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That's enough of Norway. Moving on...

Dad defeats cancer, Schafers lead lifetime series 2-0
Last winter my Dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer. I'm happy to report after months of chemo and a bladderectomy, he has been given a clean bill of health. Congratulations Dad. (To clarify the heading, Mom is also a cancer survivor. 20 years ago she beat Hodgkin's disease. Tough pair).


...and back in Europe:

How much does a Coke cost anyway?
Naturally costs are different abroad. Case in point: english newspapers. The (terrific) daily International Herald Tribune costs almost $6 per issue. Even the (second-tier) weekly Prague Post is about $3 per issue. Then I bought a can of Coke yesterday. It cost $4. For a CAN. Of Coke. Come on.


Tourist Rants!
Disclaimer: We've lived here over a year. I've been patient with tour groups, observed obnoxious behavior, listened to ridiculous comments, the whole nine. I've even walked lost tourists to their destination. So I've put in my time. I think I've earned a couple rants:

• We were having a nice, quiet cappacino at the cafe on Saturday. Two American woman came in: a middle-aged mom and her teenage daughter. They order. Then ask if the cafe takes dollars. No! No, they don't take dollars. This is central Europe you nincompoop. They don't take dollars. Mom then told her daughter NO LESS than 8 times that they had to get euros. Ok, first: saying it multiple times doesn't make them magically appear. And B: they don't use euros here either. Next time pickup a guidebook.
  
• Three Americans were at the gym, talking REALLY loud. One guy was bitching about Eurosport (euro-ESPN) covering soccer, hockey, cricket, tennis, et al and barely mentioning the NFL. Hey dude, you're not in the US. I know it's UNBELIEVABLE, but they don't care about the NFL here. Shut yer trap. Better yet, just go back to Jersey.

I feel better.

Croatia - the vacation that almost wasn't
Apropos following my rants. We spent a week in Croatia at the end of September. It's a gorgeous, rugged country. One of our more challenging trips too: the first airline we booked went out of business. Then the rental car agency also went out of business. So after several days of rescheduling we ended up having a great time. To the pics:

Taking a break on our drive from Dubrovnik to Split. We're just over the mountains from the coast.

Beautiful Old Town Dubrovnik.

Molls and child on the island of Brac ('Brach').

The town of Supetar on Brac.

Per my last post, food. The food is great in Croatia.
This was Molls' dinner one night in Supetar. When we read 'mixed grill' we anticipated a kebab-type meal. Instead she got: a pork fillet, chicken breast, steak, hambuger steak, and sausage. With fries and rice of course. Awesome. To be fair, I ordered the 'steak a la czar'. It's a steak topped with a ham omlette. Double awesome.

The wife exploring Supetar.

Us.

Me. Dubrovnik.

The Palouse?

Last weekend was gorgeous. We took advantage of the nice weather and day-tripped to Konopiste castle outside Prague. Just a couple photos:

This photo reminds us of the glorious Palouse.

Go Vandals. 4-1 baby!

I didn't get any great shots of the castle's exterior. But here's the interior. Konopiste was build by Franz Ferdinand of the Hapsburgs. He lived there until he was assassinated in 1914. He was quite the hunter. He's credited with 300,000 mounts, most of which are at Konopiste.

Until next time...

Norway!

Hello loyal readers. Today's subject is Norway. Ventured up a couple weeks ago. Molls worked for a day in Oslo, then we hit the road for the western fjords. Made for a great 5-day trip.

It's cold, expensive, beautiful, and a lot like western Washington (if a beer cost $15). Right to the pics:

Molls with a Norwegian (Norse?) glacier. I was real excited to see glaciers. Huge nerd.

Ask me about the maiden in purple sometime. Lame story about these falls.

View from the ferry during our fjord trip.

Some more fjord.

Sportin' my new Norwegian (Norse?) sweater. Cost one years' salary.

Worth it.

This is Molls' lunch in Voss. There's a baked potato under that bacon. Seriously.

...I really should take more photos of food...

Playing in the wooden alleys of Bergen.

Clark W. Griswold at the Viking Ships Museum.

A viking ship at the aforementioned museum.

Some of the aforementioned vikings...with, um...plastic weapons and shopping bags.

And last but certainly not least: We met the Schrilfs in Paris last weekend. Here's Molls and Jami near the Louvre. Thanks for hopping across the pond Schrilfs. Good times (but the steak tartare kept me down for a couple days. Also worth it).

And how about that 1-0 Vandal football team? On the road even. Ahead of BSU in the standings. Just like the good ol' days!

