. Everything that we saw was as beautiful as in the pictures. More. 
 Zak sleeps. I think about the things I must do when we get back home and surf through the last few weeks. 

Traveling by bicycle was one of the most amazing things that I have ever done. Not to mention that I was fortunate enough to be riding one of the most special bikes in the world. Made 'specially for me with 100% love.

Traunsee

Crazy. 
The Salzkammergut landscape is crazy. 


My face hurt from smiling so much. 
Which is funny because late last night - or very early this morning - whichever way you want to look at it, (back in Prague) we were told by our new friends that perhaps the older generation of Czechs don't smile much on the streets to passersby because there is an association of smiling and stupid people. 
From that perspective, Zak and I must have looked the fool. 


Wonderful. 

From Hallstattersee. 

Zak makes me smile too. 






Wierdo!

oh yes.


things are a bit different.


different than austria.


different than the northwest.


different than many places I have been , april too.

for instance.


this used to be a very different place than it is today.


here Stalin is "backed" by "the people".

now, the statue has been torn down, and replaced by the worlds largest metronome.  The surrounding area is a giant granite skatepark full of teenagers and weirdos that lurk in and near the bushes.

freaky freaky place.


farmhouse.

funky funky place.

the very nice woman, Karen, took pity on us, and gave us a room.  for the same price as camping!
the heat wasn't on, but it was warmer than our wet wet tent.


the farmhouse also doubled as a scuba school, mini-horse farm and hippie squat/ harp-recorder school.


we shared a floor with the musicians.

this is a local from bad ischl riding his bike in the rain.












wool.






the original technical outerwear.

the nex thing that you will see, if you examine closely, is... 


http://www.kosteleckeuzeniny.cz/

I don't think that there are any monsters living in the traunsee, just on the shores.


lots of swallows.


they come in large clouds.


it would be scary if you were a bug.

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

they said "samlet"  we ordered it.


we also ate it.
along with some nocken.


that was cheesy and potatoey.


some small place on the lake called "seeraunzn"


their sign was in some austrian-german dialect that died a long time ago but the rough translation is


"its better to have too much to drink than to have had too little to eat"


and the mascot is a very large austrian sitting uncomfortably on a chair wearing lederhosen and the little hat with the squirrel tail bristling out.

also, attached to a bike rack out in front of the local primary school, was a advertisement for another brand of radler.


we have yet to try thissun

we had some eggs and garlic and butter and shrooms on the side of the road where Gustav Klimt used to wear his smock around freaking out the locals.


quite beautiful.


two locals were catching fish in the cloud of vapors from the public toilets, and large trucks made the quarter mile hedgerow breathe as if it were alive when they passed.

it got cold and rainy and ugly for a few days.

we went to the train station to maybe go down south or something.

we didnt

instead we stuck it out for a few hours more, didnt know where we would camp, and during the last few minutes of daylight, met a very sweet woman that took pity on us and gave us a room in a very old farmhouse (1584) for the price of camping.  we also have a stove and an icebox.

the next day it got sunny.

we rode a bit.


we ate a bit.

we stopped being cold (despite no heat in our room)

the next day we hiked forever to hallstatt.  we went in to a salt mine, the oldest one in the world. even older than jesus!  jeez!

today we are going for a soak in the spa.

then some more riding.

we have taken heaps of pictures, but have no way of posting them yet.

kisses.

april and yak

Hello! we made it to wolfgangsee today. somewhere around here wolfgang amadeus mozart was born and inspired. i can see why. the mountains and the lakes are beautiful, even in the cloudy weather. it could be warmer, but no complaints. we ride along nice paths or lightly travlled roads. have seen lots of baby goats, cows and climbed some big hills. not bad with loaded bikes! have been cooking mostly though we did go out for lunch one day. Schnitzl and a burger, touring food! the grocery stores are ineteresting. lots of loaf meat, mayonaise in tubes and good bread. ok zaks turn!

