A Springtime Saturday Stroll Around Letna Park

My friend Sher and I had lots of catching up to do! We took a long leisurely stroll around Letna Park, famous for it's beer gardens and view of the Vltava. Why don't you join us for awhile? It's lovely!

Everything was joyously, exuberantly in bloom

The start of our walk - this regal boulevard

All this pond needs is koi

The leaves on these tulips are stunning
with their variations

An apple tree awaits May 1st

Can't you just smell them?

A first fabulous view of the Vltava
with lilacs

Is this pretty enough for you?

Two of my favorite flowers:
pansies and tulips

The last of the forsythia

These beautiful blossoms
adorned entire trees.
I nicknamed them
peppermint popcorn.

See
Smell
Enjoy

The Charles Bridge and another
from Letna Park

Local landmarks:
the 1970s Hotel Intercontinental
The Church of the House of Tyn in Old Town Square
National Museum
Vysherad Cathedral

Are you feeling more peace?

The entire riverbank is a riot of lilacs

I hope this helps you
"slow down and smell the flowers."

Happy Blog Birthday to Me!

One year ago I started this blog to help me go through the emotional journey of graduating my youngest child from high school, downsizing and potentially selling my home, and moving across the world from the American Midwest to Prague, Czech Republic.

My home in America

One year ago, I was living a very American mom lifestyle in a 3 bedroom/3 bath suburban home with one child at university and another in her senior year at high school. I only went places by car. I didn't yet know how to blog. I didn't yet know how to Twitter. I didn't yet know how to couchsurf.

I was mowing the lawn once a week. I read somewhere that not having a lawn to mow anymore frees up 30 hours a year. Hallelujah! I still own the house and the magnificent blackberry tree that goes with it. Currently, I have it rented out to some terrific people.

At the beginning of my blogging journey, I was working on what to do with all of my "stuff." I don't think of myself as particularly attached to possessions but once a lifetime of them have built up, the task of thoughtfully going through each and every one and making a decision about what to do with each one is overwhelming.

Fortunately, I found this fantastic book that helped me go through the process in an incredibly empowering way. It's called "When Organizing Isn't Enough: Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life" by Julie Morgenstern. Wow, did that book help me. I didn't waste any years in procrastination before starting. All of those posts are under the label SHED. They used to be the most-read part of my blog.

My children have thrived on their own. Each of them are attending their university of choice and living their own dream. They're loving life and they haven't needed their mother stateside to do it.

Pinch me!

And where am I now? I'm living in Prague!!! In the six months since I moved here, I've found great students, great friends, a great neighborhood, a great flat, a great flatmate, and a great church community. I feel like I'm living my values 100%. Life is awesome!

My property maintenance consists of cleaning my apartment every other week when it's my turn. That takes about two hours max.

I no longer have to worry about oil changes, or tires, or brakes. That frees up even more time. Using public transportation has been a Godsend. In six months, I've lost twenty pounds because I'm walking to and from metro and tram stops rather than merely to the driveway. I have zero worries about traffic - imagine how stress-free that makes life.

Even the stress of having a rotten president has gone away! Hallelujah!

Over a year of blogging, I've written 226 posts. I've had 4,200 visitors and 10,000 page hits. My blog was chosen as Expat Blog of the Month (thank you Julian!) in December of 2008. Now that I'm actually living here in Prague my readership keeps growing about 5% a month. If this were a business that would be an outstanding rate of growth. But it's not, it's just for fun.

And fun it has been. Blogging has helped me focus, focus, focus on achieving my dream of moving to Prague to learn about this beautiful city and the wonderful people of the Czech Republic. Thank you for reading and being part of the conversation!

Prague in Photos

My friend Michael, writing at Blogging Gelle, created a wonderful photo essay entitled "A Sunday Walk in Prague II." If you haven't seen it yet, take a look.

What I especially enjoyed about it was his first 'photo walk' of about a year ago was sooooooo inspiring to me as I planned my journey to Prague and thought about living here. Now I live here and I know most of the places in his essay! How cool is that?

Click on my title to see his work.

President Obama in Prague!

Dreams of My Father (in Czech!)

President Obama came to Prague to speak and 30,000 of us showed up! I was excited especially after my blogged open letter asking President Obama to come to Prague to talk to the Czechs about the radar base was read by a corespondent at the BBC. A producer emailed me and asked if I would be willing to do an interview. "Could you also find us a skeptical Czech to interview," they asked. Someone who represents Prime Minister Topolanek's viewpoint [that the American way is the "highway to hell?"]. Ha. That would be easy. ALL Czechs are skeptical!

I tried to get a press pass at the American Cultural Center. And why not? Bloggers get press passes to almost everything back home from the Democratic and Republican conventions to the Inauguration. Now that newspapers are closing at the rate of one a week in America, bloggers have never been a more important part of the democracy conversation. I have to admit I felt sheepish though when I took my place in press pass pickup line and asked the embassy lady if I was on the list. The guy in front of me was from Danish TV. The guy behind me was from the Washington Post Berlin bureau.

"Name?" she said. I told her my first name and surname. "No, the name of your media outlet." I gamely replied "Empty Nest Expat." Gentle readers, you would have been proud of me. I managed to carry that off with a straight face. "Uh, I don't think you're on the list," she said. "But here, she said, is an invitation to have a closer spot at the speech."

