Blogs from Prague, Czech Republic, Europe - page 180

that's right folks, i am writing to you from the gorgeous land of prague. i would start out with some greeting in czech but i have failed miserably at trying to pick anything up in the language. we have heard that it is one of the hardest languages to learn - i believe it. we have been here for a few days and will be leaving later this afternoon for vienna...it just keeps getting better and better. i suppose most have heard how romantic paris is but let me let you in on a little secret, prague is way more romantic then paris. at night the bridges, castles, and cathedrals ah.....it's amazing. and once again i have to admit that while we tried to take pictures, you just have to see it. we went last night ... read more

Greetings from Tesin Cesky, Czech Republic! We had a concert in Cesik Tesin last night and will have another one tonight so I finally have a chance to sit down long enough to share with you what has been going on and even upload some pictures (the church has wireless!!). I uploaded some pictures to go along with my last blogs. Team Well-being update Right now there are only 7 of us traveling as a team. During the first concert in Slovakia Karoline started to have intense pain in her back and could barely walk. She is such a fighter though. Despite all the pain and tears between each song she still performed that concert then collapsed in pain afterwards. She was taken to the hospital but all they were able to do was give her ... read more

The first room of the folk art museum is devoted to agriculture. The Czech countryside in May and early June is beautiful with large fields of green wheat and bright yellow flowering rapeseed plants. That wonderful cooking oil, Canola, is derived from the pressing of rape seed. The first exhibit houses both clothing and farming instruments. The summers are mild and the days are long in the Czech Republic. Prague is at 50 degrees latitude north. This is like central Canada in North America. Working outdoors is not nearly so hot and uncomfortable as in many places around the world. The wheat was ground into flour at mills driven by wind. There are still a few old wind mills in existence, but very few. We toured one a few years ago. On the wall were the ... read more

Several readers have commented on the interesting and beautiful rocks and minerals at the National Museum. Here are some more photos of samples on display at the museum. Hey when you have a winner in blog photos why not put up more and more and more?? Look for rocks on days when we have less about which to chat. Bill just took a photo of the vanishing snow pile. Part of it was so small we aren't sure it will show up in a blog pix. But yesterday the Sarka Valley was really icy when I took a walk. The puddles of the day before had frozen over in the -2C overnight temps. This a.m. it's -5 so I suppose I will find the same if I walk today. This is the day to head to ... read more

One of our student friends bought standup tickets for nine of us to go to see Aida at the National Theater. Amazingly, a standup ticket costs only about $1.25, that's right $1.25. A standup ticket in Chicago is at least $50.00 and I have no idea how much a person would pay in New York. The theater is unbelievably beautiful. Some of the paintings on the ceiling seem, to me, to carry a Biblical theme. Others do not and I could not determine or find on the Internet any information on the paintings other than that they were done by an artist named, Zenisek. I was not sure about taking pictures inside the theater. Upon seeing others snapping photos and taking videos I also took pictures. Not long before the performance began an announcement, in Czech ... read more