European Family History Trip: Day 9 – Prague
I walked 13,170 steps today – and that was with a tram pass. We covered a lot of ground today. We walked across the Charles bridge again and rode a tram down and back across the river and then another one up and around to the backside of the castle and walked down.
Prague Tip: If you come to Prague, it’s worth the 15-euro investment for two people to have a tram pass. It took me forever to realize … actually Dave did… that there’s a public transportation icon on Google maps that tells you which tram number to get on for your destination. We didn’t realize this until the end of the day when it was time to take a tram back to our flat. This knowledge would have come in handy from the beginning. We were guessing which tram to get on and letting it take us wherever and just riding around.
Moldavite
As you probably know, I’m a rockhound. We stopped by the Moldavite Museum. Moldavite is a cool translucent greenish meteorite that landed in the Czech Republic. It’s supposed to have intense transformative energy. I bought a tiny fleck of it at a gem show in Athens, Georgia a couple years ago for $60/gram. It was significantly more affordable in the Czech Republic — more like $7-$8/gram at this Prague shop. We could have gone and mined it ourselves, but we didn’t have time for that experience.
The moldavite pieces we bought were numbered and certified for their authenticity.
We went to see the oldest astronomical clock in the world. It not only tracks time, but also the phases of the moon. After that, we took time to rest in the cathedral where Mozart and Dvorak once played the organ.
Meeting DNA Relatives in Prague
This afternoon we had lunch with a DNA-match relative for Dave and his father (Gene Kuhns). Gene and this gentleman shared the same 3rd great grandparents. The man brought his daughter Veronika with him who translated from English into Czech and back for us. They were extremely sweet people, and we enjoyed meeting them. They gave us huge gift bag of chocolate and Czech snacks which we munched on for the rest of the trip.
We aren’t sure how Dave’s dad connects with this gentleman. Possibly one of his German relatives moved to Czechoslovakia. More research will need to be done to connect.
Changing of the Guard and Alchemy Museum
After meeting them at a classic Czech restaurant, we went up to the palace and watched the changing of the guard. It was incredibly windy at the top but had an incredible view. The rest of the city was not that windy, but this was intense and cold.
Next, we went to the Alchemy Museum. It was an entertaining and comical look at Alchemy which was popular in Prague in the 1600’s. It featured a very windy spiral staircase that was quite intense climbing. Maybe it wouldn’t have felt so taxing if I hadn’t already walked over 10,000 steps throughout the day.
My leather jacket somehow ripped in the back throughout the trip. So, we popped into a secondhand store and picked up a nice cobalt blue comfortable, warm jacket for 20 Euros. Not bad!
I was so happy to get back to our flat before it got too late so I could relax and rest.
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