Saturday here and another windy day although the sun is shining. Good session this morning and came back to our hotel. We have a huge room overlooking the square with really old buldings around a cobblestone square . There are so many awesome buildings with many in a state of disrepair , probably something to do with the quantity of them and the lack of financial resources to do something about them. Today out our window we kept seeing bridal parties and we asked the hotel recpetionist why so many weddings? Apparently lucky since it is the 7-7-07, I wonder whether the kiwis are as superstitious.
All team going well, Tom back paddling and Kidda very pleased with everyone, both their attitute and committment to the training sessions.
I even have the boys doing hand washing.... well not quite by hand as kiwi ingenuity has won and Shaun filled the bath with clothes and washing powder and used his C1 paddle as the agitator. Cant beat that .... necessity is the mother of invention. Hopefully I can post some photos when we get back to somewhere with better internet access.
Have been eating in the Pizzeria by the hotel everynight= we can feed 7 of us with 2 drinks each for about 40 Euros ie 80 bucks so not worth me cooking. We bought cooked chickens with french sticks for lunch today= the chickens less than 6 dollars for lunch so everyone eating well.
Cheers for now and thanks for the comments and emails
Sue

Today another cold and windy day, not sure what has happened to the European summer but doing the videoing this morning was pretty freezing.
Another tech session on the middle of the course today which is the knarly bit with a big hole and drops =at least I think that is how you would describe it. A bit of trouble for Ella who had a couple of rolls but got it in the end and the C2 boys tipped up by a concrete wall, Shaun was stuck in the boat for a while and ended up with skinned knuckles, but all back out there again now after an afternoons rest. That is pretty much all we have done today as by the time we got back from the river, had lunch and did video review, the kids were tired so had a sleep. I caught up on a couple of things as no video required this arvo.
Hoping the weather comes right as apart from the first couple of days in Prague it has been more like a bad NZ summer.
Here in Roudnice for 2 more days and will have some full runs racing the Swiss juniors which will be no subsitute for real racing conditions but is the best we can do. Lots of workers at the course painting railings and cleaning up in preparation for the end of the month.
Everyone happy here hop the same in NZ
cheers
sue

Terezin

After the mornings flatwater training session we headed north to Terezin to visit one of the Concentration camps. It was a cold bleak day matched by the buildings and ghetto museum we visited. I asked the team to come up with words to describe the day. Chilling, educational, sombre, sobering, unbelievable were some of them. Not a pleasant day but worth doing. Just back from the evening session and dinner is calling. Team did a technical session on the top of the course as the aim of the next few days is to get to know the course for Junior Pre worlds backwards.
It is a public holiday today and tommorrow so nothing much open except for the trusty TESCO.
Meals at the hotels Pizzeria are very cheap and luckily pretty good with lots of choice of pasta and old favs like spag bol.
cheers for now
sue

Messages

Thanks for all the messages, it is a great way to communicate as with the IT difficulties in Czech sending individual emails is too hard.
There is no internet cafe in Roudnice so I am relying on the goodwill of the hotel receptionists. Team gone for a flat water paddle with kidda in Toms boat as his shoulder is still too sore to paddle. He saw the Czech team physio and she thinks it will be OK with some rest. He had some Uv treatment and a massage , so fingers crossed he is back on the white water tommorrow.
The course at Roudnice closed this morning for some repairs so we are heading up to Terezin to visit a concentration camp. Excuse any typos as the Czech keyboard has some letters in a different place to us.
cheers for now
sue

Roudnice nad labem

Arrived this evening at Roudnice after a session of full runs this morning at 8am with the Swiss juniors, Will Forsythe from Australia and an Irish guy. After a pretty hard training we headed into Prague centrum for a couple of hours. We split up and met again at the end of Charles Bridge. the boys arrived with shopping bags alamost outdoing Ella with the new T shirts and sweat shirts they had found.
Went to the Jewish quarter-museum and that was sobering for everyone with the Old Jewish cemetry being the most interesting- 100000 Jews buried in a very small area, 12 deep. Dating from the 17th Century when this was the only area that they could be buried in.
Drove to Roudnice and checked into our hotel which is quite nice although Ella and I had to change rooms after a blocked toilet. Training again at the Roudnice cousre with paddlers from Ubekistan and Kajastan. Scary first runs especially for Ella in the big drops but then everyone got used to it. Dinner out with 7 of us at the Italian restaurant at our hotel cost 41 Euros including 2 drinks for everyone = not worth cooking as the food was good.
Times up so goodnight from Roudnice

