TravelStream™ news feed for member haveyouseenher on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/haveyouseenher en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:29:56 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/europe_2007/1185898380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/europe_2007/1185898380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/europe_2007/1185898380/tpod.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:29:56 -0500 In Europe again, but this time for five months....

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Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

We arrived in the Czech Republic from Spain on June 19th. I have been coming to this country (what was, back in 1990 on my first trip here, still Czechoslovakia, for 17 years, first to visit my mother, who was here for two years teaching English, and then to visit my father, who moved here 12 years ago. My father has married a Czech woman, and together they spend their time between an apartment in Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad) and a tiny village in the countryside called Brody.
The Czech Republic changes every year I visit. In 1990, I remember standing in line with my mother at a tiny shop that sold whatever it happened to have (a battery, a box of tissues, ten potatoes) because we heard they had bananas. After an hour and by the time we got up to the counter, the bananas were, of course, gone. Now we go grocery shopping by car to our choice of supermarkets, from Tesco to Aldi to Kaufland to Norma and buy almost anything we could want. I remember squeezing into the kitchen of our doctor friends' tiny Communist era apartment in a section of town that looked like it had been covered in coal dust for centuries (the coal mine was just down the road) and tell them what it was like to buy any book you wanted to. We would take trips with them in their Skoda, whose motor they would turn off whenever we went down the slightest incline in order to save gas. Now they have a two story Western style house in the suburbs and an SUV.
My father came here to teach languages at the Economic University in Cheb, in the western part of the country near the German border. He bought a flat with his wife in the town of Karlovy Vary, or Karlsbad as the Germans call it. Karlovy Vary is one of those old spa towns that Europeans would flock to at the turn of the twentieth century to drink the waters and walk the forests. They still do, only now there are more Russians than anyone else. In the center of town there is a Communist era building housing a geyser of hot, stinky water, and all along the river people walk with cups in hand, filling them at the different fountains and sipping the supposedly curative liquids. He retired two years ago and bought a lovely old farm farther east, near Pilsen, in the little town of Brody.
Here in the villages you can still experience life as it once was. My father's house sits on ten acres directly adjacent to a 250 acre park. The park has a large manor house, a lake, pavilions, chapels, what was once a flowing waterfall that cascaded into an open air theatre, oak trees, beech trees, linden trees, thousand year old trees, and a six-hole golf course. The best thing about the park is that no one is ever there. At the farm we have an orchard with apple and cherry trees, walnut trees, a vegetable garden, an acre of clover and hay, a courtyard, a stone barn, and a well. The neighbors regularly bring us wheelbarrows of potatos, baskets of strawberries and cucumbers, fresh eggs, slaughtered rabbits, ducks and various cuts of pork. Most sunny days we try to get out into the forests and go mushroom picking and run into the occasional wild boar or deer. The area around us, the region of Zatec, is world famous for its hops, so we make sure we have an endless supply of Zatec beer on hand in the root cellar. The first day we arrived, we stopped on the way into Brody and picked 8 kilos of cherries on the side of the road.
So, life here is the opposite of Spain: quiet, industrious (always something to do on the farm), and private. The remnants of a society that lived through Communism still remain, especially with the older generation in the villages. So although we trade clover for potatos and strawberries for walnuts, village neighbors don't come over for dinner or the spontaneous bottle of wine. A few years ago we built a brick barbeque and pizza oven, and one night we took the neighbors across the road a few of the pizzas. I think they didn't quite know how to respond, and although they are courteous and watch out for us, there won't be any rousing parties any time soon. Life takes on a different rhythm out here, and one of my favorite things to do is to walk up the road for a view of Brody in the evenings. All I can see for miles beyond the red tiled roofs are fields, forests, and the occasional large hare jumping over the road. My days are filled with cleaning out the barn, sanding benches, moving bricks, watching baby birds grow until they leave the nest, building bonfires and roasting sausages. Life on a farm in the Czech Republic........
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/4/1256913419/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/4/1256913419/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/4/1256913419/tpod.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:59:41 -0400 South America

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Erica and I made our way from the Rio airport by bus to our apartment in Ipanema. It was a long 1.5 hours, but it was a fantastic way to see quite a bit of Rio, and cheap, only 7 reias. (A tazi would have cost us 85 reias, about $40). We had booked an apartment on the website VRBO.com, and we arrived to a secure building a block from Ipanema Beach and two blocks from Copacabana Beach. The apartment is fine, a one bedroom for $70 a night for the two of us. At last, we were here!!

