The New Adventure

October 28 was an emotional day for me. It's the day I decided to face my fears and allow myself to be vulnerable. It's the day I moved out of my apartment in Lafayette and moved in with my man-friend in Marin. 
Back in September, I asked Kellin where our relationship was headed. What was next for us on this awesome adventure? We talked a bit about our future, what we wanted for ourselves and what we wanted for our relationship and decided that we would keep the conversation open over the next several weeks and see what made the most sense. Over the following weeks, we talked, we considered all options, we decided to move in together, we searched for places to live and we decided that it made the most sense to move into his place. I told my family and friends, I gave my notice and I started packing.
Packing was hard for me. Where do I start? What do I keep? What do I donate? I built this home for myself out of necessity, out of self preservation. It was perfect for me and exactly my taste and style, it was mine and I worked really hard to be there. Packing was very overwhelming for me. I had to remind myself to breathe.
My little home was a good home. It was cute, quaint, and welcoming. 
I had tons of parties, movie and TV show marathons, started family traditions, laughed, cried, cooked. It protected me when I was feeling insecure and continued to remind me that I am smart, capable, successful and worth it. I wallowed in self pity, I suffered, I fell out of touch, I had serious heartache. I endured, I persevered, I grew, I made life-long friendships, I fell in love.
I had my last party a couple of weeks before my move out date. Girls only. And it was perfect. I had been feeling a overwhelmed and having most of the women who have supported me over the last several years all in one place drinking champagne, eating cheese, laughing, listening to my 'Thong Song" radio station, reminiscing, karaoke-ing the night away at the Round Up and staying up way too late eating all of the leftovers was exactly what the doctor ordered. After the party, I felt at peace. Ready to take on this next adventure.
When I woke up on October 28th, I called my mom and asked her to come by, one last time. The movers arrived and, in less than an hour, they had packed my furniture and loaded the moving truck with all of my belongings. When my home was empty, I cried and my mom held me. I soaked up the space and was taken back to the day I saw the apartment for the first time in July 2014 and knew it was perfect for me and the warm day I moved in with the help of my mom and some of my dearest friends. I considered the milestones that I have conquered over the last several years and I was overcome with love, pride and contentment. I cried happy tears. I cried because this home helped to shape me into the woman I am today. I have countless memories from that home that will forever be part of the very core of myself.
Cheers to this next chapter of my life. Cheers to facing your fears. Cheers to new adventures. Cheers to moving onward and upward.

The College Dude

After having deleted all of the dating apps and taking some much needed time for myself, at the end of last year, I decided that I was interested in getting back into the dating scene. I also decided that I wanted to be more thoughtful about who I dated and I wanted to be in better control of how the dates went. I was looking for something more authentic, genuine and real. All of that said, I was still terrified of any sort of commitment.  I re-downloaded the apps and began to go out on dates again. What was different this time around? I went into each date with confidence. Really knowing and believing that I have a lot to bring to the table, I deserve respect, that I am worth it and truly went by the mentality that if it didn't work out, that was okay - it is all just practice.  I dated a few people between December and March and really enjoyed myself. I felt like I had more control over the entire experience which made dating more enjoyable for me. Less desperate, if you will, to have the other person like me regardless of if I liked the guy or not. Then, into my life walks this dude who I met in a marketing class in college, and he completely flipped my world upside down. In the best way. In February, he posted a picture of a Pliny the Elder beer on Instagram and in similar fashion to every other post since 2008, I liked it and I commented that I had just had the Pliny the Younger and loved it. He responded to my comment, which was not the norm, we exchanged numbers, I went to NOLA for Mardi Gras and he told me that he wanted to take me out on a date. I told him to slow his role and that I would let him buy me a beer 😜 When I got back from NOLA, we met for that beer and had a great time . I even let him take me out on that first date the same night! He was clear about his intentions. He wanted to date me. I told him that I was scared. He told me that we could take it slow. I told him that I wanted to be pursued. He told me that he was old fashioned and liked to open doors. I told him that I was nervous about commitment. He told me he would be patient. We went out for more dates. We went on more adventures. We introduced each other to friends. We introduced each other to family. We started dating at the beginning on March and in the middle of April he asked me to be his girlfriend. Is it just me, or does 'girlfriend' sound silly for someone who is 30? I call him my 'Manfriend.' Yes, I realize that that sounds just as silly! Since March, we have made an intentional effort to be thoughtful, honest, patient, kind, loving and open to ourselves and to each other. He teaches me to breath, how to savor all of the little moments and how to focus on the big picture. He has been patient and calm and understanding. I have worked hard to break down the walls that I have put up and to trust him and to trust that what we have is special and long lasting and I am so glad that I have, because it's totally worth it.

