The very first day that Linnea flew into Prague it was so sunny and beautiful. She was so amazed at how gorgeous all the architecture was. I love seeing everyone's faces when they first get to see Prague. The pictures are one thing, but seeing it in person is quite another.
Castle view from Charles Bridge.
I recently ran into this interesting bit of information: According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world, with an area of almost 70,000 m².
The castle was founded way back around 880 by Prince Bořivoj of the Premyslid Dynasty and features many architectural styles, from Roman-style buildings from the 10th century through Gothic modifications in the 14th century.
One nice thing about Prague is that there's no worries when walking around with a bottle of beer. As you can see Linnea is taking advantage of being able to be on the go with some good Czech beer. The best thing though is during the spring and summer time when we go to the beer gardens or just walk around the park with some beer in our hands. It's finally getting to be nice weather here so I'm totally going to take advantage of heading to the park and relaxing in the sun with my beer. The only thing that will be missing is my sweet little pups that I had to leave behind in the States. :(
Below we are on our way to
Karlštejn Castle. I've already been there several times, David and I wanted to take our new friends (who David met on the plane ride from Frankfurt to Prague) and Linnea to see it. When we went it was pretty cold, but we survived and enjoyed the view.
The castle was actually built by Czech King and Roman Emperor Charles IV in 1348 as a place for safekeeping of royal treasures like Charles’s collection of holy relics and the coronation jewels of the Roman Empire. The coronation jewels were kept there for almost 200 years during and after the Hussite wars in the 15th and 16th century. And for all the architecture buffs out there, the castle was originally built in the Gothic style and reconstructed in the Renaissance style in the 16th century. It owes its present look to the purist Neo-Gothic style designed by architect Josef Mocker at the end of the 19th century.
One night we invited the new friends (Mira & Jeff) to our flat where we had them try a flaming shot of absinthe. Now when they go home they can show everyone their awesome pictures of the flaming shots. Below, as we're posing, Linnea is melting the sugar which she'll then drop into the absinthe shot.
We were going to get the shots at our local bar the Růžák, but then decided it would be cheaper to just buy the bottle and take it back to our place. :)
Now that Linnea is back in Paris I can look forward to showing my friend Jessica around. Jess is coming to Prague in May (so the weather should be really nice). Basically right when David and I get back from India, we will be welcoming her our amazing city. I can't wait!
Let the thesis writing begin!
