I will start by saying that I like, I mean, I really really like, Lukas and Iva.

I left Brno and was headed to Olomouc for a few days. It is a smallish city in the eastern Czech Republic. I’d read it flew under the radar but was worth a visit, so I got on Couchsurfing and secured a place to sleep with Lukas and Iva. Lukas is a cartographer and really enjoys Olomouc, Ive a fine artist and like strange pets. Unfortunately I was running late from Brno, so I sent Lukas a note explaining when I would be arriving... but  the note got in to them after I had already arrived, and after they had waited around wondering where the hell I was. The whole scenario was unfortunate for a number of reasons. If I had gotten in on time I would have been able to take advantage of a couple of great opportunities...

If and only if…

Lukas plays in the 4th division soccer league here in the Czech Rep for his hometown team, he told me the team name, but all I can remember is that it starts with a V. He's a center midi... same as me, when i used to be able to run. He also has season tickets to the first division Olomouc team, and both Lukas and first place Olomouc had games that day... my loss... and Olomouc won 6-1. That would have been fun (Side note. As I post this tonight, I went to my first match in Pecs, Hungary).

We had a great evening nonetheless. Lukas and Iva walked me around the town and showed me some of their favorite spots. We stopped at the ice skating rink in the center of town and enjoyed some hot punch, pronounced poonch, (similar mulled wine or gluwein), with wild berries in it... I really love the mulled wine tradition! There are little stalls everywhere, and you just walk up and get a little cup of the hot tasty goodness... perhaps my fondness for the tradition developed during my skiing/ sledding trip to Switzerland and Austria with Johnny, Audra, Jimmy, Terry and a guest appearance from Will. (You can see some pics from that trip here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25484132@N00/sets/72157615013697329/).

After walking around, we went back to the house and baked a pumpkin and sausage casserole. Lukas generously shared his wine, and his fathers home made slivovica, a fruit liquor (in this case plums) not dissimilar to schnapps.

The next day was ugly and raining, and I had a hard time getting going. So I caught up on a few things at the house, and finally got out for a walk around the city, armed with an umbrella. It was an uneventful day ducking in and out of cafe’s, doing work and writing postcards. Ive was out kind of late, so I spent the evening with Lukas talking soccer (Ive doesn’t like soccer so much because it steals too much of Lukas’ time from her with training three times a week and game’s every week) and catching up on good hiking and camping in the places I was headed.

It was a quick trip to Olomouc, but lots of fun. I really enjoyed the company of Lukas and Iva, and I hope that some day I can take them on some camping trips in the United States.