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After Christmas we took the train back to Prague (Tina, do you remember the stiflingly hot cabin on the train?). Spent a few days there before heading home.

Prague

This is a photo of Prague from the castle that is up on a hill in the middle of town. You don’t really want to walk up there – trust me, you don’t. On the other hand, taxis in Prague are a complete ripoff for tourists…

More Prague

Same shot, slightly different angle.

President’s House

The Czech equivalent of the White House – except this is a lot more accessable.

Prague Cathedral

The inside of the cathedral that is part of the complex.

More Prague Cathedral

And another shot.

Let’s see – where have we seen a dark shot of a cathedral before? Perhaps from Jim’s trip to DC? Perhaps? You would think I’d learn something in 7 or so years.

Obligatory Shot of Cathedral Front

Yet another shot of the front of a cathedral…

Tina and a Guard at the Castle

Tina and a guard.

I think Tina might be plotting something…

Yes, She Is!

Yep – sure looks like it!

Better Shot of the Cathedral

The outside of the aforementioned cathedral.

President’s House (Again)

More of the courtyard and the President’s house.

Prague

More of Prague

Old Town Square

The cathedral in the old town square of Prague.

More of the Old Town Square

The same shot – just to make sure I had two bad ones.

And that’s it – how did I manage to spend over a week abroad and only take 30 shots? DC was good for 250 or so, which I posted 40 or 50 of.

What was I thinking????

Don’t answer that!

I actually spent Christmas in Tarnowskie-Gory with Tina – one of the more memorable Christmasses ever. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph most of it

Snow!

View from Tina’s apartment on Christmas Eve. This is not a great picture (when will I ever learn about the flash / snow combo not being so good) but it does demonstrate the snow, which had been lacking until this evening (how the hell could you not have a white Christmas in Poland???).

More Snow

Same shot, different angle, same issues…

1/2 of Tina’s Flat

The kitchen of Tina’s flat. Ya gotta get the important shots…

Other 1/2 of Tina’s Flat

And the dining room – complete with the Christmas Tree!

Yes, the Christmas Tree really is a single pine branch sporting a bow stuck in a Zywiec bottle (who’s idea was that?).

Town Square

The Tarnowskie-Gory town square (Rynek?) Christmas Eve – you can just see the Christmas tree in the background.

Tina and Jim

I did NOT take this picture.

I did, however, learn my face-making lesson well…

Town Square

More of the town square – at least it would be if you could see anything.

More Town Square (?)

Whee – getting even worse! I think that would be the city hall in the background.

Well, that was a complete bust – on to Prague!

Tina took me to Krakow one day before Christmas – I don’t remember which one. Anyway, Krakow is a very cool city – although I do remember freezing my ass off!

One other thing I remember is the dinner we had – Mexican food at Taco Mexicana! Lesson learned: Don’t eat Mexican food in a country not on the same continent as Mexico! If I remember correctly the tostadas used sauerkraut and the margaritas were basically a shot of Tequila with salt on the rim of the glass.

Obligatory Pre-Trip Photo of Zaphod

Obligatory Pre-trip photo of Zaphod.

Note that I haven’t cleaned my fireplace out – it’s much easier now with a gas one, but you can’t just randomly burn things…

Road to Castle

Krakow – the road up to the castle (I don’t remember the name and am too lazy to walk over to the bookshelf and get the guidebook) in the middle of town. As I recall this was damn slippery – and didn’t we almost get run over by a truck coming down the road?

Castle Courtyard

Inside the castle courtyard…

A Closeup of Something

A closeup of something – something I suspect was built over the course of several centuries.

Dragon’s Lair

The entrance to the lair of the castle dragon…

The Dragon

And the dragon himself – he’s the black smudge in the middle of the picture.

What the hell was I doing with the camera at this time of my life? These pictures suck!

Krakow

A view of Krakow from the castle.

Really Big Bell

One of the bells in the tower of the castle. I’m sure I was trying to take a picture of the stuff on the side of the bell, but I obviously failed miserably…

Tower Bracing

And an absolutely boring shot of the inside of the bell tower. Just below the “X” you can see half of Tina’s head and left hand. Whee!

Castle View

Another view from the castle – I’m a bit happier with this one, although it is a bit blurry.

And Another Castle View

And another view – except you can’t see the wonderfully Communist buildings in the background.