To market to market

It might be chilly enough to require hats and scarves, but that hasn't stopped the Dejvicka Farmers' Market from opening near our flat! Behold the masses of bundled people happily clutching locally-produced breakfasts in the cold. 

I was surprised to see fresh flowers at one of the stands. There were a few vegetables - mostly root. Lots of meat, cheese, pates, jams, baked goods, etc.

The Czech proclivity toward beer and lard-covered bread in the morning never ceases to amaze me. 

An accordion keeps the atmosphere festive. 

And our haul was colorful and bountiful. Cashews, carrots, brussel sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, dried fruit, onion bread and cheese.  

If you go:
Farmers Market at Kulaťák, Vítězné náměstí, Praha 6 - Dejvice, 160 00 
Web: http://www.farmarske-trhy.cz/ 
Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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5-sense Saturday: Post-holiday edition

January and February can usually be summed up with a resigned "meh." They're grey and slushy. They end the holiday season. They mark a taxing term full of IB deadlines at school. They mean sniffle colds and dark mornings. And to top it off, BW was gone to the UK for most of February. Meh.

We combated the blahs with some bright spots, though. Here are a few ways we engaged our senses throughout it all:

SMELLED...
...haggis and fear as I gave the "Reply to the Laddies" speech at Burns Night. The Scottish contingency at our school throws a huge part/charity fundraiser. I was jittery - not only because of the hundreds of people in the room but also because the speech is supposed to be racy and my boss was in attendance, of course. It ended up being loads of fun :)

Practicing twigs and berries jokes with the Scottswoman beforehand

SAW...

..."The Stand-in", an English version of the famous Czech comedy "Záskok", at the Žižkovské divadlo Járy Cimrmana. Our group split our sides laughing; whoever said Czech humor can't be translated is dead wrong. The play is one of many based on a fictional caricature who was invented in the 60s and became so popular that Czechs voted him "The Greatest Czech" in 2005. A must-see!

Via the Cimrman Theater

TASTED...
...the most splendid French cheese in a shop in the Lucerna Passage, just off Wenceslas Square. I cannot remember the name of the place, but the smell hijacks your nostrils when you're near it. We had a little board of Bleu de Gex that made our taste buds sing.

Mmmm.... cheese

TOUCHED...
...a fascinating vintage radio at Fraktal, a scrappy little restaurant/watering hold in Prague 6. Check out the lines of European and former USSR cities paired with their frequencies. It's just a decoration in a smoky dining room now; if only it worked!

10-4.

HEARD...

...a brainy lecture by Charles University Professor Martin Hilský, a "celebademic" who is famous here for translating all of Shakespeare's works into Czech. He visited our school and talked about the historical context that ripened the conditions for Shakespeare to flourish in. SO interesting!

To thine own self be true!

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