Northern Bohemia

Bohemia is a place. A lot of people know this. But not everyone, I don't think. Maybe that's because of the hit Broadway musical Rent (which just closed, RIP). In the hit Broadway musical Rent, they often refer to Bohemia as an ideology. A haven for artists and lovers and other people with abnormal lifestyles. Those young artists and lovers and other people with abnormal lifestyles are Bohemians. Bohemians are chic.

According to the dictionary widget on my trusty MacBook Pro, the definition of a "bohemian" (the one that means "one who has informal and unconventional social habits") comes from the French word for "gypsy," since gypsies were thought to come from Bohemia. Or something. I didn't research this too thoroughly. I don't know these things for a fact.

Either way, Bohemia is a region of the Czech Republic. I know this for a fact. I know this because I was there over the weekend. We took a day trip. It is a really boring, really pretty place. Maybe those two things are incongruous. I wasn't bored there. But if I was there for longer than how long I was there for, it would have been boring. A day is the perfect amount of time to spend in Northern Bohemia.

There are caves there. The Bozkovské Dolomite Caves. I am not going to post a lot of pictures of the caves in this post, because we went caving in Budapest, and I think it's important for you to see the comparison. So instead, I will devote a post to comparing the two caving experiences. It will make you smile, I promise. Cave pictures are always funny.

The Bozkovské Dolomite Caves were really pretty, but super touristy. Lots of stairs and railings and lights and lighting effects. The best part, though, was the tour guide. He was a little, old man who didn't speak English, so he carried a tape player from which an Australian woman's voice told us everything we needed to know. He had certain parts memorized though. I know this because he'd point with his flashlight on places that the Australian woman was describing RIGHT when she was describing them. Sometimes, he would punctuate something she would say. She would say "This cave is called 'The Surprise Cave.'" Then the little, old man would say "Surprise." He made everyone smile.


This is what he looked like:



Doesn't he look little and old and great? This picture may be better:





Those are all the cave pictures you get.

What's that?

Oh, okay. Here you go. Here's just a few:







Phew, enough of that. We're done with caves for now.



After caves, we went on a four-hour hike through the woods and mountains of the area. It was pretty spectacular. Words don't really justice. Hell, these pictures don't even do it justice. But here are a bunch, anyway. Enjoy.

That's Amanda and Becky. They are good people who are in the Microcosm.

Are the leaves changing in the states, yet? Cause they are here. The weather is weird.






This is Lenka, my R.A. She is awesome. She taught us how to say a dirty phrase in Czech ( "Dito prdele!"), which is sort of the equivalent of "Kiss my ass." Then she got embarrassed cause we were saying it a bit too loudly on the ride home.






What is Dave looking at?






Oh. Awesome mountains!

There was a bunch of original art carved into the rocks in this area. Poetry, too.






They looked like this.






This looks like the entrance to Pan's Labyrinth. I wouldn't be surprised.






Lenka took this photo. It describes our relationship pretty well, I think.





Lenka took this one, as well. Some guys from the Microcosm. As you can see, my beard is growing in quite well. I recently trimmed it, so now it looks a little bit more like I grew it on purpose, rather than grew it because I lacked any means with which to shave.

That's all for now. Be well!