Remember the big dig & Tom finds a truck he likes

Some of you may remember when we posted a picture of the construction mess in our area. We called it Tom's garden back then. There has been slow progress over the last year and a half, and we no longer have a deep trench - hopefully we will get our tram lines back before snow flies!

The rounded glass in the photo below is the new Metro entrance.

In lieu of a boat, maybe a camper???

Visitors!!

We are so happy to have Ian and Emily staying with us while they check out Chris' vast empire. Emily is studying hotel management, and so an internship at Czech Inn and/or Mosaic House was a perfect opportunity for her. Since Ian had the family connections, she had to bring him along. :-)

Chris offered to pick them up at the airport, so we waited for them in the flat. One of the nice things about our terrace is the view. We can see all the in-coming aircraft from our terrace, and with binoculars we can even make out the insignia on the planes.

The photo below really is a British Airways plane, and we are certain Ian and Emily are on it. Can't see the plane? It's there, clean your screen, and look just left of the center of the sky. :-)





Ian and Emily are enjoying a few days of sightseeing before hooking up with Chris. Check out their blog at Praha Braha .

Shooting Stars

Who would have thought the stars would be so visible in such a big city? We were out on our terrace tonight enjoying a little Bailey's and admiring the Big Dipper, when a shooting star blazed across the sky. Awesome!

Budapest trip

Although a member of the EU, Hungary, like the Czech Republic, has kept its own money. So, upon arriving, our first task was to hit an ATM for some florentines (FT), and then to get tickets for the transportation system.

And we thought Czech was bad...

We finally made it into the Metro - now where??

We did a lot of walking..


Saw the beautiful Parliament building...

The Holocaust memorial...

Very moving. Many Jews were forced to line up on the banks of the river where they were shot so that their bodies would fall into the water. These are bronze replicas of the types of shoes worn by the victims.

This is Anonymous. No kidding - he wrote the very first history of Hungary, but no one knows his name.

Beautiful roof tiles..

A castle.. (you knew that was coming)

Great fountain at the castle..

Good food...

A new friend..

And the bus stop...

We had a great time, but it's always good to come home!

The "Baths" of Budapest

School ended on June 30, and boy was I ready to leave. So when our friends Connie and Bruce suggested a trip to Budapest for the July 4th weekend, we were all for it. We took a bus, of all things, which really wasn't as horrible as you might imagine. We were able to see quite a bit of the countryside as we passed through eastern Czech Republic into Slovakia and finally into Hungary.

Budapest is known for its hot mineral baths. It seems the city sits on top of quite a bit of hot water, and has put that to use through the centuries to promote healing and healthy living. It was hot when we arrived, about 100, so the idea of a hot bath wasn't that inviting, but you can't go to Budapest without trying the baths, so off we went.

We were quite disappointed to see that the baths were being torn down to make way for a McDonalds.....

Just kidding - whatever this was, it was being renovated. :-)

This is the entrance to one of the baths. According to our travel guide, this one located in the city park is one of the best, and the one that locals like to frequent.

Once inside, you pay your fee and hustle off to your "cabin" for changing. If you need a towel, they advise that you can rent them, but the thing was actually a sheet. I had wanted to bring our own beach towels, but Tom said no need..... Definitely bring your own!

One of the indoor pools...

Each pool has a sign on the wall letting you know the temperature and the mineral composition of the water. This one was hot.

Hotter!

The grand pool...

There are saunas and steam baths, massages, and exercise classes available if desired.

The outdoor pools are open year-round as well....

There is a fun pool, a lap pool, and a relaxing pool. The fun pool temperature felt just right to me, about 30C (90F). The lap pool is cooler, running 26c in the summer and 28c in the winter. The relaxing pool was listed to be 38C, (about 105F) and was definitely hot! There was a warning to only stay in 20 minutes.

This one is the fun pool. Note the white bubbly water in the upper left. When that quits, a current starts up that carries you around that outer ring area - fun!

Definitely worth visiting, not only for the water but also for the grand setting.