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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...