Adventures in Praha

Merry Christmas!

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One fine Sunday morning, we took the train two hours west from Prague to Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad, as the Germans call it), a spa town made famous during the 16th century and whose 18th and 19th century architecture make it a place definitely worth visiting. Its a small but wonderfully preserved city, the perfect place for a weekend getaway. From the small train station, which sits above the city, it's an easy 1-mile walk down and across the bridge to the city center.

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After walking to the city center, we went directly to the Thermal Hotel where Melinda read about an outdoor mineral pool overlooking the city. Sure enough, it was there. We spent some time in the pool and would have stayed longer if the water wasn't so deep - we got tired of having to rescue Lolo.

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Time for a snack break in the city park. Lolo also took some time to chase away every pigeon within 200 yards.

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After walking along the riverfront shops, colonnades, mineral fountains, and parks for a while - we decided to hike up to the neighborhoods overlooking the valley. We took those steps you see behind the building.

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"Gonna fly now, gonna fly now." Only 987 more steps to go.

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The neighborhood at the top of the stairs, overlooking the river and main drag below, was absolutely beautiful. This "residence" was our favorite.

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The city has a number of colonnades, each has its own distinct architectural style. Here are my two girls at the Park Colonnade, made famous for its wonderful design and sewer-flavored mineral water.

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Fill 'er up! The mineral water at first tastes like lemon juice, then it just tastes like crap.

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Don't touch that! Some of the mineral fountains are hot, hot, hot.

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One last cathedral, then it's time to take the train home.

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Happy Birthday & Anniversary, Melinda!

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“The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” - Lucille Ball

August is always a special month for the Kings. This year, Melinda turned the big 3-2 (as opposed to the small 3-2), we also hit the 3-year mark together as a married couple, and to celebrate, I lied to her.

I told her I was going to work for the day while she took Lolo to a kids fairy party (photos coming soon) at the Howling's place, just outside of Prague. Instead of working, I spent most of the day running around the city buying gifts: clothes, Belgian chocolates, a custom chocolate/espresso birthday cake, flowers (Gerber daisies - her favorite), and a new mobile phone. It wasn't easy.

After the kids party, our friends Andrea and Chris arranged to have a baby sitter watch their daughters, Olivia and Greta, and Lolo while us four adults went out to dinner and drinks (the first such excursion for us in months and months). We had a great time at La Casa Blu for dinner, and the cocktails at Bar & Books are always first rate.

After a cab ride back to Andrea and Chris' house to collect our little one, we finally made it home to a house full of birthday/anniversary gifts. Good times.

Happy 32nd Birthday and Happy 3rd Anniversary, darling. I love you.

June 2009

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“It is better to be a young June bug than an old bird of paradise” -Mark Twain

Hello again to all of our devoted fans out there. We hope you are all enjoying summer - especially those friends and family in Arizona and Texas who are experiencing triple digit heat, ugh. Summer in Prague is here but you'd never know it. We've had rain nearly every day since the beginning of May - great if you're a tree, bush, or flower - not so great if you live here or, god forbid, come here as a tourist.

Melinda took a weekend off and went up to Berlin to spend some time with Ben & Vanessa, who were there on vacation. We had visitors as well: Thomas & "Beyonce" visited from Regensburg, and spoiled Lolo with candy and toys. And Carl & Rachel finally made it out to Europe and stopped by for a few days as well. Good times.

Three things happened this month that made me feel like an old bird of paradise:

1) We enrolled Lolo in preschool. We totally lucked out and found a perfect school in a perfect part of the city. It's a true Czech "skolka" that was renovated last year and has incredible facilities and great teachers. It's also state funded so we only pay around 35 bucks per month! Lolo starts September 1st.

2) I received an invitation to my nephew's high school graduation. For those of you who don't know, Taylor is my sister Heidi's second child. Heidi and her husband, Glenn, just moved to Austin, Texas last month from Seattle, but Taylor (and Tyson) are staying put in Washington. Congrats, Taylor!!

3) On the same day I received Taylor's invitation, I also received an invitation to my 20-year high school reunion!! Oh, the humanity!! I'm not attending.

Keep in touch,

-Britt

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Thanks to uncle Jerry for the word bowling game. It works!

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While mommy is away, Lolo will play. We went up to the "big slide" park above the castle while Melinda was in Berlin with Ben & Vanessa. What can I say? The girl has a thing for slides.

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Like, super cool.

