Happy New Year!

2008 arrived in Gjøvik along with snow. A lot of snow! I think we had about 2-3 feet on the ground before the snow that started on December 30th. It has not stopped snowing since the 30th. We have added another 30 inches or so and right now the flakes are continuing to blanket our car in front of our condo.

JH moved to Wichita in September of 1995 and I joined him in January 1996. The winter of 1995/1996 delivered the most snow of all of our winters in Kansas. I never (yes, never) took out my heavy winter coats in Kansas. Just recently, I noticed that a button was missing on my full-length green wool coat. I have vague recollection of the missing button from 1995. Hanging under a plastic wrapping for 12 years, the coat still had the dry cleaning tags - and a missing button.

We have had to find our coats, hats, boots, and all the goodies like scarves, mittens, ear muffs and else. Although we have had a huge amount of snow so far this winter, the temperatures are in the 20's (Fahrenheit), so NK has been outside a lot. We only have a few hours of daylight, but he hasn't been deterred from ice skating and skiing. Where we live on the mountain is close enough to ski trails that NK straps on his skis and he is off. Reflective vests and reflective tags and of course his mobile phone for any wipe-outs. JH joins him many nights. I go out when he skates and on nights when it isn't snowing it is nice to hike the trails - but I hate skiing...so alas, I hike and try to remain upright with my boot spikes.

Between the snow fall and the snow slides from our roof, we have snow up above our window line on our condo. I enjoy the nights cozying-up near the fire place and watching the corny American television (all the "B" shows).

My plants are all in various states of death. Limited sunshine and a week and a half of days filled with gray/cloudy and snowy days has been bad for my poor plants. I don't know how much a sunlight costs (everything is crazy expensive here) but maybe I need one.

As we rolled towards the end of 2007, NK was able to attend the local elementary five days a week. He is officially done at the learning center where he attended school each day to learn Norwegian. He is much happier. There are two fourth grade classes and I think I mentioned that out of 40 some students there is only about six girls. Three teachers teach the group. They have a curriculum very focused on the environment and being outdoors. They spend time skiing and sledding. Official snow curriculum.

To supplement NK's English learning - we have encouraged him to continue to be a reader. He likes chapter books and he has started to reread some of the Magic Tree House books in Norwegian since he has already read them in English.

His school also has a pool so he gets to spend some time swimming as a part of his formal education. He can now play some 70's Rock & Roll classics on his guitar - so he likes to spend some of his indoor time strumming.

JH has been busy learning rocket science. He likes the company he works for. He recently told me that the company's official business language is in English. Interesting.

I have been reading a lot about Norwegian language. The "experts" think it will be near extinction in 150 years. Great, I am busting my ... trying to learn it. Oh well, I won't be here in 150 years. There are actually two Norwegian official languages. They are close to the same language, but they have enough differences that they are actually classified as two languages and not just separate dialects - although there are dozens of dialects. The language that I have been learning in southeastern Norway is not the same language that is spoken and written on the west coast where we go to the farmhouse. For many years Norway was under rule by either the Swedes or Danes, and the language evolved differently. The major news sources here use a combo of the two. It is confusing enough that I am sometimes stumped...like, "say what"????

Here is a little of what my favorite source Wikipedia says http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_language, "Norwegian (norsk) is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language...As established by law and governmental policy, there are two official forms of written Norwegian — Bokmål (literally "book language") and Nynorsk (literally "new Norwegian"). The Norwegian Language Council recommends the terms "Norwegian Bokmål" and "Norwegian Nynorsk" in English...There is no officially sanctioned standard of spoken Norwegian, but the sociolect of the urban upper and middle class in East Norway, upon which Bokmål is primarily based, is the form generally taught to foreign students. This so-called Standard Østnorsk (Standard East Norwegian) can be regarded as a de facto spoken standard for Bokmål...The now abandoned official policy to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk into one common language called Samnorsk through a series of spelling reforms has created a wide spectrum of varieties of both Bokmål and Nynorsk.

Norwegians have a real old-fashioned sense of Christmas. It is a religious holiday and it is very noncommercial compared to the US. It is centered around the Advent season, and school activities include a strong religious element. Most employers have a holiday party which includes banquet and party. My class at school had a party where each student brought a dish which is served in their home country during the holidays. I didn't know what to take, so since I am from the northern Midwest, I took a casserole...a hot dish! The photos I have posted with this posting include photos from my holiday party.

