Ali's visa application was FINALLY sent off to immigration today - YAY!! It could be as long as two months for it to process, but we're hoping it will wrap up much sooner than that. We can't wait to get over to Melbourne!
Not much else to report right now. Court received a BOX of 48 Cadbury Creme Eggs in the mail today (which Ali has nicknamed the Diabetes Starter Kit - oy), and is in the process of setting up plans for his big 3-0 birthday in mid-April. It's officially autumn here in Australia, but the weather is still quite summery. We love the blue skies, but could definitely get on board with some cooler weather!
Sorry we're so boring lately - life WILL get more interesting in the near future! :)
Love to all!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
BIG NEWS!!
So, it's been a little while since our last update, but in all fairness, we wanted to wait until we had something BIG to share. As luck would have it, we now do!
After three weeks of being happily reunited in Perth, we can now officially announce that we're moving to Melbourne! Ali has been offered a fantastic job in residence life at La Trobe University, so as soon as her work visa is sorted, we're headed east! (For those of you in student affairs, the job is akin to a live-in assistant director position in North America. Amazingly, however, we'll have our own HOUSE on campus!!!)
Such a relief. :) We have LOVED our time off and are so grateful for the adventures we've had this last year, but the time has truly come to get back into the working world. After all - we have to start saving for our NEXT big adventure!
Thanks to all of our friends and family who have been so supportive of us. We're THRILLED with this new development, and hope to have some interesting updates to post for you soon!
xoxoxoxo
After three weeks of being happily reunited in Perth, we can now officially announce that we're moving to Melbourne! Ali has been offered a fantastic job in residence life at La Trobe University, so as soon as her work visa is sorted, we're headed east! (For those of you in student affairs, the job is akin to a live-in assistant director position in North America. Amazingly, however, we'll have our own HOUSE on campus!!!)
Such a relief. :) We have LOVED our time off and are so grateful for the adventures we've had this last year, but the time has truly come to get back into the working world. After all - we have to start saving for our NEXT big adventure!
Thanks to all of our friends and family who have been so supportive of us. We're THRILLED with this new development, and hope to have some interesting updates to post for you soon!
xoxoxoxo
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
FINALLY - a plan!
Well, part of a plan. :)
After months of discussion and debate, we've decided to relocate our jet-set life to Australia. YAY! Good things are happening, but we're not quite ready to reveal any details. Fingers crossed, we'll have some major updates soon!
In the interim, a very HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY to one and all!!! Can't wait to be Down Under again! xox
After months of discussion and debate, we've decided to relocate our jet-set life to Australia. YAY! Good things are happening, but we're not quite ready to reveal any details. Fingers crossed, we'll have some major updates soon!
In the interim, a very HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY to one and all!!! Can't wait to be Down Under again! xox
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Bruges, Calais, Dover, London, and...
The next day it was an early start as we made our way to Bruges, Belgium for lunch. (We also used the opportunity to load up on - what else? - Belgian chocolate!).
We enjoyed wandering the city before making our way to Calais, France to board the ferry for Dover. (The last time I was on that ferry I slept the entire time, so this time it was nice to actually walk around and explore - it's amazing how kitted out it is!)
From Dover it was back to London for our last night. :( Court booked our accommodation whilst I was in Ireland, so I had no idea what to expect. Cheeky boy that he is, he told me it was a hostel similar to the one we stayed in in Glasgow (which wasn't bad, but it wasn't off the charts either). So, imagine my surprise when our cab pulled up in front of a gorgeous five-star hotel! Sorry, no pics, but it was fantastic!
Early the next morning I flew back to Toronto, and several hours later Court began the long haul back to Perth. It's hard to believe that after so much planning and excitement, our trip is really over. We are so incredibly grateful and humbled by our experience, and feel so lucky to have met such wonderful people along the way. Though we covered a lot of ground in 5 months, there is still so much more we'd like to see. In the not-so-distant future we hope to visit India, and spend several months exploring South America. Who knows - we haven't made any final decisions about where we're going to end up in January, so you just might see some posts from a new and exotic locale before you know it!
Thank you so much for following our travels thus far. Though we started this blog to track our progress on this particular trip, we're going to keep it going so that our friends and family throughout the world will know what we're up to. Hopefully, it will be as exciting as the last year has been!
