on our way up to karlovy vary for this year’s festival (more to come on that later), we stopped by petite mariánské lázně (marienbad), only a handful of kilometers from the german border where we arrived by an excellent, fast pendolino train. in addition to karlovy vary which we know quite well by now, i consider mariánské lázně to be another town that makes up northwestern czech republic’s famed “spa triangle” (with františkovy lázně making up the third point). i had heard enough about this little town (called one of the most beautiful in the country) to want to make a little stop there… and i was fully dedicated to…