Praha!!

Hello all!
I've left the U.S. once again. My first stop has been in Praha. The agenda was Kamila's wedding! She is now officially married, as of the 15th of September - and I will shortly be posting some photos. It was a typical Czech wedding in that it was held at the city hall building for Prague's district 6. We walked there from the apartment on Evropska street and after the wedding got picked up by the historical tram men. Apparently, they even gave Kamila the historical tram ride for free because they were friends. The tram took us to the reception restaurant which was located near the high school I went to here, back in 1996. It's also behind the Orechovka cinema, where Petra and I saw Babe. :) (Fun memories!). The wedding at the city hall was sweet. There were about 80 people there, and about 100 at the reception. I met many relatives of Kamila I had not seen in 12 years. They remembered me, and how much I used to sleep as a teenager though! Kamila and David invited many of their tango dance friends, and quite appropriately, they tangoed down the aisle after saying their vows - which seemed to consist of merely "yes". There is a nice tradition in Czech weddings that everyone who is at the hall when they take their vows comes to the front, before the bride and groom depart, and single file greet and congratulate them. I suppose the American tradition is to greet them first at the reception. In any case, other exciting Czech tales include taking a bus about an hour of Prague yesterday to visit my friend Adam who is now a doctor at a rehabilitation clinic - the most well-known in Bohemia?. It was quite an adventure to get there, as bus numbers and stops in the Czech Rep. are almost as obscure and confusing as in Iran. I went to the town where Adam works - which is Kladruby - and then we took a 5 minute ride in his Fiat to Vlasim, a great little-typical Czech town, where I couldn't resist having dumpling, jatrovy, soup and fried smazheny syr. We then took a walk to the forest where there is a great (statue, which I unfortunately did not get a chance to see) called Samson - which is supposedly a man who was turned into a statue when the man was complaining to his wife that her dumplings were no good! I now have two determinations in my future travels: The first is to get to the top of that Iranian hill which has the remains of Baabak's castle, and the second is to find in the middle of the trees in Vlasim's park, this statue of Samson. It's apparently hidden in the trees...but well worth the effort.
Tonight I travel to Turkey, where I will spend a little less than 24 hours, and then take a Turkish air flight to Dushanbe. I have picked up my provisions for Dushanbe - namely many gifts for my old host family...and about 5 boxes of pept bismol tablets.
I miss all of you!
---Karin.