I have been back from my vacation for 3 weeks now but was so busy at work that did not have much time and energy for YLF. It is not going to ease much before the New Year but I will try to pop in here from time to time so you know I am still alive. I promise.
For starters here is a short post on my travels with some WIW from my carry on suitcase. We visited 2 cities in Poland - Warsaw and Krakow, 3 cities in Moravia and 2 cities in Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It was our most cultural trip ever as in addition to museums we also visited a lot of performances - concerts, opera, ballet and even Prague specialty - "Laterna Magika" - non-verbal show with pantomime and dance which was amazing.
Here are some observations from my trip:
- It looks like there are 3 things Warsaw cannot live there without: flowers, music and books. I have never seen anywhere so many bookstores - felt like there was one on each city block! The same with the flower shops - they are everywhere, including stands on the streets. As for the music the highlight was a free Chopin piano concert in the park with a great musician. It was truly magical!
- We were lucky to catch an opera premiere in Brno (the capital of Czech Moravia). The performance was great but what struck me the most is that at least 10% of women visiting the theater wore full length evening gowns! Maybe it is the norm somewhere in North America too but not where I live. Czechs take theater visits very seriously and dress to the nines - I was glad I took my sheath dress and lace shell with me so I hope I did not look too touristy (pic 8)
- We were also lucky to catch the burcak season in Moravia. Burcak is the young wine which is only sold for a couple of weeks in September and October and it is phenomenal! One of the best memories of this trip (and yes, Czech beer is not a competition to burcak in my eyes :-) )
I have to stop myself now or this short post will turn into a very long one.
Here are some pictures for you with my WIWs from the trip:
- pic 1 - 3 are from Krakow.
- pic 4 is from the wine capital of Moravia - Mikulov where we rented the bikes to see the countryside (which was almost a disaster due to my "skills" of riding the bike).
- pic 5 is from a fabulous little cafe in Cesky Krumlov where coffee and cakes were delicious, where there were books lying at each table and where we saw this charming coffee table made from the old piano!
- pic 6 and 7 are also from Cesky Krumlov where we explored this little town on the backstreets, away from the tourist throngs.
- pic 8 was taken in Prague Smetana concert hall - amazing masterpiece of Art Nouve. Beautiful!
OK, I promised a short post so this is it!
I am off to bed now - see you later :-)
