Karlovy Vary - Weight Loss Program - Day 16

Metropol Building Front Door Architectural details. I really love this building.

An annex to one of the hotels down the promenade from mine. It's a n atrium restaurant
on the back but not open this time of year.

Woke up to some sunshine and then for about an hour later in the morning the sun shone brightly. It was like spring with the temperature around 60 degrees and a light breeze. It was so beautiful and even the kitties on the hill were frolicking about. I was watching them from the hill above and noticed a man walking toward them and he stopped and went through the hotel garbage bins and pulled out some bottles and then went to to the next bin. The cats watched him with piercing eyes as they do with me as well when I try to get close to them. They won't come near the humans but they are beautiful animals. There is even a Sooty cat who I've tired to call over to me but she just looks at me with this odd, weary expression of kitty disdain.   She, and all the cats for that matter, look healthy, well fed, clean and do seem to have lots of energy to play with each other. And that man eventually had gone through all the bins and was coming back toward the kitties who followed his every move and he stopped in front of them and placed a piece of chicken skin on the wall next to all the other food people had left for them. It really touched my heart because I now noticed he was actually homeless or at least in a very needy sate and had just pulled the chicken skin off the half eaten chicken leg he had found in one of the bins and was going to eat. He didn't have the same look of a homeless person in NYC and actually had an air of dignity and pride and smiled at me while making a gesture with the chicken leg in his hand of pride toward the kitties as he continued on his way down the street. He didn't give the impression of a man in need but rather a man doing what needs to be done to sustain his life but still with an eye for the needs of other beings around him. If I had had some food with me I would have offered it to him like we've all done when we've taken home a doggy bag and come across a homeless person on the way home but I don't really walk around with food here, there wouldn't normally be any reason to. Sometimes people surprise you and his kindness to the kitties was one of those inspiring moments. It's a gesture like that that reminds you that the world, even the world of the needy, is still filled with such inspiring compassion and kindness. Perhaps he doesn't like the skin on chicken and would have just thrown it away somewhere if the kitties hadn't been close by him but still he gave when he himself had so little. It reminded me that the world really is filled with mostly caring people and no matter where you go in this world there will be people looking out for even the smallest of beings. My prayers are with him.

View of the city with the Boston Hotel in the distance. It's right next door to my hotel

View of the Spring Colonnade from the #4 upper spring pavilion

Beautiful details of the Market Colonnade

Majka from the spa

I took a lovely walk around the city before having my treatments, a water massage and lymph-drainage. Everyone is so sweet here and Majka, the women who does the lymph-drainage is always so happy and greets me, and I'm sure everyone, with the biggest smile and an enthusiastic hello. It's really makes everything nicer when people are excited to see you.

Petra, the Director of the Hotel Kucera where I'm staying..

Darina, Hotel Manager and Lenka, massage therapist

I then went back to my hotel and had lunch in my room and talked with the wonderful staff. Petr, the Director of this hotel and a resort out in the countryside about 3 kilometers away from the city center is great and very friendly. They're all so friendly here and always helpful. And I had a nice chat with Lenka who is the massage therapist for the hotel and is so friendly. She speaks some English but I had my little lap top so we used Google Translate to write out and translate our conversation. It takes a bit longer to have a conversation as you can imagine but still good to be able to communicate. She is the mother of two 20-something kids, a son and daughter and she showed me pictures of them, both adorable, and a picture of her handsome boyfriend at a special dance event at the Grand Hotel Pupp that her daughter recently performed in. They were all dressed so beautifully in elegant evening gowns and formal suits. It's funny before I figured out we could talk using Google Translate we were chatting as best we could with some English and then gestures of facial expressions of some other non verbal means and at one point I could tell that she was trying to ask if I was living in NYC during the September 11th tragedies.  It wasn't that there was anything other than the sudden change of her facial expression to indicate that she was trying to ask something serious that instantly made me realize her question. I made a motion to indicate large buildings and she made a gesture that yes, that was what she wanted to know. I explained that I had been living there but my apartment was pretty far from ground zero. She gestured the shape of a box and said she watched TV that day and then she scrunched up her face distorting it to indicate suffering. That horrible event is something that no matter where you go in the world it is a common reference point when NYC is mentioned. The hotel Kucera is operated by some very caring people who have been so helpful and kind and although it doesn't have the amenities of a large hotel or a pool, sauna, etc. like the resorts it is affordable and the staff make you feel like you're home and that's pretty important especially when you're traveling alone. There a several other single women staying here as well that I see at breakfast each morning. Also, Petr was telling me tonight that most of their clients come back and they have a huge percentage of repeat visitors, some coming back each and every year. He said that all guests who return get an extra discount so if I come back next year to email him and he'll make sure I get a good discount. Very kind of him.