found here

 

To Close A Chapter

Last night mom and I went to a book signing for the release of her friends new book: May It Be.  I rushed home after work, mom and I grabbed a glass of wine and snack and then walked over to the local library. We arrived a few minutes late but caught the tail end of Chrissa's book intro. We listened to the other authors talk about their inspirations, sat through some Q&A and congratulated Chrissa on this exciting chapter in her life.
Mom bought a copy and as I was flipping through the pages, reading a few random entries I came across this one:

When the time comes

to close a chapter,

may you honor the ending

as much as the beginning,

just as a hug is an act of

both claiming and releasing.

May you go with integrity,

finish with dignity.

~May It Be, Chrissa Ventrelle

It really spoke to me.

As most of you know, I was married in the Catholic Church. When I separated and then later divorced, I reached out to the priest who married me and was told that I apply for an Annulment with the Diocese so that, in the future, if I wanted to marry again I could do so in the Church. I paid the fees right away; but, I sat on the paperwork for about a year - for no particular reason - more because it was a lot of work that I just wasn't mentally or emotionally prepared for. About a year later, the Diocese contacted me to let me know that the fees would expire if I didn't get moving on the paperwork or I risked having to start over from scratch. So, I submitted the request. 

To clarify, this is all 'in the eyes of the Catholic Church. This has nothing to do with my legal marital status. I am legally divorced. Going through this process will not change the status to annulled.

Fast forward to last fall. After having submitted all of the paperwork and asking several family members and friends to provide testimonies, the Diocese contacted me telling me that my case wasn't 'strong enough' and that the Cannon Judge would likely not approve the request. To say that I was hurt and devastated is an understatement. To be honest, it completely shattered me. It felt like an old wound was being reopened. I was already legally divorced, how could the Diocese do this to me after everything I had been through. After a bit of wallowing in my own self pity (shocking, I know), I picked up the phone and called my contact at the Diocese to figure out what I needed to do to make my case stronger. My contact told me to wait until after the New Year to see if another Judge would see my case and possibly grant me a different decision and if that didn't work, we would present the case in a different way. 

After calling the Diocese to check the status of my case almost weekly for the past 5 months, I received a phone call from my contact at the Diocese last Friday. She told me that the Judge had made a final decision in the affirmative - that my annulment was granted and that "as of today, you are free." (Yes, she used the word "free.") I basically jumped for joy, I told everyone who has been part of this arduous journey with me and toasted a not so great margarita in celebration.

Now, back to yesterday. I received the paperwork with the final ruling in the mail. I felt relieved last Friday, but there was something about reading the words on paper with the Cannon Judge's signature that made it all the more real and sweet. As I was flipping through May It Be, I stumbled upon the above entry, read it aloud to my mom, we teared up, embraced and then I bought my own copy of Chrissa's book. While she signed it, I told her my story and she congratulated and thanked me for sharing about how, in just a few moments, her book touched me.

With all of this said, this annulment was the final string, the final attachment, the final chapter of that part of my life. I want to thank everyone for listening to me, for holding me, for loving me, for supporting me, for celebrating me throughout my life, but especially over the last three years. I truly would not have made it this far and am beyond grateful for the relationships that I have made, cultivated and cherished.