Cheers.

Madonna, Matt Fletcher, Stockholm, It's a Boy...

Greetings. This might be my most random post yet.

Madonna
She played here two weeks ago at an outdoor ampitheater. It was one of our 'What the Hell are We Doing in Prague Nights' *. She is worth the price of admission. Just seeing the stage, lighting, and video screens is almost worth the ticket price. Then she sings, swears, and dances for two hours. It was fun.


Matt Fletcher
Fraternity brother, groomsman, fellow tree geek, and dude Matt Fletcher paid us visit last week. It was his first trip to Europe so I wisked him away on a romantic journey to Vienna and Budapest. Then we spent a few days in Prague before he shipped out (and the recovery started). Great times all around. And I never thought I would put 'Madonna' and 'Matt Fletcher' in the same sentence.


Stockholm
Molls and I made it up there a few weekends back. It was a fun weekend in an absolutely beautiful city. We didn't set foot in a single museum or place of learning. Instead we opted for walking around town and riding bikes in the park. The weather was perfect, the people were nice, and the food was good. In fact, we found the best cheeseburger yet in Europe (but we ate our fill of Swedish food first: hash, fish, meatballs, etc).


It's a Boy
What a relief. I risked nicknaming a daughter Czewi and won. Fletch sumed it up best: "sweet, now you don't have to pay for the wedding" **. Indeed.


That wraps up the last few weeks. On the baby front both Molls and Czewi are doing well. However we may still need methadone for the cereal addiction (Claire, Molls' favs are Honey Nut Cheerios and Corn Flakes). Phototime:

Molls in Stockholm.

Me in Stockholm.

Fletch and I dining on schweinsstelze (spit-roasted pork) in Vienna's Schweizerhaus beer garden. Not pictured are the three liters of Budvar we each drank.

Fletch and I drinking beer in Budapest Castle.

Fletch and I at the communist statue park in Budapest.

And Fletch and Molls on his last night in Prague.

* WHWP Nights: We have these nights from time to time. They commonly occur when we're in a huge crowd of Czechs and everyone is either 1. smoking a cigarette, 2. drinking a beer, 3. eating a sausage with their fingers (no bun), or 4. all of the above. Additionally, most men will be wearing socks with sandals and all the women will be flaunting copious amounts of cleavage.

** Another classic Fletchism. When we bought our house in Seattle, which is brick, Fletch sumed it up: "brick, cool. You never have to paint it".

One Year In, Introducing Czewi (or CB)

Back in July we unceremoniously celebrated our one year European anniversary. And in celebrating we broke our streak: we finally spent three full weeks alone in Prague. It's hard to believe, but we went a full year never having been here three weeks without traveling or having guests. Good thing too...

...because if you haven't heard, Molly is pregnant. Due date December 27. Czech baby at Christmas. We're very excited. Molls is doing well - although I'm growing concerned with her new addiction to cereal (or is it the baby's?). I asked her this morning if I should find her a feed bag to make it easier. To my relief she honestly laughed. So Molls and Czewi (or CB: Czech Baby) are doing well.

On the Prague front, although we've been here a full year it still feels very new. I have the feeling once we're completely comfortable it will be time to move home. Not to worry: we have another year of language desecration, ingredient subsituting, massive beer and espresso consumption (I'm drinking for three right now ok?), and having a European baby.

Here are six of our favorite photographs from the last year. Molly's three favs are first.

Hanging in the Montmartre district in Paris.

Masts in Santorini Greece.

In the English countryside.

Me, Karl, and Friedrich in Berlin.

Molls in Mykonos Greece.

Molls and Jeff Hawley in Copenhagen.

Cheers everyone. And Go Mariners.

William & the Scottish Whiskey Princess

Greetings from muggy Prague. Summer has certainly arrived with the huge influx of tourists in our neighborhood. But the weather has been summer-lite. Yesterday: absolute torrential window-shaking thunderstorm in the morning, hot-cloudless-afternoon, overcast evening, and humid night. The thunderstorms are truly impressive. No lighting to speak of - just loud, close, and powerful thunder.

So we escaped the tourists and crazy weather with a long weekend in Scotland (where we were the tourists and it rained...but only a little). We had a terrific time enjoying the Scottish hospitality: haggis, whiskey, and plenty of pubs.

On the Royal Mile in Edinburgh before going into Deacon Brodie's Tavern. That's where we met William, the friendliest Scotsman around. He gave Molls a long bear hug and I thought 'hey dude, take it easy with the wife'. Then he gave me one too. And told me never to call a Scotsman an Englishman.

