The Blithe Traveler

Red or White? It's All Green

Or perhaps a rosé?

I know, I know, you are all like, "Hey! We've seen the wine-in-a-plastic-bottle-schtick before. Move on, girlfriend. And what, exactly is with the rosé??"

But, no! You have not actually seen this before. What we have here a brand new - green! - approach to wine drinking. Or, rather, an age old one, adopted by some new wide-eyed folks who are rather excited by it all. The rosé was simply a translation issue. Which I will explain, forthwith.

Here is our local Vinotéka. That would be a "wine shop." This one is less than a kilometer from the house; easy biking or walking distance. Notice that they have little picnic benches and umbrellas? Spring is in the air! You can, of course, buy wine buy the glass and sip it while sitting in the sun. 

That's Jeff. Hi, Jeff!

Here's the interior of the shop. Lots of local wines. Although, these bottles are not what this place is about.

This is what this place is about: I present for you, the wine list. This is the tiniest bit deceptive, in that, while it clearly is a red wine list (at least clear to me, who can read rudimentary Czech), there is a rosé skulking around in there. I'll give you a clue: it's the one in pink text. Alas, we discovered this too late to call a halt to the purchase. Hence, the rosé in the initial photo. It wasn't that bad. Really.

Although, I should point out that in hindsight, it is obvious from this list that the rosé was a rosé. I mean, it clearly says "pink" and not "red." This is one of the problems of being 15% fluent in a language: I can read "red" and assumed the whole list was red without really taking in that there was one odd man out.

There is, of course, also a white wine list. The Czech Republic is rather well known for their white wines (okay, so not like, maybe Napa is "well known," but the climate/soil are apparently rather well suited for white wine grapes.) Alas, since I really prefer red wine, Jeff never really gets a chance to sample the good stuff. 

A word about pricing: it's Czech koruna (CZK) by the litre. And there are about 17 CZK to a US dollar. So litres run from a low of $2.14US per litre to a high of $5.06US per. Bottle extra.

Of course, we just bring our own. And they fill it. I love this part.

Clearly, here they are filling the rosé.

Below, we have a different day, different wine. But you get the point. I ride my bike to get the wine. So, it's green! Get it? I think I am so hilarious.

So while for many families Friday night might be "game night" or "pizza night" or "movie night," in our house, it's "saddle up, kids, we're riding to the Vinotéka night."

i really should remember to bring a back pack.

The family that bikes out to buy wine together, dines together? Feels fine together? Enjoys the sublime together? Eh, you get the idea.

Ah. The Cuveé. It's not cheap ($5.06 per litre!), but it's the best. Ask me how I know.

And for the serious connoisseur? Dude is listening to his i-Pod while sipping his favorite adult beverage soaking up the Vitamin D. And C. For červeny (red).

Note: I haven't finished with Sweden yet! I am just feeling the love right now and wanted to tell the world about our Vinotéka.

It Was The Best of Times,

It was the worst of times. For the Bear. Look closely at the ears. Any guesses?

Beary (or "Barry," I don't know if the Bear actually has a preferred spelling), if you are a long time reader has been Tom's companion for lo' these many years. The Bear has been to five continents, lived on three, has ridden the Trans-Siberian, seen the, well, you get the idea. Where we go, the Bear goes.Tom will tell you that he has spent only six nights in his life away from his furry compatriot. Although I do believe there were some early months that don't get included in his calculations.

Which brings us to the day of our Kiruna sled dog adventure. Whilst the rest of us were mooning about admiring the sled dogs, the Bear came *this* close to meeting what I would have described as an untimely end. Jeff the Heartless perhaps would have categorized it as "timely," but that's a discussion for another day.

What happened was this: we arrived at the kennel, hopped out of the van and apparently left the door open. Then, according to the children, the van was surrounded by a pack of ferocious Wolf Dogs. The good news was that Lambie and Beary are of Warrior Stock! Lambie (seen below in case you have missed this vicious mug over the years) went on the offensive! Using only her paws and fangs (ha! bet you did not know that lambs have paws and fangs??), she left thirty of the Wolf Dogs dead, seriously wounded twenty, and wounded one. Beary, valiantly standing his ground, managed to kill three, wound ten and severely wound one more.

But, alas! The Wolf Dogs proved too strong for even this mighty fighting duo!

One dog grabbed Beary in his jaws, thankfully ignoring the exhausted lamb, and dragged him from the van. Luckily, at this point, I happened to notice the dog run by with the Bear in his mouth. Ever the vigilant mother protecting her young, I did exactly what you would expect me to do: I yelled for Jeff to go rescue the Bear. Which he did.

