On September 21, I left the US for Prague, to witness the marriage of one of my best friends, Bill King, to the love of his life. I got back on the 28th, and I’m just now caught up enough to spend time on this website. As you might guess from the slew of new posts, I’ve had lots of things building up in the pipeline here, waiting for my attention.
I finished the first in a new two-novel story in the Knights of the Silver Dragon series the morning before I left. I got to Prague and managed to stay awake until midnight, then nodded off and didn’t wake up again for 12 hours. I spent the next couple days wandering around Prague with Bill and his family and friends, mostly just haunting restaurants and bars in the Old Town part of the city.
For the wedding, about 35 of Bill and Radka’s friends and family met in a high, private garden in the center of the city, with a breathtaking view Prague splayed out below us. Then we adjourned for a quick drink before a wonderful dinner and celebrating until the wee hours of the night. We capped it off with a few of us taking a stroll across the Charles Bridge before collapsing back into our respective beds.
The next morning, Bill and Radka saw me off, and I headed for Italy to visit my sister Jody and her husband Nanni. I landed in Milan and navigated a bus and three trains to get to their home in Bolzano. Again, I slept 12 hours that night.
When I awoke, Jody and Nanni took me for a ride through the Dolomites, a breathtaking part of the alps. We had dinner in a little mountain town in which Jody once taught English. During our trip, we stopped at this tiny, protected lake that glowed the most amazing shade of green.
The next evening, Jody and I hopped a direct train back to Milan. Max Bertolini (who created the covers for all three of my Blood Bowl novels) met us at the station and took us out for a drink. He then brought us up to his studio to show us his latest work. He exemplified Italian grace and hospitality, especially since we’d never met each other before.
That night, Jody and I stayed with Anna, our Italian exchange-student sister. In the morning, her gracious brother Paolo drove me to the train station to catch a bus to the airport. I made it home on the evening of the 28th, and I’ve been catching up ever since.
I had an amazing trip, and I say enough to thank everyone I met and who took care of me in my meanderings. I hope I get to see all of them again soon, and in the meantime they each have a standing invitation to tread upon my doorstep any chance they get.
