The Ficks Come to Visit!

We love this experience we're on and there a plethora of experiences that we know we get to have that many other people don't.  That being said, one of the hardest parts about this experience is we don't feel like we've made any lifelong friends.  Part of it is that we travel so much so we aren't around on the weekends to hang out with Mike's classmates. A problem that I don't even feel I can complain about! That being said, when friends come to visit, we get excited! When they're our best friends, we get REALLY excited!  I think Mike was excited to have a guy to hang out with (most of his classmates are girls and then me) and I was thrilled to have Anna around to talk baby things with.  Plus, it's just fun to show off your home and new town.

Anna and Mike arrived around mid-morning on Saturday and we loaded them up into our car and headed west to the Czech Republic.  We originally had planned to spend the night in Cesky Krumlov since we had all heard great things about it, but some car trouble forced us to stop early in Prague.  Not a terrible thing!  We had already been planning to spend the following few nights there, so having an extra night there really wasn't that much of an inconvenience.

That night, we ventured out for dinner and Mike and Mike stayed out for a night of Czech beer drinking. Luckily, they were able to recover the next morning as we set out to follow our buddy Rick Steves on his walking tour around Prague.

That baby bump is starting to make an appearance!

I love Prague

I'm sure Rick Steves told us why this horse is upside down, but I don't remember and it just looks like a weird statue in the middle of a mall to me.

We ventured in to the Czech/European version of FAO Schwartz, which was fun, even for four adults.  They have a merry-go-round in the store and a slide that goes from the second level to the one below.  Mike even found a life size bear.  He's now determined to get one for the nursery when we get back to the states.  

The entrance to the Charles Bridge

After our walking tour, we went and got Mexican for lunch.  I'm always glad when guests don't want German food because, as good as meat and potatoes are, I can only eat but so much.  Czech food is basically the same, so I was glad they weren't dead set on Czech food.  Plus, who can resist a good burrito?

That afternoon, we headed to Jewish ghetto which was super interesting.  Mike Hogan and I didn't do that last time, so I was glad to add something new to our itinerary.  The main attraction of the Jewish ghetto is the cemetery where they think over 100,000 bodies are buried, but there are also six synagogues you can go in and there is all sorts of Jewish history throughout.  While there was almost too much information (a trend we've noticed in European museums), we all learned a lot about Jewish history. It's definitely worth an afternoon if you're in Prague. 

We retired to the hotel for a little nap and happy hour in the lounge before heading out to watch the Ravens' game at an Irish pub.  How's that for cross cultural? Eating at an Irish Pub in the Czech Republic while watching American football.  It was a great way to end our first full day in Prague and we went to bed with tired feet and happy hearts.  It's fun having your friends visit. Really fun.