Bridge to Bride run (9-30-07)

The Glide Floss Bridge to Bridge run in San Francisco goes between the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. This was second year I ran it. It is a beautiful race around the edge of the city along the Marina and Crissy Field, with fabulous views and especially this year the sun was shinning from the beginning. The race ends up at the Presidio and there are lots of freebies and a band playing.
PHOTOS

Glide Floss Bridge to Bridge je beh v San Francisku mezi mosty - Bay Bridge a Golden Gate Bridge. Toto byl muj druhy rok, kdy jsem bezela. Je to krasny beh na kraji mesta podel Mariny a Crissy Field, s prekrasnymi vyhlady a hlavne tento rok vyslo pocasi a slunicko svitilo uz od rana. Zavod konci v Presidiu, kde je se rozdava spousta veci zdarma a hraje kapela.
FOTKY

Yosemite - Grand Canyon of Tuolumne Meadows (9/8 - 9/11 - 07)

This was a great backpacking trip lasting for four full days. We left on Friday evening and arrived at Yosemite Tuolumne Meadows sometime after midnignt. Even though we didn't reserved any camping, we found a spot for the night. For the first two days we had group of 6 - Katka, Daniela, Ryan, Jeff, Martin and I. We started off easy - Saturday's goal was only to reach the Glen Aulin campground, which is only about 6 miles and practically all downhill. On Sunday we split up - Katka, Daniela, Ryan and Jeff headed home, while Martin and I continued. Before we split, the others walked with Martin and I a little further to see more of the Canyon.
About one hour after we divided up, Martin and I saw the first bear. I didn't see bear before in the wild so it was a really exciting moment! And I didn't even know at that point that I would see two more bears the following day! Monday we continued going down the canyon along the river, but getting prepared mentally for big climb out of the canyon at the end. To make the climb even tougher, there wasn't any water from the point we left the Tuolumne river till we got to the top. So we filled all our bottles and containers and started the climb. It was there that I heard some noise behind me and turned around and about 60 meters behind us was a big bear running downhill! So we continued climbing and I was thinking that this area shouldn't be so full of bears since they need water too.... and then I saw the third one! After we scared the bear off, we found that we had reached small platform with a beautiful view over Hetch Hetchy Reservoir - this is where we stayed overnight. On Sunday we finished the climb, this time without seeing any more bears, had lunch by Harden Lake and drove home! It was an unbeliavable 4 days backpacking in Yosemite!
Photos

Toto byl uzasny vylet na cele ctyri dny! Odjeli jsem v patek vecer a prijeli jsem do Yosemite Tuolumne Meadows nekdy po pulnoci. I kdyz jsme nemeli zarezervovane misto na kempovani, podarilo se nam najit misto na prespani. Prvni dva dny jsem sli v sesti - Katka, Daniela, Ryan, Jeff, Martin a ja. Zacali jsem zlehka - sobotnim cilem byla jen cesta do kempu Glen Aulin, do ktereho to bylo jen asi 6 mil a temer po celou dobu zkopce. V nedeli jsem se rozdelili - Katka, Daniela, Ryan a Jeff sli zpet, zatim co Martin a ja jsme pokracovali. Nez jsem se ale rozesli, odchazejici skupinka se pridala k nam aby videli jeste vice z kanonu. Asi hodinu pote, co jsem se rozdelili jsem videli s Martinem prvniho medveda!!! Jeste jsem predtim medveda v prirode nevidela a tak to byl uzasny zazitek. A to jsme ani jeste netusili, ze uvidime dalsi dva medvedy hned nasledujici den. V pondeli jsme pokracovali se sestupu kanonem podel reky, ale mentalne jsem se pripravovali na konecny vystup z kanonu. Aby ten vystup byl jeste vice ztezen, tak od mista kdy jsem opustili reku az temer dokonce nebyla voda. Tak jsem naplnili vsechny nase lahve a kanystr a zacali s vystupem. A tam nekde jsem zaslechla nejaky zvuk za mnou, otocila jsem se a asi 60 metru od nas utikal zkopce dolu velky medved. Tak jsem pokracovali s vystupem a ja jsem premyslala, ze v te oblasti by nemelo byt mnoho medvedu, protoze ti take potrebuji vodu.... v tom jsem videla toho tretiho! Tak jsme jej zaplasili a hned vedle toho mista jsem objevili plosinu s nadhernym vyhledem na prehradu Hetch Hetchy - a tak jsem tady zustali pres noc. V nedeli jsem dokoncili vystup, tentokrat uz bez medvedu, dali si obed u jezera Harden a jeli domu!
Pro me to byly to neuveritelne nadherne ctyri dny v Yosemitech!
FOTKY

Kolkata (8/14 - 8/18 - 07)

