I absolutely feel like Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk right now, because last night Phill came home with a present for me – an amazing magic bean with a secret message! Well, I must admit, it’s a regifted gift – Phill got it from a customer who bought them to give to his clients, but this one’s secret message was “With Love” and, well, that would just be awkward.

Sliding off the (slightly battered) case reveals a beautiful wooden box.

The lid isn’t properly on – WHY don’t I notice these things until after I’ve taken the photo?? Anyway, the first thing I spotted was the secret message spoiler – I thought it would be something that emerges after planting, but evidently the Amazing Magic Bean people want you to know your secret message in advance. I guess that’s a good thing – you don’t want to accidentally give someone an inappropriate message.

Anyway, here’s the contents of the box: “special” soil, bean and instructions.

The bean also spoils the secret message, because written on it is “With Love”. I guess this was never meant to be a secret afterall.

Okay, so the instructions are pretty detailed for something as simple as planting a bean. First of all, you grab the wooden lid, turn it upside down and place the box on top of it. That’s pretty cool – the lid becomes the base. Then, open the special soil and tip 2/3 of it into the box. Next, get your magic bean and put it in the middle of the soil with the black stripe facing downwards. You can *just* see the black stripe at the base of the bean in the above photo.

Cover with remaining soil and whola, the magic bean is planted! The instructions say to lightly water it every two days. You just want the soil moist, not overly wet. In 7-10 days, my magic bean will sprout! I’ve just got to keep it in a well ventilated place, remember to water it and, of course, not let the cat tip it over or eat it.

I will report back on my magic bean’s progress – I don’t exactly have a green thumb, but there’s no way I can mess this up, right? Well … we’ll see.

Occassionally the snuggly, fluffy thing I like to curl up with (Puddy) needs her own snuggly, fluffy thing – a huge toy dog that came to visit when my brother stayed with us for a while. It’s massive and so incredibly soft, so I wasn’t surprised when I came downstairs to find Puddy half on it, chin resting on its tummy, drifting off to sleep.

Of course, in taking the photo I managed to disturb her enough to get the pointy-eared reaction, but she quickly closed her eyes again. I don’t blame her – that dog is really cuddly!

Phill: What’s the point of a clock if it doesn’t tell the time?
Me: I’m sure it does … we just can’t figure it out.

The Astronomical Clock in Prague, located in the Old Town Square, is one of those sights that you look at and just don’t get. It’s colourful and interesting and quirky – but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to read the thing!

According to Wiki (yes I am a Wiki addict), the clock is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; “The Walk of the Apostles”, a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. Phew – that’s a lot of things all going on at the same time!

There was a large crowd gathered at the clock, but they weren’t all there for the same reason – we quickly discovered the clock was a popular meeting place for pub crawl groups.  We saw four or five groups waiting to go to their next pub, and we were offered flyer after flyer inviting us along. It wasn’t just a meeting place for pub crawls either – Phill was offered drugs by a man who “accidentally” bumped into him and muttered, “Wanna joint?” Phill, of course, declined and we both watched as the man moved on to some teens standing near us. Another bump, another mutter, and the three of them walked off together.

I remember looking at Phill and saying excitedly, “OMG, our first drug dealer!!”

Yes, it’s small things that amuse me.

Anyway, back to the clock. It was pretty impressive and we spent a while there trying to figure it out (but with no luck). The clock itself is mounted on the Old Town City Hall and it’s possible to climb to the top to get a birds-eye view of the Old Town Square, so we did that. There was a religious concert(?) being held in the square. I’m not sure which religion it was, but it was quite popular. You can see the yellow shrine in the photo and the stage is to the left, where there was singing and music.

It was very crowded at the top of the hall and very windy too. The walkways around the top are very narrow, so we had to keep squeezing to one side to let people pass. After ten minutes or so, we decided to go back down and look at the clock one last time.

We still couldn’t figure out what time it was, but it was definitely interesting!

There was one very famous building in Prague that Phill and I wanted to see – the Dancing House, nicknamed “Fred and Ginger” after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, because the building, when viewed from a particular angle, resembles a pair of dancers.

Isn’t it beautiful in a strange way? The buildings in Prague were so interesting – at times it felt like we were standing in completely different centuries just blocks away from each other. Fred and Ginger are situated on the end of the building, as you can see in this next photo, so to see the “dancing building”, you need to go to the end and view it from this angle. I remember seeing the building and thinking that I couldn’t see the dancers at all, then we came to the end and turned around – and I saw it immediately.

The top floor is the fancy Celeste Restaurant, which has stunning views of Prague. Unfortunately we didn’t make it up there to eat, as much as that would have been an experience! We crossed the road and headed out onto the bridge, snapping photos like crazy tourists. I love being a crazy tourist sometimes, taking millions of photos of buildings and food and plants and animals. Nobody is going to roll their eyes and say you’re taking too many photos – you’re supposed to!

I love this photo because it shows the contrast in the style of the buildings – in just one photo, you’ve got such a range of design and colour! It was seriously amazing. At this point I was a little addicted to the Dancing House and Phill had to tear me away from taking more photos. I just wanted to make sure I had the shots I wanted, since I wouldn’t get another opportunity to photograph it in a while.

The Dancing House is on the banks of the Vltava River, which is the longest river in the Czech Republic.

Some of our best lunches were simple store-bought food, eaten while perched on the wall running along the river, watching the boats go by. We actually walked along the river one day for hours – it was very beautiful but very long too and by the end of it, we were absolutely exhausted!

I know it’s been a while since we returned from our EuroTrip, but Terri’s comment reminded me that I’ve been very slack in posting about it, so I’ve finally got my act together and started writing up some posts. I’ve only done one so far and already it’s bringing back fantastic memories of our trip! I’m excited about sharing our experiences overseas and I hope you enjoy reading about it.