Karlovy Vary

     Karlovy Vary (English: Carlsbad) is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately 130 km (81 mi) west of Prague. It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370. It is historically famous for its hot springs (13 main springs, about 300 smaller springs).

     Last weekend was a long weekend in the Czech Republic and we decided to make the most of it and see some of the beautiful Czech countryside. We decided on Karlovy Vary as it is close to Prague (about 2 hours bus ride) and boasted some of the best mineral springs in the Czech Republic. Perhaps we should have heeded the warning from a few of my students who said Karlovy Vary is very...Russian, for want of a better description. Little did we realise that the majority of people who travel to Karlovy Vary are from an older generation and are generally either German or Russian. Our first impressions of the city, however, were very much positive. The city is situated in a valley, with beautiful 19th century buildings lining the river and creeping up the hills on either side of the valley. The view from out hotel was breath taking as it was situated on a rise overlooking the city and the Grand Hotel Pupp (featured in the movies Casino Royale and Last Holiday). 

Main Promenade; note the steam coming from the river

Steam rises from the mineral rich river which flows through the town. The water that supplies this river is 'geothermally heated groundwater', and it is the same water that emerges from the city's 12 mineral springs. This water is high in minerals such as Magnesium and it known for its healing and therapeutic effects. Many people travel to Karlovy Vary to sample this water and the plethora of other spa treatments available all claiming to heal every ailment from gout to irritable bowel syndrome. We tried the water and even brought a special sippy cup to sample it! We came to the conclusion that no matter what the benefits are of drinking the water, it is just not worth it. It tasted remarkably similar to having a blood nose and the treatment used to prepare oneself for a colonoscopy. Disgusting. We were more fond of the other Karlovy Vary tradition of wafer biscuits made with fillings such as chocolate, cinnamon and eggnog. We figured they were therapeutic enough for us. 

      Karlovy Vary uses it's mineral water for other purposes other than just drinking; such as mineral baths and spa treatments. We opted for the mineral bath, which in essence, is just a swimming pool. We will just have to believe them when they say there is actually mineral water in the pools, they just smelled like chlorine to us. We sampled two 'baths' while in the city, the first being the Thermal rooftop pool. The pool was about 30 degrees and the air temperature was sitting at about 12 degrees. Needless to say, it was nice in but not nice to get out. It was beautiful to be in the warm pool in the open air and I have heard that there is nothing quite like laying in the warm pool while it is snowing. We certainly got our fair share of European culture just from using the bath changing rooms. Nudity is not an issue in Europe and this is amazingly refreshing! Admittedly, it took me until the second visit to the baths to feel comfortable 'bearing all' but once we realised that no one cares about you and your naked little body, I didn't care either. I do, however, wish that I had purchased a larger quick dry towel before we left Australia. I opted for the small size (about the size of your average tea towel) and that sort of sized cloth just doesn't make the cut when walking around in your birthday suit. 

The view from the Thermal Mineral Bath

     We made the obligatory visit to the Becherovka museum, as the herbal liquor is originally from Karlovy Vary. We are now in love with the stuff, and after being brainwashed that is good for you we now use it as our 'daily tonic'. The liquor was originally manufactured as a medicine by Jan Becher, a local Pharmacist from Karlovy Vary and was used as an aperitif or digestive, used to treat a wide range of different ailments. The tonic was soon combined with alcohol to make the famous liquor we drink today. With 20 different herbs and spices it tastes fantastic and is good for your health too :)

Karlovy Vary

     We decided to visit the Diana lookout on our last day in Karlovy Vary as we had read it was well worth the visit. "Well worth the visit" is an understatement; the lookout tower on the top of the hill provided panoramic views of the city and the surrounding countryside and the view at this time of the year was of orange, yellow and golden trees dotted with conifers and filled with a thick mist. Even though we had bought a ticket down on the funicular we decided to walk down the hill through the forest. This was easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I have never really appreciated the beauty of Autumn until now. It felt like magic with the kaleidoscope of colours in the trees, the soft bird calls, the quiet pitter patter of rain drops falling on leaves above our heads and the swirl of leaves falling slowly from the trees. 

The Autumn Forest

Walkway down to the city centre

     All in all it was a lovely weekend, even if Karlovy Vary doesn't offer up much for the younger traveller. I think this city holds its own charm, but we weren't there long enough to discover exactly what that is! We were happy to be home after the weekend and are already thinking of where to go for our next trip.

