4th of July just isn't the same...

Being an American in Europe during the 4th of July weekend can feel like an office birthday party where someone forgot to bring a cake. Missing out on the BBQ's, traditional firework show, and the general "AMERICA Yeah!" vibe that permeates the country has probably brought me the closest to being homesick I've been since my arrival.

However in what could be described as an act of conciliation the Czech Rep gave me a 4 day weekend for my troubles. In reality it's because of Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (5th) and Jan Hus Day (6th). Two Czech holidays celebrating the saints who brought Christianity to the Slavic region in 863, and the execution of the martyr who laid some of the philosophical seeds for the Lutheran  (Protestant) Reformation in 1415 respectively. Typically most Czechs would decided to spend the vacation days to get the full week or more to take a family trip somewhere, and my boss was very casual about the idea of if I wanted some extra days just to let her know. Unfortunately this holiday crept out on me before I had a good chance to plan for it, with my old roommate in Sweden having just gone through eye surgery which made the weekend visit an impossibility, and embarking on something like a tour through Italy would have required a couple more days than I had to map everything out.

Despite this I managed to fill a rather eventful low cost weekend with day trips to the Brno lake, Vienna, and the local aquatic center (links to Picasa found below).

Vienna

Marianske Udoli - the local lake for sun bathing, picnic-ing, and a refreshing swim

Vienna was fantastic, and it's mind boggling how much a 1.5 hour trip by car from the Czech Rep can make. Between the architecture, population mix, culture, food, and prevalence of very fluent multilingual citizens I actually felt tempted by the thought of this is the kind of city I could live in indefinitely :) I will definitely be making as many return trips as possible.