The Meier's German Adventure

This was our next destination - the Prague Castle. We stopped by the river for a quick break and to cool off under the shade of some trees that line the river Vlatava since it was already well into the 80s. We entered the castle through the gate that is under the tower on the far right of the picture. The history of the castle begins back in the 9th century. The buildings enclosed by the castle walls include a palace, three churches and a monastery. Since 1918, it has been the seat of the president of the Republic.

From there, we headed to the Jewish Quarter of town. This is a picture of the old Jewish Cemetery. For over 300 years, it was the only burial ground permitted for the Jews.It was founded in 1478 and the last burial here took place in 1787. Today, there are over 12,000 gravestones crammed into this tiny space. It is estimated that there may be over 100,000 people buried here. It was closed to visitors today which was unfortunate.

This morning we started our advernture along the same path as yesterday. We managed to stop by the Astronomical clock in time to catch it strike on the hour. When the hours strikes, the skelton pulls on a rope in his right hand. In his left hand, an hourglass, that he raises and inverts. Two windows then pen at the top and the clockwork Apostles, led by Peter, parade slowly round. The other figures then also move. It was really cool - the kids loved it.

Dominating the east side of the square is the Church of Our Lady before Tyn.The mulitple steeples are magnificant. Unfortunately we did not get a chance to take a look inside. Next visit!

Here we are on the one side of the tower and behind us is a beautiful Town Hall Astronomical Clock.

Here I am with the kids in the Old Town Square. It was beautiful!! Behind us is the Old Town Hall. It is one of the most striking buildings in the city. It was built in 1338. Along the side of the tower are a row of beautiful Gothic and Renaissance buildings. There received damage form the Nazis but have since been restored.

We found a great bistro to get some dinner and refreshments! Look at Scott's glass - its a Czech beer called Budweiser. No - not from Anheuser-Busch, from the town of Budweir. It was a great dinner - Scott and I each got traditional Czech dinners that were delicious.

AFter we checked into our hotel, Pension Brezina, we were off to explore Prague. We first walked down through Wenceslas Square down to the old Powder Gate. There has been a gate here since the 11th century, when it formed one of the 13 entrances into town. It got its present name when it was used to store gunpowder in the 17th century.

The fountains in town were just what the kids needed to splash some cold water on each other. Once we cooled off we bought our chandelier and drove on to Prague!

Our first stop was the town of Karlovy Vary. Why here you might ask? One word answer - CRYSTAL. This picture is of a row of crystal stores along the river through town. In one of these stores is where Scott and I bought ourselves a beautiful new 8 arm chandelier! It was almost overwhelming with so much crystal to look at in store after store. After we got an idea of what we wanted we stopped for some icecream and drinks.

"Czech" it out!! We went over to the East of Germany this weekend to visit the Czech Republic! We crossed the border and after a quick border check for us we were on our way! We saw another car of Americans stopped at he border but it turns out they were waiitng on getting their passports stamped and weren't getting arrested by the KGB.

We really had a great time. He got on stage a little after 3 p.m. and played until almost 4:30. Of course, we heard American Soldier, The Angry American and the Taliban Song. He even sang Weed With Willie! It was nice to know that all of these soldiers and families aren't forgotten about back in the States. Great day.....Who's Your Daddy!!!!!!!!

He played a great show! Sang all of his big hits - told us how proud he is of the Military and their families. Really a cool guy!

Which of course means - I GOT TO MEET TOBY KEITH!!!! There were about 30 of us there for the Meet & Greet session before the concert. He was really nice. Talked with each of us and took pictures! After the Meet & Greet, I headed back out to find Scott and wait for the concert.

We got up today and went out with our neighbor's and a few thousand of our closet friends to check out the Toby Keith concert. He was here in Mannheim doing a USO show. When we got to the concert look what I was given!

Here's Major Meier! We had a really nice dinner and a good time eating dinner in the barrel.

Scott's unit had a Hail and Farewell on Saturday out in Bad Durkheim on the Weinstrasse! We had dinner inside this HUGE wine barrel! It was completed in 1934 and is a real barrel. It is really cool inside. If it was filled with wine (mmmm, filled with wine...) it would hold 1.7 million liters! We had seen this before but we had thought only the outside was shaped to look like a barrel.

Here is a group shot of the Meiers and the Derners. What we are sitting on is called the Riesenaule, or Giant Column. It was made by Roman masons in the 4th century. It is 30.8 feet long and weighs 27.5 tons. There are over 320 ancient works by Roman-era stonecutters that are interspersed throughout the rocks. The kids had so much fun climbing these boulders that we will probably do this again sometime!

Legend has it that two giants had a quarrel and began throwing rocks at one another. The Felsberg giant lost and was buried in this sea of rocks. As you can see, some of the boulders are as big or bigger than cars - even bigger than American cars! What a great jungle gym! By the way, it is said that if you jump up and down on the boulders, you can still hear the giant groaning beneath the rocks...

We climbed at least about 1,000 meters up - it was a great view!

Fun on the rocks! Today we went with some friends, the Derners, to a geological wonder in the nearby Odenwald. It is a strange concentration of rocks that converges into a waterfall of granite, spilling downhill in a disorderly stream.