i just spent a weekend on the northern border of the Czech Republic, in the mountain range known as the Krkonoše mountains. i was 7 kilometers away from Poland when i was in my hotel. i was even less at some points.
i went up for a yoga retreat. on friday afternoon i left my flat. i arrived at the bus stop for the last bus to Spindleruv Mlyn (the town where my hotel was) but i hadn't prebought a ticket. i ended up not being able to get on the bus. or, moreover, i had looked at the schedule and seen that two more were leaving that evening...
so i voluntarily gave up a standing position on the bus - i didn't want to stand for two and a half hours, since that was the length of the journey. i also managed to convince three other yoga people to wait for the next bus...
except that i had read the schedule wrong and there was no other bus to Spindleruv Mlyn. the later two buses only run between December and March, peak skiing season. oops.
we worked it out with the hotel, though, and took a bus as close as possible to the town and then the hotel picked us up for a small fee.
after having dinner and imbibing possibly a little too much, i ended up getting into a discussion about science versus religion - moreover, the origin of the universe.
now, i'm usually not the one who plays devil's advocate, but i ended up defending religion. and, i believe, i convinced myself of the existence of some greater power. i'm not saying being, because i don't know of that. but, unlike the person with whom i was discussing, i simply cannot accept that the universe has always been and always will be, forever stuck in a cycle of expansion and contraction. there had to be a start at some point. the only thing i can validly accept is some greater force. just to repeat, i'm not arguing in favor of the existence of a supreme being, but rather a power or force. i believe there had to be a start somewhere.
anyway, saturday i woke up with the intention of walking around Spindleruv Mlyn a bit before attending a yoga class back at the hotel. i did this. it's a charming mountain town - or rather, a charming, enormous ski resort.
after the yoga class, i decided that i wanted to go on a 5 hour hike. another girl from the yoga class accompanied for the first bit...
until my knee started hurting and i decided that maybe i should save it for sunday morning, when i wouldn't have to worry about daylight, anyway.
on the way back down the mountain, we ate a few wild blueberries, which were abundant on the mountain side. we also passed a tobogan run - or as i call them, an alpine slide. you know those sorta mini-bobsled runs made for summer days. the rider rides a tobogan (or sled, if you will) with wheels that has a single lever - push forward and the brakes release more and more, pull back and you brake. assuming there's nobody in front of you, you can bomb down the run at high speeds going nearly parallel to the ground around some turns. i got so excited by the idea of riding this thing, that we high-tailed it back to the hotel to see if anybody else wanted to go.
indeed, others did. after they finished their lunch, we went to the run and went on it multiple times. on all previous ones i had ridden (in the states), the rider walked or took a ski lift to the top of the run. on this one, however, the rider is pulled up the hill on the tobogan by a tow line, which means that in order to be perfectly upright, you have to lean forward. by the time you reach the top of the hill, your lower back is stronger because it's just had a work-out.
the tobogan run was extremely fun and i went on it 4 times.
and after that, we went back to the hotel. the others went to an indoor water park. since i hadn't brought my swimming suit, i couldn't go. so i stayed behind, read some of my book and relaxed. as i was reading in the restaurant, i saw a man come in with very blue hands - stained blue. blueberry stains.
yesterday (sunday) morning, i woke up early-ish and ate breakfast with my yoga instructor and her husband. we talked for awhile afterwards before embarking seperately on long hikes.
i started out on the hike i wanted to do the day before. this time, however, instead of walking up the mountain which i'd already mostly walked up the day before, i decided to take a ski lift to the top. it was a good idea because it saved me time and impact.
the downside of delaying my hike one day is that the weather changed completely. whereas saturday was beautiful and only partially cloudy, sunday was rain and fog and general wetness. this meant, of course, that any views to be had from the mountain tops were not possible. so i missed that chance.
however, the hike itself was relaxing and meditative, despite the fact that i moved at a clip (since i was hiking solo). i took photos, despite the weather. at the highest point of my hike was a small pool - it looked like a 3-ft deep well. it was the origin of the Elbe River. i realized that i could stick my foot in the strain that ran away from it and dam it. i could stop the flow of the Elbe. i didn't though, because it's not summer any more and i didn't want to hike the raining 10 kilometers with a wet boot...
i descended the mountain rapidly, at which point my knee began to hurt again. as did the muscles behind my knees. aahhhhh, the beauty of impact and age.
it was a great weekend overall.
Posted by iain at October 3, 2005 01:20 PM