Today was my first snowy busking of the season! I took a break from the hustle and bustle of Prague to go to the tiny, adorable, UNESCO recognized town of Český Krumlov. This was a fabulous getaway: I stayed in a really cozy hostel, Krumlov House, heard a live gypsy band, ate goulash with bread dumplings, and blissfully watched the first snowfall of the season.
I planned to busk, since I was sure it would be full of tourists, but the weather prohibited my standard Saturday marathon. Instead, I set up this morning for a couple hours on a lovely bridge going over the Vltava river. I had a view of not only the river but the colorful tower of the castle, and the dusting of snow over the roofs and the hills beyond.
A man at the other end of the bridge was selling mulled wine and hot chocolate, ringing a bell on occasion. Everything was a bit slushy and icy, so I kicked some snow out of the way to try to make a level surface for my setup. Regardless, everything was wet, so I could not put anything down. All my setup was done with my accordion on!
There was a decent amount of foot traffic. The majority of people were in tour groups, but there were smaller parties, as well as locals and children. One kid chucked some snowballs at her mother who didn't notice, because she was watching me. Yesss. One older Czech tour guide tried saying something to me, then mimed that I shouldn't play while she was talking. Fair enough. In general, a couple other locals commented, but it was hard to assess their sentiments about my performance. One looked sort of like a sad clown; loose trousers tucked into his pink socks, with an old ratty cap. He said something, with a frown, then gave me a thumbs up. Next time he walked by, it was up to two thumbs. Another similarly disheveled older man with a big beard did the same, but applauded.
My favourite interaction was with a well-dressed man with a pointed beard and tween cap. He actually looked quite a bit like my late Great Uncle Klaus. This man is originally from London but now lives in Austria. He asked me for a song, then secretly suggested I play "Happy Birthday," in case it was someone's birthday in the vicinity. There were three big tour groups around, so stastically it could have been. I played it, and this man sang. All heads turned, and sure enough a man in one group patten another on the shoulder, pretty much implying that it was his birthday. Ha.
Despite the glorious scenery, I was quite cold. I don't have my full winter busking attire, and I was standing in a snowbank. Occasionally I would lean backwards against the wall of the bridge, and halfway through the set I realized that it was wet. My fingers were quite cold, and I began making frozen-finger related mistakes. At one point I goofily wore my big wooly glove-mitten in its fingerless glove format on my right hand only. My toes were cold, and the elastic on my left foot kept sticking to the ice! Surely a fascinating science fact in action. Yes, it was icy and occasionally when I lifted my more-firmly-planted left foot to activate Flaca's arm, I wold slip and have to catch myself. Both of the elastics got quite wet and left fun patterns on my shoes.
People were walking by with delicious-looking hot chocolate from the man near me, so finally I slid over to treat myself to a cup. Mmm! I played for about two hours total, earning both Crowns and Euros. I was completely frozen, the back of my dress soaked through, when I packed up, so naturally i went to a traditional Bohemian pub for some mead. Hit the spot! I'd better get used to it, though, my trip is far from paid for. Even though now I am predominantly couchsurfing and my rail pass is valid, I need to keep playing to raise funds. Let there be mead, or its local equivalent, aplenty!
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