Tuesday, August 31, 2004
We had a smooth flight to Frankfort, although both Rick and I got sucked in to a movie so we only allowed ourselves three hours sleep before we were rousted for breakfast at 7 a.m. local time. We landed at 8:00, and once again sprinted for our connecting flight that was scheduled to leave by 8:15. Luckily, we did get on the flight, but our luggage did not. We arrived in Prague around 9:30, but spent an hour talking with the Lufthansa people about the missing bags.
The fact that our bags had missed our scheduled flight turned out to be a benefit to us. The airline baggage-handlers drove the heavy suitcases to our apartment building around 3:30 p.m., so Rick only had to lug them (slowly) up the three flights of stairs, sparing him the task of loading them onto a cart through security/customs and loading and unloading a car. We walked easily through passport control, with hardly a notice through customs.
Eva was waiting for us with a van which we now only needed for our four relatively small carry-on bags. Vojta, our landlady’s son, was also waiting for us with his friend Vladimir, who served partly as an interpreter, to take us to our apartment in his very small car.
We spent the afternoon walking around Hanspaulka, evoking memories of our last time in Prague. The neighborhood had not changed much, although some of the buildings under construction in 1998 were now finished and other buildings had begun their renovations. We walked down to Dejvicka where we changed money, bought bus tickets, and found an internet café. We had dinner at the familiar Grosetto’s Pizzeria and stopped at the Delvita grocery store across the street, just before they closed at 10p.m. The Delvita is quite changed – instead of the familiar deli counter there are now modern coolers with pre-packaged salads, cheeses and meats. There is a long frozen-food aisle, with vegetables and prepared foods. The produce section looks much the same, but the store seems to have gotten an overall face-lift, bringing it clearly into the 21st-century, Prague-style. Armed with as much as we could carry gracefully, we hopped on the tram home, ready to call it a day.
street view of our building
our flat is a former attic! but we do have nice windows.
our Prague flat (living room/dining room/home office)
Rick's home office in Prague
Monday, August 30, 2004.
Matt was up early and we were all repacked (we didn’t disturb the 70-pound suitcases, of course) and in the car at 8:30. Rick took the scenic route through town so he could show Matt were we used to live (before he was born) and to point out some interesting landmarks. We got to the local Radio Shack shortly after 9 a.m. and he had his cellphone in hand by 10. It turned out that that was the right thing to do since he ended up getting a different plan – and a fancier phone – than he would have had we gotten the phone set up in Denver. He also met another Wesleyan freshman and her father, a NATO public affairs advisor from Brussels.
By 10:30, with a much happier (and stylish) Matt, we arrived at the Science Building, the location of the bulk of our essential tasks. Matt got in the check-in line while Rick went upstairs to Tony’s office to retrieve the guitar and boxes that had been sent earlier. Having checked in, Matt headed to the Computer Store to pay for the laptop that was waiting in his dorm room.
Matt said that he knew where Clark Hall was, but we asked the security guard outside the Science Building for directions. In better-than-Southern style, he gave us directions and admonished Matt to learn his way around before classes started! We dutifully headed to the football field where all the Clark Hall parents were parked to unload their kids’ things. Some people had brought refrigerators and microwave ovens and fancy stereos. Matt’s pile of stuff looked small by comparison, although I’m sure that some people thought our van held things only for Matt. Having deposited the son and his possessions in his new residence, Rick and I headed out toward the airport around noon, an hour later than we had intended, but with quite enough time to make our 2:15 flight.
Good fortune shone on us again as we got to the airport before any line had formed, although a long line soon followed. The only hitch was the security screening, which revealed my nail scissors in my carry-on bag, a prohibited item according to the Hartford folks. A bit annoyed (mostly at my own stupidity for having put them in a carry-on bag), and having to comply with regulations, I went to the gift shop to mail the offending object to Matt; they would not mail anything overseas, nor did it seem prudent to risk trying. I rejoined Rick to board the plane. As it turned out, I probably had time to put the scissors in our checked luggage which had already been taken downstairs, because the plane was delayed an hour and a half, partly due to President Bush’s visit to Connecticut and partly due to the bad weather from a hurricane in North Carolina blocking our path to Washington, D.C.
