Like all good Czech people do, we left the city on Friday night and ran away to Šumava. Where the mountains and forests are. And a river called 'Vydra'. [Otter]
It turned super-hot for Saturday, and the morning in particular was breathtakingly hot. Even sitting in my favourite spot on the balcony in the shade, I was so hot that I had to come inside after a while because I was wilting. It was a lovely place to have breakfast though and I was so glad I'd bought a pain au chocolat from Paul's bakery the day before, as it made for a luxurious breakfast. All that was missing were the Saturday papers, but as my Czech still isn't up to much and you won't get any foreign papers here except German ones, which might have caused offence anyway, I skipped all the contemporary stuff and opted for trying to catch up on my San Francisco-related research, reading Armistead Maupin's 'Tales from the City' novel instead.
Try as we might, the cowboy and I can't entirely reconcile each other's differing preferences. He likes to get up and watch TV straightaway in the mornings and has a big breakfast all in one go, whereas I prefer a slower approach. Tea first, maybe with a yoghurt and some cereal and then later a bit of reading with some coffee and a pain au chocolat or croissant. I need two phases of waking up ideally, but yesterday I settled for one and mixed things up a bit with a cup of tea and a pain au chocolat in one go. It was my fault - I'd forgotten to bring some coffee because I thought I'd left some there anyway.
Oh the silly pre-occupations of the holiday-flat owning elite...It's amazing we even made it this far, considering I was convinced when we first looked around this flat, that by the time he'd bought it, he'd be with someone else. It turns out we aren't the only (temporary) occupants though. I just spotted a couple of swallows who seem to have made the gap under the drain piping on the roof their home. I think they were eyeing me with great curiosity earlier, as if to say, "What's she doing hanging around our house?" At least they didn't decide I was too close and take to dive-bombing me.
Last night we came out on the balcony just to look at the stars, which were amazing. There were so many. I don't normally get to see clear sky like that but we're out in the country here so this is the kind of reward you get. I couldn't make out even one pattern or cluster of stars among the whole wealth of constellations we could see. There must be some kind of 'landmark' (or sky mark) star that helps you locate the other ones, but I'm not an astronomer, so I don't know which one it is.
We had come back from a stroll around the 'town', tiny though it is, after eating a huge meal at the local pizzeria. I had had the seafood pizza this time, and was rather amused and delighted by the tiny little octopus legs in it. I must be truly evil though because the cowboy took one look at these half-baby octopi and said, "chudák" (i.e. "poor thing") and I hadn't really thought like that. (My reaction had been, "yum!") I'm clearly a seafood fiend. The pizza was delicious. And the walk around town afterwards was truly romantic. How gorgeous the church looks in the twilight...
