Prague + Dresden

So Christmas was a little different this year... we spent Christmas Eve in Dresden, Germany and Christmas Day in Prague, Czech Republic. I can't remember the last time we spent Christmas in Europe - oh wait, that's because we never have before! It definitely was different and hard to not be with our families, but we were able to experience something completely new and unique to us at the European Christmas markets. You'll find a few photos from our trips to both cities in the blog, if you are interested in seeing more photos just let me know and I'll send you a link to all of the photos.

First, we went to Dresden because of the good things we heard about their Christmas market and it was all true. The atmostphere of the European Christmas market is absolutely magical, and in Dresden you can tell that the locals put a lot of time and effort into preparing for this month long celebration. Take a look for yourself...

Aside from the Christmas market we were able to

visit and see some beautiful historical buildings including a palace and opera house - many of which were nearly destroyed during air raids of World War II. Luckily we fit all this in before heavy rain and sleet moved in for the evening and to our surprise everything shut down by about 3 pm on Christmas Eve (we expected things to close early, but not quite everything including the stores in the train station, which meant 3+ long hours of just sitting and waiting), but later we found out that Christmas Eve is the bigger holiday here for many places and many things were instead open on Christmas Day.

Onto Prague and all I can say is if you have not been there is go there. Especially for you history buffs out there... the history there runs very deep and gave us a new appreciation for growing up in the U.S. We were able to visit the castle quarter of the city and walk across the Charles Bridge and learn more about his reign, saw the astronomical clock which was a marvel when it was built hundreds of years ago and still is today, we visited the Jewish Quarter and learned about centuries of discrimination and hardship and visited the communist museum to understand better how the country has come to where it is today.

The evolution from communism to democracy was especially highlighted as Vaclav Havel died just a few days before we came. Havel is one of the most important people in the Czech Republic's history as he was the primary figure in leading the country to a democracy. As a result we were able to more truly see just how much he was respected by the entire country as they came out in mourning.

In addition to receiving a big refresher to our world history studies we tried to partake in as many Czech traditions as possible. We visited the Christmas market here as well and although the crafts and handmade goods were not as impressive as in Dresden, the atmosphere was once again nothing short of magical. Check out these two videos for a taste:

We also had the opportunity to take in one of the locals' favorite operas - Don Giovanni - in the Estates Theatre, which is where Mozart himself premiered his work a few hundred years ago. A beautiful and intimate venue was the perfect introduction to our first opera.

The other local traditions of course involved food! For the most part the food meant dishes of hardy meat and potatoes, especially pig's leg! Coming from Zurich we felt as if we were able to eat like royalty since the food was so cheap (really it was pretty close to the cost of eating out in the midwest), but we are still trying to figure out why on some menus they included the weight of the food. I guess it was a good indicator of what we were going to get, and maybe one we should have paid a little more attention to before ordering - especially when we figured out after Steve received his food that he ordered nearly a one pound hamburger!

In addition to trying all the local foods wherever we visit Steve is going to work on sampling as many different European beers as possible. He did pretty good in Prague, but his tastings were not complete without a trip to a local brewery and beer hall. We visited perhaps a little too early in the evening to get a complete taste of the atmosphere - no crazy drunkards or dancing on tables, but there was some good singing and coins being thrown into the tuba for an encore. Mostly, it allowed us to capture a glimpse of what an European beer hall is like and one that will just get us prepared for a trip to Munich and potentially Oktoberfest down the road...

Finally a few random things that left us pondering as we left Prague. First we saw two wedding parties out taking photos at various historical spots on a Tuesday afternoon. We tried to do some research to see if it is a tradition to get married on a Tuesday in the Czech Republic, but found nothing. Second, in Prague the subway lines seems to be a good three or four stories underground. We're sure that there is a logical reason to this, but still are surprised since we have never seen them so far underground before. We assumed this has something to do with the terrain or the way the city was constructed prior to the subway being introduced, but regardless it still made for a scary and exciting trip down to our line on some very steep and long escalators!

All in all, the trip to Dresden and Prague was considered a success for our first big European adventure and after an exhausting five days we were more than ready to return to Zurich. And although I've never been one to be partial to airlines I'd have to say that Swiss Air left quite an impression on me... for a flight that was less than 1.5 hours we received fresh sandwiches on baguettes made that day (none of those plastic wrapped sandwiches that can be preseved for six months) and we recived swiss chocolate. I look forward to flying in that type of luxury again!