St. Luke's Church

I took another lovely walk around town and although the temperature had turned a bit chilly it was still a prefect day for enjoying the city as the snow had begun to melt. I walked past the spot where my cat snow sculptures were and all that is left are the stones for their eyes and mouths and the tiny twigs I'd used to for whiskers which were all sitting on the stone wall exactly where the statues once were.

All that remains of my snow statue cats, some stones and a few twigs

There is a sweet little playground at the top of the small hill behind my hotel and for the first time I noticed an adorable painting of an angel with a cloud on the wall to the right. I tried to look up online the words that were printed under the angel but it didn't yield anything.

I found myself in front of the Becherovka museum which explores the history of this Karlovy Vary made famous liquor. "Karlovy Vary produces a popular herbal liquor called Becherovka (sometimes also referred to as "the 14th spring"). This bittersweet classic among Czech liquors is based on a secret recipe, which was first put together by Jan Becher in a Karlovy Vary pharmacy (now the Jan Becher Museum) in 1807 and which, it is said, is only known to two people today. The ingredients are simple and purely natural: Karlsbad water, alcohol, sugar and a mixture of herbs and spices. You can drink Becherovka straight or use it as a base for cocktails."

St. Peter's in the distance with the salmon colored Russian Consulate on the left
and a beautiful Hotel Villa on the right.

Pretty Pink Doll-House inspired Villa apartment building

I didn't go to the exhibit but found that the main floor of the building is actually a restaurant/cafe, shop and gallery. They also make their own Czech ice cream there and have what I am sure is a Weight Watcher's approved portion controlled ice cream cone for only 75 cents. It was two tiny scoops but the perfect size actually and great to have your dessert and not have to feel guilty about the indulgence. I had a scoop of pistachio and a scoop of a very special and unique mixture they had come up with here which is the bitter quark (a cross between yogurt, cottage cheese and sour cream) and tiny, tiny chocolate chips. It was delicious and I got a kick at two women who were near me as I walked and enjoyed my ice cream and looked strangely at me when I stopped suddenly to take a picture of the now melting treat. They made a comment about my odd behavior and then moved on.

National House 1901, Viennese architects Fellner and Helmer is called the National House. This Art Nouveau hotel in the centre of Karlovy Vary, which in its time was the seat of the world-famous vaudeville., has been decaying for a number of years. But now the place is finally under reconstruction. Thus by the end of 2013 the National House should be seen in its former glory.

Actually noticed that I was getting a lot of odd looks this afternoon. Because of the beautiful weather today I decided this afternoon after lunch in my room to switch from my heavy boots and wore just my black shoes with no socks. So many people made faces at the sight of my shoes and made comments to those around them. One women stopped me and said something in Russian as she looked down at my feet and I could tell she was saying aren't I cold? I explained as best I could that I was fine and my feet were actually very warm at the moment. I know she was just concerned about me which was very sweet but I really was fine.

Another Karlovy Vary creation, and this one I actually can enjoy since it's non-alcoholic is the Hollandia yogurt I found at Albert's supermarket a week or so ago. Today was the first time I'd tried it and I can't believe how incredible it is. I'm sure it's the very best plain yogurt I've ever had. If only the exported this to the US it would be an incredible healthy option for a snack. It's so delicious that it needs no sugar or even added fruit. Definitely a healthy yum, yum!!!

I took my evening water cure as well as some extra water from some of the various spouts as I walked by. There were so many people out today enjoying the warmer weather and enjoying their water cures.

Alisa, one of the really sweet women working at the spa and Natalia, the fabulous Russian
massage therapist (dressed in black) who did my last two massages

Jakob, the adorable young front desk clerk at the spa. So sweet and so helpful answering all my many questions about the city. His English is very good.

I stopped at the spa for an hour and half to enjoy the sauna and whirlpool. I just love sweating out all those toxins, I feel so good afterwards especially after a nice warm shower. A very nice day which ended after typing up this blog and adding the pictures with a very pleasant hour spent revising a paper one of my students from Vietnam had emailed me and asked if I could help her make the paper better. She actually did a phenomenal job writing about how music has changed her life and how her parents have encouraged her to follow her love of music and peruse a career playing Jazz and Classical music. She is only 14 years old so she has time to change her mind and do something totally different but for now she is determined to take lots of lessons and practice, practice, practice and knowing her keen intelligence  her dedication and determination there is every possibility her dreams will come true. The paper itself had just some minor errors in tense (present/past/future.) I'm so glad I can be helpful to my students even if they live thousands of miles away.

The porcelain sculpture at the top of the Atlantic Building which is across the street from my hotel. There are two, one on the top right of the building and one on the left. They're little playful angels wearing eggplant hats on their heads. I had to look closely to see the hats.

The porcelain sculpture at the top of the Atlantic Building which is across the street from my hotel. There are two, one on the top right of the building and one on the left. They're little playful angels wearing eggplant hats on their heads. I had to look closely to see the hats.

The porcelain sculpture at the top of the Atlantic Building. This is the one on the right and I love the angel trying to climb over it.