Prague with Stephen's mom
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
45
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Prague,
Czech Republic
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Before I start, if you are looking for our pics, we are now going to be posting them to Ofoto.com so check out the www and sign up now.
Now on to the t-pod...Long time no chat, huh? A lot has happened since we last spoke. Here's a very short update as to what's been doing in A'dam for the last few weeks...
- We went out on the boat with Chris one day. It was so stinky! I'm not sure if it was his boat or the canal but it sure was stinky!
- I got on the tram one morning but had trouble getting on because a homeless person was sitting on the steps. He was pretty dirty. As I passed him I looked down and saw that he was looking at a Playboy. It was very weird. And nobody seemed to notice. Everyone just left him alone.
- This was a tough month for me...not only did Devin Harris leave the Badgers a year early but my favorite band, Phish, broke up. Rats!
- We were lucky enough to be here to see the Dutch make it to the quarterfinals of the EuroCup, the Europe only version of the World Cup. It was fun. The Dutch played their first game against their dreaded rivals, the Germans. It was after that game that I realized why soccer will never really catch on in the US - for one, there are no breaks in action that allow for TV commercials, secondly, it is a team sport so superstars don't really develop and Americans love superstars, and lastly, after 90 minutes of sport, there is no winner! The Dutch-German match ended in a 1-1 tie. That just wouldn't work in the US. I mean, we even changed the rules to hockey so that in the end, there would be a winner and a loser.
- I am trying to save money now by washing and ironing my own dress shirts now. My colleagues were making fun of me for paying $3 a shirt and since the whole country does their own shirts, I figured I could too. First step, learn how to iron. I have never ironed before so I had to figure out how. It's pretty easy and somewhat relaxing. So now I like doing my own shirts. Maybe if banking doesn't pan out I'll open a drycleaners.
- On the concert front, I have been pretty busy. I went to see jazz legend Sonny Rollins at the Concertgebouw symphony hall, the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the soccer arena, Bonnie Raitt at the Paradiso, the North Sea Jazz Festival where we saw a ton of small bands in addition to seeing Elvis Costello and Buddy Guy, and a few nights ago, we saw George Clinton and Parliament at the Paradiso. The Chili Peppers were fun but the soccer stadium was the worst place to see a show. I'll probably never see another show there because the seats are terrible and the acoustics are horrendous. They were funny though - they covered the song 'Brandy' that song from the 70s that says 'cause my life my love and my lady is the sea'. They introduced the song by saying "this song was huge in WI". It was funny. Bonnie Raitt and Sonny Rollins were both cool to see and the intimate venues made the shows even better. The North Sea Jazz Festival was cool but it was housed in a convention center. It felt more like a trade show than a festival but seeing Elvis Costello perform with the Metropole Orchestra, the 50ish-piece band that we saw Herbie Hancock with, was cool. And I love seeing Buddy Guy. Chicago in the house! We've seen him about 5 times now and I think he's played the exact same show each time, including all the gimmicks, but he's so great. George Clinton was awesome too. He played for 3 solid hours when Julie let me know it was time to leave. I had wanted to see him for a few years now and there was always some reason why we couldn't go but I'm glad I finally got to see him. Although he's more like a conductor, instructing others to perform. He does assemble a lot of talented musicians who seems to feel very comfortable playing in diapers and pimp outfits.
Anyways, that's it in A'dam. I'm about halfway done with our Tuscany t-pod but in the meantime, here's what we have to say about Prague...
==============================
FROM STEPHEN'S MOM
I arrived in Amsterdam on July 1st and instantly felt at home. This time when Stephen greeted me with flowers and a big smile, it felt wonderful and familiar. As the train navigated from Schiphol Airport to Central Station, the sights from the window were welcoming and familiar. The final stretch from the train station to Herengracht on the trolley was comfortably familiar as well. Stephen then schlepped my two heavy suitcases up 45 steps before dashing off to work. Shortly after, Julie arrived home from work and we went out for a lovely lunch and then some chores. As I crossed over the canals again, I experienced the same feelings of wonder that I felt last year as I took in all the sights and sounds of this quaint city. I was again struck by the beauty of the canal houses and the charm of the boats passing along the way. I was again struck by the chaos of the many bicyclists zipping along at breakneck speed as they narrowly avoided colliding with each other at each intersection. I was again struck by the fast pace of the pedestrians as they hurried along the narrow meandering streets carrying armloads of brightly colored plastic bags filled with their purchases. When Stephen got home from work, we walked to dinner and once again I felt comfortable as I took in the many familiar sights and sounds of this city. It truly has a distinct rhythm and personality. It has an ambiance all its own.