Thank you does not do my feelings justice.

Onward and Upward.  

Whole30 x2

I just completed my second Whole30!! This is a huge feat, well, big enough and I have to admit that I am quite proud of myself. Let me set the stage: 
Back in 2015, I went to Africa and on the island of Zanzibar I ate shrimp and got super sick. I saw a doctor when I was in France and I saw a few doctors in the US and no one could figure out why I felt so terrible. I had no appetite, so I wasn't eating much, was exercising and I was gaining weight all while being in terrible pain. (Let me preface by saying that I was by no means fat, but I felt like a stuffed sausage in my all of my once fitting clothes.) Anyway, I was basically feeling sick for over a year. The way I felt became my new normal. I was sensitive to everything or nothing. There was no rhyme or reason as to why I felt so terrible. 
One day, in the summer of 2016, my mom and I went on a walk and she told me that one of her gym-friends was doing the Whole30 and that she felt and looked great. Knowing my issues, she had suggested to my mom that I try it out. I did some research and realized that I didn't have 30 days to commit, but decided to buy the Whole30 book and started following all of their social media channels. I decided that since I was going to Germany, I would begin easing myself into this lifestyle and when I got back from my trip, I would take it on full force. 
I went to Germany, ate way too many sausages and drank my body weight in beer for sixteen days so to say that I was ready for a 'cleanse' of sorts was an understatement. I started my first Whole30 the day I got home and with a full blown cold. Ugh. (PSA: emergen-c has added sugar and chicken noodle soup has, well, noodles :P )
I made it through the 30 days in a breeze. It wasn't hard, the food that I was eating was super tasty and for the most part everyone was supportive of my decision. Another aspect to the Whole30 is to help overcome your food dependencies and bad habits; which I typically don't have. I do not self sooth with booze and I do not punish myself with food - I am not an emotional or bored eater. 
I lost 20lbs - I know that weight loss isn't the intention of the Whole30, it is just a side effect - and I had never felt better. I hadn't had a stomach ache in 30 days. I was eating whole and delicious foods, had great sleep and overall had a lot more energy. 
After the 30 days, I followed the suggested reintroduction plan to see if there were any foods that I was potentially sensitive to; there was nothing. The main thing I noticed was after eating gluten, I felt that sugar coma - that feeling of wanting to just put my head on the desk and take a nap kind of food coma - especially when I am at work. Depending on the gluten, that feeling is worth it; but to be honest, it isn't always. That's what they call Food Freedom; to know how your body reacts to certain foods and to either make the conscious decision to continue eating it, or not. I went into the holidays with this new sense food freedom and I will admit that I over indulged, um, a lot and had a great holiday season, all of my decisions were worth it. When it came to food preparation for myself, I stayed compliant: I ate a compliant breakfast and lunch every day. As fas as dinner and outings and happy hours and dates (oh yeah, I am dating again, more on that later) I wasn't so compliant. But I made the conscious decision not to be. I had a very Merry Holiday Season!
- Now on to the January Whole30 -
Because I was raving about it the first go around, I convinced a few friends to join in the fun and do it with me again in January. I will admit, January proved to be much harder for me than when I did it in October. I think it was harder for me for a number of reasons (1) I went out a lot more in January than I did in October - dating and otherwise (2) Work was really, super busy for my in January with all of my projects coming to a head at the same time (3) I think as a byproduct of the aforementioned things, I wasn't sleeping well and all I was jones'ing for was alcohol after work - which is so so so unlike me! I will say, though, it was interesting with this round of Whole30 because a lot of people made comments about the amount of weight that I had lost/was losing - about 10 lbs since the one I did in October - I have been getting stopped in the hall at work, facebook messages and comments on photos. 
Even though this last Whole30 wasn't as life changing as the first, I know that I will do it again when I need another reset. That said, I know that I will continue on with my Food Freedom and when I want to indulge in that wine and cheese night or have a margarita with some chips and guac, I will.  I will probably do it again in October, before the thick of the holiday season, and possibly a few shorter than 30 days in between. If you are ever interested in doing it, let me know and let's encourage and support each other!
tldr; do the whole30! it is awesome! 

