie Sue