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spring stories (from our czechpat life)
a big ol’ smattering of a spring update is here, now that it’s suddenly may and things are really happening! starting out freezing, peaking mid-month with warm temps, and ending on a cold rainy note, april in budějovice came and went. we postponed our “cabin in the nature” trip until the end of summer due to this, below left, from alex’s birthday. (second out of three birthdays of his spent in czechland that have snowed!) spring definitely got a slow start here in europe this year. funny that now spring has sprung, everything has exploded with greenery and you’d never know it was like that at all. (see photos, at right)…
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biking bohemia
after getting my bike back in ship-shape just in time for the nice weather, i decided to take a first pedal of the year last weekend. the weather was supposed to be around 23°C and mostly sunny, and with alex busy, it was time for me to finally take the pedal to hluboká nad vltavou, the next town of any repute to the north, on what has been called the busiest cycle path in the entire country! it is an easy 12km from my house to hluboká, riding along the river vltava most of the time before veering off into the adorable village of bavorovice, then on along some ponds…
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on being a foreigner
like many of you i’m sure, the feeling of being in a foreign place feels so completely thrilling. but, there are times when that general excitement for life in a foreign place can turn downright tiresome. i have a weird hang-up and i suppose i will be honest and divulge it to you, my friends: sometimes i feel as though i don’t deserve as much (in general) as the local people do just because i don’t speak their language. take for example, a few days ago at a pizzeria. i had a few slices of pizza yet i wanted to take home, but i almost didn’t feel like asking for…
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of markets & museums, prague
i finally got to see those famous prague easter markets the day before easter sunday after missing them by chance for a few years, and i have to say, i don’t know what i was expecting (perhaps something more low key like budějovice’s easter market?) but they completely surpassed any expectation. i am well familiar by now with the extravaganza that is the prague old town square christmas market, and the easter market was basically the spring version of this. same viewing platform that you can climb to get a good view. same kingswood cider tent, only decorated for spring this time. i loved the (fake) cherry blossom trees that…
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třeboň + april weekends
how odd it was to go from a full day of snow to sunny and 18°C in one week! from winter coat to bare legs and sandals. but that’s april for you. (shrug) in case you haven’t yet guessed, we had to postpone our lovely little cabin trip ‘til august… ‘cause when the proprietor contacts you the day before to tell you “it’s like winter here!”, you listen. (we just took off for prague instead, which i’ll post about on tuesday) so with the forecast looking wonderful this weekend, we spent the afternoon in třeboň, only about a half-hour away. třeboň is one of my sobo (south bohemia) happy places. i love to…
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a tree blooms in žižkov
žižkov is one area of prague that i never really got to know on a personal level. it’s supposedly got the most pubs per capita of anywhere in the world and is well known as a place where expats congregate and live because of cheaper rents and um, said pubs. my prague expat existence never included ol’ žižkov as i was swept from crumbling kolbenova to plush malá strana in one day (and ohhh, what a day it was). but a part of me can’t help like i missed out on the experience, with our schmancy st. nicholas cathedral and trdelník on demand (well, we were pretty broke then; i…
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calm before the storm
mild sunny days mixed with rainy cloudy ones, but the latter still seem anything but gloomy. i see the peace in them, especially on a quiet friday morning to myself with an over-sized mug of chai with milk and honey and a big bowl of oatmeal (my favorite, banana with cinnamon and chia seeds) topped with dried cranberries, walnuts, and brown sugar. these rare rainy sort of days we don’t often see in south bohemia make me feel so peaceful, calm and relaxed. i really don’t miss the rain too much and moving here to a sunnier climate has been really lovely. sometimes months pass without a drop of rain,…
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exploring ostrava’s vítkovice
i was curious about passing through ostrava, czech republic’s “third” city, on my way to poland. it has long been known for being a polluted industrial and mining center of the country for most of the twentieth century, and also as a place that milan kundera writes about sometimes, for example, in his novel “the joke”. i can’t say this city has had the most shining reputation historically, but i’ve talked to some people about it who feel that ostrava has the potential to become a really hip city. it’s home to a steelworks and mining center called dolní vítkovice, located in the heart of the city, which is now…
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zima
zima (winter) thoughts… // since i’ve cooped myself up for the entire month of january planning our honeymoon, i feel ready to get back out into the world and out of my hibernation! the only problem: it’s too damn cold. weeeee’ll see how that goes shortly. twenty one degrees farenheit doesn’t exactly scream “day trip” to me, as much as i’d love to. // finally getting my wedding dress tailored and looking at rings, thanks to a lovely student of mine who has a seamstress friend and knows all the best jewelry stores in town. with the czech koruna the way it’s been lately ($1 = 24.5kc… dear lord, please…
