The Czech Republic is Getting Foxy

I always heard that there was a tradition of fox hunting in the Czech Republic, but during the three years that I lived here, I only sighted one fox while traveling on a train. In the past two and a half months, I've seen four foxes running across open fields. Perhaps they're fans of the frigid weather we've been having recently, but it's been a real surprise to me. I've always enjoyed staring out of train or car windows trying to spot wild life. Typically, there are lots of deer to be seen, and a wide variety of birds, but the wilder sorts are few and far between, so I've greatly enjoyed my little glimpses into the animal underworld so to speak. Now I just need to spot a wild boar, and I'll really feel like I'm behind the scenes. Thus ends the portion of my post about the foxy-ness of the Czech Republic.

I will now proceed to the part of the show where I come out and share some photos or where I've been traipsing lately. On Wednesday, I had the chance to go to Cheb and visit with an former colleague and a couple former students. I had great times during these meetings, and laughed harder than I have in a long time. It was really great to reconnect and to feel like the time I spent here mattered to people.

I arrived in Cheb early so I would have a chance to do a little shopping, as well as wandering around with my camera in hand. There are plenty of times when I wish that I had taken photography classes, or was well enough off to purchase some sort of fancy pants camera, but my little old Olympus fits so nicely in my pocket, and ultimately it gets the job done. I'm trying to focus more on details this time around. I have countless photos documenting my years living in this city, and now I'm coming back and examining things on a closer level. It's amazing what you can find.

I headed down to the magnificent cathedral, Sv. Mikolas, and did a study on steeples and doors. This is just a small sampling.

Next I made my way over to Chebsky Hrad (Cheb Castle) where I focused on the big picture, angles, and shadows.

Walking by the river has always been one of my favorite things to do in Cheb. The cold weather has provided a number of new views thanks to the interplay of water and freezing temperatures. The result: ice in a of styles and designs.

I love this house and have taken pictures of it from various angles, and in multiple seasons, so it only seemed appropriate to add it here.

I headed back into town and enjoyed the buildings and walkways along the way.

That concludes the Cheb tour for today. It's time to watch the new singing talent show on TV Nova :)

Christmas in Bayreuth

Christmas markets are a pretty big deal around these parts. They are especially popular in Germany. On numerous occasions I have made it over to Nurnberg to visit one of the oldest Christmas Markets in Europe. I'm not going to act all overly educated and pretend I know exactly how old it is or anything, but it's been around for a long time and is seriously huge. It's also a wee bit far away. So this year, Tammy and I decided to try a market we'd never been to that was also a little closer and still in the cheap zone. (Note: I lived over here for several years and the prices of things never really went up much, but after a year of being gone suddenly everything is more expensive. From food, to train tickets, and even the local ML bus. Inflation is not my favorite. Now let me ask you, should a ticket for a train with a heater that looks like this:

really increase? I think not.) Anyhow, we headed out on Sunday to check out the market in Bayreuth, a town just slightly farther away than Marktredwitz. We had a street map with a vague direction to go, but no real idea where to find what we were looking for. Thankfully, being the expert European travelers that we are, we managed. On the way we passed sights like this:

We passed through an ancient archway and spotted the drink booths, which let us know we were definitely headed the right direction. And then we were there.

I always love checking out the little booths and seeing what the popular ornaments are for the year. Being in Germany, and having prices in Euros, it was a bit out of my comfy range, but it's fun just to look. There are also the architectural gems that make it even more interesting.

