Located Smack in the Center of Europe

I know a lot of people back home think of the Czech Republic as Eastern Europe and then associate it with all of the stereotypes that entails. If you check it out on a map you see that the Republic is actually smack dab in the center of this continent. I am not sure why they highlighted it in yellow and red but it helps give you an idea of the geographic location.

Czech Crowns. 18 Crowns = 1 USD

A couple of interesting cars I don't think you would find in the states.

European candy bars. I wonder how to pronounce the 'Vlnky' bar...

A Saturday Night in Prague

Old Town Prague Center. It really felt like we were the only people

there. It was empty! So cool.

A few weeks ago Yemi had a game in Pardubice, a town about 45 minutes from Prague. I went with him to the game and then after a Prostejov victory we hopped a train to Prague for the night.

A man selling snacks and wine walked up and down the train carts. We bought some cervene vino and started a fabulous night!

We stayed at the Best Western in the center. Our hotel room had a piano in it! Yemi played and I sang along. We had some laughs and fun with that before we hit the town/were told to shut up. I'll tell you one thing; having such a talented man in your life certainly has it's perks!

The next day we did some sightseeing and shopping before heading home. So as always I had to share some of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

I love this! I wonder when it was painted....

Our hotel lobby. There is something so fun about a small hotel stay. I would recommend this hotel to anyone. It was a bargain too!

This doorway really caught my eye. When I look back over my pictures I really wonder if I were born and raised here would I be so taken in by

all of the architecture. It also makes me wonder what I overlook in my own home town.

European Spa Experience

One thing I know I will miss about Europe is the way they do spas. My first experience with a Spa was in Bremen, Germany a few years ago. I was a little too shy to get everything I could out of it because most of the spa experience out here is co-ed and done in the nude.

Now a days I go to Omega Fitness Club in Olomouc. They have an amazing Sauna center with a cold pool, whirlpool, swimming pool, steam room including three separate areas of relaxation for use after your sauna session. There is a women's area and a co-ed area. After being here a number of times my American modesty has gone out the door and I enjoy both areas in the buff like everyone else! When in Rome...

There is a cafe area you can see in the first picture where they serve cold beer, which is considered to be good for you after a 'relax' session. At the gym in Bremen the saunas were little cottages outside in a landscaped garden.

Here in Olomouc it is primarily indoors. I love it and have been taking full advantage since I got a membership. I feel regular use helps relieve any stress and tightness in the body.

I included some pictures so you could get a visual of the type of regeneration/relax zones they have here.

Aquaparks are also a large attraction for people in the Republic. Most larger cities have some form of aquapark, the bigger the city the bigger the park. These provide year round saunas and other forms of water/heat/steam therapies. You can pay a day rate or an hourly rate. Everyone that I have visited has been state of the art. Costs range from 40 Czech Krowns - 300 Czech Krowns.

Spilberk Castle Brno Czech Republic

People around the world know Czech Republic for it's castles and fortresses. There are so many close to where Yemi and I live that we had to show them off when Yawah came.

Spilberk castle is interesting because it's in the center of Brno (Czech's second largest city) but isn't visible when driving to find it because it is on the top of wooded hill. We had driving directions but probably circled the castle 2-3 times before we realized we were there.

We left the car at the base of the hill and then it's about a 7 minute walk to the top. Along the way there are great scenic views of Brno.

Spilberk holds a lot of historical significance for this city. The first records of it's existence go back to the 13th century. And before it became a museum and national monument it was used as barracks by the Germans in WWII.

We took a tour of the casemates/prison which has been preserved to show the conditions for prisoners in the 16th and 17th centuries. The tour creeped us out a little bit; it's self guided so we wandered around the prison tunnels just the three of us; until we saw some bats. That ended our tour pretty abruptly. The most interesting fact for me was that prisoners were only given warm meals 2 days a week. The other five they lived on cold bread alone. Makes the three squares they get in American jails seem like a luxury.

They have a great detailed history of this castle and Brno city at www.spilberk.cz

The admission for the museum and the casemates is very affordable about $8 per person or 140 Korona.

Bouzov Castle

Bouzov Castle is about a 45 minute drive from our house. They were having a special Christmas opening and tour this year; normally they are closed for the winter months.

Although it's 45 minutes away, it wasn't that easy to find; we got turned around a little bit but eventually we found it. We took a tour and had some hot wine. Definitely worth the drive.

The castle was first built in the 14th century but it's appearance has changed a lot according to wikipedia. It's been renovated atleast a half dozen times; it's most recent occupation was by the Nazis in the late 1930s.

Our Christmas Day; fashionably late of course

We received the best Christmas present this year...Yawah! Shoot me if it sounds corny but spend 3 months away from friends and family and you will know that statement is true!

She flew in to Vienna on Dec. 25th. Yemi and I drove down to pick her up. It's about a 2 or 2 and a half hour drive from Prostejov, depending on who's driving ;).

She came out of the terminal smiling as always and was ready to do a little site seeing since we were there. That's pretty impressive to me coming off of 13 hours of flying!

