Ahh...the Moravian Pace of Life

So, as a follow-up to the last post...here are some more shots of our life here in Brno, home of the famous Brno Dragon. We've been discovering the pleasures of life around town; here's our first installment of things to love in the Moravian capital.

Kraví Hora pool: We purchased passes to the pool and have gone three times. Sophie LOVES it, and so do we. The vibe is Euro-mellow, with nary a whistle to be heard. Kids and teens are running and diving and splashing, parents are drinking beers on the terraces, grandparents are doing dignified laps, plavčiky (lifeguards) are hanging out with the babes (you have to fill out a bunch of forms and get them stamped by the foreign police if you need to be rescued, so there's really no need for them to, say, watch the pools. Thus, the lack of whistle-blowing). There is also a gorgeous indoor facility that I plan to use when it cools off. If you go to the Czech version of the webpage: kravihora.brno.cz, and click on galerie, and then click on the picture, you can get a sense for the place. It's incredibly beautiful.


Next on our neighborhood tour is Wilsona Les. (Wilson's forest--after Woodrow) This is the local forest park. There's a cool tennis/sports club, a tiny ski hill, and LOTS of great winding paths that run back and forth on the side of a steep forested hill. Every visit there is magical. Note the tiki forest gods. It’s right down the street from us. Yahoo!


3. Zmrzlina. That would be ice cream. A daily ritual. The kind at the ice cream parlors is similar to gelato, only cheaper (about 80 cents for two very, very good scoops). Sophie likes a mandarin and lemon combo—but then again there's strawberry, and watermelon . . .

4. Pivo. Okay, we knew this was coming. Pivo is beer. We know what it looks like. It's great; it's cheaper than water (or ice cream--you could have a large beer for the price of a cone—and get change back); it's _everywhere_ (like at the pool, outside churches, the train station kiosks, the castles). But just because the Czech lands live up to certain expectations doesn't mean we want to leave itoff of our list. And, by the way, look at the fresh veggies in the picture below--yes, that is fried cheese on Sophie's plate, but Czech food IS more than potatoes and meat.

Next up, another beautiful castle —and—Sophie discovers her Czech roots. But for now, na shledanou!