Prague Photos

An amazing view of the beautiful city of Prague! Or as locals call it, Praha.

While we were there, everyone was very concerned about the flood, which was the worst one in about 500 years. It didn't disrupt much except for the Charles Bridge and the subway system luckily.

One of the many beautiful churches found in Old Town Square.

This is what can be seen from the tower of Prague's castle.

The cathedral inside the palace was incredible to see!

This is Lennon wall, a huge graffiti wall dedicated to the famous Beatles member.

Germany

Begrüßung from Germany! Today was our second day here, and we're having such a great time with Ute and her family. Here's a retelling in photos of our experiences thus far:

After we were picked up from the train station yesterday morning, we all went to Sunday Mass at the basilica of St. Freising.  Coincidentally it was the same church where Pope Benedict XVI was ordained a priest! 

After Mass, Ute took us to a 1000 year old brewery called Weihenstephan. She told us that she used to be a waitress there when she was about 17 years old, and so did her mother who is currently 93!

After lunch we went to Ute's sister's house to meet up with the rest of the family. We sat around her table talking for hours! Thank goodness we had Ute to translate! They taught my dad and I how to play German Gin Rummy and we all played together for hours as it rained outside...and flooded the basement. 

This morning, Ute, Joe, Carl-Heinz, my dad and I went to visit Nazi concentration camp: Dachau. This was a very solemn morning for us as we remembered and learned more about the terrors of these death camps. The whole experience was very moving. Actually being at the camp walking around the grounds and through the gas chambers, crematoriums, stubens, and other prisoner facilities was heartbreaking. Knowing that such evil ever existed is enraging and horrendous. We need to pray that nothing like that ever happens again.

"Arbeit Macht Frei" is a German phrase meaning "labor makes (you) free". The slogan is known for having been placed over the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps, including Dachau as seen here.

Inside the concentration camp

On a happier note, we saw the famous Glockenspiel! Every hour as the clock chimes, ornate figurines dance around the clock set to music from the bells. 

This is the Hofbrauhaus! This is the biggest, loudest, most fun place to eat traditional German food ever! 

In the evening we went to visit Marcus and his wife at their home in Freising.

This is Lavender, their pet pig. It is an indoor pig, and as you can see she was taking a little nap under the covers in her bed. Lavender is big now, but when they bought her several years ago they were told that it would stay small forever. Regardless, they still call it their Mini-Schwein. 

In case you were hoping to see something amazingly adorable, here's a photo of Lotte the pug riding on top of Lavender.   Its a pug on a pig, folks!

Amsterdam

Thanks for all the emails and comments lately! It has been great to hear from some good friends speaking in a familiar language! Sorry for the lack of updates lately. To catch you up on our latest happenings, we've been in Amsterdam for the past few days! Due to lack of time and internet connection, I haven't been able to post any photos yet, so here they are!

To get to Amsterdam, we took the high-speed Chunnel train to Brussels, Belgium. We were only in Brussels for about an hour,  but hey, it counts!  (Right?)  This is outside of the Brussels station right before we took the next train to Amsterdam.

Here we are in Netherlands! (Thats us in front of the letter "e".)

Amsterdam is filled with canals! Boating is one of the top methods of transportation here, second to biking of course! This is also a good example of what most of the buildings and architecture look like. So beautiful!

Here we are at the Anne Frank Huis learning about the experience of the Frank family who went into hiding because of their religion during the Nazi invasions. Wishing you were here, Katherine!  

Amsterdam Scene

Pancakes for Dinner! A Dutch tradition. 

No, I can't pronounce that either.

Just your typical parking garage....if you're in Amsterdam!    Dude, where's my bike...?

Visiting Amsterdam was so much fun, and an even more wonderful experience to be able to explore it with my dad. Hopefully some day I'll go back for another visit! But for now, we're in Munich, Germany.  We just arrived this morning via the night train and have been spending the day in Freising with Ute and Joe Blaz, Oma, Ute's brothers and sister and their spouses. We're having a great time together because it feels like we're all family. Tomorrow Ute's brother Kari is going to show us some of his favorite spots in downtown Munich, and we might even make a visit to Dachau. More photos and journal entries to come!  Gute Nacht!!

London Adventures Continued!

Today was our final day in London, so we packed as much adventuring in as possible! We began the day by taking the Underground in the morning to the location where The Beatles shot their album art photo for "Abbey Road".  Of course we took a picture of our own "crossing the street" pose. After that we visited the Victoria and Albert Art Museum to see an exhibition on David Bowie which was really interesting and fun. It was absolutely crowded! After our morning of exploring rock music history, we went out to afternoon tea. Served with the tea were some of the most beautiful tiny desserts ever, my dad and I agree that the scones were really delicious! We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening doing some photography around Camden Town and the British Parliament building. When the sun went down we rode the London Eye to see an incredible view of the city, then continued on with some night photography before going back to our hotel to pack up. Tomorrow we leave to Amsterdam on the Chunnel. Goodnight all!

Chris and Kalin, this one's for you! They served these macaroons at tea and they were so pretty! I think you would have really enjoyed them.

The London Eye

Riding "The Eye"

To get some perspective, this is the view from the top compared to Big Ben.

Graduation / London, England

Sorry for not having posted in several days! It has been so busy and fun and I haven't had time to get on the computer! Here are some photos from our recent adventures, enjoy!

Here I am at graduation receiving my diploma from Dr. Mary Kay Clark. The ceremony itself was really great.
Both Dr. Clark and Dr. Ray Guarendi gave awesome and inspiring speeches to the class of '13.

There were over 700 Seton graduates this year, with 120 attending the official ceremony.

My mom and I at the graduation reception. (I love you, Mom!)

The day after graduation, my dad and I left Virginia and headed to London, England. This is our first glimpse of the city from the plane.

London Calling (literally)

We felt super British as we sat in an old style pub drinking a pint and enjoying fish and chips!

Making friends with the bobbies!

A very England-y looking Taxi

First ride on the London Underground!

Tonight we went to go see the longest running play in the world, Agatha Christie's "Mousetrap" at the St. Martin Theater.  60 years after its debut, it is still running daily. As you can see from the photo below, there have been over 25,000 performances so far! The story and actors were great. It was the perfect end to a memorable day here in the UK!

We have one last day in London before we move on to the next country. Keep checking back for more pictures and stories! Cheerio! ;)

Seton Visiting Day

Today was so fun! We were able to visit Seton Home School's HQ here in Front Royal! This is a photo of us on tour in the printing room where all the lesson plan-making happens! Smile and say...HOMEWORK!

Interestingly enough, right next door to Seton's main building was the offices of Human Life International, a fantastic pro-life outreach group. They have locations world-wide dedicated to helping pregnant women and babies! We were able to tour the building and learn more about the organization which was so inspiring.

This is us at the graduation welcome reception where we were able to meet other Seton families. The fact that I didn't know a single student in my class was a little strange, but I think everyone else was feeling the same way. As you can see from the picture above, we met Dr. Mary Kay Clark! What an awesome woman of God!

What visit to Front Royal, VA would be complete without seeing Christendom College?? Here we are in front of the beautiful campus chapel.

Tomorrow is Graduation Day! I'm so excited! Then afterward its off to England!!