Prague {Easter Weekend 2012}

If you're interested in learning more about Prague, feel free to read this excerpt from Wikipedia because I'm way too tired to go into the city's history and blah, blah, blah.

Here we are having a grand ol' crazy time in the Czech Republic!  Notice we're all pretty bundled up.  Yeah...it was pretty chilly that weekend.

Basically, we weren't in Prague long enough.  We were only there for a few hours before we had to head back to our friend's house, which was a three-hour long trip.  Anyway, Prague is AMAZING and we're definitely going back because we didn't even come close to scratching the surface on all the wonderful things to see and do.  We were mainly there for the Easter market and that, unfortunately, wasn't too impressive.  However, we were right in the middle of Old Town Square, where it was bustling with energy. There were shops and restaurants of all kinds and beautiful, historical buildings/landmarks to admire.

So now, I'm just going to let these pictures tell the story (with a little bit of commentary).

The inseparable three--Malu, Madisen and Vaiosina

One of the towers to the Charles Bridge, which was completed in the early 15th century.  We didn't get to see the bridge, as this view of the tower was obviously taken from within the city.  However, the bridge is still considered to be one of the most astonishing gothic-style buildings in the world.

The Prague Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square.  First installed in 1410, it's the third oldest clock of its kind in the world and the oldest one that is still functional.

Not sure what this building is, but I just thought it was really pretty.

The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, also located in Old Town Square, built in the 14th century in the gothic style.

A closer look at the Church of Our Lady.

Team Finch-Eric, Madeleine, Madisen and Mackinley (in stroller).  Our partner family :)

Team Aetonu in Old Town Square!

A really cool doorway.

Easter eggs at the market!  Can you believe I only walked away with three?

Another view of Old Town Square and the Easter market.

At the top of every hour, a costumed trumpeteer plays a happy tune and parts of the astronomical clock move.  That was really cool.

A statue smack-dab in the the center of Old Town Square.

Another view of the Church.

Cool sewer covers.  At least we thought they were cool.

Sina swatting her daddy with her mini-May pole stick thingy.  They were being sold all over the place.

Hard Rock Cafe Prague.  No, we didn't eat there.  Why would we drive all that way to eat in an American restaurant?

On our way back to our cars.  Exhausted!

It was pretty late when we left.  We got home even later, but not because there was traffic or anything.  We almost ran out of gas on the autobahn which is a huge no-no in Europe.  You can get fined up the you-know-where if you're found on the side of the road with an empty gas tank.  I mean, it was a Sunday and most places are closed on Sunday in Germany, but a major gas station at the border between Germany and the Czech Republic?  Really?  Now we know.

Like I said, we're definitely going back to Prague for a four day weekend sometime in the future.  In case we never get around to it, at least we can say we've been there and have a Starbucks city mug to prove it!

Next stop is Poland...as in this weekend.  This will be our second time.  Can you say "addicted to Polish Pottery"?

The Best Thing About Prague

By far, the best thing about our visit to Prague on Easter Sunday...

The trdelnik--a traditional cake and sweet pastry native to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.  Trdelnik is derived from the word trdlo, which is the wooden stake around which the dough is wrapped and grilled.  Once it's cooked, the hollowed pastry is dusted with a sugar and walnut mix.  We even saw a stand where a guy slathered a generous amount of Nutella inside each trdelnik.  I fell in love. 

You guys, this stuff was amazing.  I think we each had a double serving.

Not sure how trdelnik is pronounced, but we guessed that it almost sounds like "turtleneck," which is exactly what it looks like.  Don't you agree?  I mean, it even looks like a turtle shell!

You really can't just have one.  I mean, look at it.

Look at Sina...she's trying to grab daddy's trdelnik.

Dough is wrapped around a trdlo and grilled to perfection.

Then it's coated with sugar and nuts.

The trdelnik...among many reasons to return to Prague!

