Czech mass, Campbell's soup cans and sex machine museum

Sadly this isn't the family version of Fifty Shades of Grey. (But it got your attention and a sex museum was involved.)

We wrapped up our second full day in Prague. It started with  a trip to Prague's famous Bakeshop a recommendation by one of my Facebook friends. We bought an assortment of croissants, meringues, turnovers and more poppy seed cake (forget anything made with poppy seeds - the stuff is only good on top of lemon muffins.) The butter stains on the bag were the sign that the grub would be good and it didn't disappoint.

Next on the agenda? Well it was Sunday and even though my mom would give me traveler's dispensation for skipping mass I really wanted to go. Ben cornered Gary and asked him why when we had a limited time in Prague would we waste it in church? Gary did understand the point but opted to side with me. Charlie tried to pull the we won't understand anything card and I reminded him that essentially mass is the same in any language. I won and we went to mass at 11 am. The time was well spent - a packed church, friendly Czechs at the sign of peace and the free for all at communion. (Must read what I learned in Prague to truly appreciate this comment.)

We went back to the apartment for lunch where the boys dove back into their high school musical video game show and Madelyn passed out. (Late night snap chats with SI buddies are exhausting.) Gary and I went back for more groceries and a quick stop to fast fashion, millennial hip H&M to find a dress for our upcoming evening on Vienna where I bought tickets for the whole family to see Mozart performed in period costumes. (Don't worry Ben has promised to give a critical review of the show, again I digress.) I found a no lie zip up (in the front) frock for $7. The very necessary slip ran three times as much (pics to follow and again no shades of eroticism grey here) and I am ready for the opera house in Vienna.

We gathered the rested and well fed group and took off by foot again to checkout a few sights. Our first sight was the Staromestske nam in Prague's Old Town Square. We wanted to see the clock strike at the top of the hour when the windows open and the outside characters dance. We caught the last 20 seconds so would need to return to witness it in its entirety. Across the square we hit the Male namesti (I think this is the Modern Art Museum) where we wandered through the Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol exhibits. Dali is one of my all time favs and the exhibit featured his pictorial representation of Dante's Divine Comedy (one of my all time favs from the Great Books program) along with The Persistence of Time and his perfume bottles. On the third floor was the Warhol exhibit with a great piece featuring my hometown of Pasadena, Calif. The best part was the album covers that featured the Rolling Stones wearing.... Levi's!!!!! And Warhol had a great quote about dying in denim.

After the Museum we did get to see the full version of the clock tower (I think Disney had a bit of patent infringement here) and it was pretty mesmerizing. We went off to cross the Charles Bridge, checked out the Jewish Ghetto, the oldest Jewish synagogue offering religious services and the Jewish cemetery cram packed with graves. 

To round out a long afternoon, we decided to explore other parts of Praha. We caught a quick glimpse of the Imperial Hotel (Michele Goller reco) and made another pit stop to H&M men's store to find a collared, long sleeved shirt for Gary for upcoming Vienna concert. The rain broke through and we stopped at a cafe for beer, wine and milkshakes before heading home to fix dinner and repack before heading to Vienna in the morning.

Oh yeah, what about the sex machine museum? Ben found it deep in the heart of Old Prague and was totally confused by what it was. He asked his brother - no clue. He asked his mother - again no clue. He reported into his dad that "we found a sex machine museum and we don't even know what that means." Any idea on how Gary responded? Share your thoughts in the comments.