When I got off the bus in Karlovy Vary, it seemed like just another beautiful small city in the Czech Republic. Karlovy Vary actually means “Charles’ Bath” in English and my guidebook said it was a beautiful old city with numeroushot springs and spas. My biggest surprise was that there was Russian language everywhere I went. Many people spoke Russian and nearly all the buildings had Russian signs – at one point, I actually asked someone if I was still in the Czech Republic and they laughed and said “yes, sort of.”

But after the initial surprise of realizing that Karlovy Vary seemed more ‘Russian’ than ‘Czech’, I started to understand why so many people visit the city. A river runs through the center of the city and there are beautiful little streets and little cafes and restaurants all around. I walked along the river on one side of the city and checked out a large building called the Mill Colonnade, which contains several hot springs and actually looks a little like ‘The Parthenon’ in Greece. I passed an enormous theatre and some grassy parks. Finally I arrived at a hotel with a hot spring inside its foyer; it was spraying steaming water high into the air and there were clumps of calcium deposits everywhere from the mineral-rich water.

After I got tired of watching the hot spring, I found a small shop and bought some weirdcrackers called ‘oplatky’ – the woman at the shop called them waffles, but they looked more like flat cookies. Anyhow, they were tasty so I bought several boxes to take back to America with and share with my friends. Next I visited the Jan Becher museum and learned about how Becherovka alcohol is made. When the tour was over, I drank three shots of Becherovka and actually became quite drunk. After the drinks I was exhaustedso walked to my hotel to lie down and rest. But when my head touched the pillow on the bed, I fell asleep quickly and I dreamed of waffle cookies and Becherovka all night.