Köln, Germany

Today, I am sharing my last post recapping my awesome 2016 Europe trip. I am sad to be finished recapping, while also relieved because it has taken me far longer than it should have to complete this post :-)
Köln, Germany was beautiful. We arrived in the evening on Tuesday, headed straight to our hotel for a quick check in since our train was delayed and because of technical issues we had to change trains part way through. But never worry, we were able to watch both parts 1 and 2 of the 7th Harry Potter movies just in time. Because we were checking in after hours at our hotel, we had difficulty checking in and I had to turn on my cell phone to call the hotel for them to let us in remotely. 
We dropped our bags and looked for a place to have dinner nearby. We ended up at a Mediterranean place down the block and it turned out to be one of our favorite meals on the entire trip. We went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep for our last full day of my leg of the trip. 
We woke up on Thursday morning and headed to a local coffee shop for espresso and pastries. It was my last day, so we were going all out. After breakfast we walked to the main square to check out the Köln Dom. It is spectacular from the outside with its gothic architecture. Sadly, they were doing a lot of external renovations, so there was scaffolding around the outside of the church. Nevertheless, it was beautiful. 
We went inside to check out the interior and so that I could say my usual prayer of safe travels and healthy living for my family and friends. The stained glass windows and the architecture and the artwork and the sculptures were just breathtaking. It is free to enter the cathedral; however, when you walk in and at each corner and at every alter there were collection bins. Which was totally fine. I am happy to donate. But I drew the line at the fact that the priests were wearing (yes, I said wearing) collection containers around their necks and while we were sitting at one of the alters, someone came around to collect the money from one of the bins. Can't you do that after hours? It was really disappointing. When I travel, I love to visit churches and to say a prayer. For me, it is a spiritual experience. Now, I understand that that isn't the case for everyone, but I was really upset at hour touristy the church was. If you are hurting for cash, charge an entrance fee and then leave people in peace to take from the site what they will. {end soapbox}

After we finished walking through and admiring the beautiful cathedral, we walked across the famous Love Lock bridge: Hohenzollernbrücke over to the Rhine Promenade for some beautiful cityscapes and views of Cologne. We walked back over into Old Town by Deutzer Brücke and we headed to the Chocolate Factory. I wouldn't recommend the tour. It was kind of pricey and if you have done a Chocolate Tour before, you have done them all. But definitely make sure to enjoy a spiked Hot Chocolate. Caitlin and I both enjoyed the Geist der Azteken - hot chocolate made with chili, tabasco, tequila, white rum and whipped cream. Oh.My.God. This was soo good, I can't wait to replicate it!  

 

After the Chocolate Factory and lunch, we headed over to the birthplace of the famous Eau De Cologne 4711. We walked around the shop, I dipped my hands into the Eau De Cologne Fountain and I found a perfume that I loved to purchase. We did a little shopping, since we were so close to the shopping district then for the rest of the day we brewery hopped. We had a few beers at one brewery next to the Cologne Cathedral and then went to another for our last dinner. 

As we got further away from Munich, the beers got smaller. 

