Bily Konicek

I found out that this means 'White Horse' - sounded much more romantic in Czech!

Prague Castle

We finally arrived at Prague Castle, having got off the tram one stop too early, no one else got off at that stop, they all looked at us as if we were mad and then we had to walk up the hill to the castle and were watched by everyone looking out of the tram! Once there the first place we found was a lovely little coffee shop where we had a warming mug of hot chocolate with cream - we were frozen! We then went from there to the palace entrance and Hugh really surprised me by saying would I like him to go and stand by the guardsman so that I could take a photo.

I kept the entry tickets from the castle, but unfortunately they were a little too big for this layout, so I scanned them in and then sized them down before printing them out on photo paper to use. I was really pleased with how they came out.

 I actually used Shimelle's sketch from 9th March - I am a bit behind with these, but it is nice to have them sitting on my desk for inspiration!

Scrapology's April Challenge

The challenge over at Scrapology this month is 'B is for bunting' and to use this sketch:

I am really enjoying the challenges on the Scrapology blog, so having a bit of free time this weekend I grabbed a Sarah's Card kit and got to work with another photo from Prague (I think I have nearly done enough of those now!).

I was really pleased with the finished layout. I made the bunting using a postcard we bought in Prague. It had little pictures on it which I cut out and then layed upon some butcher's twine. Not traditional bunting, but I like the effect of it.

The flowers were made with the Tim Holtz rosette die, which I bought at Ally Pally last weekend. This was the first time I have used it on a layout and I liked the effect. I have included some Russian dolls as everywhere we went we saw them in the shops. In fact I bought a lovely little keyring with one on for myself and for my friends. I am trying to put either a Russian Doll or a little wooden charm of Prague on each layout.

These little buildings were on small pegs, which I cut off the back and then glued onto the layout. Hugh spotted them for me in one of the souvenir shops - he is really good at looking for things for scrapbooking for me :)

A beautiful day . . .

and too nice really to be sitting indoors blogging! However, I have just had to work on my accounts so thought I would take the opportunity to post a photo of a layout I made yesterday using Shimelle's sketch from her March 4x6 Photo Love class . I used my Cricut to make the Russian Dolls (Paisley cartridge) and it was great fun! Lots of different parts to cut out and put together, but I like to do that.

 The conservatory is a real mess at the moment as we are decorating the utility room and everything from there has been put into the conservatory. I am not able to photograph my layouts where I usually do, which is a bit of a nuisance!

I do have another layout to share with you, but still need to photograph it. If I manage to do that I will post it later, if not I will share later in the week.

Don't forget to look back here tomorrow for Miniature Monday to see which room box I am sharing this week.

M is for multiple photos

The Scrapology challenge for December was 'M is for multiple photos'. Although it is now March I decided to give it a go! I really enjoyed completing this layout and used some more of one of my Sarah's Cards kits - I think the November one, which had lots of lovely autumny (is that a word?) colours to go with my photos.

 It does feel strange scrapping autumn and winter photos when the weather is so lovely and it is warm outside! The blossom in Essex is wonderful at the moment. Penny went to Billericay today and stopped on the way to take photos so that I could scrap them - my family are wonderful and very accommodating to my hobby :)

The next layout is not a scraplift, nor is it from a sketch - gasp! I have started on an album for our trip to Prague. I have so many photos to scrap it is going to be hard choosing which ones to use. This is the layout for the first page.

When we had our Starbucks coffees at Stansted Hugh looked at me in amazement (for all of about 5 seconds) as I took the wrapper off the cups and put them in my handbag. It was very early in the morning and that was Hugh's excuse as to why it took him a short while to catch on to what I was doing! He is usually very quick and sometimes thinks of saving mementoes before I do! In fact, as soon as we were on the plane he gave me his boarding card stub!

Prague - part two

Having woken at 8am on Sunday, we went down to breakfast, which was a help yourself continental buffet. It wasn't fancy, but it was fresh and filling, which is what we needed before venturing out into the freezing temperatures again!

We had decided to take the tram to the funicular railway as our first attracation to visit. This meant we had to get the metro first to the tram stop where we could catch the right tram! The transport map we had been given when we arrived was very good and using that and my Rough Guide map we didn't get lost at all! We had bought a travel pass when we arrived on the Saturday and this included all travel on trams, metro, buses and the funicular railway for the princely sum of £3.30 each for 24 hours, which was absolutely brilliant value for money as this also got us to and from the airport.

The funicular railway ride wasn't very long, but it was fun and at the summit there were wonderful views of Prague. The views became even better when we ventured up the observation tower at the top of Petrin Hill. Known as Prague's Eiffel tower it is 299 steps to the top.

Fortunately there was a viewing platform half way up where we stopped and took some wonderful photos.

The entrance to go up to the top platform was shut, but Hugh found an alternative entrance (the down stairs!) which he suggested we walk up. I got up two more turns before I started to get acrophobia and had to rapidly make my way down again! Never mind, we had taken some wonderful photos.

Walking back to the railway to make our way down again we had to walk through the gardens, which were just like a scene from Narnia. We cleared the snow off the back of one of the benches and set up the self timer to take a photo of the two of us.

