New Year 2006

Happy New Year! We hope 2006 finds everyone healthy and happy. Shelly and I spent the New Year weekend in Prague, about a 5 1/2 hour drive from here - 4 1/2 in the BMW :)

Prague is a neat city; it is similar to many cities in Europe with a river, an old bridge, gothic cathedral, and of course a castle. However, Prague has a uniqueness to it that gives the city a different feel. Perhaps it is the fact that Prague was part of the Soviet block less than 20 years ago. Or it could be the abundance of cafes and pubs, and the colorful Baroque architecture throughout the city. Whatever the reason, Prague has a different vibe to it than we've found other places.

It also has very cold weather. The weather slowed us down since we were constantly ducking into a cafe or pub to warm up a bit. Of course, this did offer the opportunity to sample a Budvar; the original Budweiser beer. Budvar is brewed in the pilsner brewing method, which was developed in Czech. The Czech people drink more beer per capita than any other country. This isn't very surprising since the beer is excellent and as it is cold has all hell here in the winter there isn't a whole lot else to do but tilt back a few pints.

The holiday closures and the frequent stops to warm up kept us from seeing all we wanted to see so we are going to plan a second trip - during a warmer time of year.

We actually did not stay for New Years Eve. Our plan was to spend New Years Eve downtown, then leave for home on the 1st. Unfortunately, public transportation to our hotel outside the city did not run past midnight. Our hotel offered to ring a taxi for us if we called two hours ahead, but we had heard that taxi service in Prague was sketchy so we didn't feel this was a reliable option. So for us to get downtown and have a reliable means of returning to the hotel we would have had to drive our new car into Prague, a place known for car vandalism and theft, on New Years Eve. Not-gonna-happen. So we grabbed a late lunch on the 31st, another Budvar then made our way back to the hotel and packed up. We made it home by 10 PM, making the 5 1/2 hour trip in 4 hours - you just have to love unrestricted speed limits and a BMW 330i.

The cold weather puts a damper on your willingness to stop and snap a bunch of pictures, but I have a few below. Prague is full of great photo ops; I'll just have to capture them next time.

We fly to London on the 13th for the MLK weekend with some friends from the dental clinic.

--Ed