In spite of the rainy day we walked to Ipanema beach and had some lunch. The 4´2" tall waiter fell head over heels for Erica and got her e-mail and a photo. We were pretty disoriented after the 14 hours of flying, so we then went back home, took a nap and headed out for dinner at about 7pm. Everyone had repeatedly warned us about the dangers of robbery (and kidnapping!), so we left all watches, earrings, necklaces, purses and rings in the apartment and nervously walked along the beach to the restaurant we had picked, the Za Za Bistro. We stayed on the side of the street with the buildings and security guards, amazed by all the gates, police, cars with tinted windows and the general state of watchfulness.

The Za Za Bistro was perfect. We sat on the outdoor patio, which had colored lights and white painted metal work. The general decor was slightly Indian, and upstairs the room was filled with pillows for sitting on the floor. It wasn't cheap. Erica's delicious lamb and mushroom risotto was about $20, and my couscous was $17. We could see that we need to figure out the cheap eats pretty soon! But, for our first night, we were happy to sit on the terrace, watching the night happenings of Rio and quench our thirsty throats with cold beers.

After dinner we walked a block to the Vinicius Bar, a piano bar that has been around for a long time and was recommended to us by two people. We didn't go downstairs to the jazz club but instead sat in the regular bar on the street level. I had a Quarenta y Tres, which reminded me of Spain, and Erica ordered whiskey. As we were sitting enjoying the sounds and sultriness of the wet evening, suddenly I heard shouting. I saw two security guards chasing a man running with a backpack, their sub machine guns drawn and pointed. This is it!, I thought, imagining a spray of bullets, me grabbing Erica and throwing us both under the table. This is what everyone was talking about! But, after checking the man's backpack and establishing he was probably only running for the bus, the security men lowered their guns, patted him jovially on the back, and returned to their hidden posts. Moral of the story: don't wear a backpack and then go running at night in Rio! We downed our drinks and walked, very slowly, home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/4/1256913195/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/4/1256913195/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/4/1256913195/tpod.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:36:06 -0400 South America

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Seattle, Washington, United States

Tomorrow Erica and I are flying to Rio! Images of Ipanema fill my head, especially on this cold, grey Seattle day.......Florianopolis will be next, then Buenos Aires, then either Uruguay or Chile...........Que bueno!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1233811500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1233811500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1233811500/tpod.html Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:20:12 -0500 Mexico y Cuba!

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Havana, Cuba

Andres and Mary took us everywhere. We walked for miles. We took as many photos as we could. Havana was a fascinating city, with contrasts everywhere. What struck me was that although most of the buildings in Central Havana were run down on the outside, if you caught a glimpse into the interior, people did the best they could to make those buildings into homes. It reminded me of driving into East Germany in March of 1990, shortly after the Berlin Wall came down. What was shocking on the outside was quite different once you delved a little deeper. Just like people, in a way.........
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1233723120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1233723120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1233723120/tpod.html Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:16:58 -0500 Mexico y Cuba!