Eichörchen.  have seen none.

little fat kids saying "ein minuten"  1
old men with funny hats and leather shorts - 15 or so
bicycles 100s

super pretty place. 

very happy to have cozy kitten time with april.

tonight we are cooking some saüerkraut soup with mushrooms and a chunk of rock hard bread.

washed down with steigl and schnapps.


(we bought the schnapps at a shoe store)
also, everywhere are the woodpiles.  some big some small and all of them very orderly and nice.
löve

yak  (here the y is where the z usually is)
and april (her feet donät touch the ground at the computer desk)

happy happy.


mothers are the best.


without moms, we'd be nowhere.  our rooms would be messy.  we would sleep in too late all the time, and we wouldn't eat very healthy.

we rode our bike over to Mr. and Mrs. Harcubas house for lunch yesterday.  It was really nice.  We had some onion soup, and some chicken and some potatoes and pickles.  It was all super rad.  (by rad, I mean tasty)  All washed down with the czech beer and some coffee.  I was forced to eat two pieces of black currant cake.

to get there, we had to ride up this big ass hil and through the pile of tourists all milling about eating sausages on a stick waiting their turn to pay 10 kr. to take a leak.  


At the top of said big ass hill, there is a small replica of the eiffel tower.  


You pay to get up that as well, although not very much, as is the routine.

at the top of the hill there was some remnants of the communist era.  Really weird.  Its everywhere if you look for it, the residue anyway.  Big bummer concrete structures.  Older people that don't really smile.  the guys that chase you out of the store at closing time.


anyway.


cool stadium.  cool art outside.

so, yes, we had lunch.  It was good.


the best part, after lunch we got to go next door to Jiris studio, which is next to the embassy for "the peoples democratic republic of korea"   


Jiris studio is soooo cool.  so much work.

he makes the coolest marks.

later, after the ride home, and through the park, (where we saw two reddish orange squirrels, the first of the trip!) we went to our new favorite place, Parliament.


four of us had the roast duck.


I had some potato dumplings.  


and some pilsner.  and yes, it really does taste better here.  seriously.

after we et, we were treated to yet another of the "secret squirrel"s sneaky spots.


through a door, up an elevator, through another door where a guy is carving some clay, and up on to the roof.
serious.


on one of those old copper roofs with loose slate.  in the old downtown area.  soo cool.


we could see down in to peoples living areas, and see thousands of pointy bits and so on and so on.


little rickety metal catwalks leading all over.


we want to go back.


if we're lucky.

Novy bor is out by the mountains, near some skiing, and was a major Glass producing area.  There were tons of shops and factories and schools, all dedicated to making Glass.


We visited a place called Ajeto, which had a restaraunt with a fishtank of glassblowers that you could watch while eating meaty gravy stuff.  They were cranking out the goblets.  We timed them at 4 minutes each!

everywhere you looked, there was a shop.


in the basement of the building we stayed in was a shop so small and so hot.  It had very little ventilation and no stereo. It did have some sweet leather loungers though!

we also visited the Novy Bor school, which is a high school dedicated to glass making.  Just like any other school, but its for glassblowing, glass cutting, glass painting and everything glass.  There, like the rest of the shops we saw, the workers wore slippers without socks.  

we visited a glass museum, that had all manner of beautiful engraved glass from the 1800's.  very cool stuff. 

glass glass glass


or


sklo sklo sklo

Coffee in bed, two days in a row. Zak must love me or something. 

Sure not to miss our tour guide, Martin is the tall guy with the camera. As you may or may not know, I am the one with the short goat legs and found it quite useful to follow someone tall, as the crowds got thick at times. 

The Catedral in Praha castle has a window made by Mucha. Another quite beautiful one by  Libensky.

We also found a wood relief carving of Praha, from c.1600 (maybe?) - old anyhow! On it we found the place that we are lucky enough to be resting our heads at, courteous Stepon. 
X Marks the spot.