Happy March!

Hello everyone!  I am safely in cold, snowy Prague and having a brilliant time.  I’ve spent the past few days hanging out with people from Japan, England, Italy, New Zealand and Ireland, all of which makes me feel very cultured and global.  Prague is a really nice city, although I’m not sure that I don’t still like Venice better.  More fun for wandering.  And easier to read the signs.  I don’t have enough Russian, nor is Russian always close enough to Czech, for me to read anything more than a few little words.  Like “bookstore” - always a good one for me!

I went to a splendiferous concert yesterday afternoon - an oboe quartet playing a sort of “greatest hits of classical music” concert, including a Mozart and a Beethoven Oboe Quartet.  They were marvelous, and what’s more, the setting made me feel like I was in a movie.  We were in a grand salon of a like palace in Prague, with a high, frescoed ceiling, beautiful drapes and swags across the windows at either end, the quartet under one window, and snow falling outside.  I felt like I should have been wearing a ball gown and fanning myself with a fan made of ostrich feathers.  ::grin::

I have today and tomorrow here in Prague, and then I’m off to Oxford for a few days.  I’ve made quite a few contacts across Europe (and the world), and we’ve all exchanged visitation invitations.  Who knows - I might take my Japanese friend (who’s living in Switzerland) up on his invitation sometime in the next month!