I have always wanted to keep a journal about my vacations, but I always put it off for too long, because I wanted to write a lot. Let me work on changing that this time:
Friday, July 17 – boarded Quatas just before midnight.
Saturday, July 18 – finally got off Quatas in the morning.
***Honestly, once you are used to Singapore Airlines, there is just no other alternative. Unfortunately Quatas was our only choice for flying direct.
***We picked up the BMW convertible from SIXT from Terminal 1 in Frankfurt. Took us about one hour to just start the car, haha. The manual was in German and we put all the brain power of four of us together to figure out how to start the car from reading that manual & trial and error. We finally gave up and asked for help from SIXT so we can open the top. They sent us a technician who could only speak German. And worst is – he doesn’t know the features of the car either. That guy even called “Emergency” by accident – can you imagine that? We have the highlights filmed.
***Finally Liam drove the car out of the airport. We had to close back the top in just 11 minutes, because it started to rain. It was about 8am. And shortly after we got on the Autobahn, the traffic got heavy here and there. It was like all the Germans were competing to get to a RV park for the weekend, and 1/3 of the Autobahn on the way to Bavaria was in construction. That’s how it felt like anyway. According to our GPS Guidance (codename: Sasha), we were forever 3 hours away from our destination.
***Finally we arrived at InterConn in Berchtesgaden / Obersalzberg. We had to skip Salsburg because of all the delays along the way. Our jetlags were catching up with us too. We went to the heated outdoor pool, just before dinner. The pool offered a great view of the Bavarian Alps and it was picture perfect. Except for the frequent looks we got from other guests from time to time. We guessed we were either too different or too good looking. There were a bunch of snuck up rich people staying at the Resort – do you know that the Resort offers “a private landing pad should you wish to arrive by your helicopter”? The front desk man thought we were Yanks and that offended us somewhat.
Sunday, July 19 – We went to the heated pool one last time during this stay. Had an awesome buffet breakfast at the hotel and took a Segway tour roaming the Alps for an hour and half. That was a lovely way to start our day. By the way, did I mention we had a suite at the InterConn? They told us it is just one level below their Presidential Suite class. Lovely isn’t it? We only discovered a small problem – well, apparently the area is famous for being picked by Hitler as the Nazi senior officers’ vacation place. Really it’s not the local’s fault or ours. The area is just too perfect a vacation place. We were on the road again after we checked out the Resort. This time straight to Prague.
***Arrival in Prague was not without incidents. We had to wait in a nearby pub for our rental flat to be readied. Later after we dropped off our bags, it was straight back to the pub to meet up with some friends. It was fun but we were really tired. By 9:30 it was bed time.
Monday, July 20 – We realized we were in urgent need of some household items. For one, some of us couldn’t have a good night sleep, because the covers and the beds were just “wrong”. The towels were too small and thin. So we had to go shopping. Fortunately the flat is just by the Old Town Square. After wondering about for two hours, we found what we needed. Then we went on the Powder Tower and saw a panorama view of Prague. Later that day we went to a former-bomb-shelter-turned-pub to meet up with groom to be – Radek. I must say, with all the smoking I bore with in my entire life, I had never found smoking disturbing until then. Imagine being in a packed smoking room with no ventilation and that’s how that pub was like. I was developing a headache. Later we went for some late dinner. We ended up being in this restaurant called “Buffalo Bill” and it was supposed to be an American restaurant. Buffalo Bill would be weeping in his tomb if he got to try the food there. They screwed up my order of two corn cobs because they were overcooked, over-buttered, and under-salted, if that is actually a phrase. Well at least bedtime is pushed back further.
Tuesday, July 21 – As usual the first thing we did in the morning was to buy some tasty cured meat and bread from the local shops. Had breakfast and went out with Hanna for a ride 70 km away to see the Bone Church. Hanna is Liam’s ex-stepmother-in-law. If you’ve never seen this term before, you just learned something today. Liam wanted to take the convertible, so we had to beg the neighbours to let our car out and Hanna’s car in, all thanks to the flat owner not giving us the key to the garage. Shortly after we heard some pretty screwed up story about the flat owner Markéta, regarding her almost assassination in Croatia. Liam and I thought she was going nuts or something. After a long ride we finally made it into Kutná Hora and we passed “Grunta” for three minutes…haha. I like how the European signs “cross off” a town or a speed zone to let you know that you are no longer in the area where the conditions apply. We saw the Bone Church which was made from human bones. We wanted to have lunch at where we parked the car, but “the chef was on vacation for two weeks so the kitchen was closed”. So anyhow, we had lunch and went to visit the silver mine city of Kutná Hora on Hanna’s suggestion.
***After we rolled back into Prague, we went to the flat of Liam’s ex-mother-in-law, aka the Kids’ Czech grandma. I got to hiss back at a cat at their flat. After that we went to a restaurant on a boat, cruising on the River Vltava in Prague. It was very nice, although I didn’t eat much.
Wednesday, July 22 – We had this day mostly just to ourselves. Woke up at noon and stayed in until 2pm in true McDonald style. We then went to Prague Castle, Charles Bridge and the Toy Museum. Later, Wednesday needed me to assist her to find a pharmacy, so we walked and walked, until we were in an area almost obsolete of tourists, precisely on Stephanikova. Later that night, we played “asshole” the family card game, and received a friend briefly at our flat. It was a good day.
Thursday, July 23 – Today was Radek’s big day, so we all had to dress up and wait for the taxi to get us to the wedding ceremony location. It sure was difficult to walk up in my high heels. According to other folks at the wedding, the ceremony took place at the oldest vinery in Prague. It was a sweet ceremony. Later we went to the wedding reception place, and had the wedding lunch. I learned that it is the tradition locally to start the wedding at around noon, offer a formal lunch to close friends and family, and following a reception to other guests partying into midnight. Well we sure partied until midnight. We danced too, at my first Czech Jewish wedding. It was all very lovely.
Friday, July 24 – We were invited to a BBQ and we had no idea what’s in the store for us. Because the BBQ wasn’t supposed to start until at least late afternoon, we took the opportunity to pay a visit to the Jewish Quarter earlier in the day (like from 2pm). That’s what I wanted to do since Wednesday. Later we were informed that we had to dress up “the 60s style”, so we went to get some outfit. It turned out that we were punked, just like what I predicted. Anyway, we ended up in this gorgeous Czech suburban home and had awesome BBQ night with our generous hosts, and had so much fun that we were asked to stay for the night (well we really didn’t have any choice because no one was able to drive). At one point we were learning a Czech song while my stepson Paris was smooching with two teenage girls in the living room inside the house. Oh, have I mentioned he also asked the waitress at Radek’s dinner for a dance and he is only 14 while the waitress is 18. Amazing isn’t it?
Saturday, July 25 – We had to get up early because we needed a lift back to our rental in the morning so we could pack our bags. It’s time to leave. When we were all packed to go, we had to see the nasty looks from the neighbours again. OK – maybe just one selected neighbour. This guy actually took out a camera and took pictures of us as his “evidence” because he thought the flat owner Maketa had no right to rent out her apartment. Well he was wrong and this is NOT the communist area anymore.
***Finally off we went again, and on the road again. I had to beg Liam to let me drive the convertible, and eventually I got to drive both with the top open and later on the Autobahn. Me? On the Autobahn? Hooray! Although I did have to put up with two backseat drivers. This time it was straight back to Frankfurt. And as we finally checked-in and everything, we had our final toast in a restaurant in Terminal One. Then we boarded Qantas again, watched some more on-demand films, and backed to the reality that we live and work in Singapore.
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