Hotel challenge

Our original hotel in Ostrava was, unfortunately less than ideal. It was on the main drag, which wouldn't have been bad except that we had no AC in our room (contrary to what we were told) so we had to open the windows. However, the noise was so bad it made sleeping pretty near impossible. At 9:30 we packed up and went on a quest for a new hotel. Surprise surprise the entire town was booked solid. We drove all over the place checking hotels (because, trust me, you usually want to cast an eye on the place before you book). Finally, we gave up and headed to the next town, Frýdek-Místek to look. First place we found was lovely, quiet and had windows we could open! What a joy.

After settling in, we drove back to Ostrava to the music festival. What an amazing place...it's an old industrial complex that has enormous rusty old structures and is just beautiful in its decay. Lots of photo ops. Tonight we saw Rufus Wainwright who played a great show...what a beautiful voice he has. After that we went over to the Kronos performance but we were still reeling with the tremendous R.W. show, the efforts of the day and perhaps a little woozy from all the herb that was being smoked around us that we decided to call it a night.

After getting back to the hotel, I was checking my emails and was sadly surprised to see an email from one of the hotels I had emailed this morning about a room. It was the one hotel that we tried to locate but gave up on when couldn't find it driving around Ostrava. The email said, "Yes, we have a free room for you." Sigh. Oh well, it's just the way things go sometimes when you travel.

Here is a view from our current hotel:

 

Czech Republic Day 1

After what seemed like the endless day (leaving home at 9:30 am on the 9th and arriving in Prague at 1:30 pm on the 10th), we are finally settling in to the hotel for the evening. We got here after an uneventful couple flights and took a 3 hour nap, which was utterly delightful, though it was a bit difficult to rouse ourselves from our slumber. Finally got up and took a wander up Petřín hill to look at the views, the gardens, and to climb the tower. The weather was perfect - sunny and not too hot. I would post pictures but I didn't take any with the iPad yet (although it's a better device, it's not as portable as my phone).

After out hill climb, we descended toward Nerudova Street and stopped in a great pub for beer and herring (yummy!). Levi has decided that we should go there every day - laid back and comfortable atmosphere.

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow it's off to Ostrava and the Colours Festival.

 

 

Just a photo

I'm feeling thoroughly wiped out from a long ten days of work but don't want to end today without a little creativity (there's got to be more to life than endless hours trying to justify your paycheck). Here's a Woca picture I took last summer in Sandspit in the Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii off the coast of British Columbia. What a place and what incredible light. Notice the light leak that imprinted on the negative. Shot number 7, eh?

Ball field - Sandspit, BC