My mom came to Norway to spend the holidays with us. We had a great time and we saw a lot of Norway's incredible vistas on our journey to Myklebust then onto Bergen and back to Gjøvik. I am working on a post from our trip. I will post it soon.

Holiday Message from the North Country

Destination Norway

We finally did it. We really did it. We sold it, we gave it away or we packed it. And then we moved to Gjøvik, Norway, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjovik. We talked about it for years and then after a job opportunity that JH couldn’t resist, we put a sign in our front yard in Wichita and we took a leap of faith.

JH is working as a rocket scientist at Nammo, developing technology to send things into space. NK started his Norwegian experience by bicycling around the city and joining a soccer – er um, football club. He now spends three days a week at a school where he is in an intensive Norwegian language program. He spends two days a week at the neighborhood school. I spend five days a week in an intensive Norwegian language and culture course for immigrants.

We started the year with gusto. NK was active in a competitive basketball league and later a soccer team. His team won the league championship and NK was named the best player. JH enjoyed his position at Bombardier and especially enjoyed the colleagues and friends who share(d) his obsession with making things fly. I worked for SER Corporation and also volunteered for various groups and programs.

We traveled to Belize this past spring and spent some time playing in the Caribbean sand and we enjoyed the sun, music, food and relaxed people of Belize. It wasn’t long after we returned from Belize that JH left for Norway, and NK and I wrapped-up the Wichita “ends” – we packed, sold the house and cars, said a lot of goodbyes to friends and at the end of June, we joined JH in Norway – with a cat in tow.

We have traveled a lot in Norway. Of course since JH is a Norwegian and we have traveled in Norway we have some sense of what we want to see - and what we want to see more of! The beautiful coast near Ålesund, the rugged mountains of western Norway, the Stave Churches, the Arctic landscapes, and the vibrant culture of Oslo have all been amazing. We have taken some side-trips to Sweden and a birthday bash in Prague, Czech Republic. We are staking our trips and trip wish list through 2009. It is still unreal that the splendor of Norway is our new environment. Looking out my windows to the mountains and the pine forests, I often whisper to NK, “We aren’t in Kansas anymore”.

With all the excitement and hoopla in 2007, we really miss our family and friends in the US – and beyond. We have had some family and friends visit Norway – and we are making new friends who have made Norway seem more like “home”. Norway seems like a good-fit, but it isn’t without our struggles of culture shock and frustrations of trying to figure out the tribal rules of our new culture.

We still have our passion for the environment and social-economic change and justice. NK is so quick to point out the eco-friendly lifestyle in Norway, and the lack of the extreme of poverty we have seen in the Americas. Since NK was our appointed recycling expert in the US, his job is a lot easier in Norway – where Norwegians have a culture of environmentalism and eco-friendly lifestyles.

Our goal for 2008 is to continue adapting to a Norsk lifestyle. We plan to travel a lot – including a summer trip to the US. We hope that you have a safe and peaceful holiday season, and we hope to spend some time with you in 2008…and we will leave the light on for you (we always have room for travelers!).

LL Myklebust – and JH, NK & Forrest

lmykle@gmail.com
http://www.freelonnie.blogspot.com/

World AIDS Day!

Today is World AIDS Day. During this holiday season, please give generously to your charity of choice. There are so many fantastic charities performing work around the world that the opportunity for you to give is - well, almost endless.

There are a lot of excellent charities and non-profits that do work with people living with HIV and AIDS. On this day that people around the world celebrate life, remember loved ones and work to support education and research to stop AIDS, I will donate to Positive Directions in memory of Doug Glaze. Positive Directions is a non-profit in Wichita, Kansas that provides services to people living with HIV & AIDS, as well as tesing and education.

http://www.positivedirectionsks.com/

Winter Wonderland & Sticker Shock in Norway

At school my teachers have said that winter doesn't start in Norway until December. Well today is December 1, and winter is definitely here. It actually started to arrive earlier this week.

We have had a lot of snow. It has snowed everyday this week, and it is still snowing. A friend of ours back in Kansas, Michelle, said that her little boy thinks NK lives at the North Pole - and Gjøvik really looks like the North Pole this week!

