Český Krumlov

This is the name of Czech Republic's second most visited town. It's small, picturesque, and pretty quiet, compared to Prague. The name means "Czech bend in the river" and if you see the map of the town, you would see how it gets its name.
We went the weekend before everything "officially" opens for tourist season. So we got great prices, no crowds, and to see some snow on the ground still. But, we didn't get to tour the castle, see the bears, or the castle gardens :( I guess we'll have to go back. Also, the biggest tourist attraction there is simply the river itself, for canoeing or rafting. Maybe we'll plan to go back in July, when it's a lot warmer!
Here are the first three pictures. One is looking from the castle at the Church of St. Vitus (built in the 15th century). Next is the castle, with its colorful round tower, showing off its splendid paint, originally done in the 16th century. And then there is a picture from the Main Square, with its Baroque and Renaissance homes from the 17th century. The pink one is a pharmacy that has been there since 1620. Rick Steves says McDonald's has tried 3 times to get a spot there...no such luck yet. The tour group in the picture is the largest group of people we saw the whole weekend. Their group was even larger than our group. Only 15 students made the trip from our group...too much homework for most of them to leave, I guess.
Which reminds me, I have one more picture to share: Geo doing his homework on the trip in our 4 star hotel room.

Time Change!

Last night, Europe made its Spring Forward. This came as a surprise to us, because as Arizonans, we don't observe Daylight Savings Time. So when we were standing around the hotel lobby last night before a group of us went to dinner, I overheard some talk that I used to hear as a Californian. Things like, "...An hour later?..." and "Are you sure?" and "So what time does our bus leave tomorrow?" and "What about the US?" Okay, so some of those are not really things I heard in CA, but I quickly figured out what they were talking about. We checked on the internet for confirmation of all of this and then we went out for dinner. Sure enough, Europe changes a week before the US. So for this week, and this week only, we will be one hour further away from all of you. And then, most of you will catch up, unless you're reading this from Arizona, and you'll just stand around, scratching your heads, trying to figure this out. Well, that's what I would be doing...
So don't change your clocks yet, but keep in mind our new time when contacting us this week!

Pictures!

Alright. I finally used the camera cord that was lent to me over a week ago. So now there a few new pictures to look at hidden in the blog. All the pictures I added are from posts since we've been in Prague, so you shouldn't have to go too far back to find them.
Today I managed to go the US Embassy in town to get a whole bunch of new pages added to my passport. I'm so excited (no more nervousness at border crossings, wondering where the new stamp is going to go) and Geo is jealous ;) Maybe I'll take him on one of his days off. The Embassy only does this from 8-12 on weekdays, so that's a bit of a challenge.
Also, it snowed some more. Nothing that stuck, but I wonder how long it will keep snowing for.
Well, enjoy the pictures. I'll try to get up a few Vienna pictures too, but I've got to pick out the best ones for the blog. Have fun!

