Bohemian Paradise

Day 4

Photos are here.

We woke up early again, and ate breakfast again. Breakfasts were about five types of cheese, four types of bread, ham, fish (from a plastic container, and the only thing I didn’t like out of everything I ate… which is saying a lot considering how picky I am), juice, tea, and on this day, for me, beer. I couldn't get Vaclav to stop serving me beer. I am probably carrying 10 pounds of water weight from all the beer. I can feel it. I don’t think I’ll drink for the rest of the trip. Bah. Don’t get me wrong… I do LOVE Czech beer. It suits my taste perfectly. I will have to see if they have any of it at Belmont Station when I go home.

We left Prague at about 10am and stopped in Stara Boleslav to see the church. Of course, gorgeous. I have photos.

We drove through Mlada Boleslav and Vaclav pointed out the hospital where his son, Wenny (also a Vaclav) works (he’s almost a full-fledged doctor, and will be all the way soon). We stopped at the škoda museum (pronounced Sh-koh-dah… škodas are Czech cars… and I want one) and looked at old cars for a while. It was surprising but nice.

We then went to Mnichovo Hradiště to Wenny’s house and I met him, his wife Petra (Dad: she was wearing her Quality Truss shirt!) and their sons Wenny (another Vaclav) and Miše (I don’t know if that’s how you spell it, pronounced Mee-sha). Little Wenny was quite sick, so we didn’t stay long, but we had lunch and a beer and then Wenny went with us to Bohemian Paradise.

Truly, it is paradise. Sandstone rock formations jutting out of hills that are covered in trees. Our first stop were some castle ruins, part of a system of 30-some-odd castles from the middle ages. We took a tour and lots of photos, and then walked around in the cave-covered area, enjoying the scenery, making jokes about getting lost.

It is worth saying that on the first of May, there are many Czech traditions that must be followed. The first that I encountered was when Vera pulled over on the side of the road and she and Vaclav almost got out. Turns out that a man must kiss his sweetheart under a cherry tree on the first of May. So all day, when we saw cherry trees, Vera and Vaclav had to run under them and have a kiss. It was sweet. Since Petra couldn’t leave the house with a sick son, Wenny had to cut a cherry branch off of a tree and bring it home so that he could kiss her under it. VERY sweet indeed.

On the way tot the next destination, I saw a tree with many colorful ribbons in it. Turns out, on the first of May, young men that are available for marriage put these ribbons in the trees, and then have to guard them all day because others threaten to take down their ribbons. If someone succeeds in getting their ribbons out of the trees, I guess it’s quite a shameful thing.

At our next stop, we walked through a forest and out to a rock ledge where a huge valley could be seen for probably 100 kilometers, and the highest mountains in the Czech republic could be seen on the other side. Beyond those mountains, Poland. Beyond the mountains on the other side, Germany. Again, gorgeous.

We went back to Wenny and Petra’s where the mother of Wenny and Erika (in other words, Vaclav’s ex-wife) met us with the most WONDERFUL potato pancake sort of things (like thin mashed potatoes made into a batter with garlic and marjoram added and then fried to fried goodness) and we ate again. I can not stress how much I LOVED these things. Savory and all the floppiness of a pancake. Amazing.

I was a little weirded out when I realized who this woman was, but everyone got along swimmingly, even if Vera seemed to dial down the crazy just a little when she and Vaclav’s ex (can’t remember the name… probably Erika) were talking. The ex brought out a bottle of (I’m assuming) the same gut-torching alcohol as Tuesday night and just when I was asking if I should sip it this time, the ex shot hers. So, we had several shots and I was drunk. It was a nice evening in their back yard. Perfect weather for it. It made me miss the backyards of Portland a little.

Wenny drove Vaclav’s car (a Skoda) back to Prague, and Vaclav, Vera, and I piled into Vera’s old Mercedes and went back to Prague. I talked up Hawaii and got them excited for it the whole way back.

We went to a grocery store, where I was finally able to give Vaclav some money for everything they were buying (all for me for the train the next day) by telling him that I wouldn’t be able to use it after tomorrow).

We went back to the apartment, where Wenny brought Erika to meet us and we all had some food and alcohol and generally had riotous good times.