We spent some time in Marianske Lazne, a 1790's spa town in the middle of mountainous unspoiled woodland. Originally, Czech people were sent here for medical cures that included drinking the spring water. We each took one sip. The foul taste was enough to convince me to stay as healthy as possible from then on. (Photo/Sketch: Jonathan)
Marianske Lazne has a metal and glass collanade where patients were encouraged to stroll as part of their cure. (Photo/Sketch: Jonathan)
Our hotel was the stately Hotel Helga, just two minutes from the town center. (Photo/Sketch: Rachel)
The stairwell of Hotel Helga, complete with busts of Beethoven and Mozart. (Photo/Sketch: Jonathan)
Rachel graces a couch on the second landing of Hotel Helga's grand staircase. (Photo/Sketch: Rachel)
Hotel Helga's original heating system was powered by this tiled pink coal furnace. (We saw similar contraptions at Franz Joseph's vast Summer Palace in Vienna, Austria.) (Photo/Sketch: Rachel)
Hotel Helga's breakfast room, full of plants and flowers. (Photo/Sketch: Rachel)
We visited Marianske Lazne in part for the Chopin Festival, and saw a fantastic solo piano concert at the town's Mestske divaldo (concert hall) and a violin and piano concert (starting at 10:00 pm!) in a mysterious palace outside of town that we were escorted to by bus along dark roads under bright sharp stars. (Photo/Sketch: Jonathan)
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