Last weekend Flavia and I have done the actual celebration of Flavia's birthday. Although the DAY was August 31, the present in the form of a trip to Dublin for the two of us, was only scheduled to Oct 10-12, so we finally got to reap the benefits last weekend.

 

The trip started on Friday when we left London from the Luton airport later in the evening and took a Ryan Air flight straight to Dublin. For me it was the first time flying the low-cost carrier and had no clue what to expect. In fact, I couldn't complain about anything unexpected. All rules were strictly aiming at cashing more money for the compay, which was expected and understandable ... so both Flavia and I were careful not to break any of the constraints of a cheap flight and we did well ;o))) ...

 

We arrived in Dublin pretty late - around 11pm and quickly found our way to our 5-star Shelbourne Rennaissance hotel in the center - close to the Grafton street. We also learnt that our accommodation included free snacks and a breakfast - no issues there of course ;o))) ...

 

On Friday night we went out to see the Temple bar street where all the pubs and clubs are. Right there it stroke me as a totally amazing thing that there were so many busking musicians in the streets. I really enjoyed myself listening to the music.

 

We dedicated Satuday to the discovery of the city. Quite a lot of walking was involved and we got to see the Grafton Street, the Spire, the shopping district, Temple bar during daylight, St Stephen's Green park, St. Patrick's cathedral (from outside), the Guiness brewery, Dublin castle (from outside), the Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral and others ...

 

On Sunday we then spent some time strolling around the Dublin docklands and then we also found the venue where the resident Octoberfest celebrations were happening, which was great.

 

I really liked Dublin. I didn't find the city to be necessarily rich in sights, but I found it fun and much enjoyable. People were nice and during the day also well mannered (while during the night I found the locals out of control getting absolutely hammered!!!).

 

Ireland seems to be a great country and I can't wait to go and discover it a little bit more by a week-long road trip maybe ... one day ... ;o)))

On Wed, Oct 24, I flew from Amsterdam to Prague. It was my first time to try lowcost SkyEurope, as well as my first time to use my flexible fly-back corporate allowance that gives me an opportunity to choose a different destination to London every other weekend.

 

My parents were awaiting me at the airport around 10pm. I was knackered when I arrived, which had been expected. SkyEurope will likely not become my favourite airline after I paid some 180EUR for the tickets and then had to add anotehr 20EUR for a check in luggage and aft4r all those expenses wasn't served even a drop of water. Not sure where the low-cost aspect lies anymore. Maybe we should start calling these boyz rip-off Airlines ...

 

Anyway, it was great to be home. On Thu morning I had an appointment in the hospital to get my third vaccine to prevent Hepatytis A & B, which is a life-long prevention. Then I had a few more things to sort out in Ceska Lipa and later that morning I turned on my 65W Valveline Marshall amp at home. With no one there apart from my dog CJ, I could enjoy a bit of noise ;o)) ... (CJ didn't appreciate that and went away soon after I started).

 

Then on Thu afternoon I met with my grandma in Prague. She was really happy to see me, as I was to see her anyway! We went shopping, had lunch together and in the afternoon I headed off back to the center of Prague where I met Michal, my sister and Tomas. Flavia was due to arrive at the Prague Ruzyne airport around 11pm, also with SkyEurope. That didn't happen and I ended picking her up at 2am instead.

 

On Friday Flavia and I changed plans and came with an alternative and slightly more relaxing daily schedule. Apart from getting my hair-cut, we also drove up to Liberec where we performed a short hike up to the look out tower. The weather was horrible and we were also terribly late to arrive. So right after that we drove back to Ceska Lipa where my parents took us out for a very nice Italian style dinner.

 

On Saturday morning I drove Flavia to Kutna Hora, which is a very beautiful Czech town presenting quite a rich gothical legacy. The catherdral of St. Barbara, the Tyl theater and other monumental buildings and views. Flavia enjoyed the town for its great atmosphere. One strange thing that occured to us was that there were hardly any people out there, and then we came to the central plaza where a folk concert was unveiling, which sort of explained it ;o)) ... After we were done with Kutna Hora we drove back to Prague where we got to see a the performance of water fountain to the music of the world's famous musicals. The event was nice, but after 30mins things got a bit repetitive ..

 

On Sunday our plan dictated that we were to see the few places in Prague we missed the first time. First we started with the cable-car ascend to Petrin where we walked up to the famous look out tower. From there one gets an amazing view of the Vltava river and the castle and the Strahov cloister. We then went to see the inside of the property and then descended by the Prague's castle towards the Paladium where we met my parents and ate so much sushi that we almost got sick ...

 

Shortly after that Flavia and I just managed to see the metronom oposite to the Revolucni street and from there we also caught last 30mins of the Jewish Synagogue in Parizska street. Then towards the end of the day we met with our friends and our trip to the Czech Republic was over. The very next day in the morning we had to get up at 4.30am to catch our flights, which in fact gave an opening to a very tiring week ...

 

We both had lots of fun in the Czech Republic and I cannot wait to bring Flavia home again :oP