My maternal grandparents come from a country rich in art, beauty and tragedy.

My grandparents’ homeland gave birth to the tale of a man’s metamorphosis into an insect and the myth of a 16th century rabbi who gave life to a clay protector of the Jewish people.

It sheltered Mozart when he felt unappreciated in his home country.

It was ensnared in ancient religious conflict and a 20th century genocidal crusade that cost my grandparents, and many other Jews, their loved ones and homes.

And, early next month,  my little brother and I will travel for the first time to the Czech Republic for a brief vacation  and the chance to learn about the country and our heritage.

Our trip will take us from the castle and Old-New Synagogue of Prague to the walls of the concentration camp and ghetto that served as a prison  for my grandparents during the Holocaust.

We will travel to our grandparents’ hometowns and visit distant relatives we’ve never met.

And you’ll be able to join us as we record our trip in words, pictures and sound.

For a brief time, this site will host my entries for our travel blog,  The Prague Blog.

Readers will be able to follow our adventure as I document our week in the Czech Republic and brief stay in Britain with text and photo slideshows that integrate audio from our trip .

My little brother will also write about our adventures on his Web site, the other host of the The Prague Blog, and on my own site.

Marvel as we stutter in Czech and randomly and excessively insert Czech phrases into our posts!

Wonder at why we wasted time, batteries and bandwidth on a post devoted entirely to Czech food!

Watch as we reconnect with our grandfather’s family and visit a famous brewery in my grandmother’s hometown!

Sorry for the exclamation points.

I’m hoping our travels will give me the chance to improve my cross-cultural communication and multimedia skills.

And I’m looking forward to learning about the country that shaped half of my family’s history.