sayhitojohn

...1,000,002... Those are the sheep I have been counting.   It was nice to hear the Colorado crickets last night and the birdsong outside my window this morning.   Hey, my first post travel blog, yikes. No sleep has given me a chance to begin catching up some of the podcasts I follow. Timothy Keller has a very distinct gift at getting to the crux of a matter. His latest podcast, Justified by Faith, is no exception. He focuses on how we all count on something to validate our existence. Linked HERE is a very concise explaination of the heart of Christianity in 35 minutes, I encourage you take a few mins.

Sunday May 27.  This is it.  We coaxed our lame luggage into the the terminal and checked that bad for the last time.  The original issue was that part of the plastic exterior was rubbing while the kids would pull it at their closer to the ground angle.  So, we ended up trading off pulling.  Eventually the plastic ground down and that was no longer and issue.  However, when we pulled it at a more upright angle it would get this weird ever increasing wobble where it would almost flip over.  As you can see from the below image, the wheels do not quite orient themselves for optimal rolling.  Kinda like walking a stubborn dog.  Having packs on us and rollers for the kids really did work out the best. The kids loved the little condiments pack that comes with the meals.  They got a kick out of drinking their own tiny one ounce milks that some strange folks poured into their coffees, and the little sleeve was an efficient sugar delivery system. I had some very interesting conversations with a

Saturday May 26.   We cruised the New Quarter today with nothing definate in mind.  Being our last day we wanted to drift a little bit.  We followed a self guided walking tour through the area and learned a bit of history about the events surrounding Czechoslovakia's escape from Communist control.  The girls had a fun time browsing and ultimately buying a few dolls.  That made a nice context to have an interactive discussion about how free markets work.  In the image below they are picking and choosing their dolly's.  They really liked the fact that if they did not like the selection or the price, or even the vendor, they could walk down a few stalls and try it again.  Voila, a free market in action. In Rome there were a number of one off guys selling stuff in the streets.  The kids got pretty good at walking away when they could not get their price on goofy little things like splat balls a voice changing whistles.  I warned them that once they made eye contact they were in the

Friday May 25.  Today we spent most the day at the Terezin Concentration Camp.  Terezin was a late 18th century fortified city constructed in the shape of a star.  It's purpose was to keep the Prussians out of Prague.  In 1941 the Nazis removed the cities 7000 inhabitants and brought in 60,000 Jews.  Then the walls of this fortress were used not to keep invaders out, but prisoners in.  This camp was used as a propaganda tool via an unwittingly deceived Red Cross who had come to investigate Nazi camp conditions.  What they found was a completely staged 'independent settlement' where the residents were nearly scripted to give the false impression that this camp and others, like Auschwitz, were suitable and even prosperous places.  One wonders if anything on this scale of deception could happen again given the connectedness of our world.  Between Wiki Leaks and Arab Springs, information is transmitted nearly without constraint via twitter and other social media.  In moments th

Thursday May 24.  Today Patti and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  God has blessed me with a wife and friend that complements me so well.  I pray for another fifteen and many more after that.  We arrived in Prague on Wednesday evening and monkeyed around a bit in Old Town and found some food for the tummies but spent most of the time in the hotel as the kids wanted to swim.  Patti found a credit card reward deal, surprise, that is enabling us to spend all four nights in Prague for free.  The first night was at a five star Marriott.  That is definately not our style as we show up with backpacks on and kids in tow to the stares of the business suit clad clientele.  That was the only place we could find a pool for the kids.  They shrivel up if left out of the water for an extended period. Prague was home to an early Christian reformer by the name of Jan Huss.  He preceded Martin Luther by a century and differed from Rome in a few key areas; he wanted to decentralize church cont

Wednesday May 23.  We got going this morning at a leisurely pace as we had only one stop on our way from Cesky Krumlov to Prague and planned only wandering out to eat and the letting the kids swim for that evening.  After the kids ate more food for breakfast the they do in a single day (the pension has a breakfast buffet, English style) we set out. The car experience has been for the most part good.  Highway cruising is the best, city driving is a little more stressful.  This all happened today while under four wheel propulsion; running a red light, proceeding to go straight through an intersection from a full stop when only the turn lane went green, getting honked at by the Prague street-bound rail trams for being in the way, starting down a one way street and countless times almost hitting pedestrians in cross walks. It was tough.  I was the navigator but not at the helm.  I would shout out commands but my autocratic rule fails in the car.  I was constantly wondering what we would ge