NK and JH are anxiously awaiting using the new skis and snowboards they have bought - but since NK has a nasty cough it won't happen this weekend. Thus, there have been some long faces...okay, just NK's pity-party because he wants to be a snowboarding boy. JH explained that we have the entire winter to ski. And since Norway has LONG winters - we have plenty of time to hang-ten down the mountains of Norway.

For some reason yesterday we started getting CNN. I am so HAPPY! I really like BBC, but they are so obsessed with India and Pakistan. I here more about India and Pakistan on BBS than I do about the rest of the world - combined! In fact, TV in Norway is strange altogether. We get a lot of American TV, most of it is subtitled but the TV targeting young people and children is dubbed.

There is a lot of TV from the US that I am pretty sure is probably developed for overseas markets. A lot of it is like stuff that runs on cable in the US. In Norway we do not have the same type of censorship that the US has. Nudity and profanity have no limits - none. Radio has no limits either. I didn't realize how many American stars have r/x-rated work on radio and videos overseas.

We get a lot of TV sitcoms that are in the comedy genre. We can see a lot of 'That 70s Show', and 'Will & Grace'. I have a much better understanding of how some of my clients at SER were so isolated in the US. I could do that here in Norway too. In fact it is hard not to. I could read all the US news online, hear it on radio, watch US television, speak English everywhere I go, etc. I have been trying not to stay wrapped-up in Americana (of course I love being an American), because it seems to delay my getting through the steps of Culture Shock. And lately, I have been stuck in the angry phase - where I hate Norwegians and everything in Norway - okay, except my big boy and my little boy.

I think some of my culture shock isn't really culture shock - but rather sticker shock. This country is so freaking expensive. Norway is a very wealthy country. The quality of life for years has been number 1 in the world (it was just nudged out of number 1 by Iceland), but affordability is a real issue. Oslo is the most expensive city in the world to live. It is just nuts. I find myself getting real resentful over the price gouging in this country. I know that it is expensive to get products to Norway because most things are imported, but the taxes on consumer goods is 25% and 14% on food. So a $50 (US dollars) costs an extra $12.50 in tax! And so on...crazy.

Okay so the schools are great, retirement is great, medical care is great - but boy are we paying for it! I keep having to remind myself that I am investing in Norway.

I have applied for a few more jobs. I have a couple of hot leads, but we will have to see what sort of barriers my language skills - or lack thereof bring.

I have been working hard to learn Norwegian. I can carry on regular conversations in baby language and I have a big enough vocabulary to say anything I need to say, and now I am really focusing on verbs - past, present and future tenses of verbs. It is so hard. I can use the verbs, but remembering how to use them is tough. Of course NK is doing a much better job than I am. He is flying through his Norwegian lessons. He easily speaks in Norwegian to his teachers, classmates and teammates.

We have attended some cultural events recently. JH and I attended a performance of an all male revue. At the end they ended with - well, this is Norway right? They ended with their ends. Bravo!

We took NK to Oslo to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical on roller skates - Starlight Express. It was awesome. Due to the size of the stage, they had to reseat some patrons - including us - to better seats. Yahoo.

We have continued to see the museums in Norway. Last weekend, JH and NK rode the train to Oslo to see the Technical Museum. NK was a little reluctant because he thought he wouldn't like it. He loved it!

These last photos here show our house and our car. What a mess. The tractor that plows our driveway got stuck up the street. I have been having a hard time getting up the street to our house from the highway. Once I turn off the highway it is a two block climb at a fairly steep angle to get to our driveway. Unless I really "hit it" I lose traction and start to slide backwards. Fun - I know. At least NK really does think it is fun. About as fun as driving JH over the mountain to work at 7AM in the dark on a road barely wide enough for two cars to pass, with snow coming down like crazy - on ice. Fun - yep, Norway is fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for all of our friends and family who call us (on our Internet telephone number - if don't have it, let us know), e-mail us and mail us letters and packages. We are very appreciative. It helps us during our adjustment stage of settling into our new environment in Norway. Technology is so amazing and we utilize "chats" and video cameras and lots of e-mails to stay connected to the people we love. Thank you for sharing in this journey with us.

Imagine our surprise when we opened our turkey package and found a cat. Okay, so this is really Forrest. He seemed to like the box - I am sure the smell of turkey was alluring!

JH, NK and I cooked a turkey with all the trimmings. NK had to cover his turkey with peanut butter.

