BOHEMIAN PARADISE

As you all know from reading the previous entry, Jeff is in Sweden tonight. So, I've decided a quick entry from me is in order. This one is regarding our recent trip to Česky Ráj (translated to English as "Bohemian Paradise").

It was a wonderful weekend and we felt worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Prague. The area has been the set for numerous movies and is well-known as the place of fairy-tales, as many Czech fairy-tales were based in this region. We specifically spent a weekend in the town of Jičín with the goal of seeing Prachovské Skály ("Prachov Rocks").

We arrived in Jičín by train Friday evening and immediately fell in love with the town. I'm sure you can see why....



A quick trip to the Info Center in the morning soon had us realizing that the "rocks" were no place to take our stroller. And so how to manage a 5 km hike with Ella and no stroller? We made the fastest purchase of a baby backpack ever on record and were able to catch the next bus to our destination! The women at the Info Center were right! Although we did see strollers, there is no way we could have done the hike we did with a stroller. The backpack was perfect! Ella got used to it pretty quickly and even fell asleep in it toward the end of our hike.



She got lots of walking in, too, on the less strenuous sections.



It's definitely a climbers paradise and I found myself missing my rock-climbing shoes. Although I'm honestly not sure I still have the guts for that!



For a couple of out-of-shape city-dwellers, we found it a pretty tough going. There was lots of up and down and we were surprised we even managed to fit through some of the spots.


The scenery was gorgeous and we thoroughly enjoyed the day!



After breakfast Sunday, we took a much less strenuous stroll down a 2km (each way) lane lined with 4 rows of linden trees. Lovely!



The trees were planted by Albrecht of Valdstejn and end at the ruin of one of his palaces.



Before catching our train we discovered a little museum that was put together by four Czech children's authors. It was full of interesting toys made by the authors and was completely interactive. A really interesting and fun way to end our time there.




We're already looking forward to our next trip to Paradise....
Maylia

PS In other news, my dear friend, Annika, and her family left Prague last week. They have moved to Greece. It was a very sad goodbye. I know we will be seeing more of them...in Prague, in Greece, in Sweden, in North America? But, for now, we are really missing having them just around the corner from us. Ella and Linnéa are great friends...