About the Rooster

Okay. So, any friends of mine that are planning on visiting should know about the rooster.
This guy kills me.

First, a further explanation of where Andy’s parents live – Ujezd nad Lesy. As I’ve mentioned, Ujezd (as we call it), is to Prague as Queens is to Manhattan. It is still considered Prague… in fact it is Prague 9 (like Paris arrondisments, Prague neighborhoods have numbers as well as names). But it’s a bit removed… to get to Prague center, which is where Stare Mesto is, and Prague Castle and all the touristy stuff, from Ujezd, there are two possibilities of travel. First, we could walk through the woods along a narrow and woody path (it’s very woody, but very nice… just narrow… single file only) for a little less than a mile (about 15 minutes), where we end up in Klanovice, the next town over, to take the “City Elefant” train, which is comparable to the LIRR or Metro North. We get on, hopefully get a seat, and within a half an hour we’re in Prague. The second option is to walk a couple blocks to the bus stop, take a 10 minute bus ride to Cerny Most (which means “Black Bridge”) and get the subway into Prague (about 15 minutes more or less).

So, now you have an idea of the distance between Prague center and Ujezd. Now, Ujezd is just a small village, no center really, just a main street that goes through and neighborhoods of houses off of it. Andy’s family has lived here for 27 years, and in recent years Ujezd has become increasingly popular for city people who are seeking to have “country” houses. Although, it’s not what I would consider the country, not by my upstate NY, American, born in Indiana standards. But, they do sell boruvky (blueberries) on the side of the road, and Andy’s parents grow lots of veggies in their garden… but Ujezd is more a rural European village than the “country.” However….

There’s a freaking rooster here! And it crows! A lot! All day long, in fact! Beginning at 4:30am!

Now, truly, it shouldn’t be such a big deal. However… it doesn’t sound like a rooster… like a real, “cockle-doodle-doo” rooster. No. It sounds like a human being murdered. And waking up to that at 4:30 in the morning is worse than waking up to a rooster could ever be. So, friends, beware. At this point, after nearly 2 weeks, I have gotten (pretty) used to it. I am not waking up at 4:30 anymore when it crows (I assume it’s still crowing, that is). But, I wouldn’t discourage you from bringing earplugs. That’s for sure.

Click below to see the gardens behind the houses on Andy’s parents’ street, while listening to the I’m-a-human-being-murdered rooster.