the american tourist

i have been playing the american tourist the last few days. i don't really like being a tourist. but i am one. so i guess i just need to embrace it. does it count that i was with people that live here and aren't tourists? :)

Český Krumlov

amy, asher, hayes and i took a day trip to this beautiful town. it is a little over an hour away from where the hartmans live. we made our way up into the castle. this is the view. amazing. there are bears that live right outside the castle walls (think zoo bears) but they were not out. MUCH to the boys dismay. but they endured on. :) we meandered our way through the cobblestone streets and quaint shops. ate lunch overlooking the river. the pic below is a cool door i saw on the outside of the castle wall. 

Prague

amy, hannah and i drove into prague (an hour away) on saturday morning for our girls weekend. what an amazing city! i am not a big city girl. cities are loud and dirty and packed with people. and there were definitely those parts of prague. but the history and architecture are amazing. i haven't been in all the cities in the world - but with my limited exposure - if i had to chose a city to live in - it would be prague. wow. 

i won't bore you with the details of our two day walking tour of the city - the pictures will speak for themselves. but some highlights:

• spending two hours in a polish pottery shop. how on earth i am going to get the  pottery i purchased back to the usa when i still have three more weeks of travel - i don't know. 
• seeing the cardinal! we were up in the castle right before mass and this entourage of police and secret service types came through - they held us all back from entering the main area. these priest looking guys got out and carried something into the church and then the entourage left. i overheard a lady ask one of the guards who that was. he said, "the cardinal". so of course we looked it up - and it was the cardinal of the czech. i don't know much about how the catholic church works - but apparently the acting cardinals are advisors to the pope. so you know - he is important. so now amy and i are telling everyone that we know the cardinal. and by "know him" we mean saw him from a distance. 
• being out in old town square at night - so magical.
• walking everywhere on two perfectly sunny, fall days
• the maze of cobblestone streets. if you haven't guessed from my posts, i really love the cobblestone streets.

the outside of the cathedral inside the prague castle - check out the amazing blue sky!

inside the cathedral - one of those little people up front was the cardinal

looking out over prague from up at the castle - don't miss the st. charles bridge in the middle

cool cathedral/castle thing behind old town square - looks like disney right!

astronomical clock in old town square 

the jewish cemetery - they say there are 12,000 grave stones visible and possibly 100,000 actual grave. amazing.

the john lennon wall 

amy and me in front of the john lennon wall

locks of love - couples put locks up in different places in the world to show their undying love for each other or something :)

it has been such an amazing time here in the czech with the hartmans. i'm so grateful to them for allowing me to come and share their home and their lives with me. tomorrow i fly to italy for a week. starting point - rome. so see you in rome!