karlovy vary

Today we spent all day in Karlovy Vary, a spa town in Bohemia. It is known for its mineral water hot springs. Doctors prescribe patients to drink 2/3/4 cups a day for about 3 weeks or so from one of 10ish springs, and apparently that helps in the healing process. We bought small decorated glass cups to drink from the fountains and honestly it tasted pretty nasty. Hot water, a little bit salty, and like it was water from old pipes, but then again, that’s what it is. I drank from spring number 1. We also got some oplatky, which is like a big round flat wafer. I got cinnamon flavored and had it warmed up. It was delicious. After having a crazy time trying to figure out who’s massages were when and where and how much they cost (I thought more English would be spoken here…its not!), Jenni got the right massage in the right place, my mom got the wrong massage at the wrong place for a higher cost, and I got none. So I walked along the River Teplá by myself for a while and that was quite nice to just take in everything. We met up for late lunch at the Good Soldier Švejk restaurant J and I had goulash that was my best meal here so far, even though they have all been quite good. After lunch we walked up some more hilly areas to see the Russian Orthodox church which was very beautiful. We think we may have walked in on a baptism, but who really knows when they're talking so fast in Russian or something! We then walked to a concert at the Catholic Church (St. Mary Magdalene) of some classical pieces with an organ, violin, and soprano (from the National Theatre Prague). My mom and I both took little naps during that because although the music was great, we were SO tired (jet lag!). Then Cassie and I decided we would like to see some of the sights on the rock/mountain/hill side. That was the best adventure of the day because we pretty much just walked it by instinct because no one could speak English that helped us and the map was quite confusing. So instead of just seeing “stag leap” we saw (see pictures!) a big cross, two gazebos, and stag leap. They all had AMAZING views of Karlovy Vary. That was my favorite part of the day – getting lost but finding the correct stops along the way! Dinner was at a local restaurant and then we just walked the town some more. The group is friendly so far and I am already impressed with the Czech Republic! J Tomorrow: church, Teplá monastery, and Klenči (we’ll see a band with a dudy!!!!!!). Dobrou noc!