Dec. 29-January 1st North Moravia Mountains
Dec. 29th
5 am alarm
6 am left apartment
7:06 am train from Hlavni to Olomouc where we met up with Vassil and Clara for the car ride to the mountains.
Both Michaela and I did a good bit of sleeping on the train. we had the whole compartment which is normally for six people to ourselves due to the early departure time. That was great since we were both really tired. It was 10:30 by the time the train arrived in Olomouc and then another two hour drive before making it to the mountains. The place is about 5km from the Polish border, no border crossing necessary which is great since I did not brink pass port although schengen means no need for that anymore...
Right Next to the Chata
right in front of the chata, not bad eh...
ski lift at Paprsek
Top of Paprsek mountain. Nice little lodge with all kinds of new years crazies out of control
top of Paprsek with utility tent for craziness.
Inside the party tent at top of ski mountain
When we arrived we met some of the others, Radek, Suzanna, and many others and went down to the Chata aka "main lodge" for some soup and fries and beer. Both Michaela and I went back to the side hut where all twenty of us were staying for a nap. This hut is pictured to the left, and was two stories high. Two ten bed rooms and a few WCs and a shower with usually very cold water. But good heaters in the rooms which was nice since the temp was always below freezing for the three day vacation.
Breakfast and dinner were included in the price and the first night it was beef goulash which was great to eat along with the cheap beer that was pretty much flowing nonstop. When a beer is the same price as a coke or coffee, its hard to go wrong with a good old half liter anytime of day.
After dinner it was more drinking beer and telling stories with the others. Quite a few spoke great English which was nice for me due to my limited Czech abilities. Honza, Frank who is Claras brother, and Radek all speak perfectly along with some others.
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Dec. 30th
We rose at around 8:30 and made our way down to the main lodge about twenty meters away for breakfast which was included in the 350 CZK per night room and board rate. Pretty typical breakfast of bread with some cheesees and more bread. They had a hot drink that was some type of tea with quite a bit of sugar in it as well. I wasnt overly excited by the drink but come the third morning, I was pretty happy to have it after a long night. At around 10:30 our group was somewhat mobilized and on the ski slope in front of the chata. Some from the group were snowboarding, while others including Michaela and I were just on foot. We went down the ski slope, and then across a small ridge then over to another ski run which we also walked down. I guess our main objective was to reach the small village at the bottom of the runs. We made it there after about a half hour. Some of the people were snowboarding for the first time. As you can see from the pictures, the snow was everywhere, especially on all the trees which were around. Yes it was cold out, but nothing horrible. With all the clothes: pants, socks, boots, gloves, shirt, sweater, scarf, jacket, hat it was nice. Also, once we made it to the village, it was nice to stumble into the pension that was open for business. We were only allowed in the front room, since we were not staying the night there, but that was fine. Pretty much the whole group met up there as well for lunch. The place was packed with other families skiing in the local area. Sausages, soups, rizeks, beer, tea was pretty much on menu and we ordered all of it. Then we walked back to the chata up a road for about an hour. The road was covered in snow. Actually, the top left picture on this page was taken during this walk back, it was Michaela, Clara, Silva and I who walked it, everyone else was snowboarding back so took ski lifts home.
Once home, Michaela and I took a short nap to rest up for what I guessed would be another night of sitting in the lodge talking, playing cards, drinking beer, and whatever else you could imagine. Being that Michaela and I were with a large group of people we did not really know other than Clara, you can only guess what will go on, so taking a nap was a good idea as the night would require a rested person. You need to be mentally prepared to drink three liters of beer and a few shots of slivovice.
Dinner for the night was Pork Dumplings with a very green spinach sauce. They were pretty good, nothing like Michaelas mom makes, but pretty darn good none the less. What was really great that night was the live tunes that were coming from the other end of the chata. There must have been about four or five families up in the lodge who knew eachother. The dads and some wives were getting into some live music. Helped with the daddy who brought his String Bass, and another who had the accordian, a man with a stick that had tambourine parts, bells, and cow bell, and some crazy bouncing head at the top along with a partial snare drum, a man with guitar, another playing a real banjo, and then some other who pulled out a harmonica at times. This was pretty much a czech orchestra. Some songs were great to listen to, others were horrible, and it seemed like some of the songs were being improvised in a dirty way as several people started breaking out in heavy laughing from the lodge during some songs. A good night had by all.
Dec. 31st:
Morning breakfast, cheese, bread, coffee the usual. Soon after eating, we left via car for a new village.