Ceska Posta

For most expats, just the very thought of having to do anything at the post office is one we would like to avoid. Unfortunately it is something that, for me anyway, is unavoidable. Today however, I was on a very different errand, I needed to post something very valuable and it had to be done by Registered post. This would require me to actually talk to someone - not just show them a pickup slip or say 'stamp'.
As I entered the main Post Office in Prague 1, I selected the correct number on a little machine and it printed a ticket for me. The main Prague post office is in a building with an interior the size of a small shopping centre. I was apparently standing at the wrong end of the 'hall' waiting for my number to be called. When my number was called I proceeded to walk up to the counter with my paper work when, oops sorry! Next number was just called...get a new number. So i stood waiting where I thought I would definitely NOT miss my number, only to miss it again! Here is me now thinking that in order to get to the counter in time I will need to sprint and elbow any passerby's out of the way.
Third time to the ticket machine and I am well and truly fed up and I haven't even seen the lady whom I share no common language with.
Eventually, I made it to the counter before they called the next number to be greeted by a friendly, smiling lady! "Nemluvim Cesky, prosim prominte" I say to the nice lady then show her the little dialogue I had google translated saying exactly what I wanted. She was very patient with me and even though we didn't speak each others languages we communicated and got the job done! I was pleasantly surprised by my trip to the Ceska Posta and I think I may be over my irrational fear. Dekuji!

Fakt!!

Literally meaning 'Really', this is by far the funniest Czech word we have come across. It is pronounced like 'far-kt'. Lots of people use it in every day conversation, but until we knew what it meant we thought the Czechs were just avid users of the common swear word usually heard in pubs, clubs and the average High School.

I am not altogether sure why processes here are so complicated and inconsistent. It certainly works to keep us on our toes and like I said earlier, things are never boring! We went on a much anticipated visit to the local government 'take your ticket and sit down for an hour until your number is called' building where they sort out things like payment of bills and Opencards. An Opencard is a travel card that you put money on for public transport and it also works as a sort of discount card for certain places. After the said waiting period out numbers were called and we approached the desks that our tickets corresponded to. The process wasn't all together hard as we had done some serious research before attempting it, but it was difficult for something so simple. I couldn't understand the lady helping me and she couldn't understand me, which is typical for any sort of bureaucratic process here. We got there eventually and I stepped outside to wait for Jon...10 minutes later he comes out. My entire process had only taken 3 minutes! We have no idea what took so long. I had been given a dicky little piece of paper along with my card (which I think it s free parking ticket but I have no idea) and for some reason Jon had pin numbers and info leaflets! Who knows what went on there, but we were not going back inside to ask. This happens everytime something gets done here - someone will do it one and way and the next person another. As long as the end process is the same that all that matters, right? Fakt!! And I used to think that Centerlink was bad.

Autumn has officially taken hold here now which was a bit of a shock for the both of us. There was no warning, no preparing ourselves, just 30 degrees one day and the next it's 10 degrees! It has been rainy and cold for the past week, with the weather being just like Perth in the middle of winter. The only difference is that it is going to get much colder here. Everywhere is warm though, even the trams have heating which is weird but nice. All of the leaves are starting to turn and are falling off the trees, it is really beautiful. Bring on winter! :)

Here are a few snaps from around the city over the last few weeks:

Letna Park getting ready for Autumn

In Mala Strana by the John Lennon wall. They are padlocks 

Mala Strana

Charles bridge and Old town

New Apartment

Nearly a week ago, we moved into a new apartment with our roommate. After what felt like weeks and weeks of apartment hunting and planning we were down to the last 12 hours before we needed to move out of our old apartment. Stress levels were high and none of us felt like staying in a dingy hostel with all our lifelong belongings nestled under the bed of some stranger. We managed to view a beautiful apartment in an area called Liben, in Prague 9 with fantastic access to the city by both trams and metro. This was at 5pm on the night before we all had to leave our respective apartments - so maybe decisions were slightly rushed but we weren't waiting around to find another option. We took it there and then! We moved in the next morning and were delighted to find cable t.v, internet AND a microwave. Doesn't get much better than this for the poor and desperate English Teacher :)

One thing to note about Prague is that until 1989, it was still under Communist ruling. Therefore the only languages that were taught were German or another Slovak language. English is not widely spoken, especially among the older generation (where there is next to none spoken). So, a bonus of our new apartment block was the "24 hour security". This consists of a rotational shift of 80 year old men who 90% of the time are asleep in their security room and the other 10% of the time are interrogating us (in Czech). I don't think we have earned their trust yet. It didn't help that upon moving in, Jon and I were stopped with our bags by one of the security 'officers' who begun questioning us and to this day I don't know what he was saying. We had to call our real estate agent and ask her to please speak to him! At least you can't say things are dull here, there is always something entertaining going on.