I came home to cuteness after my weekend in Vienna. Dasa finally came home, and with her the Hugomonster. I missed the little brat.
And the kittens are growing too. Starting to act like cats and less like little blobs of fur. My favorite is the one on the top. He is very inquisitive and sweet.
I found this side of the church when I got lost, I think it was my favorite part. I love the tiled roofs. I be this has some significant meaning, but I don't have a clue what it is. numbers?
This was another church, St. Peter's I think. I love the copper dome.
It was very beautiful inside, totally over the top, but beautiful. There was a group of musicians practicing for something, that was pretty wonderful.
The dome from the inside.
And, yet another church. There was a wedding party coming out as I got there. Beautiful bride of course. It was funny watching the driver try to maneuver out. small streets, lots of cars, wedding people in the way...
And finally (though there were many more) I saw this one after I went for a walk by the Danube. I think it was my favorite, totally over the top!
The other notable thing about Vienna this weekend was the color red. I swear that there was some sort of agreement made, that to be a man... It's a football thing, this picture is mostly Spaniards, since they played Italy Sunday. But, on Saturday there were people from all over. Unfortunately, most of the teams wear red: Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, Spain... there are probably more, but those were the ones I recognized.
The streets were teeming with the crazy boys. They made an amazing racket, singing at the top of their lungs, in huge groups...
I escaped the madness a little and went to see Schonbrunn, the summer palace for the Austrian emperor. With only hordes of tourists, it really did seem mellow. huh.
For once, I paid the money and took a tour. It was kind of fun to walk through the bedrooms where royalty used to sleep (along with millions of other tourists). The gardens were pretty cool. That is the Gloriette at the top of the hill.
Back in town, Mozart's house, or one of them. He only lived here for 2 years, but I guess the others are destroyed or something. I could have paid 10 euros and gone in, but I decided not. As one girl I talked to said, I've seen Amadeus, didn't feel the need.
Finally, I treated myself to an opera. When we went to the opera in Budapest, they said that only maybe Vienna and Paris could rival their opera house. I had to see this one then. It was not nearly as ornate, but had a stately beauty of its own.
It was fun to see all the boxes too. Not a style I am used to. I was in a box, though you couldn't actually see the stage from my seat. Thought that was odd, but the acoustics were amazing. Even from my back seat.
The opera itself was odd. Something by Tchaikovsky, very Russian. I don't think I ever expected (or wanted to!) see an 80 year old woman getting raped by a man singing at the top of his lungs. Wow. And everybody died in the end too. Lots of drinking and gambling. Very Russian.
So, I left Stephanie in charge of my common garden experiment while I went gallivanting off to the Czech Republic. It won't be hard, I told her, just measure their growth once a month. Easy stuff. Ha! All hell broke loose and the poor girl has been working night and day trying to fix things (really! I got an email from her at 1 am!). Here she is making piezometers for nutrient injection.
These funny looking things are our attempt to combat the evil algae messing up my experiment. 
The obnoxious stuff keeps steeling the nutrients from my babies! Grrrrrrr.
Yesterday evening, I walked up to the Hluboka castle. I live right below it, but this was the first time I actually went up there this trip. Funny that. I still think it is the best castle in the region. 
And remember how I said the gardens looked like they were going to be nice? It was so very true. Lovely place.
I think it was a bit more adventurous than either of us had really planned, since today was a day full of thundershowers. Five minutes into the ride, we had to huddle under a tree for a while. Ate bananas and talked plants, so it was actually fun.
He originally had grand ideas of going to Dvici Kamen, the ruined castle I went to last March. Between the rain and the sad state of the bikes (road bikes don't do so well on gravel roads! plus, mine was 10X too big for me, pedaled with my tippietoes). We ended up just exploring the old military base by town.
It was very wet and we actually got stuck in a little swamp. So, we turned around and found this little place. And how lucky was that? Look at the goodies!
Wild strawberries and blueberries! How scrumptious!
After an hour of funny contortions and many mosquito bites, we each had enough to take home for a midnight snack. And purple hands to show for it. Isn't life grand?
After the wedding, I caught up with some of the CESRI people to do a little touring of Prague. We went back to the Prague castle. Again, it was beautiful. This is the cathedral.
Then, since Dan is an amazing planner and wanted to take a tour of the place, we all joined him. This is the inside of the old palace. I cheated again and snuck these pictures.
I loved the door, and look at the cool books!
This is the basilica of St. George, I think. Very cool old church. No pictures from inside, they had guards here to stop you.
Then we went to the golden lane. I tried to go here last time, but you had to have a ticket. This time, it was included in our general pass, but it is just a lane with shops and restaurants! Cool buildings, but pay to go shopping?
They did have this long hallway with a huge collection of armor from all ages. Totally unlabeled and disorganized, but pretty cool. That's Dan and Alison that you can see.
This was the fun room. All sorts of bizarre weapons that faded out of history as pathetically impractical. Yes, that is a gun with an axe on the end. Oh, and Greg. He made me take this pic so he could show his friends at home. 
More views of Prague.
This garden was interesting. It is pretty eye catching from above.
It is a serenity garden or something, with the dripping wall to mingle nature with buildings... or something again, I don't really remember all the details. But, the cool thing is, there are all sorts of things hidden in the walls. Fish, heads, snakes. You can even see one or two in this pic, if you look closely. 
The Charles bridge. The thing is practically impassable from all the tourists crowding it. 
To get a good view of the city...
I love all the cross walk signs here, they are all different and reflect something about the area. Eventually, I might get a collection and show you. But for now, here is Greg...
And, well, it is football time here. When I took this pic, I was thinking something like ' the changing face of religion in Europe' You cant really tell that its a soccer game though. Still amusing.
Sunday 
The Prague Jewish cemetery. Something like 10,000 people are buried here, up to 12 deep. That is an old cemetery.
This statue creeped me out.
The Jewish ceremonial house or something, a pretty building regardless.
The 'old new' synagogue. It was built ages ago to replace the old one, and got this funny name as even newer ones were built.
We hiked up to the metronome for a view of the city 
It's this giant bizarre ticking thing, just like the ones your piano teacher used. Odd, but a great view.
This was the view of Prague castle as the sun set. The above picture is in focus, but the fuzzy bottom pic is prettier. Just pretend it is a painting! you get the idea.
The Charles bridge at night.