Our next adventure was to get back on the tram and to to Prague Castle. I was expecting great things here, but have to admit that I was a little disappointed. It was quite expensive to get in and several of the buildings were shut as they were filming in them or renovating them. We did get to see the old palace which was interesting and an exhibition of Prague Castle through the ages, which was fascinating. Wenceslas Cathedral was spectacular, but unless you paid extra, you could only go into the first half of it.

Feeling a bit let down, we made our way back, walking this time, to Charles Bridge to see it in daylight. During the day it is lined with artists and street entertainers, which made for a very different feeling as you walked along it.

By this time we were a bit cold, so back in the Old Town Square we found a little cafe where I had the most delicious cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream - actually I had two cups of it! After his first coffee Hugh went to the loo and came back laughing and saying he needed to go back in and take the camera. I couldn't begin to imagine! But, gave him the camera (fortunately we had taken the point and shoot, not the DSLR) which he hid in a pocket. When he came back he showed me this:

The cafe was obviously know for this urinal as plenty of men came in to use the loo and then left laughing!
Having warmed up we decided to have a walk to the Jewish Quarter. We wanted to have a look around the Jewish Cemetry which the Rough Guide said was free to go into. However, since the book was published things had obviously changed and you now have to pay, which is a shame. As the price was quite high and included the Synagogues as well and we didn't really have enough time left we had to miss out on these sights, which was a shame.

Our day was drawing to a close, so we made our way back to the hotel and came upon St Nicholas, an angel and the Devil as it was Mikulas Day.

There were loads of little children getting their presents from St Nicholas and telling him if they had been good this year. It was lovely to see and a lovely end to our time in Prague.

We returned to the hotel to collect our suitcase and then found a lovely little pizzeria to have our evening meal in.

Then it was back to the airport, where we checked in, went through passport control and then found that our flight was delayed! Fortunately only for an hour, but that meant that we eventually got back to Stansted at 11.30pm and back home at 1am! After 5 hours sleep I was up again and back to work!
However, Hugh and I really enjoyed our weekend away. It is a really nice start to Christmas for us and something which is now starting to become a bit of a tradition for us! Cologne last year, Prague this year - where next year? Any suggestions?

Warning - photo heavy post!

Phew, just about caught up with myself after a very busy few days! 

Hugh and I had booked to go to Prague for the weekend last weekend. With all the snow we were not sure if we would make it, but up until Friday evening the flights were still going out from Stansted. So, the alarm was set for 4am - eugh! and off to sleep we went!

We arrived at the airport just after 5.30am and were very relieved to find out that our flight was on time. As we had time to spare we went off to Starbucks and had a very nice toasted panini and a cup of coffee.

After a shortish flight we arrived in Prague about 10am. We managed to negotiate our way around the public transport system, which was extremely efficient, and make our way to our hotel. There was snow on the ground, of course, but what really got to us was how cold it was! We thought it had been cold in the UK, but it was -12 Centigrade there, which took our breath away! Having left our suitcase at the hotel we set off to explore.

The city was beautiful. The architecture was superb and we spent a lot of time looking up, but at the same time trying not to slip on the snow! Actually I had never walked on snow like it before - it was like wading through deep sand on the beach, but in some places still very slippery!

We visited the Christmas market in the Old Town Square which was very pretty.

There were stalls selling beautiful Christmas decorations, lots of sheepskin gloves and booty slippers, gingerbread, hats and other gifty bits. There were also food stalls and we had a lovely hot sausage in a roll for our lunch (actually, Hugh had two!).

We then walked round to Wenceslas Square, which is actually more of a rectangle! There was another market there and we had a cup of hot wine, which warmed us down to our toes. 

We walked all the way to the top of the square and saw the statue of Wencelas and then walked all the way back again to our hotel to check in.

As you can see, the hotel was a bit basic, but it was clean and warm and as we were only there for one night it was more than adequate. Having unpacked we lay back on the bed for me to read to Hugh from the guide book to decide where we were going next. After about 5 minutes of reading I realised that Hugh was fast asleep and snoring away! Oh well, if you can't beat them, join them!

Having been refreshed with a 30 minute nap (!)  we wrapped up warm again and set off for another explore. By now it was dark, which gave me new photo opportunities! We strolled to the Charles Bridge, which was crowded with people walking back and forth, looking at the statues and the views.

After meandering back to the Old Town Square and looking at all the Christmas lights now glowing nicely in the dark, 

we found the restaurant I had booked for our evening meal and went in ... and down ... and down! The restaurant was in old Roman cellars and was superb. It was also a jazz club and so we had live jazz music to listen to whilst we ate.

And what did we eat? Well, I had a tomato and mozzarella salad followed by a plate of the most delicious goulash with dumplings and fresh vegetables. With no room for desert we had a coffee before wrapping up again and venturing back to the hotel, where we collapsed and slept deeply for 10 hours!

I think that is enough to regale you with for today. I will tell you all about what we did on Sunday soon. Thanks for dropping by and don't forget Sian's Christmas Club on Sunday!