STUFF OF IMPORTANCE!

firstly, comments can be left by clicking the "# COMMENTS" bit... NOT the envelope, coz that send emails... just in case you wanted to know...

secondly, thanks for the tips loose poached, but we are now in the czech republic where the keyboards have been set to the MASTER TONGUE of english, so no funny biz for now.

thirdly, thanks to all those who have emailed, left messages, texted (is this a word?), phoned etc to wish me a happy von birthday... and even to those who left the VON bit out (how could you?). it was happy and it was summer.

THINGS YOU WILL FIND AMUSING, INTERESTING, OR OTHERWISE:

1. BIRTHDAY BREAKFAST. was had in vienna (or wien, where they call themselves WIENERS!!! still amusing after all these years), and was composed of EIS... icecream... and mine was EIS SPAGHETTI! it was vanilla icecream in noodles, topped with very tomatoey (!) looking strawberry sauce, and parmesanish (?) coconut... HILARIOUS. dan had a massive contraption involving 4 types of eis and masses of whipped cream (hm) and chocolate in various forms.

2. BETHANY. who none of you other than julia may remember, but she went to melb uni, and did claire wearne's tie thing with us... anyway i saw her at wombats (she was doing... BUSABOUT!)... so my first known person thing meeting quest you know that stuff.

3. CZECH REPUBLIC. is cool. in both meanings. the landscape of the south was fantastic (in both senses)... the train rolled through close hills (almost claustrophobic in places) of REALLY dense woods. it's like all the green trees in the world have migrated to the czech republic. it was like fairytale country, and we even saw a few castles poking up over the hills... the ominous clouds also added to the atmosphere of fantasy...

4. PRAGUE. is obviously seperate from the czech republic as listed above. prague, as you have heard SO MANY TIMES BEFORE, is beautiful. seriously, we did a walk through the old town and the jewish quarter yesterday, and the architecture is amazing. it is astounding how many old buildings are still standing, and still being used, and still looking nice... there are also lots of franz kafka things. like beetles. and monuments to him and whatnot. and also, everything has gold and colours and there is a clock onthe old town hall and when it reaches the hour a funny skeleton thing rings the bell and a procession of saints (we think) parades (procedes...) past the open windows at the top. like diamaru only MUCH OLDER and sort of funnier! people cheered!

5. SYNAGOGUEY CONGLOMORATE. is synagoguey. we went into all of them (if you're ever here, don't bother with the Old New Synagogue... ripped off. although dan did get a funny disposable kippa!!! it looked like a party hat!) ... one of them is empty, but the names of 80,000 jews from prague and around who died in the holocaust are written on the walls... think about that for a moment. eighty thousand. you can't really get your head around it. when you walk into the synagogue, every wall is covered with names, about 1.5 cms high, from the ceiling to the floor, on 2 storeys. every panel contains hundreds of names, lists hundreds of people killed. to be faced with just one panel is overwhelming. i know that i felt small and helpless and angry and incredibly sad and frustrated... it is impossible to read all the names, even on one wall, but i wanted to - i didn't want even one of these people to be forgotten... needless to say, i bawled my eyes out a few times, and spent ages in there... ... ... the other synagogues were interesting, but nowhere near as powerful as that. a couple of times dan pulled me up and said "you know how you were asking me about... (something jewish)... well, here, read this plaque." and so now i know why all those little rectangular boxes are stuck on the doorframes. and why aaron didn't have to pay 5 silver shekels for dan, as first born, to be redeemed... it's because they are all related to dr spock! (sorry, geeky jewish joke there)... the cemetry was also very cool. it was PACKED with toombstones like jagged teeth, because they've piled layer apon layer of soil there, but every time they put a new layer on, they lifted the headstones to the new level. rabbi loew, who made the golem, is buried there.

6. FAKE EIFFEL TOWER. oh. my. god. erin and julia, how could you neglect to mention this in your travel tips book?!?!?!? it is HILARIOUS. today, instead of going to the castle, we climbed the petrin tower... now we don't have to do it in paris... so i guess we don't have to go to france any more... bonus! czechs are nicer than them anyday. it is also near a mirror maze, which is always good fun.

7. THEIR MONEY IS SILLY!!! that about sums it up.

8. OUR HOSTEL. has two snuggly friendly cool CATS!!! called phillipe and BORIS!!! boris is big and fat and ginger and named after boris becker. and phillipe (it is prolly spelled differently) is younger and grey and white and SO CUTE! esther j, are you jealous? serves you right for not answering the phone when we call you at 11pm!!!

prolly off to dresden tomorrow, then berlin!!! michelle and charlie!!! YAY! will try to do pix now... so maybe more delight for you!

p.s. I WANT BOXED SET OF YUGIOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!