The flight to Dulles was smooth, but we arrived with little time to spare to make our connecting flight to Frankfort – or so we thought. We sprinted (well, we walked as quickly as two people can while loaded with four 40-pound bags) from one end of Concourse D to the opposite end of Concourse C in what we thought was just the nick of time, boarding after nearly everyone else was seated. As it turned out, this flight was delayed as well, having had a fuel problem which took an hour and a half to fix.
We had gotten business-class seats on all our flights – my frequent-flyer miles having been put to good use upgrading – and were treated quite well with the food and drink that come with first- and business-class seating. The gentleman seated next to me was a Senior VP for the company that had installed the security systems in Athens for the Olympics. He was headed for Athens and had good advice for us for our impending trip there for the Paralympics.
Sunday, August 29, 2004.
We were all up around 5:30 a.m.; showered and ready to go around 6. Rick and Matt and I, with Matt’s two 50-pound suitcases, drove to the rental car place and took the shuttle from there to the airport. Jim and Vivien left a bit later, meeting us at the airport with the rest of our bags so we didn’t have to carry anything very far. I stood in line while Rick and Matt unloaded the bags. Fortunately, the line was short and we got checked in easily and got through security with no problems. We had time for a light breakfast at the airport before we boarded.
The flight from Denver was on time and the connection in Chicago was the easiest one could imagine. We had an hour to spare, but our departure gate was directly across from our arrival gate so we didn’t have to lug the heavy carry-on bags very far.
We arrived in Hartford around 4:45. Rick and Matt got the luggage while I went to get the rental car. This time I got a large SUV, a Chevy Trail Blazer, so we could fit the luggage and the three of us in the car easily. We drove directly to Middletown, arriving at our hotel around 6.
Matt had been complaining about not having arranged a cellphone before we left Colorado, so we looked up the closest Radio Shack, fortunately only a short drive from campus, and made plans to go there first thing in the morning. They had closed at 6 on Sunday, but would be open at 9 a.m. on Monday.
Pete and Elly Pringle met us at our hotel around 7 and we had a lovely dinner with them at the Indian restaurant adjacent to our hotel.
Saturday, August 28, 2004.
Why did I think that we were on top of things? We spent a frantic Saturday trying to get packed, at the same time sorting, loading, and cleaning for the arrival of the Sperrys who are renting our house for the year. Poor planning. Sally and Ron were ready to move in at 10 a.m. Despite the fact that I was up at 5, we were not even close to ready for them by noon. They unloaded some of the big furniture and appliances in our garage and ate lunch before 11. The second load came around 2, which went mostly in the living room and dining room, with some things in the kids’ rooms in the basement. Matt kept the kids occupied by playing “Sorry” with Bailey while Jamin played drums; the three (with Adain) played ball outside later in the afternoon. Sally helped me pack the kitchen dishes, utensils and cookware – a much bigger job than I had expected. It seems that every drawer, closet, and shelf had something still to be packed. Only the downstairs was ready – except for Rick’s office which was still nearly untouched. Rick spent the morning sorting and loading file cabinets and boxes of books into the storage room. All the vitamins had been stacked and ready near the suitcases in our bedroom upstairs, but he hadn’t yet started to pack any clothes. I hadn’t yet touched the drawers in the bathroom or cleaned out my desk, so I, too, held up our departure.
We were able to get most of our furniture in the furnace room storage area, but Kong and Yanfei kindly took the living room chairs and John Rios took the dining room chairs to their respective basements. We loaded the rental car and pulled out of the house at 8:30. I had grossly misjudged the capacity of a “full size” car and the size of our suitcases. We had the car piled high and I had to sit on Matt’s lap in the front seat.
Matt and Rick took a late run to the shoe store for running shoes and sandals for Matt; Vitamin Cottage had closed by 7 p.m. so Rick was not able to get the last of the vitamins he wanted. I didn’t have time to get to Radio Shack before they closed, which turned out to be a good thing. We headed to Walmart at 8:30, getting last-minute stuff like ibuprofen, a clock for Matt, and new socks for Rick. I had hoped to get a camera case, but they were sold out.
We got to the house of our dear friends, Jim and Vivien, around 9:30, after they had gone to bed. Fortunately, they had not gone to sleep! Rick and Matt went out for a last father-son dinner while Jim and I re-weighed and re-packed some of the heavier suitcases so they all were 70 pounds or less. The small carry-ons were 30-45 pounds each! We loaded everything in Jim and Vivien’s Subaru and slipped into bed around 11:30 p.m.
All our stateside possessions crammed into the furnace room
