winter weekending

i’m having the best, most relaxing weekend. i don’t know how winter weekends are managing to be this good, but they are. and since i haven’t done many “hey! this is what i did today” kinds of posts, i’m feeling it today.

friday was the semester break for the public schools here, officially over the halfway point in the year! we always like to go out to a leisurely coffee at a beloved cafe this year every day, since my last lesson of the day is cancelled and have a (generally) free afternoon. as i mentioned in a post about this day from a year or two ago, cafe days are like mini-vacations. we can enjoy the atmosphere of a beautiful (albeit smoky) old world european cafe over cafe au lait and talk about plans and the future and the right now. on the way there, i couldn’t help but notice that the ice chunks floating around in the samson fountain in the square resembled a mini jökulsarlon (the famous glacier lagoon in iceland).

new favorite friday night thing routine: staying in and playing games + listening to iggy pop confidential on bbc radio 6. (#thisisthirty) i love it so much! iggy pop is my favorite story-teller – we could listen to the man talk for hours. after a busy week, this is really just the thing.

saturday brought prague-dog day (prague with our dog!). now that we are “with dog”, we’re planning to take the train more often than the bus because it offers more comfort and space for all of us. (but another plus: ceske drahy’s loyalty program is pretty sweet – do look into it if you’re a frequent train traveler)

we brunched at home kitchen, a trendy eatery with a minimalist industrial vibe and several prague locations, this one near the holešovice marina. i enjoyed the brunch experience and thought the service was friendly, but was deeply and tragically disappointed that they served me half of an unripe, rubbery avocado. i get it, i’ve lived in central europe long enough to know that a good ripe avocado is not an easy feat to achieve, but good lord, do not serve me an unripe one and expect me to pay “prague prices” for it. at least the crusty, homemade bread was delicious.

the václav havel photography exhibit at the dox was fortunately held over until mid-march (hooray!) so we made it over there to check it out and my – what a touching, fantastic collection of photos. i couldn’t help but get emotional about seeing the life and times of this great man that the czech republic got to call president – if only he were still with us today! also, olga havlová

seems like one of the coolest first ladies. if you’re in prague and have any interest whatsoever in havel, get thee to the dox.

what a misty, slushy day yesterday was – you could tell by our boots, pant legs, and, well… our dirty, scruffy dog who wades through the muck of the unkempt holešovice streets. finally we took refuge in the open, waiting arms of our favorite prague cafe for another “cafe holiday” and a plate of delicious hot apple strudel – bliss.  

i couldn’t help but take a snap of the blue, foggy václavské náměstí (wenceslas square) as dusk fell last night looking up towards muzeum… after seeing all those photos at the havel exhibit, you can say that i felt downright wistful and patriotic.

today i was woken up by the most inviting ray of sunshine and blue skies. i can’t believe after a month of sub-zero temperatures, we saw 9°C today. took the dog out for a walk along the river and found a sweet little church located right smack in the middle of paneláky and a residential neighborhood.

what did you get up to? hope you had a nice one!