Prague Journal

Friday, January 28, 2005.

This morning we got up fairly early and had a nice breakfast before heading to the ski hill. We were at the bus at 9:05 a.m., but the bus was late so we did not start skiing until nearly 10:00 a.m. Fortunately, we beat the afternoon crowd, so the lift lines were not quite as long as the day before. We had ideal skiing conditions – almost no wind. The view from the top of the mountain was again spectacular. We were greeted by a rainbow encircling the sun.
Some of the slopes we skied reminded us of Mary Jane Trail or Cranmer – wide rolling trails, with varied slopes and small moguls. By Colorado standards, these are relatively easy (blue in USA, but red here) runs, but we were ready for mellow and took our share of falls. But we knew we were not in Colorado. The evergreen trees here are dense and interspersed with deciduous trees, not small aspens. The trails are unmarked for the most part, and the scenery is dotted with private cottages. The top is near timberline, which is much lower here because of the northern latitude. We stopped for lunch at a small lodge on the ski hill, with a tiny but cozy restaurant in addition to lodging facilities.
The afternoon was not quite as nice as the morning—a bit colder and some wind at the top. It started to snow a bit, and by 3:00 the visibility was so poor we could not see our feet. Eva and Rick and I decided to call it a day, but Hunsa wanted to take one more run. He was sure that by the time he got back up, the sky would be clear enough. So, we three skied down to our pension and he took another run. When he arrived at the pension, he showed us photos to prove that, indeed, the sky had cleared and he had a great last run.
The wife of the owner of our pension runs a small beauty salon on the main floor, so while Rick and Hunsa rested before dinner, Eva and I got our hair cut and styled. Then we lit Sabbath candles together and drank some wine – and toasted our Denver friends who are skiing at Winter Park this weekend – before heading out to dinner at a restaurant a short walk from our pension. The restaurant was nice, but quite smoky so we didn’t stay for dessert. Instead, we walked back to the pension, since we had brought plenty of food, including strudel and fruit, that we had not eaten the night before. The Sabbath candles were still burning when we returned, so dessert was quite pleasant, if not elegant. Instead of going to sleep early, we talked until 11:00 p.m.

posted by JWinn @ 10:00 PM