A Most Peculiar Friday Night

I am certainly the last person who would have predicted that a Friday night in which I do not go Out On The Town would be atypical in my life, but as it turns out, it is. I've slowed down since Christmas, but until then, every Friday was dancing night. As it had been snowing since I walked to work on Friday morning, I thought I would have a rare Friday night in. But it being KT's last day in Prague and Nicole's last weekend before she started her farming adventure, I was coaxed into going to Nicole's flat for a soup dinner.

While you may think that Central Europe would get a lot of snow, this much is really uncommon here. It had only been snowing since 8am, but by four in the afternoon, the trains were a mess. I caught what I think was the 2:26 train at nearly 4 o'clock. When KT was convincing me to take the journey to Prague, I was so adamant that there was blizzard outside and she was being completely unreasonable. She kept telling me it was just a little snow. When I got to Prague, I realized that the reason she kept saying it was just a little snow was that... it was... in Prague. We were certainly getting much more snow in Kolín than Prague was getting.


I'm kind of sad that this is no longer a typical Friday night in my life. Hangin' out on couches, poking each other in the eyes with our toes. That's one of the downfalls of living out in the 'burbs--every time I come into the city, it's for something big, not for casual hang-out-time.


There aren't two people in the world with whom I enjoy casual hang out time more than KT and Nicole. Let's spoon on the couch, okay? 'Kay!

But as the evening progressed, I began to feel more and more sick. Spending hours outside in the cold is starting to get to my immune system, it seems. Between that and the fact that I don't trust CD (the Czech rail system) to get me home late at night during a blizzard, I decided to call it a night early. I headed back to Hlavni Nadraži where I found most trains to be delayed at least 70 minutes. The train I got took nearly twice as long as usual. But eventually, I made it back to Kolín...

...where Rasputin was waiting for me. As was a long, unplowed, snowy walk home.

But the snow clinging to my window (okno, neuter) made it all worthwhile! And it continued to snow for two more days. So look forward to pictures of my town after a snow storm with accumulation totaling more than the past three winters combined! Hurá!

Chapter Twenty-Three: Woobang Towerland!

More pictures from the epic adventure that was last weekend. After we climbed Apsan on Saturday, Layna and I went off to Woobang Towerland. We got there a few hours before the park closed so it was a little strange, but very pretty. Unfortunately, we paid for the wrong kind of pass so we had to spend a ridiculous amount on tickets to rides once we figured out that we needed them (that was long and awkward!).

The tower in the back.

The tower as seen from the viking ride.

The "oh man, we totally just snuck onto this roller coaster!" face. The lady did not feel like explaining the ticket situation to us so she just let us on. We didn't continue to take advantage, though. This was the kiddie-coaster with very few adults. However, it was no picnic.
View from the coaster. As we climbed up slowly, I realized that this was probably not your typical kiddie-coaster. We were getting awfully high...
And holy crap, there was a long way to go! I have not screamed like that on a roller coaster in a long time. I'm really glad we didn't go on the real roller coaster. I managed to not get motion sick--which is very rare.

Dream Love Festival anyone?

Layna portrays "Romantic Fantasy"

That is the coaster we did not go on, for obvious reasons.

Pretty waterfall place.

That's right, this is where you go for the sky toilet. We never figured out why it was better than a regular toilet.

On our second cable-car ride of the day. Korea loves cable-cars as much as I do!

Hot air balloons!

And time for a carousel, which made me pretty homesick for Greenport.

Couple-wear! Couple wear is a huge thing in Korea. Usually it's just sweatshirts, but sometimes it's matching sweatshirts, pants, and shoes. It's intense. And you thought NoHo lesbians had problems with symbiosis!

Warning signs about the drunken.

Bumper cars! This was one of the most excellent bumper car rides of my life. It lasted solid minutes, like, more than one!

Woobang Towerland and Daegu in the background.

Pretty lantern tree.

The exit and a very tired family heading home.

Goodbye Woobang Towerland!

Helloooo waffles! Sunday morning we checked out the waffle place in the center of downtown and it was amazing. Lookit that waffle! Nom, nom, nom.


I finally got someone to go inside the pelican downtown. There's even an instructional guide telling you that you should take a picture in it.

Someday, I'll scan in our pictures from ridiculous Asian photo booths, but that's all for now.

Chapter Twenty-One: "Look, it's Daegu"

This weekend Layna, an 03' Smithie, came to visit me from Seoul and go on some Daegu adventures. That coupled with Halloween made this by far my best weekend in Korea.
She arrived on Saturday morning and we headed up to Apsan by bus. We got off at a random place at the side of the mountain so I got to see another path before it led to the one I had taken up last time.

Pretty! During the whole climb we kept joking that Korea was trying to have fall even though it was nearly 70 degrees and the first of November and not many leaves had changed.

Resting!

When we made it to the top, we ate our kimbap from the kimbap ajima downstairs. Then I surprised Layna with some mini apple pies I had made! I was so proud of my stovetop baking of pies! (And my ability to cook without a recipe!) It was the perfect fall snack.

Arr, climbed a mountain again!

At the top, it felt like summer but finally looked like fall.

Cute little pinecones.

FOLLIAGE!

It makes me miss fall in Massachusetts so much. Korea cannot compare, even on the mountains. But it's an adventure!

Huge rock, must be climbed!

So I did!

So did Layna!

Our shadows in the bright sun really look like summer.

"Look, it's Daegu!"

Ice cream pops at the top of the world again.

Beautifully creepy bit of the path.

Layna, before we headed back to the cable car and to the bottom of the mountain. Then we got some coffee and rotibun in metromall. Finally, we headed off to Woobang Towerland--but that's for another post.