A woman about town

As you can see, Simba is still with us. He doesn't really like riding -this photo was just to show off the nice basket I received as a parting gift from Riverside.

Off to the market!

Folksy singer guy

We went to our first paid concert Friday night - it was held in the courtyard of the castle.

This was the headline performer, Jaroslav Hudka. Looks sort of like Tom, don't you think? He sang several Czech folk songs, in Czech of course, and many people in the audiance sang along.

The beer helped. :-)

The first act was Alison, a Czech group performing Celtic Irish ballads. Some were in Czech, and some in English (with a heavy Czech accent!) Too funny, but very enjoyable.

We especially liked the fiddle player and the recorder (whistle?) player, although they were all quite talented.

A fun evening in the moonlight!

Things we do in our down time

This is the life. Up in the morning early - at least by 8, hahahaha....

Walk down to the market for rolls and fruit....

Put the coffee on - maybe make breakfast for guests, maybe not - a few hours of cleaning, and then we can take a wander to see what's happening in the village.

Nice view from the bridge - canoes coming around the bend by the ampitheater.

Reflection....

You know, at the NY State Fair, they carve eagles, or bears,or other wildlife, here...well, you can see for yourself

I wonder why Tom said "stand right there, Cyndy"......

One of the many little lanes.....

A rather precarious perch....

And, Loket's own version of "Little Shop of Horrors"! We have to go this way to get to the main square .....

Almost at our feet.....

International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary

Every summer, the famous spa town of Karlovy Vary hosts an International Film festival. The hostel was chock-full that week, and many of our guests went to see what all the hype was about.

We finally managed to steal a few hours to go have a look too.

This is the Hotel Thermal, all decked out, complete with a red carpet for the celebrities.

Although we didn't see any of the films, or any famous actors wandering around, we DID have lunch at the same table as the writer/director of the film "Sunflower Hour". We read in the paper later that it won one of the awards at the festival - so we are counting that as our celebrity encounter.

Hard to tell what these folks were up to....

I thought these folks were promoting beer for kids (see the bottles?), but I think it is a children's TV show.

Lots of people, lights, and fun!!

A walk with Nick

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Loket, and since we had no new guests arriving, we slipped out for a couple of hours to go hiking with Nick. Nick is one of our Australian guests, who has stayed here before and knows the area quite well.

Of course, the best places to hike are always UP!

This cave marks the turn where you head up the path into the mountains.

An ancient signpost in the meadow, marking the way.

Whew! Those last few feet over the rocks were accomplished with the aid of chains put there by the trail minders. We made it though - and added our names to the vsitor book in that small metal box.

I did not take this photo!! You couldn't get me that close to the edge!

Just looking at this one makes me queasy.

On the way back, we had a look at this Mongolian yurt someone has moved to a mountain meadow.

Back at river level, we joined these camper/canoers for a refreshing beer. I love this country!

Happy Fourth of July!

To everyone back in the States - we hope you're having a great holiday!

We are dealing with a FULL hostel - not one bed left! :-)

Galerie Cafe

At the bottom of the main square in Loket is a cozy little coffee shop and gallery that offers great cappacino, ice cream, baked goodies, and a selection of art works - paintings, ceramics, sculptures and the like.

We recently got to know "Forest", the young man running the gallery this summer. He is an interesting Czech - he speaks English with a Spanish accent, having learned his English from some Brazilian friends. He is called Forest because he studied forestry in school, but he left the Czech Republic a while ago and lives in Argentina. He just returned this summer to help his Mom with the gallery because she is not feeling well.

Anyway - last Sunday he invited us to attend a gallery event featuring Frantisek Cech, who is a famous Czech actor, musician, comedian, and now painter. We were excited to meet a famous Czech person! When we arrived the gallery was quite full, and Frantisek was speaking (in Czech, unfortunately) so we peeked through the window to catch a glimpse of him.

Yep - that's him! I was glad I had dressed up for the occasion! Ha! Whatever he was saying must have been quite funny, as the crowd laughed loudly and frequently. His paintings, we discovered, were mainly -uh-perhaps "erotic" would describe them? Some were definitely funny, and they are very colorful. I saw a few that I wouldn't have minded owning, but they were very expensive so we passed.

The painting that was unveiled and is sitting on the easel is a rendering of Loket. I loved it, and thought it would look great in the hostel, but we didn't think our boss would approve a $2,000 purchase.

Forest and ??