Here's Lucie and I having a tourist moment, posing on the arms of our boyfriend in Český Krumlov.
She and her bf Martin took me to this lovely 13th-century town and castle in Southern Bohemia on Saturday. I ate some bony, paprika-spiced carp (the "Christmas fish," like our Thanksgiving turkey) at our lunch on an outdoor deck, while watching kayakers tip over in the Vltava. We sought out ice cream and I bought some nice postcards in the Egon Schiele museum. I decoded some of the names around town...Lásky náměstí equals Love Square, Hotel Zlatý Anděl equals Golden Angel...I would feel proud, except these are totally recurring words in the Czech language. :)
Then we went to another small town, whose name I can't remember, to gaze at another castle. How many times can I say, "it was gorgeous"? I wandered a hedge maze...Lucie made a flower chain...I must mention the numerous German motorcyclists dressed in all leather, chowing down on the famed pork knee at any given countryside restaurace. (One of the fantasies I'm having, only encouraged by sights like this, is of motoring through Europe on a Cafe Racer). Anyway, Martin had some pivo and Lucie isn't proficient with a stick shift, so I got to drive back to Praha! Around this time last year I drove my party through the California desert to Coachella, and this drive was just as fun. I love getting behind a wheel out in the boonies! We chased the spectacular golden-pink-purple sunset almost the whole way.
Sunday I was late to brunch at a cute spot called Fraktal, and the table was full up, so I sat at the next one with a friendly expat who owns a Tiki Bar, and his two adorable bugaboos. They were enjoying a fruit-filled crepe while I enjoyed my massive breakfast enchilada. The weather was perfect. I spent time at the Letna beer garden with some nice Australians, then Pat and I discovered some surreal architecture, a carnival, and an outdoor dance (mostly older folks) in this massive woodsy park. I do love how you can take your 20-crown megabeer down the woodsy lane, but not how you have to later pay someone 10 crowns to piss in the public bathroom. The bladder can only hold one Czech-sized beer at a time. They know what they're doing. Check this out--there's also a bar in town called "The Peach Pit":
Otherwise... I went dancing to hip hop last Thursday with some great ladies. So much fun to hear Beyonce and Jay-Z in a club again, even if the DJ trainwrecked it all. It took a miserable Friday afternoon of carrying heavy bags through humid Zizkov and being late for interviews which made me finally get a Czech SIM card. Painless! I've screened two good summer flicks: Iron Man and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Had the humbling experience of having to watch the first hour of a play slouched down in my seat in order to read the English titulky waaay up high (moved to the balcony for act II). Kim showed me new parts of Mala Strana after dinner yesterday, including Nový Svět at twilight, and I fell in love. And dreams do come true...I got my economic stimulus check! Thanks GWB for this bizarro parting gift. I've read about people donating theirs to charity, but mine came just in time for groceries, some lotion that makes me smell like a caipirinha, and a bus ticket to Berlin. Wrong economy? Whoops...
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