Na Zdraví!

Euro Cup 2008

2008-06-18T01:23:00.001-07:00

So, what could be better than beautiful weather, a day with nothing on the schedule, and a Prague beer garden? Not much. Unless, of course, you have all of those things and the Czech national team playing Switzerland in the Euro Cup 2008! The Euro Cup is similar in feel and importance to the NCAA basketball tournament, except everyone talks smack to each other in different languages. Also, they say things like, "This is for Austerlitz!" OK, they don't make reference to historic battles, but the rivalries and national pride are intense. If you don't believe me, check out the video of the Czech crowd singing its national anthem before they played Portugal below. It was amazing.

We watched the first game with a couple of our Fulbright friends at our favorite beer garden, Riegrovy Sady. The crowd was lively, the beer was tasty, and the Czechs won, 1-0. There was much rejoicing when the Czechs scored (check out pic #2), and we had a blast with Dave, Elan, and Zach, despite a post-game rainstorm.

Going into the tournament, the Czechs were favored to get through the first round, and maybe challenge for the championship, but they fell flat in their second game, losing to Portugal, and choking away a 2-0 lead against Turkey. Prague was devastated, but the city's suffering was alleviated by massive quantities of beer and sausage. The great thing about this was that we watched in Old Town square, and everyone was drinking and singing, chanting and cheering. It was a super positive atmosphere, even with a small knot of dedicated Portugal fans. Everyone had a blast, and how often do you get to drink beers, eat a klobasa sausage, and watch soccer in from of a church built in the thirteenth century? We love this town!

The big highlight, though, was the singing of the Czech national anthem, "Kde domov muj?" ("Where is my Home?"). We have definitely felt all year, and especially during the Euro Cup, that it was right here. Pojdeme Cesi! (Let's go Czechs!) Warning: the video is a minute long, and pretty loud. Adjust your volume control accordingly (especially if you're watching at work, and don't want to explain a Czech song to your boss).

Rafting the Vltava in Southern Bohemia

2008-06-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

For our last weekend away from Prague, we went rafting down the Vltava River in southern Bohemia with a bunch of the Fulbrights. Our friend, Christina, expertly organized the trip for thirteen of us and did an incredible job making this wonderful weekend happen. It ended up being a perfect way to spend our last weekend trip with friends who have been part of our lives for the past year.

We took a train down to České Budějovice, a small city about 3 hours south of Prague. We joined Christina and our friends, the Rockwells, and took a tour of the Budvar Brewery. Interestingly, Budvar is the only state owned brewery left in the Czech Republic. Since the Czechs take beer very seriously, it was quite impressive to learn about the making of the beer and see the large scale production. And of course, we ended the tour by sampling the Budvar lager. Delicious.

The rest of our friends arrived in České Budějovice in the late afternoon, and we spent the evening at a fantastic Czech restaurant. Now, I've spent some time complaining about the lack of variety in Czech food, but this place really was excellent because it took roasted meat to the next level. In addition, the Euro Cup football games were on TV at the bar. We ended up sitting at a table with a view of both the games and the restaurant's "firepit" grill. Front row seats for football and roasting meats including pork knee, pork ribs, chicken, beef, and pork chops? A brewery tour, soccer, and a meat-stravaganza in one day? I love the CZ!

On Saturday morning we traveled to a campsite in the town of Větřní. Thirteen of us started floating down the Vltava River with three rafts, thirteen paddles, one dog (Speky, Christina's adorable companion) snacks, and beers. We planned to stay the night in Zlatá Koruna, and end our tour on Sunday in Boršov nad Vltavou. The total distance we had to cover was about 25-30km over both days. Now, this was no white water rafting trip. The Vltava River is quite calm, very shallow, and required a fair amount of paddling to keep us moving. One major bonus was how clean the water was - impressive when I think about the James River near Charlottesville that isn't nearly as clear or clean. In any case, the landscape was also beautiful with dense pine forests all around. You really felt worlds away from Prague in this part of the Czech Republic.

Our major issue during the weekend was weather. When we originally planned the weekend, we thought we'd be rafting in 80 degree, sunny weather. Oh, how wrong we were. It was COLD. Didn't anyone tell the CZ that highs of 60 degrees in June is just wrong? We had moments of sun, but really, it was cloudy and chilly for most of the day. Luckily, we all had brought appropriate clothes, but man, it was not warm.

We had a nice long stop in České Krumlov, a quaint medieval town we visited in February with our dear friends Mike and Rebecca. The highlight of the České Krumlov stop was definitely Moat Bears. What, might you ask, are Moat Bears? Well, in a few of the castles outside of Prague, brown bears live in what used to be the moat. Seriously. In our previous visits to České Krumlov and Konopiště, Phil was crushed that there were no bears. I'm only exaggerating slightly when I say that we've discussed this regularly for months. So finally at long last, Phil got to see the three bears, Vok, Maria Terezie, and Kateřina. Our time in the Czech Republic is now complete, according to Phil...

The river was packed with people, as this is a pretty popular weekend activity. We were probably the only foreigners on the river, as we were the only people we encountered not speaking Czech. One thing that struck me as was the ratio of men:women on the river was skewed heavily to men. I can't tell you how many canoes and rafts we saw full of large groups of rowdy men. Phil and I have done our fair share of camping/hiking/rafting in the US, and we have never noticed such a skewed demographic. Where were all the women? I've still not figured this one out. Regardless, the river provided excellent people watching including my favorite rafts of the day: guys dressed up in matching sailor suits and white hats. They resembled the Village People. So funny!

I could not have imagined a better way to "get out of the city" for the last time. I have concluded that a bunch of friends, southern Bohemia, the Vltava River, a couple of rafts, views of castle ruins, crazy Czech rafters, lots of Czech food, and Czech beer = Good Times.

Děkujeme - A Night to Say Thank You

2008-06-08T02:14:00.000-07:00

Děkujeme means "We thank you" in Czech. It is a great word because its connotation is wider reaching than just "thank you". On Friday night, we wanted to say děkujeme to our dear friends at Faith Community Church. They are our incredible group of people who have opened their hearts and homes to us since we've been in Prague; it would be an understatement to say that they have done a lot for us this past year.

Another couple at, Kurt and Sara, arrived at about the same time as Phil and I did and have had a very similar experience at FCC. The four of us wanted to figure out a way to express our gratitude to these wonderful people in our lives. So, Kurt, Sara, Phil and I decided to throw a surprise party for the Davises, the Stewarts, the Syvertsens, and Dot, the team of impressive individuals who lead the church. Sara and Kurt hosted the party on the garden terrace of their apartment complex. It was the perfect spot with a beautiful view of the city. Sara is a FABULOUS cook and managed to make enough pulled pork barbeque for 40 people. Impressive and absolutely delicious. We actually managed to surprise our guests of honor with a few small white lies along the way to throw them off course. (David and Mary, strong work!) We also surprised them with a self-pubished book that recalled our year in Prague through pictures, quotations, and our own words. (NOTE: D did all the work on the books, and they were the big hit of the evening; she used blurb.com, which was great, and they looked amazing.) The evening was a huge success as we ate and drank, talked and laughed, and enjoyed every minute of our time together.

Prague: A "Cosmopolitan" City?

2008-06-08T01:51:00.000-07:00

The movie, Sex ve Městě a.k.a Sex and the City, actually made it to Prague at about the same time it was released in the States! Shanna and Laura decided to organize a girls night out for this momentous occasion;) It was really just an excuse to get together and spend some time with each other, bez (without) husbands and kids. The only rule was you had to get dressed up for our night on the town! We met at Kogo, a swanky restaurant/bar for dinner and drinks, saw the movie, then went out for one last drink after the movie. It was a blast! We did have one funny reminder that we were in Prague, not NYC. A few of us wanted to order Cosmopolitans, the signature drink of the show. The waiter looked at us like we had three heads. He said, "I don't know what that is." Our friend Lucie, who is Czech, then tried to explain how to make it in Czech. The waiter still replied, "No, I don't think we do that." Oh, ok. We still had a great time bez cosmos. It was a wonderful night out with the girls!