What did surprise me is that the turkey had some feathers still attached. I spent 45 minutes plucking feathers. I finally gave in and chopped the wings off, since I couldn't take the plucking any more! I packed the turkey with sliced citrus fruits and the result was awesome. Our first Thanksgiving in Norway was successful.

Campaign to Name the Sun & Moon - PHOTOS ARE UPDATED

For a few years now, I have been curious about the lack of name for our Moon. We call it the Moon. Technically, it is a satellite - according to some quick online research. We call moons of other planets "moons" and then use a name like Titan (a moon orbiting Saturn). I think our Moon needs a name.

The other night I shared with JH & NK my quirky concern about the moon. JH said that he is concerned about the lack of name for our sun. Other stars have a proper name and then they are (sometimes?) called suns. Well, what about our sun. Doesn't it need a name too? Or, as JH tried to convince me (and I agree) the sun needs a name too.

Is anyone else concerned that the moon and sun do not have names? Give me a shout-out.



Fact - It takes light 8 minutes and 30 seconds to reach the Earth from the Sun. It takes light, 1.2 seconds to reach Earth from the Moon. From the Sun to Pluto 5 hours and 40 minutes. For light to travel from the Sun to the nearest star it takes 4.3 years.

This is a photo of Gjøvik. We live on a nice little mountain, and we have a nice view of the water. Looking down towards the Mjøsa has lately been obscured by fog - lots of fog. For a few weeks now the fog has been, well foggy. As we drive around the city from one mountain to another we drive in and out of fog. Sometimes the mountains are in the fog, and sometimes the fog is in the valleys. The other day the fog just hung in the valley that goes from Gjøvik to Raufoss. The photos on this posting are of the foggy valleys and the fog sticking near the lakes.

I have yet to see the Aurora Borealis in Norway. I haven't seen the Aurora in a long time...officially. I have seen some lights which may have been the Aurora, but maybe they were just lights that I credited to the Aurora. North of the Arctic Circle the lights are know as the Polaris Borealis. The top (supposedly - according to the Norwegians!) center for research and seeing the Aurora is in Norway. Here are some great links, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Borealis or http://www.fjordtravel.no/tours/winter/northern_lights/northern_lights_safari.html or http://www.northern-lights.no/ or http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/photogalleries/ig/Aurora-Borealis-Photo-Gallery.--DR/index.htm.

On the days when living in Norway stinks, I think about exciting - even good reasons to live in Norway. The Aurora Borealis is on my list. Although, the best Aurora I have seen was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. One of the photos here is of a strange phenomena which may have been Aurora or a burst of vertical pink light at just after sunset, although the light was opposite the sunset and the sun was behind the mountain anyway (and since the sun goes over the mountain between 1 - 2:00 p.m. - I can't remember how late the photo was taken). I don't think it is an Aurora but maybe.

Ramblings from the North Country

I saw my first moose. Well, I had seen moose before - on trips to Norway, but this is the first one I have seen since we moved to Norway. It snowed last week (and again today) and the moose was about 35 yards of the road in a field. He was kneeling down on his front fore legs and snacking on some grass.

We went swimming today at an indoor water park. It is a place we have been to several times. Each time I go there I think about how VERY different it is from American water parks. It has ramps and slippery floors and a poorly designed layout. American architects and attorneys would flip-out (hopefully into the water) if they visited this water park. On our last visit there we found glass in one of the pools. The visit before that NK cut his toe and the lifeguard used her hand to brush the blood of NK's foot. Could you imagine a lifeguard in the US casually wiping away someone's blood? Today there was more glass in a pool and someone left pebbles of poo-poo rolling around the pool deck. Of course people were stepping into the poo-poo and smearing it around and then jumping into the water to clean off. The lifeguard came and assessed the situation and then she used towels to pick-up the feces...and then you guessed it...she brushed away the smear with water! Oh Norway. You are killing me man. If only I was a stand-up comic and not a cynic I would have loads of material for a routine!

In Norway, at the doctors' offices and at the hospitals they don't use alcohol before they draw blood (according to all my non-Norwegian friends I speak with). True story. A classmate of mine asked them why they don't - as she was in ER with her toddler. The nurse told her that if people "look clean" they don't need to use alcohol. Holy moly. Norway - you are killing me!

