Cruisin'

As we neared the end of our time living in Prague, I wrote a bucket list of things I wanted to do.  Near the very top was to take a river cruise up and down the Vltava.  It's one of those things that is very cheesy and extremely touristy and not necessary in a city where the sights are walkable, but if you know me well you know I like a bit of cheese in my life.  I do have Wisconsin blood running through my veins after all.  So, a river cruise it was.   And when I found out that we actually knew someone that had parents that owned one of the longest running river cruise boats in Prague, we signed up for the full package.  Private room, private deck, private buffet and alcohol for two hours. The biggest problem was finding a night B was in town and that we still had available because other things from my bucket list were already crowding the schedule.  Finally, we nailed down a date - the Friday before we left - and we lined up a sitter (or I should say sitters as the girls had to stay at two separate houses seeing as we no longer had a house) and my good friend H handled all the details.

Late Friday afternoon, the girls and I gussied up and headed to the dock.  We were meeting our men there as they were coming straight from work.  And we were sure to be on time because even though we had a private room for our party, the boat had other tourists aboard and it had a schedule to keep. 

Once aboard, we proceeded to have one of the best times I have had in my years in Prague.  Maybe it was because we were leaving but I think not.  We just enjoyed good company, good drinks, and spectacular views.  And I couldn't help but snap a few pictures...But only a few, because I was having a great time just enjoying my friends.... 

Miss H.  How I will always love this woman!

And this one - #11.  I didn't know I needed to make any more friends my last year until she came along...So glad she changed my mind.

We had a photo bomber or two (you'll have to see if you can spot B doing his best photobomb later)

But mostly we just had laughter.  And hugs.  And music.  And friendship.  And some amazing sights for our 2-hour cruise...And a very memorable great time. (Keep reading for what happens after the cruise...)

I love that I have taken these pictures before, but never from this perspective.  And isn't that what life is all about - seeing things from new perspectives?

We docked at about 8 pm and decided it was way too early to call it a night.  We had sitters, after all.  So a large group of us headed over to have our favorite Mexican food (Agave) and a few Gin and Tonics.  We lost a few after that as it was nearing 11 and some had to go relieve sitters...But 8 of us still had caught our second wind so we headed out for another drink and then to an 80's bar to dance until the wee hours in the morning...

And in those wee hours, B and I walked our way home after saying goodbye to some very dear friends...And remembering why it is we don't stay out until the wee hours...

A Day of Water

Our final full day in Dubai and we had nothing planned.  Except to have fun, of course.  So, I let the girls set the itinerary.  They talked between themselves for a bit and then brought me their proposal - first we would head to the beach, rinse off and play in the showers for a bit before hitting the pool.  We would stay there until we were hungry and then go get ice cream/smoothies with our last tokens.  Once we finished desert we would head to our favorite lunch spot to dine al fresco.  When our bellies were full be would get ready to go to the Dubai Mall so we could spend some time at the Aquarium (do you sense a water theme to their day?).  We would finish the day off with dinner at someplace that the girls picked (I did reserve veto power) and head back to the hotel in time for bed.  Sounded like a great plan to me, so we made it happen!

We picked up our towels and headed out...

The beach flags flying said that we had to watch for jelly fish.  We didn't see any but made sure to watch where we stepped. 

Looking for jellyfish...

And then not caring so much about it and splashing to her hearts content.

And MadHatter preferred the sand today...

 We gathered our things and wakled past this...

 And headed to the showers to rinse the sand off...

 

OK - and play a bit...

Clean and hungry - it was time to spend our last tokens...

 We cleaned up and headed out.  The girls were ready for a bit more water...This time watching others play in it while they stayed dry.  The Dubai Aquarium, like many things in Dubai, is over the top and still so very incredible.  It has the World's Largest walk through tunnel holding 10 million liters of water, over 140 different species and measures 51 meteres in length.  Impressive to say the least.

 We spent some time oooohhhing and aaaahhhhing at the things that kept floating by over our heads (or under our feet) and then walked up two flights to see what else the aquarium has in store for us.  Which was a lot of cute creatures...including my own.

We then got a special tour in a glass bottomed boat.  We floated above the tunnel to watch the from above this time...

And then we called it a tour.  And headed next door to the RainForest Cafe to have dinner.  Girls choice.  And since the Hallmark store (Hallmark!) had made me a bit homesick, I didn't have the heart to veto them.

We soaked in a bit more of Dubai and the heat and of our waning days of vacation.  And then cabbed it back to the resort.  We went to sleep dreading our early wake up call but knowing that we had made memories that would last us a lifetime.