New York City has its Central park, London its Hyde Gardens- and in my adopted home city of Prague there is a bounty of green for the nature loving city dweller. One of these is Prokopské Udalí.
The week had been long. My boyfriend and I had both been sick. Cabin fever had set in. We decided we needed out of the flat for fresh air, new sites. My boyfriend drove us out to the suburbs of Prague and parked in the midst of several large blocks of flats. This was not what I'd had in mind. But across the highway, and down a small hill there was a big surprise for me. We walked into a small valley with beautiful rock structures jutting up around us and a brook flowing quietly next to us.
As we walked down the path a building cut into the trees and stood out. It's big official windows would indicate some type of offices but the goats in the front yard made me wonder if it was an over ambitious farmhouse.
Further down the path we found ourselves at a small wooden building. A fire was roaring in a wood stove nearby and several picnic tables were scattered about. The owner was smoking his own sausages and selling them to passer-bys. Homemade smoked sausage was too good to pass up. As we waited for the owner to prepare ours with the traditions Czech bread and mustard on the side we sat and warmed ourselves by the fire.
An older man sat in the corner, nursing a beer. From his look and random comments it seemed he'd nursed quite a few beers throughout the day. He commented on the cat that seemed to entertain itself by tormenting him. And asked questions to no one, expecting no one to answer.
After the sausage we walked back to "civilization", which was actually just over the hill. But if I had been blindfolded and dropped off in the middle of Prokopské Udalí then I would have sworn I was in a mountain village hundreds of kilometers from bustling Prague.
