Kathy's friends head back to the US...

I should have posted this yesterday, but I got sidetracked by Saudi witches and inflatable Czech students. Kathy's friends, Kim and Chris, winger their way back tot he US on wednesday morning after having been in Europe a week and a half, including stops in Salzburg and Vienna in addition to time here in Prague.

They were perfect guests and a joy to have around. I wish I could have shared in drinking the wonderful Czech beer with them but it is Lent and, alas, I have given up the devil's brew for the duration.

Here are Chris and Kim enjoying a mug of Prague's finest.

Kathy joined them in Vienna for a couple of days and one of the highlights was a trip to the naschtmarkt where you can buy some unique food (like wasabi nuts) and gift items.

The Three Amigos.

Visiting friends...

Two fo Kathy's friends, Chris and Kim, are here for a visit. Chris arrived Saturday morning and Kim arrived early this morning. Both arrived on early flights - but everything worked out OK.

We all went for coffee this morning while Noah was at Sunday school - no, not to Starbucks. Then the girls went off for siteseeing and Noah and I returned home.

Chris and Kim leave on the train tomorrow morning for Salzburg, Austria and then go to Vienna on Thursday. Kathy is taking the train from Prague to Vienna on Friday morning to spend the weekend with them. This will be Kathy's third visit to Vienna. So next weekend the guys will be alone - time for a movie and video games!

Danny heads home...

We just got back from the airport after dropping Danny off. He flies to Munich and then connects to a flight to Chicago where his dad will pick him up and drive him back to Milwaukee, about an hour away.

It was a full and fun trip that included a wonderful 5 days in Rome. It was good to have a real family vacation. The last family vacation was to Colorado about 5 years ago.

For our last dinner we went to a place called Bar Fontana, which is near Dejvicka circle. So we drove to the circle and parked and then walked the three blocks to the restaurant. Kathy and I have been there twice before and both times the food and service were good. It is a small restaurant with only a half a dozen tables. It is in a cellar and is lit completely by candles. They specialize in grilled meats, which are cooked on an open grill within the dining room. It's not a place to go in warm weather but in the winter it is warm, cozy, relaxing and with ambiance that can't be beat.


Danny had a large skewer of mixed grilled meat (what else?) oh, and beer. Noah had marinated chicken and fries (what else?). The open grill can be seen in the background.


We have a final dinner together to celebrate Danny's visit.


The interior of Bar Fontana. It's like something out of the Middle Ages.

Birthday beers...

Well, today I turn 49 years old. Birthdays aren't a big deal to me, and I certainly don't get depressed by them. My saying is, "Any day on the green side of the grass is a good one." My recently departed in-laws [meaning they went back to the US after a visit here, not that they recently died], Bill, Gert, Nancy and Stuart, were kind enough to get me a little birthday present before they left. They visited a local beer store that has hundreds (well, at least scores) of different kinds of Czech beers by the bottle. They got me six bottles of beer. Here I am posing with them (the beers, not the in-laws).














One of the beers is particularly interesting as it has a naked woman on the label, with her hands strategically placed. I am enjoying that beer as we speak - both drinking it and looking at the label. Ah, being 49 isn't that bad.

Train strike in Germany. D'oh! (Updated)...

Update: The in-laws didn't end up leave Dresden until about 10:30 PM on Friday night, meaning an arrival in Prague just before 1 AM. I had found a limo service on-line and arranged to meet them on the platform at the main train station. I did this because I wasn't sure if there was a taxi stand there. The guy I talked to spoke passable English, and I gave him the details of their arrival - train number, number in the group, cell phone number (our current spare phone) and which train station they would be arriving into (there are several in Prague). Fortunately, the driver called the their cell phone just before the arrival time, because they had gotten off at a different train station. Not to worry, said the driver, since the main station where he was is just a 5 minute drive - especially at 1:00 AM.

Anyway, they got to our little village about 1:20 and were tired but otherwise in good spirits. It seems that on the way they met some kind people who spoke English. And despite a very crowded train (due to the many cancelled trains) Bill and Gert were offered seats by polite younger folks. There will be many more stories from the return trip from Berlin as a result of the strike. So, as Bill Murray wold say, they got that goin' for them.