Lots of love and good tidings during this holiday season, and for the year to come.
Ali & Court
We enjoyed wandering the city before making our way to Calais, France to board the ferry for Dover. (The last time I was on that ferry I slept the entire time, so this time it was nice to actually walk around and explore - it's amazing how kitted out it is!)
From Dover it was back to London for our last night. :( Court booked our accommodation whilst I was in Ireland, so I had no idea what to expect. Cheeky boy that he is, he told me it was a hostel similar to the one we stayed in in Glasgow (which wasn't bad, but it wasn't off the charts either). So, imagine my surprise when our cab pulled up in front of a gorgeous five-star hotel! Sorry, no pics, but it was fantastic!
Early the next morning I flew back to Toronto, and several hours later Court began the long haul back to Perth. It's hard to believe that after so much planning and excitement, our trip is really over. We are so incredibly grateful and humbled by our experience, and feel so lucky to have met such wonderful people along the way. Though we covered a lot of ground in 5 months, there is still so much more we'd like to see. In the not-so-distant future we hope to visit India, and spend several months exploring South America. Who knows - we haven't made any final decisions about where we're going to end up in January, so you just might see some posts from a new and exotic locale before you know it!
Thank you so much for following our travels thus far. Though we started this blog to track our progress on this particular trip, we're going to keep it going so that our friends and family throughout the world will know what we're up to. Hopefully, it will be as exciting as the last year has been!
Lots of love and good tidings during this holiday season, and for the year to come.
Ali & Court
Amsterdam, Netherlands
In a word, Amsterdam was SENSATIONAL. Truly. I didn't know what to expect, to be honest, but I absolutely fell in love with the city.
Before we made our way to the Botel (yup, a hotel on a boat), we stopped at a farm to see how Edam and clogs are made. I skipped the clogs, but left with a massive block of cheese encased in wax - it was delicious!!!
To get from the Botel to the city itself we had to take a short ferry ride of about 10 minutes. It was pretty cool - just us and a thousand Dutch on bicycles. :) We were amazed at the number of bicycles in Amsterdam, even though it's a pretty well-known stereotype. On our first morning we actually went on a guided bike tour of the city which we thoroughly enjoyed - the weather was gorgeous and we were able to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time (super helpful for planning the rest of our day). We had explored the famed Red Light District the previous evening which was really entertaining. We considered going to see a sex show, but ultimately decided our money could be better spent on other experiences (such as waffles drench in Nutella and sliced bananas). Ditto for the "coffee shops" - because our time was limited, we didn't want to be too high to remember it. :)
After our bike ride we back-tracked to the Anne Frank Huis. It was an incredibly moving experience and extremely well done - you get all of the information you need without being completely overwhelmed, and they have a fantastic interactive display on social justice on the ground floor. Anne Frank, of course, was a young German girl whose parents, sensing that trouble was brewing for the Jews, emigrated to the Netherlands as Hitler rose to power in the 1930s. When the Nazis began to send the Dutch Jews to concentration camps, Anne and her family - as well as another family and a single man - hid in the secret annex of the building behind her father's business. They hid successfully for several years, aided by their friend Miep Gies (and several others), before they were betrayed and sent to separate camps. Here are some (poorly written) facts about Anne Frank from The Anne Frank Center USA:
1. How unique was the hiding place or the Secret Annex?The Franks were most unusual both in finding a place to hide together and in having so many people who were willing to help them. It is very important to put Anne Frank's story in context to the stories of what happened to most Dutch Jews. Three out of four were killed and a very small minority found places to hide, mostly with farmers.
2. Who were the Helpers in the Secret Annex?
Bep Elli Voskuijl, Miep Santrouschitz Gies, Victor Kugler, and Johannes Kleiman. Remember all the silent helpers too, the butcher, the vegetable grocer, Miep's husband, Jan. All of these people were helpers of the Frank family.
3. Why is Anne Frank so well known?
A young victim of Nazi tyranny and the author of a famous diary, Anne Frank has become a symbol of 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust. For many people Anne Frank became a symbol of the six million Jewish men, women, and especially the children who were murdered by the Nazis in the WWII. It is almost impossible to comprehend this number, but the story of Anne Frank makes it possible to understand what the war meant for one of these victims.
4. What language did Anne use to write her diary?
Anne wrote her diary in Dutch.
