Prague - we have had a blast

Hello all,

we have been here for 2 days and are exhausted, but that is what being a tourist is all about!  I wish I had the pedimeter to see how many steps I took today.  Guaranteed to be a thousand times more than a month in La Bocana.

What to say about Prague?

Public transportation is amazing.  Metros and busses and classy vintage rental cars (this is new) and trains and trams.  Easy to use.

Our vehicle acted up on our way from Poland to Czech Republic so we dropped it off at 7:30 am at a Ford dealership.   From there we went to old town by subway.  $1 each and clean and fast.

Once in  Old Town, we walked to Charles Bridge and I took some photos with my PLAYAS NEGRAS t-shirt for my sold student who opened up the shop in Santa Rosalia.

Crossed the oh so fantastic bridge  but saw these statues along the way.

We hunted and hunted for a place to have breakfast and finally found CAFE 22

Breakfast was excellent starting with my cappuccino

 all the way to Les's omelette which was more like a pizza

Fro m there we walked and walked and eventually I left Les drinking his juice (not a sip of beer allowed if you are going to drive)  and I ran around, shopped and took over 100 photos!

blog is not allowing more photos so I will do another entry tomorrow, if I can because this city is incredibly beautiful!

I have learned that public transporatation can take you everywhere.  One does not need a car at all.

I have learned that euros are not accepted here,  They use KRONA

I have eaten typical foods and it is really good.

Lemonade means juice, fruit juice.  Odd.

Goulash is eaten with potato and bread dumplings.

Many vendors are crabby and that really astounded us.

Most restaurants only open at 10 am and do not open earlier for breakfast.  weird.

Old Town does not have that many restaurants, the Prague Castle area has muchos muchos

This whole city looks  like one giant fairy tale.  It is beyond anything one can imagine!

Farmers Market and swapmeet a la Mojecice

What we thought was a craft sale was actually a weekly farmer's market with second hand items on the side.  I was so  happy that Les and Dzunia left me there shopping while they went and bought carrier pigeon food.


Carrier pigeons are Dzunia's husband's hobby. 


So, here are some photos of the market.

These are curtains that are found in every window in Poland.  and of course, in Baja since I have one in my teaching material room at home!  Each one has a different print,  almost always white.  I think they are gorgeous.

The most fun I had was in the second hand stuff part of the market.  Here is my Prague vase on the table (front middle) and it is now in my suitcase, ready to head to Mexico when we go home.  Sunday we head to Prague and this will be my memento.

The blog isn't letting me load any more photos LOL  - I guess I have reached my limit for the day.  I also got a dark blue German vase that is incredibly pretty,  a straw decorative dish and 7 Polish table cloths/runners for my Baja amigas!   


Now it is almost time for lunch and Les's sis is busy making golomki -  ground meat with mushrooms wrapped in cabbage.  The aroma is making my stomach growl!


My gums are still bothering me - not letting me forget dentist Dr. Monster,  just in case someone was wondering.


Tomorrow, I will be making a lasagna for the family.  Italian food is not found anywhere here,  yet.  So they all remember my lasagna from last time...


Pa pa to all (bye bye in Polish)

We are here in the south in a town called MOJECICE.  It is not where Les was born but where he lived until he was 14 and moved to Wales to live with an uncle.


The drive was so picturesque with haze or earth fog rising up from all the fields.

We woke up at 4 am and car was packed and we were leaving at 4:30 am.    Everything was pretty much ready, just needed to be loaded in the car.  We have lots of presents for family.  Car was full!




The drive went really well, a combination of smaller country roads and at the end "freeways".  All was great but at the end Les was very tired and twice entered a road with a vehicle coming way too fast for him to do so.....we were so close to his sister's house that it made zero sense to stop driving but if I could've, I sure would've!




Here is some of the architecture we saw as we neared Mojecice.  I love this old style and a lot of it is apparently German since Poland was taken over by Germany (among other countries) back in the day.

More later!   Off to a craft sale!  Pa pa (bye bye in Polish)

Tomorrow we head south!  Just as well because the temperature here has dropped dramatically and I am not prepared jacket-wise.

I took a walk in the opposite direction today because Les saw another bike -  this town is crazy about biking!  There are designated bike only paths going in every direction.

I am not surprised that art is all about biking too.

Beautiful shadow of the lamp post

even the trash bins are really pretty!

Les's brother invited us to dinner tonight and he outdoes himself every time he cooks!    Today was chicken, baked potatoes and 3 different salads,  and a Polish cheesecake to boot.  It was so good, so good.

Here we are getting ready to share a meal:  all three brothers!   tomorrow we see Les's sister, it is an 8 hour drive and we are so looking forward to seeing her and 2 of Les's nephews who work in Germany but have a long weekend, so they are coming over.

The boys are drinking a Czeck beer that Peter gave us.  Pretty smooth they say.  Thanks Peter!

And so ends a great day with dreams that tomorrow will bring us safe travels.  We will start out at 4 am  since it is bright as noon then.

Oh my gosh.


I went to a dentist here today.

Mind you, I tried to take care of this tooth back in April when my sister told me I had bad breath due  to tooth decay.  I have very healthy teeth. well,  I did have very healthy teeth all my life.  This tooth hurt just a tad when I touched it but nothing serious.  She, who has suffered with really bad teeth all her life said:  get this tooth seen to right away.

