Prague, Czech Republic January 24-26, 2011

January 24-26, 2011

The temple was closed for two weeks so we were again able to travel and see some more of Europe.

We left Friedrichsdorf and traveled to Prague, Czechoslovakia.

City Hall Tower

Old Town Square

The Market Square was developed in the 11th Century.

Another view of City Hall Tower,
Town Hall was built in 1338.

Don and Karen in Old Town Square
It was very Cold!

Some of the buildings on the square.

St. Mary of Tyn Church

The church was built after the buildings in front were built and so a person has to go through the local pub to get into the Church. The church dates back to 1365.

This clock is on the City Hall Tower. Every hour several things happen. The bells ring, there is a rooster that crows, the doors that you can see open and figures representing The Twelve Apostles parade past the windows.
On the very top of the tower a man comes out dressed in Midevil dress and blows a trumpet. When he is through he waves and bows to the crowd below.

Mozart wrote Don Giovanni for the city of Prague and it debuted in Prague with Mozart conducting.

We attended a Marinette Show of Don Giovanni

This is a picture of Ron and Carol Frost coming out of the production.

Archway to Charles Bridge. The Bridge was built in 1357 and is only for pedestrians.

Looking down the river from the Charles Bridge

Don and Karen standing on the Charles Bridge.

A sight seeing boat on the Moldau River

Looking towards the Town Square from the Charles Bridge.

One of the streets in Prague--most of the streets are cobblestone.

This is a picture of the tower and the man playing his trumpet--this happens every hour.

More of the River

This statue is on the Charles Bridge. Notice where the gold shines out. People passing the statue stop and rub the dog--and hence the gold shines out.

We took a tour of the city which took us to the Castle. This is a picture of the Castle Courtyard. The castle is used today for Government offices.

St. Vitus Cathedral. This was built between 1362 and 1367. It is in honor of St. Wenceles and he is buried beneath the altar.

One of the many stain glass windows in the cathedral.

The walls of the Cathedral are covered with precious stones and gold.

The castle is guarded. They have the changing of the guard every hour. When Don took this picture he said, "Thank you," to the guard. The guard didn't even blink an eye!

The facade of St. Vitus Cathedral.

Don and Karen leaving the courtyard of the castle.

Looking down on the city of Prague from the Castle.

Karen and Don outside the castle walls.

As part of the tour we took a boat ride down the Moldau River. It was very cold....brrrrrr....Karen stayed inside and enjoyed the ride looking out the windows--Don went up on top and froze--but in the meantime he took some pictures.

From the boat

Don, still bravely smiling while on top of the boat--and freezing!

The St. Charles Bridge from the boat.
A closer picture of the St. Charles Bridge

Karen and Don outside the boat--he survived the cold!

We left the river and walked into the Jewish Sector. This is a picture of one of the old Synagogues.

An old synagogue that is now a Jewish Museum. When Hitler was in power the government took many of the Jewish treasures and put them in a museum as a memorial to a "race that didn't exist anymore."

The last building in the Jewish Sector...beyond that was the old city.

The Hall of Ceremonies in the Jewish Sector

The Jewish Cemetary--it dates back to the 1st half of the 15th Century and extended until 1787.

There was only enough room for about 1,000 people but needed much more room and there was nowhere to go. So they would cover the existing graves with dirt and bury some more. There are 12 layers of graves in the cemetery. They would simply raise the gravestone--today there are somewhere around 12,000 graves stones in a small space.The Synagogue in the background is now used as a memorial for the Jewish people that disappeared during World War II. 100,000 Jewish people were taken away from Prague and only 2,000 returned. Inside the Synagogue are written the names and dates of the 80,000 people that did not return. Every wall is covered with these names. We found this very sobering.

This is the wall that surrounds the cemetery.

We sadly had to leave Prague--we had a great time there and would recommend it to anyone that can visit Europe.

While we were in Prague Don took 200 pictures. Wow! But they are a wonderful reminder of what we saw.