We ended our day with a yummy German dinner - even if our waiter ended up being kind of an a-hole...
The next day, we went back to the same cafe for breakfast, went to the train station to figure out how we were supposed to get to the airport, bought train tickets, checked out of our hotel and headed to the airport. Caitlin then flew on to continue her solo trip, and I flew from Cologne to Munich back to San Francisco. 
This was definitely a trip that I will forever remember. I learned a lot about traveling with friends and myself. I for sure have the itch to travel and have already started planning my big trip for next year to celebrate my big birthday that I will not mention :) 

Berlin, Germany

After Praha, Czech Republic, we headed on the train to Berlin. We arrived in the Berlin train station that is massive. Like, whoa. I was very surprised. We had to ask information how to get to our hotel, because we couldn't find a map in the station that we could understand. HA! 
We made it to our hotel, dropped off our things and decided to head down to Checkpoint Charlie. We got down there and walked around a bit but felt that it was definitely a tourist attraction and we were expecting a bit of a different experience. We ended up getting tickets and audioguides to walk through the Checkpoint Charlie museum that ended up being extremely informative and really interesting. Both Caitlin and I felt like we didn't know a ton about the history of the Berlin Wall and the history of Germany after World War II. I highly recommend the Checkpoint Charlie Museum - there are a ton of stories from people who lived through the occupation and explained a lot of the history of the division. That being said, I would not recommend getting hung up on the attraction that is Checkpoint Charlie - it is almost like Disneyland and just overly crowded. 
After the museum, we popped into a Tapas restaurant bar that was nearby. It was delicious and a nice change from sausages and beer.

These signs are not the original, the posts are. 

This was our first site of the wall on our trip. 

The next day we woke up and headed down to Pariser Platz; where Brandenburg Tor is located for breakfast and to meet our guide to start our walking tour. Our walking tour was about 2.5 hours and we walked around the main sites in Berlin. Our guide was awesome, very knowledgable and very engaging. 

 Our tour included: 

Pariser Platz

Brandenburg Gate

Site of Hitler’s bunker

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Checkpoint Charlie

Gendarmenmarkt

The Berlin Wall

Luftwaffe HQ

Bebelplatz

Book burning memorial 

Humboldt University

The air was cool and crisp, the sun was out and shining and it was a perfect day to walk around the city. 

 After our walking tour, Caitlin and I headed to the East Side Gallery by way of the TV Tower and the Berlin Dom. The church was very busy with a ton of tourists, so we decided to admire it from afar. Which was kind of a bummer because it's so beautiful from the outside, but we figured it would be frustrating trying to walk around and get out of it what we wanted. 

Before we visited the East Side Gallery, we stopped over at Burgermeister for the best burger in Berlin. It definitely did not disappoint and it was perfect timing because it started pouring rain once we sat down to eat, so we were protected by the overpass. Once we finished our burgers and the rain had stopped, we headed over to the East Side Gallery to admire the murals and artwork painted on the still standing portion of the Berlin Wall. Obviously, most (if not all) of the art was very politically charged. 

We then headed into the hipster district of Berlin for drinks and dinner. 

On our last full day in Berlin we took the subway over to Mauerpark, which translates into "Wall Park." The park is located on the East Side of Berlin and, when the wall was still standing, it was right up against the wall, hence the name. The park was actually pretty ugly, there was trash everywhere and the grass was brown where there was still even grass. On Sundays, there is a market with music and lots of people, and this day was Monday, so I hope that it was just looking rough because the market was the day before. 

After we walked around the park for a bit to soak up some warm sunshine, we headed over to walk through the Wall Memorial. We spent a bit of time walking through the memorial then headed over to do some window shopping and have lunch in another trendy area of the city. 

Throughout Berlin, you will come across these stones on the rode. This signifies where the Wall once stood. When you can read the plaque right-side-up, that means that you are on the West side of where the wall stood. Our walking tour guide told us that they did this because the East Side was 'wrong' and if you couldn't read the plaque ride-side-up, that meant you were on the 'wrong side of the wall.' Kind of interesting note...

After lunch and window shopping - it was only window shopping because all of the shops were closed because it was a national holiday - more on that in a minute - we headed back to Pariser Platz to walk over to the Reichstag to see if we could hop on a tour either that afternoon or the next morning before we headed to Cologne. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a tour, so we just looked on from outside. 