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The in-laws went to Germany on on Wednesday to complete the Prague-Vienna-Berlin trifecta. The trip to Vienna by train had been uneventful, even pleasant, and the same was expected on the trip to Berlin. Well, while the trip TO Berlin went fine, the trip BACK was another matter.

Unknown to us, the train drivers in Germany had planned a 3-hour strike for today. They are in the midst of contract negotiations as they attempt to secure 31% pay raises, and one of the clubs they have is to conduct nuisance strikes in an effort to motivate the public to press for a settlement so they stop being inconvenienced. The strike had the intended impact, throwing the system into chaos. The four in-laws were supposed to get on the train about 12:30 this afternoon, arriving in Prague about 5:15.

Well, as I write this it is 7:30 and we aren't sure where they are or if they are on Czech soil yet. After their initial train was cancelled they boarded a later train that got them as far as Liepzig, just northwest of Dresden. They boarded a train for Dresden about 5:00 that was to connect them to the train to Prague, but the train left Liepzig about 40 minutes late, so we don't know if they made the train connection in Dresden.

More later.

Family visit (updated)...

Sorry, I have been remiss by failing to post more about the current visit by Kathy's parents, Bill and Gert, and her sister Nancy and brother-in-law Stuart. They arrived just over a week ago and have just under a week left. It has been a very full week that included a 3-day train trip to Vienna. Unfortunately, I was not able to go on that trip because I had to work last Friday even though it was a national Czech holiday and RFE/RL was closed (see "end of the fiscal year" post below).

Since I have to work Kathy has been going with them during the day to see the primary attractions here in Prague - Prague castle and St. Vitus cathedral, Old Town Square, the Charles bridge, Petrin hill, Wenceslas Square, etc. The weather has been very spotty which has slowed down the touring a little, but the slower pace has been good and keeps everyone from getting burned out and exhausted.

The four visitors are getting a train this morning bound for Berlin (a four hour ride, same as the train ride to Vienna). They have a hotel not far from where we stayed during our visit to Berlin earlier in the year, so they will be close to the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie. They are only in Berlin for two nights and will be back in Prague on Friday afternoon. Because of their visit we (by that I mean Kathy) had to figure out how to buy train tickets here in Prague. Now that we (and by we I mean Kathy) know how to do that I am sure that we will start taking train trips for long weekend holidays.

I will post some more pictures later.

Family visit to Prague...

We have Kathy's parents, sister and brother-in-law visiting Prague. They arrived on Tuesday and will be here for two weeks. None of them have been here before and we are excited about showing them around. The weather has been poor for a few days - lots of rain - but is supposed to clear tomorrow. There are also side trips to Vienna and Berlin.

Styopa wings his way back to the US...

I took Steve to the airport this morning, thus ending his seven day stay in Prague. We spent his last evening attending Live Free or Die Hard, also known here as Die Hard 4.0 (or in Czech as Smrtonosna past 4.0).

We figured we could see this movie since it was not on the "must see" list of our significant others. Bruce Willis was back in fine form as John McLean, and there were enough one liners and things blowing up to keep things interesting. This is definitely the best Die Hard since the original.

We went to a local urban mall a few metro stops from my work to see the flick. I wasn't aware that there are two big theatres in and around the mall - Novy Smichov - and of course we went to the wrong one first. We went to the window to buy tickets and said "Die Hard" and the young Czech woman didn't understand which movie we wanted to see. After trying "Bruce Willis" and a few other key words, she got a brochure with their current movies and had us point. I pointed at "Smrtonosna past 4.0" with the picture of Bruce Willis and she said, "Die Hard 4.0?". Yes, Die Hard, like I said at the beginning. Unfortunatley, their next showing was after 8:00 and we were looking for a 6:10 showing. Decided there was another theatre and set off to find it at 5:45.

Leaving the mall we saw an information desk and decided to try our luck to see if the woman spoke English. She was already helping a couple speaking English, and when it was our turn she directed out the mall and around the corner to the other mall.

There was no problem getting tickets - they are about $8 each, just like the States. The young guy offered a special of a discounted price for a small drink and small popcorn. We waved him off - we each want BIG popcorn and BIG soda. And that's what we got - $7 each, not too bad.

