Prague, Czech Republic

To me, one of the best ways to travel, is to combine history and our Catholic faith. Therefore, Prague sounded like the perfect vacation. Prague is a historical place, with the Infant of Prague as well. I did my best to plan prior to going, and took three guidebooks along with us. I booked our apartment on booking.com. We stayed in this apartment, although it looks like they have several. Overall, it was a great apartment. It was very deceiving at first, as when we pulled up, it looked like a front door to get in. The man opened the door all the way, and we drove our car through this narrow alleyway, and parked it on a metal ramp, that actually had three floors of 2 cars each. It was pretty cool and exciting, especially to the kids.

 Jon in the kitchen

 one of the living room areas, where Jon and I slept

The kids room, looking in to the kitchen. On the right is a door to our room.

 Zach took a picture for us.

Then Hannah took one for us.

 From the kitchen, looking at the rest of the kids' room.

From the window, looking in to our room, kids' room on the left, 

hallway to kitchen and bathroom on right door.

The amazing ceiling.

One of the things that is so vastly different about the Czech Republic is while they're a part of the European Union, they don't use the Euro. Everything appears really expensive, until you do the conversion. For example, our dinner one night was 1070 Krona. Jon told me drop the last digit and divide by 2, and that tells you about how much it is in Dollars. So our dinner for the 5 of us was about $50. We felt it was amazingly cheap in Prague. We got some groceries one night, at the little grocery store right below our apartment, cheese, eggs, mushrooms, ketchup, cheese, coffee and wine, and spent less than $15.  We made it home with $200 to spare of our budget, wahoo!

We were near Wenceslas Square, so pretty central to most parts of the city. It's only 2.5 miles from one side to the other. We arrived about 4pm, and set out on an evening stroll, to stretch our legs and get a bit of energy out, and eat some dinner. We ate at a typical Czech restaurant, Jon eating duck and potato dumplings, me salmon, and the kids all had some pasta with salmon or mushrooms and something else. Zach loved his, the mushroom one, and insisted on taking leftovers home and he insisted we have them the 2nd night for dinner.

On Sunday, we woke up and slowly got going. We had plans to attend the noon English mass at Our Lady Victorious, where the Infant of Prague is. We weren't sure how long it'd take to walk there, so we left about 10am. We walked over the Charles Bridge. The kids thought it was really exciting, and loved seeing the statues of Mary, Jesus, St. Joseph and many other Saints. We finally arrived at the church, about 11am. We immediately saw The Infant of Prague, dressed in purple for Lent. I was expecting it to be in a museum in the back somewhere, but it was on a side altar right in the middle of the church. Someone had told us the church was really small, so we got there early to get seats. It was bigger than I had expected, a very decent size, but not a basillica.

The Infant of Prague was smaller than I had imagined from pictures. We took some time and knelt to pray while gazing on it. I've always struggled with kneeling before an object praying. It feels like idol worship to a degree to me. But, I instead looked at the Infant and thought about Jesus as an infant, and meditated on that, and used that as a source of prayer. I prayed for those I know that are pregnant, those I know who are trying to get pregnant, those who've had a miscarriage/lost a baby recently, and those who are struggling with infertility. I think I mentioned most by name, but since I know 14 people currently pregnant (Well, 13 since one had her baby while we were away ;-)), I likely didn't mention all, but God knew my heart. Plus, I was VERY distracted by children who did not want to kneel and pray for long.

 from the back of the church, looking in. The Infant of Prague is to the right.

 The Infant of Prague

The altar with the Infant of Prague and kneeling rail to pray.

Then we sat and waited for mass to begin. This was hard. We had about an hour to wait, in a cold church that did not have heat. It had some heaters that were connected to the back of the pews, that were HOT to the touch, but did not radiate any. By the time mass was over about 1pm, we were all FREEZING cold, miserable, and had to use the bathroom, which was not in the church. Overall though, the mass was lovely and we tried to offer it up. We walked across the street to a deli, ordered a few pastries, and all used the toilet. Then we went back in to the church, bought a few small souvenirs of the Infant of Prague,and visited the small museum upstairs where they had a few of his gowns. They were mostly all gifts from other countries, and very beautiful.

