By Noah

Over the next four days we will be on a road trip from Prague to Amsterdam through southern Germany planned by me and with much help from our Seattle friend, Frank Strobel. So for the next four days I will be posting every night about our day out on the road.

Day 1:  Prague to Nuremberg (Or Shwaig to be more exact)

We started today out right by getting up early, eating a healthy breakfast, and leaving our hotel at 9:00 to go pick up our rental car at the Prague airport. Thankfully we ended up with a good sized Skoda which was a relief because we were all still scarred from the incredibly small Kia Picanto from our road trip in Israel.

The Kia Picanto in Israel

The Kia Picanto in Israel

Our first stop of the road trip was for lunch in Plzen (Pilsner), a small city one hour away from Prague. In Plzen we had a meal at a small Italian restaurant that was owned by a really nice couple. As we left, they gave us a bottle of wine; my parents were happy. Some other things in Plzen we saw were the main market square of the town, the third largest synagogue the world, and a monument titled “Thank you America” commemorating the American army liberating the city from the Nazis.

The Pilzn hills.

The Plzen hills.

The city center of Plzn.

The city center of Plzen.

The third largest synagogue in the world in Plzn.

The third largest synagogue in the world in Plzen.

Thank you America monument.

Thank you America monument.

Next we hit the road to Germany driving past beautiful fields, mountains, castles, and little towns sprinkled throughout the countryside. The drive went surprisingly well with no bickering, obsessive cell phone gaming, or messiness. My mom put it best “nothing is better than driving through the Eastern European countryside listening to classical music while all three of my kids are reading.” Two hours later we pulled up to our apartment in a small suburb of Nuremburg called Shwaig (Nuremburg was all booked up so we had to stay here.) Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update of Prague to Amsterdam.

German countryside.

German countryside.

German highway signs with funny words.

German highway signs with funny words.