5. Where did the family go into hiding?
The secret annex was located The Opekta-Works at Prinsengracht 263, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The date the family went into hiding was July 6, 1942.
6. Why are there different versions of the diary?
The (a) version of the diary was the very first writings made by Anne. After hearing on Wednesday, March 29, 1944 on a daily radio broadcast from London, Anne heard the Dutch Minister Bolkestein, say that after the war all diaries and letters about the war would be collected. The (b) version of the diary is Anne rewriting of her work as she stated on May 11, 1944 " You've known for a long time that my greatest wish is to become a journalist someday and later on a famous writer" In any case, I want to publish a book entitled het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex) after the war, whether I shall succeed or not, I cannot say, but my diary will be a great help. The (c) version of the diary appeared after a Dutch newspaper in April 3, 1946 (Het Parool ö The Motto) printed an article about the diary and a publisher was found. Anne Frank's diary was published in an edition of 1,500 copies in the summer of 1947.
Anne died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen in March of 1945. Of the eight people who hid in the secret annex, the only survivor was her father, Otto Frank. In the annex, there is a large black and white photograph of Mr. Frank standing in the empty space after he is free. The look on his face will haunt me forever. How cruel to survive so much only to find out that your wife and children (as well as so many other members of your family and friends) are gone. How lonely.
Even if you have never read Diary of a Young Girl, I highly recommend visiting Anne Frank Huis if you ever find yourself in Amsterdam.
That afternoon we wandered around, had a fantastic meal in a pub, and then stumbled upon the traditional Sinterklaas parade.
Now, there is something inherently fun and quirky about the Dutch. I'll be honest, however, in stating that I didn't know what to make of this highly regarded tradition. We have Santa Claus parades all over Canada every year, so the idea itself wasn't new to me - what kind of freaked me out (uber liberal that I am) was my introduction to "Black Pete." We've since learned that Black Pete is the mythical sidekick of Saint Nicholas, and he is/was a chimney sweep, which is why he is referred to as "black." The thing that kind of took me by surprise, however, was that all of the participants in the parade other than Saint Nicholas himself (who came in on a white horse, which was sweeeeeet) were in blackface.
I know it's a tradition, and my Dutch friends swear it's not meant to be offensive in any way...it just took me aback.
Something which I thought was really cool about the parade - and so very, very wonderfully Dutch - were the tulip-shaped umbrellas the kids used to catch candy and ginger cookies along the parade route. Awesome.
Following the parade we took in the fantastic Van Gogh museum (which, we all pronounce thoroughly incorrectly, our friend Hiske taught us :). It was PACKED, but well worth it - though I've never been a fan of Sunflowers, it was cool to see it in real life. (We also attended a Van Gogh exhibit in San Francisco last year - we're both fans!) It was a very full day, but we made the most of it and would love to go back!
Before we made our way to the Botel (yup, a hotel on a boat), we stopped at a farm to see how Edam and clogs are made. I skipped the clogs, but left with a massive block of cheese encased in wax - it was delicious!!!
To get from the Botel to the city itself we had to take a short ferry ride of about 10 minutes. It was pretty cool - just us and a thousand Dutch on bicycles. :) We were amazed at the number of bicycles in Amsterdam, even though it's a pretty well-known stereotype. On our first morning we actually went on a guided bike tour of the city which we thoroughly enjoyed - the weather was gorgeous and we were able to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time (super helpful for planning the rest of our day). We had explored the famed Red Light District the previous evening which was really entertaining. We considered going to see a sex show, but ultimately decided our money could be better spent on other experiences (such as waffles drench in Nutella and sliced bananas). Ditto for the "coffee shops" - because our time was limited, we didn't want to be too high to remember it. :)
After our bike ride we back-tracked to the Anne Frank Huis. It was an incredibly moving experience and extremely well done - you get all of the information you need without being completely overwhelmed, and they have a fantastic interactive display on social justice on the ground floor. Anne Frank, of course, was a young German girl whose parents, sensing that trouble was brewing for the Jews, emigrated to the Netherlands as Hitler rose to power in the 1930s. When the Nazis began to send the Dutch Jews to concentration camps, Anne and her family - as well as another family and a single man - hid in the secret annex of the building behind her father's business. They hid successfully for several years, aided by their friend Miep Gies (and several others), before they were betrayed and sent to separate camps. Here are some (poorly written) facts about Anne Frank from The Anne Frank Center USA:
1. How unique was the hiding place or the Secret Annex?The Franks were most unusual both in finding a place to hide together and in having so many people who were willing to help them. It is very important to put Anne Frank's story in context to the stories of what happened to most Dutch Jews. Three out of four were killed and a very small minority found places to hide, mostly with farmers.
