Post-holiday Impressions

I know nobody had their expectations high for the next post on this blog, but… Surprise, surprise!

I wanted to share couple of pictures from our trip to USA and put down on  paper (akhm… “paper” )  my post-Christmas feelings  ( now how late am I?)

As lonely as it maybe feels sometimes in Munich, these Holidays were full of reunions, hugs and home –like feelings. Our celebration first started in Munich where part of our dispersed family reunited for Christmas Celebration.  

 

For the new year we ,Ismael and myself,  travelled to USA to see family and friends, feeling oh so fortunate to find time and means to do so(even if it meant cutting down the skiing training budget J).

But above all I want to immortalize with this post happiness and determination of starting my own little family with Ismael, and the ability to share these happy feeling with my mom, dad, sister and her family. The timing couldn’t have been better, Ismael! It is an ever overwhelming to know where and with whom you belong for the rest of the life and feel at ease with such decision.  It took me some time into our relationship to really apprehend how lucky I am to be chosen by this wonderful man. But since that moment I’ve had a clear vision of me always being on and by his side. And this very pretty ring on my hand just unsealed my lips to say it out loud.

Well, pictures say more than million words..

Starting off with the family portraits for Christmas 

This one is taken 2 min after 'The Proposal"

Such a happy me!

 

Arriving in USA and my dad's cooking... yumm!

 Toasting for the future family addition and to all the big wedding plans.

After the celebratory dinner, me and Ismael were surprised with this lovely cake ( and the cutest writing) 

 

Here we are full on preparations for the New Year's dinner!

Ismael is helping a bit.

 

The traditional "under the tree" pictures

 

3 generations with this tasty cute little baby 

 

A couple of touristy snaps in the depressingly  grey Washington

And cheerful but crazy cold Baltimore 

 

 That's about it! See u in a couple of months!( hopefully not, haha... oh well..)

Prague. Day 3

Day 3

It was our last day in Prague, so were slightly under time pressure, as we haven't seen the city properly yet. Like on the previous day we went couple of station towards the city and started walking. We spotted graduating lawyer's ceremony at the University and random horse carriages on the way. 

And, of course, the beautiful architecture. Prague is undeniably one of the most amazing cities I've ever visited. The buildings have survived through wars almost untouched, so it all together is such a crazy mixture of styles. On the main city square, where the city hall is, I could spot 5 houses build in different times, now standing there together. I fell in love, I  might have even mentioned it to Ismael couple of times that we just have to move here after we are done with Munich.

Don't you just feel like these towers come from the fairy tails?

 Again artists, musicians, crowds and soap bubble makers :)

 Every time there is a new side to the city to be discovered. We have to go back to Prague.

Prague. Day 2

Day 2

Oh, day 2 was a typical "tourist walking through the city" kinda day. We woke up early in the morning, had a big family breakfast and  made a plan for the day. Luckily the tram station was right next to us, so we went directly up the hill to the Prague Castle. On the tram we spotted rather interesting people ( do you see guy sitting behind me with the knife on his belt ?).

Thankfully we made it safely to the castle, which to our surprise turned out to be a a whole complex of castle, cathedrals, monasteries, museums etc. 

There is no way in the world we could have seen it all in one day, so we tried to make the best of it. 

We visited St Vitus Cathedral ( that took over 6 centuries to finish) in Gothic style with really inspiring stained glass windows and lots of details.  

                       

...Vladislav Hall ( famous for defenestrations that started couple European military conflicts) and a a very cute Romanesque Basilica of St. George. 

The sun was shining outside so we took our time to fool around and make pictures.

 

I did not really notice that we were so high on the hill, as it took us forever to get down, but we were grateful for the panoramic city views.

\

 It was a great place to take romantic couple pictures, but... we slightly failed..

As we got down to the old city, we stopped to snack on traditional Czech desert - kolache. It's a simple cinnamon roll that you can find on every corner in the city.

 

 We finally got to Charles Bridge, which was full with tourists, musicians and artists. Being good tourists we made tons of pictures, Ismael bought a street musician CD, as he always does, and we stopped for a coffee at one of those terrace cafes. 

My frustration with the crowds grew with my hunger, so we headed to the restaurant we didn't get in on the previous day. We might have over-ordered, but it was delicious and felt like home. 

We ended our day shaking that substantial dinner off with some salsa dancing. Perfect day.

Prague trip

I guess I'm way overdue with our Prague trip updates, am I ? :) Nevertheless, here's how our trip went.

Day 1

\We took off early in the morning from the Munich train station to meet Alex and Sofian in Plattling, and drive from there to Prague ( about 3h drive). Apart from major heating system failure on the train and weird navigation settings that took us to the countryside roads of Czech Republic instead of highway, we arrived safely and checked into our beautiful apartment.

 Please ignore all the mess we managed to create in the first 5 min.

We were pretty tired after the road and hungry so we checked our Prague book and moved towards the old city in search for a good local cuisine. Our first choice was overbooked so we had to move on to the first one we found nearby, as by that time we were starving and freezing. I can't remember the name, but it must have been something medieval and Czech. Pretty disappointed with our goulash choice and happy about that tasty dark beer. 

As the rest of the group went back to our cosy warm rooms, Ismael and I took a walk through night streets of the city admiring Charles Bridge's fascinating views. That was a perfect end of the day, and we were lucky to get there at night, as it wasn't as crowded as during the next day.