Františkovy Lázně, Czech - Day 5 (visit to Cheb)

Town Square in Cheb

Another spring like day although the sun only peeked out now and then. The snow is almost completely gone and the bright, beautiful Kelly green blades of young grass is already peeking through the damp ground. I know spring is officially on it's way I am just hoping that we won't get a sudden/final winter blizzard or frightful blast of cold winter winds.

Walkway between tow beautiful old housing complexes in the town center 

I had a 7:10am deep tissue massage this morning and then had breakfast with Gunter, Hannelore and Cornelia before they headed up stairs to get packed and ready to leave on their long drive back to Berlin. It's sad to see them go but I'm so happy I had the pleasure of meeting them.

Sculpture on Town Center building

I was sitting in the lobby lounge waiting for my next treatment and getting some computer work done. I get inspired by so many things each and every day and end up creating lesson plans for when or if I get another teaching job. Yesterday while reading the Mark Twain book I had an inspiration and while doing research on his short stories this morning I came up with a good lesson and that actually promoted me to create another lesson so it was a very productive morning work wise, I love when that happens.

On the Market Place dating from the 13th century are a group of houses originating from the late-Gothic period known as Špalíček. This distinctive feature of the market place is a bizarre complex of eleven houses. The outline of the two blocks can still be seen on the oldest existing records of 1472.

The Green House on the market place belonged to the well-known Wrendl dynasty, whose family crest lies above the entrance. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe frequently spent time here.

Little Francis Statue

Then Gunter, Hannelore and Cornelia came in to say goodbye and after hugs they presented me with a small metal statue of Little Francis. I was so surprised and touched by their kindness it brought me to tears and they said just keep rubbing his foot when I leave and hopefully I'll meet a wonderful man. They're just wonderful people and I really can't tell you how moved I was by their generosity. I have been lucky to meet many caring people throughout my life and lots who have been generous and kind but I am still moved and grateful each and every time some goes out of their way for me. I hope I've been able in my life to make others feel so moved and happy. So off they went and I settled back down with Mini Francis next to my computer for inspiration.

Cheb Castle

I had my second treatment, a special whirlpool detoxing foot bath and then back to the lounge to continue my work before my third and final treatment for the day. The lovely Czech women, Marie came in around 10:00am to turn on the TV and watch here new President being inaugurated  They ceremony took place at the royal palace in Prague and it was very formal and their new president had a serious expression on the whole time and his wife, 20 years younger than himself and his daughter were by his side. After he took his oath, signed the special book and made a speech he and his family were taken with a hoard of Bishops to St. Vitus' Cathedral where there was a short religious ceremony where the new President had to recite something (I have no idea what but I'm sure it was something to do with being fair, honest, just, etc.) They were then lead to the large courtyard outside where a band was playing and men in uniform were their to salute him and the final even took place near the front gate of the palace where thousands of on lookers watched as the 12noon bells of the church rang out and simultaneously the crowd began singing what I believe was the Czech National Anthem. It was a very nice, extremely formal event and hope the country will thrive and prosper under his leadership.

Czech Republic's President elect Milos Zeman, right, accompanied with his wife Ivana, center, and daughter Katerina, left, arrive at the Prague Castle for his inauguration ceremony in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

From an article published online a few hours after the inauguration and it sounds like he took off running after being sworn in. At least he’s a diligent worker, no moss growing under this man’s feet. – “PRAGUE - The new Czech president attacked the country's media on his first day in office Friday, saying some of them "brainwash" and "manipulate public opinion." Milos Zeman's outburst, shortly after being sworn in as this country's third president since the collapse of communism, did not have a stated target. But his sparring with the country's press goes back to the time when he led the Czech government, 1998 to 2002.

Cheb Castle Entrance - The first known settlement in the area was a Slavic stronghold at what is now called Jánský Vrch, north of the town-centre. In 807 the district of today's Cheb was included in the new margraviate of East Franconia, which belonged at first to the Babenbergs, but from 906 to the counts of Vohburg, who took the title of margraves. In 1179 town status was achieved, and the castle was built in the 12th century. In 1149, by the marriage of Adela of Vohburg to the emperor Frederick I, Eger (Cheb) came into the possession of the House of Swabia, and remained in the hands of the emperors until the early 13th century, during which

Next came my mud pack treatment like I had the other day where I lay down on a pile of warm mud and am wrapped in a series of warm layers like a mummy sweating out lots of toxins. The women who was barking orders at me the other day was very friendly today and even gave me a hug after it was all over. I think she is generally intense with all her guests as I heard her barking orders to others but deep down she's just a sweet lady.

