Sunrise, Sunset

Well, really just sunset. I am not up early enough to catch the sunrise. Although I am in training to become a morning person. Or at least to get up earlier. And I have dropped one hour off my latest rising time already! (It helps that the children go to bed super early. So then I go to bed early, too, and getting up at 6 or 7 is not so awful.)

But the point is...here are some sunset images snapped from my window.

Pretty, huh? The pink was even brighter and the purple deeper in person.

And here is the hydrangea bush I mentioned earlier. I am such a creep. Taking pictures of people's gardens. I should be ashamed of myself. Yet I keep doing it...

This is for those UNC people out there.

This morning I went for a long walk with my eventual destination being a cafe in town. I saw an "illy" sign outside of an otherwise normal storefront when I was strolling with the baby the other day. I like illy. It is an Italian brand of coffee and cafes that advertise it usually make very good Italian style espresso and cappuccino.

The cafe was an odd cross between a modern coffee bar and a sketchy bar bar. Sleek leather chairs and tables in the front and slot machines in the back. I am not sure I will go back. The coffee was good, but not great. I prefer the more cheerful cukrana even though the coffee is not as tasty.

On a very positive note, my comfort zone is slowly expanding to include the village. I try to go for at least one walk a day so I can familiarize myself with different areas and routes. I have gone into two or three different grocery stores and two cafes. Next on the agenda is the pancake shop.

Sometimes when I am walking in the village I can imagine a tour bus driving in with people peering through the tinted windows to see what life in a small Czech village is really like. Maybe they stop at a "traditional Czech pub" for a "traditional Czech meal" and the "traditional Czech experience." But the buses don't come to my village. Too small even for that.

Funny story: The town's nickname is Bubakov, which basically translates to Ghost Town. Jan explained that the town has this nickname because a bunch of farmers were massacred here and haunt the village. "Oh my!" I said, "When was this?" He answered, "Oh, the 13th or 14th century."

And that's when you know you're in Europe.