NOT SO "HAPPY LIVING" IN LOS ALAMOS, NM

To the right is the hospital.  We lived 4 blks. from here.

 I was up during the night visiting on phone and Facebook with dear friends in Los Alamos.  There is a huge fire (Las Conchas fire) that has already burned 50,000 acres.  We were on a change of station in Washington DC eleven years ago when the Los Cerros fire devastated our little town.  Our house, rented to friends, received heavy smoke damage, but did not burn.  Many of our friends lost their homes.  There were children who were severely traumatized, some have never fully recovered.  And now, here we go again.

This is the local radio station which we can get loud and clear from Vienna.  Amazing!

Mandatory evacuation took place yesterday afternoon.  Some had no idea where they were going, but had to get off the Hill.  Those with RVs headed for camp grounds in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.  The National Lab where Greg worked is closed until further notice.

I am thankful to not be experiencing it first hand, but it is nevertheless difficult to not be there.  There is a camaraderie of sorts that occurs when there is a crisis of this magnitude.         

This email received from friends last night gives a different perspective to the situation:
We have been through this before, and the good thing about it is it really puts the proper things in focus front and center-- God and our family.  We are at peace and trusting God. He is so good, and is caring for us.  We are taking with us the 6 "P's --people, pets, prescriptions, papers, pictures, and personal computers. And most importantly, the PEACE of God and PRAYER.

Los Alamos, we are praying for you!


Enough said.

Dobrý den, z Česká republika (Hello from the Czech Republic)

We arrived  by taxi shuttle on Friday, June 10th.  After we learned that Miro, our driver, had won trophies for his go cart driving, we felt very much at ease entrusting him with our lives.  I will have to say I did cringe a bit as he whizzed around cars on the two lane roads.  To compensate for his late pick-up, he took a little detour to Třeboň, where he treat us all to our first EIS (ice cream) in the Czech Republic.  It hit the spot after a long hot drive.

Greg, Bruce, Barbara, and Miro



A sweet picture of an elderly couple making use of the main mode of transportation in Třeboň

Trebon town square

  We arrived at the Albatros (a small family owned hotel) safe and sound.

Very simple, but nice

 After dropping our luggage in our rooms we (Greg, myself, Bruce, and Barbara) took off on foot to walk about a mile to reach the main area of this quaint little town.   Český Krumlov is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so named for its “historic importance and beauty." The name “Český Krumlov” means “meandering meadow.” When you look at a map of the town you can see the Vltava River winding its way around and about the town. We saw and heard many of the historical names from Český Krumlov that are familiar names in Vienna: Rosenberg, Eggenberg, and Schwarzenberg. The Schwarzenberg coat of arms is a bit gruesome in that it portrays two heads (of Turkish fellows) whose eyes are being picked at by ravens. (Don't mess with us!)  The Rosenbergs’ is much nicer with a 5 petaled rose.

Towering over the area we first observed the castle.



We took a guided tour of the State rooms.  It must have been a grand life with all of the pomp and splendor!



You can see people up high looking out over the city

The castle is decorated with a large number of frescoes and sgraffiti (plural for sgraffito, which is a technique of wall decor produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colors to a moistened surface.)  It is believed that the sgraffiti preceeded the frescoes.  The scraffito design on many of the buildings is very much like the Czech flag. 

It is one of the most beautiful castles we've ever seen (and we've seen a few.)  After walking around and browsing in shops, we made reservations at the Konoice restaurant for later that evening.  The draw to this restaurant was the sign out front advertising a classical guitar duo playing that night.  It proved to be an excellent choice.  The duo was the best (according to Greg.)  We all agreed.  The music had quite a calming effect after a long day.  Our meal at Konoice was great. I had roasted duck with czech dumplings and fruit sauce.  Czech food has similarities to Austrian cuisine.  Barbara had a local favorite: Svíčková ( beef with a creamy sauce and dumplings.)  You'll find many varieties of dumplings, including one with fruit and a sweet sauce. We also tried fried cheese (called Smažený syr). We all enjoyed our meals so much that after hearing the guitar duo were playing the following Sunday evening, we opted for a second time.

