In the month of July I have been in Prague a total of two days so far. But I am not complaining, because look where I have been instead! Italy and France!

We flew into Olbia, Italy, which is on the island of Sardinia, and met up with the crew of the yacht we would be staying on for the next week. We stayed the night there, and then the next day we traveled to Bastia, Corsica (bringing my total of countries visited in one week to 5. Is this real life?!). The day we got there the Tour de France was passing through, which was really cool. While we were eating lunch on the boat we could hear all the cars honking as the came through town, followed by the cyclists themselves. I got a picture, but we weren't in town, so you can barely see them, haha (see the teeny tiny little figures below?).

After lunch, we took the dinghy in and went on a "walk" along a river with massive boulders strewn all over the river bed. The "walk" turned into a hike/wade/swim through the river as the path slowly disappeared and we were left to find our own way back into town. This was probably my second favorite thing we did while on this trip, because it was so beautiful and the water felt great.

Here is a not super great picture of the boat we were on, but I think it serves the purpose of showing you how awesome this vacation was. Pretty swanky right?

After Bastia, we went down to Bonifacio, which was also on Corsica. This was easily my favorite part of the entire vacation. This town was so picturesque, with its tall white cliffs and old town squeezed into the hilltop fortress and the azure ocean surrounding it. We arrived in the Bonifacio port in the afternoon and walked around the city for an hour or two before heading back to the boat for dinner (the boat was fully staffed, with maids, deck hands, a chef, and everything). I wish we had stayed longer in the city, but I've learned that non-American families don't feel this rush most Americans have to see everything physically possible while on vacation, which is just a different way of taking a vacation I guess. It's definitely very relaxing, which I enjoyed. I just might have to go back sometime and really explore, haha.

Old town Bonifacio

We went inside a church while we were walking around and after looking at everything, I turned around and saw Magda sitting on the bench with her hands together, slowly bowing her head up and down. She is seriously so sweet! I think she felt the peace and spirit in the church and this is how she felt she could express what she was feeling. I think of the three girls she is the most attuned to the Spirit. She can be really crazy spunky sometimes, but she also has moments where you can tell she is off somewhere else, even though she's sitting in the same room as you. I often think to myself that the Krseks would be great members of the church, if they could give up their one true love: wine. Then I think, yeah... that's never going to happen. Haha.

The whole group (minus me). From left to right: Tomas' niece Gabriella, Tomas' sister-in-law, Tomas' brother Markus, Tomas, Magda, Tomas' niece Theresa, Martina, Barbara (Martina had to hold her head facing the camera because she wouldn't look otherwise, haha), and Anna.

A really neat cemetery right on the edge of the cliffs.

We also climbed down the side of the cliff on these super steep stairs (see below) all the way to the bottom right by the ocean. It was really sweet... until we had to climb back up the cliff... haha. But it was definitely worth it, because the sea there is so beautiful and it gives you a different view than just staying on top of the cliffs would allow.

A view of the top of the boat we were on (the boat in the middle). Overnight they had another boat between us and the one on the far right. It was amazing how they could maneuver these huge boats into and out of these, well essentially, parking spots without running into any issues. It definitely takes a lot of skill to be a captain of a boat, especially these big yachts.

Bonifacio Harbor

The old town and fortress on top of the hill with the harbor below.

Bonifacio from the other side of the hill.

We had lunch and dinner out here everyday with beautiful place settings and delicious food.

After Bonifacio we went back to Sardinia where we spent the rest of our vacation.

Porto Cervo, Sardinia. This is the most expensive place to be on the island of Sardinia, as is evidenced by all the fancy boutiques and restaurants everywhere around the town. They even have a Harrods right on the harbor! We spent the night in the harbor and were able to walk around the town for a bit. It was mostly just a quick little look around, because I'm pretty sure that everything on that island was out of my price range.

Anna, Theresa, and Gabriella

Our last full day in Sardinia we spent the day in a small little bay relaxing and enjoying the ocean. I even got in the water and swam around a bit, despite the fact that shark attack stories were running through my mind the whole time. I wasn't the only one who was hesitant though. Barbara would not get in the ocean the entire trip because she was afraid she would sink and drown (even with floaty wings and a life jacket on, haha). The picture below is after her mom basically forced her into the water. She looks so traumatized, doesn't she? Not. She's such a little diva and I love it.

