Another overcast day here in the beautiful Western Czech towns but I forced myself to get out there and walk/hike. I had 5 hours before my first treatment today which is fine it gave me a chance to explore some of the nearby towns.
I started my walk through the main town area, past the GrandHotel Pupp, past the Karlovy Vary Museum and then and through the park where the outdoor summer theatre is. I then got on the same path Elke and I took when we hiked up to the Diana Lookout but this time I stayed on the lower path so I could explore the little town after the tennis courts.
The complex has some individual homes, a restaurant, tennis courts, an outdoor swimming pool and a hotel. I think it's where some of the locals live as you could tell the people live there all year and there were a few kids and dogs and it looked like a regular suburb but with pastel green and orange painted homes.
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| Rock Garden in front of someone's home in Březová |
I then continued past there to another small town called Březová which is situated on what seems to be the widest section of the River Brezová, although small as a rich history and when I looked
it up online I found this adorable account of the town which made me smile, it’s
so quaint and I love that life in the 17
th Century was so much less
complicated that what made you famous was your profession and if you had a prestigious
profession you got listed as such in the Census (see below.) “The 1709 census
of Brezová lists people mainly by their names but only the important people get
to be mentioned by their profession. Among them are:
Jan and Juraj Placko....shoemakers, Tomas
Vevericka....kramar (small "shopkeeper" or "merchant")
Jan Valko – baker, Stefan Nespor- maker of spoons, Martin
Gavurnik- tar maker, (from the book Brezová pod Bradlom; translation by Les
Baraz, with additional help by Vlad Bzdusek.”
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| Church in Brezova |
Also in this document on line the writer lists a wonderful
account of the first Brezovian to leave for America. “The very first Brezovan
to emigrate to America was 24-year-old Samuel Sagat, a hat maker who settled in
Yonkers, New York. He left shortly after he got married, in 1888, leaving his
pregnant wife alone, claiming she was unfaithful to him. (not justified). He
sent her money, though. He returned to Brezová 1 1/2 years later, told
everybody about the good fortunes in America and on his way back he took with
him a "whole bunch" of Brezovans. (No names mentioned). The Brezovans
quickly nicknamed him Golumbus or Kolombus for obvious reasons. Another pioneer
to leave for America in 1889 was Juraj Papanek who was also followed by others.
It is estimated that in the period between 1893-1908 there were 1,500 Brezovans
that left for America. (Ref: K. Culen's book A History of Slovaks in America) Brezovans
in general did well in the new country, mainly because they were hard working
and reliable. A lot of them worked in the leather processing industry, the
trade they learned in Brezová (Garbiarstvo). Others worked in factories, opened
small shops, farmed and one family, Papanek, even opened their own bank. There
were in total 80 families that left and never returned.
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| Place on the embankment where I slid down |
The writer listed all the members of all 80 families which
amazes me that the records were so details but I didn't think it was necessary
to list them all here.
When I first got into to the town I stopped at the side of
the River Tepia which of course flows all the way through Karlovy Vary as well
and beyond.
There was a tiny rock beach here so I slid down the tiny
hill and slid on my behind as you can see in the marks I left in the snow and
picked up a few river pebbles and touched the clean clear water. It’s beautiful
I’m sure you could drink it although I didn’t. And then I climbed my way back
up the hill. My behind was a little wet but I had to continue on there was much
more walking to be done.
So I then got on the hiking trial there and walked up and up
and up and then across and then down and then it seemed all around. As you can
see from the pictures the snow still covers the ground and trees in the forest
but it’s so beautiful.
I walked back to town and in total from the start of my walk
until I reached my hotel room after having gotten my lunch time water cure it was
exactly 4 and half hours. Besides sliding down that tiny hill near the river I
only slipped one other time going downhill on the main hiking path. I didn’t
hurt anything, just got a little soar after hitting the pavement.