Cheers Sue and team

Prague

Great night of sensory overload last night as we caught the tram into the city for a wander and dinner. Heaps of oohs and aahs as we made our way through Wenceslas Square, past the awesome old buildings, across Charles Bridge and to a little restaurant for dinner.

Everyone took so many photos as at every step there is something amazing to see. After dinner the lights of Prague with the big castle lit up were magical. A tram ride home and very tired sleepy bodies.

Training going well, although we have just found out that both days races that we were heading to at Roudnice have been cancelled this weekend, so will need to re access the planning after the video review of todays sessions.

Take care

Cheers

sue

Tom's Boat

Epic trip to Munich this morning- left at 6am and got back at 3.30pm. Tom very happy to see his boat!!!

C2 Boyz

Tom in Luuka's boat

Training Prague

Guess who?

Training Prague

Photos from todays morning training session- Kidda had lots of positive things to say about the teams first real session.

A couple of niggles with sore shoulders which is a bit of a worry. Back to the apartment for lunch and the team massaging the sor points. Tom sitting out this arvo - he has been paddling Luuka's boat as she has a new one for Tacen. Eric, Tom and I leaving at 5.30am for Munich to collect Tom's boat so he should be back into it tommorrow.

Down to the course soon for another session then catching the tram into Prague for a wander and dinner.

Great atmosphere Prague World Cup Race

Ella's new boat

Ella's new Galasport Toreto

Prague World Cup Race

A stinking hot day today in Prague for the finals of the K1 Men and C2 Men.
Mike Dawson was the only kiwi so he had our full support. He looked good but only the top 10 go through to the final and he missed the cut. It was an awesome days racing with wall to wall people and excitement.
After the racing, once we had Ella's new boat kitted out ( trip to Tesco again for glue) , the team hit the course. Unfortunately they turned the water off so only had 10 minutes then had to resort to a flat water session until it came back on.
All enjoyed it and just home and had dinner.
A bit tired and sunburnt so early night for all.
Cheers
sue

Picnic first night in Munich food market

Team sightseeing

Photos from Munich & Regensburg

Munich to Prague

After the most amazing brekkie at our hotel- everything from bacon & eggs, to delectable pastries, pancakes and fresh fruit with the traditional breads and cold meats we hit the road via the supermarket to collect some picnic food.
About 100km from Munich we exited the autobahn for Regensburg, a German city of that has a huge history from medieval times. It was one of the important Imperial Cities of the Holy Roman Empire. We did a tour of an historic building that was once the venue for the Diet, the meeting place of emporers and princes who were responsible for rules and decisions for a large part of Europe and was built in 1320. Downstairs was the interrogation room and prison cells complete with racks and other nasty torture equipment.
In complete contrast was the Gay Fest going on outside in the town platz, which was buzzing with music and beer and food stalls. Lots for the team to look at and take photos of. A great stop and well worth the visit.The Church of St Peters with huge amounts of stained glass windows, and now a UNESCO site, was another highlight.
By the time we had soaked in the sights for 4 hours everyone was really ready for the picnic, so back near the car was a large wooded park, so we found a park bench and had our late lunch.
Arrived in Prague to the boat house at the course about 7pm and immediatley spotted the kiwi seniors and Kidda.
A quick Hi to them all and off to our apartment. Thomas and I found the Tesco and stocked up with supplies. Quite a mission and arrived back to very sleepy teammates at 11pm .
Up this morning and off to the course to watch Mike's semi and catch the best in the world race.
Hopefully get some good video of the C2 and K1 men.
Lovely warm day today, Eric's bag located, not with us yet but hopeful it will be delivered today.
The next plan is to get Tom's boat when we hear it has arrived in Munich.
Hope everyone is great in NZ despite the All Blacks and the sailing.
Cheers
Sue & the team