Going to Prague

 On Monday night we slept on the train to Prague. We were only on for about half an hour before we noticed it was heading west rather than east. It was a strange route: to Basel and then parallel to the border between France and Germany before shooting across to Dresden and then south again to Prague. There was a little Czech boy almost T's age in our car and the two of them had fun even though they didn't speak the same language. R made friends with an elderly man from Indiana and his attractive teenaged grandson. There was a lot of excitement in our cabin about who would sleep where. The kids each tried out every bed and some nasty falls occurred before E exchanged our ladder for one that wasn't defective. You wouldn't think there could be so much activity with six people stacked in a space smaller than my closet. But things settled down after about an hour or so. We had a nice break with fresh air  at the Basel station and then saw a very pretty sunset over a railyard in Germany. That was the kids' cue that it was bedtime. We closed the blackout curtains and then spent the next hour telling the kids to go to sleep, already!

L is cruel, making us think she is tired and will fall asleep right away.

T getting some fresh air.

A pretty sunset

 I was very lucky to get this shot of T looking out the train window at the sunset - we were reflected off a passing train!

When we arrived in Prague we put our luggage in a locker at the train station and headed out until we could check in at our apartment. We didn't have a particular plan in mind. We just wanted to see some of the city and get ice cream (which was the prize S chose for being the first to fall asleep on the train.) We stopped along the way at the Jerusalem Synagogue and the Mucha Museum, which had great Art Nouveau posters by Mucha. By then the littles were complaining about having to walk. (For many reasons we decided not to bring their stroller.) So we hurried on to Angelato for gelato. It was very good, but S had a surprise. She got chocolate and mint flavors, and the mint tasted very herbal. S could even see stems and flecks of leaves in her ice cream. She liked it, but has already asked if we can go back because she wants to get banana, like R did. 

 After ice cream we headed back to the train station. E got the luggage and checked into the apartment and I looked over our map and tourist info while the kids played at the playground. R and S were super helps supervising the littles. Then E came and got us and we all went to the apartment and decided to order in and plan for the next day.

T took off running when we saw the playground, but was in for a rude surprise. It was fenced off and he had to walk 3/4 of the way around to the door. The door was a strange locked gate which made it look like a private park, especially because all the kids inside were wearing uniforms or reflective vests, but an old man let us in.

E relaxes with the kids by stretching out and watching Star Trek. We watched almost no tv at all in Switzerland because it was through the computer in the bedroom. E was so happy to flop that when Star Trek ended he just didn't move and sat through most of a Dallas episode, too.

What's the best part about staying in an apartment? The girls have their own bedrooms for the first time in almost a year! No bickering tonight! And actually, I think that hanging out in their own rooms was nice enough for them to be worth forgoing a little bit of sightseeing today.