2. Who were the Helpers in the Secret Annex?
Bep Elli Voskuijl, Miep Santrouschitz Gies, Victor Kugler, and Johannes Kleiman. Remember all the silent helpers too, the butcher, the vegetable grocer, Miep's husband, Jan. All of these people were helpers of the Frank family.
3. Why is Anne Frank so well known?
A young victim of Nazi tyranny and the author of a famous diary, Anne Frank has become a symbol of 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust. For many people Anne Frank became a symbol of the six million Jewish men, women, and especially the children who were murdered by the Nazis in the WWII. It is almost impossible to comprehend this number, but the story of Anne Frank makes it possible to understand what the war meant for one of these victims.
4. What language did Anne use to write her diary?
Anne wrote her diary in Dutch.
5. Where did the family go into hiding?
The secret annex was located The Opekta-Works at Prinsengracht 263, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The date the family went into hiding was July 6, 1942.
6. Why are there different versions of the diary?
The (a) version of the diary was the very first writings made by Anne. After hearing on Wednesday, March 29, 1944 on a daily radio broadcast from London, Anne heard the Dutch Minister Bolkestein, say that after the war all diaries and letters about the war would be collected. The (b) version of the diary is Anne rewriting of her work as she stated on May 11, 1944 " You've known for a long time that my greatest wish is to become a journalist someday and later on a famous writer" In any case, I want to publish a book entitled het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex) after the war, whether I shall succeed or not, I cannot say, but my diary will be a great help. The (c) version of the diary appeared after a Dutch newspaper in April 3, 1946 (Het Parool ö The Motto) printed an article about the diary and a publisher was found. Anne Frank's diary was published in an edition of 1,500 copies in the summer of 1947.
Anne died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen in March of 1945. Of the eight people who hid in the secret annex, the only survivor was her father, Otto Frank. In the annex, there is a large black and white photograph of Mr. Frank standing in the empty space after he is free. The look on his face will haunt me forever. How cruel to survive so much only to find out that your wife and children (as well as so many other members of your family and friends) are gone. How lonely.
Even if you have never read Diary of a Young Girl, I highly recommend visiting Anne Frank Huis if you ever find yourself in Amsterdam.
That afternoon we wandered around, had a fantastic meal in a pub, and then stumbled upon the traditional Sinterklaas parade.
Now, there is something inherently fun and quirky about the Dutch. I'll be honest, however, in stating that I didn't know what to make of this highly regarded tradition. We have Santa Claus parades all over Canada every year, so the idea itself wasn't new to me - what kind of freaked me out (uber liberal that I am) was my introduction to "Black Pete." We've since learned that Black Pete is the mythical sidekick of Saint Nicholas, and he is/was a chimney sweep, which is why he is referred to as "black." The thing that kind of took me by surprise, however, was that all of the participants in the parade other than Saint Nicholas himself (who came in on a white horse, which was sweeeeeet) were in blackface.
Something which I thought was really cool about the parade - and so very, very wonderfully Dutch - were the tulip-shaped umbrellas the kids used to catch candy and ginger cookies along the parade route. Awesome.
Following the parade we took in the fantastic Van Gogh museum (which, we all pronounce thoroughly incorrectly, our friend Hiske taught us :). It was PACKED, but well worth it - though I've never been a fan of Sunflowers, it was cool to see it in real life. (We also attended a Van Gogh exhibit in San Francisco last year - we're both fans!) It was a very full day, but we made the most of it and would love to go back!
Dresden & Berlin, Germany
En route to Berlin we stopped for lunch in Dresden, a city which was bombed off the map during the Second World War. Sadly, the bombings carried out killed mostly women and children, many of whom were refugees. The ancient part of the city has been rebuilt, and still emanates Gothic charm.