We also discovered that they don't get a lot of American tourists around these parts. When we were looking for a hot drink, some men working in a booth tried to woo us with their wares. When we explained that we didn't speak much German, but English instead, they were very curious to learn where we were from and what brought us to their little town. When we half way explained, the older man who spoke some English decided that we should have a free sample of their special Christmas brew. It was a unique concoction that mixed red wine, rum, and citrus juice and I believe some cinnamon, all warm and toasty in a cup. I'll admit, I was rather glad it was a free sample, and there was no further pressure to buy, which was nice. It also did really warm me up all the way through, which was very useful on such a cold wintery day. Tammy needed her traditional market sausage, and I decided on a baguette with garlic butter, tomatoes, and melted mozzarella cheese. Tasty little snacks to help us along our way back to the station. The market was rather smaller, and much less crowded, than we had anticipated, so it only took us a couple hours to feel like we'd done the town. We jumped the next train back to Marktredwitz and when we arrived there we learned we had a while until the next train back to Cheb. Not wanting to waste an opportunity, we walked around through the streets of M. It was actually quite snowy there, but we were still able to enjoy the market they had there, as well as visiting a cafe. (Note: in Germany everything is generally closed on Sundays, especially in smaller towns. Despite Christmas being only a week away, even the shopping malls are closed.) The cafe we found open was one my friend Nicole and I visited several years ago on another day waiting for a train. It's a bit of a stuffy place in a hotel. The set up is odd and if you order a pastry you have to pay extra to sit inside and eat it. The usual set that takes a coffee there on a Sunday afternoon is rather cautious of strangers. The elderly ladies either ignored us or looked at us as though we had clearly stumbled into the wrong place. Ah well, at least the cappuccino was tasty.

It's only about a five minute walk back up to the station, and we thought we were doing just fine, but when we arrived we watched the train pulling out. The very train we were supposed to take. If we'd realized we should hustle it would have been no problem. Instead, we had another 45 minutes to spend in Marktredwitz. So how did we spend that time, you ask? Well, we went and had our photo taken with Santa. Isn't that what all the 30 something women you know do on a Sunday afternoon? Seemed reasonable enough to us. There is joy in being able to just enjoy life sometimes. And believe, the Santa and photographer greatly enjoyed our amusement. The picture is supposed to be e-mailed to Tammy, so I don't have it just yet, but when it comes I'll try to post it too. We did finally make it safely back to Cheb, where all things remained as they should be. We had pizza at Jakubska, and spent the night relaxing in her Skalka flat. Come Monday morning, she still had to go to work. The school system here isn't quite as set on always giving a two week holiday, so I think she works until the 23rd and only has off until the 3rd. Not so cool. My walk back to the train station was quite lovely. I decided to go down by the river and enjoy the place I've walked so many times. I wasn't disappointed.

And who knew there would be a tribute to me right there on the graffiti wall?

It was like it was my special day or something :)

Chebicek :)

So Cheb doesn't exactly have the best name in the Czech Republic. It's a border town. When "freedom" came, naturally quite a lot of garbage came with it, and there are shady businesses with a strong foothold in the town. But there is also an ancient history and a collection of beautiful ancient buildings. I've got a number of past posts that go into issues about the town and the culture that is amassed there. No doubt plenty of pictures litter the pages of this blog as well, but, in the name of preserving the past, I thought it only right to write a little tribute to Chebicku where I spent three years of my life. From the ancient square with it's charming cluster of "bizarre" buildings known as Spalicek, to the spires of St Mikolas cathedral and peaceful monastery gardens, down to the ancient castle and the peaceful river walk, Cheb has a lot to give beyond those shady issues.





I'll let you try to match up which pictures go with which titles above. I've had trouble getting them to download in the order I want them if I don't put them in one at a time, which is a bit of a time waster, so it can be a matching exercise instead.
I won't take the time to put in pictures of all the amazing people that I got to work with, the staff and students that made it such a joy to be there, but I'll share a few of the blessed faces of those I was privileged to celebrate life together with during my time in Cheb. I explored these city streets for many hours with these ladies and I thank them all for the conversations we shared in this special little Czech town.





I think this is where I'll end my little trip down memory lane. All the posts from my last year in Czech are still pretty fresh and easy to review if people are interested. Now I guess this means I'll have to get back to posting about the present or something crazy like that. It's been good for me to reminisce, and I hope you've all enjoyed it as well. While living in the past isn't a healthy life choice on a daily basis, there is beauty in reliving the moments that make life unique and special. And it is always good to pay tribute to those who have brought joy to those moments as well. With one last pose the transient drifter will now transition back to the recent past.