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Havana, Cuba

The next day we explored Old Havana on foot. We found the perfect breakfast spot with a lovely, courteous old waiter and a beautiful woman playing the piano, and it was nice to just sit and people watch for hours on end. The architecture reminded me a little of New Orleans, with the upper level balconies and stone buildings. We wandered to the Hotel Florida where Hemingway had his favorite Pina Coladas, and on the way stopped in a bar where there was a small band. Of course the man at the bar approached us and soon I was dancing, as that's what one does in Cuba: dance! There was music everywhere, all the time. That night we found a place with an all girl band and met a nice couple, then were befreinded by Andres, who was to become "our man in Havana". As hard as we tried, we could not lose him, but in the end it was good to have someone to show us around, take us through Cental Hanvana and along streets we might not otherwise have braved going down (although it is pretty safe everywhere we went, it just looks run down). Andres was a character, and I learned a lot about Cuban life from him. He was uncensored in what he told us, some of which we were shocked by. We didn't know that Cubans couldn't go into just any restaurant, hotel or bar, which we learned when we suggested sitting down at an outdoor cafe. Andres would have been chased away. He also told us that most of the beaches were for tourists, and Cubans weren't allowed on those beaches. They could not buy cell phones, computers, or dvd's (which changed soon after we were there, as well as Cubans being allowed in all hotels and on all beaches and beginning to be able to own land to farm), and once when Andres was walking us home, the police stopped him and interrogated him. There were cameras everywhere. But, everyone has an education and health care.....Just shows me once again that life is complicated. I am happy I live in the "free" world, but how is it that the richest country in the world also has an appalling infant mortality rate, or that people are homeless on the streets, and that so many people are illiterate?? I felt I wanted to really know Cuba and its ways, but I also knew it could never really happen. It was still too scary, too secret, too closed, which made me sad, because it was truly showing itself to be a country of incredible people, beautiful and passionate.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1233708180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1233708180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1233708180/tpod.html Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:52:01 -0500 Mexico y Cuba!

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Havana, Cuba

It's been almost a year since I went to Cuba. Too long to leave a travel blog empty, and without a diary, I can't remember all the details. I'll do my best!

Erica and I bought our tickets with cash at the Cancun airport. Being a German citzen, I was not too worried, but still better safe than sorry. We had arranged a place to stay in a Casa Particular through the website cubajunky.com. When we arrived at the airport late that night, we took a taxi into town and rang the doorbell of our contact in Havana. I had chosen this place because it was very beautiful inside, with Art Nouveau details, wood carvings, colored galss doors, etc., the Art history major in me forever looking for the artistic in every place I stay. Instead our man said the room was full and he would have to take us to another place nearby. Not seeing other options, it being almost midnight, we were then dumped onto his brother who walked us through the very run down and to us, scary, dark streets of Central Havana. We ended up meeting the manager of the new place, which was on a main street in a communist style building up five flights of stairs. When we entered, our hearts sank. It was as sterile as sterile could be, and depressing was putting it kindly. Still, we had no options. They said they would come by in the morning to get our money.

The apartment had two bedrooms. When Erica and I tried out the saggy, horrible beds in the one bedroom, I decided to sleep in the other room (big mistake). When the son of the manager arrived the next morning and discovered we had used the other bedroom (no mention of not using the room the night before), all hell broke loose. What ensued was me standing in my pajamas, sweating, dehydrated (we had no water), hungry, confused, and arguing in Spanish with two men. They wanted us to pay double for having used the second room, and they said we had promised to stay there for five days and should pay them the full amount. At this point we were done. We wanted out. We told them so, and they called our original contact, who then came rushing over, hostile and aggressive, yet putting on fake charm. He was almost desperate and said we could move back into his place, but at this point he had been so mean and rude we wanted nothing to do with him, at which point he said sarcastically, "fine, if you want to go to a fancy, expensive hotel, then have a nice time" and tried to shake my hand. I made some sort of retort which let him know that's not at all what we wanted to do, and I think he got the point. I found a phone in the apartment and tried to call the man who had made the reservation for us from the website (I won't mention his name, because friends said he was great to them), but I think rude, Smarmy, Aggressive Guy called him first, and he basically defended the mean man and hung up on us. After about two hours of arguing, I was exhausted. The manager of this new flat and his son finally became human after I explained the situation of having been brought to this new flat by Smarmy Guy, who we suspect just wanted to get rid of us so he could rent his place out for more money to someone else. They eventually took pity on us, became quite nice, said Smarmy Guy had been wrong and not a very nice person, didn't charge us for using the extra room, and gave us a card just in case we needed help.