On the 2nd, I packed while Stephen and Julie went off to work. By the time she returned, I was ready to go off for an afternoon of lunch and more chores. We ate at a wonderful sandwich shop. The locals watched me in amazement as I picked up my tuna sandwich with my hands to eat it. I watched them in amazement as they picked up their knives and forks to cut theirs. To them, we must seem like barbarians but it just seems so much more efficient to eat a sandwich the American way! Later in the afternoon, Julie and I met Stephen at Schiphol Airport for our flight to Prague. We got to the airport at least 2 hours before the flight and thought we had plenty of time to spare. However, the next few hours seemed like eternity. We waited on line after line trying to pick up our tickets only to be told that we had to wait on yet another line to check our bags. After an eternity, just as we were about to check our bags, the conveyor belt broke which forced us to wait on yet another line to finally check them in. By then, there was just enough time for a quick bite before boarding our flight. We actually spent more time trying to check in for the flight than the flight itself. We arrived in Prague in a little over an hour, retrieved our bags and found Jan who was waiting to take us to our apartment. To get into the apartment we needed 4 separate keys, which were color coded for each of the 4 doors we needed to open. We took the elevator, which literally only holds 3 people, to the 4th floor and then had to climb yet one more floor on foot. Keys 3 and 4 actually unlock the last 2 doors to the apartment. The apartment was rather spartan even by Czech standards. It was outfitted with a tired looking couch and table, a TV, a hotplate and an electric carafe for heating water. There were 2 bedrooms. One with 2 twin beds and the other with a bed that I think used to be a couch/chair of sorts. The former was for the kids and the latter for me. My mattress was beyond description.....thin, flat and hard with breaks running through it. The bathroom had no soap, but Julie remembered to bring some. The towels were so thin they were transparent. The good news was the place was relatively clean and safe and above all very reasonably priced. This was going to be an adventure for me. It reminded me of my first European experience as a college graduate when I toured with my cousin Maddy. We settled in for the night.
We woke up on the 3rd ready to go. After locking all 4 doors, we made it to the street to begin our official walking tour of Prague. Stephen, guidebook in hand, did a superb job walking up through Wenceslas Square to Old Town Square. There we inspected every building, cobblestone, statue and church. We learned the history of the city and spent time standing beneath the astronomical clock as the hour chimed. As though we were in Disneyland, on the hour, all 12 apostles appear one by one in the windows above the clock. At the same time 3 figurines below move and turn as the skeleton figure rings a bell. I don't quite know what the significance of all this is, but it is a real crowd pleaser. At the conclusion, which is a matter of a minute, the crowd goes wild. Later we climbed to the top of the tower and watched the crowd's reaction from above. It was truly amazing. We walked around a bit, did some shopping, and were ready to meet Stephen and Julie's friends Bruce and Ange who just happened to be in Prague for the night after returning from their vacation. We had a few beers with them (my first since the Heineken brewery last summer) and then went to a sports bar for a real American cheeseburger. That was it for the day. We then trekked home, opened 2 locks, rode the elevator for 3, which incidentally had no door separating it from the elevator shaft, opened 2 more locks and went in. I thought it might be a good idea to take a shower at night and wash my hair to save time in the morning. It was then that I discovered that there was no more soap. Julie's liquid soap had run out. It's a good thing there was some very liquidy hand soap on the sink. It wasn't very efficient but at least it was somewhat soapy. Did I forget to mention that we had no hairdryer? Well, I went to sleep that night somewhat clean with unstyled, wet hair. I wasn't worried because so far I hadn't run into anybody I knew in Prague and was hoping that my luck would continue.
On the 4th we began our very patriotic day by visiting the Jewish Quarter. We met a guide whose ex-husband coincidentally taught biochemistry in Madison. It seemed so random to me since she had never been outside the Czech Republic but her children have gone to Madison several times to visit their father. Trust me, Prague and Madison have nothing in common! The Jewish Quarter is very interesting because Hitler preserved it in tact as a living memorial for an extinct people. That's what he thought but obviously he was wrong. The Spanish Synagogue is still beautiful and very much in tact. Even the Jewish cemetery is still standing. The gravestones are very close together because bodies are buried 8 layers deep, I believe. The stones are very weathered and difficult to read but you can still make out some Hebrew writing. The entire Jewish Quarter is rather upscale with very pricey stores like Hermes and many lovely outdoors cafes. I forgot to mention that yesterday we went to the Communist Museum, which is located next to a McDonald's. Considering this city's Communist heritage, it's interesting to note that Capitalism is alive and flourishing in the Czech Republic! After our tour, we stopped for lunch and then decided to walk across the Charles Bridge to the castle. This walk across the bridge is one of the highlights of the city. The views are picturesque and a carnival atmosphere prevails as you are jostled along by the masses of people crossing as well. Along the walk you can buy trinket souvenirs or have you portrait done in charcoal. If you're not interested in either you can simply enjoy the ambiance and the magnificent views of the other bridges, the castle in the distance, the red rooftops of the surrounding buildings or the skyline of Old Town Square. The afternoon was warm and the walk up to the castle was very steep and winding. Despite my excellent physical condition, I needed to stop for a rest before reaching the top. By the time we arrived, it was less than an hour before closing and not enough time to see everything so we decided to trek back down the hill, cross back over the Charles Bridge and save the castle for another day. We stopped at an outdoor café by the river to recoup and enjoy the view and have a couple of beers. Then we went for dinner at an authentic Czech restaurant called the Budweiser Budvar. It seemed like an authentic beer hall complete with bench seats and long wooden tables. We actually sat with a lovely German traveler who was enjoying the food for a second night in a row. When I looked at the menu I couldn't find anything that looked remotely familiar so I ordered "chicken steak" which turned out to be chicken schnitzel. It was wonderful......very basic but delicious, served with steamed carrots and potatoes. And so ended yet another wonderful day.
