We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Lying in the bathtub shaving my legs with A's razor and suddenly the swirl of bagpipes fills the room. It's been like that in Prague. A surprise at every corner. look up angels, gilding, frescoes on apartment buildings. We spent five hours today at Prague castle (well us an about ten thousand tourists) We got up early to beat the crowds and it was just as well because they came in a never ending river of shorts, cameras all looking up and around. Each little troupe was led by a tour guide speaking their language French, Japanese, German, Italian - all the guides holding up some kind of identifying staff. It had the feel of a medieval parade.

I don't know why the people of Prauge aren't huge. Every restaurant serves meat with dumplings and gravy but they aren't. The women are slim and elegant and the men all look like Franz Kafka with sunken cheeks and long hair. There also seems to be a "Goth element." Heavily tattooed men and women with very black hair, black clothes and dark, brooding gazes.

Our Prague apartment is just as I had dreamed of. High ceilings, wooden floors , two huge rooms with large windows opening onto the liveliest street. We can see the castle from our window spires reaching high into the sky like so many highly decorated birthday cakes. I am sitting at one of the open windows "borrowing" someones wifi signal. It has been deliciously hot but tonight we are having an amazing thunder and lighting storm - all very theatrically lighting up the buildings and looking like a scene from Young Frankenstein.

While the people here aren't exactly delighted to see us they do put up a good front and at least they don't give you the impression you are in their way. Ireland was very much a mixed bag of interpersonal interactions. Sometimes people went out of their way to help ("follow me in your car and I'll take you to the physio) But more often it was a sigh and a look of what are you doing here.Ireland is booming. New sterile housing developments everywhere and people seem to have lots of disposable money. We on the other hand suffered with our poor Canadian exchange rate with the Euro. It was breathtakingly expensive and we were glad to get out with our bank account not completely emptied.

Still Ireland is a lovely place with more variety than I had imagined. Sometimes stark, sometimes peaceful always refreshing in the country side. AJ alluded to the driving but being a passenger was no piece of cake either. Hedges on one side, sharp drop offs on the other - one car width roads all made for lots of opportunities to shut my eyes and think calm thoughts.

No pics this time. Takes too long and I would rather reach out with words and bore you all with the pics when we get home.