And Then There Were Two

Easter trees, I mean.  Not another baby, which I'm sure my parents would love to be true.  So remember a few weeks ago when I posted about our German Easter tree?  Well, at that point, there was only one.  Let's just say that I've amassed quite the collection of Easter eggs and ornaments.  So, now there are two!

 Around this time, you can find lots of cool branches (some painted) at the farmer's market and some floral shops.  I got a bunch of them and actually had to put them all in a big vase.  Would you believe that I snagged that vase for $1 at a flea market months ago?  I love it.  I've since added over half a dozen more eggs, most of which were painted by my friend, Zinda.  Sadly enough, I don't have any pictures of the beautiful eggs she painted, although a few are pictured here.  Even Sina knows which ones she painted.  I have such talented friends!

Anyway, these are pics of three eggs I picked up at the spring bazaar on post a few weekends ago.  See how those holes have been carved into the egg? 

The design on this one is made of candle wax.

This one is just hand-painted.

Now, here's the second tree...also known as Sina's Easter Tree.



No eggs, just lady bug and bumble bee ornaments that I picked up at an Easter market last year.  I'm definitely going to add to this one next year.  I've only got one more year left of this, so I need to get a move-on on stocking up!

When Malu returned from training, he noticed that the house was particularly decked out for Easter (both inside and out) and loves it.  It's been so much fun.

The fun will continue this weekend because we're spending it in Prague with Team Finch.  And...there's going to be a huge Easter market there!

That being said, it's a short week and I'm already ready for it to end!

I owe you guys tons of posts.  We had an absolutely gorgeous weekend in Stuttgart and spent it downtown and at the zoo.  I'll have to try extra hard to blog about it this week! 

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start!



German Easter Egg Tree

I wonder if people think that it's weird that I've completely skipped over St. Patrick's Day and went directly to decorating our house for Easter.  It's not that I don't like St. Patrick's Day.  I just couldn't wait to get our first German Easter egg tree up.  I mean, I'd hate to let the 60+ Euro I've already spent on eggs go to waste!  Plus, it's so exciting to get Sina in on the fun too.

I didn't know this, but evidently Germany is regarded as the birthplace of modern day Easter icons like the Easter bunny and tree.  Children were told stories of the Easter bunny, or Osterhase, who hid eggs and chocolates for kids to find on Easter Sunday.  German immigrants to the United States brought these traditions with them and spread it all over.  Here in Germany, people exchange eggs as gifts and Easter egg trees are very popular.  As a matter of fact, I did a search on Google and found these amazing pictures of egg trees.  I couldn't believe it.  People hang thousands of eggs in their trees outside the house.

Sina and I went on a long walk today to collect branches for our tree.  I took a glass pitcher, stuffed it to the brim with pink and green Easter grass, shoved our branches in and voila!  We have our tree!

I decorated it with the eggs I bought in Maulbronn last weekend.  I also put on some lady bug and bumble bee ornaments as well as some old egg ornaments (from a flea market) that I got in Waldenbuch last year.  We're planning on going to Prague for an Easter market next month, so we'll definitely be adding to this collection.

Sina loves it.  She kept saying, "Ooooooh!" each time I put an egg up.  When I stopped she said, "More!".

Along with this, I have decorations in our doorway, Easter decals on our windows, and fresh tulips all over the house.

The first official day of spring is March 20th, but with the kind of weather we had today, I'm thinking it's already started.  And it's kind of funny to think that the mid-40s feels like spring to us here.  No wonder I'm in an Easter kind of mood.

Anyway...happy Saturday you guys!

Maulbronn Easter Market

See?  I told you guys I'd post the pictures from yesterday's Easter market today.  I almost said "the heck with it" and got ready for bed, but somehow mustered the energy to go through my pictures and do this.  As mentioned yesterday, we went to the city of Maulbronn for an Easter market.  The market was held in the city's monastery.  The Maulbronn Monastery, founded in 1147, is the best-preserved medieval monastery in Europe.  Read more about the monastery here, if you're interested. 