On the 5th we went on a tour of Terezin. Several miles outside of Prague, Terezin was built as an army camp and was later turned into a transportation camp for Jews on their way to concentration camps. Our guide was an actual survivor of Terezin and Auschwitz. She left Prague with her mother and father at age 12 and actually remained at Terezin with them for 2 years. She remembers her life there as difficult but not impossible. She lived in the same barracks as her mother and worked in a nearby garden. The children of Terezin were afforded more of the cultural activities than other children in other camps. They received some schooling, were exposed to art and music and theater. Food rations were meager and any amenities were non-existent but since Terezin was not an extermination camp, people died of disease, starvation or suicide. After 2 years, her family was transported to Auschwitz. She was in the last transport from Terezin. In Auschwitz she remained for only 10 days with her mother before being moved again to work in a factory in Germany near Berlin. Her father died in Auschwitz but her mother and she survived the war. Her story was riveting and made the visit there even more meaningful for me. As she walked through the very places she walked as a child and recounted stories and anecdotes, it made it all seem very real for me. As part of the tour, we stopped for lunch there. I felt guilty eating lunch there after hearing that the food ration for the day was only some bread, maybe some soup and perhaps some weak tea or coffee. We boarded the bus for home after seeing the crematorium that was built later on to dispose of the bodies of those who died there. We arrived back in Prague and walked around some more in the Jewish Quarter before going back to Old Town Square. Dinner that night was at another authentic Czech beer hall type restaurant. That one was not as good as the other one.
Our last day in Prague was spent at the castle. In the morning, before we were tired, we walked back across the river via the Charles Bridge and enjoyed the uncrowded sights around us. We walked back up the steep hill but it was much easier this time. We entered the castle compound and first visited the church. It was beautiful and not unlike many of the other famous churches in Europe I have visited. We decided to climb to the tower for a panoramic view of the city. What a mistake.....not the view but the steps. There were 287 steps that wound around a rather small circumference. Once you started up there was no turning back. By the time I got to the top, I thought I was going to die. I was too dizzy, exhausted and winded to even go out to take a look at the view. Fortunately, I soon revived myself and went out for a look. The view was truly amazing but I don't think I'll ever do that climb again! We rented headphones to make the visit more enjoyable but the commentary was very general. Stephen did a better job with his tour guides than the headsets did. We went into all of the building surrounding the castle. Unlike most of the other castles in Europe, this one did not have any furnishings or pictures in it. The view of the castle from the bridge was more impressive than the actual castle itself. There were guards stationed outside the castle that change guard on the hour a la Buckingham Palace but not nearly as impressive. It was an interesting day but now that I've seen it, I don't think I need to go back. We walked back across the river via the Charles Bridge for the last time and looked back again at the castle. Yes, it was definitely more impressive from a distance. We went back to the apartment to change clothes before going to a classical 4-string quartet concert at a church nearby. The concert was very enjoyable. They played several pieces by Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi and Shubert. It was truly a wonderful way to end a great visit to Prague.
We left Prague at 7 AM in the morning so Stephen could go directly to work. In a short hour we were back in Amsterdam. Julie and I made our way home from the airport, schlepped the suitcases up the stairs and started doing laundry. Now that we're back, as I reflect on the trip the most special thing for me was actually spending time with the kids. They're a pleasure to spend time with. Stephen makes an excellent tour guide and has an uncanny sense of direction. Julie is great fun to shop with and wonderful at finding delicious sweets to eat along the way. All and all I had a remarkable time and have filled my memory bank with precious memories.
Written with love by,
Roz
==============================
FROM STEPHEN
Since my mom created a real good foundation, I will only add a few of those details that you guys love hearing about...
PRAGUE - T. T. M. Y. G. Hmmmm
FRIDAY
*** The woman at Schiphol who eventually gave us our tix told me that now that we had our tix, we would have to wait in another line, the 3rd of the day, in order to check in and get our boarding tix. I told her that that was not what the other lady said - a bit of a lie - and that she should check us in. She gave me the usual Dutch answer 'that's not possible'. I wouldn't budge and eventually, the 'impossible' happened as she was somehow able to check us in...praise Jesus, a real miracle! She saved us another 30 minutes of line waiting but she told us that we would now have to go back to the self check-in where we could check our luggage. So as my mom mentioned, we waited in line as the conveyor belt that takes the bags into the dark unknown of the airport broke. The funny and typically Dutch thing about it was that instead of suggesting that we go to the other cluster of counters across the mass of people behind us where the conveyor belts were working, she let us stand there in silence waiting. After about 15 minutes without an update, our 2 hours of pre-boarding time cushion was starting to get a bit too close for comfort so we questioned whether the other luggage counters were working and she said they were. Hello, lady, couldn't you have said that a long time ago? The funny thing is looking at the 3 or so counters to our left and right, all using the broken conveyor belt, none of the KLM staff thought enough to tell their customers about this nifty trick of trying another counter that was working. Obviously the radical idea of 'thinking out of the box' has not really made it here yet! The last Schiphol-related story is that while waiting at the broken luggage belt, there was some panicky French woman who was freaking out that she was going to miss her flight. She was going nuts. She kept insisting that the KLM clerk help her immediately without her needing to wait in line. The KLM lady kept telling her that everyone in line had a flight to catch and it wouldn't be fair to let this Frenchie cut in line. The French woman insisted but the KLM lady remained firm. I am not happy to say this but I agree with the KLM lady...I am an important person with important things to do too but I got to the airport 2 hours early, she should've been able to also. Tough shit Frenchie. We finally made it through the check-in process and settled into our McD's seats with a nice McShit meal to help us celebrate our triumph over the evil powers that control Schiphol!
