Catching Up! A missed weekend 3:

Two weekends ago, to celebrate the 31st birthday of yours truly, the city of Grand Rapids erected a free giant 500 foot (152 meter) waterslide, which ran down one of the main streets.

The city also offered many extremely unhealthy birthday snacks to keep me and my guests happy throughout the afternoon. Above are half-eaten chili cheese fries, which followed an amazing cinnamon and sugar elephant ear.

Happy Birthday to me!

Kde bývate?

This is what most apartment blocks look like in Prague. In the last years many of them have had cosmetic surgery and become colourful and attractive, but still nonetheless they are characterless.

That is what I thought until on some recent ventures throughout the city and among side-streets I found the following hidden oddities.These houses are in the middle of an area of Prague which no one would boast to say they come from. It's rather a place for the 'down & outs', but amidst it all someone has creativity!

I should have taken more photos of where this blue apartment block was located because there were at least four other buildings built in this same way, but one orange, one pink, one yellow, one peach, etc. It was really fascinating - and so out of place!

All in a Day's Work

Welcome to Prague! It's a fantastic city with innumerable sites to see with simple public transportation connections from one end of the city to the other. Why not come and visit?

Oh, and if you plan to be here longer than three months and have any questions about stepping out into the world of visa-attaining you can begin this exciting and never-ending journey by following the blue trail on the map for your first step!

After enjoying your morning cup of coffee, you hop on the bus departing from the beautiful Château Jenerálka and make your way to the farthest point of your journey - the Rejstřík trestů office in Nusle. A lengthy but scenic tram ride will drop you about a hundred metres from the entrance. From this office you can obtain the needed document to prove you haven't committed any criminal offense in the Czech Republic. If you haven't, you hand over 50 CZK and your passport and in return you get a signed and stamped document (Czechs love their stamps!) and you're completed with that step!

Depending on lengths of the line at the Rejstřík trestů, you still have time to visit a few more places before lunch, which by now you are probably already looking forward to. Now to the US embassy (or your embassy of choice).

Another tram ride through the city and a short walk through Mala Strana, you are greeted by four guards at the embassy doors interrogating your purpose to visit this it of US soil. After entering the embassy, abandoning your mobile phone and passing successfully through the medal detectors you make your way up a few flights of stairs to the US citizen services. Again grabbing a number and waiting. Again giving over your passport and some Czech crowns (this time 600 CZK!). Now you have obtained a document which states that you haven't been too naughty in the US.
What else today? Three photos with dimensions 45 x 35mm, take the US Criminal Record to be officially translated and finally settle on a place for dumplings and a good drink ... and breathe!

Don't worry, my dear blog-followers, there is still more to this exciting adventure - so be sure to stay tuned!