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Published: October 19th 2008
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Rainbow Over Charles Bridge
View from our guestroom window :) Maybe this is why we've been so busy! View Prague from the 'Eiffel Tower' on Petrin Hill The Prague Hotel Toovey has now been open for 18 months, and after a slowish 2007, the No Vacancy sign was permanently lit all summer. At one point Steph calculated in between Feb and mid July we had been without guests 37 days! (And 2 weeks of that we were away in Egypt and Morocco!) Before summer started we had Glen (Anth's bro) in February and Steph's mum in March/April.
Then Michelle, Scott and Chloe (Steph's sis, bro-in-law and beautiful niece) came for 2 months over May-June. Anth's mum, dad and sister Kim for 3 weeks in July, followed by Steph's dad for 3 weeks in August. (We also fitted in our sister-in-law's parents for 3 days.) And it was great seeing our families, even if we feel a little tired now 😊.
Since they were here to see Europe I think we managed even more travel than normal! So much travel in fact that we didn't find time to blog them all. We've caught up now, but published them without spamming everyone. If any destinations sound interesting to you, you can check them out at the below links:-
All Dressed Up...
...for drinks with the British Ambassador. Sounds posh hey? Can't recall why we were being so silly... Part Work, Part Play - Rocking the Kasbahs in Morocco - an amazing safari over the Atlas Mountains and into the Sahara that we did by ourselves!
The Idyllic Cows of Switzerland - a road trip through Switzerland with Shell, Scott and Chloe. Such a beautiful country!
The Hills Were Alive Twice - once as the second half the above trip, and once with Anth's mum, dad and sis.
Bumpity Bump to Poland - a road trip from Prague to Berlin then Krakow, with Kim.
Begging my Way to the Holy Land - OK we sent an email for this one... just making sure you were paying attention!
Back to Bled - a weekend around picturesque Lake Bled in Slovenia with Rick
And as if the summer wasn't crazy enough Steph started her Graduate Diploma of Legal Practise - 6 months of study by correspondence and the final box to tick before finally being admitted as a lawyer. Woohoo! And Anth's role on AXE (LYNX) at work expanded from Central and Eastern Europe to also include North Africa, Middle East, Turkey and Central Asia... which means a lot of travelling to learn about these crazy countries. (But please don't feel too sorry for him - he spent his time in really horrible, boring places like Dubai, Cairo, Istanbul and Kiev!).
By now we've nailed the best
Kutna Hora, Czech Republic
Steph in front of the Cathedral there day trips in the Czech Republic to take visitors and so visited them all again; Český Krumlov, Karlstejn Castle and Kutna Hora. Other than that Steph spent a week in Tuscany with Shell, Scott and Chloe, coinciding with Week 1 of the Diploma (behind from the very start)! Then all 5 of us went to Paris Disneyland for a weekend. And I know it says a lot about us that we probably enjoyed it more than Chloe! The only other trip of note would be Anth's boys (cough) weekend in Belgrade, Serbia for Eurovision. Yes, the really camp and outdated European song contest. Nath (a mate from home, now living in South Africa) and Graeme from Prague, joined for quite a funny event which we managed to not take too seriously. Although Russia winning with eastern bloc votes was a disgrace!!!!
Back in Prague we continue our fight with Czech bureaucracy and incompetence over visas. In June we informed the appropriate people in my HR department and their agency that our Prague 1 Parking Permit was expiring and could we please get a new one. But parking permits are only issued for 6 months, and our visas only had
3 months left which was a problem. So we needed to extend our visas anyway. But we couldn't extend our visas without extending Anth's work permit. Of course we couldn't start that 3 month process until our lease (due to run out next February) was extended with our landlady Mrs Bendova (!). Having completed all our paperwork in June we get to August and find out that NOTHING HAD HAPPENED! Having sat on it for 3 months, it was now too late to extend our visas and so a whole different dance begins. Expulsion letters from the Foreign Police (in Czech of course), 4:30am trips to embassies in Berlin for temporary visas... frustrated. Very frustrated. The most realistic expectation is to have our parking permit by Christmas. In the meantime we play a game of Russian Roulette with the towing company. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose...
And here we are in September - another summer over and ready to rug up for European winter #2! We've just got home from 2 weeks in London where Steph had her mid-semester on-site component of the diploma. Fortunately, Anth's works schedule meant he could base himself there too for 2 weeks
And Karlstejn Castle Itself
Once the residence of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand. About a 30 minute train ride from Prague (with a trip to Bucharest and one to Barcelona). London is great to buy food we miss from home, and English DVDs and books etc, but it reminds us how much we love cheap, small, sunny Praha.
So after eating nothing but sausage rolls, salt & vinegar chips and Krispy Kreme donuts we're back in Prague a little fatter! At least one of us has more of an excuse than the other... for those that haven't heard Steph is pregnant 😊. Little 'Peanut' is due March 29 and we are over the moon to say the least! As we are now entering the second trimester I guess the travelling will taper off - but only a little. There's still WAY too much to see in this big world!
Next destination is Steph's choice (in response to Anth's Middle East choice), and after that we'll be in Aus for a visit in January so look forward to catching up then!
Anth & Steph (& Peanut 😊)
xoxo
P.S. Please note that The Prague Hotel Toovey will be closed for renovations in 2009!
Click on for the second half of photos
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Glen
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Glad the blog is back - Will have to book in for next year early if you guys are so busy!!