*** Following my usual 'sleep throughout the entire flight' routine, I woke up just in time to see our descent into beautiful Prague. I was shocked as to how green the countryside was. I don't know what I was expecting but it was gorgeous.
*** Our airport troubles continued as we were stuck in a huge, immobile line for non-EU passports. Either nobody told the immigration authority that there was a flight arriving that might have some American and Canadians on board or the passenger at the front of the line trying to enter the country was named Osama bin Laden because we stood still for probably 15 minutes. Luckily there was some 2ish-year-old kid who had forgotten to take his Ritalin running around the arrival hall. He was really cute. His parents, obviously European by the way they never once yelled at this animal to 'come here', 'stand still', 'stop running', 'be quiet', 'don't climb on that sign, it's going to fall and then your head will crack (that was always my personal fav)'. They didn't even seem to notice when the boy played hide-and-go-seek with his bro and hid behind a stranger's leg. The kid had a 2-arm latch around this random man's leg. I felt bad for the kid when he realized that this was not his dad's leg. It was funny though because the people who were with the strange leg started teasing their friend saying 'hey Bob, have you been to Prague before? He looks just like ya'. Finally, we made it through passport control and found our ride into town, Jan, holding a sign.
*** In Jan's car, we were welcomed to Prague with the smooth sounds of the Beatles. It was very funny. The radio played the best music we had heard in a very long time. Finally, no Justin Timberlake, no Avril Levigne, no techno. It was great! It was almost funny as I remembered my Russian pal Stan, who left his communist motherland as a 10 year old, telling me that he used to listen to Beatles records too. Jan asked us where we were from and when we shared that we were American (as if that can be hid), he told us about his best friend who fled communist Prague with two young children and settled in SF. He didn't get into too many details but he did say that the friend flew for a 'vacation' to somewhere I don't remember that was under communist rule where he was able to run a few KMs at night, carrying his two children and all of their worldly possessions, through a forest across the boarder to Austria where they were able to get to America somewhere. How bad must communism have been?
*** My mom did a good job describing the apartment. The only thing that I would say is instead of describing it as 'spartan', I would simply say it looked like something that would've been used under communism. It was very bare bones with my mom's bed being particularly rough, looking more like a prison cot than a bed. I will also say that while this apartment might have been the worst Julie and I have ever stayed in, it wasn't totally out of the norm for us...but maybe it was a bit of a shock for a woman in her 40s (my mom's not really in her 40s but she had a tough enough time with this bed, there's no need to be mean to her by revealing her true age, although she does look great for a woman in her 70s). I will also note though that a colleague of mine who lived in Prague for 2 years told me that after the fall of communism, a handful of high-end hotels came to town but no moderate ones. So the town is full of super nice and super crappy, but nothing in the middle - quiet a change from the 'everyone's equal' mentality of communism, huh? But after a few nights in her prison cell, my mom saw the Hotel Intercontinental and wondered aloud how much it cost. I assured her it would cost at least EUR 350 a night, compared to our EUR 86 a night. She got the price list and it was over EUR 350 a night for a single, with double rooms costing a bit more. That means it would've cost us about EUR 500 a night for the 3 of us compared to the EUR 86 we were paying. With all of us on a tight budget, we stayed put at Jan's place (http://www.prague.st/apartments-janalex/apartment_1.php).
SATURDAY (see Pics 1 - 36)
*** We had a really good breakfast our first morning at a typical Czech place (Café Svateeho Vaclava) on Wenceslas Square, a huge central area which is more of a pedrestrianized boulevard than a square. I had eggs scrambled with dumplings, a really good dough that somehow makes it's way into every meal. My mom had a continental breakfast complete with cereal, bread, cheese, meat, juice, and coffee. Being a decaf weirdo, my mom insisted on simply being served hot water so that she could add her own decaf instant tea bag-looking coffee. How many of these bags did she have to bring for a month trip to Europe? Julie had an omelet. The bill was CZK 490, about $20. On a sidenote, I had a tough time in Prague paying for our meals because I would always get the attention of our waitress/waiter and forgetting where I am, say "check". They always looked at me as if to say 'yes, I am Czech, you are American'. After a few days, I started asking for the 'bill'.
*** I love saying 'Wenceslas'. It sounds like 've-ss-sss-sss-sss'.
*** We found the 39 Kroner Store. You guessed right, the exchange rate is roughly 39 Kroners to the Dollar (however due to Bush ruining our economy, the Dollar is now down to 25 Kroners). But essentially, we found the Czech Dollar Store. Pretty funny!
