Our arrival day

Hi to all our friends and family. We arrived safely in Frankfurt Germany around 730 am in this time zone. Our flight was pretty uneventful...a little turbulance but pretty quiet. I don't think much sleeping went on but everyone was on their best behaviour. The plane was quite large - and thanks to Moore sports our check in was one of the best I have experienced.

We were met at the airport by our double decker bus, complete with trailer to pull all the hockey bags. It is quite roomy and we even had a few seats to spare. It was a good thing as most of us fell asleep within minutes of the bus pulling away. We woke up to our lunch stop and while some of the group were brave enough to try german cuisine, many of the boys elected to wait for burger king to open. One interesting bit...dogs are allowed into restaurants here.

The second leg of our bus journey took us on many twists and turns and again, most fell asleep. The architecture of these towns we passed through was very interesting. Alot of brightly coloured houses with very little property. We did pass many garden plots complete with their own sheds. The homes are built right into the sides of mountains and stunning to see. The bright yellows, peaches, blues were set off by beautiful scrolling and woodwork.

We arrived in Karlovy Vary around 3 and we quite happy to check into a very nice hotel and conference centre, the Thermal Lazensky. The hotel itself is quite modern and the rooms are small with single beds for all. Not much room to move around but very clean and efficient. After our check in, we adventured out on a walking tour with 2 local tour guides. This city is breathtaking with buildings from the 19th century. With cobblestone walkways, the city is a world reknowned spa town which has natural hot springs. Its amazing, you walk down the street and there are people filling special cups that look like tea kettles with this medicinal water to drink from. The temperature of the water ranged from 30 to 72 degrees cel. The taste left a little to be desired...you could definately taste the minerals and not sure it was a hit with us. We also tried a local wafer type cookie which was the size of a small frisbie. Available in many flavours, they were a welcome treat.

This town is the home of the international film festival so many famous names have come. The stores are filled with armani and other high end designers. We didn't shop but filled our time with fabulous window shopping. I did happen to see a few moms who managed to find the warm wine you sip while walking but no one was brave enough to try the 38% alcohol spiked water.

We enjoyed a traditional czech dinner in a restaurant reserved for us. Thankfully it was one selection for all so we were served quickly. Not sure that the kids enjoyed it that much but we had a taste of how different Coke tastes here. Our meal consisted of a type of potato soup that was green and loaded with garlic, chicken and rice with a light gravy. Salt seems to be a favourite additive and beer is definately cheaper than a bottle of water!

Following dinner, Emily took the younger kids up for an evening of movie watching and card playing. The hockey boys wanted to swim in the outdoor pool which is filled with the medicinal water but alas it was closed. Everyone is pretty tired and after figuring out how to connect ipods to the wireless web, the hallways are now quiet for the night.

Tomorrow starts out with an early morning practice at 715 am. Evan, Maria, Kyle and Sam are all planning on jumping on the ice as well. We have about a 1 hour ride into Prague and the raiders first game is at 230. It will be a busy day...we meet our billet families, have a welcome dinner and send the boys off.

Here are a few pictures from our walking tour this evening. The lights and scenary were beautiful and you can see the random springs that are around the town. A new friend was also made by some of the more adventurous of the group.

Will post more tomorrow when the eyes aren't quite so tired.