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| I love this Christmas Tree in the middle of the large trees |
After getting to my room I had only a half hour to eat
lunch, crackers, cheese, cabbage salad and some fruit and yogurt and get to my
3:15pm treatment across the street. But I made it with 5 minutes to spare.
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| If you look carefully you can see the Christmas tree farm in the background and lots of little tiny buds of Christmas Trees growing in the forefront |
I had the Nefertiti treatment which is similar to the
chocolate wrap I had at the Sansoucci Resort last week. It was amazing with a
through salt scrub, this one being different from the aloe vera and felt more
like being massaged with fine sand paper and then painted with a caffeine chocolate
concoction and then wrapped up like a mummy (I’m sure a reference to the name
Nefertiti) and then relaxed in this cocoon state for about a half hour. And
Sona gives you a head, face and neck massage as you wait for the wrap to do its
magic. Then you wash it all off and she gives you a massage with a special
cream.
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| Bench in Březová looking over the river |
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| Funny sign in a park in Březová to discourage dog owners from letting their furry ones do their business here |
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| Hotel in Březová |
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| In the distance is an old wooden wagon used now as a sculpture in Březová |
Oh, so fabulous and it must have been a total of an hour and
a half which was great although my muscles were so sore from my hike that even
the massage could only do so much. I think I should limit my hikes to 3 hours
that seems the right amount of time. That extra hour and half really did a
number on me legs or maybe it was the slip and fall, either way I’m sore!
So then to the sauna for a few minutes detoxing and then I
quickly got dressed and ran off to get my evening water cure before they
pavilion closed for the night and then I met the technician back at the spa for
my last treatment which was they lymph-drainage which is supposed to work
really well after a Nefertiti treatment.
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| My Favorite picture of the day |
And when I was walking back through town after my hike I saw
a poster near the main bus stops of a play going on at the
theatre tonight. I had seen the posters before but didn’t realize it was for the
main theatre and that it was happening in February. The poster caught my eye
because it looked like a comedy with the crazy characters and it also reminded
me of the characters and set from my friend Alicia Frank’s play about a
humorously dysfunctional family in the American South.
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| Picture from the Poster |
I stopped at the theater and they had tickets left and they
were only $11.00 US. I had wanted to see a show in the theater last time I was
here but it never worked out so I was thrilled to be able to go to see a real
play (although in Czech) in this beautiful 18
th Century theatre.
The play, "Sodoma Gomora" by Petar Petrovič Pecija was really interesting and I’m glad I saw it and especially for having been able to see
a play in a foreign language. It was like a theatre game we play in rehearsals
where you speak in gibberish but with the meaning of the written lines behind the
sounds and that way you get the meaning of what is being said through the
facial expressions, body movements and intonations in the voice.
The play really did turn out to be a lot like Alicia’s play
in the characters anyway. The mother-in-law of Nick was so much like my friend
Nina who was in Alicia’s play as the mother and who I’ve directed and worked
with before and who is always, hysterical and loved by the audience and this
women not only looked like her she dressed like her. Nina is always known for
eccentric costumes and with them a snazzy pair of socks that are a complete
contrast to the rest of the outfit and this women did the same thing with a
pair of bright red, glittery socks with leopard leggings, a mismatched top and
a mismatched apron and off white flats.
The theater itself is magnificent inside with really
comfortable red velvet seats and the women at the box office gave me the center
seat in the front row of the first balcony which is easily the best seat in the
house, just perfect. The theatre was pretty packed with a group of teenagers
behind me with their leaders and lots of other families with smaller children
and couples celebrating Valentine’s Day. I loved that it, being a Czech
play and in the Czech language only, the majority of people attending where
local Czech families so I really got to have a theater experience that was quintessentially Czech.
A bit about the theatre and especially about the famous
curtain which was painted by the Klimt brothers (Gustav Klimt famous for his
many beautiful works including “The Kiss.”)
