Last day in Prague

Friday-

All was well, another day saved when...
Wait, sorry, there I go quoting The Incredibles again. (Bonus points if you can finish that quote! Hint: capes.)

Anyhew, all was well, another day in Prague... when I had to leave! It seemed like I'd just arrived, but alas, time to go back to Aix.

To polish off my time in the Czech Republic, me and Stu went to the Museum of Communism which, if you ever go, is really hidden, but really worth it. It wasn't the type of museum where you would spend hours, which is good (especially sine we both had flights to catch that day!), but it was very informational!

casual. huge lenin statue replica (and stalin, farther back) welcomes you

 but stalin, too, had his own huge monument back in the day.

prague, until 1962

 more communist leaders' statue replicas

 what school was like in communist prague

 using athletes as propaganda; the entire czech hockey team, two time world champions, were sentenced to prison because they weren't trusted by the soviet government

 agriculture posters

 communist prague really did not like america...

 ...where wall street was the center of all evil...

 ...and capitalists look like bums next to ^^ "upstanding soviet citizens"

 socialist realism was a fake art form that tried to duplicate the impressionist movement; but even czech artists didn't criticized it saying they didn't understand what it was supposed to stand for

 "normalization" in the late '60s meant a return to strict communist rules

the youth revolts (as always)!

The museum was set up kinda like a "special exhibit" in a regular museum, with haphazardly placed artifacts and placards in five different languages, accompanied by big photographs, explaining the history of the Communist party in Czechoslovakia, its rise to power, and the fate of the Czech people under communist and Soviet rule. Stu had learned a lot of the history in her classes in Prague, but it was all new information to me! It was a good exercise to understanding how the people of individual nations had been affected by their status as Soviet states, rather than thinking of the Soviet Union as one entity.
I even got some postcards! (Read what they say)

Afterwards, we went to the Palladium mall, where they have a "running sushi" all-you-can-eat special. Basically, little sushi/ Asian dishes are on this two-level conveyor belt and when you see something that looks good coming your way, you just grab it! So much fun watching the food go by and discovering some weird dishes, too.

like, just look ^^ at that weird yellow jiggly cube!

We quickly ran some errands, including stopping by the ISA office to pick up a package that Stu's mom had sent - full of KitKats and DVDs, yay! Then we rushed back to the apartment, cleaned a bit, gathered our things, and hopped on the tram!

the tiny elevator going up to stu's apartment has lots of mirrors

 tram

Stu was going straight to the airport, but I hung out in Starbucks for a while, enjoying my last soy latte for a while and the free wifi, since my flight didn't leave for a few more hours. The Starbucks I kept going to in Prague has a huuuge basement seating area. I think more places in the U.S. need space like this!

also, this was a really yummy drink. i've never had elderflower before, but it's 100% goooood!

Finally, I navigated Prague transit again, got on my flight and, after a short layover in Paris (gosh, I love the Charles DeGaulle airport, even if it is really huge!), was back home in Aix! A nice, 45° evening greeted me and I went home, read my book some more, and fell asleep - bon nuit!

xxo, S

Some culture and history in Prague

Thursdsay in Prague-

While Stu picked out a Czech gift to bring her grandmother when she visits Ireland this weekend, I wandered around the store. It's called Manufaktura, and there are several in Prague. Lots of traditional items to bring home as souvenirs.  

 some felt fairies that reminded me of nova toys

 

another traditional crafts shop

We also went to an English bookstore where I attempted to find a specific book that I've been looking for (Broken Harbour, Tana French). They have it in the U.S., but only in hardcover and it is just soooo expensive; sadly, this store only had the hardcover copy too. So instead, I bought Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy! I began reading it on my flight home to France and it's great so far! I just love how quickly suspense novels move - perfect for my short attention span!

 

reading in bed

the second wedding couple i've seen, and the bride had a fuzzy white coat both times! 

I got to tag along on Stu's Art and Architecture class in the afternoon. Basically, their class goes on lots of field trips to art museums and to see architecture (for, like, four hours), so it wasn't strenuous, and I actually ended up actually learning! We went to the Baroque Arts museum in the castle (hradčany) district, looking at paintings, armour, and artifacts in the basement. Some facts (from Stu's really crazy professor) to share with you all:

