March Madness

It's only March 18th (Happy Birthday David!!) and already this month has been super eventful! At the beginning of the month Ben's parents came to visit, then last week we went to a ball, and yesterday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day Czech Style. So, let me start from the beginning.
We had anxiously been awaiting a visit from Ben's family for weeks, so, needless to say, we were so excited when they finally got here! Unfortunately, because of some bad-luck Ben's aunts weren't able to make the journey as expected, but we made the best of an unfortunate situation. On Friday we met Steve and Cindy in Prague, then traveled to Brno on Saturday, and went for a day trip to Vienna on Sunday.
In Prague we did an afternoon walking tour of the city (with Ben and I as the tour guides). We were able to see so much in such a short amount of time; it was truly impressive.

The Church of the Infant Jesus of Prague

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague

Steve and Cindy in Wenceslas Sqaure

The whole family in Wenceslas Sqaure

Steve, Ben, and I in Prague

Astronomical Clock

A view of the castle as the sun was setting

The Charles Bridge

In Brno, we were lucky enough to be able to show Steve and Cindy the language school, meet Dana and her family, and have dinner with all of our friends.

At the language school

Thank you Aunt Paula and Uncle Joe for the new shirts! We love them :)

Thank you Aunt Patti and Uncle Dan for the new clothes and just as importantly the OREOs, they're delicious!

Half of the dinner table... we had such a fun time!

And the other half... as the Donahue men are actively telling stories :)

And in Vienna, despite some bad weather, we were able to see Schonebrunn, the Opera House, and St. Stephen's Cathedral.

The Donahue family in front of Schonbrunn

St. Stephen's Cathedral- under a little reconstruction but still beautiful

As soon as Steve and Cindy left Ben and I began battling a flu of sorts, but luckily we were still able to make it to the ball on Wednesday night. In the Czech Republic it is common for small villages to have a ball during the winter months, mostly because there isn't much else to do. 

Live band at the ball

Intermission for the band was filled with other live entertainment

Tom and Maggie at the ball

Ben and me

Ben and Joe

Typical Joe and Eva

And finally yesterday Ben and I spent St. Patrick's Day (which they don't celebrate in the Czech Republic; they do have Green Beer Day the Thursday before Easter though) walking around the dam in Brno. It was a beautiful day so there were a lot of people there picnicking, drinking beer, and just enjoying the day.

The "put-put course"-- totally Czech style

View out over the dam with everyone feeding the swans

The "Resort area" of the dam

Enjoying the good weather

After waiting for 20 minutes we finally were able to get a langose (fried bread with garlic and cheese on ours)

So that's all for now, but we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of my parents and Aunt Vickie and Uncle Perry :) Talk to you all soon and of course GO BUCKS!