Bohemia Bound

Oh it is so good to be back in Bohemia with Kafka and Kundera and Hrabel! I have missed Praha so much, but now I am back and it is COLD but lovely. I have met up with all my old Czech friends and am feeling so lucky to see everything and everyone with new eyes. I have walked across the Charles Bridge, gone to the Jewish Quarter, wandered in Mala Stratna beneath the Prague Castle and climbed Petrin Hill. The cafes smell just as lovely as ever and cappuccinos still warm my soul. I have just been taking it all in, as the snow covers this ancient city to when the sun beams down upon it making the colored buildings look like bright swipes of the brush on blank canvas. It is mesmorizing, and the Czech people! They are so welcoming to my fumbling Czech accent when I attempt to speak it, and they are so humble about their own Enlgish speaking. I feel so encouraged to say my entire limited knowlege of Czech to them!
I am realizing how much different two years has made in my traveling. This time around I am seaking out history and literature everywhere and literally am soaking myself in it. I just was not as interested before, or perhaps was too overwhelmed with schoolwork or social obligations to do more. I picked up a book by Vaclav Havel, the first Czech President after 89, and am so ennamored. The Czech people are heroic and have been through more hardship and oppression than I can ever fathom. Everything from the warm creamy Goulash with thick dumplings to the thousand year old buildings is contradicting the forecast and for that I am so grateful.
Christine loves the city too, though we have had some amazing side-trips as well. We have visited Czesky Krumlov, a small castle town, and Znojmo. Znojomo is a beauitful city right in the vineyards of the Czech Republic. We got to stay in above a cellar in the most adorable room and wander the cellar finidng delicious wine! I love California, but this wine was even better I think. We have also met some amazing people on this trip, some American girls that were kindred spirits as well as some very sweet Colombian and Chilean men who we salsa danced with. We are still waiting for our friend Sarah to arrive with Alexis and then our big last weekend will begin!
So, I will let myself devour the scenery and scribble away in my new journal as I try and digest the feast of beauty and creativity around me in this Bohemian Paradise, for in five days I will be back in Madrid and then on the Camino de Santiago up north for a while.
I will have a velky pivo, big beer, for you all!
Na Shledano!!!

P.S. Obama is in Praha and therefore the American Embassy is CLOSED and we can not get background checks........sweet.