On our walking tour, we walked through the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and since we really just passed through, we wanted to revisit the site and walk through the museum. We spent a couple of hours in the museum and walking through the memorial and to say that it was overwhelming is an understatement.  

We walked back through Pariser Platz and headed to the Adlon Hotel (where Michael Jackson held Baby Blanket over the balcony) to sit outside on their patio with a glass of Champagne and a charcuterie plate. We had a great view of Pariser Platz and the Brandenburg Gate. Now for the National Holiday. We just so happened to be in Berlin for the Day of German Unity - which is the Day of German Reunification. So, there were a ton of people, street performers and there was a festival going on on the other side of the gate. 

We thought that we had wanted to hang around the plaza and be part of the excitement, but at one point a man wearing a nazi uniform and flying a nazi flag walked by. We decided that we didn't want to get in the middle of anything political so we headed back toward our hotel for dinner and to get to bed early.  

We spent the next morning, before our train to Cologne, back in the trendy area where we had lunch the day before, to do some more eating and shopping. 
 Berlin ended up being another one of my favorite cities. Mostly because we were able to experience a lot of culture and learn a lot about the history of Berlin and Germany after World War II. 

The architecture is just beautiful and I hope to revisit Berlin someday! 

Praha, Czech Republic

My first, like, hour of being in Prague was stressful and made me want to leave before we even made it to the hotel. We arrived in the train station without any Czech Koruna. Czech Republic is part of the EU, but does not use the Euro. This is kind of annoying to us travelers but it is nice because the Koruna is not as strong as the Euro, so our USD goes a lot further there. Our first task was to find an ATM before we headed out because we needed to take a taxi to the hotel. We find an ATM and I put my card in first. Since we were so used to Euros, we got a little confused on the conversion and I ended up taking out the equivalent of 450 USD. Now, we were planning to be there for 3 full days, but when a beer costs $1.50, $450 is a little excessive. We decided that between the 3 of us, we would split the amount that I had taken out. Needless to say, I was a little annoyed that I had just taken out so much money. Oh well, now was time to head to our hotel.  We leave the train station and we find a taxi driver. I show him the address of our hotel and he mumbled and grumbled, pulled out his phone to show us a map and told us to walk. Now, let me preface with: when I looked it up, the walk was going to be about 20 minutes and we all had all of our luggage. So, with some admitted attitude, I asked if he was refusing to take us and he said yes, that we could walk. So, now, Im floored. I'm like, I have 10,000 koruna burning a whole in my pocket, can you just f*cking take us to our hotel?! In hindsight, once we got to our hotel, I understood why the driver wouldn't take us. our hotel was in a sort of pedestrian only area and the hotel was really not that far from the train station.  We finally made it to our hotel, checked in, dropped off our stuff and headed to the Old Town Square to check out the Astronomical Clock. We got there at the top of the hour so we were able to see it chime. To be honest, the clock is not as big as I had expected.  We then went to a rooftop bar for drinks and a cheese plate and we read up on how to actually read the clock. Everything made sense, except for the time. Based on the clock, the time was one hour off - which is when we realized that the clock doesn't take into consideration: daylight savings. Which also accounted for why there were a bunch of clocks that had the correct time all around the square. Ha! It was pretty funny. We had scheduled a spa treatment so we headed to the appointment and stopped along the way for a trdelnik - which is basically a churro and it is delicious and totally worth all of the things.   

Now for our Spa Treatment. It was hilarious and totally one of the highlights of my trip. I actually found a Beer Spa while I was perusing pinterest and trip planning. It looked hilarious and the girls were in, so we booked it. It was hilarious. We arrive, change out of our clothes and into robes and then we hopped into tubs of water, bubbles and hops and enjoyed some fresh beer from the taps. We soaked for about 45 minutes - mostly laughed the entire time - and then got some back massages. It was glorious. If you are traveling to Prague, I definitely recommend checking this out. We were sent home with a certificate - don't ask me - some more beer and a commemorative photo, that I won't be sharing. Ha! 

