Liberec??? where the hell is it??

Apparently, no one in Prague ever goes to Liberec, because we asked several people and got interesting advice like:
• A Cop that said – go back (pointing behind us then, when the light changed – GO GO!)
• Several people that couldn’t tell us any thing
• The Taxi driver who said after some contemplating - meaning he didn’t really know where it was either –
o Go around the circle and look at the signs and see if you see anything that helps!
o Your fist time in Prague?? Driving?? There is much construction! (along with a face that said “ YOU ARE SO SCREWED!”) and finally -
o You could follow my colleague out of the city for 700 kc ( about $35)

Toni and I decided to be stubborn and set out on our own armed with sketchy google map directions and a quickly setting Sun. I knew we had to go north out of town, but there didn’t seem to be a way to do that! So we circumnavigated the city of Prague and eventually ended up on the correct road. It was I believe the first time Toni or I were ever happy to see numbers!!! We can read them! Then eventually we saw a sign for Liberec! WOOHOO!

Along the way I noticed something interesting… There is a lot of open farmland out side of Prague, but the parking situation is horrible. Why don’t they spread out a little bit??

At about 11:00 we arrived at an exit to Liberec, but we still don’t know where the hotel is, so we stop at a grocery store that is closed and empty except for this very nice couple that speaks very little English. I show them my directions that I printed out hoping some of the odd words mean something to them (because they sure don’t to me) The wife goes to try to find someone else that is in the store area that speaks better English. They were a very nice couple and tried hard to help us out. I have never been on the minority end of a language barrier before, and while I have never been rude to anyone that didn’t speak English at home, I vowed then to for evermore be more patient and helpful to non native speakers from now on. The other person came and was pretty helpful, although we still managed to miss the turn we needed to take. We turned around and got back on track, found the sports arena, then tried to find the hotel. Toni said in a sarcastic tone – “Why are you going this way – turn around do you really think you can just drive around and find the hotel like before?” and just at that time, I come to an intersection - and their it is! The Hotel Arena! YEAH – We are here!!!

We check in and go upstairs to discover that this hotel doesn’t have a/c either! What is with these people??? The room is nice, and it has really big windows that open to almost the size of doors, but there really wasn’t a cross breeze, so the room was stuffy. Toni is way more hot natured than me, and she was not very happy about the prospect of going the next few days with out a/c. They only have one fan and someone took it already (this was a rare heat wave according to the front desk). We decided to go out tomorrow and get a fan. So we went to bed about midnight with a warm room and little air flow.