We finally left our womb of Julie’s apartment in Germany and trained it to Prague in the Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. I was nervous about another language that I did not know, but excited to see a more “Eastern European” city. Chris was also excited to see a long time friend of his, Leo A.K.A Lenny, who is currently in the process of relocating to Prague for a new exciting business opportunity. The train to Prague was about 8 hours and went as quick as possible, but it dropped us off in Prague after alot of attractions were already closed. The picture to the left is in Czech and it’s translation is at the bottom of it. It seems a bit more hostile than what the U.S. writes on their cigarette containers, yet people over here still smoke like chimneys,

Our hostel, Art Prison Hostel, is worth mentioning because it was a former prison. There were bars on the windows and in the halls. The door to our room had a little slot where in the past food was passed through to the convicts and another little door so the guards could look in to make sure that the prisoners were not up to no good. I of course had to photo Chris in “jail”. Doesn’t he look vicious! He looks like a “lifer” to me.

After checking in and getting our bearings we met up with Leo to go see a few sights at night before heading off to dinner and then after that meeting up with some of his friends at a couple bars. One of our first stops was the Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square. It keeps several versions of time, Bohemian (which I really didn’t understand) and Modern (with the Roman numerals). It was built originally in the 15th century but was repaired after being heavily damaged in WWII. At the strike of the hour a skeleton on the side rings a bell and then the windows on the top open and 12 apostles parade by and after that the hour is rung. A bit overrated if you ask me, but it was fun to see all the tourists gawking at it.

After that went to Charles Bridge. It was commissioned by Charles IV in 1357 and until 1850 it was Prague’s only bridge crossing the river. It is lined by huge statues of saints and biblical scenes that were later added as Jesuit “propaganda” during the Counter-Reformation. As it is a pedestrian only bridge, there are hoards of people everywhere milling about and an equal amount of folks trying to sell you something. But, lit up at night, it offered almost magical views of the city, the river, and the bridge itself. I am always a sucker for night lights.

Next on the agenda was a great Czech meal with red cabbage and two types of dumplings (yummy) and then after that out to a couple bars for various liquors. We met up with some Ex-Pats and one Canadian with dual Czech citizenship. We had a great time drinking the night away with Czech liquor. Perhaps too much of a good time. When I took this photo, it looked like it was in perfect focus. LOL. Oh how liquor can cloud the senses.

Tags: Art Prison Hostel,Astronomical Clock,Bohemia,Charles Bridge,Czech liquor,Czech Meal,Czech Republic,Friends,Lenny,Leo,Old Town Square,Prague
Categories: Becky Blogs, Prague
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While leaving London I found myself sick. We were originally going to take a few more days and tour the Rhine River in Germany and the towns along it with castles before going back to Julie’s house, but I had tried to fight off Chris’ mutant bug for days and it was just getting worse. With the name change stress along with lack of sleep and PMS, a big ‘ole upper respiratory infection was a brewing. It felt like it took days just to get back to Germany. All the hoops you have to jump through with travel like taking a taxi in London at 3:30 A.M. to the bus station, then a bus to Stansted airport, then check-in & security, then the flight itself, then immigration and customs in Germany along with baggage claim and then a bus from the Frankfurt airport to Frankfurt (why are all these airports so far away from the city?) and then 2 trains to get to Kaiserslautern and then finally a taxi to Julie’s apartment. Yuck. I basically collapsed onto her couch the minute we arrived in tears. I was already sick with a fever, headache, cough and muscle aches and now on top of that I was homesick.

The homesickness had started in the U.K. I have never been gone this long on a trip and it was starting to get to me. It was so much easier being in a country where they spoke my language. I did not have to fight communication barriers constantly or find myself fumbling through a phrase book for whatever country we were in. I think Chris felt it too, although I think he felt more the weariness of travel and being in one place for such a short amount of time and having to live out of your backpack and not having enough time to tinker on the Internet and tweak his computer. I instead just started to miss everything, even things that used to drive me crazy.

I missed my pet greyhound Nani. I missed her annoying attempts to snuggle with me on the couch, despite being long/tall and 70 lbs. I missed her angering me by waking me up at 3 A.M. because she had to pee and had a weak bladder. I missed her leaving a hideous wet spot on my lap from her dripping wet nose. I missed her constantly following me around to lean on me. I missed her barking like crazy at the base of the stairs when she thought I was up too late and it was well past HER bedtime and why wasn’t I going to bed. I missed her refusals to get up in the morning if it was too early for her, and I also missed her refusals to go out to pee if it was too wet or too cold for her. I missed her ability to find one of her squeaky toys and squeak the living shit out of it at just the perfect moment during a movie or TV show so I missed some crucial piece of the plot line. lol But, I also missed the good things like rubbing her ears just the right way, like no one else could, so she growls she is so happy. I missed playing “ball” in the backyard. (What Nani calls “ball” is her catching the ball once and then running around you at 30 mph and not giving it back until she is exhausted). I missed her snuggling with me on the bed and stealing Chris’ half. I missed walks around the neighborhood where everyone would come out to pet her. I missed watching Chris and her “wrestle” with her squeaky toys. I missed her being so excited when I came home. I just missed her.

I also missed other things from home. I missed all my friends (esp. Scott and Jen and their kids). I missed ice cream runs to Ritter’s with them after dinner. I missed Scott’s crazy stories and talking with them about nothing in particular till the wee hours of the morning after a BBQ or movie night. I missed my house and being able to not have to live out of a bag. I missed my kitchen. I missed SUPER COLD skim milk. I missed biking around town, the river, the universities and down to the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings with Chris. I missed snuggling with Chris on our super squishy down couch. I missed “borrowing” movies from Chris’ brother (Rick’s) house along with stopping by to absorb all that big family chaos I crave. I missed my cell phone and being able to call anyone anytime I felt like it without worrying about hideous costs or fees or times changes or running out of minutes. I missed Internet that wasn’t hideously slow or had to be bought by the minute at some random hostel. I missed my neighbors and talking with them in the street on great summer nights. I missed my family and my nieces “my chickies”. (They are all pictured here and I am sure it excites them that they are on the Internet!) I missed not having to pay to pee. I missed driving my yellow SUV while singing loudly. I actually missed grocery shopping and cooking in my kitchen. (Did I really say that? Oh dear!) After all the effort and excitement I had when I left the U.S., I couldn’t believe I was missing so much of it already. The only thing that made me smile was that I definitely was not missing work at all and the politics of “the Man”.

Tags: Biking,Europe,Friends,Greyhounds,Home,Homesickness,Nieces,URI
Categories: Becky Blogs, Germany
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