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back from USA + 10 things i love about home
hi friends, happy september. i feel like i’m just guiltily creeping back to writing after being m.i.a. for about a month because holy heck, it’s been a month. i’ve been back in the czech republic for just a couple days now and errrmahgerd, i am still jet-lagged as a mofo – this has got to be one of the worst instances of it i can recall. (case in point: it’s 9:15am on a saturday morning and i’ve already read, taken the dog out, had breakfast, read some blogs, then lounged around while loudly complaining about how tired i am) we just completed a five week trip across four states, and…
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this great american city
hello, all! we’ve been back in the united states for about three weeks now and it’s been a whirlwind through four different states; visiting family and friends, attending important weddings, and loooads of travel by air, bus, and train. now we’ve mostly stopped in one place long enough for me to write a little somethin’ – thanks for your patience. the days leading up to our flight to the u.s., i wasn’t as much of a nervous wreck as i was, knowing i was about to fly out on our big trip last year, but this time, the only hard thing was leaving behind our pup. i had no idea…
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july things
hello all! i’ve been a bit of a summer camp haze for a little while, but i got up today and realized that it is july twentieth and it weirded me out a lot. my favorite month full of all thing summer and fun is flying by! you know what i got up to at the very beginning of the month, in karlovy vary! i spent an uneventful independence day (because, let’s be honest, it’s usually not so much fun abroad unless you’re traveling or at some kind of expat party). although, one of my favorite fourth of julys so far was spent nine years ago in switzerland at a…
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the vary many ways that i love you
at some point, going to the karlovy vary international film festival year became more than just a one year thing. now, after four years, it has become basically mandatory for us and one of my most favorite summer getaways. since i’ve never been to karlovy vary while the festival hasn’t been on (except for the day before and after which are always a bit sad, really), i am honestly not sure if i’d like to visit during the rest of the year. i’m not sure i’d like one without the other. what is the festival without vary, and what is vary without the festival? i love the buzzing streets, how…
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in the heart of the spa triangle
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…
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west is the best?
the first taste i got of how laid-back iceland is was on the way to stykkisholmur on the snaefellsnes peninsula in west iceland by bus. the bus left late from the capital because the driver was busy helping two backpackers fit their bicycles in an already packed luggage compartment. we were about fifteen minutes late, and the connection time to catch the second bus in bogarnes was a scant five minutes. after we passed akranes and started for borgarnes, i began silently freaking out. yes, i was that guy who asked the bus driver (when nobody else seemed to care) if he could radio the other driver to tell him…
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at summer’s end
even before returning from iceland (heck, even before i went to iceland), i was hopehopehoping that the czech summer still would be in full swing to welcome me back with open (sunny and warm) arms and man, have i not been disappointed in the least! we have been having such a wonderful time since we’ve been back: rafting on the vltava, barbecues, warm summer night gatherings and pool parties, every meal al-fresco out on the balcony… it has really been the third chapter of summer i have been hoping for. however, i am feeling a bit like phil from wayne’s world today: partied out (again)! with the cool temperatures returning…
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tahiti or iceland? when hiking near skaftafell (part of vatnajökull national park in southeast iceland) on a dreamy, warm summer morning, you can’t really be sure sometimes! tropical-looking plants, mountains, waterfalls, colorful wild flowers and sun like nobody’s business. what really is the difference? the waterfall there surrounded by gorgeous, black basalt columns is svartifoss, about 3km from the trail-head at the campsite, where we stayed. there are so many marvelous hiking trails from this area that one could really stay for days and be satisfied here! not to mention the beautiful glacier always looming overhead. just had to pop in with some biiiig photos to share with you my “is it…
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hi, september
there is nothing more invigorating than being away on a long trip and then getting to come back to your lovely home and cook, clean, read books, garden, run out to the drugstore (like i was doing here, above) and do all of those boring household things that are suddenly anything but boring… in the beautiful warm weather which is most decidedly still summer. our adopted home of the czech republic always smiles upon us after we’ve been away every august; i have no idea why. maybe it’s trying to win us over again after we’ve cheated on it with some other country. but we always come back to you,…
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camping road trip, iceland style
hi all! did you have a wonderfully warm and sunny august? i’m back (home) in the czech republic and newly invigorated by this iceland trip, having unexpectedly experienced both sunny and warm weather on the trip. it was a fantastic month, but i wanted to share with you a little about our camping road trip! we spent four days crossing iceland’s south coast, from reykjavik to jökulsárlón and back, which including our interior driving near the southwest golden circle area put us at about 1,000km. why the south coast? well. i was not a newbie to iceland, but having never visited the south coast before, i felt as though it…