We arrieved to Kolkata 14th of August, the evening before the wedding. 15th of August is India's Independence day and apparently the biggest celebrations are held in Kolkata, but before we could get out to the city the parades had finished. Subby's cousins took us to see a little bit of Kolkata, but how we soon found out that except for Queen Victoria's memorial there weren't much to see.The wedding started in the evening. We arrived at Subby's house and from there we drove to the hall were all the ceremonies were held. The second day in Kolkata we visited the Indian Museum which didn't make much of an impression, and in the evening we went again to Subby's house for more wedding ceremonies. The third day we dedicated to shopping and in the evening we joined the wedding party for another wedding dinner. Saturday was our last day in Kolkata, so we spent out time getting ready to fly back. It was also the last day of the wedding - the reception.
Movies from India
Kolkata

Do Kolkaty jsem prijeli 14. Srpna, vecer pred svatbou. 15. srpna se v Indii slavi den nezavislosti a nejvetsi oslavy jsou prave v Kolkate. Nez my jsem se ale dostali do mesta, tak uz vsechny pruvody zkoncily. Subbyho bratranci nas vzali na prohlidku Kolkaty, ale brzy jsme zjistili, ze krome memorialu Kralovny Victorie v Kolkate toho moc k videni neni.
Svatba zacala vecer. Prijeli jsem k Sabbymu domu a odtud jsme odjeli do domu, kde probehly vsechny ceremonie. Druhy den jsme navstivili indicke museum, ktere na nas taky moc nezapusobilo. Vecer jsme opet jeli k Sabbymu domu, kde probehly dalsi svatebni obrady. Treti den jsem stravili nakupovanim a vecer opet u Subbyho na dalsi svatebni veceri. Sobota byla nasim poslednim dnem v Kolkate, a tak jsem ji stravili chystanim se k odletu. Byl to take posledni den svatby, ktera koncila svatebni hostinou.

Videa z Indie
Kolkata

Jaipur and Udaipur (8/9 - 8/14 -07)

Jaipur, also known as the Pink City, was another beautiful place that we visited. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and one of the better planned cities in India. We started the day with an elephant ride up to the Amber Fort, which was an experience by itself. Then we spent some time exploring Amber Fort, where I learned that the Fort was built with all of the best items from the whole word - even some crystal from Czechoslovakia. City Palace and the Jantar Mantar observatory were on our list after lunch. The observatory was especially interesting - many huge sun clocks with a precision of 2 minutes in local time! In Jaipur my first "stomach" problem started so unfortunately I couldn't enjoy the nice dinner with local dancing.
To cover the distance to Udaipur from Jaipur on India's roads would have taken us about 8 hours, so we decided to fly. We had about 3 days in the city of Udaipur. The first day was supposed to be free time, for the second and third we had planned seesighting, but unfortunately our guide compressed everything into the first day. I was overcomming my stomach problem so this didn't help either. We started with the temple Jagdish Mandir and the City Palace which is a favorite place for weddings, then we left the city and drove to Eklingji, a complex of temples, where we wern't alowed to take any photos. Then we drove a little bit further and visited an old tample - Nagda Temple. On the way back we stopped at Saheliyon-ki-Bari Gardens. After this "marathon" we found out that our guide secured two free days for himself ... Now we understood why he didn't let us stay anywhere for too long and his most often words were "come, come". Over the next two days, we visited the Monsoon palace, built on the hill but occupied just for a few months after they found that it was difficult to get water up there. Then we went back to City Palace and took a ride on the lake. This was the end of our sightseeing - now we were off to Kolkata and Subby's wedding.

