Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Rest day

Today the team had a rest day- well away from the course. We went to Prague, which is only about 40 minutes away, the whole team, Kidda and Luuka came too.
We parked near the Prague course as it is a familiar tram ride into the middle of the city without the parking hassles. The trams run on an honesty system, but no one seems to check so is a very cost effective mode of transport.
We decided to visit an exhibition entitled ' Bodies' that Kidda had seen recently. It was quite amazing as there were over 20 real human bodies, that were from Chinese prisoners. A method of extracting all the water and replacing it with a synethetic polymer was used to preserve the soft tissue and muscles. Various systems and parts of the bosy were highlighted in different ways eg arteries, muscles, circulatory system. Hard to explain but if you google Bodies Exhibition Prague you will get a better idea. It was very educational and plus had a strong health message.
After a quick lunch we went our own ways with a meeting time back at the course. There was some pressure and urgency to buy gifts for loved ones at home so serious shopping was underway. Another very hot day and I arrived back at the course at the appropriate time, then Kidda and luuka but over an hour later still no sign of the others.
Eventually they arrived ( 90 minutes late) with a story... of course.... they got the tram in the wrong direction, had the scenic route to South Prague. the tram line finished, they got off and caught another back. All in all, 1 and a half hours on the tram, luckily it was a freebie!!!
Still smiling we went to another shopping centre and got glue for baot repair, more shopping and arrived back in Roudnice 8pm for another Pizzeria dinner.
Some new teams have arrived and we met the Italians and USA team at the Pizzeria.
The flat water world junior champs are about 10km away at Racice on the same dates so lots of flatwater paddlers staying at the same place as us.
Into nation training tommorrow and with are with the Aussies and Swedish teams at 11am. Hopefully we can squeeze another in at 7pm as it is not dark until 10pm. Very short night as it is daylight at 5am.
cheers to all in NZ, great getting messages and comments as to who is reading the blog. We really appreciate your support and interest.
Sue

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope you lot are not turning into shopaholics!!!! Sounds like you are having an amazing time over there. Train hard, be good and drink lots of that lovely water we have heard about!!!!!

Noel and Angela

Anonymous said...

U will all know Prague pretty well by now all soungs great. Thank you Ella for Post card good to hear from u. Week-end in Dargy was good-great not having to drive. Don't know what's up with the weather pattern you will have seen all the floods in England and parts of Europe with heat waves in others and parts of England no drinking water hope your problems are all sorted. Netball 2nite will be very exciting.Lov XXXXXXXX

Anonymous said...

enjoying reading about your travels and travails, having another go at this tried a few times last year but didn't seem to work- nothing to do with pilot error- weird weather for you guys, not sure if you need rain but just say the word and the connected ones will pray for it-we are recovering from floods and unprecedented sporting success, dollar at 25 year high so the shopping can be excessive with a clean conscience- looking forward to seeing some race results.
Cheers- Greg C