Meat Garnish

Who wouldn't love a day that starts with eggs and ends with a meat garnish?

Our house is on a hill above Brno. This morning we walked down the west side past the observatory and several acres of public zahradky (garden plots)...the Czechs take their gardening seriously. Each plot has its own "chata"--a little shack that Czechs escape to for hanging out, drinking beer, or just relaxing between bouts of gardening...the pace here is slow...unless you are driving.

Once we got off the hill we walked down a main street, past Betsy's offices at the University, and into the downtown. The contrast between soviet-era run-down functionalism and the older Hapsburg ornate architecture is striking. That contrast seems to prevade everything: On one hand, people are slow and bureaucratic, on the other, friendly and helpful. The downtown is mostly of the older Hapsburg style...I think we were stunned with the beauty.

Mostly, we just poked around trying to figure out how we were going to live and eat in a city without ANY signs in English. But there are signs already that we may survive: we found two restaurants that served vegetarian meals AND also can provide a menu in English. AND Betsy successfully purchased a SIM card for her cell phone..hard enough to do in English...imagine trying that with a bunch of meat-eating ex-commie slavs!

We retreated up the hill to our apartment using the trams. They love their trams...but who wouldn't? They are cheap and quick and....ours (the #4) is red...so there!

For dinner we scooted down the north side of the hill into a much more "real" neighborhood...a little more gritty with smaller shops...but a more accurate picture of life here (this picture is actually closer to our neighborhood). There is a steady renaissance going on here. The beautiful old buildings are slowly getting fixed up. Dinner included FABULOUS beer, extremely friendly-albeit non-English speaking-service, and the aforementioned meat garnish...lovely...yum.

More later.