Our day in Cheb

DD#1 recently celebrated her 17th birthday and her wish list included a lot of clothes, shoes, and purses - basically, a desire to go shopping. So, since we had a 4-day weekend in honor of Labor Day on May 1st, we decided to give her some money to spend at the Asian Dragon Bazaar - basically a knock-off market - located in the Czech Republic town of Cheb.

We left early in the morning on Monday, April 30, after dropping my car off for service. It should have been a 3 1/2 hour drive, but it took 4 hours, because the last hour is spent on windy little roads. Cheb obviously has a higher elevation than Frankfurt - our ears were popping and the temperature was dropping. It was sunny and beautiful when we arrived in the Czech Republic, but temps. were only in the low 60's, as opposed to the high 70's in Frankfurt.

The drive from Frankfurt to Cheb was predominantly rural - lots of farmland and fields of bright yellow flowering plants. We've since learned this is rape seed, but it looked like mustard to me. There were some villages and businesses along the way, but mostly fields, rolling hills, and lots and lots of trees.

The Asian Dragon Bazaar reminded us all a lot of the knock-off market we visited when we were in Shanghai 2 years ago. They advertise 400 shopping "booths," although I kept losing my sense of direction, as it all looked the same, so I don't have a clue as to how many booths we visited. Fortunately, everyone did well on their shopping, and haggling, routine - we walked away with several tops for each daughter, as well as a number of purses and DD#1 even got some shoes. We bought a few DVDs, but haven't had a chance to see if they work yet or now.

We had lunch at what claimed to be a traditional Czech restaurant, although the menu choices seemed to be very similar to German restaurants. Unfortunately, we sat down to eat fairly late in the lunch hour, so many of the things we requested were not available. But, everyone was able to find something to fill them up for a couple more hours of shopping after lunch.

After we'd bartered all we could take, we packed up our goodies and headed to the Cheb Tesco. We have to make a stop at a grocery store in every country we visit and DD#1 is infatuated w/Tesco from our trips to the UK, so she was thrilled to see they had one in Cheb. The Czech language is so different than any other we're used to, it was impossible to know what we were looking at much of the time. But, it's always interesting to see what people are eating in another country. We bought some snacks and drinks and started out on our 4-hour drive back to Frankfurt.

The only bad part of the trip, at least for me, was that I suffered an allergic reaction in the car. I didn't dare eat most of the things we bought in Cheb, since I had no idea what was in them and I have life-threatening food allergies. So, instead I snacked on a sandwich cookie that the girls brought from home - one they eat all the time, but I'd obviously never eaten before, even though I thought I had. While I was taking a turn driving, I started getting hot and itchy, particularly my neck, chin, and eyebrows. By the time we stopped for dinner, I looked like I'd been out in the hot sun all day and I was still itchy, but I didn't have any hives or itching inside my mouth, which has always been the precursor to a serious reaction. I took 4 Benadryl in the car and drank 2 bottles of water, but didn't have to use my Epi-Pen, thank God. Turns out, the sandwich cookie contains hazel nuts, which are a definite no-no for me. I was very shaky and uncomfortable all day Tuesday, and still a bit into Wednesday, but at least it wasn't a serious reaction.

Overall, I'd say our trip was a big success. Not only did DD#1 enjoy her birthday shopping, but all the girls had fun, bought themselves a few things and bought gifts for friends. I even got a new purse for myself and dh got some DVDs. It's not a difficult drive and made for a good day trip. It'd be nice to go back sometime with the idea of staying in a local castle hotel and seeing a bit of the Czech Republic while we're there. Dh has been a few times before and really enjoyed it. All-in-all, another successful day trip for the Deane's in Europe.