A few nights ago we attended Family Group. Of course we didn't know what it was, but we received a note from NK's school that said we had to attend. NK has about 35 students in the 4th grade at his school (his neighborhood school - NOT the school he goes to for Norwegian class). Of the 35 students roughly 28 are boys. They have broke the students into 5 family Groups. Once a month the kids in the Family Group get together at the home of one of the members. The kids (in NK's group it is only boys) play and eat and talk. The purpose of the group is to deter drug use and criminal activity. The parents show-up for the last 1/2 hour to talk and drink coffee. The kids and parents are supposed to forge a "Family Group" of positive reinforcement and a community of support for one another. NK loved his first Family Group. JH and I liked it. Since 5 of the 7 boys in his Family Group are on his soccer/football team, we had a chance to visit with some folks we know and meet others. This group will stick together through 10th grade. Interesting, huh?

I have started going to an accelerated Norwegian language course one night a week in addition to the 20-hour a week day course I take. I am REALLY trying to learn this language! I felt like my day class was/is moving too slowly for me. I needed more of a challenge. The people in the night course are all employed and so it was a little different than the day course where few work, and most are women and several are refugees. I love the folks in my day course and I want to stay put in my day class - but this new class adds a new dimension to my Norwegian experience by making me think harder and work faster...which is something I have been craving. In fact I have applied for a couple of jobs. I know I said I would wait until Spring of 2008, but I am getting cabin fever. I am eating too much and watching too much TV...and I want to learn more Norwegian!

NK is spending part of his school week at the neighborhood school. He says he feels like he is able to understand most things, but not quite ready to give up the support of his Norwegian language class yet. Although at Family Group and at soccer and when his friends are over - he speaks Norwegian. He won a Norwegian karaoke with his friends. Then they had the contest in English and he won that too. He is such a goof. He has made friends so quickly and is such a little ham. We are so glad that he is blending in to his new culture. Whew. We still have rough spots, but we had those in Wichita too. And, with a 9-year old I am sure we will have a lot more.

We have been doing some sky gazing at night. Last night, Mars was the brightest any of us can ever recall having seen. The stars have been amazing. We aren't at a very high elevation - even on the mountain we live on - maybe the clean air - and limited lighting at night...whatever, the sky has been a great show!

A few people have asked about Forrest. Forrest thinks he is an indoor cat. I think the Norwegian climate is getting to him. He can often be found snoozing on a chair or couch.

Well, enough ramblings for tonight. I have homework. Norwegian homework!

The Prague Post is Finished

Scroll down a few posts to the Prague posting. It is FINALLY updated.

the arctic experience

Last weekend NK was out of school for an extra day, so we used the opportunity to head North and visit my folks in Bodo. The 1 and 1/2 hour drive to OSL Airport went quick and easy. But we had not gotten far, before we remembered what we had forgotten to bring - THE CAMERA - well, good thing cellphones are better cameras than phones these days.

As we were figuring out the automated check in at the airport, this guy walked by, stopped, coughed a little, so I would look up, then he spoke to us and it still took me a few seconds to recognize an old buddy from the Army. He had been in Oslo for some classes and was heading back to the West coast. The funny thing is that I had looked up his e-mail and gotten in touch with him just earlier in the week. Then three days later we run into each other for the first time in 15 years.....we had some time to catch up before our planes departed.

The plane ride to Bodoe was in a Boeing 737-600. Something in the plane vibrated as soon as the engines were at more than climb power, so after the first half hour we were well shaken. Then after a short time in smooth air, we started the descent into the less smooth air around Bodo. NK thought it was more fun than a roller coaster ride, LL didn't. After landing we were both shaken and stirred.

We made it to my folks and went to bed. The next day we visited, went downtown and otherwise just hung out. There were birds and squirrels enjoying the food my mother had put out by the kitchen window. The squirrels were new, they are normally in the denser pine forests, so they are rarely seen around the house.


Bodo is a tad North of the Arctic circle, and the days were getting shorter. To be different I took a picture of the MIDDAY SUN(at 11:56). In a few weeks the sun will not make it above these mountains, until late January.



Saturday NK, Farfar and I made a quick dash into the mountains to get some first hand experience with the snow. NK brought a sled, so we were on a mission to find a sledding hill. We succeeded. The first place we tried was above the tree line, so some of the snow had drifted pretty good, but there was also ponds that hadn't froze over, so we tried a second spot, where a path cut through the forest as it slopes down to the Beiarn valley. It worked pretty good. At about 4PM, the light got dim enough that it was time to stop, and head back to Bodo.



