Uvaly u prahy

The other day we took a train ride out to Uvaly, the town 30 minutes east of Prague where Misha used to live and where Bulov, Misha's almost 30 yr-old son, has recently bought a flat.

Howard and K generously offered to lend us their car, but we thought the boys would prefer a good old train ride.

Unlike a lot of Prague, this train station hasn't changed a bit. Though the trains certainly have. And they're even telling us how they are modernizing

Glad to see they are still cleaning the streets in Uvaly.

This one was in Vodickova a couple of days later. Cooling down the dust.

Back to Uvaly and a lovely afternoon at Hana's, my old colleague.

We had a swim in her pool and caught up much of the news over the past couple of years. Yes, we are really witnessing an almost drowning here. At this point I dropped the camera and screamed to Misha that he wasn't playing!! Blurghghh!

Short but sweet.

Then we met up with Bulov.

Coincidentally, coming out of Hana's, Bulov's mum was driving down the road and gave us a lift to the hospoda and joined us for a beer.

Prague, out and about

Howard and Kathleen lent us their zoo season tickets, so we took advantage of that and had a great day out. This was Alastair getting up close and personal with the lemurs - trying to feed them gravel!

We love the lemurs at our zoo and sing a little song about them: 'Wee wee wee wee, I'm a little lemur, leaping about in the sun. Wee wee wee wee, I'm a little lemur, clinging on tight to my mum.'

Alastair was fascinated by the turtle.

Many of the animals we don't see at our own 'Africa alive' zoo, so the boys were transfixed.

But we probably spent as much time watching a 'strimmer man'!

They both found the little cart very funny. Of course it came in very useful after a few hours when they both just flopped in like sacks of potatoes! It was a hot day.

And after a few days we were missing the sea in all that heat, so we headed for the river to cool off.

We caught up with Roman (and Lida) who still have their cafe bar and boat rental under the national theatre.

The Strahov rose garden looked particularly gorgeous at this time of year. And the boys loved the funicular, of course.

The walk through Petriny was interspersed with pleas for swings and twirls and I suppose this was the main source of Misha's exhaustion by the end of the holiday!

As much as possible, we tried to exploit little cafes and food places and the boys thought this was just great.

Apple strudel proved to be a big hit.

Couldn't help noticing this 'new' Tesco express on Arbesovo namesti.

I still love the normal shops though.

Prague, first days

We flew to Prague last Wednesday. It always feels like home when I visit and this time was no exception. The boys took great delight in riding the funicular car up the very steep hill which separates the hotel where we stayed the first night.
Breakfast on the terrace watching the red car glide discretely up and down was quite fun. Till the wasps got wind.

The boys' big brother Bulov met us briefly after work and escorted us to Howard and Kathleen's, where we had dinner that first evening.

Very very brief but long enough to see that they are doing well and James is thriving.

He and Gregor hit it off and particularly enjoyed getting naked and bouncing, climbing and hiding together.

Alastair was glad for the peace to enjoy James' trike uninterrupted and pretend it was an airport trolley carrying cases.

As Howard and co flew to France the following day we took over plant watering duties at their new place in our old stomping ground of Smichov. Loads more restaurants have sprung up and cafe tables line streets that once were butchers' shops and florists. It's nice. While Misha exploited the short time he had to spend with Bulov I went to meet Pedro and Daniela and baby Mario.

He's a gorgeous little thing, and quite a cool chap, since it was in the thirties and he wasn't even hot and bothered. Excellent.

You wouldn't think to look at him that Pedro had had a bad day at work and got nothing done.

This is typical of Gregor. If there's a gate don't open it, climb over it. I used to do that too, but I haven't told him. Eek!

Pedro was explaining to Gregor where he's building the latest power station. Alastair was bored and went to find a hole in the fence further up.

Then Gregor - desperate for male attention - tried to persuade Pedro of the benefits of testing whether his hat could be considered flotsam or jetsam.

Back at Howard and K's flat, Alastair was happy to tinkle on the piano. He likes looking at the musical scores too.

He closed the lid yesterday and gave himself a big clap. Actually it was great, because he did it quietly. Quite an achievement!