MYDEAS: New Year's in Albrechtice v Jizerských horách

I spent New Years Eve this year up in Albrechtice v Jizerských horách, a small village up in the Czech mountains near Poland, with my English friend Christian, his Czech wife Ilona, and their two kids Nathalie (15) and Richard (12).

Not a great photo, but the only passable one I could find in wintertime

It was a short trip — about 28 hours from the time I got on the tram in Prague, from whence the metro and then the bus up to Jablonec nad Nissou, the town where Christian picked me up, to the time I got back the next day. Only the one night.

Christian and his family have, for several decades now, spent holidays and frequent weekends in their one-bedroom apartment up in the mountains, although they have bought and are now renovating a large house to move into down the road. For the time being the two kids share a bunk-bed in the bedroom, while Christian and Ilona sleep on a comfortable pull-out sofa of sorts in the living room (though they moved to a smaller and less comfortable pull-out sofa in the kitchen the night I was there so I could have the comfortable one).

The mountains are great. Not massive, certainly, and pretty small when compared to the not-so-distant Alps. But the pine trees, crisp air, and numerous ski slopes all around testified to the altitude, and it was a wonderfully European experience.

After a walk with the family (and its two yappy dogs) around the hills near Christian's place, we spent a couple hours on New Year's Eve itself chatting, often about literature, as Christian and I do when together. He played a YouTube video for me of English cricket announcers breaking up over an unintended double entendre, and I introduced him and Ilona to "Who's on First." We also had some beers and a couple glasses of wine over dinner, though I cut myself off at 9 pm both to avoid subsequent embarrassment (I do tend to get ... chatty) and to minimize the likelihood of next-morning headache. Then the family played a fussball game located out in the hallway, and I introduced Richard to American folded-paper table football.

American superiority was established in this one area, if few others

An hour or two before midnight everyone on the second floor of the smaller communal house opened the doors to their flats, and there was much mingling and laughter around various small kitchen tables (the great majority of the occupants of the house live in Prague and use the house for weekend getaways, so the kitchens and tables tended to serve as focal points for all of them), on which were placed pickles, some home-made sandwiches, of course beer, and various snacks. Little children roamed the hallways with excitement, while their older brothers and sisters, less energized by the spectacle, started to wilt.

At midnight we wandered outside where one of the neighbors set off several fairly major fireworks — others down the street and around were doing the same. But it was super cold, and none of us survived more than ten minutes. I was asleep before 1:15.

The next day, once the family was up and the fast had been broken, we took a longer hike on trails up and around, even climbing a not-completely-convincing observation tower, then we stopped for hot chocolate and some kind of local hot-dog speciality that the kids enjoyed. Christian drove me back to Jablonec nad Nissou (Jablonec on the Nissou river), which he and I explored for a bit before my bus departed, for Prague, Catalina, and home.

Although this is now the third time I've lived here, this was my first time up in the Czech mountains near the Polish border, and I really enjoyed it. Christian and Ilona were wonderful hosts — playful, generous, and funny — and their kids are smart, well-adjusted, and playful. Enjoying the crispness of the air, the undulation of the land, and some brief cultural immersion was a delight. Five stars!