Our last full day in Prague……..

It was now Saturday and our last full day in Prague with my amazing Stampin Up girls.  We had a day to ourselves and the instructions were to meet in reception at 6.15pm in cocktail dresses ready for our Final Night Event.  We met for breakfast, it was such a civilised affair with every choice possible.  I did miss a good cup of Yorkshire tea though :-)  Before we left the hotel Natalie organised a photo shoot in the hotel corridor, I love this photo and thanks to Paula for taking so many for us.

So our little group of UK girls let the hotel together and ambled round in circles for at least an hour deciding where to go and asking directions.  We visited a beautiful church and took in the sights and sounds of Prague.  We shopped a little and headed for the the St Charles Bridge and a boat ride.  I have so many fond memories of us howling with laughter at silly little things.  We sat on the boat which took us up and down the river and I can honestly say I hardly looked up to take in the sights, I so enjoyed getting to know the UK girls better.  As we left the boat they were playing 'My heart will go on' from Titanic – that cracked me up!

We walked some more but Monica and I were on a mission to re-visit a shop we had popped in to briefly the day before.  It was a home/interiors shop jam packed full of pretty things.  So we broke into two small groups and Amanda, Monica and I set off to find the shop.  Thanks to Amanda's map reading and my nose being able to sniff out a good shop at a hundred paces we managed to find it.  After a little retail therapy (I mean a little I could have spent a fortune but everything was too big to bring home) and a light lunch we headed back to the hotel to shower and glam up for the evening.

I love how Stampin Up keep so many surprises for us and the anticipation and excitement whilst waiting in the hotel lobby was evident.  We were collected and taken by mini bus to our destination.  Do you remember that I referred to a photo in yesterdays post?  The building is the Archbishops private residence (mansion more like) in the grounds of Prague Castle and is not open to the public.  Our guide has told us the day before that this is where the Pope stays when he visits Prague. 

Well that is where we were having dinner, can you believe it?  I certainly couldn't.  The grounds of the castle were quiet and all the tourists had gone for the evening and we pulled up outside the mansion and were welcomed in up several flights of stairs, on a red carpet to the most grand surroundings I have ever seen.  You know when you go to visit a stately home and you seen decadent rooms decorated in ornate furnishings with old paintings and gold everywhere?  And you normally are herded with the crowds behind a rope divider?  Not this time, we were dressed in our finery mingling and eating canapes – pinch me I need to wake up I thought! We made the most of the surroundings and took some group shots and of course Frank Manu had joined us for the evening so he managed to make the photo call too.

We are all blowing Frank a kiss, can you see his pose??  The inspiration for this photo came from the French group and Jerome was the subject of their affections.

Don't we scrub up well?  I love all the jewel colours the girls wore, so pretty. 

And this is the whole group apart from the two Kellie's who took the photo's.  We were all making silly faces in this photo in case you could not tell :-)  After all the photo's were taken we were asked to enter our dining room.  We all stood in awe in the door way, frozen to the spot and completely speechless with this sight before our eyes. 

 

WOW!  The place setting were absolutely stunning and at each seat there was an ornate picture frame with the menu for the 4 course dinner we were about to enjoy.  We had a pillow box with our names filled with chocolates and on the back of all our chairs was another gift, a beautiful red and white floral wrap with a Stampin Up label.

We all wondered around taking in the beautiful surroundings before taking our places for dinner.  There was a musical trio playing music in the corner and the table was strewn with rose petals.

 

 

 

 

 

 We had four wonderful courses

 

 

And this is how they presented the courses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I love Julies comment at the end about a mexican wave – he he!  I had to do a little video so that you could appreciate the ambiance and the music.

Grinning from ear to ear, I am so happy but has anyone seen my make up?  I am sure I put some on before we left the hotel!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a beautiful photo, both such lovely people that I am blessed to know.  We then reluctantly had to leave this magical dinner and said our farewells to the group as we would not see Shelli, Stirling or Pam as we had a morning flight and they had planned to go to church. 

We made our way back to the hotel and we did have a last rendezvous with the UK girls but we headed off to our bedrooms to see if those lovely Stampin Up people had left a little pillow gift.  I could not have been more delighted by what was on my bed waiting patiently for me………

No it was not the german tour guide (thank goodness!!) it was this little beauty……

I could hear screams of excitement coming from the other rooms, goodness knows what the other guests in the hotel thought.  Can you see the Prague tag on the bottom right, what a wonderful reminder of a trip of a lifetime.  I am so lucky and really don't know how my love of crafting led to these amazing experiences with these amazing people. 

So after a fun final evening larking about with the UK girls in Julies room we headed off to bed to pack and prepare for our departure at 9.45am.  I was so sad to leave everyone, I have made some wonderful friends and I am so thankful that I got to spend lots of time with my fellow demo's as it will be different next year as we are invited to take a guest to Vienna with us.  My lovely husband with be coming along with me, he puts up with so much and is so patient and tolerant of my work schedule that he deserves to be spoiled too. 

The plane journey was uneventful thankfully and to pass the time Natalie and I used my iphone app to take some funny photo's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I was so pleased to see my lovely family but to be honest was shattered after a four day adrenaline high that I took an afternoon nap.  Guess who was so pleased to see me that she had to join me???????

PS I did not intentionally wear clothes to match my bedroom!!

PPS Pippi is not normally allowed on our bed but I put a blanket on there so she could see her mum.  And thankfully her legs are too short to allow her to jump up on her own.

Thank you to Carola who gave the sweetest gift to Pippi of some beautifully wrapped dog biscuits, she loved them 🙂

I guess you are desperate to see the swaps aren't you?  Come back tomorrow to see what lovely things I received.