*** The weather was gorgeous all weekend, with it only raining for about a 10-minute period on our first day in town. Luckily we were able to find a place for ice cream =)
*** We followed the Rick Steve's self-guided walking tour. His book says that it can be done in 20 minutes, but encourages people to take their time and wander off path to uncover some of the interesting sites along the small alleys that line town. We thought that given it could be done in 20 minutes, we'll be able to do it in a day. We were wrong. We spent about 7 hours on the walk and barely finished half. We were sidetracked for quiet some time at the Communism Museum (CZK 180 per person) though, which ironically is located next to a McD's and a casino - not very Lenin-esque. One of the most interesting parts of the museum for me was the part about the local Quickie Mart convenience store. It said that since the Communist kept prices low, it got to the point where the prices weren't high enough to cover the costs of manufacturing the product. This lead to shortages, causing extreme demand. Now anyone who took Econ 101 understands that supply should equal demand. Since demand far exceeded supply under communism, the clerks of the stores began to hide product for customers that could offer them something in return (ie. doctors, other shopkeepers with undersupplied goods, etc.). So in a sense, the shopkeepers created capitalism within communism.
*** We finished part one of the walking tour with a visit to the Old Town Square and the famous Astronomical Clock. Every hour, the square is packed with people who stare upwards at the clock. All watch in amazement as death (a skeleton) turns an hourglass and pulls a rope chiming the bell. Simultaneously, the skeletons 3 pals - invasion (a Turkish conqueror), greed (a moneylender who had his 'Jewish' characteristics removed following WWII when it was no longer PC to be anti-Semitic), and vanity (with a mirror) - all move while above, the 12 apostles come out of the tower and look over the crowd that has assembled to watch their show. Once the apostles have returned to the tower, a roster crows and the bells toll marking the time on a 24-hour basis. However, this amazing 15th-century wonder was unable to factor in daylight savings time so it is off by an hour half of the year (ie. when we saw this at 5:00, there were only 16 chimes). The clock is really beautiful, with tons of detail including a very complex lower dial that shows which of the 365 saints listed is the saint of the day. The clock also somehow shows the season and what time sunset will be.
*** We stopped into the tourist office about 4 times on our first day. They were not too helpful so we kept leaving before getting all of our questions answered. I had wanted to get tix to see the opera, upon the recommendation of my colleague who lived there, but tix were sold out already - doh! But on our 3rd or 4th visit to the tourist office, we did manage to get some tix to see a string quartet perform in a tiny church. We were asking a woman about certain concerts because she was sitting behind a sign that said 'information'. But then when we were ready to buy them, she said we would need to go to another line marked 'tickets'. This doesn't really seem too efficient.
*** Julie has a sweet-tooth so Prague was a good place for her. She found these really good pastries that were being made by rolling a dough mixed with sugar, vanilla, and almond around these thick metal pins that rotated over a fire. They were yummy. We had them twice.
*** We climbed the Old Town Hall (CZK 40 per person) to get a look of Prague from above. More importantly, we got a chance to see the hour chime on the Astronomical Clock and the carnival atmosphere that surrounds from above. It was quite a scene.
*** The Old Town Square is really beautiful. It is complete with a huge fountain called Hus Fountain, a gothic church called Tyn Church, and beautiful pastel-colored buildings from the Renaissance, Baroque, rococo, and Art Nouveau periods, although I couldn't tell you which was from which period. It is a beautiful square nonetheless.
*** We met up with our Aussie friends Bruce and Ange in Old Town Square. They were returning from a 2-week road trip of Eastern Europe. We had a nice time catching up and it was great getting to introduce my mom to some of our friends. We found a really great small courtyard off of Old Town Square where we had a few beers. We were having a really nice time so we stayed at this sportsbar for dinner - I had a tuna sandwich with onion rings, while my mom and Julie had burgers (CZK 1115 total). It was not exactly what I thought we would be eating on our first night in Prague but we had a nice time with Bruce and Ange and at least, the sportsbar was showed the Cubs beat the White Sox!
SUNDAY (see Pics 37 - 66)
*** We picked up some things from the grocery store for breakfast and then ran off to the Jewish Quarter for a tour. The Prague Jewish Quarter is something special as it is the most complete collection of Jewish life and is the oldest surviving community in Europe. Hitler had decided that Prague's community would not be because destroyed but that it would remain intact forever as a museum to an extinct people...very twisted, huh? I had been to the Jewish Quarter before but it was still amazing. We took an organized tour with Eva from Wittmann Tours. The Spanish Synagogue is probably the most beautiful of all the sites, decorated with very gorgeous geometric signs reminiscent of some of the sites we saw in southern Spain. I also find the Pinkas Synagogue really moving as the walls are whitewashed and then stenciled with the name of all 80,000 Czech Holocaust victims, organized by town and listing the family name, first name, date of birth, and date of death (or last known date). From a distance, it is an overwhelming and overpowering mixture of white, red, and black representing genocide. It's sad when you find a family that was eliminated all in one. We were not able to see the oldest active temple in Europe, the 13th-century Old-New Synagogue. It is called Old-New because it was the 2nd temple in the community, so not the 'old' synagogue but the 'new' synagogue, but then another temple was built which was now the 'new' synagogue so this was the 'old-new' one. Confused? But we did spend some time walking around the 15th-century cemetery. The cemetery had so many people crammed into such a small space, there are places that have 12 people deep. Another thing of interest is the clock on the Jewish Town Hall. The numbers on the dial are Hebrew letters and hands rotate counterclockwise - Hebrew is read right to left.
