all hail vic

the busy life, pt. 1

this will come as a surprise to some and disappoint some and some people just won't care and others will be happy: i'm staying in Prague.

many things have happened in the past two weeks. the question now is where to begin...

so, let's start with Abasar, Hungary. two weeks ago yesterday (Saturday) i was in Abasar, Hungary - about 60 km east of Budapest. i was there to pick grapes for the second year in a row. i have photos (forthcoming).

this year it was sunny and not wet, which helped make it nicer to pick grapes. this year it was warmer, which meant i didn't need to drink as much hot wine to keep warm - last year i underpacked and was always freezing, this year i overpacked and was always too hot.

like last year, i forgot my swimming trunks, so the spa on Saturday night was done wearing athletic shorts. the spa this year, however, was not nearly as fun because we were not a mixed group, which always adds to the fun and the people we went with were a little more sober in nature (and in spirit, if you know what i mean).

on Sunday (09 October) we picked more grapes in the morning. driving through Budapest on the way back to Prague, the people i came with dropped me off at frisbee friends' house (the same friends whose family owns the vineyard where we picked grapes). so, instead of returning to Prague, i stayed in Budapest. having never seen Budapest and believing that i would be returning to the states on an indefinite basis, i thought that it would be my last chance...

i'll leave the photos and stories from Budapest and Vienna for another day, however.

and i'll leave my busy life for another day, for the most part.

but first, i thought i'd tell you what i'm going to be doing for the next few days or week, really.

tomorrow, i am going to Kutna Hora and i will stay there for a few days. Kutna Hora is a town about 70 to 80 km (1 mile = 1.6 km, for those who need to know, but i'm leaving the math up to you) outside of Prague. there are a few interesting things to see in Kutna Hora, most notably a church partially made out of human bones.

but why? well, i'm going as a tourist and a tourist guide of sorts.

you see, my friend who teaches at my former school met an American. the American man, R we'll call him, wanted to get my friend and her boyfriend to accompany him to Kutna Hora, but since she has to work, she volunteered me. R is in his late 50s and his grandfather came from a small town near KH, so he wants to go and see his ancestral home. but he also wants to see the tourist sites as well.

it should be an interesting next few days. not to mention that friday is a holiday in the CR and there is an annual ultimate frisbee hat tournament (put names in a hat, make teams, play) all day. not to mention that saturday and sunday is the last regular (outdoor) tournament of the year in Kimle, Hungary. this is a tournament that was so cold two years ago that almost every player was drinking the free hot wine while they were playing, making for a slightly debauched tournament overall.

anyway, stay tuned in a week or so and i will tell you all about Budapest, Vienna and why i'll be staying in the CR. oh, and i'm going to look into being in the states from Thanksgiving all the way through the New Year, so many folks can expect a visit.

yee-hah!

Posted by iain at October 23, 2005 10:53 PM