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.

Danny arrives in Prague...

Danny got in around 7:00 this evening, after a slight delay due to fog here in Prague. Luckily, we are only ten minutes from the airport, so we were home for dinner and a opening a few early Christmas gifts. We leave for Rome on the 23rd and don't want to carry presents with us.

We were surprised how excited Noah was about Danny's visit. They still bicker - they are brothers after all - but I think they will be close when they are older.

Noah got a UEFA soccer shirt.

Danny got a scarf, a necessity in Prague.

Danny's race car update...

The mini-F1 car competition continues until tomorow. The SAE has posted some pictures from the event so far at their web site, but no results have been posted. One of the pictures is of Danny with the car that he and the rest of the engineering team at Marquette built. Here it is (Danny is in the green shirt standing over the driver). We'll post more pictures and results - hopefully tomorrow.

Danny's Formula race car...

Danny is the student president of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) at Marquette University. One of the competitions involves racing of formula cars designed and built by the students. The competition is this weekend in Detroit and there will be cars from 130 colleges and universities from all over the U.S. and other countries (including Brazil, Austria, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Venezuela and Australia). Danny heads up the team from Marquette.




From the SAE web site:

What is FSAE?
The Formula SAE® competition is for SAE student members to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars. The restrictions on the car frame and engine are limited so that the knowledge, creativity, and imagination of the students are challenged. The cars are built with a team effort over a period of about one year and are taken to the annual competition for judging and comparison with approximately 120 other vehicles from colleges and universities throughout the world. The end result is a great experience for young engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effort.



We don't have any pictures of his finished car, but will post some, and the results of the competition, when we get them from Danny.

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).