Snezka

Last Sunday I hopped on a bus for a three hour ride to the North-East corner of the Czech Republic (right next to Poland), where I met up with a former student and her boyfriend. We then hiked up Snezka, a mountain that begins in the Czech Republic and ends in Poland. The hike was great (even though I felt totally out of shape--especially considering that the folks I was with are both athletes--they go out and do exciting things like this every weekend--or just careen bikes down the sides of mountains). It was absolutely beautiful, though. When we reached the top of the mountain, some very dark ominous looking storm clouds starting making a bee-line for us so we had to head down right away. We had planned on taking the chair lift down, but it was so windy at the top that the chair lift was not running, so we had to book it down half the mountain to the next chair lift (which was working, thankfully). After we conquered Mt Snezka, we headed back to my student's Mom's house, where she had prepared a meal of... Svickova (!!) for us. After the meal, we sat in the garden and just digested for awhile. Then we had some strawberries. Then we digested a little more. Then we had some cake. Then we digested a little more. Then my student mentioned that there were cherry trees in the neighbor's yard. So, we grabbed a couple of bags, climbed over the fence, and picked about 400 pounds of cherries--one pound for our bellies, 300 pounds for me to take home with me. Then, we went back into the garden, where we are more strawberries. Then we had a glass of white wine and some peanut crackers. Then, my student's mom brought out a tray of sandwiches... but it ws time for us to go to the bus station, so we didn't eat any (which was probably for the best, as I was about to pop at that point). Anyway, it was an absolutely wonderful day, combining good company, good food, and beautiful scenery. And I got to practice my Czech (the 15 or 20 words I know. But actually, I was pretty proud of myself, all things considered).