Dining Well

2008-06-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
- Virginia Woolf

Some people eat to live, while others live to eat. I would put myself firmly in the latter camp. This will come as no shock to anyone who knows me, but food is very important in my life. So part of the joy of living in Europe this past year has been our opportunity to travel and eat good local food wherever we go! In Prague, one of the ways I've gotten to know the food/restaurant scene has been by reading a few food blogs. I never thought I'd appreciate food blogs the way I do now. (Rachel, I know you're laughing at me. Oh, the irony...) In particular, my favorite Prague food blogger is enjoyable to read because his food writing is funny and informative. I don't always agree with all his food opinions, but that's part of the fun. Because of our recent trip to Italy, I thought I'd try my hand at a blog entry dedicated to my favorite meal in Italy. There were so many good ones, I couldn't possibly cover them all. But this one was is one that stands out for me, so I thought I'd share...

Steve, Phil, and I had just finished a morning of hiking from Monterosso to Corniglia. We'd been out for a few hours and we were ready for lunch. We happened upon a small shop at the edge of Corniglia called Terre Rossa. This store sold a variety of wine, cheese, and pesto and had a garden terrace with no more than five tables. The garden faced the coast and you could sit and look out on the water. The terrace seemed to be calling our names, and so we sat down to rest. A sweet man came out to ask us what we wanted to drink and we explained that we'd like some white wine. He said "I bring you some white" and returned with three glasses. He explained that he wanted us to try three different local wines from Monterosso, upper Riomaggiore, and lower Riomaggiore. It was a great way for us to sample a variety of wines and see what each town had to offer. Most of the wine made from the grapes of Cinque Terre is only sold locally. They don't grow enough to export it, so we were really going local;) All three of us liked the upper Riomaggiore the best. It was crisp without being acidic and light bodied with a smooth finish. Mmmmm. Perfect for drinking after a hike;)

Our wine came with two little bowls with olives, caperberries, and salty, circular crackers. Phil, a notorious olive hater, tried the olives and concluded he still doesn't like them. More for Steve and me! The menu had just a few things, a good sign that they were making everything they served at the store. We ordered two plates of bruschetta and a cheese plate to share. This was my idea of a perfect lunch: delicious homemade bread, a variety of cheeses paired with a fig jam and honey, and bruschetta topped with everything from homemade pesto (Steve's favorite) to sun dried tomatoes, tapenade (my favorite), to roasted red peppers. This meal was TDF (as Charlie and John would say), To Die For.
It wasn't just the food and wine that made this my favorite meal of Cinque Terre, though that was a big part of it. I guess I've just always been taught that food can and should be something that is greater than the sum of its parts. It isn't just the food, but the experience of the food. It's the time and place and company you share it with that makes it more than what's on the plate. So in addition to the delicious variety of local food, the meal was our morning hike, our tired legs, the views of the sea, the sun on the water, the shaky wooden table and chairs...and the people. Always the people you share it with.

Ciao, Bello! Relaxing in Cinque Terre, Italy

2008-05-31T04:45:00.000-07:00

"Ciao, Bello!" seemed to be a pretty standard greeting everywhere we went during our recent vacation in Italy. The enthusiasm and emotion expressed by the Italian language seems to be a stark contrast to the harsher sounds of multiple consonants that are common in Czech. We obviously love our adopted home in the Czech Republic, but our trip to Italy was a welcome vacay as our time in Europe comes to a close in just a few weeks.

Our brother-in-law, Steve, came to see us for a Prague-Italy vacation and a little R and R. Since we live about 3 miles away from each other in Charlottesville, it was extremely special to have him in Prague to see our life. It also seemed fitting to host him as the last visitor of our year abroad. The weather in Prague was uncooperative and rainy, but just being together was the most important part. We love you, brother, and we're so happy you were here.

After a few days in Prague, we flew to Milan, rented a car, and drove to Cinque Terre. Phil was an excellent driver and negotiated the roads expertly and avoided the occasionally insane truck drivers gracefully. Cinque Terre is located about an hour east of Genova on the coast (the upper western coast of the "boot"). It is a national park on the Ligurian Sea that encompasses five towns. There are no cars allowed inside the park, but the towns are connected by hiking trails along the mountainous coast. The landscape and scenery were nothing short of spectacular. It reminded me a little bit of Maui, Hawaii because of the green slopes descending to the deep blue water. The coast is very rocky, so the few beaches that are accessible are gorgeous, but rocky instead of sandy.

We stayed in the largest and westernmost town, Monterosso. It was a great "home base" for the three of us because although it was more "touristy" than the other towns, it also had the widest range of restaurants and beach access. One of the highlights of our Monterosso experience were the proprietors of our hotel. Though the accommodations were good, the sweet family that ran the hotel was spectacular. I don't think the grandmotherly hostess/owner ever left the premises for the five days we were there. One night, we came back after dinner and she grabbed Steve's arm and said "Pour a drink for my friend. Limoncino for them!" Now that's service;) Thanks, "Mrs. Bucci"!

The five towns date as far back as the 14th century, and are built into the rocky coast. The towns are fairly "vertical" with candy-colored houses built into the land. Each town had its own personality, so it was fun to visit each one. To get to each town, you can hike or take a train or ferry. Since we were there during the last week of May, Cinque Terre was crowded, but still not unbearably touristy. You could tell that we were hitting the beginning of high season. But as you can see from the photos, Cinque Terre is too beautiful to be missed! I completely understand why everyone I know who has visited this part of Italy raves about it!

Monterosso: the largest town with the most beach access

Vernazza: the "coolest" town with a fantastic central harbor, great restaurants on Piazza Marconi and killer people watching!

Corniglia: the only town perched above the water instead of on the water, simply stunning
Manarola: the quietest and least touristy of the towns

Riomaggiore: the easternmost town where we heard the most Italian being spoken

We hiked three of the five days we were in Cinque Terre. Two of the hikes (Monterosso to Vernazza and Vernazza to Corniglia) were pretty serious: lots of elevation change, rocky footing, narrow trails. The last two were more like walks (Corniglia to Manarola and Manarola to Riomaggiore). But the views from all four were spectacular. Ironically, I found myself enjoying every minute of even the strenuous hikes. Why you might ask? Well, there was never a lack of amusement from the German tourists and their hiking poles, the silly college students hiking in flip-flops and tube tops (what were they thinking?), and from the funny guy who saw the first steep incline and hollered at the top of his lungs "Oh, *$%^!" Good stuff. Phil, Steve, and I make each other laugh a lot (or maybe I just think Steve and Phil are really funny!) Whatever the reason, I truly loved the hikes, not just for the scenery, but for the company.

Other highlights of the trip include:

Relaxing on the rocks in Vernazza - calming and beautiful to listen to the water on the coast and also enjoy the people watching in the harbor
The rocky coast - you just don't see blue water and rocky coastlines like this everyday

The Lemon Festival - Monterosso is famous for its lemons and we happened to be staying in town the weekend of the annual festival. It was no North Carolina State Fair, but we did sample the Limoncino (lemon-flavored liqueur), and I enjoyed the local specialty, anchovies... (Note: under no circumstances should you try another local drink, Cinqe Terre Grappa. Steve and I tried it, and he declared it the second worst drink he had ever consumed (after a cheap Chinese liquor whose name he blessedly forgot). Stick with white wine or Limoncino, for your own sake)

Il Gigante - The public beach we enjoyed had a large statue of "Il Gigante" built into the rocks. Apparently, it is Neptune, the God of the sea. I loved it, and appreciated spending beach time near the Giant!
This trip will have a special place in our memory for a long time to come. Molto Bene!

Take Me Home Country Roads...to Moravia

2008-05-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

Moravia, the southern region of the Czech Republic, was our most recent trip in our adopted country. We were extremely lucky to have the chance to see it with friends who have been living there for the past year, the Rockwells. Heidi is a fellow Fulbrighter, on a teacher exchange program. She is a high school English teacher in Chicago and swaped places with a Czech teacher for the year. Her husband, Mark, is a PhD student in philosophy, and their two children, Mariana (15) and Elise (7) have been in a small town in southern Czech Republic living a true cultural immersion experience. We are lucky to have gotten to know the Rockwells through our many Fulbright events and had an incredible few days visit with them exploring Moravia.

This region of the Czech Republic reminded us a little of our home in central Virginia: rolling hills, vast fields, gorgeous countryside. What was extremely different was the way the villages are spread out throughout the countryside. There isn't any American "sprawl", just separate villages that may have a few hundred people or a few thousand, but not much more. Right now, the countryside is in bloom with shockingly yellow fields of canola flowers (yes, for canola oil). So as we drove along from village to village, there views are yellow and green as far as the eye can see. Pretty impressive. This picture is from Mark and Heidi's balcony (they live on the 8th floor of a panalacky) in Moravske Budejovice, a town of about 8,000.

