09-21 Prague 1999

The predecessor organization to Vubiz Ltd was a not-for-profit called The Learning Institute for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, which was a partnership with Jim Rapino at Confederation College in Thunder Bay. Confederation College had a contract to take training on free-market economics to countries like Poland, the Ukraine and The Czech Republic. So in 1999, Jim asked Peter and I to go to these countries to examine the potential for using online learning technologies. The surprise, in terms of magic, was our visit to Prague.
We started on a walking tour that began in Wenceslas Square and wound through the old town ending at the famous Charles Bridge. The photo shows Mary and me outside one of the entrances to the Square. Do you remember the Xmas carol, Good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen?
I had always assumed that the most beautiful city in Europe was Paris, but Prague is right up there. It is magnificent! The postcard photo of the bridge gives you a sense of what I am saying,
It was a surprise to get warnings from our embassy people to not take a cab until you know in advance what they are going to charge. Then we were warned about pick-pockets and con artists. It seems these nations that have lived under Communism do something that destroys the very souls of people.
The photograph of me, on the bridge with the soot-covered statues of one of the saints in the background, is an example of the historic art you can see on the Charles Bridge. We kept going back and back to absorb all the history and culture of this tremendous Bohemian city.
Another great site is the massive Prague castle, supposedly the largest castle in the world and here we have Peter looking seriously learned.
The problem we discovered in all three nations was that Internet access via old telephone systems took about half an hour for a hook-up. In 1999 we were about five years ahead of ourselves in terms of the application of online learning.