After this, we headed to the Prague Castle. The kids were miserable by this point, tired of walking and cold. We got to see the changing of the guard, which they did like. Then we walked inside. We went inside St. Vitus Cathedral, only to stand in the back for a few. It was huge, beautiful, but required tickets to see the rest of it. Unfortunately, it was 4pm and the church closes at 4:30, so we felt it wasn't worth it. Plus, the kids would not make it. We headed out of the palace, after only seeing a small part, and back towards the apartment. The kids insisted that they did not want to eat at a restaurant, but wanted to go home to leftovers haha. So we did that, and made mac and cheese and brats for dinner with their leftovers.

 changing of the guard

 inside St. Vitus Cathedral

The palace entrance

outside of St. Vitus Cathedral

 outside of St. Vitus Cathedral

inside of St. Vitus Cathedral

 The kids and I in front of a well, that was gated to keep their water system clean.

Monday morning, we woke up and took some time getting ready. My only plan was to head to the Jewish Cemetery, which our guidebook did not mention had a fee. When we got there, we learned that in fact, it did, along with all the other Jewish things. We decided that two tickets for 300 Krona each was worth it, and bought our tickets. It was worth it. First, we went in to the Pinkas Synagogue which had nothing but names and names and names written on the walls. 80,000 Jews of Bohemia and Moravia murdered by the Nazis. It was an amazing, and gut-wrenching sight. Upstairs there were drawings made by children that were living in the Terezin ghetto. These pictures had me holding back tears, and were amazing to see what those young children saw, including a picture of a hanging, the dormitories where they lived, and more. Zachary was really interested in all of these pictures, and wanted to draw one like it when he got home. He was very quiet, taking it all in, and asking lots of questions.

After this, we headed to the Jewish Cemetery. This was a breath-taking site as well. Because they were forced to stay in the ghetto, they had no where else to bury their dead, so they buried them on top of each other, with just a bit of dirt between each layer. The headstones were brought up along with the rising ground, but now they are just all over each other. Today it contains some 12,000 tombstones, but the number of bodies actually buried here is much greater. The oldest headstone dates back to the 1439 and the last burial was in 1787. We read that Jews are not to be dug up after burial, and that they are given land by the government so that won't happen. But the government refused to give them any more land.

It was really neat, because next to the cemetery is the town hall, and there you could see how they did a lot of the burial customs. There were two other Synagogues we got to go in that had several Jewish artifacts, such as Torah Shields, Torah pointers, and cups used during the Seder meal. Our experience here really made us want to learn more about the Jews and their customs. We found it interesting that since Jesus was Jewish, he likely celebrated many of these same customs. And yet, many people chastise Catholics for our customs and Traditions, but don't ever mention a problem with the Jewish customs and practices. It's very interesting to see the comparison of the Jewish traditions with the Catholic traditions, traditions that were passed on from Jesus Himself.

 The Town Hall in the Jewish quarters. In here was a lot of information on Jewish burial customs, such as they must have a place to wash their hands in the cemetery, because washing hands is part of their customs.

After the Jewish Cemetery, we went to the Old Town square, where we sampled some food from a vendor and watched a street jazz band while the kids danced. After this we headed home, for more mac and cheese and brats for dinner. Then we did baths, and another 7pm bedtime for the kids. They were so exhausted each night.

In the courtyard of the Old Town Square

Abby and Zach giving money to the musicians we were listening to. The kids had fun dancing to them.

The clock tower.

The kids and I in front of the Old Town Square clock. Apparently it does something 

cool every hour, but we were too tired to wait the 15 minutes. 

A beautiful church you can see from the Town Square. It was closed unfortunately the day we were there.

