End of Summer

Yes, if you want to get technical, summer doesn't end for another couple of weeks. But come on. It ends this weekend. Some might question if we in Oregon even had a summer . . .

Ever since I moved to Portland five years ago, I have gone to the free Oregon Symphony concert down on the waterfront. It's wonderful! And I realized last night that it is an end-of-summer trigger for me.

They always end the concert with the 1812 Overature. For those of you who know the piece, it ends with large cannons going off. The last four years, I have nearly jumped out of my skin when the Howitzers go off. I always try to plan for it, but will all the ebs and flows of the song, it's hard to know (for me) exactly when the cannons are supposed to go off. This being the fifth year, I was sure I was going to have it down. I kept plugging my ears in anticipation . . . only to have to uncover them when I realized that no, it wasn't quite time. I had to laugh at myself . . . this great piece of music and here I am, plugging my ears. . . .

Bring on the next season!

Training Update (or, What Have I Gotten Myself Into?)

Race day is getting very close. Let me tell you, it's hard to come back from 10 days of not working out! I'm working out mornings and evenings and things are slowly coming back, but the first few days it was like I'd never worked out a day in my life. I feel like a movie plot: the underdog girl with no chance of completing her race trains and trains (Rocky theme music inserted here). Will she make it? Will she succeed? Will she be able to walk the next day? Stay tuned . . .

Oh, I meant to type about my beer drinking in the Czech Republic! I drank beer. Not once, not twice, but FOUR times. Next thing you know, I'll be petting cats and talking to birds.

Czech Out Time

I had one more heading to use (Czech your fly!), but am nearing the end of the trip and needed to use this one up. :)

I have no idea where I left off, but I think I was in Telc last time I wrote. There was a music festival there, so each night we attended concerts -- in a castle nonetheless! The music was a mix of both Czech and English versions of songs. Very cool. Also took a bike ride towards a castle while there. I say "towards" because yours truly is a nether-region whimp and the saddle was becoming a bit too much for me. I made it a fair clip, but sent Laura on her way to report back to me after she reached the top.

Back in Prague for the next few days. We went to Terezin today, which was a concentration camp. Very interesting; powerful. We thought we had the bus trip back home all figured out, but after sitting for over an hour waiting for it, finally decided we were SOL and that no more busses for coming for the day. The idea of getting the true experience and spending the night in the concentration camp wasn't too appealing, so we tried to hitch a ride. We couldn't find anyone, but finally one of the Czech ladies who worked at the camp convinced her husband to give us, along with two other American girls, a ride to the nearby train station. We were all so thankful for this ride because this was a very desolate town and there wasn't much of anyone living there. We aren't even sure we could have got a taxi out of there!

Unsure what tomorrow holds. We might just stay put in Prague or we may venture out to a nearby town for a day trip. With it being Sunday, we are going to make extra sure there's a way to return back to Prague!

I fly back on Monday. It's been a good trip! I can't believe I have to go back to work bright and early Tuesday . . . Dyaque!

Czech Pointe

Just a quick greetings from Telc! We stopped in the tourist info spot to print some info off for our bike ride tomorrow, so thought I'd blog for just a second. While still in Cesky Krumlov, did a nice canoe trip down the Vlatva river yesterday, followed by a quick hike up to the church overseeing the town. Great views!

I am almost sleeping at night . . . probably will be right on schedule just as the trip ends! :) All is going well and thoroughly enjoying myself!