Little Friends on the Road

I made the acquaintance of these three lovely individuals in one day of our trip!  

Bebenhausen Kloster (near Tuebingen, Germany)

Bebenhausen Kloster (near Tuebingen, Germany)

Schloss Hohentuebingen (Tuebingen, Germany)

Hooray for the Internet!

It's officially summer vacation!  Or, at least, one week of summer vacation before I go back to work for summer camp.  But here are my summery links of the week.

Let The Summer Begin on Wood and Wool Stool

Ruffle Skirt Out of Old T-Shirts on Suburbs Mama

Open-Ended Creativity on Whip Up

San Francisco Mosaic Steps on My Modern Met

I am getting so excited about our impending move to the San Francisco area next month!

Hello Neighbor on Sew Liberated

This reminds me of a summer when I shared a house with six friends, where we had cows in the backyard.

Homemade Icepops (for Kids and Grownups) on Rhythm of the Home

Vanilla Ice on Oh My Veggies

Flavored ice is not just for ice pops!  I want to make these for iced coffee.

Wallenstein Palace

Wallenstein Palace

Prague, Czech Republic

Hercules Slaying the Dragon 

 Last weekend, Amy took us on an updated version of Amy's Walking Tour of Prague, which combined Amy's Walking Tour of Prague and Amy's Scary Walking Tour of Prague with a visit to the Wallenstein Palace.  Though it was hot, we gleefully frolicked in the gardens which we happily discovered have no entrance fee.

The Wallenstein Palace was built from 1623-1630 by Albrecht von Wallenstein.  Wallenstein seems to have been a rather proud fellow.  He wanted a palace as grand as Prague Castle.  The palace and gardens are very obviously done in the Italian style.  As with many places in Prague, the palace has a sordid history.  

Albrech von Wallenstein only got to frolic around his palace for one year after its completion.  Wallenstein was an important military figure during the 30 Years War, fighting on the side of the Habsburgs.  Wallenstein apparently made secret negotiations with Habsburg rivals, for which Ferdinand II had him assassinated.  Also (according to Wikipedia), in the gardens, there is a lane of statues depicting classical themes, all of which are copies.  The originals only held their places for 18 years before being stolen by a Swedish army.  These originals still remain at Drottningholm Palace in Sweden.  

I've heard tell that there are albino peafowl in the gardens, but we saw only this one.

Tiny door!

The Wallenstein Palace is currently home to the Czech Senate.  The palace remained in the Wallenstein family until 1945, when it became property of the state.

These merfolk leave a lot of tail to be desired--though I appreciate the mussel shell wings.

I like pretty gates.

Did I mention we had fun?  Some of us did, at least.

This was definitely a stop worthy of visiting if you are in Prague!  It is in Mala Strana, near so many other great sites.  Take an hour sometime to visit!  Or go just to hang out.  We saw so many people just enjoying a warm, sunny day in a beautiful park.

Summer Solstice

A walk by the Vltava yesterday turned into the perfect first day of summer.  While walking back from ice cream at Old Town Square, we heard some music coming from a beer garden on an embankment.  Amy was sure the voice of the singer sounded familiar, so we went closer to investigate.

Lo and behold, Amy was right!  Looking down at a familiar face, having him wave and smile up between songs--it made this big ol' city feel like a small town.  

We went down to listen.

And have a beer.

In the background, you can see some boaters enjoying a lazy afternoon on the river.  We decided that the time had come.  We had had enough I've always wanted to do thats and someday, we should try thats.  

So we rented a paddle boat!  It was only 250 CZK per hour (about $13.00) for up to 4 people.  Quite reasonable prices!

We befriended some ducks and ducklings who obviously assumed we would feed them.  They also had fine taste in art and chose to swim around the giant chair and marching yellow penguins.

Amy and the beautiful view!  

We decided that the river is actually one of the best places to take photos of the city.

Vyšehrad Fortress in the background

Tančící dům--The Dancing House! 

Shades

Mo loved how this ladder leads down to the water and how the tree appears to be growing out of it.

Národní divadlo--The National Theatre 

Something is hilarious.

Casual Paddling

Feeling really casual.

Zebra striped zoo boat.  I was very nervous about how close it got to paddle boaters.

Off the boat, back on the docks, we saw this little ugly duckling.  Last spring, part of the beer garden on the embankment was roped off because of a swan nest.  This is obviously the small friend who hatched out of that egg.  It seems likely since his parents were hanging around where the nest was.

I highly recommend seeing the center of the city from a paddle boat!  Best solstice ever!

Saturday Snapshots

Colleen here, behind the camera.  Using my trusty old point'n'shoot. 

Yesterday was a wonderful day in Prague, despite the heat.  

Ice cream was had at Naměsti Miru

We visited the Prague Public Transportation Museum

This our tram line!  (How Amy and I both get to work.)

We took the tram a looooong way.

To the tram bar!  It is built into the final tram stop on the 11. 

So much sun, looooong shadows.

Hooray for the Internet!

Busy, busy week!  School is winding down, we've been traveling, and friends are visiting.  But there's still plenty to see around the internet. Enjoy!
-Colleen

Tutorial on See Kate Sew

Hems are 99% of the reason I don't sew very big projects.  This changes that.

This is not altogether that useful, but would provide endless hours of entesummertainment, I'm sure!

Exposed Brick on Apartment Therapy

Blueberry Cabernet Cheesecake Popsicles on Endless Simmer
via Pinterest

Fancy popsicles?  Don't mind if I do!

My dear friend, Makenna, has an article in the summer issue of Rhythm of the Home so of course I need to share it!

Cherries on Lou et Tom

Just getting excited for summer fruit!

Origami Elephant on How About Orange

And lastly, for simple chuckle factor:

"The Overwhelming Weirdness of Ghost Mother Photography" on  Io9