Court and I had very different feelings about Berlin. For all intents and purposes, it has been reinvented as a fun, modern city with lots to see and do. (Great shopping, excellent restaurants, crazy German discotheques...the whole nine yards.) In spite of these things, however, I just couldn't get comfortable. It felt...dark, to me. The whole time we were in Germany I felt unsettled (which I felt sad about because I have met some truly outstanding Germans in my life, and I was excited to visit their country). I've spoken to some other people who have told me Berlin had the same effect on them - next time I'll visit some other cities and hope for the best. :)
Berlin, as I'm sure you all know, has a terrible modern history. Most recently, the Berlin Wall - which still stands in certain points, and which we photographed extensively (see below) - but before that, it was the headquarters of the SS and home to the Führerbunker.
We wanted to learn as much as possible while in Berlin, so we opted to do a Third Reich walking tour with a fantastic local guide (which turned out to be a very thorough history of not only WWII, but up to the present day). She walked us around the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Brandenburg Tor, and Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (previously mentioned in one of the posts about Mauthausen). The Memorial itself is a massive series of cement tombs set in long rows. The size of the tombs vary, making you feel quite disoriented and isolated when you walk among them.
Across from the Memorial (on a diagonal) is an nondescript parking lot of loose gravel. Below it, however, are the remnants of the Führerbunker. Talk about getting chills. Our guide told us that while all entrances have been sealed, the bunker still exists because all attempts to blow it up have failed. As she pointed out to us, doesn't that seem odd, given the technology we have at our disposal in this day and age? Someone asked her why it hasn't ever been made into a tourist attraction (whaaaaat?) and she said because the German government is terrified it would become another meeting place for Neo-Nazi youth who still live in Europe.
Not far from the bunker we visited the Topography of Terror museum "[A]t the site where the headquarters of the Secret State Police, the SS and the Reich Security Main Office were located during the “Third Reich”. The building itself no longer stands, but the outdoor exhibit includes plaques which denote where certain offices were located (some the foundation remains). Chilling.
Our last stop on the tour was the famed Checkpoint Charlie (the only civilian path between East and West Berlin during the decades of the wall). You can actually pay a small fee to get a stamp in your passport there (which we elected not to do). Where the guards used to stand there is a large portrait of the "last US solider" to leave the area after the fall of the wall in 1991. Interestingly enough, our guide pointed out that the medals and stripes on the soldiers uniform in the photo make it impossible that he was, in fact, the last one out. (I can't remember exactly how she put it, but it was something about how he would have had to have been in Germany, gone somewhere else to fight - the Gulf War, perhaps? - then returned to Germany just in time to shut down the checkpoint.)
For the rest of the day we explored the city on our own. One of the most significant sites we took in was the famed Bebelplatz, where we gazed down upon the rows and rows of empty bookshelves visible through a skylight-type window.
This installation is to commemorate the Nazi book burning ceremony of May 10, 1933 in which over 20,000 books were set ablaze. "...Among those works burned were the writings of beloved nineteenth-century
German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, who wrote in his 1820-1821 play Almansor the famous admonition, “Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen": "Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. A bronze plaque embedded in the Bebelplatz proclaims this.
I was happy to leave Germany behind as we headed to our next stop: Amsterdam!
Court and I had very different feelings about Berlin. For all intents and purposes, it has been reinvented as a fun, modern city with lots to see and do. (Great shopping, excellent restaurants, crazy German discotheques...the whole nine yards.) In spite of these things, however, I just couldn't get comfortable. It felt...dark, to me. The whole time we were in Germany I felt unsettled (which I felt sad about because I have met some truly outstanding Germans in my life, and I was excited to visit their country). I've spoken to some other people who have told me Berlin had the same effect on them - next time I'll visit some other cities and hope for the best. :)
Berlin, as I'm sure you all know, has a terrible modern history. Most recently, the Berlin Wall - which still stands in certain points, and which we photographed extensively (see below) - but before that, it was the headquarters of the SS and home to the Führerbunker.