So, I went to a dentist in Vizcaino who told me that particular tooth was fine and fixed another one she said was bad.

Tooth still bothered me, only when touched.  While in La Paz, I went to a dentist who told me the bothersome tooth really needed to come out, the crown then remade and that this would take 4 days.  We were about to leave for Europe so,  she said it would "probably" be OK and to see her in September when we got back.

Tooth was the same but seemingly getting just a tad worse, so we found me a dentist today.  I suppose none of you have had a tractor in your mouth before????  I do NOT recommend this woman. ever.  and her reviews online were 5 stars!!!  Bunch of liars!!!

I sat in the chair and this is what I looked like,  smiling,  happy.  I am not afraid of needles or anesthesia or dentists.  Take a quick pick, I  asked Les.  That is Dr. Monster behind me.

So, I take my glasses off.  Smile for hubby.

That, my amigos,  was the last smile for hours today!  Because then she stuck her fingers in my mouth and brutally moved her hand around to check my teeth.  I mean, she went up and down and around and around like a friggin tractor.  I went to mention to LesDr.  that she could be gentler and she SHUT ME UP.  I think I went catatonic right then.

I had to have the tooth removed she said,  My eyes got huge.  To be honest,  I later remembered that Dentist Dr. Sam had indeed removed a tooth I broke many moons ago.  He was so gentle that I did not remember it at all.

Dr. Elizabeth pulled my tooth.  It was barbaric and there are no more photos.  When we come back in 3 months, she will put a crown?  who the heck knows what she will do BUT it is already paid for or there in no way in this lifetime I would even consider her getting close to my teeth.  I speak very little Polish but she will get a talk from me.  Trust me,this woman will hear  if not heed, the be friggin gentler message.

On a lighter note,  I slept for hours afterwards.  Very nice siesta.  Then we ate out at a restaurant minutes away on foot.  Here is a paiting of the eatery - it has existed for 20 years.

Nice view of the outside from our table.

This is how the check comes to the table.

Dra. Monster never said anything about pain meds so Les just bought me some ibuprofen and it works well.

It is more discomfort than pain, at this point.

We leave for southern Poland on Thursday, we have timed it to be after the rain.  It poured this evening...I made a video but it doesnt want to download from the ipad so here goes a photo...you can imagine the sound of it!

No kitchen at ll today!

It was a lovely day here today and the first thing I suggested was that we take a walk to burn off all the calories we have been adding on.


The trees and flowers are beautiful!

At the end of the walkway, is the port with many boats

and it is incredible how Poland has taken up cycling!  There are paths everywhere and far from cars, which is great.   Les has to keep reminding me to stay out of their way!

From the walk, we decided to go out for breakfast, we both had Polish crepes called naishliki.  Ohhh so gooood.    I am actually a very lucky woman since Les makes these for me on special days when we are in Baja.

We came home and relaxed for a bit, then Les went to run some errands with his brother and then we all went out to lunch at the same restaurant we ate at yesterday and we all ordered the same dish!


Big difference, the restaurant was empty and quiet and the food as good we expected.

So, I had the pork breaded cutlet with plums and three salads and baked potatoes.

The menu is in Polish and German -  no English at all.  Jeez!  And the prices are so low, so so low.  It is 3 zloty to the dollar.

From the restaurant, we went home and took our naps (no such thing as a vacation without naps), chatted with Les's brother and wife.  They went home, Les and I went looking at houses for sale (curious as to what is out there) and met  a wonderful couple who showed us their home.  When we get back from our travels, we are going to look them up.


From there we went to dinner at our Slovakian friend Peter, his Polish wife Marzena (mah jena) and son Adrian's house!  I told you we didn't go near the kitchen today LOL


Their home is at the end of a longish road and in the countyside.  Not finished yet, it is going to be incredible when done.


I will make a separate entry with some photos since I guess I have reached my limit here.

Polish Mother's Day

I have been blessed this year to celebrate Mother's day on May 10th in Mexico,  May 12th USA and today was May 26th in Poland.


We all went out to lunch in a neighboring village called KRUKANKA.  Because 9thankfully) the drinking and driving laws are so stringent, Les contracted a van to come pick us up at 1pm,  his brother Marek would be here to go with us.  From town we went to Les's other brother's house to pick Maciek and Krystyna up.  We drove 15 minutes o an incredible road that is lined by a thick, very green forest.   Once in Kruklanka, cabbie parked and waited for us to have lunch.


Beautiful restaurant called Under the Bison since there are wild bison in the mountains above.

This was right in front of the restaurant, to the right, and you can see the bison statue.

This was on the other side, also in front of the eatery

Les had a typical Polish dumpling called PYZY. I tasted it and it was really good!

Everyone had two courses.   First for me was tomato soup and Redds fruit beer  to drink. 

My second course was breaded pork with baked plums, which were on some sauce.  HEAVENLY guys, just heavenly.   It came with 3 different salads and each one was better than the previous:  cole slaw, cucumber with onions and beet salad.  It also came with the famous Polish potatoes.

The cab then brought us home to this incredible view!

Les went for his siesta while I downloaded photos...it is a hard life but someone has to do  it!