First Hedgehog of the Year!

 I've been here since the end of July, and last week I finally saw my first hedgehog!  It was the middle of the day.  I was on the bike path by the river.  I heard a noise and there he was, just off the path, nosing around energetically in the fallen leaves and grasses.  I watched him for a long time, taking a bunch of photos.  He wasn't afraid of me.  I even touched him very gently and he didn't seem to mind one bit.  A few people came by and I'd point him out.  Some were like, "Nice," and watched for 10 seconds before continuing on.  Others were like, "I have hedgehogs in my garden" and didn't even slow down.  But I probably watched for 15 minutes.  

A very happy day.

When I told my students about it, most of them laughed at my enthusiasm and talked about how hedgehogs had fleas or how you see the pests everywhere.  One claimed that a hedgehog had attacked her chicken!

But I still think they're adorable.    

Czech mushroom schnitzel

If you read my last post, you know that on my short hike yesterday, my friends and I found four entire edible mushrooms (I've been on hunts where we find hundreds, so this is laughable for many Czechs, but I was still happy)

These are "bedla" mushrooms, and normally you'd harvest them when they were bigger, but I'd had such little mushroom-hunting success that we picked them.  My Czech friends confirmed their edible-ness, and advised me to make řízek (snitzel).  Snitzel is something breaded and fried, generally pork or chicken here, but it's also common to do it with bedla mushrooms.

My friend gave me this recipe:  mix an egg with a little milk, salt and pepper.  Dip the mushroom caps in the egg then in bread crumbs.  Then fry it.

I found a recipe online that recommended three steps of breading:  First, flour with a little carraway (kmín).  Second, egg beaten with salt and pepper.  Third, bread crumbs.  I opted for this version because, while I was pretending to be Czech, I might as well add kmín, the most Czech of all spices.  

DELICIOUS! (though I'd use less oil next time)

This is a before and after:

    

Lukov Castle, Czech Republic

Yesterday some friends took me to Lukov Castle in the Czech Republic.  Not so long ago it lay in ruins.  History lovers restored it enough that now it's just half ruined.  Very cool.  Perhaps my favorite type of castle.

There are a few small exhibitions, and otherwise you can just wander around the grounds and take in the views:

Here I am at the top:

And my friends at some fun nearby rocks that you can climb around on:

The leaves were changing colors (not as beautiful in the pictures as in real life, of course):

And we found four edible mushrooms (not an impressive haul by Czech standards, but still cool):

A review of my story, "The Lighthouse Keeper," in Reactor Magazine

I just stumbled on a review of "Must Read" short stories from November last year.  And my story's there on the list!  

Read it here:  https://reactormag.com/must-read-short-speculative-fiction-november-2024/

Trains USA vs Europe

One reason I love Europe: Compare these train station departure boards.

This is from Flagstaff Arizona, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Arizona, population about 78,000.

Yes, you read that right. There is one per day eastbound, leaving conveniently at 5:37 am. There is one per day westbound, also at a super-convenient time. Want to go north or south? Too bad.

Flagstaff is, sadly, the city with the best train connections in all of Arizona. Tucson has three per WEEK eastbound and westbound. The Phoenix metro area (capital and principle city, population about 5 million) doesn't have any train connections. Not any (unless you count having someone drive you into the middle-of-nowhere train station at Maricopa in the middle of the night three times per week--about a 50-minute drive from where I lived).

Compare that to Dresden's second-biggest train station's departure board:

Yes, each of those tiny lines in each of those six columns is a train. Some don't run every day (only weekdays, for example, or only weekends), but most are every day. Okay, that's totally not a fair comparison, I hear you say. After all, Europe's way better set up for trains than places like Arizona, and Dresden's population is about 565,000.

Okay, so look at Bystřička's departure board.

Bystřička is a small village in the Czech Republic (population about 1000) where the fast trains don't even stop. And it's like a 15-minute bus ride (and yes, the buses are frequent) to either Vsetin or ValMez, where there are more train connections. And it STILL has about 25 times more connections than Flagstaff.

I love Europe.

Waterfalls in the Jeseniky Mountains, Czech Republic

 In August, I stayed a few nights in Kouty nad Desnou, in the Jeseniky Mountains.  It was a little ski resort area, but in summer it's a hiking and biking paradise.  My first afternoon there, I thought I'd just take a little hike to a waterfall I found on the map--not even one of the two recommended on the tourist brochures and signs.  And this is what I found:

Then, the next day I hiked to Borový vodopad on the way to Praděd, Moravia's  highest mountain.  

The pictures really don't do these cascades justice, but here's an attempt:

A few more pics from the hike, including some of the local traditional woodcarving:

Cool bit of trail:

Very fun day.  It turned into about a 16-mile hike (25.7 km) with about 3400 feet total gain (1041 m).  Of course, that includes a long-cut when I got a little lost.  However, I took a longer route to Praděd than you have to (Kouty nad Desnou to Borový Vodopad, then up Divoký Důl, then the red and green trails back down to Kouty).  I think, overall, if your goal is Praděd, I would recommend my route from last time years ago:  take a bus to Červenohorské sedlo and then walk the red trail to Praděd (9.3 km / 5.8 miles).  It has some beautiful ridge sections with great views (and not as much elevation gain as my route).  When you're done, you can retrace your route or walk 3.6 km (2.2 miles) down to Ovčárna and catch a bus back to wherever you're staying (though plan ahead--depending on the time and where you're going, that might take almost as long as hiking back)

Misty Hike in the Czech Republic

Above the clouds:

Then, descending INTO those clouds:

It all felt so mystical and adventurous.  And so very, very beautiful.

I love Czech nature.