We wanted to learn as much as possible while in Berlin, so we opted to do a Third Reich walking tour with a fantastic local guide (which turned out to be a very thorough history of not only WWII, but up to the present day). She walked us around the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Brandenburg Tor, and Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (previously mentioned in one of the posts about Mauthausen). The Memorial itself is a massive series of cement tombs set in long rows. The size of the tombs vary, making you feel quite disoriented and isolated when you walk among them.
 | |
| In the centre of the memorial the tombs are so tall they block everything else out. |
Across from the Memorial (on a diagonal) is an nondescript parking lot of loose gravel. Below it, however, are the remnants of the Führerbunker. Talk about getting chills. Our guide told us that while all entrances have been sealed, the bunker still exists because all attempts to blow it up have failed. As she pointed out to us, doesn't that seem odd, given the technology we have at our disposal in this day and age? Someone asked her why it hasn't ever been made into a tourist attraction (whaaaaat?) and she said because the German government is terrified it would become another meeting place for Neo-Nazi youth who still live in Europe.
Not far from the bunker we visited the Topography of Terror museum "[A]t the site where the headquarters of the Secret State Police, the SS and the Reich Security Main Office were located during the “Third Reich”. The building itself no longer stands, but the outdoor exhibit includes plaques which denote where certain offices were located (some the foundation remains). Chilling.
Our last stop on the tour was the famed Checkpoint Charlie (the only civilian path between East and West Berlin during the decades of the wall). You can actually pay a small fee to get a stamp in your passport there (which we elected not to do). Where the guards used to stand there is a large portrait of the "last US solider" to leave the area after the fall of the wall in 1991. Interestingly enough, our guide pointed out that the medals and stripes on the soldiers uniform in the photo make it impossible that he was, in fact, the last one out. (I can't remember exactly how she put it, but it was something about how he would have had to have been in Germany, gone somewhere else to fight - the Gulf War, perhaps? - then returned to Germany just in time to shut down the checkpoint.)
For the rest of the day we explored the city on our own. One of the most significant sites we took in was the famed Bebelplatz, where we gazed down upon the rows and rows of empty bookshelves visible through a skylight-type window.
I was happy to leave Germany behind as we headed to our next stop: Amsterdam!
Prague, Czech Republic
After a tough morning at Mauthausen, it was on to to Czech Republic and beautiful Prague!
The weather wasn't great - rainy, overcast and chilly - but the beauty of the city shone through. We did a nighttime walking tour before dining out, which was a really spectacular way to enjoy the scenery. There's something quite magical about the architecture when it's illuminated by light against the dark of night.
The following day we headed up to the Castle District - thank you, super easy metro system! - and happened to catch the changing of the guard. Afterwards we took a brief tour of St. Vitus Cathedral (which was gorgeous) before heading down the hill towards the city.
At Court's suggestion - which was a great one! - we walked across the Charles Bridge, checking out the statues and local handicrafts spread throughout. We then headed back to watch the spectacle of the Astronomical Clock play out, which was also pretty cool. "The Astronomical Clock, built in to one side of the Old Town Hall Tower, dates from the 15th century. To fully appreciate the clock's intricate construction, join the crowd in front of the tower to observe the procession of the Twelve Apostles: on the hour, every hour, a small trap door opens and Christ marches out ahead of his disciples, while the skeleton of death tolls the bell to a defiant statue of a Turk. Below the Astronomical Clock are 12 medallions with the signs of the zodiac, added by Josef Manes in 1865." Prague Experience
After Prague it was on to Berlin!
The weather wasn't great - rainy, overcast and chilly - but the beauty of the city shone through. We did a nighttime walking tour before dining out, which was a really spectacular way to enjoy the scenery. There's something quite magical about the architecture when it's illuminated by light against the dark of night.
The following day we headed up to the Castle District - thank you, super easy metro system! - and happened to catch the changing of the guard. Afterwards we took a brief tour of St. Vitus Cathedral (which was gorgeous) before heading down the hill towards the city.
At Court's suggestion - which was a great one! - we walked across the Charles Bridge, checking out the statues and local handicrafts spread throughout. We then headed back to watch the spectacle of the Astronomical Clock play out, which was also pretty cool. "The Astronomical Clock, built in to one side of the Old Town Hall Tower, dates from the 15th century. To fully appreciate the clock's intricate construction, join the crowd in front of the tower to observe the procession of the Twelve Apostles: on the hour, every hour, a small trap door opens and Christ marches out ahead of his disciples, while the skeleton of death tolls the bell to a defiant statue of a Turk. Below the Astronomical Clock are 12 medallions with the signs of the zodiac, added by Josef Manes in 1865." Prague Experience
After Prague it was on to Berlin!
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