That night the movie "supersize me" was on, so we lost a lot of appetite. There is a McD in Gjovik, and we are rarely there, but after that movie it might be quite a while until next visit.

On Sunday it was time to head back, and the plane ride to Oslo in a 737-700 was much nicer than the trip North.

More Observations...

Let me start by encouraging you to stay tuned for the completion of the posting before this one. It has all our photos from Prague along with our musings. For some reason I am having a heck of a time getting photos posted. I am going to contact Google and ask them "whaz up".

More about Norway...

• Meat. We are carnivores. Proudly. We eat little animals. But, I am tired of buying eggs with feathers, meat with extra tendon and ligament hanging all over, and biting into crunchy little bones in my boneless cuts of meat. Hello - Norwegian butchers (I don't really know any), get with it baby! I am tired of gnawing at my animal like well, like I am an animal.
• It is getting darker. We fell back an hour today. I am not sure when the Midwest (US) falls back, but until then we are only 6 hours different! Hurrah. Norway is far enough North of the equator that Northern Norway has no daylight for 3 months of the year. In Gjovik, we are far enough South that we have daylight, but the number of hours is getting shorter every day. I am starting to feel like a bear. I am getting tired earlier. My body thinks it needs more sleep. Can you say BRIGHT LIGHT?
• In the US we were so spoiled with everything being automated. In Norway we have to work a little harder for everything. We slice our bread and our cheese (there should be a joke...cut the cheese), we walk more, we cook more. I haven't had fast food since...well, months ago. We don't have a proper clothes dryer so we hang stuff. Some days I feel proud and other days I feel like Laura Ingalls some days I am a little both (a little mental to be honest).

Alright, it is 8PM and my body is saying SLEEP!

Prague Autumn - UPDATED 11/11

For my 40th birthday JH planned a romantic weekend getaway to Prague. Since his birthday is the day before mine it was a dual present/celebration. I had wanted to go to Prague since I first became fascinated with it a couple of years ago.

I first studied Prague in college. I took a class about Eastern & Central European struggles and I wrote a paper about the liberalization (from Social Communism) and social "Action Programs" in Prague in the Spring of 1968. The movement was called Prague Spring. The leader of the movement was Alexander Dubček. In 1989, during the collapse of the Soviet Empire, Czechoslovakia experienced a revolution, the Velvet Revolution, which ushered in the collapse of Czechoslovakia and the birth of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. During the Velvet Revolution while Alexander Dubček appeared with then leader Václav Havel, I was in Minnesota learning about Prague Spring. The timing was unique because my classmates and I while studying about Prague Spring were able to hear what Dubček had to say about it since he had been ushered away by the Soviets for 20 years and even survived radioactive poisoning (some of the old Soviet tricks are still being practices today by Putin's henchmen - huh?). For more information - instead of my sketchy recollection, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Dub%C4%8Dek or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_republic.

Okay, back to the romantic part of my story. We stayed at a boutique hotel called La Boutique Hotel - original huh? The hotel is a little out of the way, but the mass transportation in Prague is AMAZINGLY safe and efficient.

We both loved Prague. I can't wait to go back. I could live there - easily! Very clean, affordable, safe, and great shopping and accessibility.

Okay, so back to Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution. I got a little mushy in Wenceslas Square when I thought about the history of the struggle against oppression. The photo of the statue of Saint Wenceslas on horse back reminds me of something a classmate of mine told me before we left for our trip. My classmate is from the Czech Republic and her husband, a professional hockey player in Gjovik (where we live) is from Prague. She told me that I had to stand under the statue and kiss under the horses tail. Well, due to language barriers, I though she told me to kiss the horse's ass. She didn't. She told me to kiss my husband while standing under the horses tail - for good luck. I laugh when I think of what an idiot I would have looked like had a attempted to climb up and kiss the horse - on his backside.

There are a lot of wonderful statue's in Prague - although many of them have been damaged during the Soviet oppression and it is possible to see bullet marks from stray bullets fired during the struggles.

The architecture in Prague is magnificent. We saw people from all over the world. We were all walking around gawking at this amazing city. I would have thought that October wouldn't be packed in Prague - but it was.

