Alleyn Family Adventures: Europe Series: Czech Republic

I figure it's about time I write about our Europe trip; we have already been home for over a month and it already feels like Europe didn't even happen!

We were away for two weeks and our first stop was Prague, Czech Republic. Our really good friends, Ryan and Nicole, moved to Prague in September so we knew we'd eventually be heading to Europe to see them. We were excited to see Ryan and Nik because we've been missing them sooo much, but we were also excited to explore Prague because Czech was a new country for both (all) of us.


Charlee's first flight (Victoria to Vancouver...and then to Frankfurt...and then Prague). She did amazingly well on all the flights and slept the majority of our travel time.	.

We arrived in Frankfurt and after a serious race to our gate discovered we missed our connection to Prague (because our flight out of Vancouver was delayed and our connection time was short to begin with). I've flown a LOT in this life so far and I've never once missed a connection...of course the first experience of this nature had to be with a baby in tow. We managed to get on the next flight and arrive in Prague unscathed. Airport beer was necessary.

Another reason why Lufthansa wins again! Unlimited free coffee while waiting for our connection.

We arrived in Prague, dealt with our temporarily misplaced stroller (ugh) and finally met Nikki in the waiting area of the airport. It was such a great reunion! We dumped our luggage at the Hulstein's gorgeous apartment and set out for our first Prague-venture: finding dinner. We ended up eating at this hilarious restaurant complete with a three lane bowling alley on the second level (our table was in the dungeon). At this point I started feeling nauseous from the extreme lack of sleep, so we made our way home and crashed around midnight (Charlee, too). Here is where I have to brag about my child for a moment...Charlee was incredible. She didn't fuss, she didn't experience a single drop of jet lag, she slept soundly in a play pen, she woke up at 9am the next day like nothing had happened! I was definitely holding my breath to see if we just lucked out for one night, but she continued on this way for the duration of our trip, which is why we decided this girl is a born traveler and we are taking her everywhere!

And now for a bunch of photos to help accurately describe our time in Prague.

The view from Ryan and Nikki's apartment in Prague. There is almost nothing I love more than waking up to a European view such as this!


Charlee's first train ride!

Tasting some Trdelnik - a local treat of wood fired dough, sugar and nuts of some sort.

Feeding Charlee "in the square". Joel definitely made fun of me when I announced that we should "feed Charlee in the square"...he was like, "How long have you been waiting to say that for!?"

The greatest Easter tree we've ever seen.

This is one of the reasons I love Europe so much - modern meets timeless around every corner.

Exploring the castle. Photo cred: our personal selfie-stick, Joel's arm.

Gorgeous.


Some tummy time with her beloved God-mama, Nikki.


I LOVE this friend. As sad as it is (for us) that they live across the world, we keep them in our hearts and on our fridge (in photo form) constantly.

Exploring Prague!

An adventure to Karlstejn - a castle about 30 min train ride out of Prague.

The windows and light inside Karlstejn were stunning.

Various windows from around Prague.

It snowed in Prague while were there...twice. We were caught completely off guard by this crazy blizzard - I only had TOMS as footwear. Luckily, Ryan and Nik had gloves and toques to share!