*** Julie still has her student ID card from when she got her Masters at DePaul so we usually get her a student tix when available. What do you want, I'm Jewish. We never get questioned since Julie looks like she could be a college freshman but Julie doesn't think quickly in her feet so when Eva from the Jewish Quarter tour tried making conversation with Julie about halfway through the tour, she asked Julie what she was studying. Julie paused, had a bit of a confused look in her eye, and seemed to have trouble answering the question. After what seemed like a very unnatural minute of silence, I jumped in and said 'to become a teacher'. Geez Julie.
*** We noticed that the people in Prague were really nice, except if they worked at a museum. At one point I took out my camera to take a pic of the Spanish Synagogue, not seeing a sign that told me pics were not allowed. Just then, some ninja jumped out of the shadows and yelled at my in rapid-fire 'no photo no photo no photo no photo...'. It was crazy, I didn't even have a chance to react to the museum lady. Patience lady, no prob, I'll put the camera away. This happened also at another synagogue. We went upstairs at one of the exhibits where there was a lady guarding the door. Since we were on a tour, Eva had all of our tix. I told the lady guarding the door of the 2nd floor exhibit that our guide had our tix. She started in with the rapid response...'no entry no entry no entry no entry...'. It was like the only thing these people knew how to say was 'no...'.
*** We had a really good lunch at a café (Pravda) in the Jewish Quarter. We sat along the sidewalk under in the beautiful weather. I had spaghetti with spinach, mozzarella, and pine nuts, Julie had salad with cranberries and goat cheese, and my mom had a tuna sandwich (CZK 1030 total). It was real good.
*** We went to the Prague Palace in afternoon. The walk was up a fairly steep hill. About halfway up, my mom needed to sit down and rest. When we finally made it to the top, we were disappointed to see that the Castle was going to be closing at 5:00, in just 45 minutes. Why it closes so early, I don't know. Deciding that we needed more time at the Castle, we walked back downhill where we found a café to relax at. Julie got some sweets and my mom and I both ordered beers. While we sat at the café, Julie read a book called 'Hana's Suitcase', a children's book that tells the story about what happened to the owner of a piece of luggage on display at a Holocaust exhibit in Japan. She really liked it. I wrote some postcards while my mom fell asleep while looking at a book I had bought about Prague.
*** We looked around the Charles Bridge, a pedestrian bridge that is lined with statues. It is a great place to do some people-watching. I also found a nearby wall known as the Lennon Wall. Apparently, when Lennon was killed in 1980, people spontaneously began to graffiti the wall with many of Lennon's thoughts, all of which were very un-communist. Each night, the wall's ideas would be painted over with white paint and each morning, Lennon would reappear. Now that communism is over, the Lennon wall still exists.
*** Souvenirs from Prague include a ring for Julie, a small bulb vase made of Bohemian glass, and a Budvar beer stein. And of course a magnet!
*** We ate one night at a traditional beerhall from 1466 that is a former brewery of Budvar (the original Budweiser). Legend is the Czech brewers made a deal with Anheuser Bush that the US brewers would not be allowed to sell in Czechoslovakia and the Czech brewers wouldn't sell in the US. Since the Czech are huge beer drinkers and the US was a fairly new country, the Czech thought this was a great deal. It doesn't look that way now, although the Czech beer is much better than the US mass-produced. Anyways, we ate at Restaurant U Medvidku where I had some kind of fish (I don't remember which kind) with a sweet sauce and delicious tatter-tots, my mom had chicken schnitzel, and Julie had lamb chops (CZK 900 total). It was the best meal of the weekend.
*** My mom could not get past the fact that the Czech's were celebrating a holiday weekend but that it was not the US' Independence Day. She's sooooo American!
*** I watched the EuroCup finals back at the apartment. While I got into the tournament by watching the Dutch matches, I wanted to see the ending. I was hoping that the Czechs would've been in the finals as it would've been fun to be in town for that but they were upset by the Greeks. The Czechs were the best team in the tourney but lost a heartbreaker in sudden-death overtime. So while the finals would've been amazing to see in Prague had the Czech won, it was somewhat mellow. So I watched it alone on the couch while mom and Julie went to bed. In case you are wondering, the Greeks won another shocker, beating the overachieving hosts Portugal.
MONDAY (see Pics 67 - 93)
*** We went on a tour of the Terezin ghetto, a transit camp outside of Prague, which was originally built as a fort by Joseph II in 1780. The Nazis used it to shuttle all of the Jews of Czech (and elsewhere) to the east where the concentration camps and death camps were. In our email from Prague I referred to Terezin as a 'propaganda' camp. Julie's aunt questioned what I meant by that. Here's the answer I came up with...Terezin was an internment camp and not a death camp, meaning those who were held at Terezin were sent to Auschwitz, Mejdonic (spelling?), etc. to be put to death. There was no gas chamber in Terezin and the 30,000 people who died in Terezin did so of 'natural' causes (ie. starvation, suicide) but not execution or gassing. Anyways, the Red Cross was invited to Terezin by the Nazis in 1944 to see how wonderful life was for the Jews. They were shown the camp as a perfect place for the Jews, that the Nazis kept them safe from the anti-Semitic public by 'allowing' them to live in this camp and maintain their cultural lives, complete with plays and music and sport. It is all pretty twisted. The Nazis used Terezin to spread propaganda about what a great 'town' Terezin was, even producing a documentary film. Our tour guide survived 2 years in Terezin but says that the day the Red Cross was invited, she was locked in her block (as were thousands of others) because she looked too sick and this would've ruined the German's charade. While Terezin was bad, the sad thing is Terezin WAS a great place...when compared to the other choices of Nazi-run camps. Terezin had a large child population and as it was known for it's culture, lots of poems and pictures by kids were created. They were compiled into a book called 'I Never Saw Another Butterfly' (http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0805210156/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-2690573-9549622#reader-link). If you want to read more about Terezin, take a look at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/terezin.html.