In the train station; first thing first...Where the heck are we??

Venice has Gondola's; Vienna has Carriages

Impressive to know that churches from the 17th century can be equipped w/ Flatscreens.

It was bitter, bone cold out though. The wind in Austria is ridiculous, so this limited our out door site seeing this time around.

But we did hit up the usual suspects: Stephansdom, Stephansplatz, Centre and their exclusive McDonalds! We were hoping that the Christmas market would still be up but they celebrate Christmas on the 24th. We were just a day late and they had already taken it all down.

I thought it was interesting they have a memorial to J.F. Kennedy in Stephansplatz. It was a proud to be an American moment!

It's been awhile Mrs. Bola:)

The Prostejov Eagles gave Yemi some good time off for the holidays, we were grateful for this time and took FULL advantage. Two-a-day practices, 6-7 day work weeks, and unpredictable schedules begin to take a toll on anyone so I wanted to help him get far away from all the pressures/demands of professional basketball this break.

We began the vacation with a trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. Yemi and I have really grown to love this city and we joke about it being an ideal city to own a flat in.

They have a new shopping/restaurant area called Galleria Eurovia.

This place is amazing; restaurants and cafes right on the Danube river. Our friend Solei, another professional athlete on the women's Volleyball team here in Prostejov, invited us to a Brazilian style restaurant called Leblon on this river front centre.

Leblon equates to Rodizio Grill in Denver and it quickly became Yemi's new favorite European restaurant. We had a great dinner with great company and then we met Elena and Nesa, friends from last season a couple of blocks down the water front.

It's always a pleasure to catch up with friends from past seasons. The best parts of traveling are connecting with people from different cultures.

From Leblon we headed 15 minutes outside of Bratislava to Pezinok, the site of our European adventure last year. Saw some old friends and drank some great wine. Reminiscing on our first joint venture this side of the pond had us laughing all night.

When we got back to Prostejov our minds were totally focused and excited on Yawah's arrival!

Go Eagles! Links to Yemi's team and games.

I wanted to post the different links you can use to follow Yemi's games.

You can watch live games on tvcom.cz. They also have archived games on this site so you can watch whenever you need a basketball fix.

You can follow the teams rankings in the EuroChallenge including stats and who plays who next here.

The team has they're own website at bkprostejov.cz. This site is in Czech but you can translate it w/ google translator.

Tomorrow they have a big game against Bonn, Germany. It's a home game and the boys are looking good. They beat them on the road last time and this time we have the advantage so it's looking good.

Hand Made Moravian

Today at the Christmas Market I found this vase and I have to share it with you because I love it!

It is hand made and hand painted in a town outside of Olomouc by Keramika Sekereš.

We also bought from them a carafe, tray, and cup set. This will make a nice addition to our travel collections:)

Olomouc Christmas Market

Hot spiked punch, it's that time of year again!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Christmas markets are on my top ten favorite things about Europe.

These begin popping up in almost every medium to large town square in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia about four weeks out from Christmas day.

I blogged about the goods and fun to be had at the Vienna and Bratislava Christmas markets here last December. People say Vienna has the best and largest. It may be the largest but I find that every one I visit has it's own unique fare and flare which makes it equally as exciting as any other.

Here in Czech instead of gluhwein, they sell a hot spiked punch with fruit and almonds spooned in before servered. You can get medovina; the hot honey wine but it's not as common as in Slovakia. The punch is delicious so last night I took the opportunity to do as the locals and have a couple glasses with my friend Martina in Prostejov square! Such a great past time.

On Sunday Yemi and I went to Olomouc to check out their shops and food. I got some good pictures of what they offer, enjoy!

Mailbox for Letters to Santa Claus

We were so bundled up, I'm wearing leggings, jeans two pairs of socks

and three layers up top. Yemi has two pairs of sweatpants and we were

still freezing after about twenty minutes of walking around.

We ran into Yemi's assistant coach and he was eating this interesting plate of food

He explained it as a traditional Czech meal of 'blood sausage' but couldn't describe

it much beyond that. Yemi and I tried it, it has an interesting taste

but it's not for us....

So instead we had this plate of Klobasa with spicy mustard

and dilled vegetables it was good but difficult to eat outside when

it's less than 15 degrees. Our fingers and toes were freezing!

Look at the animals. So cute! Theres a llama, a sheep, a baby sheep, and a goat I think

all though I'm not officially sure about the distinction between goat/sheep.

Murals of St. Nicholas and the Devil

A little game where you catapult a beanie to try and knock

down the devil.

They have tons of stands selling varieties of pork meat. The freezing temps mean no refrigeration needed!

On the left in this picture is an ice rink they have set up.

Looks fun and reminds me of Rochester, MN when our dad

used to take us ice skating all the time!

I would try to coax Yemi out there but my luck he'd get hurt

and the whole team would be mad at me!

We enjoyed an awesome afternoon there but Yemi had to get to Prostejov for practice so no hot punch this round. We'll be back though!