 I also did a back dive off the boat a couple of times and everyone thought that was pretty awesome. Earlier in the trip I got a chance to go wake boarding from the dinghy as well, so combined with that, I was like some water sports superstar, haha. I neglected to tell them that back home on Beaver Lake if you couldn't do those things you were the biggest noob ever.

The girls also learned how to dive (after taking about an hour to work up the courage, haha).

Anna gracefully coming up from her dive. I thought it looked really cool just before she broke the surface. So naturally I had her dive about five extra times than she wanted so I could get the shot. I'm so mean.

The top deck of the boat had a jacuzzi and lots of seating, so we pretty much spent the entire trip up there. I even laid out and... suspenseful pause... got a tan line! Or at least I thought I did until Anna said after our trip "We all got a lot darker! Except you. You just got more red." Oh. Right. I'm still calling it a tan line.

The last night on the boat.

On our way from Prague to Dresden, we stopped at Terezín, which was a Jewish ghetto and ultimately a concentration camp during the Second World War. Many Jews, primarily from Czechoslovakia were sent here before being transported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps.

Terezín was an existing military fortress prior to World War II, with a small town adjacent to the fort. During the war the former residents were told to leave and many of the Jews from Czechoslovakia were forced to relocate here, where not only was there not enough room for them, but there also wasn't enough food and supplies for them, resulting in many people dying here. The military fortress was ultimately converted into a concentration camp, and even though it wasn't an extermination camp, many people either died from illness, or were killed here by the Gestapo.

"Labor makes you free."

This is original furniture that was used during the Second World War in the camp.

The man who shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which ultimately started the First World War, was sentenced to twenty years of prison here. The cell was completely dark and he was not allowed outside or proper medical attention when necessary. Apparently if he had he been 20 years old (he was only 27 days short of his twentieth birthday), he would have received the death penalty for his actions, which given the circumstances of his imprisonment, would have been much more merciful. And people think the American prison system is cruel....

After Terezín we made our way to Dresden, and had dinner at Schnitzelgarten. I. Love. Schnitzel.

And we walked around the town a bit. I love Dresden, by the way. It's so quiet and there's so many cool buildings. The city has a really interesting history too, and you can see it in every building. I think a lot of people know about the fire bombing that happened in Dresden at nearly the end of World War II. When you're looking at a lot of the buildings here, you can see how the bombing affected this old city, and the massive spaces between old buildings were now super modern complexes replace their destroyed predecessors.

The Opera House

We also, of course, jaunted into Poland for a trip to the pottery factories in Boleslawiec to pick up our own sets of Polish Pottery. My mom has been using hers since she got them when we lived in Germany thirteen years ago, as has my sister since she's gotten married, and they both love them. So McKenna and I got to go and get our own sets for our future houses. I seriously can't wait till I have my own house to use all these cool things I've gotten over the years. As I told my mom earlier, I don't have baby-envy like a lot of my friends out at school. I have house-envy. And its seriously bad. It's basically at the point where it pains me every time I see a piece of furniture for sale because I want so badly to buy it and bring it home to my non-existent house and craft the heck out of it. Such is my sad, sad life. Haha.

And here is where they are painting some Polish Pottery before firing it.

Boleslawiec was only an hour and a half from Dresden, so we spent the day in Poland and then drove back to Dresden to stay the night. Here are some photos of the Frauenkirche, which I have posted about before on here, but I'll give you all a little refresher on how cool this church is. During the fire bombing, this church was able to stand for about a day, and then finally collapsed because of the intense heat it endured during the bombing. The church was reduced to rubble and stayed that way for many years until an international effort was made to painstakingly reconstruct the church, using as many of the original stones as possible. The dark stones you see are the original stones and the lighter are the new ones.

And this is a picture of the inside that I wasn't supposed to take, but my mom was like "Maddie, just take a picture!" So I took a picture. With an old couple in it. But I like it, so that's cool.

She is so fab.