Czech it out: Prague wonderland

my friends and I in Prague

Bonjour à tous! (Or should I say Dobry den, which means hello in Czech?)

I just came back to Paris from a four-day trip to Prague, Czech Republic, and I'm already missing that beautiful city like crazy. Seriously, I didn't expect half as much when I got off the train, yet Prague got me head over heels smitten. If it were a person I'd marry it tomorrow.

autumn leaves

First of all, look at this GORGEOUS weather. The temperature is perfectly chilly, the leaves are turning golden, and the air is crisp. It just makes you want to layer up in cute sweaters, scarves, and sip chai latte. It also makes finding cafes and restaurants that much more exciting, because - warmth! Entering an interior always makes you feel cozy.

view of Prague from Charles Bridge tower

Now let's talk about this gem of a city. What I love about it is its historic feel. Most of the ancient buildings are pretty well-preserved, and form a very uniform outlook. Red roofs, mellow yellow facades, and Baroque decor abound throughout the narrow, winding alleyways. On the city square, there are little wooden huts with vendors of traditional local foods, performances of Medieval music, violin, and sometimes keyboard. From tourists to guides to the vendors, everyone seems to have a smile on their face, because joy is contagious! It is hard not to smile when there is just so much beauty around you.

view of Prague street from Charles Bridge tower

view of Prague from Charles Bridge tower

Another reason why I loved Prague is because of my host, also my high school good friend, Stan. During my stay, I lived with his family, and I've never met a kinder, more accommodating family! He has a very cute dog named Lavender, who likes to kiss me in the morning. His parents say "thank you" in so many occasions where I felt like I was the one who should say the words. We also had a night wine tasting with Czech potato snacks and lots of good talking about Europe, America, and China. Being with the family suddenly made me miss my own home, because they were so kind to me they remind me a lot of my own parents.

cathedral in Prague

Because I was with a local family, most of the time I felt more like a local than a tourist. Sure we did some tourist musts - the old city square, tastings of the traditional food, the cathedrals and the royal palace... But we spent more time just strolling through the streets looking for a cozy cafe to have some hot cinnamon apple cider, or a cave restaurant with mountains of candles and a menu full of Medieval vocab. One afternoon we just walked along the old city walls, until we found ourselves in a beautiful park overlooking the old town part of Prague. We chanced upon a mirror maze and took a lot of crazy selfies there. And we talked and talked and talked. This might sound very obvious, but it is just so good to see friends, especially those that you haven't seen in years!

There is a saying about friends that I really like, and I think I will end this post with it: "Friends are like stars: you don't always see them, but you know they are always there."

xx

Vanessa :]

Made in China, made in Nature

Emilie and me in front of a vineyard

Bonjour à tous!

The past weekend I was away from basically all modern technology - no WiFi, very poor phone reception, no TV, no laptop, and sometimes even no electricity! You ask why? Oh yes, because I went to the countryside to a vacation house with my host family and another French family. There, I had the most relaxing weekend I have ever had in a looooong time. Being away from technology was in fact liberating! I focused more on my surroundings and on the conversations that were going on around me instead of checking my Instagram feed three times a minute or something. (Yes, I do that from time to time, don't judge!)

Ardeche

vacation house

As you can see from the pictures, there is not much in the countryside. Our vacation house was two hours' car ride away from Arles. As we drove away from Arles, more sky came into view, and gigantic mountains and miles and miles of grapevines... It was quite a sight. Just... so refreshing. Such a change of view from the urban sphere I am used to.

Our vacation house is a traditional masonry style house that was passed down from the great-grandparent generation! It might have even existed even earlier than that, unfortunately I forgot to ask my host parents. Adorning the houses were bushes of naturally grown flowers, in full bloom at this time, making the old stone house come to life in this ripe summertime.

flowers by the house

candlelight lunch when the electricity went out

Because there was no TV or other things to busy oneself, we all just played sports, walked around, tasted wine, made fires, watched stars, swam in the river under a waterfall, and picked berries! It was quite the rustic life, as Emilie (the daughter of the other family who was also at the vacation house) put it, but I absolutely LOVED every bit of it! 

a very bad picture to give you an idea of the amount of stars

Every day in the countryside, something fascinated me: the dormice that live between our roof and ceiling who party hard every night and make lots of funny noise, the complete darkness in my bedroom even with no curtains (seriously, I couldn't even see my own hands), the wild berries that turned out to be not only safe to eat but perfectly delicious, the star-sprinkled night sky, and how bright the night really is even with no artificial light at all... It is in fact impossible to sum up my weekend experience in such few words, but I hope these little examples can give you a sense of the abundance of things to marvel at!

To finish, some beautiful pictures of handmade sausages and hand-picked peaches directly from the field (pourquoi pas).

sausages 

peaches

I hope you all feasted your eyes well!

xx

Vanessa :]