Around the world

So, for Christmas, I got Rick Steves' Best of Eastern Europe 2005. Again, thanks Ivan and Marc. I don't think I could actually function in "Eastern Europe" without this book. It's got everything you need to know for short trips. Andie (Geo's sister) and I set off on a whirlwind trip, each of us with a clean pair of socks and underwear, an Eastern Europe Train Pass, and Rick Steves. Really, I don't know if you need much more than that. We set off Thursday pretty early. We were on the 11:18 am train to Kraków and we got in at 21:08 (or thereabouts). It was drizzling, but it was a very short walk from the train station to the hotel we booked (from RS). We had dinner downstairs in the hotel's restaurant, which was tasty and cheap. Then we played cards for a few hours before bed. I've turned into a night owl, but I guess it was a late night for Andie. We got up sort of early and took off to the main square to book a driver to Auschwitz. While we waited for the driver, we looked all around the square. We shopped at the Cloth Hall. We had a pizza snack (garlic cheese bread with dill--very yummy). Then we drove an hour and a half to Auschwitz. We spent about 2 hours there, taking in as much as we could handle. It was not raining, but it was very cloudy and quite cold. I kept thinking that the winters must have been miserable there for the victims, as if the rest of the year wasn't bad already. After the challenging visit, we made it back to town and shopped some more on the main square and had a nice dinner at another restaurant that was recommended by Rick (completely unintentionally, as it was). We had a few hours to kill before our train at 22:30, so we went and had some wine and coffee at a fancy hotel's bar (much cheaper than a fancy hotel's bar in Prague would be!). We boarded the train on time, we had reserved a sleeping car ahead of time (one female roommate from South Korea joined us).
We crossed two borders on our way to Budapest (Poland/Slovakia and Slovakia/Hungary). That meant we got woken up twice, but we got lots of new stamps in our passports. We pulled into the train station at 9:22 (20 minutes after I thought we were supposed to get in). Geo was so sweet to meet us there. His train from Prague came in at about 8:00, so he had some time to wait for us. We knew our train was getting in at this new time, but Geo didn't know. I'm glad he waited for us. We met up promptly after we arrived and went to the metro to find our hostel. I booked a hostel a few days before we left, based on a website I found (not Rick Steves). We got down there and the hostel just looked bad. I didn't think I could handle sleeping there, so we agreed to leave. Fortunately, there was a Best Western across the street, so we checked in there. It cost a lot more, but it was really nice. I'm not saying that hostels aren't nice, but this one didn't look a thing like the picture. So, in our new place, we showered and then went on a 3 hour bus tour. That was really fun. We saw a lot of the sights, got off to walk around at a few places, and took a lot of pictures (on Andie's camera--to be posted soon, I hope). That evening, we took a Danube River boat cruise. It was really pretty at night, and the boat showed pictures of the buildings as we passed by. We learned a lot on that one hour trip. After that, it was nearly bedtime. On Sunday, we didn't have much to do (as almost everything is closed) so we went to the baths. Budapest is full of hot thermal springs, with a rich history of "baths". It was a beautiful sunny day (not quite "warm" but maybe about 6 degrees C). Andie and I both got a 30 minute massage. Then it was about time to go back to the train station to go home. We got on a 14:30 train and we were home by 23:00. It was a fast and furious trip, but a lot of fun! It's great to go to new places and see new things, even if it's a short trip.
I really hope to have the pictures from Andie's camera soon. She's on her way home right now, so it might be a few days before I can get them from her.

A few thoughts

Geo and I have a writing assignment for the school newspaper, called Das Tor. (That means "the gate" in German.) We were asked to write a "he says, she says" sort of column as a representative piece from Prague. Normally, only students write in the paper, so it's sort of special that I got to write my piece. Now having said that, in case you haven't noticed yet, I'm not the world's greatest writer. I lack imagination, but I can tell things like they are! So, keeping that in mind, feel free to read our "dialogue" with the editor of the paper, Elena. Family and friends may enjoy the banter...you may be the only ones that actually understand our unique writing style.
You may also enjoy reading some of the other stories: we're part of the Kenya group story that's on the front page. But for the Prague part, just click on the link to the Prague section. Have fun! Any comments or critiques will be tolerated...

Another new way to contact us

Apparently, this cell phone that we bought the first day we were in South Africa (31 Dec if I remember right) has got all sorts of bells and whistles that continue to amaze me. So now, you can send email right to the phone. It's free on your end and free on ours! A response might cost a few cents for us, but don't worry: you're worth it!
So, if you feel like it, you can send a short email to us at ktgm721@vodafonemail.cz
Pay close attention to the address, or else you'll be like Krissy, telling Geo the wrong address and wondering for hours why he wasn't going to email me. But now, we know it works!
Hope to hear from you soon!

Pictures from Düsseldorf

Pedestrian zone of Kaiserswerth.


















Sabrina, Krissy and Geo at the top of the Dom in Köln (there are 509 steps to the top!)
























There it is, the majestic Dom. Try looking at the website for more information and much better pictures.