In addition to visiting the Rockwells, our goal for this trip was to see a set of paintings by Alfons Mucha. Mucha is a late 19th/early 20th century Czech painter, most famous for his colorful stylized paintings and posters of women. Late in his life, he took sixteen years to create 20 paintings encompassing the history of the Slavic people. These weren't just any paintings, but were gigantic canvases, a few of which measure 6 X 8 meters! If you look at the photos below, you can see Mark standing in front of one on the paintings. The photos shows how massive the paintings are. Phil was particularly excited about seeing these national treasures because his guy, Jan Hus, and the story of the Hussites are included in a few of the paintings. Mucha uses these paintings to tell the story of the Slavic people, extending from Russia to the Balkans and spanning time from the 9th century until the end of World War I. Below are a few of the paintings

The baffling part about seeing these paintings was their location: they are kept in Moravske Krumlov, a tiny town with not much else happening. Furthermore, the "castle" where the paintings are displayed is completely falling apart. So these national treasures are hidden away in a small town in a dilapidated building. I have no idea why these paintings aren't in the Mucha museum in Prague. At the very least, they should be housed somewhere where they might be better appreciated and visited. It just seemed strange to me.
One last perplexing note about this museum: we had to put on "booties" over our shoes when we walked in. Seriously? The building was in disrepair, yet we were supposed to wear slippers over our shoes...slightly incongruous if you ask me...

We also went to Znojmo (pronounced Znoy-Moe), a picturesque town situated on a river near the Austrian border. There are castle walls and a tower that date as far back as the 11th century. We had a gorgeous day for exploring, so we walked through town, stopped at a park so Elise (and Phil;) could play for awhile, walked up to the church (there is always a church to see) and took in the views.

Our next stop were some beautiful castle ruins along a river. You just don't find castle ruins along the side of the road in Virginia...We ended our day with a fantastic dinner at a restaurant that looked out over the ruins. What a day!

Our trip to Moravia was wonderful, from our hosts to the countryside. We felt like we got to see the more rural side of the Czech Republic, which is very different than urban life in Prague. We love those country roads...

What Have We Been Doing in May?

2008-05-29T05:16:00.001-07:00

Time flies when you're having fun...This has been especially true of the last month! Spring officially arrived in early May and there has been no shortage of fun things to do in the warmer weather. Here are a few things we've enjoyed in the past few weeks:

A day of hiking outside Prague with Charlie and John - we hiked to two quarries named Velké and Malé Americka (Big and Small America). It was a fantastic day!

Watching the Prague Marathon - The race route went by our flat! I spent a few hours watching the race...it was very inspiring. Below is a photo I took of the man who actually won the race. It was incredible to watch him in person. I also took a short video around mile 8 of a group of teenagers playing the drums for the runners as they ran by. So fun!

Beer gardens - the Czechs really love the outdoor beer gardens. There is one in a park called Riegrovy Sady. Here we are one evening enjoying a Gambrinus. Since it doesn't get dark here until around 9 p.m. these days, it's particularly fun to hang out in the garden at the end of a long sunny day!
Knitting group - Obviously, this is something I've been enjoying, not Phil. My friend, Joanna, has a Stitch and Bitch group every other Saturday afternoon at her flat. It is a great time for me to knit and talk with interesting women. Her son, Sasha, often brightens my day by greeting me at the door with a, "Oh, Hi Danielle!" One afternoon, he ended up sitting in one of her knitting baskets and was so cute, I just had to take a picture!

The Falling Dollar

2008-05-05T01:27:00.000-07:00

Since we've been in Prague, we have become members of a wonderful church community. Our tiny church, Faith Community, was started by a team of missionaries lead by our friends Phil and Shanna Davis. They came to Prague in 2005 from Charlotte, North Carolina. Recently, the Charlotte Observer did a story on the Davis family and other missionaries' economic situations, highlighting the falling (or should I say tanking) US dollar. It is in an interesting perspective on the effects of the weakened dollar on expats living abroad. Since we moved to Prague, the dollar has fallen from over 18 Czech korun to somewhere just above 15 (no, we're not on the Euro, yet). In 1998 and 1999 when Phil and I visited Prague, it was around 35 korun to the dollar. Yikes.

You should be able to read the story about the Davis family in the Charlotte Observer, but the link may have expired recently. Funny enough, the photos that ran with the story also included photos of Phil;) A group of guys from church were out at a local hospoda (pub) with our pastor, Phil; apparently, the photo of the two Phils made it onto the front page of the Business section of the newspaper!

Our Adventures in Vienna with Constar

2008-04-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

So, we had the pleasure of my mom's company for almost two weeks in mid-April. Constar hadn't been to Europe since the seventies, but she hit the ground running here in Prague. All in all, we had a blast. We ate some great meals, wandered the city, drank a few glasses of Moravian white wine (for those of you who know Connie well, you know that's a must!), and spent tons of time together. The undoubted highlight of my mom's visit, though, was our trip to Vienna.

I had been to the Austrian capital back in 1994, but remembered very little except for a huge ferris wheel in one of the city parks. I also remembered some little villages that clustered around the city and sold freshly made wines, but more on that later. In a word, Vienna is...imperial. Prague streets tend to be narrow and cobble-stone; it seems like the city has just grown up over the centuries and settled onto the landscape. If there ever was a plan for the city, it seems to have been change ten times (once for each century!). Vienna, however, seems planned - planned for imperial coronations, for victory parades, and for all the silly things that the Habsburg kings and queens wanted to do. There are formal gardens, palaces, and giant, neo-classical buildings (whether theaters, museums, churches, or governent buildings) everywhere. Even the central church, St. Stephen's, boasts the a 137m tall steeple. There's not much subtle about the downtown, that's for sure. It is gorgeous - there were tulips in bloom all over the city, and the gardens and grounds of the palaces are beautiful. We also stumbled into the Vienna University botanical garden, and were completely overwhelmed by the variety and beauty of the flowers. Although I prefer Prague (or even Berlin), Vienna was totally different and totally amazing.

Our favorite activities in the city were going to museums. The Kunsthistorisches Museum, which is across the street from the main palace in the city, the Hofburg, had an incredible collection of Italian and northern Renaissance paintings, along with antiquities from Greece, Rome, and Egypt. We spent a morning there, and could have probably spent more time. We all split up to see what we wanted at our own pace, and then joined up in the cafe for a quick lunch. We also hit up the museum at the Belvedere Palace (sorry the link's in German, but the pictures are great!) the next day - it had mostly nineteenth and twentieth century art, and a great collection of Gustav Klimt. The original of "The Kiss" is there, along with others of his works. We loved the Belvedere, and the grounds. Our final major stop in terms of big sites was the royal treasury at the Hofburg. We saw some ridiculous jewels, vestments, and relics there.

The touristy fun is only half of Vienna's charm, though. The city is justifiably famous for its coffee houses, and we chose Cafe Sperl for our first breakfast in the city. Sperl boasts that its decor is exactly the same now as it was at its opening in 1880, and I believe it. I would also believe that some of the waiters have worked there since 1880, too. Our coffee was ridiculous, as was breakfast, and it kept us going through a full day of site-seeing.

At the end of that day, though, we treated ourselves to a visit to the heurigen, small wine villages that cluster at the north end of Vienna on hillsides overlooking the city. We went to Grinzing and Nussdorf, and really enjoyed both. They serve several varieties of wine, notably Gruner Veltliner and Riesling, along with heurig, which means the most recent vintage of white wine. It's not meant to be aged, and is really easy to drink (i.e. low in alcohol, with a light body and not a ton of flavor). It was a bit too cold for us to enjoy sitting outside, but we had a blast each night. We particularly liked Nussdorf; we walked five minutes out of the central part of the village and were in the midst of the vineyards, and we also ate at a great brewery, Brauhaus Nussdorf.

Our final favorite from Vienna was the Naschmarkt; it's a place to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and specialty foods from around the world. There were tons of places to pick up cheese, olives, vinegar, fresh meat and fish, or anything else you could want. While I won't wax rhapsodic about it like Danielle did for the Borough Market in London, it was pretty amazing. We stopped and ate Vietnamese for lunch (it was my mom's first time having it), and it was a perfect way to cap our trip.

So, the rest of my mom's visit was wonderful, but Vienna was the real highlight. We all got to see a new city and discover its sites, sounds, and smells. It was tough to see my mom go, but it's only a couple of months until we'll be back in the States. I think we all have enough memories from the trip to keep us going until July!

