Today we went on the best company trip yet. It was a coal burning power plant and the adjacent brown coal strip mine. The proportions of everything were incredible. The top of the coal burner was the highest building in the Czech Republic and the strip mine was absolutely ginormous. What surprised me about the whole enterprise was how well run it seemed to be. Generally, when I think of the countries that used to make up the Soviet Union and its satellites, I think of rampant government mismanagement. Yet the coal plant really seems to have outgrown that stage. They were very forward thinking in their plans to phase out the coal power plant and the strip mine without ruining the region. They have plans to make new jobs for the former employees of the mine and they have already started restoration of some areas of the strip mine. They have billions of Korunas set aside to pay for the restoration already.