We packed, went down to the street and decided to go to Old Havana no matter what. We were looking quite helpless on the street and many, many men were trying to give us "taxi" rides in their cars, when a sassy, cute, gold toothed woman about 35 in a yellow taxi moped thing screeched to a halt in front of us. She was our angel, and appropriately named Mary. At the apartment I had called some hotels for vacancies and found one at the Hostal Frailes in Old Havana. Our lovely Mary took us there, suitcases balanced on our knees, and then offered to take us on a tour later that afternoon. We gladly accepted.

Our hotel was beautiful. And expensive, but we didn't care. We wanted safety and nurturing after the male testosterone that had been aimed in our direction all morning. Inside the hotel were nice women, dressed as friars, a band was playing in the lobby, and there was a bar in the corner where another lovely woman was making mojitos. Okay, not exactly what we had planned (stay in real Havana, don't stay in the tourist part, don't spend a lot of money), but we were traumatized, so we caved.

We ended up spending the whole afternoon with Mary in her little yellow bubble taxi cab, me trying to translate for Erica everything she was telling us about Cuba, Castro, life, men, her boyfriend, what Cubans think of Americans, about her father, her son, everything. She took us to the cemetery and told us the story of a woman buried there who people say answers their prayers, she took us along the malecon, to the famous ice cream parlor in New Havana, and to the best place for a mojito. It was a pricey, pricey ride and was about probably four months' worth of her income, but we were happy. We felt safe and protected in our little taxi bubble cocoon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1208729700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1208729700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1208729700/tpod.html Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:30:00 -0400 Mexico y Cuba!

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Playa del Carmen, Mexico

We arrived in Cancun only to discover Erica's bag had been lost. Undeterred, we continued on by bus to Playa del Carmen where we would be spending three nights before heading on to Cuba. I hadn't been to Mexico in many years, and I was looking forward to getting back. I had been all the way down the Baja Peninsula by car, been to the Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Oaxaca, Peurto Escondido, Guadalajara, Zihuatanejo, Mexico City, and lived in Guanajuato, but this was my first time to the Yucatan. I was ready for the colors, food, music and Tequila!

Our first night was at the Hotel Playa del Karma, which was run by handsome and stylish Italians (are there any other kind?) and was just what we were looking for: a lush courtyard garden, beautiful tile details, bright colors, and a peaceful atmosphere. We dropped off my bag and set out on the town.

Only a block away was the main pedestrian street of Playa del Carmen, which was lined with restaurants and shops as far as you could see. Even though it was a little overwhelming, it wasn't bad, and actually really fun. Of course my excitement increased about 100 times when I spotted the Casa Tequila, as my "Happy Place" inevitably includes at least two shots of this happy making elixir. We spent the evening wandering up and down the street, having our first of many tacos, and enjoying the beer, the people watching, and the fact we had finally made it to Mexico.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1208467920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1208467920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/3/1208467920/tpod.html Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:43:31 -0400 Mexico y Cuba!

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Seattle, Washington, United States

I am always happy to leave Seattle (sorry die hard Seattle fans), even though I have grown up here. Sure, the mountains are stunning, but when do you see them? People are concerned with the environment, liberal, recycling is huge, but who ever says hello to you or smiles and means it? I was so ready to leave the life of gray skies, gray highways, cars everywhere, and no joy. I may be oversimplifying, but I couldn't wait to get to blue skies and friendly people, where music is heard everywhere and people dance anywhere, for any reason, at any time of day or night (or both). I needed human connection, sun, laughter, and the simple happiness of being alive. I was in for all of it on this trip to Mexico and Cuba.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/europe_2007/1190317260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/europe_2007/1190317260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/europe_2007/1190317260/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jan 2008 01:04:57 -0500 In Europe again, but this time for five months....