Since Die Hard 4.0 has been out since the 4th of July there wasn't much of a crowd. There were probably about 20 people in a theatre that held about 150. We took seats in the center of the 5th row, and only noticed later that our tickets had assigned seats. Lucky for us it wasn't crowded.

One important thing to consider is if the movie you want to see is in English. Some, but not all, moviehouse web sites tell you if the movie is dubbed into Czech or if it is in English with Czech subtitles. I made sure that the movie we went to was in English.

In the last year I have only been to three movies here in Prague, including Die Hard 4.0. The other two were kids movies Meet the Robinsons and Ice Age 2 (I think). Both were showings arranged by Noah's school. This is hard for me since I love movies and used to go on a weekly basis. Maybe we'll go to more over the winter.\

The next big movie is The Simpsons, which comes out on July 27th. I will still be in Prague alone awaiting the return of Kathy and Noah in early August, so I will try to see it. One potential problem is that most animated movies here are dubbed into Czech - as I said, the two kids movies that we saw were arranged by the school. I don't know if I will be able to find the movie in English.

Anyway, I think Steve had a good time, and he didn't need to spend much apart from gifts, food and drink. Maybe we'll do it again at some point.

Hello I must be going...

Well, since I started the blog a few months ago I have prided myself on making nearly daily posts, even if occasionally they are short or deal just with music videos. The cause of the light posting is Styopa's visit. We have been going out for dinner after I finish work, and then when we get back to the house we start playing with the PS2. On Tuesday night the time got away from us and I didn't get to bed until 2:00 a.m. I'm 48 years old and don't do well with staying up until 2:00 a.m., especially when I have to get up at 7:00 to go to work.

Actually, if you want details of what we have been up to, click on the link to his blog on the left side of the page.

Oops, Steve has been up playing the PS2 while I post this, so I better get up there to prevent him from hogging. Steve leaves for home early on Saturday so I expect the posting to pick up.

Layover in Amsterdam...

Styopa and I have a three hour layover in Amsterdam before we fly on to Prague. We're not hungry since they fed us twice (dinner and breakfast) on the way over. Found a business center where we can get on the internet for 9 Euros (about $12) for an hour. We looked up the Twins score from last night (they won!) and checked email. There is still time for me to do this quick update.

The flight was uneventful - the best kind. I watched the movie 300 which was good and had a very unique visual style. I'm a sucker for the "good versus evil" movies like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and this is in a similar vein. It's pretty violent but in a less than fully realistic way.

Steve and I watched The Incredibles - at least we did until they turned off the entertainment because we were landing.

I will provide another update once we get home, unless I am too tired and crash.

What's all this then? (Amen, Amen)

Danny is still in the air between Frankfurt and Detroit and the three of us (me, Kathy and Noah) are very tired. Besides getting up early this morning we spent the last 5 days doing little but walking (around the tourist spots) and eating. Two all-you-can-eat meals didn't help with the diet.

Since the blog was just begun yesterday I will spend the next few posts catching up on what we've been up to.

Danny's visit gave us a chance to go to some of the tourist spots. Many of these we had already visited before, but others we saw for the first time. On Friday we all went to a beer hall - but not just any beer hall. The U Fleku has been an operating beer establishment since 1499. Columbus was still celebrating his discovery of the New World when the U Fleku opened. Oh, yea, there's been the odd fire now and again over the last 500 years but you can imagine the place looking pretty much the same in the 16th century. They serve food, but the attraction is the dark beer that is brewed on-site. And the musicians that favor the accordian. Here's Danny with two of them (they seemed to only play for 30 minutes before new ones took over). The one collected tips in his french horn (or is that a tuba? I'm certainly not a musician).

Danny is on his way back home

Kathy and Danny left the house at 5:45 this morning to head to the airport. Danny's flight to Frankfurt was at 7:20. Of course, Murphy's Law dictated that our first flat tire would occur on the way to the airport. While Kathy called a taxi Danny started changing the tire. He had the spare tire on the car just as the taxi pulled up. Kathy gave the guy a few crowns for his trouble and they headed to the airport in our car. We got a sms from Danny saying that he is on the plane to Frankfurt so all is well. I guess it's time we bought the new set of tires (which are very expensive here - about $850 for 4 average quality tires).