City Loving
We’re home, we’re HOME after an adventure that’s taken me farther than I’ve ever been before! And I finally slept through the night last night which means my jet lag is almost history. Let me tell you all about it…
Eric has always wanted to travel. While I’m absolutely captivated by the minute daily changes I find just inches outside my door, he dreams of distant lands and roads not yet explored. We’re a bit of an odd match in this regard - I guess the whole “opposites attract” mentality has some truth to it!
Anyhow, at the start of this year we made a plan - to make it to Europe one way or another. No matter how thriftily we had to travel or how carefully we’d need to fit it in between work and other obligations. We were going to go.
Germany had been high on Eric’s “must visit” list since high school - so we knew we’d spend at least some of our travel time there. But when we decided schedule our trip for December, after I was done smithing for the year, I did a little internet search. It went something along the lines of, “what are the best European cities to visit in Winter??” And Prague popped up.
Which, of course, piqued my interest because my great grandma was Czech - and I’ve sort of thought it would be interesting to visit that distant homeland someday, to see if it brought up any ancestral echoes in my own heart. Long story short, the Czech Republic was added to the trip, too.
We flew to Munich first before immediately catching a train to Prague. It was a five hour ride, but we ended up with our own compartment (Harry Potter style) to stretch out in for the journey. As a kid, I would get intense motion sickness if I tried to do anything but look out the window while traveling - and having grown up taking multiple long car-rides a year to visit family, I learned early on to entertain myself with the scenery zipping by outside. So this ride felt a lot like those road trips from long ago - and I was more than happy to sit with my nose nearly touching the window until the last light left the sky.
Then, Prague. Ah - what a city!
As a self professed city-hater, I didn’t expect to love it - but I just couldn’t help myself. The buildings were intricate, old, and beautifully colored. And the sidewalks - almost all of them were made up of black and white cobblestones arranged in geometric patterns that changed every hundred feet or so. Never in my life have I felt more like I was walking through a painting - around every turn was something that made my heart feel light.
We walked everywhere during our short stay - so it only took a day to feel like we knew where we were going and to feel like the city had become a friend. Everyone we met was so incredibly kind - and although we had initially worried about the language barrier, most people spoke at least some English so we were always able to figure things out together.
The food was fresh and bright and delicious - and in this moment I am salivating over the memory of a bowl of ramen that whisked the chill right out of my bones after a day spent wandering.
Am I gushing? I’m sorry - I’ve just never felt this way about a city before! Prague feels like a first love.
We also discovered an amazing new treat at the Christmas markets - trdelnik.
It’s dough that gets wrapped around a wooden cylinder, rolled in cinnamon sugar and nuts, and then cooked on a rotisserie over coals. They hand it to you piping hot and you pull it apart in spirals of holiday deliciousness. Finding this regional treat almost completely made up for the fact that, as I discovered, I don’t really like traditional kolaches. From here on out I’ll just have to stick with the ones we make at home using the old family recipe.
A day trip out to the town of Kutna Hora sort of solidified our love of the Czech Republic. It was quieter than Prague, of course, but the people were still beyond lovely. We visited an ossuary, allowed our curiosity to pull us down winding streets resting in the shadows church towers, and (of course) found ourselves in an artisan chocolate shop where we filled our packs with bars of carefully crafted goodness. I found myself surprised again and again by how at ease I felt.
Maybe the pull of that land really does speak to my soul on a deeper level. Even I, the lover of home and all things familiar, would go back in a heartbeat. All I’m saying is, if you ever get the chance to visit Czechia, just GO.
Now of course I have more to say, more pictures to share - but I can’t fit it all in in one post. That’d be madness! So - tales of Germany as soon as I can manage!