*** Elizabeth, our guide at Terezin, was in Terezin for 2 years, from 13 to 15. She survived in Terezin for so long because her father was given a job at Terezin that made him indispensable - I don't remember what that was now. Anyways, Elizabeth and her parents were in the last transit out of Terezin. Her father died in Auschwitz but she was able to survive with her mother. She worked in a German factory for some time - ala Schindler's List - and eventually went to Bergen-Belsen following the war before spending time in Terezin again and going ' home'. She was able to stay with her mom throughout the whole ordeal even though children were separated from their parents. When asked her age, she lied and told the Nazis she was 18, thus allowing her to sleep in the woman's block rather than the children's. Following the war, she and her mom returned to the small town they were from where their friends were waiting for them. Their friends kept all of their belongings for them, including their house. Elizabeth said that while she feels lucky to have survived, she was very fucked up afterwards - not her words. So much so that she hated to be alone during her reintegration back into society. She said that after school, when she would go home, if nobody was there she would wait outside for her mom because after spending every moment with people, she couldn't be alone. It was too weird to be in a home alone. Crazy!
*** I asked Elizabeth if she had ever been back to Auschwitz. She had but had a really hard time. Not to take anything away from her survival but can you imagine how bad Auschwitz must have been if this woman is able to give tours in a place she spent 2 years at but has such horrible emotions when simply visiting a place she was at for only 10 days!
*** Again, not to belittle the suffering that occurred in Terezin but Elizabeth had it pretty easy. She was in a building that had concrete walls that were 2 feet thick and a heater, therefore keeping the winters manageable. They were allowed to bring a suitcase of clothes, therefore they were able to wear their own clothes instead of thin prisonwear. They slept in huge bunkbeds but were not crammed in like in other camps. In a way, it almost reminded me of my summers at Camp Ramah. Although, even for as bad as Ramah food was, we were treated a tad bit better than Elizabeth was. I hope this doesn't sound bad but maybe I'm just jaded after seeing so many other Nazi 'death' camps.
*** There was a stupid lady on our Terezin tour who was asking the DUMBEST questions! She couldn't believe that there was only one toilet for the 100 people that slept in a room together. Lady, one toilet is not the worst of it. And besides, for the amount of food they got, there was no waste that needed to come out anyways. She also asked about how they washed their clothes. Cum'on, wash your clothes? Yes, they brought them to the dry cleaners...but they had to iron themselves! I am pretty certain that she is Jewish by some of the things she said...but then she would say something else that made me wonder if she was even human?!?!?
*** As I said, Terezin was not built by the Nazis so it was used prior to WWII. One function was that it was a prison. The man who shot Archduke Ferdinand, thus beginning WWI, was imprisoned in Terezin.
*** Other than the weird lady who couldn't believe the barbaric conditions the Jews were put through in Terezin (ie. no Chinese food on Sundays), the people on the tour were nice. There was a young couple that we talked to over lunch and my mom befriended a couple young Israelis that were not on our tour but hitched a ride back to Prague in our van. Interestingly, the Israeli girls noticed that a memorial that the camp administrators were creating in Hebrew was spelled wrong.
*** As mom said, having lunch in the middle of this sort of tour is odd. Even stranger is that the 'town' of Terezin seems to have people living right in the middle of Nazi buildings. It's like they used to be guarded 'prisons', and now they are homes and restaurants. We ate in one of these buildings at what looked like a regular restaurant. You have to wonder about the history of the room though. Anyways, we did eat there. I had fried cheese and potatoes, my mom and Julie both had grilled chicken and dumplings.
*** Elizabeth said that now that the Czech Army is optional, Terezin is no longer needed as a military base. So since the buildings are not being used, they are thinking about making them into college dorms. Can you believe that? Would you want to be in a dorm that used to be a Nazi camp? Kinda strange.
*** Back in town, we had a gelato while enjoying the amazing summer, walked around a bit, did a little shopping, and then had a beer outside the Astronomical Clock. Watching that clock, or really watching people watch that clock, just never gets old.
*** We had dinner in another beerhall, this one not as good as the Budvar one. It was in the basement of the symphony. I had salmon and potato soup, Julie had goulash (I have no clue what this exactly is but she thought it was OK), and my mom had roast beef in a cream sauce (CZK 1335 total). After dinner, we walked back to the apartment and relaxed with a bit of MTV, the only English on the TV.
TUESDAY (see Pics 94 - 122)
*** Before heading to the Prague Castle (take 2), we stopped into a small pastry shop where we grabbed some breakfast and juice. We next walked across the Charles Bridge, snapped a few photos before it got packed with tourists, and walked uphill to the castle again.