What a beautiful setting for an Easter market. Right behind the monastery (I didn't take pictures of this) and going uphill, was a vineyard, which made for a lovely backdrop.  And I just love old buildings; especially the half-timbered kinds that were common during medieval times.  See the half-timbered building with blue shutters?  Love it.

In the middle of the courtyard, a fountain was all decked out in evergreen and Easter eggs.  Sina loved all the eggs.  Thank goodness those were plastic!

I really shouldn't joke about Sina breaking eggs that day.  Truth be told...she didn't break any at all.  On the other hand, I broke one before we even went into the actual market.  I ended up paying six Euros for an egg in a small store outside.

We entered the market in the nick of time.  Right after we checked in, a massive line formed outside and people ended up waiting a long time; mostly because the space (where all the kiosks were) was so small and could only accompany so many.  I was asked to park my stroller outside, as a matter of fact.  Luckily, Sina wasn't fussy at all.  She walked quietly by my side, enjoying the sights while hanging on to my hand.  So sweet.

So these eggs...were works of art.  Seriously.  There were so many kinds, and I didn't even get to every vendor.  Of course, most of the eggs were real.  Some were plastic or made of wood.  I bought almost a dozen eggs ranging from under two Euros to ten, but there were some priced in the 100's!

I was luckily able to snag these photos of the eggs.  Most of the vendors didn't want people taking pictures of their goods.  Not sure why no one waived me away, but I'm sure glad they didn't!

This was actually my favorite vendor...these eggs were more my style.  Whimsical and fun.  Sina was given one of those paper ornaments for free.  She received a gnome :)

Some vendors demonstrated their crafts.  I can only say that I would never have the patience to do any of this!

Lovely wreaths.

Look at the vibrant colors and patterns!

I couldn't believe how beautiful these were.  These are actually wooden eggs and cost a pretty penny.

Another favorite batch.  The dots are actually dots of candle wax!

These designs were sewn onto the eggs.  Amazing!

These were the ones I walked away with. 

As we were leaving, I calculated about 60 Euros in decorated eggs.  I just couldn't believe that I'd blown that much money on eggs.  And it's only my first Easter market!  I'm definitely going to have to pace myself from here on out.  I know people that have spent literally thousands on these decorative eggs.  At this rate, I'm in trouble :)

  Now I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying not to break these between PCS moves.  On the other hand, they will be nice conversation pieces for company everytime I set my Easter egg tree up each year.  As soon as I find some good branches, these will be hanging right on our dining room table until Easter!

Anyway, thanks for tuning in you guys.  I hate to end this so abruptly, but this girl needs to hit the sack.  Another long day ahead of me tomorrow!

Good night and Happy Monday for you folks back home!

{Egg}static!

What a weekend!  Sina and I definitely kept ourselves busy entertaining friends and going sightseeing and shopping with them as well.

Back in the day when my parents were stationed here, everyone wanted to go back to the States with schranks (German furniture--they're mainly big closets/wardrobes/some with shelving and lighting), Hummel figurines, and cuckoo clocks (some people still like these).  Heck, my parents still have some of these things in their house now.  So do their friends--many of whom are retired military folks that were stationed here years back.

Not me.  I've made it clear that I want two things and two things only-- (1) Christmas ornaments/decorations (which I scored big time on last year during the Christmas market season); and (2) Easter egg ornaments/decorations. 

Folks...it's Oster Markt, or Easter Market, season here in Europe!  Just when I thought that I'd had enough fun during Christmas season, Easter is just around the corner and I jumped at the first opportunity to scope out an Easter market about 40 minutes away from here.  We were here for Easter last year.  Not sure what I was thinking not attempting to do this back then.

I'll post more about this tomorrow, but here's a sneak peek...

Two of my lady friends, Sina and I spent the day at a kloster (cloister, or monastery) in the city of Maulbronn and splurged on some of these hand-painted, hand-crafted eggs, or eier.  What a blast!

More pics to come tomorrow!

Hope you all have an {eggs}traordinary week!