The (Mis)Adventures of Matt Lyon

Well its been about 10 days since I've written anything, so I guess I owe it to you heathens to say something. Whether or not its important, or useful, or coherent is for you to decide. Ok so I got a couple of jobs with a couple of different firms, but its only about 5 hrs a week between them. So lots of free time to do things that don't cost any money. I got a little stir crazy recently and decided to splurge on the $15 roundtrip train ticket to Cesky Raj, translated, Bohemian Paradise. Its about 3hrs north of the city and it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen. I started in Turnov around 2 pm on Sunday and walked at a pretty good pace. Gorgeous rolling hills, and huge rock formations made from magma from the Cretaceous Period. At one such formation, there are two huge spires that emerged. And dogoneit, about 700 hundred years ago, somebody put a couple of castles on top of them. Its really an amazing feat. I found a sand dune about a kilo south of the castle and slept under the stars with a near full moon. It was gorgeous.

The sun comes up at 4am during the summer here, so I was on the trail near after that. My hike was composed of walking through little villages, interspersed with areas of dense forest. So much fauna around; deer, hedgehogs, birds, bees. The villages are very agrarian, so you would hear bleating goats and roosters for a couple of hours straight. Geese would randomly walk across the road, and chickens and cows would do their usual doubletake to decide if I was a threat before returning to their masticating desires. I came to a forest preserve around 9 oclock. Having been walking for 5 hours and having gotten very little sleep (I had no sleeping bag and the nights become chilly), I decide to take a quick nap under one of the most gorgeous forest canopies I have ever seen. It was cool and relaxing, with birds chirping and a small brook in the distance wooing my soul into the unconscious. After dozing for an hour, I woke up refreshed and invigorated and continued on my way. The area I was in I cannot pronounce and do not have the map, but it should have been called "No fucking way!" Everytime I turned around, there was a huge formation or a color I had never seen. One of the rocks had a natural staircase up to an area that had the most beautiful view of the area. I saw the castle in the distance and realized how much I had walked that morning. I found a lake at the foot of the hill that has camping and swimming and boat rentals and a restaurant and, of course, cheap beer. I stopped and had an ice cream and enjoyed watching the Czechs enjoying themselves.

50km and 24 hrs later, I got to the town of Jicin around 2 that afternoon and treated myself to lunch and a brew in the town square. It was one of the best experiences that I've had in my life and I was so excited to clear my head and reflect on how lucky I am to experience what I do. I hope all of you get out from behind your cubicles or schooldesks or restaurants or wherever you happen to spend your time and get out and explore a new place not created by the hands of men. It will do you good, I promise. Peace and Love. MtL