Shockingly, despite the obvious heroism I displayed calling Jeff into action, this  earned me a serious yellow card from my children. Their position is that as the first to see the emerging crisis, I should have acted. I remind them that despite my failure to approach the Wolf Dog myself and wrench Beary from its salivating jaws, if I had not raised the alarm when I did, we might still (cue the ominous music) be wondering if maybe Beary hadn't gotten dragged into the same black hole as Hope's purple coat. That quiets them down a bit.

Beary, on plane to Kiruna, blithely unaware of what awaits him.  Poor Bear: he was really looking forward to this trip, because, for the first time in his life, in the Icehotel he was planning to hibernate. No kidding. This bear leads a very interesting life.

And now, you ask? Has the Bear recovered? Yes, indeed. While I am not the quickest on my feet when faced with the Jaws of a Wolf Dog, I am a reasonably talented plastic surgeon. Or is that seamstress? Whatever, the Bear is scarred for life. But, that is as it should be after so harrowing a battle. He wears his battle scars proudly, missing the tip of one ear, and with a slightly longer tail. The better to swat mosquitoes with, Tom will tell you. 

Call Of the Wild

Enough said?

I first read the Jack London classic when I was 8 years old. My parents gave it to me as a Christmas present, although I strongly suspect that they never actually read it themselves. Wiki says it best: "Because the protagonist is a dog, it is sometimes classified as a juvenile novel, suitable for children, but it is dark in tone and contains numerous scenes of cruelty and violence." Since every single human in it dies a horrible death, I have not read it to my children yet.

From age 8 to 12, I probably read that novel a dozen times. And dreamed of driving a sled dog team.

Now, if you know me in real life, you know two things about me (1) I don't like the cold and (2) I don't like dogs. So why I have fantasized all my life about shushing through the snow following a dozen flying canines, I cannot say. Except that Jack London's book lives deep within my subconscious.

And so the opportunity to go sled dogging was not to be missed in Kiruna. Of course, as with many things that are presented to tourists, what you actually get is a tiny taste on the tip of your tongue of what the real thing might be like.

Seriously, spending an hour being driven around by a guide is not "the same" as, well, anything, if you were serious about wanting to "drive a team." My analogy would be something like always wanting to drive in a Formula 1 race, and then having a professional driver take you around Yas Marina. At 100kph (although technically since Formula 1 cars are single seaters, this is not possible at all - but I think the analogy holds.)

That said, I loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Look! Can you see how happy I am (that's me next to Tom - Hope is the one with the pink lamb on her head; but you probably guessed that)??

It was great. We arrived at the kennel and the dogs were just howling (exactly as one would expect if one grew up reading Jack London over and over again), and then, as the sled started off, silence, as they all got down to work. It was amazing to watch the dogs loping along pulling all four of us piled on the sled, plus the driver. We drove along a well worn path, and the children were amazed at how the dogs seemed to "know" where to go. I explained that the driver was actually giving them directions, although we could barely hear him.

As someone who has done a small bit of driving in the equine world, the simplicity of the harness and attachment to the sled was a delight. Each dog wore a simple nylon harness that attached with a simple hook to a single line that ran from the sled to the lead dog.  No breeching (the driver has a foot brake that he uses to slow the sled), no tugs, no shafts, no bridle! And, critically, no leather to clean! Easy peasy!

Some in our party, though, were less impressed. A crackhead and his berry are never parted.

 And others? Well, it turns out that for the 8 and under set, snow was all they required. These two have never really had the chance to frolic in the snow. And that's about all they wanted to do for the rest of the trip. So, we let them. 

 

 As for me, I am pondering how on earth I could ever manage to actually spend time with a real sled dog team. You know, learning to drive, actually go somewhere, learning to train them. I can't imagine it happening without moving somewhere really cold. And I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

 Ah, well, it was a grand adventure for me. And it makes me want to explore it more. So, we'll see where that goes. Maybe someday I will spend a week sleeping in a tent in sub-zero temperatures. Stranger things have happened.

Stranger things, like, can you imagine going all the way to Sweden, spending half a week in sub-zero temperatures and losing your coat??

 This was our last sighting of it. By the way, the temp in this photo was probably somewhere around -10C and the child refused to put gloves or a hat on. So, maybe she didn't need the coat??

Tomorrow: Dog Sledding was Not A Good Time For All Members of Our Party. Someone Had A Very, Very Bad Day.