Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter praising the Lord that “He has risen, He has risen indeed”!

In France, unlike in the US, Easter Monday (Lundi de Pâques) is a holiday, so instead of going to class, I enjoyed an excursion through my school to Chamonix Mont Blanc!


About an hour later, we made it to Mont Blanc and let me just say that it is even more spectacular than I remember! Back when we lived in Prague, my family visited Mont Blanc on our way from Italy to France and my Dad and I took the telepherique from the Italian side to the lookout point for Mont Blanc on the French side, but being on the French side of the mountain this time was a completely different feel for me. Mont Blanc seemed so much larger and prettier now than it did when I was younger as well as much steeper and higher. And for those of you who didn’t know, Mont Blanc is on the border of 3 countries: France, Italy and Switzerland and is 4810m high (about 15,780 ft)!


I took the telepherique up to L’Aiguille du Midi, the lookout point, which is 3842 m high (12,598 ft). Chamonix, at the base of the mountain, is 1032m above sea level (about 3,385 ft) and to get up to the top it took about 15-20 minutes, super fast in my opinion!

I was up on the mountain for a few hours, then headed down to explore the city of Chamonix. Chamonix is an adorable little mountain town, with a stream running through the center of town and endless views of Mont Blanc from wherever you are. There was a lot of shopping you could do with some of the bigger name stores like Billabong, Roxy, Burton, North Face, etc and all of the buildings had that old, rustic, wooden feel, which made me feel like it was right out of a movie. And surprisingly, I heard more English being spoken than French. I mean this is an international city, but it just wasn’t something I was expecting.

Here are some pictures of the town of Chamonix: Enjoy!


I had a fantastic time and am so grateful the weather was so perfect and I was able to enjoy God’s creations! London this Thursday…cannot wait!!



Love,
Stephanie :)

So where do I even begin explaining my weekend in Prague? No words can truly describe how much I love Prague, but believe me, Prague is my home away from home, my love and even though I hadn’t been back in 7 years, it felt like I was home…picking up from where I left off. It was absolutely amazing! Not only that, but when we moved back to America, this girl named Radka also came back with us as our “au pair” for one year. In 2003, we came back to Prague to surprise her for her birthday, but after that we lost contact. When I moved to France this year, I kept searching for her on facebook and after many tries, I found her! After 7 years of not talking, it was great to finally reconnect with her, which was another reason I was looking forward to Prague because I got to see her!

Radka picked me up from the airport and we definitely had a heart to heart moment, kind of what you would see in a movie where two people are running towards each other in an airport and drop everything then hug and cherish each other…well yeah, same thing happened with Radka and me. After we settle down and got my luggage, we jumped into a taxi and headed straight for Nebušice (my old neighborhood) because it was so close to the airport and we didn’t want to waste any time!! I was already so nervous yet excited and anxious to get there and see my neighborhood and especially my old house. I didn’t know what to expect because it had been years since I’ve last seen it in person. On the way over, the taxi driver was telling us that he remembers bringing this American guy (which we assumed was my dad!) to U Pohádky (our street name) because they always called him “Pohádky man” haha First of all that is crazy that he’s worked for this taxi driving company that long, but that this particular taxi driver remembers him!

We finally made it to the house and I jumped out of the car and just stood in front of the house with a huge smile on my face, thinking “ah I’m home!” The outside of the house looked identical to what I’ve remembered over the years except for the fact that they took down our awning that said “Pohadka”, which in Czech means “fairytale”. For me, that is what made the house so magical and real and I will never forget that. But just being where I used to live gave me the goosebumps and honestly, I felt like I still lived there and was just coming home from a vacation lol


But there was someone standing in the doorway when we arrived, so Radka spoke to her (in Czech of course so I couldn’t really tell what they were saying) but it was along the lines that I used to live here and was wondering if we could come inside to check it out for a few minutes. Well, the lady turns out to be a real estate agent and is showing a family our house in a few minutes so she also allowed us to check it out! Boy has the inside changed. The entire house is so modern now; it looks completely different than when we were there! Every room now has hardwood floors, the kitchen looks like it could be found in a model house in the States and they redid the stairs and removed the back door(bad mistake on their part about the door, but everything else is okay in my opinion).

We checked out the entire house, went back in my old room and on Gabby’s deck and also explored the backyard. The tennis court, the cherry tree, the greenhouse and the pool were all still there and when I was at the garage, I noticed that one of the windows still had a crack in it and just started laughing because this was from Grant shooting a Beebe gun at the window! After how many years we’ve been gone and they still haven’t fixed it? Haha It made me laugh! Radka and I also went to check out the šarka right across the street from our house, where we always played.