Tuesday May 22.  Late on the previous day we traveled from Austria to the Czeck Republic.  On the particular route we drove, as we passed over the border and though the now abandoned exit and entry stations, it seemed as though you were stepping back in time.  Not back to the middle of the last millenium, but maybe back to the early industrial age.  You could readily see the effects of the differing freedoms between the two countries.  This difference is not extreme, but it is definately noticeable.  Patti was in Berlin not long after the wall fell and she describes that as when you looked East like looking at a black and white photograph. We toured the castle which was founded by ancestral Czecks and remained with them for a few generations before the Habsburgs and a variety of other occupants moved in including the Nazis.  The castle and the town were spared German artillery as the Germans saw themselves as owning the castle in perpetuity.  We were guided through several Gothic and R

Monday May 21.  Salzburg on, Salzburg off, Salzburg on again.  We originally had not intended to go to Salzburg but upon further research we found that our original target, Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, is closed on Mondays.  Sorry folks, park's closed.  Yup, that's right, most of the town is closed on Mondays.  Arriving into Linz at 6:30 AM gave us the whole day to do some exploring so off to the home of Mozart.  The previous night was spent on a train and as you might have guessed we did not get much sleep.  I intentionally had the fewest minutes of sleep as I tend to be a bit cautious in those situations.  In her early travel days Patti lost her money belt to a thief with passport and money in it when she fell asleep on a train in the middle of the day.  There are more details to that story, but it does not take much to get into a bad situation.  My strategy, if I slept at all, was to sleep so lightly that I would be more aware of what might be going on.  As well, I d

Sunday May 20.  We left from Ljubljana at a leisurely time this morning as we had all day to explore a few things and make our way to drop off our rental before we jumped on a train.  Our first stop was breakfast at our hotel where the kids loaded up on hot chocolate and super sugar crisp to power them for the day ahead.  Things that they never get back home, so when in Rome, or Ljubljana, do as the Romans or the Ljubljanians. Our first stop was the Postojnska Cave.  We were really not sure what to expect here but were very pleased with our tour.  The caves are a 20km network that is filled with stalagmites and stalactites and some very large caverns up to 40m high.  The lighting creates some very interesting effects but were difficult to capture.  After a train ride in of 2km we walked for another km then took the train back.  Flashes were not allowed.  My train shots are very poor, and I did my best with no flash on the others while stationary. Our next stop was Predjama castle.  Thi

Saturday May 19.  Made the short trip from Bled, Slovenia to Ljubljana, Slovenia this morning and landed at a perfectly located and cheap place right in the heart of the city.  The first thing Tara said when entered the room was "this is awesome, look at the size of the shower and this bathroom door is great".  The place we state in Plitvice a few nights ago had a decent sized bathroom, but the sink and shower were hobbit sized.  There was no soap holder on the inside of the shower, so I had to bend down every time to get more on my hands.  To do so was tricky enough given the confined space, but every time I leaned over I would hit my head on the water control and change the temperature. We visited a Serbian Orthodox church today while a service was in session.  Very interesting.  If I have my church history right, the Orthodox church preceded the Catholic church, whic or course proceeded the Protestant church.  The service is all done in a sort of chant and there a no pews,

No date specificity here, just food experiences.   Chocolate.  The kids and I spied a 350 gram bar of chocolate for 17Kn, which is about $3.50.  It had 6550 kilo joules of energy.  We needed this bar.  It was made in Sarajevo which was a new sweets origin for us.  Yikes, pretty marginal stuff.  Tara and I basically quit after the first few tries, but Riley seems to have taken to it.  Now she has about 300g of chocolate all to herself.  By contrast, this bar cost less then half of what the fine Swiss bars were selling for right next to it.  For the same amount of Kn we could have gotten half as much that tasted twice as good.  We upgraded with a 100g Swiss bar yesterday and that was the winner.  Update - while in the car today we happened upon a market with a big Swiss bar (250g) and cashed in a few favors to acquire it.  We bought a few other things, fruit and nuts, but that was by far the most expensive item in the cart.  Talk about priorities. Beer for Wifi.  My measly connection the

Friday May 18.  Made our way from Plitvice, Croatia to Bled, Slovenia.  When we were driving to Plitvice just south of Karlovac I noticed a number of houses that appeared to be abandoned which seemed strange as there always seems to be a shortage of housing.  A little research yielded some answers.  These properties are owned by Serbs who had fled during the war and have not returned to reclaim them.  It is good to see the Croatian government respecting the property rights of its citizens even in the case of war.  I would like to learn a little bit more about this war having experienced the country firsthand. We stopped at a war memorial in Turanj and saw a few implements of the recent war.  Many of the buildings in this town still bear pock marks from bullets and total destruction from artillery.   Why do we have wars?  Asked Riley.  The short answer is - war is always the result of sin.  We find in the letter from James, chapter 4 - 'What causes quarrels and what causes fights am