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Prague, Czech Republic

Of course we had to take a trip to Prague. Although I have been there many times before, I still think it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The key is to stay away from the tourist streets, and you'll be fine. One street over and there's nobody, and you'll have the cobblestones and medieval feeling all to yourself.
Our friend Suzanna had graciously offered us the use of her rooftop apartment while she was away at her country house. The apartment was right in the center and about half a block from the river. From the roof we could see almost all of Prague, and we felt really lucky.
We mostly spent our time wandering around the old neighborhoods, ducking into beer halls and out of the way restaurants. Another friend, Monika, took us on a lovely walk along the river and on hidden roads until we ended up at a favorite local spot, bar Duende, actually owned by a good friend of my neighbor back in Seattle. Monika had been the editor of Cucina Italiana, so she and Dan had a lot to talk about, mostly how the Czech Republic still needs a food revolution. I left them to the revolution planning stages and enjoyed people watching.
I couldn't help but reminisce about my first trips to Prague in 1990 when foreigners were still a novelty, the cathedral entrance was free, and the Charles Bridge was virtually deserted. Prague had a melancholy feel back then, pensive and quiet. It has definitely changed, and it's not all for the bad. You can definitely eat better (and more expensively) and it is a very happening city. But I still can't help thinking of the times I spent by myself, lounging in the orchard below the castle, or looking at the city unscarred by McDonalds and Starbucks. Old Prague still exists, but it takes some persistence to find. Oh, well, at least there's still the beer, the Art Nouveau architecture, and the foot long sausages.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/europe_2007/1189886640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/europe_2007/1189886640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/haveyouseenher/europe_2007/1189886640/tpod.html Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:47:57 -0400 In Europe again, but this time for five months....

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Mariaske Lazne, Czech Republic

Oh, the water.......Where do I begin? Stinky, smelly, revolting, delicious, disgusting, bubbling, warm, still, sparkling, cold. Every variety you can think of, and each one exists right here. People come from all over the world to the various spa towns in the Czech Republic to drink the waters as part of a cure, for diabetes, kidney disease, or arthritis. In Karlsbad there is a gigantic geyser that shoots up out of the earth, housed in a lovely Communist era building. People buy their special ceramic drinking mugs, with holes in the handles of the mug for sipping out of like a straw, and they walk up and down the promenades. Our favorite game is to guess where the people are from by their clothes, and by far the majority are Russians (we can always pick them out by their fancy track suits).
Karlovy Vary is my favorite of the spa towns, with its long, winding river, hills on both sides, Art Nouveau architecture, and hundreds of kilometers of forest trails. My first time in Karlovy Vary was in 1990 in winter, and we went to the Thermal, another lovely Communist building, to swim in the huge, heated outdoor pool with views over the town. It was quite surreal, with the steam rising up from the pool, and very large, serious Russian and Czech women silently gliding past me with their fancy bathing caps. Now Karlovy Vary is quite the scene, with fancy stores, outdoor cafes, sexy Czech women wearing thongs at the pool and foreign women going topless.
But, back to the water. I've tried, believe me, I've tried, but I just can't do it. My vote for the most revolting sip of water I've ever had, and I actually PAID for it, was in a spa town called Fratiskovy Lazne. The town is lovely, but the water stinks. Literally. There was one tiny pavilion we went into where you were almost shoved backwards by the hot stench of the spring, and the water I tried, which cost me 6 crowns for a sippy cup (20 cents), made me gag and have to sit down. But people swear by it, and I actually heard three Czech women oohing and aahing over the stinky stuff. Maybe you get used to it, or just immune to it? So, in Marianske Lazne (or Marienbad, as in the movie "Last Days at Marienbad"), I decided to skip the gagging sensation and eat the famous wafers instead. People buy cases of them to take home.....vanilla, chocolate, and coffee flavored. Much more soothing and healing than the waters, in my opinion.
Thank God for Kynswart, another spa town, much smaller, with a beautiful manor house and park. There is a spring there that bubbles forth the most delicious water I have ever had. It is cold, pure, and slightly sparkling. Dan and I filled up six large plastic bottles with the heavenly, non-smelling water, and I could finally see what all the fuss was about......
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