Highlights from Berlin

2008-04-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, we found out that there was a Fulbright conference in Berlin that would bring together grantees from eighteen different countries. Phil was asked to participate and was on a panel discussing different grantees' experiences with their host country and their education systems. While the conference was the initial inspiration for the trip, the real draw was exploring Berlin, particularly with other Fulbright friends who were also going to be there...how could we say no?

At the beginning of April, we spent five days in Berlin for my first time and for Phil's second time. Berlin was incredible. I absolutely loved it. Here are my initial thoughts about the city:

1. There is phenomenal architecture in the city. Since Berlin was mostly built after WWII, it is one of the great cities for modern architecture. One of our personal favorites was The Pregnant Oyster , where we had a reception and dinner one night.
2. The restaurants are top notch: a large range of options, very international, and reasonably priced compared to other major European cities. One highlight was Monsieur Vuong, the best Vietnamese food I've had since we lived in Boston.
3. The history of the city is unparalleled. The scars and wounds of WWII and the communist regime are still palpable. From the remnants of the Berlin Wall to the newly designed Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin exposes its past like few cities I've been in.
4. The museums are also high quality. We bought a three day pass and could enter fifty different museums! It was fantastic.

And that's just to name a few of my favorite things...here are some of the photos

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche or Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church - bombed in 1943 and preserved as a testament to the destruction of that time.
Brandenburg Gate or Brandenburger Tor - along the central boulevard Unter der Linden of Berlin.

Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe or Das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas - Concrete slabs of varying sizes laid out over about 5 acres. The monument is meant to be experienced alone as you walk through it, and it was designed so you cannot walk 2 people across. Moving, thought provoking, and beautifully designed, in my humble opinion.

Remnants of the Berlin Wall - not much of the Wall still stands today, but there are a few stretches of it that exist. An incredible outdoor exhibit called the Topography of Terror is publicly accessible near these pieces of the Wall. The exhibit gave a detailed overview of Berlin's Nazi and Communist history.

Modern Architecture - just a few examples:
I.M. Pei's addition to the German History Museum

The British Embassy - what's with the crazy blue and purple elements?

The interior of Frank Gehry's DG Bank building - some say that the central swooping silver conference room looks like a horse's head...well, sort of...

Pergamon Museum - an absolute high point of museum going. As long as you can get over the fact that these are completely stolen antiquities, they are incredibly impressive. The Pergamon Alter is a completely reconstructed original alter from the 2nd century BCE. Astoundingly beautiful and enormous.

The Ishtar Gate is the inner gate of the ancient city of Babylon built by King Nebuchadnezzar in the 1st century BCE. Unbelievable.
We had lots of fun, see?!

A Little Taste of Moscow in Prague

2008-04-19T05:15:00.001-07:00

So, my good friend Danny recently came to visit us in Prague with his girlfriend, Paget, and two of their friends, Dmitri and MacReadie. Danny is a lawyer in DC, Paget is thinking about getting into marketing for pomegranate juice in Birmingham, MacReadie is a statistician for Homeland Security in DC, and Dmitri is getting an MBA in Paris. Reading over that last sentence, it really sums up what a bizarre, interesting, amazing group this was! We had a blast doing the touristy things in Prague, showing them the sights and sounds of the city, and staying out late ('til 3am! we're never out that late...). I just wanted to write up the defining episode of their visit, though: a trip to Petrovich, the best Russian restaurant in Prague.

Dmitri is from Moscow, and is a total foodie. Whenever he visits a new city, he always looks up Russian restaurants; he swears there is no good Russian food in Paris, so he was excited to see what Prague had to offer. When he told us the name of a restaurant he had found (Petrovich), we looked it up on all our Prague websites. Our diligent search yielded...nothing. Did this scare us? A little. But Danny, Paget, and MacReadie swore we could trust Dmitri, and so we did. And let me say: I am really, really glad we did.

The restaurant turned out to be really close to our house - just a five minute walk away. When we arrived and sat down, the waitress came out with Czech/English menus. Besides chicken kiev, steak tartare, and borscht, it looked pretty standard. I was mildly disappointed, until the waitress (after a brief conversation in Russian with Dmitri) brought out a giant tome of a menu in Cyrillic characters. I guess they save the good stuff for insiders, which Dmitri proved himself to be. Dmitri asked: "Is it alright if I order for everyone?" Um, yes. Please do. What emerged from the kitchens was amazing: pierogies (meat and veggie), sausages, Russian dumplings with sour cream, dark rye bread, cured meats and cheese, borscht, cheese and mushroom dip, and pickled herring smothered with beets and sour cream. We had never had anything like it, and it was all delicious. There was also wine, and beer, and...

Vodka. About ten minutes into our meal, a mysterious, small pitcher of cloudy liquid appeared on our table. Shot glasses followed. We were being served horseradish-infused vodka with our meal, and we were skeptical. It also turned out to be delicious! If you're ever congested, I suggest a shot of this elixir. I do not, however, recommend having more than one. The horseradish kick covers up the alcohol burn, but the two flavors combine pretty well. We both felt, however, like we had truly eaten like the czars.

The rest of the visit was amazing, and we capped it with a visit to Sparta Praha's soccer stadium for a match. Danny, Danielle, and I avoided hooligans, ate sausages and drank beer, and watched Sparta cruise to victory. It was Danielle's and my first visit to a Czech pro-soccer game, and it was awesome.

I am sure we'll get back to a match, and we'll be updating soon on our trips to Berlin and Vienna, and on my mom's (current) trip to Prague. Until then, na zdorovje!

21 km, Half Marathon Euro-style

2008-04-01T11:04:00.001-07:00

Call me crazy, but I love running. Really, I do. So when I had the chance to take on the Prague Half Marathon and run 21 km through this city, I took it! Running has been a constant source of happiness for me, particularly living in Prague. Before arriving, I was concerned about the accessibility of the city streets and Praha's penchant for cobblestones. To my surprise, I've found incredible places to run and train, bez (without) cobblestones. Over the past few months, I added some long runs to my weekly running and prepared to conquer 21 km or 13.1 miles.

On Saturday morning, Phil was extremely thankful that the race began at noon instead of the typical 7 or 8 a.m. I'm not sure if all of Europe starts its races later in the day, but my husband thanks the Czechs for deciding it is not a good idea to get up before the sun rises to run. I, on the other hand, was super excited to get going! I met our friend Zach before the race for a warm-up run. He's an architect, Fulbrighter, fellow runner, and all around all-star who ran his first half-marathon! We started the race together, but separated after the first kilometer. Since his legs are as long as I am tall, he ran a bit faster;) It was super fun to have a friend to start with and see at the finish line!

The weather was cooperative, cool but not cold. As we lined up at the start at Jan Palach namesti, I did notice one glaring difference between my previous races in the US and this one. The ratio of men:women runners was about 10:1. I haven't figured out an explanation for the much greater numbers of men, but I was certainly in the minority. The gun sounded at noon, as the race was kicked off by the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus. I guess it is a good thing that the race was important enough to the CZ that the president was there. But with all due respect, I think Mr. Klaus is a little crazy. He doubts both the existence of global warming and the utility of popular elections, but that's a conversation for another day...back to the race...

About half of the race was in beautiful, scenic Prague. Highlights included running in the following places: 1. across Manesuv and Legii Most, two bridges I run all the time, 2. under the Powder Tower, a centuries old Gothic tower 3. down Narodni trida (national boulevard) and passing the street we live on 4. along the Vltava River. The other half of the race was in less scenic Prague, but I didn't mind. Or should I say, my mind was elsewhere for a significant part of the middle of the race. There were some extremely rough patches during stretches of my race. I might blame the headwind along the river, or perhaps I started out a bit too strong, but my race pace definitely slowed down along the way. Not to be deterred, I kept going.

Highlights that made me smile during the race: 1. the Czech bands that played heavy metal, headbanging music at km 9, 11, and 18. There was also a Roxette cover band at the half-way point. Yikes. All were a great way to keep your feet propelling you past the "entertainment" 2. Hearing no less than five different languages being spoken along the way 3. Running by the Staropramen Brewery around km 17 and being stared at by some of the men working. The looks on their faces were saying something like, "Fakt, jo?" which translates roughly to "Really, yes?" They were not buying the idea that running is fun.

