AMTA members just returned from the 42nd WMTS (World Medical Tennis Society) meeting in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. However, getting home was no easy task as we ran into cancelled flights due to Hurricane Irene.

For the pre-trip, we enjoyed 4 days and 3 nights in Prague at the Grand Hotel Praha in Old Town, easy walking distance to almost everything. We met and had dinner together at the hotel’s underground restaurant August 16. We relaxed on a lovely 3 hour evening river trip with dinner on the top deck with a fabulous view. Most unique was the Medieval Evening with entertainment and dinner with dancing girls, Keltic music and jousting men with swords. One lady danced with a 6 ft. love cobra around her neck as a boa!

We then rode our bus to Karlovy Vary with tennis practice Saturday morning and the official opening of the meeting by the President with a dinner at the restaurant Diana, located atop a local mountain after a tram ride. It was great to meet old friends from participating countries.

The National Evening was a tour of the Pilsner Brewery and a typical Czech dinner. In the center of the town of Pilsen, our bus stopped at the special monument erected by the town in l992 thanking the US Army commanded by General Patton for liberating Pilsen from 6 years of German occupation! (See above photo)

The final dinner was held at the lovely Hotel Pupp ballroom with an 8-piece orchestra playing 1920s-30s music. Bob Combs and Isaac Mitre revealed their dancing skills, much to our surprise! At dinner, AMTA was awarded the prize for the oldest man and woman. (Mary Hallowell, 86, and Simon Myint, 83.) In addition, the scientific chairman made an award to the 2 best lectures and our Dr. Craig Broome received one for his lecture on “Medical Emergency Response to 9/11.”