A New Perspective

We planned our trip to Prague so that we would have a day of exploring the city without obligations to meet up with anyone.  Since our old school was on break until Tuesday morning, most of our friends would not be arriving back into town from their vacations until Saturday night or Sunday.  Which meant that Saturday was the perfect day to just stroll through town and see it through the eyes of a tourist again, instead of as a place where errands are run, kids are shuttled to and fro and appointments are kept.  While everyday life can get in the way of enjoying the beauty that surrounds you sometimes when you live somewhere, even a place as gorgeous as Prague, visiting allows you the time and energy to stop and really look around.  Which I gladly did!

After a quick photoshoot at the Lennon Wall, I took some time to wander alone.  It's a rarity for me not to have the kids and I wanted to take advantage of the time I had to really explore and see things in a new way.  It was such a pleasure to be photographing Prague again but I have already captured so many of its iconic places that I wanted to make sure that I captured them and the city with fresh eyes, from new vantage points, and with a different perspective.  I climbed towers and went under tunnels.  I pulled out my crystal ball and turned Prague upside down.  I was joined by the family and we continued our adventures through side streets and bridges and playgrounds.  We covered a lot of ground in one day but it was worth it.  It truly felt like being home.

I think I succeeded in adding some new perspectives to my collection of Prague favorites.  But you decide for yourselves...

These next sets of shots were taken the next day - at each of my photo shoots.  The first three are taken on the grounds of the US Embassy and the final two shots are from the gardens under the Prague castle. Both firsts for me.

Halloween Celebrations in Prague

As I posted yesterday, we celebrated Halloween at school in Germany and then traveled to Prague to do it again with friends (click here to read the post).  We only had a few days in Prague, and I had scheduled a full set of photo shoots on two of those days so I was happy when Sunday afternoon rolled around and we got to finally sit down with friends and catch up.

First, we headed over to E and J's house for some Beton's and snacks while Stinkerbell had a playdate with J.  It hadn't been so long sine we had seen them as they were here for Oktoberfest just a few weeks before but it's always nice to sit and chat.

 "Warming up" in front of the fire.  Who knew Netflix had so many choices in fire types?  And saying, "Until we meet again".

We then headed over to J and M's house for a Halloween-themed bash, complete with costumes and a table full of edible Pinterest creations.  Which sounded like a grand old time until not 2 seconds after walking in the door (not kidding - I hadn't even gotten the zipper down on my first boot) Stinkerbell fell and hit her head on the leg of a table in the front hall.  Blood gushing, we rushed straight to the bathroom to calm her down and assess the damage.  Despite the blood (which kind of added to the Halloween feel, but we could have done without it) the wound was more bark than bite and stopped within 10 minutes.  We washed her down and bandaged her up as best we could 

This stayed put for about 10 seconds...

and we joined the party.  The kids took off to play and the adults had a drink and some food while we caught up on what had been going on in our lives for the past few months...

The only picture I got of the people at the party.

After a fitful night of sleep, waking Stinkerbell every few hours to make sure she didn't have a concussion, we decided to corral all of the kids and head to lunch.  Think we had a good time?

Leisurely lunch over, it was time to get ready for the festivities.  We headed back to J and M's house to get ready (this time with no big entrance) and 30 minutes later were on the street ready to trick or treat.

We all met up with some friends and MadHatter actually took off with hers to roam the neighborhood and trick or treat alone.  She was sooooo excited to not have to stick with the little kids!

After a few hours of hitting each house at least once (Stinkerbell hit the same one 5 times!) we headed back to the warmth of a house and some pizza.  Exhausted, happy and ready to call it a holiday.  The girls had a blast and it was so great to see old friends again.  I think we may just have to do it again next year!

A Spooktacular Success

Halloween.  MadHatter's favorite time of the year since her very first Halloween at 9 months...

The first and last time I made her costume.  She loved it - hood and all.

It's a tough holiday for expats, though. Although more and more countries are celebrating in some way,  the decorating of your home, dressing up in costume and asking for candy door-to-door is still mainly an American tradition.  But we make it work and we have celebrated each and every one of our 6 Halloween's abroad, with varying degrees of success, and this year was no exception. 

We began the celebration at the girl's school.  Seeing as this was the first year that their campus was open for Halloween we didn't know what to expect (and neither did they, in reality).  The parents were asked to volunteer and come in to decorate the doors of each of the classrooms as a surprise for the children when they returned from lunch.  And boy were they surprised!  Once they stopped marveling at the transformation of their space into a spooky (yet friendly) hallway they were led off to enjoy an afternoon of spooky story telling, bobbing for donuts and getting tattoos.  After that, there was even more fun as the whole school gathered for a costume parade, along with a lot of dancing in the halls and trick or treating at each classroom door.

Stinkerbell's class awaiting their turn to bob for donuts.  How cute are they?

Walking, and dancing, in the costume parade.

The girls trick or treating.

I wish I had more pictures of my own girls enjoying each of the stations but I was in what seemed like 30 places at once trying to catch all of the action as the photographer for the school.  But I am sure you can tell, they had a great time.

And Halloween wasn't over yet.

We had made plans before we ever left Prague to return for their Halloween celebration.  As I mentioned, Halloween is catching on in other countries but Germany isn't one of them quite yet.  Outside of the International schools you would be hard pressed to find anyone trick or treating or dressed up for the day.  But Prague is another story.  The Mala Sarka neighborhood that is behind the girl's previous school is really into the holiday and each year throws a big bash, trick-or-treating, costumes and all.  And since the girls started their Fall Break the Friday before we decided to drive the 3 1/2 hours back to our adopted home to see old friends and make MadHatter one happy Indian Princess.

Tune in tomorrow for those pictures...