Saint Valentine's shoulder blade is a famous relic in Prague!
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
A couple kneeling in front of Saint Valentine's shoulder blade, which is in the reliquary adorned with gold, at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Prague.   It began, as many of my adventures do, with something I saw on Twitter. Prague City Tourism ‏@PragueEU -- Idea: See St. Valentine's shoulder blade in the Church of Sts. Peter & Paul @ Vysehrad. ?  #Prague #weirdbutcool #onlyinprague #valentinesday Prague City Tourism's intriguing tweet provoked so many questions: What is St. Valentine's shoulder blade doing in Prague?; Is his entire shoulder blade on di ..read more
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Homeless (again) in Prague!
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
Moving in ... One year ago, we had already unpacked most of the moving boxes but stuff still cluttered the kitchen.  Sorry for the dramatic title. We're not exactly "homeless in Prague" but we will be if I don't find another apartment very soon. Every morning, I wake up with a sense of deja vu. My ritual is almost exactly the same as it was a year ago: make a cup of coffee, turn on my computer; search expats.cz for a rental apartment; check other real estate websites; try not to feel too discouraged that there's nothing new on the market; look at my calendar; and star ..read more
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Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, one of the world's most photogenic buildings
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Photo credit: Philippe Bosshart Two hours. After some fierce negotiations, that's how long our taxi driver had agreed to wait for us while we visited the Sheikh Zahed Grand Mosque. The driver had quickly countered our original request for a one-way trip to the mosque by proposing a six-hour tour of Abu Dhabi. We would, he promised, see all the main sights. In the end, we settled somewhere in the middle thinking that two hours would give us plenty of time to visit the United Arab Emirate's (UAE) largest mosque and make it back to the cruise ship ..read more
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Cruising to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and India aboard Celebrity Constellation
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
Celebrity Constellation docked in Muscat, Oman Rather than watch the snow rapidly accumulating outside my window, I decided to indulge in a bit of escapism by scrolling through the hundreds of photos taken during our recent Arabian Sea and India holiday cruise. Unlike other types of vacations, cruising is somewhat of a controversial topic. It seems that people either love cruises or hate them. When I told friends that we were going on a family cruise for Christmas, they alternately shuddered at the thought of vacationing with a group of 2,000 people or revealed that they obsess ..read more
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History comes alive during the re-enactment of the Battle of Austerlitz
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
Charge! Re-enactors raise their swords at the Battle of Austerlitz. Cries of "Vive la France" (Long live France) and "Vive l'empereur" (Long live the emperor) echoed across the battlefield as swords clashed and bayonets were drawn during the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of Three Emperors, last Saturday. To commemorate the December 2, 1805 battle between France and the allied forces of Austria and Russia, more than one thousand history enthusiasts hailing from twelve different European countries traveled to the Austerlitz battlefield locat ..read more
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Signal Festival of Lights illuminates the historical heart of Prague!
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
Voice of Figures by Russian creative studio Radugadesign projected on the facade of the Kinsky Palace in Prague. Wandering through the chilly streets of Prague with a map clutched in my hand last night, I was reminded of the excitement I felt when I was a child trick-or-treating for candy on Halloween. Even though I wasn't wearing a costume, the heightened sense of anticipation was the same. Out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly spotted an enormous luminous object on the roof of Charles University. Fumbling for my camera, I snapped a photo of the extraterrestrial being while a ..read more
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"Remarkable Creatures" - the historical novel that inspired us to travel to Lyme Regis
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
Remarkable Creatures, the inspiration for Sara's and my weekend getaway. Perhaps the most unexpected joy of having children is how much I've learned from them over the years. When Sara and I concocted a plan for getting together during regular mother/daughter weekend getaways, she proposed that we travel to Lymes Regis for our inaugural trip. The destination on the Jurassic Coast of England came with an interesting reading assignment: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. While Sara and I agreed that the historical novel based on real life characters wasn't as engaging as Chevali ..read more
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Where in the world is Czechia? And whatever happened to Czechoslovakia?
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
How many European countries do you know? There's a map with the country names and capitals at the end of the post. One of the ways I like to distract my mind during takeoff is by playing "Name that Country". As the plane taxis into position, I flip open the airline magazine to the flight map of Europe and mentally point to Switzerland, France, Italy and Spain. Like reciting a mantra to the god of travel, I find myself silently rattling off a couple more easily identifiable countries while the planes barrels down the runway. By the time we begin our ascent, I've moved on to the m ..read more
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I'm (finally) ready to dive in and start life in Prague!
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
Before jumping into this post, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has written to ask if I'm alright (I am!) and to those who have proposed blog topics. My online silence wasn't due to ill health or lack of inspiration but rather the need for some quiet time to figure out what I want to do with this next phase of my life. Ask any expat how they feel when confronted by the challenges associated with moving to a new country every couple of years and they'll probably say that the opportunity to reinvent yourself is both a blessing and a curse. While some expats plunge headfirst into th ..read more
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Le Food Trip's "Tasting Passport" is a uniquely delicious way to explore Paris!
Out and About with Mary Kay
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3y ago
Isabelle at Les Petites Domaines is both charming and very knowledgable about French wine. Two of my favorite topics are food and travel, so it didn't take me long to answer an enthusiastic "yes" when the CzechTourism agency asked if I would be interested in co-hosting a 45 minute Twitter chat about Culinary Travel while I was in Paris. The questions posed by the tourism agency, particularly the one about my favorite kind of culinary experience (food tour, wine tour or snacking?) while abroad, caused me to reflect on the various food and wine tours I've taken over the years. My mind ..read more
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