Pictures from Zug

The kids and I were walking along Lake Zug yesterday afternoon. As we were stopping at one point, I thought to myself that this would sure be a good place to get a shot of the mountains across the lake as well as Zug's old town. Of course, I had no camera (and I haven't yet bothered to get myself a cell phone that can take pictures). Later that day, I found out that Mary and Derek had been at almost the exact same place yesterday afternoon. We must have just missed them. Since Mary is a rabid shutterbug, she took almost the identical pictures that I thought someone should have taken. So, with Mary's permission, here are a couple of her shots.

Random thoughts

There are a few random thoughts that have been kicking around in my head. I keep wanting to mention them on the blog, but they're never related to any events I'm describing. I finally decided just to lump them all together in a posting.

First, parking in Switzerland, or anywhere in Europe, is always an issue when you're going somewhere. You always have to think about whether you'll be able to park when you get to your destination. And the parking places are small, sometimes with little or no room to maneuver in or out. That's one thing that's nice about taking the bus or the train. That's just part of life in an area of the world that's more densely populated. I wonder what parking is like in Japan.

Second, did any of you watch Thursday's bipartisan health care summit? Tanner did. He watched about a half hour Friday night, and then got up on Saturday morning and watched about a half hour more before he finally got tired. We may have a politician in the making.

Third, I'm thinking of heading north of the Arctic Circle this summer. Stace and the kids will be heading to Utah for a family reunion as soon as school is over. Since I can't spend eight weeks in the States, though, I'll be hanging out in Europe by myself for a while. I've always wanted to see Norway, and I've always wanted to go far enough north in the summer that the sun doesn't set at night. If I spend a couple of days kicking around Oslo and then hit the northern Norway city of Tromso on about July 1, I'll be able to do just that. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the Northern Lights. (Some of you will need to stop and think about why that is. [I don't mean you, Stace. I'm sure you'll know exactly why. You can explain it to the others.])

Fourth, Tanner just lost a tooth a couple of hours ago. Lindsey is still eagerly awaiting the loss of her first tooth.

Fifth, I forgot to mention earlier that the Czechs make some of the best potato salad I've ever tasted. Whoda thunk?

And sixth, the U.S. dollar has improved somewhat against the Swiss frank lately, so you should all get yourselves over here for a visit.

Oh, and seventh, Stuart Bunderson and I are going to Oberammergau, a small town in Germany, for the Passion Play in May. They only do it every ten years. It's a tradition going back a few hundred years. Look it up on the web if you haven't heard of it. It should be pretty cool.

Pictures from Prague

It was an interesting trip. Prague has a vibe that is different from Paris or Vienna, for example. No offense to any Czechs who may be checking out the blog, but I didn't find the Czech people to be particularly friendly or warm. But it was still a worthwhile trip.

First, the limo:

As you might imagine if you know Tanner, there was an extreme amount of flapping and jumping when he realized that the limo was there for us. For the rest of his life, he'll be able to say he rode in a Hummer limo.

So, we got to the hotel and settled in. We spent lots of time at the water park during the time we were there. They had a wave pool that both kids loved. For Lindsey, it was a full-contact sport. She'd throw herself into the wave and let it carry her wherever it wanted, and the more people she crashed into, the better. She couldn't get enough.

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Some of our activities there included a lunch cruise,

a trip to the Prague Zoo,
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and a walking tour of the heart of Prague, including Prague Castle. Also, the Czechs went and built themselves a mini-Eiffel Tower.

Tanner and I went to a chamber orchestra concert in Prague the night before we left. That was a lot of fun. After that, a group of us decided to brave the city bus at midnight rather than calling a cab to get back to the hotel. We made it! As I'd mentioned, this was a tricky transit system to navigate, but most European transit systems have a few things in common. Once you figure those things out, it's just a matter of working out the details. Here's the longest escalator I've ever seen, down in the Prague metro system:

Here are a few other pictures. As you might notice, the architecture and the people are a little different in that part of the world.

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Back from Prague

And so we're back. I'll do a more complete post later. It was cold but fun, and the kids had a blast playing at the water park. The Czech Republic is different in many ways from the other parts of Europe we've visited. The daughter of one of my colleagues broke a tooth at the water park, and their trip through the Czech healthcare system was very third-world.

More to come.

Off to Prague

We head to Prague in the morning. I have to say that the Prague public transportation system has been the trickiest for me to figure out so far, partly due to the fact that our hotel isn't actually in Prague. We're staying a few miles outside of the city. That means we're crossing zones and such. I think I have a handle on it now, though.

It should be fun. We're going to visit the Prague Zoo and the Prague Castle, take a lunch cruise down the river that runs through Prague, and spend lots of time in Central Europe's largest water park. Tanner and I are going to a chamber orchestra concert in an old building in central Prague. I also need to make sure that I eat an authentic Czech dish. I don't know what that is, but I'll figure it out.

There will be 23 employees and family members from my company on the plane tomorrow. We probably should have just chartered a jet.

Stupid World Cup

Well, I was thinking that maybe Tanner and I would go to South Africa this summer (or this winter, if you're in South Africa in June). We'd go right after he gets out of school. Unfortunately, though, I found out that the World Cup soccer tournament is going on in South Africa right at that time. I don't want to be within a thousand miles of any country that's hosting the World Cup. Those people are nuts.

Maybe next summer (winter). Maybe we'll head for Norway, or maybe we'll just head back to the States.

Breaking the rules

In our time here, the Wood family has established a couple of rules for travel within Europe:

1. If it's less than eight hours away, it's cheaper and easier for a family of four to drive than to fly or take a train.

2. Only travel to countries that use the Euro. Anything else requires too much mental effort, and who wants to think that hard on vacation? Plus, you're going to get stuck with some leftover cash that you'll probably never need again.

Of course, our trip to Prague this Saturday will break both of those rules. First, although the Czech Republic is part of the European Union, they haven't yet adopted the Euro. They use the Czech Koruna. The ratio today is about 19:1. That means that a dinner that costs $40 is about CZK 760. That's going to take some mental gymnastics.

Second, we're flying because we're going with a huge group from my company. I believe we're up to 23 people now, although I've started to lose count. Also, I'm not sure what driving conditions are like in the former Eastern Bloc. They're probably fine, but it seems a little more foreign to me than someplace like Germany or France.

One highlight of the trip if you happen to be Tanner is that we've arranged for a Hummer limo to pick up some of our group at the airport and take us to our hotel. It's about a 45-minute trip. You have to understand that when Tanner dreams at night, he dreams about Hummer limos. When he doodles, he draws Hummer limos. If you see him doing his usual jumping and flapping thing, there's a good chance he's thinking about Hummer limos. It should be the higlight of his life to ride in a Hummer limo. He doesn't know the plan, so he should be pleasantly surprised as we're leaving the airport in Prague.