Homeward Bound!

Well, I’ve left the Czech Republic. Yesterday I flew from Prague to Frankfurt and I am there for a day before heading home on Wednesday. The work has been interesting and exhausting for me, but certainly good experience – another ‘war story’ and nice addition to the resume. However, the insane schedule left me almost no time to enjoy being in Europe – all told I will have been here for 4 weeks, and in that time I’ve had only 3 ½ days off.

Yesterday evening I walked through Frankfurt in search of the Irish pub I spent New Year’s Eve at 8 years ago. I think I found it, but it seems my memory is hazy for some reason. Anyway, I had a few beers and noted some oddities. First, the ‘house beer’ at this Irish pub was a local German pils – I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since the price is less, but it still seemed a bit wrong. And second – this one was really odd – I watched a local order a pitcher of Guinness and instead of a glass, he asked for a straw. Afterwards I had to ask the bartender if this was a common way of drinking it and he emphatically said no and then got a bit more derogatory about Germans not appreciating their beer properly.

I anticipate that I’ll finish The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco on the plane tomorrow. No promises on when I’ll get a review written and posted – probably next Monday. On a side-note, it looks like I’ll be doing an occasional review over at Fantasybookspot. Yes, in some ways, it’s little more than a blatant move on my part to get free books, sometimes before they are released. But, I’m happy to be on the team over there. I’ll mention any review I do for them here.

Highlights of the trip include:

- A boat ride up the Rhine
- Olomouc – a really pleasant Czech city
- Pivo!
- 2 days in Prague
- Visiting a monastic library and seeing a dried dodo bird
- Driving adventures in rural Czechia and Prague
- Pivo!
- Having lunch cooked for me by Satan over a campfire on the jobsite
- Oddities in a Frankfurt Irish pub

I’ll post some pictures sometime in the future.