Places – Page 2 – Czech the Flip

Destination: Javoříčko Caves

Published on June 9, 2014 by Grace1 Comment

During a recent trip to my husband’s hometown in Moravia, we decided to visit one of the more popular caves in the area, the Javoricko caves. Now you might wonder how we are able to do it with a baby in tow?

Well, one of us has to be left behind. This time it was my husband. Since he is from the area, he has been to the cave several times. So it was my turn to bring Jakub with me on this exploratory journey. So off I went with my sister-in-law and her two boys.

The path to the entrance of the cave will lead you to a memorial honoring those who were killed during the end of the second world war.

As we entered the cave, this was the sight we saw.

The terrain was composed of several uphill and downhill trails. We chose the tour that was child-friendly, so all the roads were paved.

It was interesting to see several rock formations.

There were stalactites…

… and stalagmites.

According to information found on-line, the discovery of these caves started way back in 1938. In 1950, the search has widened and more and more floors have been found and developed.

Although the hike was quite strenuous for this unfit mama, I really enjoyed the trip. So did my boy who had to drag his mama along when the going went rough.

Anyhow, if you are ever in Moravia, this is one nature spot that you may not want to miss.

More information about the cave can be found here.

Destination: Bobova Draha, Kutna Hora

Published on May 27, 2014May 26, 2014 by GraceLeave a comment

This past weekend, we decided to stay local. We recently learned that our neighboring town, Kutna Hora, has a bobsled area (bobova draha). So off we went to check it out.

As it turns out, it wasn’t just a bobsled area. It is a recreational area where one can also do Zorbing, dirt-bike riding, and rodeo bull riding. There was also a jumping castle, a trampoline and a small playground for the kids to enjoy.

I didn’t get to ride the bobsled. I’m not really a fan of rides that resemble a roller coaster. However, I had a lot of fun just watching my boys go on the ride.

Here they are patiently awaiting their turn to get on the lift.

Before they went, my husband explained the rules to Jakub.

Then off they went.

A short wave for mama.

This is how the lift looked like. The height is pretty decent. The whole course is said to be the second longest bobsled course in Europe.

I wasn’t able to take pictures of the loops because it was on the other side of the hill. But here is a photo of them in motion as they were going through the course.

And here’s one more as they were already descending.

Until finally, the ride was over.

My husband took Jakub to the playground for a short break, but that only lasted a little while since he wanted more.

So here they are again, getting ready to ascend and ride the bobsled course once again.

As for me and Michaela? Well, we decided to sit it out. She was mostly sleeping and I was just relaxing. What better way to spend the weekend.

Anyhow, I hope you had a good one!

For more information about the bobsled ride, please click here.

Destination: Karlovy Vary

Published on May 23, 2014 by Grace1 Comment

Touted as the largest and most beautiful spa town in the heart of Europe, we decided to visit Karlovy Vary during our recent trip in this western part of the Republic.

It was a very short visit and I am now left hanging — wanting to see more. The place is just so grand. No wonder it has earned all these accolades.

The weather was not in our favor during our visit, so we didn’t really get to walk around the town.

But a visit to Karlovy Vary will not be complete if one does not visit the main spring pavilion.

So here I am with my little boy posing for shot inside the pavilion.

We also tasted the spring waters, each available in different temperature gradients.

If you have met my boy you would know that he is very friendly not one afraid of speaking out his mind. He is a very sociable child and would talk to anybody at anytime.

In here, he is telling the lady to be careful because the water is hot. Yup, the hottest water temperature was 72C.

Right outside the pavilion, there were pigeons to chase, so we gave him a little bit of time to run around.

This he was doing while his mama was busy taking photos of the beautiful architecture surrounding the area.

After only testing the tip of the iceberg, I know I will really go back to this place. It is only a few minutes drive from Marianske Lazne, and a trip to both spas is a future event that I am definitely pinning my hopes on.

To know more about this place, you can visit their webpage.

Destination: Marianske Lazne

Published on May 14, 2014May 13, 2014 by Grace1 Comment

Between all the visits and my husband’s busy work schedule these past few days, we were able to squeeze in a short trip to Marianske Lazne, one of the most popular spa destinations in this country.

It is located in the Western part of the Czech Republic and is a 2-hour drive from our place.

This town is made up of romantic colonnades, cozy hotels, and places for varied seasonal sports activities.

The city is quite small, and it is enough to walk through it in one day. Our main goal was to go to the Krizovy (Cross) spring pavilion.

It is the main pavilion in the Colonnade where one can taste the spring waters from the 6 different springs in this town.

There are 6 main springs in Marianske Lazne, all of them with different ionic concentrations and each one believed to cure different illnesses.

Here you can see my husband enjoying his cup of the spring water.

We then proceeded to walk towards the fountains. Jakub was having the time of his life running around, jumping and what have you.

Its tranquil gardens were awe-inspiring and certainly adds to the beauty of the place.

