Petrin Hill

Here's the link to the pictures

I can't get the slide show to work. I can get it to work for LAST post's pictures...but not this one.

Oh brother.

Anyway, I'll keep trying! :)

Prague 12/23/08

Sorry for the late update, but I'll try to catch you up as best I remember. Aunt Monica told me to journal so that I'd remember, but I was tired and never had much time. I should have just made a voice recording. :)

We started off our day with some drizzle and cold temps, but that didn't stop us from heading up to Wenceslas Square. This is a historic place in Prague! Not only is it beautiful, but many important events leading to their freedom happened here.

Jan Palach and Jan Zajic immolated themselves here. The Velvet Revolution was in full swing here. And I celebrated New Year's Eve here! :)

We split up from Melinda and Lolo for a bit for Travis and I to visit the Communist Museum. It was very interesting. After we met up again, we stopped to have smažený sýr (aka fried cheese sandwiches). OMG. I love them. I want them. MUST...HAVE...MORE.....

We wandered around....taking pictures...seeing the sights and eventually made our way to Old Town Square which quickly became mine and Travis' favorite hangout in Prague. Not only did they have GREAT local greasy food, they had: hot mead, svajak (hot mulled wine), beer, The CHRISTMAS MARKET, live music, Christmas music, people from EVERYWHERE...and I mean everywhere on earth all around. Speaking different languages...wearing different style clothes....it was a people watchers DREAM LAND! I loved it!

We stuck around to see the Astronomical Clock do its thing. (Interesting rumor: Some speculate that the original maker's eyes were gouged out in order to prevent him from making a similar clock for another country. After this he died touching the clock, at which point the clock stopped working and remained unrepairable for a number of years.)

Then we headed back to the house. It gets dark very early in the winter, so at 4pm or so...we were tired. We were also still trying to work out our jet lag, but tasty treats and hot wine helped a whole lot!

Enjoy the pictures (click the word "pictures" and hopefully they'll be some there!). More soon.

Day One Slide Show

Internal Errors...

It seems I am having some difficulty uploading the pics to this blog. I'll have to work on them some. Check my MySpace for some pics in the mean time. :)

Arriving

We flew from Houston to Frankfurt, Germany. We had a three hour layover there (actually longer as there were some technical difficulties with the plane so it was more like 4 1/2 hour layover) and then about an hour flight into Prague. The flight from Houston to Frankfurt was approximately 11 hours. Prague is 7 hours ahead of our time here in Austin. So were were pretty messed up with time when we got there. It took us a little to adjust, but not too long.

Melinda met us at the airport and we took a bus to the Metro station. We connected on the Metro and rode the metro to her stop. It comes out right across the street from her street corner. So, it wasn't really bad getting there. Melinda lives on the third floor of the building, so we hauled all our luggage upstairs and boy were we pooped!!!! :)

We cleaned up and got a bit organized, then we took a walk along the Vltava river. It's the river that runs through the middle of Prague. It is crossed by many bridges, the most famous being Charles Bridge. Charles Bridge was under repairs, so we only could enjoy about 1/2 of it. I am sure it will be beautiful once again when they get it all fixed up. I guess we'll have to go back and check it out then. :)

After we crossed Charles Bridge (or Karluv most as it's known there) we made our way down and around and under the bridge where we enjoyed our first taste of svařák (mulled wine) and Pražská klobása (Czech sausages!). This was a real treat. And got us HOOKED for the rest of the trip. I had svařák everyday I was there. I'm turning into a hot mulled wino. :)

I'll post pics from this day and next later on this afternoon. This is just to get this blog started today and give you a feel for how it will go.

Thanks for stopping by!

WELCOME!

Welcome to the newest blog by Betty O! This blog will detail my traveling adventures. Here is where I will post my pics and bore the heck out of most of you with stories nobody but family and close friends probably care to hear. But read on! Some are great! I hope to make this a continuing tradition to last for years and years. And I also hope that my family and friends will become a part of these journeys with me.

I am proud to say I have officially made my first Transatlantic journey over the holidays. Travis and I visited my cousin Melinda and her family (Britt and Lolo) in Prague, Czech Republic. We arrived December 20, 2008 and returned home on January 2, 2009. We made a short jaunt to Budapest between Christmas and New Year's, too. Well, if you call 7 hours on a train "short", that is. :)

I will be posting pictures and stories soon. We have over 1200 photos to edit. I am sure that most of you would not care to see the same church window 5x blurry and then the "good" shot... :) So be patient and check back often. In the next few weeks (hopefully days...but I'm a realist, you know) I'll get them up for you to enjoy.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have started out with a Happy New Year that will last the whole year through.

Viz vás později - (see you later!)
Betty O