January 19th-January 31st

Prague is having a real winter this year. The snow continues to stick around helped by chilly temperatures and an occasional light snowfall. However, the cold weather has been conducive to work and study. This is an exam period at the universities and Charyssa has been busy giving mid year exams to her students during the last two weeks. She is happy to report that her grading is finally done and the results are in. Rod has a break from teaching his seminar and is getting some other work done.

In spite of the cold weather, we've found some fun things to do.
With Lent just around the corner, Prague hosted a EuroCarnival. Music groups from parishes throughtout Germany, Austria, Italy, and Swizterland were in town for this festival and put on a parade in the center of Prague. Max and Katrina enjoyed the music and the unusual costumes.


Max participated in his first piano recital. He had memorized several pieces and they sounded great. Here he is playing a duet with his piano teacher.







Finally, Rod and Charyssa got a chance to experience a Burns Night, a well known tradition throughout the UK celebrating the birthday of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns. Since Max's school has a fairly large group of teachers from Scotland, this is a popular yearly event at his school. There was a poetry reading, bagpipe music, a traditional meal, and we even got to learn some Scottish folk dances. Here is a picture of Rod getting in touch with his (very distant!) Scottish heritage as he samples the haggis!

Jan 4th-Jan 17th

Snow! We have had over one foot of snow here in Prague over the past week. This came close to breaking a 50 year record. Children and skiers are delighted. Drivers and commuters have experienced a lot of frustration. Snow doesn't usually stay around too long, so snow removal has been slow and the roads and sidewalks are still being cleared. For example, Max's regular commute to school by city bus usually takes us about 25 minutes, but took an hour last Monday morning as traffic was snarled.








The city is beautiful in the snow. Here are some pictures of the city that we took on a walk to Charles Bridge last weekend.


Prague is built on river bluffs, so there are plenty of good places to sled. Max and Katrina have had fun on Petrin Hill. The temperatures have been quite mild, though, especially compared to Minnesota, and hover just below the freezing mark.



We also have a new 5 year old. We celebrated Katrina's 5th birthday on Sunday with chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. While Max was out on the sledding hill, she opted to stay inside and play with her new toys. Stay warm,everyone.

Dec.18th - Jan. 3rd

Winter cold settled in on Prague just before Christmas. We actually had one day with a high of 14 degrees. That's really cold for Prague, but it didn't stop the kids from getting in a little sledding. Max was so envious when he heard about the blizzard in Rochester and the subsequent snow days.


Since this is a really different year for us, we decided to do something very different for Christmas. After talking to people from Prague, we decided that the Canary Islands would be a good place to go for all of us. We could have some warmer weather, see a part of Spain, and the kids could have their first experience at the ocean. The Canaries definitely lived up to our expectations. We stayed on the island of Tenerife. The Canaries are often described as a mini continent because they have so many micro climates. The natives say that no matter where you come from, you will find some part of the Canaries that reminds you of your home. We'll take you on a tour here.


We started in the north which is wet and tropical. We were struck by the beautiful plazas filled with poinsettias of many different colors here in Puerto de la Cruz.







We stayed in the town of Los Gigantes, named for the huge cliffs you see here. We liked the small town atmosphere, although there were high surf warnings almost every day due to storms in the Atlantic and the beaches in the area were all closed to the public.






Lots of bananas are grown here.










The best beaches for us were about a half hour drive to the south. Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas were the kids' favorites. This area is really built up, but we have to say that the beaches here do live up to their reputation. They are huge and beautiful. The weather here is also quite arid, so it was very sunny and warm.














The island of Tenerife is dominated by a huge volcano. It hasn't erupted in several hundred years, though. We drove up through pine forests to a plateau that looks a little like Utah with lots of interesting volcanic formations and lava fields.





One of our favorite activties was going on a whale and dolphin watching cruise. In spite of the rather high seas, we did get to see a group of pilot whales and some playful dolphins in their natural habitat.






On the way back to Prague we also got to spend a day in Barcelona. The kids enjoyed walking on Las Ramblas and seeing the creative street mimes.














This is La Boqueria market with some of the most beautiful food displays we have ever seen.











And seeing the beautiful Christmas lights in downtown Barcelona was a great way to end our trip.


We are back to work and school tomorrow, but this has really been a very memorable holiday for us. Happy New Year to everyone.