We also had dear friends from college in town for the weekend, Corey and Jenna. My personal cheering section did a fantastic job of hollering loud and clear at the start, at km 12, and at the finish. It was pretty special to have their support to look forward to during the race! By the end of the race, I was tired enough that I don't really remember running by the Charles Bridge, one of the most famous sites in all of Prague. All I know is that I was ready to be done! So when I finally crossed the finish line, I had run 21 km in 1 hour and 50 minutes! Yay! I promise, this is fun stuff...

Happy Easter!

2008-04-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

Even if Czech tradition mandates willow wands and buckets of water, some things are the same here as at home. We had a wonderful Easter brunch at the Davises' house (the pastor of the church we go to here, his wife Shanna, and their three kids). There was an exciting Easter egg hunt for the kids, and plenty of incredible food for everyone. Besides ham, we had Mennonite sweet bread, hot cross buns, and tons of other delicacies. No Peeps, but I think we'll survive. It was the perfect way to celebrate Easter in Prague with friends!

Showtime, NBL Style

2008-03-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

And father had had such hopes
For a son who would take the ropes
And fulfill all his old athletic aspirations
But apparently now there's some complications
But while I am lying here, trying to fight the tears
I'll prove to the crowd that I come out stronger
Though I think I might lie here a little longer

- From "The Sporting Life," by the Decemberists

This song makes me laugh when I think of my earlier athletic endeavors. I've been pretty good, but never good enough to take it to the next level. (I used to be convinced that I should have become a NFL punter, if only FCDS, my high school, had had a football team, but I digress...) Well, now the dream has been reborn - I am utterly, absolutely convinced that I could (and should) join the Czech professional basketball league.

Our friend Tim Lyle plays professionally here, in the Czech National Basketball League. He played at James Madison in college (go Dukes!), and has traveled Europe playing professional ball in a number of countries. Here, he plays for a team located in Podebrady, a really nice town about 45 minutes outside of Prague, that is called Sadska. He had a game against USK Praha last weekend, so we took in the action. Let me tell you, it was intense. Some things you should know:

1) tickets were three dollars, and the gym looked like a medium-nice high school gym in the States;
2) the crowd was very pro-Podebrady, and loud - like soccer games, supporters wear scarves and carry drums into the arena. The Podebrady fans chanted and banged their drums constantly;
3) we suspect this enthusiasm was partially fueled by beer. It was cheap at the arena, and I swear we saw thirteen-year-olds drinking. Needless to say, we weren't surprised;
4) each team was allowed to have two Americans, and players from other European nations also filled out the rosters. One of Tim's teammates played for the Croatian national team...against the original Dream Team (think MJ and Charles Barkley)! Sure, he's the wrong side of 35 these days, but he was crafty and could shoot;
5) actually, everyone could shoot, and the whole game is geared around three pointers; the style is very different, very physical, and this led to the one negative thing about the game: the officiating.

Although Tim's team lost, he led all scorers with 18 points. He would have had 30 if it weren't for the fact that he got assaulted every time he touched the ball. Tim is big - probably 6'8" - and is a really, really good post player. Unfortunately, his skills couldn't prevail against the hometown refs allowing the other team to grab, scratch, and otherwise hang all over Tim. This officiating, however, has given me a new sense of calling: I am giving up academia, and becoming a professional ref in the Czech Republic. I certainly couldn't make the league as a player, but I'm definitely better than the zebras over here! Tim's last game is tonight, and Sadska needs to win to make the playoffs. We're pulling for the yellow and black, and hope everyone else will cheer them on to victory!

This our friend Chris and Laura's son, Owen; he's Tim's biggest fan!

Burned at the Stake, Thrown Out a Window, or Beheaded – Why Phil Loves the Hussites

2008-03-26T03:33:00.000-07:00

The reason we are in Prague for this year is because of a man named Jan Hus. Well, we’re really here because Phillip (for the sake of clarity - see below) is a talented scholar, but we’re in Prague because he studies Jan Hus, a 15^th century reformer who preached in Bohemia and was executed for his beliefs. Since we arrived in September, we’ve been extremely lucky to find a church community that makes us feel at home, Faith Community Church. We’ve become friends with many people in the community and been truly inspired by these incredible people in Prague! Many people at church have been interested in learning more about Jan Hus and the pastor, Phil (another Phil!) asked Phillip to give a talk for the church. So over Easter weekend, Phillip gave a lecture on Friday night and led a walking tour of important religious sites in Prague on Saturday afternoon. In short, it was extraordinarily successful.

Friday night’s talk was entitled “Burned at the Stake, Thrown Out a Window, or Beheaded: the True (and often bizarre) History of the Hussites”. Leave it to Phillip to come up with a catchy title and make 15^th century history exciting;) There were about fifty people in attendance. Both friends and complete strangers in the audience came up to me after the talk to tell me what a wonderful teacher Phillip is. In particular, one woman marveled at his ability to speak to an audience containing people who barely knew who Jan Hus was and those with Divinity school degrees. On a personal note, it was special for me to be able to see Phillip engage the crowd and teach about the life and death of Jan Hus, a subject about which he is so passionate. After the talk, we went to dinner and enjoyed an evening with good friends and great beer!

On Saturday, Phillip led a crowd of thirty-five people on a walking tour of Prague. We began at Bethlehem Chapel, where Jan Hus preached from 1402-1412, walked to Old Town Square, on to the Church of Our Lady of Snows, and ended at New Town Hall. Each of these sites is significant in Prague’s religious history, and Phillip kept the crowd interested by telling stories of the crazy defenestrations (being thrown out a window), beheadings, and battles that took place in Prague’s storied history. This was not your ordinary tour of Prague…

Because of the crowds in Prague, Phillip thought it would be funny to carry a pomlázka (the Easter whip - see the Easter blog for details) so everyone would be able to follow him. This is hilarious because everyone in Prague is familiar with tour groups lead by guides with an umbrella held high in the air. The pomlázka was a big hit with the our friends’ kids, and it kept the group together. All in all, Phillip’s “Jan Hus Extravaganza” was wildly successful. I think it gave everyone the unique perspective of Prague as a city with a tumultuous religious history. He really shed light on the importance of this rich past in this complex, storied city of Prague. Everyone came away knowing a little more about the city we call home.

Easter Traditions in Prague

2008-03-26T03:06:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago, we walked through Old Town Square, the oldest square in the city and one of the most visited spots in Prague. Rising out of the center of the square was a huge tree decorated with pastel plastic Easter eggs. In addition, many small wooden huts were being erected all over the square. Ahhhh, the Easter Markets were coming to town.

At Christmas and Easter in Prague, markets spring up in the main city squares for about three weeks around the holidays. The Easter Markets are almost identical to the Christmas ones, except decorated with eggs instead of Christmas trees. The markets are made up of people selling food, drinks, and tchotchkes. We didn’t buy much at Christmas or Easter, just a few ornaments. The real fun of the markets is just walking around and people watching.

While the Czech Republic is nominally Christian, it is much less religious than its neighboring countries of Poland and Slovakia, which are ardently Catholic. The Czech Republic has developed into a fairly secular society with Christian roots and a long complicated religious history (just ask Phil about it). The holidays of Christmas and Easter are certainly still religious holidays, but also have some strongly secular traditions associated with them as well. One of the Czech Easter traditions that has made us laugh has been the popular “pomlázka”. (Keep in mind that to Czechs, the fuzzy white bunny that brings you chocolates and candy is pretty strange, too.) A pomlázka is a whip made of braided willow branches. The tradition was explained to us as follows…In your village or family, men/boys are allowed to carry around the pomlázka and hit the females/girls. The women/girls carry around decorated eggs and give them to the men when they're hit. It is rumored that nowadays, the women can also give shots of liquor to the men, in case they don’t want painted eggs. Only in the CZ. In the afternoon, the women are apparently allowed to carry around buckets of water to throw at the men folk. All of this is supposedly an ancient fertility ritual…hmmmmm. We have at least one Czech friend who tells us that this tradition lives on in her family. I will tell you that on every street corner and in the Easter markets, there were many pomlázka for sale all week. I swear I’m not making this up, so here are links that outline these wacky Czech traditions.

Vesele Velikonoce! Happy Easter!

