Just Another Saturday NOT!

Hey you! So finally back to writing...after planning it for so long & writing in my mind only...
So the other weekend, now more than a month ago, Jena came up with this idea of going on a trip, simply a trip, anywhere I want. Being still winter & me being a girl who loves winter sports, no wonder I wondered at the idea & at first revolted;-) Yet soon I decided to give up another day of cross-country skiing (it would only be the 3rd this year) & we went wherever our Fabijka (Honza's office car) took us. Or better to say, we headed towards Domazlice, which I've mentioned to Honza as a place I've always wanted to see & never did;-) So he took me....& what a blast it was!!!
On our way there, we came across an amazing (although disintegrating) monastery in the little village of Chotěšov - truly enchanting yet also of a sad look. Founded already in 1202, plundered repeatedly before & by the Hussites, it later became a girls' boarding school & served as a sleeping place of the totally deployed women during WW II & after catering to the old for many years, the Czechoslovak army violently moved them out & occupied it. Today part of the monastery belongs to the original friary that historically lived there, the rest is in the hands of the village of Chotěšov.
Being mesmerized by this sudden encounter we drove on to discover the beauty of Horšovský Týn - a nice little town with an originally Gothic castle - seat of the Prague's bishops - now a feast for a Renaissance eye. The town square with its picturesque old burghers' houses with Baroque facades was a great appetizer for what was to come;-)
Domažlice!!! ...are beautiful & tranquil (at least on a cloudy March day;-) & I could not stop taking photos;-))) So many important Czechs actually lived, worked or died there...guess they've fallen for its charm & could not leave. Božena Němcová, the so-called first Czech feminist writer, the authorESS of the famous Babička (Grandma); Jaroslav Vrchlický, once hated by T.G.M. but later considered one of our greatest poets (Nobel price laureate besides other things..); Karel Jaromír Erben, a writer & poet, collector of the Czech folk culture, historian & translator, author of the famous collection of ballads called "Kytice" ("Bouquet")...Domažlice was a custom village already in the 9th century, on an important trade route between Bohemia & Bavaria. The town has till these days remained the centre of Chodsko region, a very specific region with well-preserved traditional folklore. Check out the photos in the album for a clearer picture of what's out there...The words don't exactly match the reality...
When done with the picturesqueness & novelty of Domažlice, we headed to another place I've never been & only knew from the memory cards game: The Chateau of Švihov. A beautiful gothic water-castle close to Klatovy. Wonderful to just walk around at the end of the day & imagine what might have been happening there in the past (all those feasts etc.;-)
Oh, I've completely forgotten about the spa houses hidden among the woods - the so-called "Spa Chateau" & the lake where Rusalka bathed - but we did not walked to it as it was too cold out:( It must have been amazingly calming to live there & then....
Anyway, as we got back to Prague we visited the Sick (that is, my friend Ema), left something for the neverendingly long days & hurried to Na Václavce, where my friend Tomáš celebrated his nameday while the restaurant was serving Japanese food - yami yami;-)))