černa hora always makes me think of nadia

All the things I forget to mention:

-there are little white butterflies everywhere. About the size of a dollar coin. I love them. Especially in the rose bushes in front of the Družba. They are enormous, rambling plants, much like the ones we used to have in the backyard on Barrington street. Dozens of flowers all at once.

-twice in the past few days I have witnessed the loud, sometimes violent family disputes of random people. Right out in the middle of the street. Very odd.

-drinking enough tea to permanently alter my body chemistry I think.

-gin and absinthe should not be had in the same evening in large quantities.

-if I have to sing that song about the blue eyed girl one more time...

flood news

Over half a million books have been damaged in libraries across the Czech Republic by the floods, Vit Richter, the deputy director of the National Library, said. Since the soaked books can only be saved by freezing and later gradual drying, the libraries are asking for rapid aid and machines to freeze the books.

The latest estimate of the damage caused to Prague's subway system has been set at 2 billion Kc, according to Milan Houfek, CEO of Prague's urban transport operator Dopravni podnik. Crews will first attempt to repair the Florenc station, which took the most damage. "It could reopen within weeks," Houfek said. He said that there are about a million cubic meters of water in the Prague underground now. The actual damage will be assessed after the water from the stations is pumped out.

The missing hippopotamus Slavek appeared in the elephants' room after water receded from the zoo Friday, the daily newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes reported today. Slavek was not discovered during the flood because the rising water had carried the hippopotamus up to an area above the elephants' place. The sea lion Gaston, missing from the Prague zoo, is tens of kilometers behind the German border and is being chased toward Prague by three boats.