Jablonec nad Nisou, CZ; a.k.a. Beadville

2008-03-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

One of my friends, Joanna, is one of the most talented and artistic crafters I know. She started a Praha chapter of Stitch and Bitch (a knitting group for those outside the knitting world!) and has such a multitude of artistic talents that I couldn’t possibly list them all. One of her many talents is making jewelry, so when she proposed a trip to “Beadville, CZ”, I couldn’t say no to the experience. Let me explain…

If you’ve kept up with our blog, a few months ago, we visited a glass artist friend of ours in northern Bohemia. From him, we’ve learned that glass making and blowing has been and continues to be an important artistic tradition in the Czech Republic, particularly in Bohemia, the northern part of the CZ. Another Bohemian town, Jablonec nad Nisou, has been a center for making glass beads and jewelry. Apparently, Czech beads from Jablonec have been famous since the 17^th century. Who knew? Not me, but Joanna did! So four of us, Joanna, her friend Jessica who was visiting from the States, Sara and me went on an adventure to Jablonec nad Nisou.

The day was a snowy one, complicated by frigid temperatures. We didn’t let that stop us! Sara has the most pimped out seven passenger minivan I’ve ever been in, and along with her expert driving, we cruised through the wintry weather with no problems. Beadville was only 1.5 hours from Prague, so it was an easy day trip. Both Jessica and Joanna are artists who make jewelry, so it was fun for Sara and I to learn a thing or two along the way. We roamed around town, went to the local museum, ate some delicious Czech pastries, and then hit the stores. Because the beads are made in this town, the local stores sell beads wholesale. According to my informants, the beads were extraordinarily inexpensive. I now have lots of gorgeous glass beads, and a wonderful friend to teach me how to make jewelry!

Cesky Krumlov: like Epcot, only real

2008-03-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, something in the Czech Republic is so ridiculously cute, quaint, and old that you can't believe it's authentic. You almost believe you're in Epcot: Bohemia, but then you realize that you're actually in a town that's been standing for 800 years. So, while our friends Mike and Rebecca were here from Charlottesville way back in early March, we headed to south Bohemia to take in the sites at Cesky Krumlov. It is the best preserved medieval town in Bohemia (and that's saying something!), and we wanted to take Mike and Rebecca there for a night as their wedding present - they got married in January, and a night in a romantic medieval town seemed cooler than buying them a place setting. CK is about 3 1/2 hours from Prague, and the train trip was very scenic. The highlight was Rebecca's discovering Fanta Limon in a train station convenience store. Who knew how much joy a citrus soda could bring? She hadn't been able to find it since studying abroad in Spain in the 90's. Luckily, most of the Czech Republic is still living in the 90's, so Fanta Limon probably just hit the shelves here...

CK is a gorgeous town; it is situated on an S-curve in the Vltava River, and comprises an old town centre (for a medieval town, I'll go with the olde worlde spellyng) and a section built around a chateau and fortified castle which is the second largest in the Czech Republic. The entire town is a UNESCO world heritage site, but the castle is the gem. It was built mostly by the Schwarzenberg family in the eighteenth century (on foundations begun in the 13th c.), and features beautiful gardens, a Baroque tower, and an arched walkway to the castle that looks like a Roman aqueduct. It also (theoretically) has three bears that live in one of its moats. We did not see them, and think the "moat bears" might be a legend. Not seeing them was the one disappointment of our trip.

The town is, in a word, gorgeous. The river was running high, and rushed under a quaint wooden bridge in the middle of town. In the summer, you can canoe on the river, and there are pubs on the banks with places to tie up and stop for a drink. There is also a local brewery in town, Eggenberg, and we visited their on-site restaurant for a taste. They brew about eight different types of beer; stick with the basic lager or the dark - everything else went down hill. We also distracted ourselves during the day by fooling around at THE COOLEST PLAYGROUND IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. Sure, it was 25 degrees, and sure, we're thirty, but the playground equipment there was pretty awesome. It was also the first and only place we've seen in the Czech Republic with signs prohibiting alcohol - that just goes to show how rad this place was.

We stayed at a quaint little hotel by the wooden bridge, but the real highlight of our trip was our dinner in Cesky Krumlov. On a recommendation from our friend Dustin, we made reservations at a restaurant called Tavern Krčma v Šatlavská. Wow. It is a basement restaurant with waiters and waitresses in medieval period dress, and they cook their meat on an open fire in the middle of the dining room. We ordered combo meat platters that featured: pork, beef, turkey, sausage, and roasted veggies and potatoes. I made the mistake of ordering garlic soup to begin (it was spicy, in a bread bowl, but unnecessary given the ensuing carnage), and Mike and Rebecca split a pretzel. We all ate so much (plus beer, of course) that each of us either a) went into a meat coma upon arriving at the hotel, or b) got a wicked case of the meat sweats. It was worth it.

We headed back to Prague the next day, after another walk through town and a leisurely walk through the castle (still no bears, though). It was an amazing side trip, and I hope a great wedding present for Mike and Rebecca.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

My Mom kept reminding me, "Don't forget your Irish heritage" this past week as Saint Patrick's Day approached. In honor of such a celebratory day, Phil and I hosted a Saint Patrick's Day party at our flat on Saturday night. Just a few friends, some Irish music, yummy food, and green beer! Czech beer is tasty, even when it is dyed green.

Of course, some friends did bring Becherovka so we wouldn't forget we were in Prague, but we did manage to find real Irish cheddar and sausages. It was a great night in Prague, but a wonderful way to remember the Waldron heritage: Galway Bay, Dublin, Danny Boy, and Counties Mayo and Cork (via the Bronx!).

Sláinte!

Just Another Saturday Night in Prague

2008-03-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

Phil and I have to laugh at the funny things that happen to us here in Prague. I’m not sure whether it is just “city life” or that we spend a lot of time out and about and are bound to run into things that make us laugh. It could be a mixture of these things, but I really just think that it’s Prague. This city has some wacky things happening on a regular basis, and our Saturday night was just one example.

We spent most of the day doing very typical things that we do on any relaxing Saturday afternoon. I went running, Phil did some work writing and translating, we made brunch together and drank some coffee, nothing too out of the ordinary for us. Later, we stopped by Brooke and Dustin’s house and saw a few friends at their place. We decided to go to our favorite Indian restaurant, Beas, for dinner and had some excellent matar paneer. Mmmmm. Just a regular Saturday like any other. Then, a horse walked by.

On our way home, we walked by the Estates Theater and heard some sort of music playing. A minute later, a man in knight’s armor on a horse trotted by. What?? On closer investigation, there were three knights on horses that lead us to a medieval festival. There were five people playing music, something like a flute/recorder backed up by multiple string instruments. Next came the people twirling fire, eating fire, and spitting fire (one of them was no older than 12 years old.) Lastly, the band stopped and an “MC” announced a king and queen (everyone is in FULL costume) and they mounted horses and rode away. All of this was happening smack in the middle of the city with a pretty sizable crowd of people watching, drinking, and generally being amused by the whole thing. I guess what makes me laugh is that I just don’t expect to come across Medieval re-enactors when walking through the center of a city, much less at 9 pm on a Saturday night. It seems more like a “somewhere outside the city on a Sunday afternoon” kind of event. But maybe I’m just being closed minded. Medieval fun is fun anywhere, anytime. Please see the short video clip below for fire twirling accompanied by a bitchin' lute solo...

After getting back to our apartment, Prague had one more surprise for us. At around 11 pm, we heard some loud noises outside the window. To our surprise, there was a fairly impressive fireworks display visible from our window. This wasn’t just some guy on his roof setting off fireworks, oh no. This was a full on 10-15 minute display that we could see high above the rooftops. We’ve seen fireworks once before from Legii most, the closest bridge. But we had not seen them from our window. I guess I could try and figure out why they were happening last Saturday, but I don’t really want to. I’m happy to think that they were the perfect ending to an ordinary Saturday in Prague: Phil, me, a medieval festival, and fireworks.

Karlovy Vary and the Twelve Springs

2008-02-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

For Phil's 30th birthday, we decided on an mini-vacation to the Czech spa town, Karlovy Vary, with Brooke and Dustin, new friends who live in Prague. (She's a writer, he's a musician, and they rock). Karlovy Vary is a town nestled in a valley about two hours from Prague. Legend has it that in the 14th century, Charles IV's dog actually discovered the hot springs for which the town is famous. I don't know if that's true, but in light of the Czech culture's love of dogs, I believe it. Because of these natural springs, it became a center of healing and relaxation over the centuries for those who could afford to come here. In more recent times, this tradition has continued and there are an incredible number of spas offers a wide range of "treatments". These spa treatments are "medicinal", and Czechs actually get doctor's prescriptions to come to KV. While looking at the menu of available spa packages, there were massages and facials, but also lymph drainage treatments and colonics...we opted out of the spa experience.