The architecture of the colonnade itself is very remarkable. It speaks volumes of the grandeur of this place.

Walking around town, the buildings also didn’t fail to impress. Even regular houses were already quite grand.

This one even looks like a castle in a fairytale.

Not sure if this is a house or a hotel. But either way, in my eyes, the architecture is impressive.

Anyhow, I’m glad we visited this place. I hope that the next time we come back, it will be for a week of relaxation in this beautiful place.

Let’s Go to Vegas: A Guide to Sin City

Published on February 26, 2014February 26, 2014 by Grace1 Comment

This year, I am opening a new category in this blog called “Travel Picks.” In this category, I am collaborating with travel experts and fellow bloggers on their favorite places to travel.

My first contributor for this series is Kendra Thornton, a mother of 3 and an expert traveler. Before being promoted to the full time position of mom, she was the former Orbitz Director of Communications where she was able to travel a great deal. She now lives in Chicago with her family, where they are her number one priority in everyday life.

Kendra and I have come up with this article about Las Vegas, her favorite place to travel. So if the travel bug has hit you already, then let’s go to Vegas.

Over 40 million travelers head to this oasis in the Midwest for some excitement and daring entertainment. Las Vegas is an incredible vacation spot known for its casinos and celebrity shows. It’s where you can see Britney Spears perform live or catch the famous Cirque du Soleil “O” show on the strip. There’s so much to do in this town, and these are just a few of my favorite places when travelling to Sin City.

CSI Fans: Get a Closer Look
If you love the show “CSI: Las Vegas,” you can get an up close look at the television program at CSI Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. You get to experience the show and truly become apart of the crime scene experience. Visitors enter into a crime scene, collect information and help solve the case. Of course, it’s not always so obvious who the killer is.

Relax at Mandalay Bay
When traveling to Las Vegas with friends, there’s always one day when you need to just unwind and take a chill pill. Mandalay Bay’s Beach is perfect for that. There are several pools here with nearby tiki bars. You can grab a floating tube and just float for hours in pure bliss. Kids also can enjoy the wave pool, lazy river and water slides.

Pink Jeep Tours in Las Vegas

The main attraction for any Las Vegas traveler is the strip. It’s gorgeous at night, but there’s a whole other side to Las Vegas’ beauty on the outside. Pink Jeep Tours provides an adventure tour that takes you through the sights surrounding Las Vegas. You can take an air helicopter ride or hop into a Pink Jeep from your hotel and zoom across the Southern Nevada desert. Your guide will provide a totally unique experience and even take you on a day trip to the Grand Canyon.
Fine Italian at Its Best
The best Italian cuisine you’ll find in Vegas is at D.vino at the Monte Carlo in Vegas. It’s a gorgeous restaurant with a unique atmosphere that works for both romantic occasions and family groups. They have delicious food like stuffed zucchini, and you won’t find a better wine selection than at D.vino. The restaurant has an Enomatic system that has 18 exquisite selections of wine that are incredibly hard to find anywhere else. You can taste all the wine in 1oz, 2oz or 5oz pours.
Las Vegas is a wonderful place to travel with friends and even family! With its hotels catering to every type of traveler and family, it is a truly a unique oasis. Sites like Gogobot make it even easier to read user reviews so you can feel even more comfortable about your hotel purchase.

A Walk in the Woods

Published on February 19, 2014 by Grace6 Comments

The weather has been slowly getting better in our side of the world, so I took my kids out yesterday for a walk in the woods. Why the woods? Well, you might as well say that I am slowly becoming Czech. The malls are not as appealing as the woods anymore.

Anyway, here are a few pictures I was able to snap.

My little boy is growing so fast, and he really enjoys his new role of being a “big” brother. While I was busy looking for things to photograph, he took over and pushed the stroller of his baby sister.

Tired of doing it the regular way, he is experimenting with other ways on how to move it.

At this point, I took over for fear that he may accidentally flip the stroller with his sister inside. Instead, I asked him to lead the way.

He obliged and even told me: “Don’t worry, mom. I will protect you and Michaela.”

The end of the trail is the entrance to the city center through this bridge.

There was nobody during that time. It is still winter, afterall.

But we did see a fisherman on the river. He was fishing while Jakub was feeding the ducks and swans.

A new set of exercise bars were also built in a little space by the river. I think they finished it last year, but I didn’t see it because I was too lazy to walk towards this side of town when I was still pregnant with my daughter.

When the temperatures finally go up, I think I would like to use one of these bars for fitness.

But for now, I’ll just enjoy short walks with my kids.

Despite the cold, it was a very nice walk. Definitely another day well spent.

How are you coping up with winter in your side of the world?

Our Very Own Czech Christmas

Published on December 28, 2013December 28, 2013 by Grace9 Comments

Our Christmas this year was spent at home. Jakub is already old enough to understand and remember, so we decided to make it a semi-traditional one.

On Christmas morning, Jakub and my husband helped me set up the table. They made this traditional Christmas decor to adorn the table.