At Stirling Castle outside Edinburgh...

...and Molls at Edinburgh Castle.

This is Stephanie. The Scottish Whiskey Princess. She's young, tall, blond, and knows more about whiskey that you or I shall ever know. That's the definition of a princess in my book. And Molls came up with that title so it's ok if I share it. Really.

(Gents: she works at the Glengoyne Distillery in the Scottish Highlands where the whiskey flows like wine. I recommend a visit if you're in the area).

Hamish, the hairy coo.

Translation: Hamish, the highland cow.

Just walking in Edinburgh. On our way to see the queen's palace.

At Loch Lamond.

And at a viewpoint near the distillery.

That's a quick review of our weekend in Scotland. Lots of violent (but interesting) history, good whiskey, pretty country, and fun people. Oh, and haggis is quite good too.

Until next time.

Prague Weekend

Greetings all. We've had a pretty average week at home since my last post. One hightlight from the weekend was watching the US-Brazil soccer game Sunday night at Caffrey's Irish Bar. When we arrived the bar was full of loud, cheering Americans because we were up 2-0 (I was greeted with an Irish car bomb from a drunk tourist). By the end there were only three of us left, surrounded by a bunch of loud, cheering Brazilians who had arrived at halftime (it's like they knew to arrive at halftime...before the second half lesson started). Although we lost it was fun to cheer Team USA.

Your Government at Work in Prague
Yesterday I learned the federal government is more efficient abroad than at home. I needed visa pages added to my passport, so off I went to the embassy. I arrived at the embassy at 11, completed one form, handed over my passport, and left. The staff said I could pick it up after 2. When I returned at 2 it was done. Simple, quick, and no questions asked. Kudos to the US Embassy.


We were bumming around town on Sunday; here are some randoms.

New advertisement for the Museum of Communism. Great ad campaign.

At the hillside vineyards near Prague Castle.

Harleys in Old Town Square. Took this because...well, there were Harleys in Old Town Square. Oh, and the crowd behind them is mourning Michael Jackson. Now there's something you don't see (and hear) everyday in Prague.

Here are some more dramatic images from the MJ gathering. Very emotional.

With that I'll sign off. Happy 4th of July everyone. We'll be celebrating in Scotland with kilts and whiskey. Cheers until next week.

I hope our readership doesn't suffer...

...because of my extended absence. It's good to be back.

The last couple of months have been full of activity:

• Two weekends in Italy.
• A week in Prague with Kevin McCollum & Jen Stitzel.
• A long weekend in France with Shawn & Eva Chevreux.
• Three weeks in the US.

We also made two quick overnights: one to Munich and one to Linz, Austria. We drove on both trips, which was fun because we saw more of the Czech/German/Austrian countryside. We also now truly appreciate the freedom of having a car (since we don't own one). It's nice to get a break from metro, train, and plane schedules once in a while.

Driving to Linz led to an interesting discovery: roadside hookers in the country. When we past the first I thought 'whoa, that hitchiker is wearing a really short skirt'. Afterall who expects to see hookers in the country? Then we past another, and another, and another, and I thought 'hey, wait...'. So we asked Hana, our language teacher. She confirmed they are Czech hookers, primarily looking for Austrian clients. I guess business is good if they're willing to stand along a two-lane highway in the middle of nowhere. The drive was otherwise gorgeous with rolling green hills, farms, forests, and villages...And we have made other interesting discoveries recently. Country hookers are simply the strangest...

That sums up the last couple of months. Some pics - sorry, no hookers:

We met Jeff & Naomi in Cinque Terra, Italy. It was a blowout: Molly, Jeff, and I tried to drink all the wine in the region on Friday night. We came close, as evidenced by the third pic

(sorry Molls, I had to share it).

We toned it down at Lake Como a couple weeks later.

When Kevin & Jen visited we hit the road to Karlovy Vary, a spa town in the western CZ. The ladies hit the spa and the guys hit the beer. Win-win.

On the way home from Karlovy Vary we stretched our legs at the beerstop (think reststop) in Krusovice, which coincidentally is home to the Krusovice brewery. That's right: a reststop at a brewery. Only in the CZ.




We met Shawn & Eva in Bordeaux, where Shawn's family is from. We toured the city and countryside, ate well, and took in the Bordeaux-LeMans match with Shawn's parents. Great weekend. (Bordeaux won the game en route to winning the league championship).





And our big trip stateside was to attend PJ & Bronwyn's wedding. Welcome to the fam Bronwyn.