Park near the center of town with three playgrounds (there are lots of kids in the city) and in the distance is a great metal slide that takes kids from the top of hte hill to the small revine below.

I finished my computer work and then took the public bus to Cheb, the nearby large city. It takes about 10 minutes and I'm so glad I decided to do my walk there today. It's a really charming old city center surrounded by modern buildings on the outside. Lots of nice restaurants, hotels and shops and a great place to walk along cobble-stoned streets and up and down small hills

Cheb "Cheb is a city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic, with about 33,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Ohře (also called Eger in German), at the foot of one of the spurs of the Smrčiny and near the border with Germany. Prior to 1945, the town was the centre of the German-speaking region known as Egerland, and was part of the Northern Austro-Bavarian dialect area."

Interior of the St. Nicholas and Elizabeth Catholic Church

I enjoyed my walk and the sun shone brightly at times and a wonderful warm breeze accompanied it.  I stopped for lunch at a cafe where they have these tasty open faced sandwiches with egg, onion and salami and a very nice young man who spoke impeccable English helped me navigate the place since there were several counters each with their own distinct food and apparently you have to have this plastic card that they put your items on as you order and you can keep going up and getting different foods from fries to chocolates and then in the end you bring the card to the front desk and they scan it and you pay whatever it all adds up to. I was so confused after I ordered and they kept pointing toward the front of the restaurant before they would give me my order.

The Church of St. Nicholas was established in the 13th century as a three-naved basilica, of which the western portal and the lower part of the tower remain in place. The three-part nave, presbytery and sacristy stem from the Gothic era. After the fire of 1742, the tower was rebuilt with a baroque cupola, after the design of the indigenous architect Balthasar Neumann. The top of the twin steeples were destroyed by German artillery fire during World War II and restored in summer 2008.

St. Nicholas and Elizabeth Church

It was getting to be close to 3:00pm and I wanted to get to the Harvey Hotel to play in the sauna and steam room so I headed to where the bus had dropped us off but I couldn't see a stop going in the other direction so I asked a women who happily pointed me in the right direction and I lined up around the corner with a large group of people but when the bus came I wasn't sure it was the right one and just as I was trying to decided a young boy asked if it was going to Frantisovy Lazne and I explained in English I was wondering the same thing so this adorable teenager spoke up in perfect English that it was so we all got on. She asked where I was from and when I mentioned NYC she was beaming. She turned out to be a lovely, lovey, young lady of 16 who has spent the last three summers in England studying English all by herself which really impressed me because her first visit was when she was 13. Her father is a stock broker here in Czech so she clearly has a lot of wonderful opportunities but she also seems like a very hard worker and takes full advantage of making the best of them all. She said she wants to go to Harvard University and I bet she'll manage to do just from what she said an how maturely she expresses herself. Her name is Annette and I imagine in a few years I'll be visiting Cambridge and see her carrying her college books through the quad.

Pretty block of houses in the center of town

The spa was perfect as usual except for the gaggle of naked men who once again monopolized the sauna for a few hours. I went in anyway with another women and managed to stay for a while sweating out toxins but they are so loud and what really amazed me is that they could easily put me to shame when it comes to sauna spa procedures. I am known at my gym in NYC for being in the sauna with my scrubs, loofah mitts, mud masks, etc. and today I witnessed something I would never have said could happen a group of 6 naked men, each easily over the age of 60, who were actually Czech not German as I thought yesterday, with their special loofah's, scrubs, foot pumice stones, etc. They were scrubbing and pumicing away the whole time as they laughed and chatted up a storm. I left the spa after two hours and they were still in there, incredible and one had left the sauna for what I imagine was a much needed break and was in the lounge chair opposite mine in the resting area. I was busy putting on my lotion (which a nice German man commented about I guess because there wasn't anything else to say) and I looked up and that lounging man had scrunched his butt up to the wall with his head now facing the end of the lounge chair where you would usually keep your feet and he had a towel over most of him but his legs for some inexplicable reason where up against the wall. So basically his body was in the shape of an "L" with torso and head on the lounger and legs at a 90 degree angle against the wall. I can only surmise that he was trying to drain fluid from his presumably puffy, bloated feet (or at least that's why I'd be lying in that position. I really am so intrigued now by the rather feminine spa habits of these men and only wish I was an anthropology student and could find a use for my observations than just to detail them in this blog. I watched watching one man who pumiced his feet next to me and then pulled out this white plastic mitt with rubber nubbies and am now going to have to keep my eyes out for one of those mitts it looked like a great way to slough off dead skin.

I had my water cure and walked back to my hotel and had dinner at my table but this time alone as my lovely German friends have now all left for home.