Happy Five Years to Us!

We celebrated our first five years married yesterday. And we did it up in style! Jeff's stepped away from the computer so I (Maylia) will edit this low-key entry he was writing and say that he knocked my socks off! He arranged for Vendula to babysit (again). She arrived at 5pm and we left home at 5:30pm...didn't return until 11:30pm (important that she was on the metro before it closed at midnight). This was our first date night, "just the two of us" in a long, long time.

Jeff had made reservations at Lary Fary (Hocus Pocus) ...and it was AMAZING!!!! The atmosphere was funky and romantic...from the decor to the live music to the champagne. Ah yes...the champagne...we thought we ordered the local (and very good) Bohemian Sekt. We were surprised when it came in the fancy schmancy super-romantic Moet & Chandon Chandelier Flutes (see photo)...but not too surprised...we drank it down and ordered seconds of the bubbly. We noticed the waiter had a look of glee with this, but it wasn't until the bill came that we saw there was some miscommunication and we WERE drinking Moet & Chandon. Just a bit of a price differential there. (Jeff K - Jeff P says that we surpassed your bill at Pálffy Palác...and that takes some serious effort in Prague!) Ah well! Five years is worth the splurge!

From Lary Fary we were making a mad dash for the Estates Theatre...Jeff kinda knew where it was...and we left the restaurant with a whole 10 minutes to spare! (i.e. 10 minutes before show time!) This is why I love this guy...Anyway, we actually were seated before the curtains rose and the voices began (although the orchestra was underway!). And were we EVER seated nicely! We had Box 11...just the two of us. The opera was Don Giovanni (aka Don Juan...well, the opera isn't called that but it is the same story), which is crazy popular in Prague. Why? It was written by Mozart and the world premier in 1787 was in Prague...at the Estates Theatre...conducted by Mozart himself. Do you see why this was exciting?!? We sat in a box where people sat in 1787 and we watched the same opera they did and right where our conductor was standing, Mozart himself stood! WOW! It was incredible!

And today...we tried to do our favorite weekend expedition...can you guess? Four letters...starts with an "I"...(IKEA). We actually took it easy in the morning and started out after Ella had napped and had lunch. We were on the metro, about 20 minutes from our destination when I had the strangest warm sensation on my hand. I said to Jeff, "There's a lot of drool, right?" and he said "Oh yeah, she's drooling a lot". But then that just didn't seem possible and the folks across from us were laughing and I looked down are realized Ella's diaper had leaked...in the FRONT! This just doesn't happen to little girls. Crazy. So we pop off the metro and we have to go home because, although we brought MANY things, we did NOT bring an extra pair of her pants. By the time we got home we decided to postpone IKEA until tomorrow as it is to be epic...we REALLY want to finish this place off and stop going back there every weekend! This mishap turned out to be a great excuse to drink beer while Ella played in the sandbox at the park...Yes, this is perfectly acceptable here in Prague. There is a beer garden right next to the children's play area and it is common to see parents enjoying a beer while their children enjoy the playground.

Back to Jeff...

Tonight we went to a Korean restaurant for dinner. That was nice, considering May and I met in Korea. The place is owned and managed by Koreans, but the staff is all Czech. The food was remarkably good -better than expected. Back in Manchester, we and friends occasionally ate at "Sara," the local Korean place -great food and even better memories. There were just a couple dishes which we remember enjoying back in Korea that weren't available at Sara. This place, "Hanil" had one of those dishes. A Chinese dish, actually, called "Jajangmyeon", but it was darn tasty, just as I remembered eating it 10 years ago. Found a link for jajangmyeon here. Huh...I just learned it's not Chinese after all...

Other news, ...right now, May is trying to figure out two greetings cards she got. She was looking to buy a birthday card and a sympathy card (a local expat friend's mom just passed night before last). As it's turning out the sympathy card is a Name Day card that looks much more solemn than it should. It's amazing how you can just decide that something says "With Sympathy" without having anything at all to base this decision on!

To bed with us for IKEA beckons in the morning...
Na Shledanou!