We hope that you enjoyed Prague
Next stop--Dresden, Germany

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

January 14, 2011

Don's Birthday

Here at the temple when someone has a birthday that person supplies everyone on our shift at the temple with a luncheon--which we did.

Later on everyone on the shift came to our apartment to sing a German birthday song for Don--and then the birthday person hands out candy to them.

This picture was taken outside our apartment after the missionaries finished singing!

January 17, 2011

Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber

Finally, the weather was good enough that we could do a bit of traveling on our day off!

We went to Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber

The city was first founded in 960. By 1400 there were 6000 residents of the city.

In 1945 the city was victim of a bombing attack by the allied forces. The eastern part of the city was destroyed and a total of over 40% of the old buildings went up in flames. With generous support from all over the world the destroyed areas were restored.

But much of the city was not destroyed and many buildings are restored original buildings.

The wall is the original wall with only parts of it having been restored.

Outside the walls of the city.

A person can walk all around the perimeter of the city on the top of the wall--it is 3.5 kilometers long.

Karen, standing outside of the wall.

One of the main gates into the city.

On top of the wall--the stairs going up are crumbling and very dangerous, BUT....Don, just like every "young at heart" missionary," had to climb up to take this picture. But, hey, without his going up we wouldn't have gotten this picture--so maybe he wasn't so crazy afterall. However, when he slipped and about fell, Karen thought he was totally crazy!

Looking towards one of the gates. The cobblestone streets are amazing.

One of the many city gates.

One of the roadways just inside the wall.

Archway in the wall.

The St. Jacob's Church. It is famous for its altars.

Schneeballs. These are a popular treat at Christmas time. Here in Rothenburg there are many Christmas markets year-round so they sell Schneeballs. There are many flavors--it is kind of like a sweet pie dough that is baked and then rolled in chocolate, or caramel, or vanilla coating and then wound into balls. They are yummy!

One of the streets.

Franciscan Church. It was a former monestary and is the oldest church in Rothenburg. It was erected in 1285.

Inside the St. Jacob's Church. Construction on this church was started in 1311 and completed in 1485. It is amazing how beautiful these buildings are but how cold they are; I wouldn't want to attend church there--they are cold. Even with her coat on Karen was shivering. And that is the way they hold their meetings--no heat. Their Christmas decorations were still up.

Organ loft in St. Jacob's Church.

One of the Christmas Stores. The delivery truck was interesting. It stays this way year round.

The Rathause (Townhall). First erected in 1250. Has been restored. The front part was built on in the 1500s.

The Ratstrinkstube (City Councilors' Tavern) One of the most famous buildings in the city and was only accessible to the City Councilors. The main clock was installed in 1683.

We loved this street with its beautiful buildings and the cobblestone street.

Looking out from the city (River is down below)

The corner house--(in the middle of the picture). They say everyone has to take a picture of this house--so we went along with it and took a picture. The alley to the right leads down to the river.

Outside the wall looking back toward the city. Following the trail goes down to the river.

Outside the Medieval Crime Museum. This place gave us nightmares--and so we are not sending any pictures from inside. Yikes! It has many many instruments of extreme torture that were used during medieval times. We are very very glad that we didn't live during those time.

These are paddy wagons.

Okay, now what did Don do?

The stocks weren't bad enough, we had to tie his feet down also.

These are paddy wagons. Remember the show Count of Monte Cristo? The paddy wagons used in that show were like these!

One of the many very narrow roadways. Yes cars actually go down them! Hope they don't meet someone coming around the corner! The car going uphill has the right-of-way--the one going downhill has to get out of the way.

A good picture of the wall, as we were leaving the city.

Archway of the wall.

Hope you enjoyed Rothenburg--next stop Prague, Czechoslovakia . The temple is closed for two weeks and we are going to go to Prague, Dresden, German, the Freiberg Temple, Move our apartment (yeah! no more one room living), and then onto Hanover, Germany.