*** The castle was huge. It was more like a handful of buildings combined into one complex than a single palace. The St. Vitus Cathedral was cool and the Old Royal Palace was interesting, with a really huge main hall that was large enough that horse jousting took place there. It also had a really pretty ceiling but overall, the Palace was fairly unimpressive. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I think I was expecting to see lavishly decorated buildings. Instead, they were mostly empty rooms. There was no furniture. I could tell that they were quite remarkable at one point but as empty rooms, it was a bit boring. The Golden Lane, a row of brightly-painted buildings, was also cool to see but once you've walked past the dozen or so houses, you saw it. All in all, the Prague Palace was not much to see.
*** The audio guides we rented were pretty uninformative and very boring. I basically pushed the button but as soon as the voice started telling me something, I would zone out. Definitively not the best. Upon returning the equipment, I got yelled at because we were only supposed to have the audio guides for 2 hours and we had them for 3-1/2 hours. Maybe if it was a better tour, I wouldn't have had to read the Lonely Planet tour as well. The lady said to me "next time I'll charge you extra". Don't worry, there won't be a next time. Besides, I've never heard of charging per hour for those things. It was expensive, almost $10 each person.
*** We climbed the tower of the St. Vitus Church. The spiral staircase was pretty tight though so if you were going up and someone was coming down, you had to do a little dance to get past. I passed the time by counting the steps, all 286 of them. The view from above was pretty spectacular. After looking around for a bit, we went back down. Oh yeah, while in the staircase it occurred to me (again) that European don't use deodorant! YUCK! Nothing like being trapped in a tight staircase with a bunch of smelly Europeans.
*** We had a really nice lunch at a café in the Lobkowicz Palace. I had a tuna wrap and my mom and Julie shared a chicken with blue cheese wrap and a chicken Caesar salad (CZK 680) plus we finally found the post office - so the Prague Castle wasn't a complete waste of time.
*** On our walk down and back across the Charles Bridge, I grabbed a slushy drink (I'm such a child) and took the kids on a small field trip to see the Dancing House, a very modern house that I had seen postcards of. It was pretty funky and looked very fooling next door to the traditional homes that line the river.
*** We went back to the apartment to freshen up before going to see a concert. Jan had double-booked the apartment for the night so he asked us to move across the hall to an apartment, which had been vacated earlier in the day. We agreed to do so. When he asked me to do so, my mom mentioned to me that we should ask for a discount on our room because of the inconvenience. After being here for a year now, I understand how things are in Europe. For one, the customer is NOT always right. So we wouldn't have gotten any kind of discount as they don't see this as an inconvenience and even if it was, tough shit. But the move was very easy since the maid moved our bags for us. Although my mom's bad bed was now worse as she was given an even crappier chair that unfolded into a 'bed' that had a wooden board that stuck in the middle of her back. Poor mommy!
*** The concert was in a tiny church called Church of St. Martin in the Wall (CZK 450 per person). We saw an ensemble of 2 violins, a viola, and a cello. It was really pretty and relaxing. So much so that my mom caught up a bit on the sleep she hadn't been able to get while on these weird 'beds'. I recognized a lot of the music (ie. Mozart 'A Little Night Music', Vivaldi 'The Four Seasons').
*** After a few nights of Czech food, we were psyched to be grabbing some Italian (Pizzeria Corto). We shared a mushroom pizza and salad and I had gnocchi with four cheeses, Julie had spaghetti with meat sauce, and my mom had grilled chicken (CZK 1250 total). It was a nice dinner and the restaurant had the best music - Beach Boys, CCR, Elvis! Man, the Dutch could really take some music lessons from the Czechs!
WEDNESDAY
*** At 4:30 in the morning, the maid was waiting for us to drive us to the airport. She took off like a rocket. I was certain we were going to die from her driving. It was pretty scary. But we made it. We were there so early that we couldn't even check-in yet. So we grabbed airport breakfast, ummm.
*** We made it back to A'dam A-OK. Having to go straight to work, I left my mom and Julie at the ladies room and grabbed my luggage. Apparently, Julie almost didn't get into the country since her Residency Permit had expired last month. I had arranged to get it renewed months ago but they are now being done by a different government agency than the one that issued it originally. They've had tons of problems getting things done in a timely manner. In fact, there was actually a newspaper article about this. So it wasn't a big deal as I'm sure the man at passport control has heard this story many times lately. So he let her in. I'm so lucky!
==============================
Well, that's about it. Prague was a great trip. I would definitely encourage everyone to check it out. We're off to the Alsace, France later this week for a 4-day weekend with my mom before she heads back stateside. It's about a 4-hour drive to Luxembourg where we'll spend the night and the first day before continuing south another 3 hours to Colmar. The region is on the boarder of Germany and has influences from both countries. There is tons of wine produced in the area and this is where Van Gogh painted his wheatfields and sunflowers so you can imagine how beautiful the scenery must be. Anyways, it should be another great weekend.
We hope all is well with everyone back home. Speak with ya soon.
-Stephen
==============================
As always, feel free to pass this on to anyone you think might enjoy reading my ramblings. Also, you can either subscribe or unsubscribe at any time at the top of the page.
