Oh right, we're in Europe

There are days when I forget we live in Europe. Those are days when nothing seems out of the ordinary. Then there are days like today, when I observe things that are rare, unique, funny, or just euro:

• On the subway a teenager offered his seat to an elderly woman. He didn't hesitate. It's a common practice still for men to offer their seats to a lady.

• A horde of tweens walked past our apartment. There were probably 12 of them, none older than 13. About half were smoking. And this wasn't behind-the-schoolyard-dumpster smoking. They were walking down the sidewalk, like any other day, with cigarettes blazing.

• At the grocery store I heard the 80's smash hit song Cruel Summer by Bananarama. When's the last time you heard that song? Then I caught myself whistling it as I walked home. (If you want a refresher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n6chxpEINs)

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Here's another photo from Dublin. Morbidly funny, but a sign of the times:

Winter Descending, Dublin

There's no doubt winter is coming. We've had snow flurries every day since Saturday. Cold, windy, and snowy sums it up. We spent the weekend here at home, just the two of us. It was a fruitful weekend of trying new cafes and restaurants, visiting several museums (one art museum and the Museum of Czech Cubism), and we caught Quantum of Solace - complete with Czech subtitles.

Enjoying espresso and honey pie Sunday afternoon at Grand Cafe Orient.

Last week was short: Monday the 17th was Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day. The holiday commemorates anti-Nazi demonstrations on Nov 17, 1939 and anti-communist demonstrations on Nov 17, 1989. So Prague was quiet when we returned from Dublin. The rest of the week Molly was pretty busy at work. Her team was is town from all over Europe. I made a few social appearances as well...which I'll classify as "work" given my current employment status.

Our excursion to Dublin during the 14th-17th was a success. Here's a quick review:

• Friday - I got the lay of the land by strolling through central Dublin: St. Stephan's Green (park), Grafton Street (shopping street), Trinity College. Visited the Irish National Gallery. When Molls arrived we had dinner in Temple Bar to sample Dublin's nightlife. My daily Guinness consumption: 2.

• Saturday - After a full Irish breakfast, we saw the Book of Kells, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Dublin Castle. Somewhere in there we also had lunch at the Bank (thanks Naomi, for the recommendation) and visited a pub. For dinner we had Indian (?). Oh, and the New Zealand All-Blacks (rugby team) beat Ireland in a much anticipated match. There were thousands of Kiwis in town just for the game. My daily Guinness consumption: 5.

• Sunday - Full Irish breakfast. Off to the Guinness brewery for a tour and, you guessed it, some Guinness. Then we spent the afternoon in Howth ('Hote'), a fishing village about 30 minutes from Dublin. My daily Guinness consumption: 4
  

Here are a couple photos. Cheers.

Molly & Molly Malone

Self portrait at the Guinness brewery

Prague Pups

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly a month since my last post. Is time faster in Europe?

Catching up: We made a quick trip stateside a couple weeks ago, to pickup our long term visas. Then last week we hosted Naomi & Jeff for a couple days. Naomi flew mid-week from Lisbon and worked from the MS office here with Molly. Jeff joined us for the weekend. We did some sightseeing, but mostly just hung out, enjoyed some beer (too many of them), and traded expat experiences (while Molls & I are expat rookies, Jeff & Naomi are veterans having been in Lisbon for well over a year). It was a fantastic weekend.

This week Molly's working in Reading (London) today and tomorrow. Then we're spending the weekend in Dublin. Should be a true Dublin experience too: the forecast calls for morning fog and light drizzle. Looking forward to it!

Now that I have a few posts under my belt, I have a little plan figured out for the blog. Here's a small observation about Prague. I'll throw these out periodically...

Dogs in Prague
Pups are real common around town. And they go everywhere with their owners: restaurants, bars, shops, the subway, you name it. Today at the coffee shop I was greated by a yellow lab when I walked in. It belongs to an employee of the shop and he's quite good at greeting customers. Being a dog lover, I enjoy this aspect of town. Then there's this fact: the vast majority of dogs are walked without leashes. They typically walk right beside or even behind their owners, never approaching anyone else. This might be an urban dog characteristic (rather than a eurodog characteristic), but it's new to us. Pretty cool.

With those earth shattering observations I'll call this post complete. Have a good weekend everyone, cheers.