All Good Things...

We are going through a very wide range of emotions right now, reflecting on the most amazing two months ever, and how incredibly lucky that we were able to make this dream come true. We were thinking that we would put together a blog with a few key pictures from each place that we visited, something that we thought would reflect for us what were the highlights. Here is what we came up with:

GREECE

SICILY

NAPLES/SORRENTO

VERONA

GERMANY

PRAGUE

We think that sums it up. The places were incredible, but the people (and the animals) are what made the trip the memory of a lifetime. We are so thankful for being able to have gone on this adventure, we had been talking about it for years. Steve actually found an email he sent to Becky from February 2004 that said "Let's go to Europe for two months and figure it all out when we get back!" Well, three years later, we did it! We are also thankful that our hard work and wonderful co-workers/employers allowed us this fabulous opportunity. We raise our glasses to all of our friends and family that followed along with us, and also to all of our new friends we made along the way!

Peace, health and happiness to you all! Love, Becky and Steve

Cheers!

Gia'sou!







Salute!
Prost!









Na Zdraví!

Food, Friends and Ice Cream, Czech Style

There's pizza, of course. We think you could get a slice of pizza on an African safari - is there anyone who doesn't like pizza? No offense, but nothing is as good as the pizza in the Naples area (don't tell Honza that, this was his favorite place).

A cardiologist's nightmare. The middle plate has a fried cheese log containing three different types of cheese in it. It's served with french fries just in case 1 meter of fried cheese is just not enough fried for you. That's fettuccine Alfredo made with blue cheese on the left, and in the front, pasta salad with, you guessed it, blue cheese. The back plate has a fried chicken breast and rice. Although the white rice has no nutritional value, it was the healthiest thing on the table!

Hot dogs and hot wine?

There are many little stands selling hot dogs throughout the city. They taste just a little different than our American ones, but just like our hot dogs, the less you know the better, so we were not asking any questions. The ketchup and mustard are also a little different from what we are used to, very tasty!

Hot wine? Yes, "svarak" is brewed much like our hot apple cider is brewed in the U.S. with different spices like cinnamon and cloves. The basic brew is not sweet, so most people will add multiple packages of sugar. We imagine it takes some getting used to since we added about four packages each.

Here's a picture from the Internet of a cart selling both hot dogs and hot wine!

Beers with friends. "Want a Budweiser?" was one thing that we thought we would never hear in the Czech Republic (and hope that we don't hear in the U.S., sorry Bud fans). We answered, "No, thanks" so quickly they had to think about it for a second. Then remembering that there was also a Budweiser in the U.S., they promised us the Czech version was nothing like the U.S. version. There are multiple lawsuits between the two companies, and the Czech Budweiser is sold in the U.S. under the name "Czechvar".

Honza's friends did not speak a lot of English, but we figured out that they knew a few swear words. That's all we needed to communicate!

Think about this for a second: Can you imagine having the worst ice cream and the best ice cream in the same day? We get three responses from the people that we have told this to: 1. Some agree that it's got to be unlikely for both to happen in the same day. 2. Many question "There's such a thing as bad ice cream?" (trust us, there is). 3. All were highly impressed that we were eating ice cream twice in the same day!

The bad news is that we do not have actual photos of the ice cream itself. The photo below is the cart where we got the worst, it's on the west end of the Charles Bridge. Ironically it was closed the next day, the Health Department probably shut it down. The ice cream tasted like frozen dirty dishwater. We just threw up thinking about it.

But, that night, we had dinner at the Botel Matylda, and had the best ice cream ever! It was vanilla, which sounds too plain to rank as "the best", but it was homemade with the best ingredients and you could crunch on the sugar granules in it. Now drooling.

It's been quite a culinary adventure from Greece, to Sicily, to Naples, to Munich and finally Prague, and we have enjoyed every bite of it!

Adventures with Honza!

Honza needs to start his own Czech Tour Company, because we saw some things that we are sure more than a few people who live in Prague never see. Not only are there many sights off the tourist trails, but there are plenty of stories and conspiracy theories to go along with the sights.