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Bunnies anyone?

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Can we go now? I'm bored.

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The bridge to tomorrow.

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How NOT to be a patient father while at the park.

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One fine Saturday morning, we took the train east for an hour to the town of Kutna Hora, made famous centuries ago for its silver (mines), mint, cathedral, and of course, the infamous bone church.

Just a hop, skip and a jump from the Kutna Hora train station is the infamous Kostnice Ossuary. This from wikipedia: "In 1278, Henry, the abbot of Sedlec was sent to the Holy Land. On returning, he brought soil from Golgotha and sprinkled it on the ground here. As a consequence, the burial ground was considered holy and became extremely popular. In 1511 a chapel was constructed to house the bones from [abandoned] graves. The chapel is open to the public, and contains the bones of about 40000 people".

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The cemetary surrounding the ossuary had that Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil feel.

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Just down the road from the ossuary is the the former church of the Virgin Mary. The site has had a few churches on it over the centuries. This one was rebuilt by Giovanni Santini in Baroque Gothic style around 1700. The interior architecture is amazing.

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Another dead saint. So mid-13th century.

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Hello? Echo? Anybody there?

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Totally goth!! Construction on the beautiful St. Barbara cathedral started in 1388, and was interrupted several times, but was finally completed after more than 500 years of building, in 1905.

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A little ice cream before calling it a day and sprinting for the last bus back to the train station.

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"Lolo under glass" mugging for the camera while traveling home on the train from Kutna Hora.

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My long-lost buddy from SLC, Carl, and his trusty side-kick, Rachel, stopped by for a few days during their 3-week tour of Germany, Austria, and Czech Republic. It was great fun having them in town and showing them why we love Prague so much. Friends like them make me miss Utah a little bit.

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Last call at PopoCafePetl.

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Melinda, Britt, and Rachel in Old Town Square during tourist rush hour.

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Thanks for hanging around on our blog, stop by and see us sometime.

Lolo's 3rd Birthday

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The month of May was filled with parties. First, we had a wonderful time at Max's birthday party--chatting it up his parents (Chris and Linda) and other adults. Lolo and Max had fun running around the backyard, playing with balloons, and taking turns being swung around by their heels.

May 14th was, of course, our little girl's third birthday. We spent the whole day together as a family--first a birthday breakfast from Chef Mommy, then came the first round of presents (a new kid's table and chairs), next a trip to the greatest indoor kids park ever (Becki Land), later we went back to the flat for more presents (loads of clothes, videos, and books from the grandparents) and Mommy's special Lickasaurus birthday cake.

The month ended with a family swim party at daddy's work. It was the perfect day to relax poolside and Lolo was a quick study in the water, learning to master swimming with the float tube in no time at all. The only thing missing from the month of May was our friends and family. We miss you all, and hope to hear from you soon.

-Britt, Melinda & Lolo

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Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Prague -- Spring 2009

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"The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month." ~Henry Van Dyke

Ah, springtime in Prague. There is no greater time to be in the city, in my opinion. The trees and flowers are blooming, the temperature is hovering in the 70s, the beer gardens are re-opening for the season. The three of us have upped our park visiting ante and have also made a pact to see more of the Czech Republic each weekend, now that the weather is nice.

Our old friends Ben and Vanessa spent the Easter holiday with us, flying in from Zurich. We had a wonderful few days together, strolling around town, eating everything in sight and celebrating the coming of baby Spirit Wolf (that's Ben's choice for their first baby, due in September). It was so nice spending time with the happy couple and remembering how oddly magical it felt, waiting for Lolo to arrive.

Here's to a fantastic Spring. Hoping to hear from each of you.

-Britt, Melinda & Laurence

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Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

St. Petersburg, Russia--February 22 - March 1

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My colleague, George, and I flew up to St. Petersburg to JetBrains R&D headquarters. We spent a week in the office and attended a bunch of meetings. It's always great to spend some face time with our developers.

St. Petersburg seems like the bastard child of Vienna, Stockholm and Mexico City. Like Vienna, the city has wide avenues and impressive neoclassical architecture. Not unlike Stockholm, the city is situated across a number of islands, which is why there are so many bridges--600 I'm told--and each of them uniquely beautiful. Unfortunately, the city's broken infrastructure reminds me of Mexico City. Terrible pollution, roads in disrepair, and suicidal sidewalks covered in ice.

