Babileto, or “Grandmother’s Summer,” is what they call Indian Summer in Czech. Come to think of it, I don’t know what they call it in England – or Australia. Anyway, today was a perfect Indian Summer day.
Prague's Version of Central Park
It was also a holiday in the Czech Republic. St. Wenceslas day. It’s not a major holiday. There’s no gift giving. Nobody dresses up in costumes or goes door to door looking for treats. I didn’t notice any flags anywhere, and there are no fireworks going on. But lots of people got the day off work, and the schools were closed.
Usually, when this happens, I don’t get a real holiday because not all of my students cancel. I expected that to be the case again this year, especially since I have two Korean students on Wednesday afternoon, who undoubtedly are hearing about St. Wenceslas for the first time in their lives. But, they had a day off school so they canceled their English lesson as well.
It was kind of an unproductive morning. Nice to sleep in (my definition of sleeping in is an extra half hour – really, I can’t do longer than that) and futz around on the computer all morning. Had a proper sit down breakfast with the kids. Watched some cartoons. The day definitely had a Saturday vibe to it.
Then, in the afternoon, we went to visit a friend who lives out in Prague 5, and walked around a park I’d never been to before. It’s called Central Park. I guess they are playing on the name and trying to be New York cool, because it’s really not central to anything at all. Nice park, though, with a little pond and a kid’s playground with some pretty cool equipment. When I was a kid, there were 3 or 4 standard items in every playground. A merry-go-round, a slide, swings, maybe a jungle gym. Now, the jungle gym is a fort or a castle with multiple rooms and slides popping out in all directions. There are all sorts of swings, merry-go-rounds that you pedal and much, much more. Every kid’s playground is a work of art. Didn’t stay there long, though, because the kids wanted to move on to the miniature golf course.
I was ready to move on to dinner, but we compromised on 9 holes, which we finished just as the sun was setting. Then, on our way to our favorite Swedish restaurant (aka IKEA), we passed by a traveling circus and saw some camels and a zebra.
Just a lovely Prague day in babileto.
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