Víkend in Písek

I can't believe it's Thursday and I still haven't made a post gushing about my incredible weekend. So pull on your rain ponchos, kids-- it's gushing time!

Our FS program took a weekend trip to Písek, a relatively quiet, less-urban town a couple hours out of Prague. We took a small bus there early Friday morning.

What's in Písek, you ask? Well, we were asking ourselves the same thing upon our arrival. Písek is a very calm, quiet and peaceful place. I suppose after a month of living in the erratic heartbeat of Prague which is Nové Město, we were all homesick for the hustle and bustle of urban chaos.

Gotta love this view from our apartment.

But once we (or I) adjusted to the tempo of Písek, I can't imagine a better way to have spent my weekend.

We were there primarily for the International Student Film Fesstival. Short films were screened inside this massive theatre in blocks of about an hour and a half. I'd say the highlight of the festival was the diversity. There were submissions from the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Jerusalem-- the list goes on. Naturally, subtitles and little translator headphones were imperative to the experience. And the films themselves were all very different as well... they ranged in length from 7 minutes to a half hour, and covered all sorts of genres. War dramas, Sci Fi, avante garde, stop motion, computer animation... there was even a (ridiculous) documentary about Facebook trying to manipulate mankind into bending to the will of Mark Zuckerberg.

A regular Napoleon Bonaparte right here.

Although I must say, at least in my opinion, the film festival was secondary to the mere experience of being in another Czech town. In the evenings we went to music concerts hosted by the film festival, so all/most of the performers were local student bands. Never in my years did I think I would be bopping around to Czech ska-reggae music. But I did, and it was great.

I also spent one rainy afternoon just walking around the town. It has a very simple beauty and charm to it. For instance, I walked around on this little island/park that had a teeny (and seemingly vacant) miniature golf course on it. Later on as I was walking along the river I spied a little wooden boat docked along the bank, so I sat in it for a little while and... enjoyed sitting in a little wooden boat docked along the bank.

Why, hello!

Boat = successfully commandeered.

Also sat along the edge of the river... wheeeeee

View from the oldest bridge in Prague, whatevs.

Mini-golf, anyone?

I also found a strange little courtyard that had several inconspicuous tunnels and old stone stairways running through it. Needless to say, I kind of felt like a princess frollicking around her castle. I'm always up for a good frollick.

Speaking of which, that's more or less what we spent all of Sunday doing. The program planned a "three to four hour" hike in the mountains a little ways out of the town. We drove up to the mountains and hiked at a fairly consistent upward incline to reach a really cool, extremely ancient castle. It was FREEZING. But as a bum from California who doesn't see snow more than perhaps once or twice a year, I geeked out when I saw this:

First snow sighting! Shhh... don't scare it off.

Despite the cold, it was an epic hike that took... considerably longer than "three to four hours." Probably closer to six or seven. But we picked mushrooms... which we got to eat later! Why doesn't this exist in America??

...

I am just now receiving word that mushroom hunting DOES exist in America. Then why the heck haven't I done it until now?!

Ivana, our resident mushroom expert, taught us about all the different types of mushrooms: which ones are bitter, which ones are good, which ones will make you die a slow, painful death, et cetera. In a very "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" fashion, the edible mushrooms are brown and boring looking, while the poisonous ones are ostentatious. Consequentially, I only have photos of poisonous mushrooms because they looked the coolest.

Super Mario status.

Although, Ivana found the PERFECT mushroom... it's one of the tastiest but also one of the most difficult to find. And we got a pretty big one. SWEET.

1up!

So... after several hours of hiking and mushroom hunting we finally reached this awesome castle and got a private tour.

Close...

Closer...

Almost there...

Aaaaand sieged!

After that we walked to a very small rural town about twenty minutes away, and ate dessert palačinky (pancakes) with hot chocolate, which tasted like a melted candy bar. A perfect end to the day, and to our whirlwind weekend.