We're Back

We made it back to Minnesota last night after a long and arduous trek. Here's a quick summary and status report...


I went running one very last time with Aleš and the missionaries. At the Tree, Aleš proposed doing 50 Canadian Pushups. That had always been the dream, but could we do it? We did. I went home a weary but satisfied man.  Best of all, the sun came out. It was promising to be a beautiful, if brisk, day.

Meanwhile, Kristine was checking to see if British Airways had reinstated our first flight. No luck. She got our seat assignments for the first two legs.

While Kristine and Lucy cleaned, Caleb and I boxed up our bikes. That's right. Instead of selling them as used bikes and losing a lot of their value, we jettisoned two suitcases to make room for the bikes. More on this later.

We walked downtown for the last time and got kolačky at one of our favorite bakeries. We ate them on the square as the weather turned colder and the skies darkened.

Kristine went to the art gallery then and used part of the money we got back from our deposit on the apartment on some painting she had been eying. Unfortunately, and this led to the only tears of the day, one that she really wanted had a little red sticker on the frame. It was being held for someone else who had already paid a deposit. It was of a little old lady, apparently a peasant, leaving through the gate at a large estate where she probably worked as a washer or something.  She had fallen in love with that little anonymous peasant grandma, had visited her several times and had planned to bring her home to live with us.  It didn't work out.

Aleš arrived and we loaded the luggage in the van and in a top carrier. The bikes, packed in cardboard boxes, got strapped onto the bike rack with a little plastic wrapped around them. By noon we were off.

The block and a half drive to Aleš house was uneventful. We needed to get more straps for the bikes.

Once again we were off and saying goodbye to Česke Budějovice.

On the drive up it started to sprinkle, then rain heavily. Meanwhile the plastic got shredded in the wind. I kept envisioning the boxes disintegrating and our bikes falling off the rack, sliding down the highway, and getting crushed under the wheels of a semi. Not so, however. We made it. At the hotel we carried eight suitcases, five carry ons, two soggy bike boxes, and a car seat up to our rooms.

Our plan had been to go garden hopping around Prague. It was still raining. When the rain subsided to a sprinkle and Kristine, in particular, was stir crazy, we hit the road. We visited the garden at Prague Castle and beautiful Waldštejn Zahrada (shown in image off the web on the right).

After a nice dinner (Czech food, of course), we went out looking for ways to spend our remaining Czech money. This was no fun. Shopping stinks on a good day, but at the end of a long day when you have to spend money it is awful. There was a dishonest Russian lady that tried to help us though. Kristine bought a couple of T-shirts. Kristine only had a large bill and the woman said they couldn't make change, but then sent a coworker out to get change. Then, when she should have given back 700 crowns in change, she only handed over 600 (100 crowns is 5 or 6 dollars, depending on the exchange). Kristine said, wait a minute, you owe me another 100 crowns back. The woman, grinning, said that she only had 200 crown bills and so we were out of luck. Kristine had 100 crowns in change to break her 200 crown bill. This put a bad taste in all our mouths.

Thursday, I set out at 7:00 a.m. to spend more money. I thought I'd buy some videos in Czech. There wasn't a whole lot open with much selection, though, and two hours later, I'd not spent much. I was desperate. I even thought about getting jewelry for Kristine. I was ready to get a Thai massage. The beggars weren't even out to lend me a hand.

On the way back to the hotel the tram train broke down. I was running out of time and didn't know how to get to the hotel from where we were. Fortunately, the train could still move out of the way and a new one came along.

We reinforced our rain damaged bike boxes with more duct tape. While waiting for the shuttle, Kristine declared that we would never be taking bikes along again. Then the shuttle came to take us to the airport. He looked at the bike boxes and said, "That's not luggage." There was some mention of "sileny" (crazy) American muttered by Kristine and the van driver as they watched. We crammed them in there though (barely).

At the airport, we learned that, although we had already been assigned seats, they had reshuffled and none of us was sitting by each other. "But we have a three year old." Typical Czech Shrug. At the gate they realized it was more than a simple shrugging matter. The plane left late, but we had five seats all in a row.

After a couple of hours in London and really starting to get smelly and testy, we were off to Chicago. Movies make life easier sometimes.

In Chicago, we had a four hour wait and a loopy Silas on our hands. He was starting to cry about everything. We were melting down.

One more flight to Minnesota and, there, gloriously, were the Taylor's waiting for us at midnight (seemed like 7 a.m. to us) with big smiles and a homecoming poster. We loaded up our stuff, including two incredibly beat up bike boxes (one was torn open all the way down a side). Another couple hours to Mankato, through historic and pedestrian enhanced Saint Peter, and to the yellow house.

There were sidewalk chalk welcomes, a poster with streamers, and, patriotically-decorated cupcakes (we love our neighbors, the Schroeder's) waiting for us.

Silas ran around looking at long-lost toys, Caleb and Lucy at long-lost books.  Family prayer expressing gratitude for the safe journey.

And finally at 3:30 am, nestled in our own beds, we slept.

Peter