Dobry Den from Czech Republic

(Dobry Den means Hello in Czech.)

What a beautiful place I have been enjoying today. I have taken a great multitude of pictures and will have a hard time deciding which ones to share with you here.

I spent three hours with Jiri, my friendly and knowledgeable guide. The history of this beautiful place is swimming in my head. Less than 20 years ago the Czech Republic was still under communism. He showed me buildings that still look like most of the buildings did here during those times. Jiri just retired as an English teacher and a high school counselor. He was a teacher during communism and continued on after the Velvet Revolution. This picture is taken from the top of that tall castle spire I showed you yesterday. I now have dozens of pictures of this spire from different angles.

This is one of those cities (like Venice) in which you can't get too lost. The Vltava River almost completely circles the old town, so if you stay within the river, you can't get too far. I spent the whole afternoon wandering around. Jiri told me I needed to try potato pancakes and a local beer. I obediently did so and reconfirmed to myself that I really don't like beer at all. I've had potato pancakes at three places now and have found that they vary widely.

As per usual, I visited the local grocery store. I learned that the Kroger near my house, although it is quite small for the Dallas area, is a palace.

This is just a beautiful medieval town. Cute shops abound here. I bought a cute pair of earrings as well as a couple of locally made wooden toys for my niece and nephew. My own children always get candy when I return from my travels. My logic is that they consume it and then I never have to put it away ever again.


After the beer fiasco, I went to another little river side cafe place and sat and ordered some tea. I heard english being spoken behind me, so I eventually turned around and asked where they were from. They are from Toronto. We talked for probably an hour. They are part of a 100 person incentive group. He works for a company that makes cardboard. I guess they must sell an awful lot of cardboard in order to send 100 people to Europe.

These interesting circle bread thingys were sitting on all of the table at this cafe. I didn't eat one, because I had no idea how long they'd been hanging there or how many flies had landed on them.

For dinner I had pork knees. For the record, I don't like pork knees. I had some bratwurst as an appetizer though, and it was really good.

Tomorrow I will catch a train to Prague. I keep hearing from people that I am absolutely going to love it. I'll let you know!

More Later.