Eight Boots Abroad

Cities are not our family’s natural habitat… but there are some cities in the world so stunningly beautiful and culturally rich that they deserve exploration. So we hung up our hiking boots for a bit and spent some time discovering the 2 European icons of Prague and Paris.

We landed in Prague and took public transit (5-stars to Prague for their very user-friendly public transit, by the way) to the vibrant city center. As we emerged from the subway station, we immediately realized why everyone who visits Prague is taken by it’s charm; the ornate Gothic and Baroque architecture is absolutely incredible! During WW2, Prague was one of the only large European cities to not sustain significant damage from bombings, so all of the architecture from the 9th century onward is very well-preserved.

Our hostel was a quick 5-minute walk from the main subway station. Side note – I LOVE having our family stay in hostels whenever it’s a reasonable option. I lived and worked in a hostel in New Zealand in my 20’s and have always enjoyed the community feel and common space shared with other travelers. It also exposes our kiddos to the idea of young, independent travel – which is something we hope they embrace in their college years. Howie isn’t nearly as passionate about my hostel shenanigans, but tolerates it.

Our exploration of Prague included the Prague Castle complex, Jelení Příkop Park, the Fortress of Vyšehrad (including a tour of the Vyšehradské Casemates within the fortress walls – SUPER cool), the Basilica of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (our favorite – beautiful mix of Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau), the world’s oldest functioning astronomical clock, and various other places we stumbled upon during our daily wanders. After 5 days exploring the city, we traveled overnight by bus from Prague to Paris. The bus tickets for the 14-hour journey were very cheap… but not surprisingly we were all pretty uncomfortable and minimal sleep was achieved.

Once in Paris, we spent 3 wonderful days with our lovely friend Anna (and her fiancé Olof!) – Anna was our au pair from Sweden who became a part of our family a decade ago when our kiddos were just babies. We all wandered the city together, mastered the subway system, and spent an evening atop the Arc du Triomphe watching the sunset over Paris and the Eiffel Tower. We also spent an afternoon walking through the Louvre Museum until our legs ached, took a day trip through the countryside to the quiet town of Chartres, and along the way ate allllll the crepes.

It was great to be in Paris with all of the Olympic preparations happening. We especially enjoyed the Olympic Rings on the Eiffel Tower and walking through the event venues along the Seine River.

So there you go – we did cities! Yay! Now we head back into the mountains.

Paris and Prague – Howie’s Addendum

And now on to some city adventures! Here are some highlights for me:

Despite being a tourism zoo, exploring Prague with our little family was amazing fun! My favorite  experience was the kiddos’ crash course in the history of architecture – happy to report that they are now able to distinguish Romanesque (old and rounded, boring ceilings!) from Gothic (would a vampire live here?), and Baroque (it’s a bit much, isn’t it?) from Rococo (granny-approved! Are we making buildings or lace doilies here?). They are also on their way to becoming experts in identification of classical architectural orders of columns (doric? More like bore-ic!), and the elevation stages of a nave wall, which I’m sure will make them quite popular at parties. The kiddos never tired of the chance to visit yet another location, which was a happy surprise.

I loved the Art Nouveau frescos that adorn the walls of Prague’s Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul – I was unfamiliar with the basilica before we entered, and was immediately won over as we stepped through the doors to the interior. I also found it very interesting to visit and contrast so many castles, cathedrals, basilicas, and churches in such a short period of time, and to see how each location evolved over centuries of fires, wars, renovations, invasions, redesigns, and more fires. It helped to give me context to current events, from the recent tragic fire at Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris to current ongoing wars and political divisions – it feels like things are a mess right now, but that may not be so different than any other period of our history.

In Paris, seeing the kiddos light up at their first view of the Eiffel Tower was a definite highlight. Crêpes au beurre et au sucre are so amazingly tasty that they could be eaten daily until the end of time and I would remain a happy traveler. Sunset from the top of the Arc de Triomphe with Anna and Olof was amazing as expected, and the kiddos very much enjoyed searching through the Louvre for Renaissance paintings of babies that either have six-pack abs or for some reason look like old men. Also of note, the Niké of Samothrace remains the best sculpture of all time – a fact, not just my opinion. 

We had relatively few disappointments on this little interlude in the cities – the only one of note was the reconstruction work being done on Chartres cathedral – a place I had been looking forward to visiting since high school art history class. While I understand the intent of attempting to return the interior of the cathedral to as close to its original state as possible, the paint being applied ends up erasing much of the mystical ambiance that almost 900 years of history has created. My thoughts on the matter, however, are officially invalid, as the former French Minister of Culture declared that the “public is not competent to judge”, so there you have it.

Overall a successful adventure, but enough city already! On to Zermatt!