SARDINIA

Taking a private jet to a 5 star resort in Sardinia for 2 weeks? 

I guess if I have to...

Be back soon.

WHY SO COMPLICATED?

Funny little saying posts on Facebook are NOT generally my favorite things to see (especially if it contains a cat with weird spellings). 

Same with getting a FWD email. 

But I have to give this one a thumbs up:

No need for games.

IRON CURTAIN

During our bike ride, we stumbled upon a small history lesson

at the Czech/German border

  

After the communist coup in 1948 the Czech/Bavarian border was closed. Thousands of soldiers of the so-called border guards did their job here until the year 1990.

The Iron Curtain, an expression first coined by Churchill, separated the democratic states from the so-called Eastern block countries for 40 years.

If people attempted to escape into the free democratic West, they were either shot dead or electrocuted by the high voltage of the wire on the border.

Thousands were arrested and sentenced to many years of imprisonment. Many opponents to the Communist regime were sentenced to death.

An off limits border strip in former Czechoslovakia was set up and it was strictly forbidden to step onto it. The inhabitants of the villages had to leave and were resettled somewhere else. Later all the buildings were destroyed.

I think, being from America - "the land of the free", this blew my mind. To be standing here next to this border with a person telling us stories of their personal experience of having to camp 3 days to watch the border (of another area) to find the perfect time to run and escape when guards weren't looking in hopes of finding a better life beyond communist control.

BIKERS

Since we were in the heart of the Šumava forest for the weekend, we decided to be sporty and go for a bike ride.

Thanks to Ivanka, we were outfitted to look like professionals.

There are families who think 18 km is hard and have to walk their bikes up the hills, but not ours...

Ahem.

 Some people in our group couldn't wait for the chance to park at little pitstops along the trail...

Some had to be bribed to continue the journey with sweet dumplings...

others with ice cream...

and some were more into riding ahead of the group to snap photos...

But all of us enjoyed the ride down back to our village.

FOREST CAMPING

We went to the forest house in Borová Lada for the weekend.

 William has never experienced a real "camping trip" before...

So we roasted sausages

and put up a tent.

 It totally looks like we're in the middle of the Czech forest camping...

But we're actually still close enough to the house for mommy to come give him a goodnight kiss and for his iPad to get wifi connection.

Add some sleeping bags, scary story time, and flashlights and you've got some very happy (first timer) campers.

HUNGER GAMES

My version of the Hunger Games in the Czech Forest.

*No one was harmed in the photographing of this event. We were really just playing a German version of lawn darts and I needed a free hand.

PRAHA

My friend Kat is here in Czech for the summer also. So she met my cz family and me for some good fun in Prague.

Our apartment is the perfect location

A little sightseeing:

Orloj clock tower and the John Lennon wall

 A walk on the Charles Bridge after dark

 pillow forts & video games with William

 painting bricks for charity

lunch at a restaurant that has train tracks along the tables...

 so you can watch your drinks leave the main station (kitchen)...

 and be delivered right to you in a train car

*William loved this so we had a lot of drinks with lunch*

 Then we finished the afternoon at the golf range

Always a wonderful time in Prague.