We are sure that there aren't many tour guides that start you off with a trip to a graveyard. As a result, many people miss the stories of some of the famous people that have made this city what it is today. It was interesting to listen to Honza explain what the people did during their lives, and what it means to the people that live in Prague today. Other things that people will miss are the beautiful statues, unique examples of architecture and the peacefulness that this sanctuary can possess in the middle of a big city.

Honza thinks he heard someone yell for help. Go ahead Honza, we dare you to put your hand in there!

This is just one example of the many beautiful statues, but this one was by far the most amazing. She has the wings of a butterfly, and when you look closely at her face, she actually looks like she has been crying - how amazing is that?

The next field trip brought us to the beautiful hills southwest of the city for incredible views and a relaxing walk through the meadows. Here is where an urban legend comes in: it is believed by some that under these hills there is a Soviet underground bunker where the former USSR is still in operation. We are sure that they can not be too happy with a couple of Americans snooping around.

Sure, these look like beautiful red poppies lining the path, but we know better - they are actually little microphones picking up everything we say. Why are these wild flowers only along the path, and not in the field? Exactly.

Here Honza is explaining that there have also been multiple UFO sightings on these hills. We are outta here!

"Man on the Horse". The man is Jan Žižka and this is the largest horse statue in the world. It stands nearly 30 feet high (over 70 feet including the pedestal), and is the crowning jewel on the Vitkov Hill war memorial. Jan Žižka is the most famous military commander in the history of this country. He lived during the early 1400s, and defended the people of this land against many enemies.

Two things set Žižka apart as a great leader. Most of his troops were peasants and farmers, and he taught them how to fight and defeat much larger armies with weapons created from farming tools. His military tactics would change the way wars would be fought for centuries to come.

The second thing that created an unbreakable loyalty for Žižka was that he led his troops into battle with just one eye. If you look closely at the photo, you can see that he has a patch over his right eye. In one of his last battles, he was severely wounded, and lost the use of his remaining eye. Even though he was now totally blind, he continued to command his armies. It was that fearlessness that led his soldiers to call themselves orphans when he died of the plague in 1424. They felt like they had lost their father. His enemies said that "The one whom no mortal hand could destroy was extinguished by the finger of God".

Here's a disturbing note: Žižka's dying wish was to have his skin used to make war drums so that he could continue to lead his troops even after death. We told you that it was disturbing! Let's hope that was just another urban legend, but with the history of this man we believe this one. Standing at the foot of this incredible tribute, and listening to the stories of his battles that took place on the ground beneath our feet, was absolutely chilling.

Honza, being a musician, always has songs going through his head. Much like everyone else, he may not always have all of the words correct. Somehow he has turned the band REM's song "Who can believe, they put a man on the moon, man on the moon" song into "Who can believe, they put a man on the horse, man on the horse". I'm sure Jan Žižka would be very proud. Since we suffer from LSS (Last Song Syndrome), we were finding ourselves singing "...man on the horse, man on the horse..." for the next 5 days!

In one of the main squares in the city, we purchased a brick with the proceeds going to help those in need. The bricks would actually be used for construction to help create affordable places for people to live.

Check out the Honza, Becky and Steve "Flower, Flower - Peace" brick. Keep in mind that it was for a good cause, and not to be on display at the National Art Museum!

Another field trip took us cherry picking. They were delicious!


A few additional random moments:

Here, Steve and Honza are conquering a Soviet tank that has not rolled in 50 years.

And here, Honza and Becky are practicing for the 2010 Winter Olympic ice skating team?

Honza in deep thought. Probably wondering why that kid is staring at him.

When Honza is not playing music, he is creating some very unique and beautiful clocks. To see some of his creations, go to www.sestka.com. If you don't buy one, then when you visit Prague, you need to sign up for the "Adventures with Honza!" tour package, you will not be disappointed. We can not pronounce it correctly, but děkuji (thank you) Honza! You made our trip to Prague special, and we'll never forget it!