This past weekend, Nicole and I were able to do our first bit of European travelling sans enfant (as they say in French). Judy and Paul were visiting and agreed, against their better judgment, to watch Mason for us while we spent the Valentine's Day weekend in Prague.February in Prague is not exactly high season, but we lucked out and got a really nice, sunny weekend to see the city. After travelling Europe with Mason, it was amazing how relaxing it felt to just spend a leisurely weekend walking around Prague. Prague has a beautifully preserved old-town that was largely untouched by World War II, and survived almost 40-years of communist neglect. I thought the city actually has a pretty inspiring story, having had to suffer under first Nazi and then Soviet rule until finally gaining true independence in 1989. The place is definitely vibrant and growing now. Despite the amount of growth there, the place is also dirt-cheap in comparison to most other European cities. Nicole and I enjoyed dinner at a very nice restaurant for about 1/3 the cost of a similar restaurant in Switzerland. Of course, with Nicole being pregnant, she wasn't able to take advantage of the cheap wine and beer prices, so I tried to make up for her. Speaking of pregnancy, Nicole felt the baby move for the first time after we climbed up 300 steps to the top of St. Vitus Cathedral's tower. I am sure the baby has never heard Nicole's heart beat like that before.
After dinner on Saturday night, we visited a jazz club called Rotuda, where many famous jazz aritsts have played, and even President Clinton once played his saxophone. We were trying to broaden the musical tastes for the new baby, as I think all it has heard so far is a steady diet of artists like The Wiggles and Raffi. Of course, Mason now regularly requests to listen to Techno music, so we're not sure where we went wrong there. After listening to a few jams by the evening's quartet, we think the baby will be more partial to Miles Davis than Moby.