“Where the present-day theatre of Karlovy Vary stands, there
used to be a theatre which started its operation on 22nd July, 1788, with
Mozart’s Figaro’s Wedding. The original theatre was established by the renowned
spa doctor, David Becher. In 1870 the municipal council decided that a new
theatre needed to be built. Because of lengthy discussions on the most
appropriate building site, tenders for
the new theatre, which would seat an audience of 800 people, could not be
advertised before 24th March, 1876. Since its origin, the theatre bore a German
name, Stadtteater, which was first translated into Czech after the war (the
first Czech performance took place there on 25th September 1945) and then, in
1958, it was renamed as the Theatre of Vítězslav Nezval. Presently it is called
The Municipal Theatre of Karlovy Vary. The
theatre is a detached building in the New-Rococo style at the corner of the
Nová louka Street where it meets the Theatre Square. Its exterior is mostly divided
into two horizontal bands – the lower one is jointed horizontally or
flat-bossed. There are four genre pictures by Franz Matsch (The Hunting, The
Game of Chess) and Gustav Klimt (Fiesta at the Table, The Dancer) in rich
stucco frames on the ceiling. The author of the picture above the stage is
Ernst Klimt. The cluster of amorettos there represents the ”Love as the
Conqueror” theme. All of the three above mentioned painters participated in the
manufacturing of the painted curtain. The main scene, framed in a new-Rococo
ornamental style, features a poet encircled by Muses and other figures, both
allegorical and real; at the left lower corner there are three sisters of the
Klimt brothers depicted in a lunette, whereas in the lunette on the right side
there are self-portraits of the three painters dressed up as historical
musicians. The iron fire curtain is painted so as to create an illusion of a brown velvet curtain.”
Here is a link to a virtual tour of the theater which includes a great shot of the Klimt curtain:
http://www.virtualtravel.cz/karlovy-vary/mestske-divadlo/klimtova-opona.html
Photos found by looking up "Karlovarska Opona (opona means theatre curtain specifically.) I was given this information by Mira at the museum on February 27.
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| Klimt Brother's Theater Curtain Detail |
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| Klimt Brother's Theater Curtain detail |
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| Klimt Brother's Theater Curtain |
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it was a really nice
night. The inside of the theater as well as the out is exquisite with lots of
beautiful architectural details and ornate furnishings like gold lamps. There
were angel sculptures and reliefs all over the theater as well as lots of floral
accents. They have boxes where groups sat together and I’m sure when the
theatre first opened that was the place all the nobility sat.
And when we left the theatre at 10pm I loved that two public
buses each going to a different town nearby were waiting directly outside the
theatre entrance for all those guests who now had to get to their homes outside
Karlovy Vary. The people all piled in and a few went to a different bus stop and
a few others, like me walked across the bridge to our hotels. The town really
supports the tourists of course since that’s their main source of income but it
clearly supports their locals and local events as well which is so wonderful.
I was off to bed soon after I got home and my muscles are
still very soar as I know they will be in the morning too.
Today I thought I'd just take it easy after yesterday's four and half hour walk or at least that's what I was thinking when I woke up. But then the sun came out and I just couldn't help myself so I went on a long walk up the hill behind my hotel before having my treatments. But first I took a quick trip to the local grocery store up the hill and got food for lunches and dinners for the next week. They have boccocino balls (mini-mozzarella balls) so I got some and bread, yogurt, cheese spread and few other items and off I went back to my room to unpack my groceries before heading out again. I should think just the multiple walks each day up and down the three very long flights of stairs in my hotel should be enough to warrant at least a 10 pound weight loss.
Look closely you can see 4 cats eating, an orange and white and greyish one and two black kitties. So cute!!!
Then a quick lunch after taking my water cure and off to the salt cave for an hour. Oh so relaxing and those zero-gravity chairs really are amazing. The tension left my body the minute I laid down. I was the only one in there at the time as 5 people had just finished their treatment before I came.