It was harder than I thought to find a skeptical Czech who was willing to go with me and be interviewed. I called a friend on April 1st and asked him but he couldn't talk right then. He called me back the next day and asked "Is this for real? I was laying in bed thinking about it and then I remembered that you Americans have this holiday...." No, no. This was for real. Not an April Fool's joke.

I asked another Czech who I knew to be really skeptical of Obama's stimulus package. He had asked me after the stimulus package passed, "Why is America spending all of that money going into debt? We [the Czech Republic] couldn't afford that debt. And why is all of that money being funneled to companies rather than regular people? It just creates graft."

He wouldn't be my skeptical Czech either though. "Journalists? I'm skeptical of them too. They just pull a bit out of what everyone says to manipulate the news." Man, these Czechs are tough cookies. They don't have much faith in ANYBODY!

Luckily, I met this articulate young man at the tram stop on the way to the speech. We instantly hit it off. He looked at my invitation and said "this is very Czech. It's meaningless. It's just to make you feel important while you stand with everyone else at the speech."

"But it's from the American Embassy!" I said. "Doesn't matter. It's not going to get you any closer. This is Czech," he kept saying.

He was right. We were in the back half, far, far from the press risers. The producer emailed me and said they were unable to get down from the risers to talk to the people. It didn't look like the interview would come off. I was disappointed but knew that the interview wasn't the point of the morning.

Protestors at the entrance to Prague Castle.

Gee, I guess I needn't have worried
about how I looked when I went
to try and get a press pass.

Yes, that number is 70!

A Czech patriot wearing his medals
and proudly displaying a beloved photograph
of his father with Founder of the Czech Republic Masaryk.
This man was imprisoned by Communists after WWII.

My pal Petr whom I met that day
kept me entertained for three hours.
He was my skeptical Czech!

Michael
aka Blogging Gelle!

Everybody watching for the big entrance.

30,000 cameras reach up as the couple takes the stage.

The experience itself was underwhelming.
Three hours of waiting
with the realization you can't see a thing!

Thank goodness someone invented YouTube.
I hope to write more
about Obama's speech after the Easter Holiday.

The American flag, the Czech flag,
and the European Union Flag.

There is always room for wit on my blog.
These protestors made their point
by making everyone smile.

30,000 people leaving the square -
all wanting to go
a different direction than us.

After we had left the square, I got another text from the producer saying "can you come down here in five minutes, we are able to get off the risers." By then we were long gone out of the square and going back through the alley of 30,000 people and into the square would easily have taken a half hour.

I have increased appreciation for journalists after this. We were tired. We just wanted to go home. Journalists have to write something, after all that standing, and then produce it on deadline. Their job is a lot less glamorous than TV makes it look. And they do it day, after day, after day.

Cheering on the Athletes at the Prague Half Marathon

Today my friend Anna ran her first half-marathon! What a fun and exciting challenge to set. Gulnara and I offered to serve as her "Sherpas," the people who carry the water and raisins necessary for refueling along the way.

Over 6,000 people from 79 different countries had signed up to run. It set off at the Rudulfonium and went through some of the most beautiful streets in Prague. It was probably cobblestone most of the way.

This was Gulnara's first time at a race too!

A nice Czech couple who helped us find our way.

Three fun-loving ladies from Spain
ready to run!

Adorable Anna
preps for her first half marathon

Three pals before racetime

Milan from the Czech Republic

Marc, an auditor from Luxembourg
We enjoyed getting to know people before the race
and cheering them on.

Mohito from Japan
works here in Prague
as a construction engineer.

Czech native Karel
was excited to run.

Agnes and Stephanie
are U.S. Department of Defense civil service staff
working in Germany
They were off to see the Mucha Museum while
their friend ran the race.
Thank you for your service to our country, ladies!
We appreciate it.

This woman and I had fun
chatting about her height
we never spoke the same measurement system
though so let's just say
she was a good half a head taller than me.

We American ladies had to give our native friends
a hard time about the European
way of doing things.
Notice how the male numbers don't have an "M" for male.
Men are the default.
They put an "F" for female who are the exceptions.

The parade of flags

Another Prague native ready to run

Jorg from Germany

As the race gets close to starting
you can feel the runners get jazzed
as their adrenaline gets ready to be sprung.

And they're off!

The Prague Half Marathon
is officially opened by Vaclav Klaus,
the President of the Czech Republic.
The first piece of music played
as the runners take-off is
Smetana's "My country."

I shook the President's hand
but got a bigger kick
out of listening to two teenage Czech girls
literally squeal when they got to meet him.

President Klaus
of the Czech Republic
(he's better-looking in person than in the paper).

My compliments to him and his English teachers.
His accent when speaking in English
was practically native.

This man, who is Czech Secret Service
totally impressed me with
how graciously he did his job
with a constant smile
for those in the crowd
even as he protected the President.

The lead pack
halfway through the race.

A fun exuberant Czech runner.

It was nice to experience his enthusiasm
because Czechs in the crowd don't
cheer on their countrymen.
They just watch.
Anna said the only cheers she heard
along the way were in English.

Anna coming in strong and with a smile
near the end of the race.
Her goal was to run a 2:30.
She ran a 2:32.
Bravo!

I saw these braids go by during the race
and knew it could be only one woman:
Black Girl from Prague!
I was right.

Marco from Bavaria
blew us kisses as he raced.

Everyone should get a medal sometime
in their life, don't you think?

Anna happy, tired, and sore.

Can you get a better backdrop for a race well run
than Prague Castle?