| Gatorland in Orlando, March 2016 |
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| Gator family |
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| Blue and yellow macaw |
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| Croc pile-up |
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| Watch your step! |
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| Blue, blue sky |
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| Swamp life |
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| Copenhagen, Denmark, in August, 2015 |
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| Christianshavn's lovely canal on a summer day |
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| The North Sea, looking across at Sweden |
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| City square |
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| What a nice place for lunch! |
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| Bradenton Beach and Sarasota Bay, Spring 2015 |
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| Sunset ar Sarasota Bay, FL |
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| Bradenton Beach |
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| Sunrise at Bradenton Beach |
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| Louisville and Munfordville, KY |
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| Little stone cottage where my great-aunt once lived |
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| US & KY flags on a grey day |
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| Two of my cousins and me, together again |
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| At Hillbilly Tea in Louisville, with my high school friends |
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| Longboat Key in autumn: warm Gulf waters and white beaches |
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| The Gulf of Mexico at Longboat Key, FL |
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| Sarasota Bay, FL |
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| Sea oats waving in a gentle Gulf breeze |
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Our most recent trip to Prague, in August and September 2014, was maybe the best ever. The weather was much cooler than Florida in August, offering us a respite from heat and humidity. We stayed in Prague 6 rather than Prague 2 and 3, where we usually live, so we had the chance to explore a new part of the city. We met with as many friends, family members and former program participants as we could, enjoying the chance to catch up on each other's lives and introducing many of our wonderful friends to each other!
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| Hints of Autumn by Stromovka Park |
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| Iris and Rebekah |
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| Flowers! |
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| U veverky, the "best beer in Prague" |
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| After church at IBCP |
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| Alan at the fabulous Indian restaurant at Hradcanska |
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| Everybody rides the tram |
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| My favorite church, sv Mikulas at Old Town Square, under reconstruction |
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| Žižkov trucker |
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Recently we visited Delray Beach, FL, to reconnect with some people Jarda knew in NYC back in the 1960's. It's hard to believe that so many years have passed, and it's exciting that the friendships still survive! We had a wonderful weekend with Irene and Eliot, and enjoyed both the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. We can recommend Delray Beach for a lovely getaway!
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| Grey heron hunts in the Intracoastal Waterway |
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Once again, we visited our favorite Leu Gardens in Orlando with our son, who lives in New Jersey. That day we got some much-needed rain, but the gardens were still lovely.
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| Vysoke nad Jizerou, Czech Republic |
We recently spent a week in Vysoke nad Jizerou, near the Giant Mountains, a ski/hiking recreational area north of Prague. The weather was outstanding, with cool nights and warm days, and the leaves were busily turning color on the mountainsides around us. It was a perfect relaxation time before returning to Florida!
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| on the Zdenek Ron trail in town |
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| Carved saint at Hussite church |
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| Oslo, the capital of Norway |
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| Here we are at the Fram Museum |
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| At Vigeland Park, with its 200+ sculptures |
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| Baby houses on the Oslo fjord |
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| a view of the town fom the observation tower |
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| St John's Evangelical Lutheran Church dominates the town |
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In May, we visited Bad Schandau in Saxony on the Elbe, just two weeks before the June floods. We always enjoy a stay in Bad Schandau because of its diversity and scenic beauty. If you take Dresden as the midpoint, Schmilka as the upriver endpoint and Meissen as the downriver endpoint, this stretch of the Elbe in Saxony is a tourist dream: vineyards, cliffs, bizarre rock formations, quite a few steamboat trips up and down, the National Park just above, and the cultural richness of Dresden. We had one day of glorious weather, with th rest changeable, but that's about what spring has been like in Prague, so we were not too surprised!
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| From our boat cruise on the Elbe |
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| People enjoying the boat cruise |
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| Jarda at the train station (Bad Schandau in the background) |
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| Waterfall in Saxon-Bohemian National Park |
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| View from our pension: sv Barbora |
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| sv Barbora, Kutna Hora: miner |
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Kunta Hora, Bohemia
We visited Kutna Hora in April and enjoyed exploring this beautiful historical Bohemian town, just an hour from Prague. Highlights of our time there include visiting the tremendous sv Barbora cathedral, dedicated to sv Barbora, patroness of miners; getting a tour of the Italian Court, where Vaclav II ordered the Royal Mint established, using silver mined in Kutna Hora; walking the cobbled streets to see the beauties of this UNESCO World Heritage site; eating in the many restaurants, beer gardens and cafes of the town; and meeting tourists from all over Europe and Asia (plus a few Americans!)
We enthusiastically recommend a trip to Kutna Hora to everyone who visits or lives in the Czech Republic!
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| at Vlassky Dvur |
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| sv Vaclav at Vlassky Dvur |
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| Misty morning, view from our pension |
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| inside sv Barbora (side altar) |
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| People enjoying the sun at the plague column |
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| Looking out from sv Barbora |
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| sv Jan Nepomuk, with its Baroque shapes and colors |
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| exterior of sv Jakub (1165), being restored |
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| former Jesuit college, now an art museum |
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| schoolkids on silver mine tour |
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| confessionals in sv Barbora |
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| statue of saint on a house corner |
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