Movies from India
Jaipur and Udaipur


Jaipur, ktery je znam take pod nazvem Ruzove mesto, byl dalsi zajimavou zastavkou. Jaipur je hlavnim mestem Rajasthanu a jednim z nejlepe planovanym mestem v Indii. Den jsme zacali vyjizdkou na slonovi k pevnosti Amber, coz byl zazitek sam o sobe. Pote jsem stravili najaky cas prochazenim pevnosti, kde jsem se take dozvedela, ze ke stavbe bylo pouzito jen to nejlepsi z celeho sveta - dokonce i sklo z Ceskoslovenska (pan rikal z Ceskoslovenska, ale v dobe vzniku pevnosti Ceskoslovensko jeste neexistovalo...). Mestsky palac a observator Jantar Mantar byly na rade po obede. Observator byla velice zajimava, hlavne pro mnoho velkych slunecnich hodin, ktere ukazovaly mistni cas s presnosti na 2 minuty! V Jaipuru jsem zacala mit prvni "strevni" problemy a tak jsem si bohuzel nemohla poradne vychutnat veceri v restaraci kde nam k tomu i pekne tancovali.
Cesta z Jaipuru do Udaipuru by nam trvala na indickych cestach asi 8 hodin a tak jsme se radeji rozhodli letet. Meli jsem 3 dny na Udaipur. Prvni den melo byt volno, druhy a treti den pak byly planovane prohlidky mesta a okoli. Nas pruvodce ale bohuzel stlacil vse do prvniho dne. Ja jsem navic jeste prechazela "strevni" problemy, coz na veci nepridalo. Zacali jsme v chramu Jagdish Mandir a pak jsme sli do mestskeho palace, ktery je oblibenym mistem pro svatby. Pote jsem vyjeli z mesta do chramu Eklingji, coz byl komplex chramu, kde jsem ani nemohli fotit. Pro fotky jsem si zajeli jeste kousek dal do stareho nepouzivaneho chramu - Nagda Temple. Po ceste zpet jsem se zastavili v zahradach Saheliyon-ki-Bari. Po tomto maratonu jsem zjistili, ze si nas pruvodce zajistil dva dny volna.... To uz jsme pochopili proc nas nenechal postat na jednom miste moc dlouho a jeho nejpouzivanejsi slova byla "podte, podte". Dalsi dva dny jsem navstivili Monsunovy palac, postaveny na kopci ale pouzivany jen par mesicu, protoze bylo tezke palac zasobovat vodou. Vratili jsme se take zpet do Mestskeho palace a projeli jsem se na jezere. To byl konec prvni casti naseho indickeho vyletu, nasledovala pak uz "jen" Subbyho svatba v Indii.


Videa z Indie
Jaipur and Udaipur

Delhi and Agra (Taj Mahal) (8/5 - 8/9 -07)

Brian, Reginald and I spent about 3 days in Dehli, the capital of India. My first impressions of India weren't very positive - a lot of poor people, small children and young mothers with babies begging at every coner and at every red light. Driving was an adventure by itself, even though there are lines on the roads, nobody actually uses them - in a three lane road at least five cars will try to fit next to each other!!!
Agra is the place where the famous Taj Mahal is located and it was one of the best destinations in our trip. We spent a few hours in the Taj Mahal, taking photos from every angle and looking at how the colors change depending on the sun. The second site was the Agra Fort, where the builder of Taj Mahal, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, was put in jail. He was put here by his own son, because he wanted to build a second Taj Mahal all over again on the other side of the river, this time with black marble, for himself.

Movies from India

Brian, Reginald a ja jsme stravily 3 dny v Dehli, hlavnim meste Indie. Moje prvni dojmy z Indie nebyly zrovna positivni - velka bida, male deti a mlade matky s miminky zebrali na kazdem rohu a na kazde krizovatce. Rizeni bylo dobrodruzsvim samo o sobe, i kdyz i v Indii maji na silnicich pruhy, nikdo je temer nepouziva - na trojpruhove silnici bylo vedle sebe nejmene pet aut!
Agra, misto kde je postaven Taj mahal bylo jednim z hlavnich bodu naseho vyletu. V Taj Mahalu jsme stravili nekolik hodin, fotili jak divi a sledovali, jak se odraz Taj Mahalu meni s pohybem slunce. Dalsi zastavka v Agre byla Pevnost Agra, kde byl na konci zivota uveznen stavitel Taj Mahalu a to vlastnim synem, kvuli tomu, ze se chystal postavit druhy Taj Mahal na druhe strane reky, tentokrat z cerneho mramoru, pro sebe.

Videa z Indie

Delhi and Agra

Hong Kong (8/4 - 07)

Subby, Brian, Reginald and I had about 12 hours in Hong Kong on our way to India. It is a very exciting, clean and western looking city, although actually I couldn't really compare since Hong Kong was the first city in Asia I have visited, but I had to remind myself all the time that I am on a different continent! We took the bus up to the Big Buddha, walked around the downtown and took a ferry a few times between the islands. Before we went back to the aiport we ate in a local restaurant and saw Hong Kong in its night colors.

Photos from Hong Kong

Movies from Hong Kong

Subby, Brian, Reginald a ja jsme meli asi 12 hodin v Hong Kongu po ceste do Indie. Hong je zajimave, ciste a zapadne vypadajici mesto, i kdyz jsem nemohla moc srovnavat protoze Hong Kong bylo prvni misto v Asii, ktere jsem videla. Musela jsem si kazdou chvili pripominat, ze jsem na jinem kontinente! Vyjeli jsme si autobusem k Velkemu Budhovi, prosli se centrem a prejeli trajektem nekolikrat mezi ostrovi. Nez jsme se vypravili na letiste, tak jsme jeste povecereli a zhledli Hong Kong v nocnich barvach

Fotky z Hong Kong

Videa z Hong Kongu