A few weekends ago we didn't have plans, so we decided to check out Karlovy Vary, a town in the Czech Republic just a few hours from where we live. On the way we stopped at a sketchy market filled with fake purses, electronics, and Asian restaurants. We were driving right by anyway, and I wanted to give Hyrum the experience. (I've been before.)
Eventually we made it to our final destination. It's always a bit stressful to find parking in a new city, but I looked up a few in advance and we pulled into a parking lot that we hoped was legit. Most parking situations in Europe have you paying when you exit the lot, so we planned to wander around and find an ATM, or even just pay with credit card. But instead, this parking had to be paid in advance at a machine, and it only accepted koruna (the local currency.)
I left Hyrum at the car with a cold, miserable baby, and headed out to find some koruna. There weren't any ATM's nearby, so I tried to find a store that would accept my euro for a purchase, and give me change in koruna. I only had a rough idea of the exchange rate, and I wasn't in a good place to be doing mental math. But eventually I found a hold-in-the-wall snack store that would accept euro, and grabbed the cheapest thing I could find (a juice pouch). When I took my pocket full of change back to the parking lot, it turns out it wasn't even enough for 2 hrs of parking. But we gave the machine what we had and headed out for an hour.
The first order of business was food. Tripadvisor suggested a restaurant that was just around the corner (thank goodness!) so we hurried over there and tried to squeeze in a quick meal. (Chicken cordon bleu and pork with plum sauce). It was delicious! I wish we didn't have to eat quite so fast, though. We paid the bill and pretty much ran back to the car before our time was up. (For some reason, Tiago was having a lot of fun taking off his socks and shoes. Didn't he get the memo that it was freezing outside?!)
I sent Hyrum back to the same store to get more change, and eventually we had plenty of koruna to do some legitimate sight-seeing without worrying that we'd get towed or ticketed. (Plus, we had plenty of juice boxes to entertain Tiago; they came in handy a few hours later when he was sick of the stroller.)
So Karlovy Vary is a spa town, famous for its natural hot springs. People go there to be healed, and there are a ton of medical facilities where people go for long-term treatments. It's filled with bright colored buildings along the river and other charming buildings.
Here you can see one of the many fountains around town. People carry around cups and just fill up when they get a chance. I was wishing I had a cup and packet of hot chocolate. If I ever go back in the winter, I'm going to be more prepared. (Because plain sulfur-tasting water wasn't appealing on its own, regardless of the temperature.)
Below, you can see one of the many stands where they sell cups to tourists. They have built-in straws.
This was another big structure (I think just called the Colonnade) that housed several natural springs.
By the time we saw the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, I wasn't a fan of having my picture taken.
Here we are, putting that juice to good use. I don't know if Tiago was more upset about the weather, or being stuck in his carseat/stroller for hours on end, but he was not thrilled.
And the last part of our adventure left me not thrilled, too. I saw on a map that we could go by the Orthodox Church of St. Peter and Paul on the way back to the car. It looked like it was on the way, and several people on the internet recommended it as a top sight to see in Karlovy Vary. So far, so good.
Until we started walking... and the road just kept going up and up and up. Two hours of walking pretty much does me in, since I feel like I'm about 40 weeks pregnant. We were in a part of town that wasn't scenic, and it felt like the middle of nowhere. There was nothing around to look at to distract me from my exhaustion, so I probably just complained the whole walk. I'm always glad to have Hyrum around to push the stroller!
Finally we reached the church... it was nothing spectacular, and in fact was quite small. I kept thinking I really just walked uphill 30 minutes for this?! We both poked our heads inside, just to say we saw it, then we headed back down the giant hill to our car. I don't know if the lesson learned is to start using topographical maps, or not to sight-see when pregnant, or to just do better research. But overall, it was an enjoyable day and we are glad that most countries in Europe use the euro.
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