Travel 2011

July 25, 2011

Arrived yesterday. Luggage arrived today, delivered to our door in Chlumin, outside Prague, where we stay with our friends, the Hokes family.

Prague seems little changed since our last visit (2008). Our friends' lives are changed by the birth of the first grandchild, a lovely baby girl named Rozarka, born to Ivana and Jirka Hokes. We saw the baby for the first time shortly after our arrival. She is beautiful, full of life, bursting with smiles. The parents are in a state of perfect bliss. Grandmother and great grandmother equally fulfilled.

Tale of Two Vaclav's: Americans, even well educated ones, know this country mostly for the "Velvet Revolution" of 1990, which delivered the country from 41 years of communist rule, and know it through the personality of its first president, elected after the change, Vaclav Havel. Havel is the figure most associated with the struggle against the Soviet-backed regimes, a playwright-president who endured many years of prison.

The current president is also a Vaclav: Vaclav Klaus. He might be called "Vaclav, The Lesser," or "Vaclav, The Clown." It happens sometimes that otherwise intelligent electorate may choose a boob for its leader, and even repeat the mistake by re-electing the same boob. Americans are not unfamiliar with this pattern. Still, when it comes to Presidential buffoons, the Czech Republic is in a league by itself. Watch this YouTube video, titled "Czech President Caught Stealing a Pen" and you'll see what I mean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uToMvq3yw2A

Klaus is also known for his skepticism of global warming. This is cat nip for our own clown, propagandist Glenn Beck, who interviewed Klaus on his Fox News program. Listen to the two clown princes and you will understand why global warming is like communism and why it threatens our democracies, also available on YouTube. Just watch and listen to two clown princes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHYvuOLvRRM. I'm not making this stuff up.

The Global Economy is Global. We ordered out for pizza last night. Delivery man presented us with a bill denominated in three currencies: 378 CzKr, 16.40 EUR, 22.20 USD. When the pizza delivery guy gives you the price in greenbacks you know the economy has truly gone global.

Dining Out. June 30, 2011. A most unusual dinner with Jirka and Ivana, next door to their flat, in SU teren (http://www.su-teren.cz), a small restaurant owned and managed by Hannah. There's a section with regular restaurant tables, a section with "living room" seating, and a section with a courtyard. Hannah is the owner, manager and chef. This night she was also the waitress. SU teren offers a menu, but it best simply to ask Hannah what she's cooking today. She buys fresh ingredients every day and cooks from what is available that day. Man, can she cook.

Hannah is a character. Tall, slim, high forehead, ginger red hair. Cherie ordered Cous Cous, I ordered Gnocci. Both were great.

This dinner was unusual in another way. Jirka and Ivana are parents of a 6-month old girl, Rozarka. How do find a baby sitter when you go out for dinner on short notice? If you're just going next door, the answer is Skype. Jirka put a laptop next to Rozarka's cribe, set for video Skype connection to another laptop. He brought the second laptop to SU teren, and put it on the easy chair next to our table. There, on the screen, was a soft image of Rozarka, sleeping peacefully in her crib. If she fussed, if she cried, we would see and hear at once. If attention was warranted, Dad or Mum could rush home and be at her crib-side in a flash. She barely stirred the whole time we had dinner.