Geo standing at the shores of the Rhein River in Düsseldorf with our super snack: Dutch (?) style fries (huge, thick slices of fried potatoes) with a spicy curry ketchup sauce and a big Coke to wash it down. Very authentic snack.










This is the street that Sabrina lives on. Her flat is up on the 5th floor. I think it's just under 100 stairs up to her place. A tram runs right down the street, going to great places, like the pedestrian zones, shopping areas, and the train station. Even the airport! She lives on a really cute (high-end, but busy) street.

A weekend to relax

On Thursday, after Geo was finished with his first "module" finals and projects (the first half of the trimester is over!) we took off for Düsseldorf, Germany. Our friend Sabrina (a former roommate of ours in our Phoenix house) lives there, so we thought a visit to her would be fun. Geo and I went to the airport separately on Thursday, although he had both of our bags. I was coming from town, where I had just got my hair done. So, we met at the airport (actually, unplanned, because we were supposed to meet much earlier in the day, but because his train was late and my hair took longer than I thought it would, we both managed to barely get ourselves to the airport on time!) and we took off for the Rhein River-region. We had dinner out on Thursday evening, slept in late on Friday and explored the very bourgeois pedestrian zones of Düsseldorf. Sabrina cooked an exquisite meal for us on Friday night. On Saturday, we went to Köln (a.k.a. Cologne) and we saw the Dom, a beautiful, gigantic cathedral. Today (Sunday), we went on a 10-K hike on the Rhein River to a quaint village, called Kaiserswerth. During our trip, there was a little bit of rain, a little bit of snow, and a little bit of sun. Prague, however, was hit with heavy snow today and it even delayed our flight by an hour. It was great though, because as soon as we came out of the airport, our beloved CMC driver and van was there picking up a Thunderbird professor coming in for the week from Glendale. It was awesome, because we got a free ride home and didn't have to take the public transport (which would have gotten us home an hour later than we did get home). So, it worked out very well for us!

Now, we are back in our room, marveling at the depth of the snow (almost 3 inches, deeper in some areas). This is the most snow we've seen since we have been here. Amazing! Geo is back in some new classes and 2 classes that continue for the whole trimester on Tuesday. Also, Andie (Geo's sister) comes in for the week! I should have some good blogging after that.
Enjoy the pictures (borrowed from Sabrina's camera)!

The Shipment Has Arrived!

Yesterday, I was sent on a mission to a freight logistics company in Prague near the airport to retrieve our boxes that were picked up from our house in Phoenix on 28 December. That means it took two full months to get the boxes here. You might ask yourself, is anything worth shipping halfway across the world if you don't get it for two months? We asked that to ourselves daily, especially as Geo spent lots of hours on the phone and sending lots of emails to track down these late boxes. Our boxes were full of extra clothes, and a few comfort things (like our favorite hygiene products, etc), but another student sent his laptop through this shipment, so he's been in severe pain since we arrived, not really being able to keep up with his schoolwork and all. Anyway, Heidi (bless her!) came with me in the van from the CMC, with the driver who doesn't speak English, but understands enough to get the job done and speaks to us constantly in Czech...it took over an hour to get there and then we had to wait for a half hour or so for the paperwork that Geo spent 9 hours working on the day before to arrive. Finally, we got the boxes forklifted into the back of the van and we were off! The plan was to drop me and Heidi off in Prague so we could do some errands there and the driver would take the van with the boxes back to the CMC and Geo and John (the student with the laptop) would unload it. The plan seemed to work out, because when Heidi and I got back a few hours later, the boxes were unloaded in our room and my stuff was thrown all over the place (they had been looking for John's laptop, which I guess got packed in one of our boxes instead of his).
So now I have all my warm things (fleeces, long underwear, snow boots, etc) as well as some stuff to work out with (swim cap and goggles and a big towel) and the best: our pillows from home. I had forgotten about those! Now the question is: what are we going to do with all this stuff when it is time to leave? Obviously, anything for the cold weather can go back in a box, but I think we'll still have a lot of stuff to lug around. If only we knew where the next stop on our tour is going to be for sure...