This city so so intriguing, I am no longer surprised at the Hollywood folk who are going to hangout in Prague for weeks and months. The Jolie/Pitt bunch lived in Prague for part of 2007.

The art of painting intricate designs on eggs comes from the Czech Republic. Of course I had tried it as a child in Iowa - but nothing (especially not my art) compares to the art we saw. I wanted to buy some eggs, but I was fairly sure that there would be no way for me to get them back to Gjovik intact. I now regret not buying any. On my next trip I will buy some!

The outdoor eateries were busy and later in the evening they were packed. Here is a photo of my birthday boy and I sharing pretzels and drinks while taking in the sights. Since the sun was setting and it was getting a little cool the restaurant staff were turning on the patio heaters.

Prague is called the city of a hundred or a zillion or something spires. There are spires all over the city. Many are Christian, and some are Muslim, others are Jewish (the oldest Jewish Temple in Europe), and other religions and groups I can't recall. As the sun was setting each evening the spires and the brass, gold and metal toppings all glistened.

A lot of restoration projects are underway in Prague - and boy are they long overdue!

The Czech language is so foreign to me. I can't understand ANYTHING! Well, I was proud of myself when I guessed that by adding a "y" to the end of a word it becomes plural!

Okay, one of the reasons I wanted to see Prague was to go to Prague Castle. Not because of a princess complex or anything - but for the architecture and to see the HUMONGOUS building(s). This castle is so incredible. I need another trip back to Prague to see more of the castle, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Castle. The history of this castle is way too lengthy - but the historical significance really touches many groups of people from Czechs, Catholics (the bones of St. Wenceslas are in the Castle's cathedral), history buffs, architecture students, etc.

In this photo I am standing in the royal gardens outside the Queen's summer palace and looking across the little valley (old moat area) to the Castle.

This tree looked like a mythical being from a CS Lewis book.

Another photo of a lovely tourist standing in the gardens above the very modern greenhouse.

A photo of us standing outside the Royal Ballroom. Wow, I only wish to attend an event in this ballroom. So amazing and the carvings on the outside of the building were worth the trip to Prague.

This might be my favorite spot in the world - to sit and enjoy history and life - and Prague. Okay, the Zocalo in Oaxaca still wins by a nose.

A little fungi village on the castle grounds.

I was trying to enjoy the view and stay out of the way of the guards in the national regalia who march around in formations.

Art anyone?

Handpainted seals and crests.

Fresco.

Bones of a royal or noble woman.

The walkway to the village shops inside the castle grounds behind the cathedral.

The castle dungeon. Yikes.

Alright, I didn't like the dungeon - at all.

View of the Charles Bridge from the Castle.

Glad we took the trolley up to the castle - although I didn't mind walking down.

Holy glacier! Great rock wall.

Another view of Charles Bridge.

These are some of the photos of on or near the Charles Bridge. Talk about romantic! We smooched on the bridge. We were alone but yet surrounded by about 500 other people on the bridge. Vendors, artists, musicans, locals and tourists - all hanging out on the pedestrian bridge.
We took a river cruise. The boat chugged along the river as it floated past the floating hotel, the national theatre, incredible views of the castle, under the Charles Bridge, past the fishermen, around the swans and the islands. It was such a beautiful day and the cruise was our best investment in Prague. Highly recommended.

We watched two fishermen fight with some fish. I think the fish won.

This is a photo of our boat from the Charles Bridge.

Doesn't JH look happy? We had such an incredible time in Prague!

These next few photos were taken from the Charles Bridge Tower on the Old Twon end of the bridge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bridge The Charles Bridge was built in the 1300's and served as an important conenction for traffic and trade between Eastern and Western Europe and Asia. We went up to the deck on the top of the tower. Well, JH stayed and took photos. I hyperventilated and had to climb down the 700 year old winding, stone stairs in the middle of my panic attack. I am afraid of heights and I am afraid of being in high places in old structures. As much as I love the bridge I won't climb up into the tower on my next visit to Prague. Still, I recommend doing it. The view was awesome.

The narrow cobblestone streets with cafes, boutiques with Czech glass, and the small hotels...so charming. I really needed much more time to shop!

These photos are of the astronomical dial & calendar and clock in Old Town Square. The clock was built in the early 1400's, and had been damaged several times in the last 600 years including by the Nazis during WW II.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Astronomical_Clock

The crowds of people waiting for the top of the hour chimes by the Gothic clock.