We did decide to "take the waters". What is that, you might ask? Well, the twelve springs are found throughout the central part of the town, flow freely, and can be sampled as you roam around. There are supposed to be healing properties of the water, or maybe just digestive benefits, I can't exactly remember. The only thing I can recall is the awful taste of the water. I had a Czech friend tell me, "The water in Karlovy Vary tastes like blood". She wasn't kidding. The "minerals" in the water must have an absurdly high iron content. The water we sampled was 30, 40, 50, 60, or 70 degree C iron-flavored water. Bleeeeeeech. Brooke, Dustin, and I had enough after just one or two sips from our commemorative Karlovy Vary sippy cups. For his 30th birthday, Phil thought it was important to sample all twelve springs. A fountain of youth, perhaps? Later, he told us that he felt at least 28 after drinking all the water...

More important than "the waters", Karlovy Vary is absolutely beautiful. You can really see how the architecture of the town was built into the rolling hills. I thought KV was quite "vertical" in both the buildings and the landscape. I didn't expect it to be so visually impressive, so I was just thrilled that it was. What I really loved about it was that there are miles and miles of trails all around the town. So as soon as you leave the central downtown, you can be walking in the woods in just a few minutes. If you can tell from the photos, Phil's birthday was a gorgeous, sunny day, and we tried to take full advantage of it. We spent most of our afternoon roaming around on the trails, and found some incredible views of KV from the hills. In true Czech style, you can't hike to the top of a hill and not find a beer garden. So we even had a birthday beer toast along the way. Na zdravi!

After taking the waters and hiking, we roamed around town and in the evening, had his birthday dinner at a Czech restaurace, Posezeni u Sveska. Fried pork, goulash, and Pilsner Urquell for everyone! Our second day was much of the same, but with more fog and gray skies. Brooke and Dustin were amazing travel companions and we were thrilled to share this birthday extravaganza with them. Happy Birthday, Phil!

Last random thought and a factoid that may only interest me (á la Peter King;) - The last James Bond movie, Casino Royale, was actually filmed in the Czech Republic. The first few scenes were filmed at the Prague Hilton, and the scenes in "Montenegro" at the casino were filmed in Karlovy Vary! You might recognize this hotel from the movie, the Grand Hotel Pupp. Strange name, I know, but really beautiful.

München ist Ausgezeichnet! (Munich is excellent!)

2008-02-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

Ferris: Cameron, what have you seen today?
Cameron: Nothing good.
Ferris: Nothing - wha - what do you mean nothing good? We've seen everything good. We've seen the whole city! We went to a museum, we saw priceless works of art! We ate pancreas!

My brother, Jonathan, Phil and I went to Munich, Germany last week, and while we didn't eat pancreas, we did see everything good in the whole city, just like Ferris, Cameron, and Sloan in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Well, maybe it wasn't everything in Munich, but we tried pretty hard and it certainly felt like we did an awful lot. Here are a few of our favorite things about Munich:

Outdoor space – There is an incredible amount of beautiful green park space in Munich. Though it was in the high 20’s to low 40’s, we braved the cold and spent much of our days outside. We walked all around the Schloss Nymphenburg, an incredible summer estate built by the Wittelsbachs (the dukes of Bavaria) from 1600 to about 1850. Though the palace was only a summer home, it was pretty amazing: think Versailles in Bavaria. The grounds were equally impressive with miles and miles of trails, woods, lakes, and gardens. Beautiful in the winter, I can only imagine how pretty it is in the spring or summer. Munich’s English Garden (Englischer Garten) is another incredible green space in the city. Just from walking around, you could tell that lots of people use this park for running, biking, dog walking, etc. I loved that it was so used by the people who live in the city. A river flows through the park, and dams give it waves. Despite the freezing weather, there was even a guy surfing on the man-made rapids. Munich really does have an amazing amount of usable outdoor space. It made it feel like a city that people really want to live in.

Beer Gardens and Beer – Could we write about Munich and not mention it?

1. Hofbrau Haus - famous and crowded, but incredibly good beer. We drank liters of HB Hellas (the light lager) where the steins are so large, Phil needed two hands to drink it! This place is known as the city’s most famous tourist destination and can seat thousands of people. One lesser known fact about the Hofbrau Haus is that on the second floor of the building, Adolf Hitler organized a failed coup attempt known as “the Beer Hall Putsch” in 1923. That fun fact is not posted on the walls next to the oompah band…

2. Chinese Pagoda (Chinesischer Turm) in the English Garden – could we go to Munich without a stop at the Chinese Pagoda? Too bad it was bitterly cold by the time we got there, or we would have sat outside. It was a much prettier structure than I was expecting, and my brother and I had to have a photo standing in front!

3. Ayinger – A fantastic and much less touristy beer hall across the street from the raucous Hofbrau Haus. It was recently renovated and had a much more modern feel to it. It wasn’t crowded at all. The basic Hellas beer was a favorite, while the hefeweissen was unfiltered and refreshing.

4. Lowenbrau – we finally got to drink outside in Munich! Some unknown genius planned Munich so there are two beer gardens within a five minute walk of the train station (Franziskaner and Lowenbrau). We hit up Lowenbrau before we left town, and got to bask in the winter sun and toast to Munich before hitting the road for home. It was a great cap to a couple of days together!

Modern Art – Phil and I love to get lost in museums. I particularly love modern art museums, while my brother informed me that he hasn’t been to a museum in years. He decided that it might be fun to see some priceless works of art (call him Cameron), so we spent a few hours at Pinakothek der Moderne. The space of the building was exquisite and created what is now one of my favorite museums. My vote for best installation was by a Slovak artist named Roman Ondek. It is interactive because everyone who enters a large white room is measured against the wall. Then your name is written with the date and you become part of the installation with thousands of other people…and the visual effect is freaking cool.

We were also lucky (or, if you are my brother, “lucky”) to run across a sign for a Mark Rothko retrospective while in Munich. It was a fabulous chance to see the body of his work, instead of just the abstract block color paintings for which he is most famous. It was a very memorable because not only did I learned a lot, but I almost caused an international incident when I was looking for the WC and inadvertently blew past a security guard into a “restricted” area. Let me just say that it is not cool to cause rising blood pressure in a large German guard.

Roasted meats and wurst – One of the goals of Jonathan’s trip to Europe was to sample local cuisine in all its glory. We certainly attempted to eat our way through our three days in Bavaria with an impressive sampling of restaurants. We had multiple kinds of wurst, lots of pretzels and spicy mustard, multiple kinds of sauerkraut and cabbage, delicious goulash soup, roasted chicken…and that was just at dinner the first night. We even had a discussion about how difficult it would be to live as a vegetarian in Munich while eating liver meat balls! (Phil’s note: if you’re offered the Bavarian meatloaf, give it a shot. It’s like a giant loaf of hot dog, but good. Trust me.)

Marienplatz – This is the tourist center of the city, and it is centered on the famed Glockenspiel (carillon) on the Rathaus (new town hall). Tourists gather daily at 11 am and noon to watch a series of clock-work figures dance, sing, and joust(!) while the carillon plays a series of songs. Seriously, it’s much more elaborate than the Prague astrological clock, but a little tiresome. The whole song and dance lasts fifteen minutes, and your neck gets pretty sore. Much better, and just around the corner, is the Viktualenmarkt – an outdoor food market with food, flowers, and (of course) sausage merchants and three beer halls around it. The fruit was fresh and amazing (Phil’s note: even if Danielle’s apricot cost 4 euros), and the atmosphere was incredible. Most beer gardens let you bring in your own food, too, so buying picnic supplies and hitting up a beer hall is a major attraction.

Munich is a wonderful city for so many reasons. We were thrilled to see it with my brother and enjoyed every minute of it!

Ferris: Ladies and gentlemen, you are such a wonderful crowd, we'd like to play a little tune for you. It's one of my personal favorites and I'd like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn't think he's seen anything good today - Cameron Frye, this one's for you. “Danke schön, darling, Danke schön…”

Prague: Matka Mest (Mother of Cities)

2008-02-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

So, I have been absent from the blog for the last month or so - I have been finishing a chapter of my dissertation, and it has occupied me for too long. Oddly enough, after spending the day updating footnotes or slogging through Bohemian chronicle entries for 1419, I haven't felt like a little casual writing. I was looking at the old posts, though, and figured that I should respond to Danielle's favorite things about Prague. While I share some, or even many, of those, I don't run, I don't eat sweets that often, and I am less keen on flowers than the resident gardener. Danielle also did leave some key things out (oh, I said it), and these need to be addressed...

