Saturday- This morning we leisurely got around and caught the bus to the Jewish Quarter which we had big plans to see. Unfortunately I had forgotten that Judaism celebrates their Shabbat, or Sabbath, on Saturday, and the internet doesn’t keep up with them so therefore everything was closed that we wanted to see. We went to a couple Farmers Markets that we stumbled upon and I love those. Fresh wildflowers, five-gallon pails of saurkrat and anything pickled you could think of, sausages in crispy baguettes eaten with ketchup and mustard, and lots of produce. We found iced coffees and I managed to find a cabbage strudel that the man in front of me recommended. It was saurkrat and goat cheese in a pastry and it was SO good. Then we walked to Prague Castle, the largest ancient castle in the world. It was a bunch of uphill walking with stairs which I obviously enjoyed with my lithe physique. The view from the top was phenomenal, a panorama of all of Prague. The castle grounds are huge so we did some walking around and then headed back into town.

We stopped to see the Lennon Wall since we were close to it. Said to be inspired by John Lennon, it is a wall full of graffiti and political paintings that is continually changing. There were a lot of poems about the Ukraine hung up in front of it, calling for change and peace. We have seen so much support for the Ukraine here. In one of the main squares, there is a huge hand painted mural that says “Back off Putin! Hands off Ukraine!” We decided to go back to Mondieu for lunch then because its such a cool place. We planned our next stop which is basically deciding the next town we want to stop in which will be Vienna, we think. We had supper back at the apartment and have been relaxing. We know some of the bus routes already and a feel for the city so it’s been a huge plus being here for more than a day or two.

Sunday- We had a lazy morning deciding what to do for the rest of the day since it was supposed to be hot. We had bought some little cinnamon rolls that we baked for breakfast. There are a couple people staying in the other room beside us now, but we really haven’t seen or heard them. We eventually caught the bus over to the Jewish cemetery, the only burial ground allowed for Jews in Prague from 1439-1787. The tiny yard has around 12,000 headstones. There are approximately 85,000 bodies buried 12 layers deep, and the retaining walls around it are to hold the soil in place that had to be added occasionally for more layers. This cemetery is still intact from WW2 because the Nazis wanted to use it as part of an “extinct race” museum. Afterwards Morgan and I sat on a bench beside the Vltava River and watched the boats and people and Madison went off to paint for awhile. We walked through an old church and then got coffees later on. Madison is making us a picnic supper which we are excited about, Morgan is sleeping, and I just finished listening to Avery preach at Wildwood.

It’s been a really tough day, which is why we didn’t do a lot. We simply were just sad. I know you maybe are rolling your eyes. A tough day in Europe, yeah right! But it’s true. I told Morgan I just felt like I needed a good cry over everything and he said he did too so we thought we would schedule one for this evening. The decisions we need to make are ones we would call our Dads for, so today I was just mad. Who do we call now?? Nobody loves you and is quite as invested in you and your life like a Dad is. They are supposed to be here to help with financial and life problems and big decisions. They give you wise opinions with just the right amount of judgment so you know what they would do if it were them. And I am just so sad we don’t have that now. We have lovely people in our lives, but each of those people have their own family and life without the worry of a married schoolteacher couple. So as Morgan and I talked about next year and tried to make more decisions, I just felt so alone. Sometimes we look at each other and say,”Is it true? Dad is really gone??” We can hardly comprehend it. Everywhere there are survey markers that remind us. And we saw on the news that Machu Picchu in Peru was threatened by a fire and we knew Dad would be watching that because he was so enthralled with Peru. But here we are. Please pray for us, and especially Morgan.

Some Notes: 1. There is graffiti everywhere here. You’d think it would make it seem dirty, but it sort of just fits in here. Its rare to see a stretch of wall that doesn’t have some sort of paint on it. 2. There is no air on the buses here, which it seems like I’ve mentioned before. It is around 15* hotter inside the bus than outside, so its like you get to cook alive while also watching the town go by.