Weekend Retreat to Luha

It's Sunday night and we're sitting in the Chinese restaurant on the second floor of our hotel being served beer by the owner's teenage daughter. It's been a lovely weekend, cool, with a change of pace from the events of last week. Today was another lovely day in the spa town of Luhakovice. We hung out, had a session with all of the conductors on score study, and had dinner at the Hotel Vltava. Kaia spent her day exploring the town, visiting the various mineral springs in the town, and sampling the water - I'll let her tell you about that. We were also treated to the second of two concerts presented by members of the Martinu Philharmonic, featuring the music of Brahms. Tomorrow we get back to work with a full day of conducting and orchestra.



From Kaia:
I bought a cup for 2 Kc from the most famous spring in Luhacovice, which has a collonade built around it, and made my rounds in the town. I drank from four different springs, so I should be a whole new woman by tomorrow, right? I didn't have time for the sulphur baths or a mineral baths during this visit, but maybe next time. It's been raining for the last two days (and I am NOT complaining since the temperature is low), and of course our umbrellas are buried somewhere in a box in our apartment in Champaign, so today I also made it a mission to find an umbrella. The tourist shops were charging a lot for umbrellas, and I refused to pay the equivalent of $15. On my way to St. Josef spring I found an open air market and conducted an entire exchange (including complete sentences, questions and answers) in Czech! AND the umbrella was only 50 Kc ($2.50). The sweet man who sold me this umbrella opened it for me and held it over my head as I paid for it. As with so many experiences in and around Zlin, the mundane is extra exciting in Czech. There's one photo of me with a leopard-print umbrella in the background. That's my best souvenir so far.