On Tuesday, we were scheduled to checkout from our apartment at 10. It's suppose to be a 5 hr 20 min drive (took us 6 hrs to get there with bathroom stops). I thought well, we could get home at 4, or see something else. I had brought a book with me about various Catholic shrines in Europe, and it mentioned Svata Hora was 30 minutes south, so excited for this new change in our adventure, we headed there. Svata Hora means Holy Mountain. On this mountain is a statue of Our Lady holding the baby Jesus. Many miracles have been attributed to it, the first being of a blind man who came and prayed before it to Jesus and Our Lady for 3 days. After 3 days, his sight was restored. We had to park at the bottom of the small mountain, and walk up it. It was snowing and cold. When we got to the top, it looked so deserted, but we walked inside anyway.

Walking up the hill.

 The front of Svata Hora

Immediately, you saw this huge outside altar on the top of some stairs. It looked as if the statue was originally there, but not anymore. Behind this altar was the minor Basillica. Pope Pious X declared it a minor Basilica in 1905 I think, because of all the miracles attributed to it. Inside was this small church, with the image above the altar. There were two smaller altars within the Basilica, one of which was very cool as it had all these Saints around the crucifix. Back outside, there was basically a courtyard/wall surrounding the Basilica and outside altar. On these walls and ceilings were several paintings, most of which were depicting 100 miracles connected to the statue- people at sea who saw the image and were saved, people who were traveling and their cart rolled over, someone getting struck by lightening, etc. There were also many other altars along the walls, and small chapels on each corner. However, the chapels are now sealed up, due to erosion caused by the weather. I would recommend going, but I would definitely save it for the summer. It looked like there are usually several restaurants, a water closet, and even souvenir shops outside, but they were all closed. I think we saw maybe 2 or 3 other families while we were there.

The outside altar you see when you first walk in, above many steps. The gold oval use to hold the statue. I don't know if it still does in the summer or not. 

 The statue of Our Lady holding Jesus on the altar.

 The side altar with the Saints at Jesus' cross.

The altar with the statue on it.

Back outside, there was basically a courtyard/wall surrounding the Basilica and outside altar. On these walls and ceilings were several paintings, most of which were depicting 100 miracles connected to the statue- people at sea who saw the image and were saved, people who were traveling and their cart rolled over, someone getting struck by lightening, etc. There were also many other altars along the walls, and small chapels on each corner. However, the chapels are now sealed up, due to erosion caused by the weather. I would recommend going, but I would definitely save it for the summer. It looked like there are usually several restaurants, a water closet, and even souvenir shops outside, but they were all closed. I think we saw maybe 2 or 3 other families while we were there.

The ceilings in the outside part... Mary and Jesus in each image.

Here is an image of a man being trampled, where Our Lady rescued him.

 Someone under logs also being saved.

 The man that was struck by lightening.

Outside Svata Hora before heading back to the car. 

When we came back out, the snow had picked up. We quickly headed back to the car and got on the road. About 2 hours away from home, we hit a stau (German word for traffic jam- word everyone knows, and everyone despises). After sitting on the autobahn for 2 hours, we were all being forced off the road. Everyone else was turning right. We started to, but I felt like we shouldn't. The thing about Germany is they send you off the highway, with no detour signs, no direction where to go, so you and thousands of others are just in the dark of where to go. We went with my gut and went left. I told Jon as long as we're driving west, we're heading in the right direction. Two hours later, we were back at the autobahn, 22 kilometers further down it, and able to get back on. During that 2 hours, we drove on many village roads, that were super icy and scary. The whole time, I kept praying "Holy Family help our family. Guardian angels protect us." over and over and over. We finally arrived home, after a 10 hour instead of 6 hour drive.

 What we were driving in. 

 Girls taking a nap.

It was a great trip. In fact, we're really hoping to go back in the summer. But the winter was nice because it wasn't too crowded anywhere. We hate crowds, especially with 3 young children that hate holding hands, so it was worth it to a degree to go in the winter. I strongly recommend visiting Prague if you're looking for someone to go while in Europe. :)