Then we started walking to ISP (the International School of Prague)! Oh ISP looked the same to me as it did when I was in elementary & middle school except that the bright, vibrant colors on the outside of the building weren’t as bright as they used to be. We got a visitor’s pass from the front office and went exploring! The cafeteria was the same, the middle school wing, the art and music wing; everything looked how it did when I went there! It was great walking through the halls of the middle school wing especially because that’s where I spent the majority of my time! Unfortunately, none of my teachers are still there, but it brought back so many wonderful memories of my time in Prague!


Saturday was our biggest day of adventure because we were going from mid morning until late into the evening…but no complaining because it was definitely worth it! Saturday was also the very first day of the Easter market in Old Town Square! This is by far one of my favorite markets in Prague because of their handmade Czech Easter eggs! Everyone in my family has one with their name on it and it is a perfect souvenir for anyone because it is so unique! But out of all the vendors selling these Easter eggs, only one booth hand carves your name into the eggs. After searching every booth, we finally found the right one and of course it was also the booth with the best eggs! What luck!

Old Town Square is one of my favorite places in Prague because there is the astronomical clock and tower as well as Týn Church. The buildings here are also very historical and architecturally beautiful that I could spend hours taking it all in! We grabbed lunch from the market and did just that!

After, we walked to the Powder Tower and went in a few tourist/souvenir shops and to my surprise, found the most amazing hand painted picture of the Charles Bridge with the castle and St. Vitus Cathedral in the background! I’m so excited to frame it and hang it up in my new apartment when I am back in SLO!

We walked through the streets of Prague from Old Town Square to the Charles Bridge and when we got to the bridge, the sun was coming out, there were blue skies and the castle and cathedral looked even more gorgeous than I remember! Unfortunately, part of the bridge was closed to reconstruction, so I didn’t get any good pics of the bridge itself, but I took some of the statues and the views from the bridge! Being on the bridge with the Vltava River below and an amazing view of Prague in so many different angles is by far my FAVORITE place in Prague! Here are some pictures so you can see for yourself:


If you touch the gold part of this statue on the bridge, it is said you get good luck- which this weekend was definitely proof of that!







On the other side of the bridge, we visited our old church, St. Thomas Church, where Gabby and Grant had their first communion then headed up the hill to the Prague castle!





We took the tram up to the very top of where the castle is and Radka first took me to see the Strahov Monastery where the view of Prague is absolutely gorgeous!

From there, we walked to the main entrance of the castle where they were getting ready for Prince William, from England, to arrive at the castle for a gala event (I was looking for him, but never saw him). The most spectacular place to be at the castle though would be St. Vitus Cathedral!! It is by far the most beautiful cathedral I know and every time I see this masterpiece, I am in awe of how people back then had the tools and ability to construct something this massive and beautiful! Here are some pictures of the cathedral inside and out, but first let me say that out of all the sites to see in Prague, I was here every day because the first day, there was a private event going on in the church and when Radka and I got home Saturday night, all of her pictures from her camera of the castle were gone and so we had to go back and then when we went back, the church was closed again, so we re-did our pics and on my last day there (3rd time’s a charm I guess), we were finally able to see the inside of the cathedral!


Saturday night we walked back across the Charles Bridge and into Old Town Square, heading towards St. Wenceslas Square to catch the tram back to Praha 10, where Radka lives (Praha 1 and 2 are the center of Prague, where the majority of tourist attractions are).

On Sunday, Radka and I went up to the top of the Astronomical Clock Tower in Old Town Square. The weather wasn’t the greatest, but the view was absolutely amazing! You really can see all of Prague, in so many different angles, it is unbelievable!


We also made it to the Jewish quarters of Prague to see the oldest synagogue in Prague as well as the Jewish cemetery. In that same area is where the Intercontinental Hotel is…we always used to go swimming at their pool when we lived here and that is also where my family stayed before leaving to move back to the US. Good memories…

We also went by the Rudolfinum, where the Czech philharmonic orchestra plays. I’ve seen a few concerts in there before! Speaking of concert halls, to thank Radka for letting me stay with her for the weekend, I treated her to see the ballet Swan Lake at the State Opera in Wenceslas Square! It was a wonderful production and she was so thrilled…she aspires to work for a theatre or ballet company in Prague, so this was right up her alley. Inside the opera house, there was red velvet everywhere and so many intricate details, it was almost distracting me from the ballet haha


Monday was by far the best weather day, clear blue skies and warm! Here are some pictures of Old Town Square on Monday!

And here are some other pictures to recap my adventure in Prague!

It was sad to say goodbye to Prague after such an amazing weekend!! I hope that one day I will have the opportunity to go back because like I said before, Prague has a special place in my heart that will never go away! If I could, I would move back to Prague in a heartbeat. But I hope that you can see how much I am in love with this city and if you ever have the chance to go…GO! It is very much worth it…and maybe you can bring me along as your guide ;)

That’s it for now…time to relax after a month of traveling every single weekend! London in 2 weeks! Can’t wait!

Au revoir,

Stephanie