Prague

We drove to Prague - Oscar driving, Emma not feeling confident of staying to the right at 130km per hour. Despite knowing we had to purchase a toll sticker on entering the Czech Republic, we were concentrating so hard on the road that we completely forgot and got pulled over by the police. We thought this was incredibly diligent of them until we realised they were happy to accept cash rather than write us a ticket or have us follow them to the station for a higher fine. This suited us too so Oscar handed over the Euro which disappeared under the policeman's hat. No wonder they do their job so vigilantly! We laughed all the way to Prague.

Prague was stunningly beautiful, particularly the spots on the hills overlooking the city where there were fewer tourists. The castle, the biggest castle complex in the world apparently, was amazing. Walking along the same cobblestone paths that Good King Wenceslas did seemed strange. Speaking of the good king, it seems even though he may have looked out his window on the feast of Stephen and helped that poor lad collecting wood, I'm not sure how good he really was - the Christmas carol fails to mention he also had a priest thrown to his death of the bridge for failling to reveal the Queen's confession. In the origin of Budvar (Budweisser) and pilsner, we did enjoy an ale; the sunny weather was encouraging. 

We visited an 11th century fortress on the hilltop - funny how we think 100 year old buildings in Melbourne are old! Both Dvorak and Smetana are buried at this beautiful spot. I drove back cautiously with Oscar saying "move over, move over" every 800m - it took me a while to feel comfortable on the RHS.

After sunny, T-shirt weather, today was miserable with cold winds and some rain - a nice day to spend at home. Hope you're all going well.

Bratislava

We made it to Bratislava - whata a long trip! The flight from Frankfurt to Vienna was with Niki Lauder's airline, Fly Niki, and when we boarded the plane we discovered Niki was actually the pilot. It may have been my imagination, but it did seem like a fast, smooth flight and landing, obviously a plane is nothing after a F1 car. In typical Austrian style we started to taxi onto the runway even though some passengers were not in their seats - nothing was going to stop the plane from leaving on time. Miro's cousin picked us up at the Vienna airport and drove us to Bratislava - less than an hour. The outskirts of the city are not that attractive - just like any city but with pretty communist looking, big concrete apartment blocks. The apartment we're in is great though, really close to the centre and very comfortable. We walked to the old town centre yesterday, it's really beautiful, so clean and well preserved - we didn't see any litter on the ground all day. The climb up to the castle was steep and on the way down realised we had taken the long route. Ruby was disappointed that we didn't see the princess who she imagined must live in the castle - she was apparently sleeping. On the way back to the apartment we stopped by a new shopping centre and Rebecca and I went to Emily's favourite store, H&M. Our grocery bill seemed lower than it is in Australia - prices do not seem as high as we had imagined. Even at the airport in Vienna coffee was cheaper than in Melbourne. Off to Prague in the next day or so. Dasviedanje!

Kuala Lumpur

Well here we are in KL. The flight was easy - thanks for the lift Mia and Paul. We thought we'd get more sleep than we did but they didn't turn the lights off until 2 hours after take-off and back on 2 hours before landing. Ruby very excited, Rebecca got the most sleep.

Science museum yesterday - really just a propaganda front for the local petroleum company but fun anyway - lots of buttons to push and information about the benefits of draining the earth of its natural resources! Today out to some limestone caves just out of town, up some 280 steps. Oscar carrying Ruby on his shoulders all the way up seemed an attraction in itself - the Chinese tourists loved it.

We are at a HUGE shopping centre now - Oscar and Ruby have gone back to the hotel for a swim. We couldn't find anywhere to see the AFL game last night - we checked the scores at the hotel internet until it went down just before half time - Oscar assumes Collingwood has won so doesn't want the scores.

Hot here of course, not too humid though, easy to walk around - although the footpaths are like obstacle courses - now I'm really glad we brought the off-road pram and not the stroller.

We'll posts again from Europe, xoxo



Noodles for breakfats - Malaysian style