I'm back

Okay -- I'm back!

Where have I been? On vacation in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and even a day trip to Vienna.

For those of you on my e-album list I'm starting to get all the pictures together to put into albums but it is going to take me a bit of time. Between my friend Zuzana and myself we had over 900 pictures. I'm thinking of splitting it up into three e-albums (of about 50-100 pics each, I'm not going to use them all) so that it is more manageable. Just be patient, 900 pictures is a lot to sort through.

So instead of going into detail about the trip I think I will use this post to discuss things that I experienced that can not be explained in pictures:

-- the Slovak and Czech languages, while they use the Latin alphabet, have of course different syllable stresses than English and certain letter combinations are pronounced differently then you would instinctively do in English. As a result I became very good at pronouncing most Slovak/Czech words that I saw incorrectly. I did improve a little as time went on but it is funny how as soon as you start reading a word it is very difficult to "override" your instinct for how it is pronounced in your native language. My friend explained that in Slovak the letters only have one sound, which makes it even less complicated than English where letters like 'c' or 'g' could be pronounced in different ways, but I never could quite get a handle on it.

-- beer is reasonably priced, in many cases the same price as a soda. I've never been to many places in the world where a beer was about the same price as a cola. Outside of the big cities a pint of beer was usually around US $1.30-$1.50. And Czezh/Slovak beers are quite nice too. I quickly learned that "pivo" means beer.

-- for you nondrinkers the cola of choice is not Coke or Pepsi but a local one called Kofola. In some restaurants it is even available on tap, much like draft beer. While it is very popular in Slovakia and the Czech Republic my friend told me she had never seen it anywhere else.

-- the border between Austria and Slovakia is open and you do not even have to stop your vehicle when crossing the border. Quite a change from when Slovakia was in the "Iron Curtain" and Austria was in the "West", and that was what, 20 years ago? It is sad to think that it was not so long ago that people could be arrested or even killed crossing that border.

-- The highway road quality is generally better in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The main highway from Prague to Brno (the second-largest city in the Czech Republic) was rough and bumpy while the moment that highway crossed into Slovakia it became a lot smoother. Unless the Czech Republic do some serious roadworks that highway is going to be a real mess in about three to four years.

-- in the Czech language "Prague" is actually spelt and pronounced "Praha". That kind of surprised me as I had no idea why English would convert Praha into Prague (why would English add a 'g'?). A Czech friend of mine figured that English took it from the German who also pronounce it "Prag". Perhaps to get even while we use "Vienna" in Austria the city's name is actually spelt "Wien". Bear this in mind if you're ever on a road trip through Czech Republic and Austria because if you start looking for road signs pointing you to "Prague" or "Vienna" you will not find them.

That is it for now, if I think of anything else I will post it. The e-albums should start arriving within the next week or so.