Prague, Czech Republic

If I lived in Prague, I would be so fit and thin because it is the most beautiful city for wandering around and walking.  Even in the rain, I loved walking in this city.  Many parts of Prague look untouched. For playing such a central role in events near the end of WWII, it seems to have largely escaped the kind of bombings that led to total destruction in other European cities.

View of the inner, old city from the outside.  To the left you see Charles Bridge.

Me with Charles Bridge in the background.

Sight-seeing in a suit.  One of the drawbacks of traveling for work.

Petting a cute dog statue on Charles Bridge.

Arial view of the city from Prague Castle.  We took quite the hike up with two children, both under 5.

It was quite the feat as it was also raining.

The Jewish Quarter in Prague has a haunting WWII history. It was left relatively untouched by the occupying Nazis and many synagogues were left standing because Hitler intended for it to serve as a monument to the extinguished Jewish race.  Disturbing.

The Old-New Synagogue

My best friend hugging the corner of the oldest, active synagogue in Europe.

Pretty, gabled houses in the Jewish Quarter

Maisel Synagogue, Hitler's intended "Museum to the Extinct Race"

This is what I get for asking my five-year old best friend to pose in front of a serious building.

"Okay now, that was funny, but give me a nice face."

With my serious tone now, "This is the last one I'll take so no more goofy faces."

I need to read about this sculpture outside of the Spanish Synagogue  becuase I only see one thing when I look at it, and it isn't appropriate.

Thank you to fellowship friends for many of the photos you see here.  We temporarily misplaced our camera so some of the photos are directly from their facebook accounts.

And one more for San Fransciso...

We had a friend (who shall remain nameless for his/her own safety) that requested I post the fellowship's professional headshot of the husband.  Actually, I brought it up and the nameless friend simply agreed it should be done. 

The photographer kept asking him to tilt his head more and more and it turned into this!

Don't you hate professional photographers sometimes?  He was not happy with this photo, but this photo makes other people happy.  You win some, and you lose some.

Caption Contest:  Can you give this photo a good caption?  Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Halloween Treats

A little late for a Halloween post, but this was one of our attempts to spread some American holiday love around Germany.  I made these little presents for all of the husband's coworkers, 24 total.  Each one was full of American candy (Snickers, Twix, Pez, M&M's, etc.)  The husband made the little gift tag.  He may have been an elementary school teacher in a previous life.  Or just lived with one the last three years. 

Close up before delivery.

Pretty sure he gave one to the guy painting our apartment building stairwell too.

According to the Germans, Halloween has only become popular here over the last five years.  Still, it isn't anywhere near as popular as it is in the US.  Germany has a lot to look forward to in the next five years as Halloween catches on, including the "Slutty XYZ" costume phenomenon.  All I noticed were witches and vampires here.  Their Halloween is so innocent.

Stuttgart Apartment

So here is the place. It has some crazy features. First, all of the floors are grey tile. This is a change from the wood floors to which we are accustomed. I think it is made to look like marble, but clearly not marble.

Second, all of the doors (even the bathroom door) are see-through glass. We have no idea what we are going to do when we have company. You can see EVERYTHING that is going on in bathroom from the kitchen. I am thinking about a creative solution involving wrapping paper. It is undoubtedly a bachelor pad. It has all modern furniture, black leather, no dining room table, and a mounted flat screen.

The guy we are renting from is really nice and serves as our ambassador to Stuttgart by helping us with things like calling the cable company on our behalf and talking to the utilities company so that we don't have to.

He also sent us free pizza from his pizza place on the night we moved in and had no food, and left us a bunch of wine and champagne.

View of the living room from the bedroom.  Notice our sweet TV.  It is best used for watching German MTV.

View of the other half of our living room.  This is the worst use of space I have ever seen.

Close up of the giant red cushion in the corner.  What is this all about?

The kitchen with small breakfast table.

View into the bathroom from the kitchen.

Bedroom with and actual double bed rather than two twin beds pushed together (suprisingly difficult to find here).

The closets in the bedroom with a view of the clear doors that you find on every room.

The view of Stuttgart from our fifth floor walk-up apartment.  My lungs and legs get a work-out every day!

He gets to call this work!

He does work hard, including the extreme effort he makes to speak nothing but German at the work place everyday, but I cannot resist teasing him.  We are both really lucky this year and I hope he looks back on these days fondly when he is a first year associate. Work here can be stressful, however, I have a feeling it doesn't quite compare to what he'll be facing when we return.

One of the first offical orientation meetings with his coworkers involved a beer garden.

After said "meeting" the group had a social event which looked more like drunken dancing.

They get personalized group tours and meetings at the Bundesrat in Berlin.

Personalized enough where he can pose at the podium too.

In a meeting at the Supreme Court in Karlsruhe they got spoiled with "Beverage Islands."  Notice the buckets of refreshments around the table.

Future Supreme Court justices?

Fellowship Headquarters with a million Euro view.

Traveling via private coach bus...

with a personal tour guide.

That is a plate of steak and cake.  A  real working lunch.

And of course there is always enough time for a good staring contest while visiting an embassy.

Another 3 course work lunch in a private dining area.

And lucky me!  He gets to bring the wife along too.

Meissen Porcelain Factory

While in Dresden we took another side trip to Meissen.  For those of you who love good porcelain (seriously I knew nothing about it before coming here), apparently this stuff is some of the best you can get.  I've never been more inspired to spend thousands of dollars on dishes before.  Amazing.

The pottery wheel guy that every girl was having "Ghost"-style fantasies about.

Porcelain fresh off the pottery wheel.

Hand sculpting.  One sculpure takes days to complete.

Close up of work being done on a tiny porcelain foot.

Every piece is hand painted.

Close up of stencil work.

Porcelain penguins.  Please, I would like to add these to my collection.

Porcelain skunk.  I really hope my sister sees this.

Of course my sick mind thought of Twilight.  What is wrong with me.

Run porcelain mouse!  I really hope my other sister is looking at this.

If I had a million dollars to spend on my table.

This was a dessert stand.  I want to see the dessert that was on it.

Look at the dragon handles! I want this!

We were trying to copy the pose of the figures in the background.

Chanel in porcelain.

They even had a touch of the USA.  The copy of this eagle is in the American Embassy in Berlin.