Our first full day in Prague we spent it walking for 5 hours while eating all of the yummy Czech specific food. We started our food tour at a cute little bakery with some cookies, because who doesn't want to start their days off with treats? And then we moved on to an assortment of open faced sandwiches and butcher shop meats. Oh.My.God. Everything was so good. Then we had a sauerkraut soup that was to.die.for, a pork belly spread with a hard cider and we ended the day with the traditional beef, bread dumplings and gravy with a glass of wine. Everything was delicious. We did the tour through Eating Prague Food Tours. We had an awesome guide who was very knowledgable about the history of Prague and he was able to tell us stories and point out famous areas of interest and give suggestions about what else to do. I would definitely suggest the tour, it was delicious and informative!

After our food tour, we walked across the Vltava into Mala Strana in search for the John Lennon Wall. I loved seeing all of the brightly painted and colorful houses throughout the entire trip, and Prague was no exception. The weather was perfect for a stroll, especially after all of that eating. 

We found the John Lennon Wall and spent a bit of time reading all of the quotes and looking at all of the artwork.

This was my favorite quote that really resonated with me: 

"I don't know what the future holds. I know who holds the future."

After checking out the Wall, we walked back into Old Town via the Charles Bridge. This bridge is famous for all street vendors and performers. They were selling anything and everything from postcards to jewelry to performing music with string instruments.  

Jess had to head back to the hotel to do some work, so Caitlin and I decided to find some beer and food. We headed over to U Kunstatu which had an advertisement on our city map and a couple from our food tour had recommended it. Unfortunately, they were closed for a private party, so we found another spot nearby to grab a drink so we could head back over there to meet Jess once they reopened.

We obviously went big here. We ordered 2 different tasters with all different beers so we could try everything. We sat at the bar, the keeper was friendly and the other patrons of the bar were really nice and fun to chat with. Jess met us there to help us finish the beers and food we ordered and then we headed home and to bed. Jess had an early morning since her flight left out of Prague at 6am.

The next day, Caitlin and I headed over to St. Nicholas Church in Mala Strana and then for a self guided walking tour of the Prague Palace. The St. Nicholas church is very understated from the outside and breathtakingly beautiful on the inside. I would say that this was, hands down, my favorite church in all of the cities we visited. 

We walked up to the Prague Palace just in time to see the changing of the guards. We were wondering why this ceremony existed because there isn't anyone living in the palace, so we figure that is just for tourists. We thoroughly enjoyed it, so no complaints here. The church within the Palace is massive and beautiful, but we didn't tour around it because it was so packed with tourists - it was a bit overwhelming. The Palace grounds were green and beautiful and provided unobstructed views of Prague. It was simply beautiful. 

We headed back into Old Town via the Charles Bridge where we bought our souvenirs and then headed over to U Fleku - Shannon's recommendation - for some beers and lunch before we headed over to see the Dancing House. The Dancing House was a bit underwhelming. It is an office building, or at least that's what it looks like, and you go in, take an elevator to the top but you can't go outside unless you buy a ridiculously expensive drink or a ticket. We decided against it, which was, in hindsight, a smart choice. 

We made our way back to U Kunstatu for the beer tasting and boy did it not disappoint. We sit down with another couple from Canada who had been traveling for 9 months around the world, and our host walks in already blasted. He was hilarious and was definitely a beer aficionado! We took a tour of the basement and the building, which is one of the 2nd oldest in Prague, and drank beer all night long. It was a blast. We ended up grabbing food with our Canadian friends and grabbing more drinks at our hotel with them. It was a blast! 

Prague really made up for being such an a*shole at the beginning. We had a blast and it turned out to be one of my favorite cities on the entire trip. 
Prague, I love you, I will most definitely return one day. 
Next stop: Berlin!