Going Back, part 3

We did have a wonderful trip through Eastern Europe, which eased our transition back to the U.S. Prague was as beautiful as we had always heard, with only a few bullet holes on buildings revealing the strife that had occurred there. Most of the ancient castles and forts were well preserved, supposedly due to the fact that whenever invaders threatened, the Czechs said, “Come on in!” We had a tense evening when we foolishly took a tram out to a suburban movie theater to see 12 Monkeys in English without thinking about how we would get back. We had a long, scary walk through dark streets toward a brightly lit “Hotel” sign. The counter man there called us a taxi and asked us to eat in his restaurant in return for his help.

Budapest was still more foreign, with few English speakers, but people were friendly and helpful anyway. The 1996 Olympics were on, and we sometimes watched it on the Eurosport channel in our hotel. Things looked very different without the bias of an American TV network—the view of the athletes and the sports was much more balanced than our usual jingoistic approach.

Vienna was exciting, with a great contrast between the classical and the modern. As the gateway to the east, it had the feeling of a jarring clash between times and cultures.

At last we flew home, where we quickly bought a car, received our furniture, and headed north to see the girls at camp. Life in the U.S. had started anew for us. But I was determined to do it differently this time. I had seen people in Spain who worked to live instead of living to work, people who took a walk after lunch, people who knew much more about enjoying life than I did. I knew it would be hard, but I wanted to live a less crazy life than most of my American friends did.