Not unlike other parts of the world, there seems to be a HUGE difference between the rich and poor. I lost count of the number of expensive German and Italian cars I saw while there. I also lost count of the number of seemingly homeless people, wandering the city at all hours looking for their next meal or drink.

That said, I had a wonderful time in St. Petersburg and found the people, architecture, cuisine, and art inspiring and interesting. It has a terrific night life. George and I would normally start by having dinner from 10 to 12 pm, then drinks and or clubs until 5 am. We went to new restaurants, clubs and watering holes each night and were always surprised by what we found and who we met.

I spent most of my last full day there in the Hermitage Museum, one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art, and one of "the oldest art galleries and museums of human history and culture in the world. The vast Hermitage collections are displayed in six buildings, the main one being the Winter Palace which used to be the official residence of the Russian Tsars."

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Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Budapest, Hungary -- December 26 - 30, 2008

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It's 6:20 a.m. and we're waiting for the metro at Florenc. We've got exactly 10 minutes to make it to Holesovice station to catch our train. No problem...right?

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We really, really enjoyed the first two hours of the train ride to Budapest.

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"I knew we should have taken a left turn at Bratislava."

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We finally made it! The train, after breaking down near the Hungarian border, arrived at Budapest two hours late. It's strange how exhausting it is to sit on a train for 9 hours. Luckily, our rented flat was nearby.

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Once again, we turned to craigslist.org to find accommodation. We'd much rather stay at a local apartment than a hotel. The place we rented in Budapest, a 3-bedroom, 2-bath apartment only 15 minutes from the train station was great. We were surprised twice by the apartment. First, by the price, less than 50 Euro per night. Second, by the soothing sounds of the discotheque next door that played until 4 a.m. every night. Good times.

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The next morning, the first thing on our list was a visit to the wonderful Szechenyi Baths. The bath complex, located inside the grounds of the city park, offers a number of indoor and outdoor pools. We opted for the outdoor pool experience. We planned poorly by not taking any big towels, bathrobes or sandals with us. The experience of changing into a swimming suit, showering, then making a wet, barefooted mad dash in sub zero temps to the warm pools is one we're sure to remember.

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Finally, after hours of soaking in the warm waters of the Szechenyi Baths, we dressed and went back outside to face the cold. Time to catch the metro and go back downtown for lunch, then on to Chain Bridge and Capitol Hill.

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"Wow mommy, this metro is really old." The metro line running from downtown to Szechenyi Park is the second oldest metro line in the world, built in time for Budapest's 1,000th birthday celebration in 1896.

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After crossing the majestic chain bridge, we rode a funicular to the top of capital hill where we proceeded to die from hypothermia.

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It was so cold on capital hill that we started to wonder if the statues we saw were really statues at all and not... (insert Soylent Green style joke here).

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Andy and Melinda practicing some tai chi at the top of capital hill.

Szoborpark, Budapest

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While in Budapest we just had to see its famous communist statue park. The park lies in a remote suburb of the city and features a collection of Soviet-era statues including Lenin, Marx, Engels, local Hungarian Commie leaders, and several worker-hero statues which were removed after the fall of the Communist regime in Hungary in 1989.

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Did I mention that the park is in a remote suburb of the city? Take our advice and spring for the tourist package. It includes round-trip bus transportation from the city center and entrance to the park. It sure beats taking public transportation with a toddler, especially in cold weather.

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St. Stephen's Basilica is the tallest building in Budapest and you can be sure that it isn't named after some silly apostle. Instead, it's named in honor of Stephen, the first King of Hungary (c 975–1038), whose mummified fist is allegedly housed in the reliquary (a.k.a. tourist trap).

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That's all folks! We had a great time in Budapest and hope to come back again when the weather is warmer. Why don't you join us? From Budapest's beautiful St. Stephen's Basilica, I'm Melinda King, so long and happy travels.

November 2008

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"No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,/ No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, - November!" - Thomas Hood

November in Phoenix was hectic. There was 1) Nana's visit, 2) Poppa's visit, 3) Thanksgiving, 4) the King family gathering and, 5) Amy and Quincy's wedding. In between, the Schmick's tried their best to eek out some quality time with their granddaughter, too.

In the end, the visits were too short, Thanksgiving was over before we knew it, the King kids came and went, and the beautiful wedding day just flew by. [Sigh], such is life. Regardless, we're glad we had time to spend with the people we care about most in this world.

-Britt, Melinda & Lolo