• the Renaissance was all about coming up with new ideas, and pushing the intellectual envelope; so architecture from the Renaissance has lots of small rooms where people could sit around, talk, and think without being bothered.
• in contrast, the Baroque period was about showing off, so much of the architecture from that period, like the Castle Square, is designed for people to be able to look at the royals' and nobles' wealth.
• the amount of religious monuments, statues, buildings, references, and relics is disproportionate to the amount of pious people in the Czech Republic. for example, only about 10% of people practice religion, but there are huge, attention-grabbing churches everywhere; in the U.S. closer to 70% of people practice religion, but our Separation of Church and State (and since our history only goes back so far, to simpler, Puritan times) makes it so that there is much less of these religious symbols in plain sight.
• whoever King Rudolph II was, he was crazy!
• Bohemia refers to the region of the Czech Republic that Prague is in. as a sovereign region, it has been around much longer than the country itself. historically, it is one of the three Czech Lands, along with Moravia and Silesia.
• Czechs had curved swords back in the day, too! like samurai swords, the shape of their blade was more "economical at killing people," as the professor said. in other words, more aerodynamic when slicing through the air to meet some poor guy's neck.

After class, me, Stu, and one of her housemates went to get dinner at a nearby brewery. The brewery is one of the originals in Prague, and is located near a monastery so that the monks could go there during their down time (naturally... why didn't I think of that?). My last night in Prague :( But I had good company, good food, and good drink! I ordered some traditional Czech beef thing (not goulash) in a creamy tomato sauce... and it came with whipped cream on top! Never would've thought to put sweet whipped cream on my meat! It was delish anyway, although I didn't eat it with the whipped cream. The house beer was good too. I had their IPA and Stu got their amber brew. Well, it better have been good since it was made right there!!!

 reminds me of the barrington brewery

After dinner, we walked back home alllllll the way down the castle hill and through Mala Strana and on the tram and down the street and up the stairs.

We collapsed on the couch, watched The Parent Trap (the Lindsay Lohan one, of course, such a classic), and went to bed.

xxo, S

Happy Halloween from Prague!

It sure didn’t feel much like Halloween here in the Czech Republic… But we’ll get to that later.

Wednesday morning, Stu woke up feeling less-than-great :( so we took it easy. We skyped with Doug (and met her cute Aussie boyfriend), caught up on news coverage of Hurricane Sandy, and I registered for classes at DU (when I get back in January).

By the time lunch rolled around, we were finally ready to take on the day. We strolled through the Kampa Island park again and saw the love lock bridge in search of somewhere to eat. We ended up at a small Frenchy café.

 lovers lock their love onto the bridge

glasses are only filled halfway here - always! humph!

After lunch, we took our time walking back home, stopping at the supermarket (teeny!) to get some food for dinner and breakfast. The rest of the afternoon was spent making plans for the evening. Some people wanted to dress up and just hang out at an apartment; others wanted to go to a bar; and still others wanted to find a costume party at a club – so many options! I didn’t have any costume, but Stu’s roommate lent me a cute black dress and we found an orange feather boa and, boom!, I was Miss Halloween!

Since Stu was still feeling under the weather, she rested at home; but I went out with her housemates to the apartment of other kids in the program. It ended up being a very large gathering! There, I ran into some other DU students (we’re just everywhere, takin’ over the world!) and met some new people too.

new people...

 

...du people...

...new people and du people!

we made our own hot wine, which is a really big cold-weather drink in prague... or so the vendors on the street will lead you to believe! not bad, actually!

navigating the metro

Somehow, it was decided that we were going to go somewhere called Cross Club, which was supposed to be having a Halloween party. After much deliberation and confusion taking the trams/metro to the proper stop, we arrived! There weren’t many people there, it was really smoky, and the people who were dressed up only had scary face paint on – strange! Needless to say, we didn’t say long… just long enough to dance a little and enjoy the funky décor, which was something between an Eastern European relics bar and a futuristic/ industrial alien club.

Me and Stu’s housemates climbed in a cab and went home nice and early (no really, it was!). So the friends were a treat! – but the location was a trick :P

When the whole American crew and I were taking public transit at night, all dressed up in our costumes, we got some pretty weird looks. Not a single Czech person was truly dressed up for Halloween, and they didn’t care! There was just this one Irish guy who gave a girl a hard time for dressing up. Something about him being Catholic and viewing Halloween as a holiday of the Devil and Witchcraft and he didn’t want to raise his children that way, so we should celebrate either… oh wait, I guess it’s okay since you’re American… continue on, then… Like, what?!

And that was my Halloween experience this year. Very, very different from every other year in my life. Actually, it was a nice break to be away from all the craziness of American festivities. But I still don’t understand how Europeans can go all the way from summer to Christmas without a single holiday in between! In the U.S., we are all about the holiday season… or are we all about consumerism..?

Thoughts and good vibes to all those who have been horribly affected by Hurricane Sandy. It hit my home turf really hard, but I also know that there are so many good people who are helping others out, too. Stay strong, New York!

xxo, S