One of the traditions here in Czech during Christmas is the consumption of dried fruit preserves. And guess what? It can also be used as a decoration. I am not really sure about the meaning of this, but it’s supposed to symbolize the world. (Although it looks like a spaceship to me.)

In the Philippines, Christmas involves heavy meals with an abundance of food all throughout the day. Needless to say, it is one of those times when it’s ok to pig out. But here in Czech, people fast prior to dinner with the belief that one is eventually rewarded with the sighting of a golden pig. You can read more about it here.

This is the part of the Christmas tradition that I don’t like. To keep up with tradition, we only had fruits for lunch. By 3pm, Jakub got so hungry he would eat anything. It was quite funny that he kept asking me: “what’s that, Mom? Can I have it?” He would eat onion if I let him. Thus, to end our misery, we ended up having dinner around 4pm , just after sunset.

Another tradition is to eat fish, usually carp, at dinnertime. In our case, we had carp soup which my husband made. I’m not a very big fan of fish soups, but it was pretty tasty.

But our main course was salmon. I don’t like carp that much, so Salmon was a compromise. At least it’s still fish.

A very significant difference in tradition is that Czechs believe that Little Jesus brings the gifts, not Santa. But since we are a multi-cultural household, Santa is still a part of our Christmas story.

It was quite difficult to make the Santa story work since we didn’t have a fireplace. So, I made up a story that Santa got sick and told Little Jesus to bring Jakub’s gifts for him. Jakub bought it. After all, he is only 3. Still very young and impressionable. He had a grand time opening his gifts from Little Jesus and Santa.

Even my little daughter was very cooperative. She allowed all of us to have a decent family dinner and was just watching us from her rocker. She just recently started to smile which really charms me and made me forget all the hardships we’ve been through.

and here’s another priceless moment…

Everything went very well and it left all of us happy and satisfied.

I hope yours was great as well. Best wishes for the coming year!

The First 6 Weeks

Published on December 11, 2013 by Grace8 Comments

My daughter is now 7 weeks. Although I can’t completely say that things are completely ok, it is definitely better than the first 6 weeks. I had experienced several motherhood challenges – from recovering from a caesarean operation, to breastfeeding, to taking care of an infant and a three year old. Suffice it to say that I have been through difficult times. It is difficult to be a parent to say the least.

Anyhow, I am glad that my daughter is growing and developing. Although I love her very much, she is not a very easy child to take care of….or probably I’m too old for this. She is truly draining all my energy and it seems like all of my time is spent on her.

This is her at two weeks. It is one of those rare pictures (at this stage) where she actually had her eyes wide open. She still loves to sleep.

Luckily, my supportive in-laws were with us through it all. They helped take care and maintain our household and my hyperactive toddler.

So what has been happening lately?

Last week, we had an unusual visitor. Mikuláš (St. Nicholas) visited us in our home.

Here in Czech Republic, Mikuláš day celebration is a tradition. It signals the start of the Christmas season.

This year, a friend from the neighborhood organized a dramatization of Mikuláš’ visit for the neighborhood kids.

We were lucky that grandma and grandpa were still with us, so they celebrated the occasion with us. My son was so happy because he received gifts from Mikuláš .

As Christmas is fast approaching, we have a lot of preparations to make. This year, we will not be able to celebrate it with the rest of my husband’s family since my daughter is still too young to travel and be around too many people. However, I am happy and excited to celebrate it with my family — just us. The team is now complete. My daughter is the best gift this Christmas.

Halloween

Published on November 5, 2013 by Grace9 Comments

Celebrating halloween is not customary here in Czech. This year we decided to carve out a pumpkin in keeping up with the celebration.

The weather was wonderful on halloween day. Since times like these are quite rare this season, my family and I decided to take Michaela out for a walk in our neighborhood.

Afterwhich, my husband and son decided to carve a pumpkin they got from friends in our neighborhood.

Jakub was goofing around while I was trying to capture his dad in action.

The pumpkin that they carved turned out well. It was my husband’s first carved pumpkin. I thought he did a good job.

Jakub had to take a posterity pose beside the finished product.

There was no trick or treat, but we still displayed the pumpkin outside. We then capped off the day with a nice dinner and some quiet time with the family.

Beautiful Autumn Colors

Published on October 21, 2013October 18, 2013 by Grace7 Comments

Last weekend, we took a short walk in the woods close to our neigborhood. I couldn’t help but admire all the beautiful colors from the trees. Here I am sharing these photos with you.

Right outside, this is what you will see as you enter the forest.

I let my boys lead the way. I’m very camera shy at the moment.

As you can see, we were not the only ones in the path. Several others were also there. Did I mention that a walk in the woods is a favorite Czech past time?

We found a mushroom. But unluckily, I was told that it is one of the poisonous kinds.

We also found a feet less lizard. This is something new to me. I thought it was a small snake.

And finally, here’s a closeup photo of the leaves.

Don’t you just love the colors of fall?

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