On April 30, Flavia and I met at Old Street in the center of London after work to commence our first 'real' trip together, this time leading us to the Czech Republic for five days. The trip had been planned well in advance, as its main purpose was to attend my sister's wedding. Lots was anticipated ;o))) ...

Our flight that night was delayed (as usual) and we arrived to the Czech Republic with some 30mins delay. Under normal circumstances it would have been cool, but not that day. As my sister was already busy preparing herself for the big day and her to-be-husband Tomas was out busy working his stag-night experience to perfection, it ended up to be his mother who volunteered to hand me and Flavia the keys from my sister's flat where we would eventually spend the night. That delay effectively signified that we wouldn't ring the bell of her door at 1am, but 1.30am ... Apart from the very issue of how to unlock the reverse shift in my sister's Toyota, we managed to transport ourselves independently to my sis' and spent the night.

The next day's schedule had been planned as if such things as tiredness could never kick in, so we slipped big time first thing and surprisingly enough our very first Prague trip lead us to a sushi all-u-can-eat place. This Czech Republic experience might have been sitting on Flavia's mind for some time already, as she could be easily proclaimed sushi-orthodox ;o))) ... Yeah, this place indeed is amazing! The quality of Sushi and the variety of it make it all pretty unique. Let aloe the price of app 12EUR that made it heaven-on-Earth for my Italian principessa ...

After we stuffed ourselves to the full capacity of our stomaches, it was time to move on and see a bit of Prague. My tourguide senses demanded that we see the path of the kings that begins with the Powder Gate and ends on the Prague's castle. I do not need to repeat here how beautiful this route is and how photogenic Prague can be given nice weather. All those factors were in place that day and our SLR's have been put through some stress-tests ;o)) ...

Probably the very single unique experience was the visit to the Old Town Square Town Hall tower. The look out provisions amazing experience and with a 70-300mm lenses fit to a body of a fair SLR, I've certainly taken some cool pics, which I will post here on my blog first thing when I get a chance!

We also crossed the Charles Bridge, walked up Neruda street to the Prague's castle where our walk ended. Tomas somehow volunteered to accompany us during the day. It was most likely better than sit at home and stress about the day coming next when he was to cease being single. At times, we might have appeared to be a bit anal when every spire of Prague was to be analyzed and subsequently photographed ;o)) ... I just don't see Tomas committing himself to sight-seeing with me and Flavia again, but maybe that's just me being skeptical ...

In the evening we left Prague heading for my parents' house where my family excitingly awaited the arrival of the upcoming husband to my sister, of my new amazing lady Flavia and of course they were happy to see me too among everything else ;o)) ... My mom prepared a great dinner, then I produced my American version of the Monopoly board game, which I eventually won, but then everyone was way too tired to pay attention to my suspicious dealing with all the trades around the board.

Friday, which was day No 2 in the Czech Rep, was the WEDDING day!!! First of all I showed Flavia my hometown - Ceska Lipa - which she seemed to like. We also happened in a cafe, where I was served a superb Latte, but which was more importantly located in an Art Nuveau town house and Flavia liked its design. Seeing her happy made me happy, so all was great.

My mom left our house earlier that morning to collect my grandma in Prague and drive her back to the wedding place that happened to be half way from my home town and Prague. My dad drove us to the castle and my sister and Tomas were driving Tomas' Subaru Impreza separately. For some reason, our car showed up almost first of all. Fortunately Tomas' parents made a decision to beat us to it, so we at least new that we entered the right venue ;o)) ... my friends made their appearance shortly after us, so many hello kisses were distributed back and forth. Flavia, in the meantime, threw here focus around wedding cakes tables and before I knew it she became an expert on every kind of those that made it to the table. She could basically tell which cake contained nuts with her eyes closed I suspected ;o)) ... I admit though that I followed suit as beating hunger with diet wasn't among my objectives that day ... neither was Flavia's, so we had a great time together, hehe ...