Back at Konoice

Barbara and Bruce ate vegetarian Bohemian medieval food with fresh herbs at this restaurant.  We stopped at "The Two Widows" cafe for a snack of eis caffee and gelato.

 We continued checking out the town, stopping at bridges to look down at the river (which winds through the town.) There were many rafters, kayakers, and canoers. This place is known for it's summer water activities and biking trails. Since the weather is on the cool side and a little rainy, we decided to pass up the water sports on this trip.

The river just meandered through town.  Little coffee houses, cafes, and penzions lined the river on both sides.

We went in many shops and art galleries

At one shop we were able to find a few "grandkid" Christmas gifts.  Pictured above is a marionette puppet we bought for our oldest granddaughter.

We visited several art shops.  At one particular one, Greg said, "Should we go in?  I have a feeling it might cost us some money."  How did he know?  We fell in love with an original oil painting by an artist named Victor Luzik.  He is a Russian artist who lives in Crimea, a city overlooking the Black Sea.  He is sometimes referred to as the "modern Ayvazovsky", after one of the most prominent Russian landscape painters of the 19th century.  However, where Ayvazovsky paints a stormy, gloomy sea, Luzik paints a charming, light-filled sea.  We had been looking for that "just right" piece of art work to remind us of our time in Europe.  We definitely had no idea we would find it in Czech Republic.  It truly is one of the most beautiful and serene paintings I have ever seen and it will be a focal point in our Texas home.  Here is a picture of the painting (although this snapshot does not do it justice):

 The story behind purchasing the painting is that we almost "didn't."  Neither our Bank of Austria or Visa card seemed to work on this particular day.  We were getting close to the time our shuttle was picking us up and we still had a 15 minute walk back to the hotel.  We finally had to leave without the painting.  I guess this guy really wanted to make a sale because he and his brother drove 3 1/2 hrs. (each way) to Vienna to personally deliver it to Greg at work.



This is one of the sets for the revolving theater in the Gardens behind the Castle. 



The seats revolve from set to set so no need for stage hands.  The drama, opera, or ballet is performed in this open air theater.  We didn't get to go to the theater due to rain.



Two of the three bears remaining  in the Moat in front of the Castle.  The others lie on the Castle floors in the form of rugs.



There's always a wedding or two during the Summer in the special flower gardens, wherever you are.



I love taking pictures of old doors and this one (with the roses and ivy) is one of the most beautiful I've seen.

And this one-uh, not so beautiful!  It's good I have no idea what the words mean.



View through a hollowed out tree trunk.



Always a wise guy in every crowd!

Human fountain

Not sure what the deal was with all the fingers like this all over the city, but Greg wanted to take a few pictures for the grandsons. Gross, Pop!

   

You just never know what you will see, so always have camera in hand.

Monday was definitely laundry day as evidenced by all the hanging clothes in the warm sun all over the city.

This sign makes you wonder just what you can do on these grounds!

When was the last time you saw one of these?  Yes, it really works!

All of the streets were cobblestone.  Yay for our MBT shoes-no sore feet!

At one time this was the entrance to to the city.



View from a spot way up high on a rock recommended by Rick Steves.

 We were extremely thankful to have not been in this city the following weekend as it was their annual Five-Petaled Rose Celebration (derived from the Rosenberg family coat of arms.  Free admission granted if you dress in costume (gothic and renaissance period costumes only.)   Thousands of people are entertained by musicians, dancers, jugglers, historical marionette shows, fencing, live chess game, etc.

Hopefully, in future "summer" pictures I will be able to lose the green jacket.  Barbara loaned me a scarf to add a little variety for pictures :-)  It has been very cool and rainy everywhere we've been lately.  Sorry, Texas people : (

Děkuji a sbohem

 (Thank you and goodbye.)