“Well,” the waiter said, “after 10pm we play contemporary Korean music.”

Well. Naturally.

But, seriously, I like the story very much; it almost makes me want to try sushi! And the part about being lost and driving on dark, narrow, rural roads reminds me of the time we were driving to New Hampshire when I was about eleven years old. It was a ten hour drive from our home near Buffalo, and my father always insisted on leaving Friday night (after working all day) and driving all night to get there. On one occasion he announced at about 4 AM that he was tired and that my mother would have to drive. There was a sign that said “Bristol 19 miles.” My mother drove, through the woods on the two lane winding roads, pitch black, for about an hour, at which time my father took the wheel again. There was a sign that said “Bristol 21 miles.” My father was furious. “You drove for an hour and we’re two miles farther away than we were before!” But that wasn’t the worst of it. The whole hour my mother was driving she thought she was dreaming. “I thought I was in a terrible nightmare, and that all I had to do to wake up was to crash the car into a tree.” We kids heard this a lot, in fact every time my mother heard us joking about “the time Mom drove on the way to NH.” But one thing I’m very sure of – my father never heard it.

But it’s all true, and these stories don’t always have such happy endings.

What’s wrong with the Czech Republic, hey? Really you must come while the beer garden is open.