My grandma made it finally too and her first encounter with Flavia lead to many compliments about Flavia's curly long black hair. Well, everyone loved and normally loves it anyway, so the girl is probably used to it ;o)) ... During long wedding preparations, various members of the two families tried to lead some sensible conversation among each other. Flavia and I didn't waste time and took many pictures with our SLRs. So we tried to do during the actual ceremony. Unfortunately, mine didn't turn out well, as I've totally mismanaged my seating position for them. That's when I realized it wasn't in my stars to become a photograph. I wouldn't want to imagine how much Tomas would charge me for trying to sell him the only few out-of-focus pics I'd taken ... well, let's hope the pro photograph did better :o)) ...

After the ceremony, further waiting was scheduled and then the dinner came. Everyone was looking forward to it, which could be gathered from all faces present. And yes, the food was absolutely amazing and prepared with good sense of creativity! We all loved it!

For some reason, I've prepared music that was to be played during the dinner, but it never made it on stage during the occassion. Instead we were listening to some outburst of madness in the background. At least it was kept low in volume and we heard each other well ... my music was then used later on when the dancing sessions began!

We danced a lot, especially Flavia and I. My grandma found us to be great dancers, but our self-assessment goes in direct contradiction with what she said ;o)) ... anyway, we had fun!!!

The day 3 - Saturday - was to be dedicated to Ceska Lipa and surrounding jewels of history. First we checked out the Liblice Castle where the marriage happened on prior night. Lots of photos were taken and then we took off for a gothical castle Bezdez. The castle sits among a lake famous in the Czech Rep called Macha Lake. It's located on a hill and Flavia managed to choose the least suitable hiking suit ever. She looked beautiful, but with a long skirt it was quite a challenge to get her up there. Later on we descended and drove further to the actual Macha Lake and took more pictures. After that my father showed Flavia our family ranch, which consists of lots of stones thrown around the garden in a creative fashion somehow mandated by my dad's imagination. My girlfriend probably liked it and most of all found my father's strong drive towards unconventional architecture of what he calls Euro-Asian gardens impressive.

Day 4 - Sunday - saw us leave my hometown and head to another very popular Czech castle - Karlstejn. We left my parents' house with a delay, but at least Flavia could get a tour of my father's fish and plants. Then we drove all the way to the castle where we were set to do a bit of walking again to reach the thing. The tour was in English and Flavia loved it, which made me happy. I'm wedded to that castle too, so I was glad she wasn't bored. On Sunday evening we met my sister and Tomas in the center of Prague to have a proper Czech dinner in a restaurant. The heaviness of the food nailed my Italian tesoro to the ground and she committed herself to a diet first thing when we reach London the following day ;o)) ...

Our last day - Monday - was dedicated to Prague again. We've taken multiple pictures of the Dancing House in the center. Then we've seen the apostels at the Old town square and believe it or not, we visited the sushi place all over again and got totally stuffed. Shortly after that our time was up and we had to leave for the airport.

Our departure from my home land didn't go very well. We arrived at the airport early and Czech airlines were in need of folks who wouldn't mind taking an alternative flight through Frankfurt as the flight happened to be overbooked. The reward was appealing enough for us to consent. Unfortunately we were the last ones to opt for this option and as someone didn't show up for the flight, we ended up being thrown back on the flight with the only exception that there was no time left for us to do some souvenir shopping. But hell, maybe it just saved us money for useless stuff ....

What was less amuzing was the fact that our luggage didn't make it to Lodnon. Flavia had a meeting where she needed to look all smart and beautiful, which couldn't be reached 100% without some means hidden in her suitcase. For me the situation wasn't great either as I was bound to travel to the Netherlands next day early in the morning. Of course, CSA totally screwed up, and I saw my suitecase on Thursday evening - unbelievable!!!

All-in-all the Czech Republic trip was absolutely stunning and we've already commenced planning on our next trip, which is going to be NAPLES!!!!