Witch Burning

On April 30th, people burn "witches" in the Czech Republic to "say goodbye to winter".  There was a really big event at Ladronka park for the occasion.  After Leoš and I finished work, we made our way to the celebration. It was his first time attending the event at Ladronka and it was much bigger than he was expecting.  There were lots of vendors and people all over the place.  They had some bands playing, a witch costume contest and of course burning of the witch.  After the fire, there was a popular band that performed.  Leoš had heard them before and was surprised that they performed at the event.  It was a fun way to spend the evening. 

                                                          

                                                          

                                                          

                                         

Brunch

I wanted to go to a restaurant for brunch that I had been to already for their dinner and lunch menu.  I was impressed with those meals, so I really wanted to check out their brunch.  Since Leoš went to Trebič for the weekend, I messaged my friend Aigerim to meet me.  We both had croque monsieur with truffle.  It was quite nice, but would've been better with a small side salad.  Since it was a hot day, we had to also go for ice cream.  After ice cream, I went home to make sure I would be there when Leoš came back from Trebič.   His parents sent me some birthday presents and a beautiful cake.  It was so nice of them, thank you!

                                                                        cute terrace

                                                     

                                                     

                                                         had to get ice cream, it was a hot day!

                                                             nice gifts from Leoš's parents

                                                                        such a nice cake

Movie and Arepas

I had an unexpected day off from work, so my friend and I decided to go watch a movie.  We went to see Challengers.  The interesting thing is that the movie was coming out 2 days later in USA than here in the Czech Republic.  We went to the movies at 15:50 and there were only 6 other people there.  After the movie, we walked around and then I felt like getting some arepas.  The other time Leoš and I tried to get arepas, the restaurant was closed. It was great that this time around the place was open.  The arepas were delicious!!  The cake was okay, but I would rather get a different dessert next time.  I'm glad I was able to make the most of my free day. 

                                                                        empty theater

                                                                    random park

                                                                    new signs

                                                      

                                                

Comedy and GGI Dinner

Laura was gonna perform at open mic, so I decided to invite some friends to join.  It was nice to have a catch up with the friends I invited, but I forgot to take a picture before the show started.  A friend of mine went to Australia recently and brought me back some Tim Tams.  I was so happy to get them.  They are amazing and I remember talking to Chris Hemsworth about them while we were on set.  I'm so grateful that my friend was able to bring them back for me! Thanks Grace!  The next day, I went for dinner with some girls from the GGI group.  It was nice to go to a restaurant that was in my area that I hadn't tried before.  We chatted and had a great time.  Thanks for the chats and the laughs!

                                                        absolutely my favorite Australian snack!!

                                                                chicken with Tikka sauce

                                                                            USA

                                                                        Russia  10,439

Walk

The weather was so much better on Sunday, than it was on Saturday.  We wanted to make the most of the nice weather, so we walked through Petrin and Kampa.  I hadn't seen the John Lennon wall in a while, so we walked there and it was such a shame. There were just messy graffities all over the place.  All the previous nice murals were painted on and it looked like such a mess.  When we got to Kampa, I noticed a scaffolding to a balcony.  It was free to enter and the area was really nice.  It was a great place to sit and relax. I am looking forward to going to this place more in the summer. It was a nice and relaxing Sunday. 

                                             the only decent thing painted on the wall at the moment

no one else!

Hanami Festival

It was such a cold, rainy and windy day, but there were a couple of things in the city we wanted to check out, so we had to brave the weather.  First we went to naplavka so I could get my favorite breakfast, pesto bread!  Then we headed to the Hanami Festival.  The reason I really wanted to go was because it was in the courtyard of the palace where Leoš and I got married. It was a perfect blend of my cultures, a Czech palace with a Japanese spring festival. Who would've ever thought that this combination would happen at the place I got married?!  There was a samurai walk through the city before they arrived to the palace, but because of the weather I didn't mind if we missed it.  I saw pictures online and it was funny to see the "samurais" walk on Charles Bridge and then walk in front of the astronomical clock. I am sure that everyone who saw them and didn't know about it, thought what the heck is going on?!!  Anyways when we got to the festival, it was super crowded and still raining.   A lot of stands had to be moved inside and there were so many lines everywhere.  I bought some melon breads that were quite nice and some hojicha (roasted green tea).  We watched men play taiko (Japanese drums) in the rain, they were real troopers!   Since it was just too cold, Leoš and I then headed to Kunsthalle to look at the READ exhibition.  It was interesting, but not as good as the last time I went to the gallery 2 years ago.  We went for an early dinner, which was a great idea because we didn't need to wait that long to be seated.  Then we headed back to the Hanami Festival because I wanted to see the fire show.  However, we would've had to wait much longer in the cold, so after the sword cutting competition and checking out the stalls inside, we decided to go home.  It was a great day and I am happy that I did this instead of anything else.

                                          eating my favorite pesto bread under my umbrella

                                                                    Japanese breads

                                                            the men on stage were playing taiko

                                                                    melon bread!

                                   CZ has a good number of libraries per capita. The best in Europe!

                                        

                                                                books banned in a state in the USA

whaaaat???