Baby Steps...

Okay, it's March now, so we're taking baby steps to leaving Prague. You never know how rooted you are until you're looking to leave.

Some steps we took recently:

• Signed a contract with a local property management company to take care of our flat after we're gone. They'll handle utilities, maintenance and dealing with tenants. Yes, we're becoming landlords. And yes, it sounds crazy to us, too.
  
• Our bank. Czech banks know no boundaries when it comes to paperwork. The desire to simplify made for a lot of complex rubber-stamping. Maybe their tactic is to have so much paperwork, you're against closing anything? Of course, Ella talked about all this in 2006 when we opened her account, but we didn't get a cute ladybug doll for closing it.

Yeah, that's it. I didn't say we took a lot of baby steps.

Over the weekend, Jeff & the kids took a trip out of town. They decided mom needed a break. So Jeff, Ella & Mattias hopped on a northbound train and spent the weekend in Dresden, Germany. They took a tour of Volkswagen's "Transparent factory" and walked around old city center. Mattias' favorite part of the weekend was the factory, while Ella more enjoyed watching cartoons in the hotel. Dresden is only a 2 hour train trip, but it was a fun break for everyone home and away.