PRAGUE, PRAHA, PRAGA!!!! Three in ONE!

WHHOOOO HOOOOO!!! PRAHA!!!! Sigh.
What more can I say. God is SOOOOOO GRACIOUS!!!!

But I think I can say more. We had a nice trip to Praha even with it starting later than we meant to. we planned on going to Berlin and staying at www.My-tropical-island.com but they were booked up. Cheapest room was over 200 Euros which is a LOT! Maybe we will try later. Anyway, we were sitting at teh table and decided to go to Praha (Prague). I love that city. It is magnificent. So much beauty. You think you are looking at the most beautiful thing in eye range and then you shift your gaze and there is something else. It is just incredible and someone is managing the growth nicely. the old. The new. the combination of the two together. It is just stunning. We ate at a "traditoinal" Czech restaurant and that was very good. Jubi only ate corn. Sigh. Well, I did get her to eat some chicken. Basia and I shared goulosh. Yum. We had some of the ice cream we missed so much after leaving last time. Yes, it was as good as I remembered. My regret, I did not eat more of it!

We mostly just walked around and enjoyed the sites. the bridge. The bridge! Oh my. We arrived around 8 Tuesday night and most things were closed but even when most stores are closed the lights and the sights are in full swing. Jubilee delighted in that bridge quite possibly more than any other human being has ever delighted in that bridge. She ran and squealed with delight. I think she was SO HAPPY to be out of the car and then out of the stroller, she reveled in the moment. we had been talking about being present to the moment. Well, Jubilee has being present to the moment down. She she is sad she is SO SAD! She hold nothing back. but she experiences the moment and then moves on to the next moment.

Jubi loved the car ride, the ride in which she did NOT fall asleep. She was sitting in the center in the backseat of Basia's Volkswagon and she could reach BOTH of us with her toes. Her pretty pink painted toes. She poked and giggled all the way from Glogow to Praha. We got there via Basia's navigation system and that was very interesting.

The sites along the way were so beautiful. When we went last time we took the train and it took longer to get to Praha than it did to FLY to Poland. But driving it was MUCH quicker and the mountains, the fields (we saw several fields of WHITE poppies and one a mix of white poppies and little blue flowers which from a distance looked like bluebonnets in color and intensity). We saw hay and horses and one field of cattle. The buildings, WOW! even the small villages held treasures for the eyes. I fear Basia will be disappointed with the scenery when she makes it to the states. All the buildings here are brick and cement blocks and stone. They last so much longer than our wooden buildings. The barns and houses from centuries back. It is just amazing adn of course the red roves (?) make for a stunning compliment to the greens. Flowers like in Maine, every yard has flowers and fruit trees.

FRUIT TREES! The cherries are ripe and we were driving home and passing tree after tree of ripe cherries. Jubi FINALLY fell asleep and we stopped and picked a large zip lock bag full of htem. By the time we got to the Czech border (which took almost two hours longer than we expected thanks to a small glitch with our navigation system whom I named Beatrice, Betty for short) the cherries were all gone.

On the way home we stopped by a restaurant on the TOP of a mountain with a magnificent view and very yummy pancakes. The word Pancake did NOT do them justice. Anyway, we stopped, took photos with a huge turkey, enjoyed the breeze and view and then went upstairs to the art gallery. OH MY OH MYOH MY! One of the most exciting galleries I have seen in a long time. Blew away the contemporary work I saw in NYC. Beats FW. So much excellence on the top of a mountain wiht a huge turkey in the drive. I knew hte view would be marvelous, but I was not expecting the food and gallery "La Femme" to be so wonderful.

Okay, Jubi is sleepign and my time is SHORT. I am getting all confused, but that is how I tell stories anyway so those who know and love me (or tolerate me) will understand.

We got home at 6 and Basia considered going into work, but decided to relax and go in fresh on Saturday. At 7:40 she got a phone call that she was supposed to close! She just had time to change and get there. THANK YOU JESUS for Ania calling. Basia's second did not call and that was disappointing. She made it. While she was gone I called David and kids on Skype but my mic was not working. Bummer. I had htem call me on the house phone. Jubi was pottying and I was in Basia's room having just answered their call when a storm blew through.

When I say blew through I mean it. WHOOSH! Things started blowing off the kitchen table, off the desk and CRASH! Basia's bedroom door which is 2/3 glass slams shut. Now it is 2/3 EMPTY!!!!! Jubi is crying on the pot. She does not know what has happened. I am wondering how I am going to get barefooted from the bedroom over the glass to Jubi. David suggests I hang up. Good suggestion. I try to call Basia but I am out of minutes on my phone. We get teh mess cleaned up. Did I mention we will have no hot water for ten days? Not that it is relevant but we won't. I get the glass cleaned up and pull the broken pieces out of the frame. Basia comes home and is surprised but relieved noone was hurt. Her mome ran through a plate glass window in Greece adn still suffers from teh consequences even after a long hosptial stayand surgeries.

Okay, back to the mess. I had cleaned it up and we carried it downstairs to the trash. At the last step Basia trips and almost falls into the HUGE pot of broken shards. Her ankle twists. we are torn between crying and laughing hysterically. we choose to laugh and then we pray. Her ankle is okay to run so THANK YOU GOD! For SO MANY THINGS! Nobody was cut or hurt. The enemy wanted to mess with us, but we did NOT want to participate.

We get upstairs and start peeling wallpaper off the entryway. Basia goes for a run and we unwind for the night. That is how it ended. Now I want to go back and tell you about Praha. Maybe I'll do that on another blog so you won't get so burned out by these LONG ONES!

BE FREE! Gwen