So, without further adieu...

1) beer culture - it's not just about how good the beer is, or how cheap it is, but about how people drink in Prague. First, beer is a breakfast drink here. Seriously. I often see folks knocking back a cold one with their bread and butter around town. Indeed, beer is often referred to as "Czech bread." No complaints here! Everybody also has their favorite local pubs near their houses, and on Fridays and Saturdays they are full of folks - neighbors hanging out, kids running around, and burly men (or women) in aprons slinging half-litres of beer. Pubs also usually serve only one or two beers, and they are identified by the beer signs above their doors. So, you know what you're getting when you walk in, and that is incredibly comforting. By the by, the picture is from a little neighborhood hospoda (pub) by our friends' flat (Brooke and Dustin). The words in the picture translate to "against all," and can serve as a convenient drinking mantra.

2) public transportation - it's pretty spectacular here. It's cheap (we pay $1 a day for unlimited use), goes everywhere, and we have developed names for all of our favorite tram lines. The 23 is obviously the Jordan, the 9 is the Splinter (for Ted Williams), the 18 is the Feags (in honor of the immortal Giants punter), and the 22 is the Swayze (a nickel for anyone who can say why - click here for the answer). The trams and subways are also the sites of incredibly rude behavior, but really generous behavior as well. People pretty much always offer their seats to the elderly or handicapped people, and help folks with strollers on and off the trains. Of course, if you don't offer your seat, you might get yelled at/whacked by the aforementioned elderly people. The one major issue with public transportation is the apparent willingness of Prague teens to use it as a spot for make-out sessions. I haven't seen people suck face in a long time, but here it is a borderline weekly event.

3) my gym - I work out at the World Class Fitness Center in Wenceslas Square. It's a pretty classy joint, but I routinely see things there that boggle the mind. For instance, there are break dancers who practice in the yoga studio. Every day, several hours a day, there is a group of people doing head spins, the worm, and the robot. There is also a group practicing their MTV dance moves. I have no idea what they're practicing for, but it must be a big deal. They have had models doing catwalk moves while they danced, a string quartet backing a pop-singing duo, and a guy doing martial arts with swords. I hear he's pretty good with a bo staff, too. It's baffling, but always encourages me to get to the gym..."Who knows, maybe there will a lion tamer or clowns today - I better hit the treadmill so I don't miss any of the insanity." Beyond that, everyone wears spandex and short shorts, black socks with their sneakers, and the number of mullets is truly astounding. Much of my daily entertainment comes from World Class.

So, those are my contributions to the things that we love about Prague. Each of them is silly, and minor, but they also affect us every day, and get us fired up about our adopted home.

Big Blue Super Bowl Champions!

2008-02-08T00:47:00.000-08:00

BELIEVE

New York Giants 17

New England Patriots 14

At a little after 4 a.m. Czech time, I rejoiced in the NYG Super Bowl win in a small town called Velke Bilovice, CZ. We were at the Fulbright mid-year conference outside Brno, a few hours from Prague. Late into the night, I listened to the game via the internet with Gamecast on the screen. The Giants last drive was amazing, and to hear Bob Papa of WFAN (the voice of Giants radio) describe Eli scrambling and eluding sacks before David Tyree's circus catch on 3rd down...I had to ask myself, is this really happening? Eli is scrambling? Big Blue is going to win! After the game, I got a ton of emails from friends and family who know how much I love the Giants. You guys are great and they were all appreciated!

This post is a bit late (2 weeks after the big game) because my brother, Jonathan, came to visit us and we've been traveling around. It's been great to have him here, and we had a chance to celebrate the Giants win together! The first afternoon, Phil, Jonathan, and I walked around and happened to come across a street fair at the foot of the Charles Bridge. So we bought a beer and walked across the bridge while discussing the highlights of the Super Bowl. It just happened to be a big bonus that we could discuss the Giants under sunny skies in Prague! Good times were had by all.

A New Friend's BIRTHday

2008-01-31T13:59:00.000-08:00

We wanted to introduce our new friend, Piper Davis, born on January 30, 2008. When we met our friends, Phil and Shanna, in September, they were expectantly waiting for this beautiful baby girl to enter the world. They (and their other 2 children, Lucy and Clark) have been a wonderful friends to us as we have made a life in this city. We couldn't be happier for Piper's arrival and had to share the joy!

The HaberDongs' Praha

2008-01-25T04:39:00.000-08:00

“Prague never let’s you go. This little mother has claws.”

In the early 20^th century, Franz Kafka wrote this about his hometown. He was a pretty depressed man, so I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I totally agree with the sinister undertone in this quote. But I think there is some truth in the idea that once Prague has gotten a hold of you, it doesn’t leave you. After a wonderful but exhausting trip back to the US for the holidays, our adopted city really feels like home. I guess Prague has already take hold of us.

That got me thinking about what it is that I love about this city. Perhaps more importantly, what are the everyday things that I love about living in Prague? It surprised me that the question I was asked the most from family and friends in the US was about my regular day. I wasn’t asked about the history of the city or the architecture I've been trying to learn more about. People that were interested in my life wanted to know about the everyday things that made my day happy…so this leads me to the question, “What are some of the little things I love about Prague?”

Caveat #1: This is certainly my list, not Phil’s. Maybe I will persuade him to add to this list, but for now, you can take these opinions as solely my own;)

Caveat #2: I decided to write this list this morning. Perhaps if I had taken a few days or weeks to think about it, I may have come up with more. But hey, these things were the first ones to pop into my head, and there is something to be said for first impressions…

Kazdy Den (Everyday):

Mikulándska 3 – Our flat in Prague. I had to start with the place that we actually call home. Through an incredibly lucky series of events, we found our flat with relative ease when we arrived in September. Our street is relatively quiet, but the neighborhood is incredible, located in Praha 1, on the border of Old Town and New Town. We have a cool vinárna (wine bar) in the basement of the building called Na Šikmé Ploše (On the Slippery Slope) and lots of fun restaurants within walking distance. We decided that since we live in a small town in Virginia, we might as well spend our year living in the middle of Prague. The flat is on the fourth floor of a building built in the late 19^th century. It has high ceilings and big windows to let the sun in. It came furnished (with funny orange decor throughout!) and is perfectly suited for our life here. Not without its quirks and imperfections, (no oven, only a gas range; a walk up, no elevator; German satellite cable, always funny) we love it anyway. One last funny note about where we live: hilarious neighbors. Upstairs, Jan hooked us up with cheap wireless internet because he “owns a lot of businesses involved with the internet” (we don’t ask questions); Jiří, our next-door neighbor, is a Versace-wearing, pimped-out, middle-aged man who is an art appraiser with multiple 20-something blonde bombshell girlfriends (we love him), and “the Russians” downstairs who one neighbor warned us weren’t very friendly (we have never seen them). Home sweet home.

Café Ebel and The Globe – our home(s) away from home. Phil and I spend a lot of time in coffee shops. We always have and likely always will. A great afternoon for us is packing up our laptops or books, finding a corner table and camping out for hours of work/reading/writing. I know, we’re nerds at heart, but if you are reading this, you probably love us anyway;) Our Prague favorite coffee shops are Café Ebel (the Týnská and Husova locations) and The Globe. Ebel offers a great Americano (espresso with hot water) and a delicious pot of zelený čaj (green tea). The Globe is an English language bookstore and café. Phil particularly loves Globe because of free coffee refills, almost unheard of in Prague. Both locations have the downside of being smoky, but that is a necessary evil in most public places in Prague. Both cafes are ex-pat friendly, but will happily muddle through my “functional” Czech as I try to order with minimal English. I can spend hours in these cafes and usually do a few days a week.

Running the Vltava River – A few years ago, I discovered a new love of my life: running. In college, at the prompting of my incredibly impressive roommate Julie’s running habit, (Thanks, Jules!) I started running in Chapel Hill. It was fun, but certainly not a passion. Over the years in Boston, Baltimore, and Charlottesville, I began to find a real love of hitting the road and finding my stride. In all of those cities, I have incredibly fond memories of favorite routes through the cities, along rivers, or out on country roads. Some of these routes have served as places I found happiness and solace in times when life was overwhelming. Running for me is a great comfort and way to find balance in my world. In Prague, I have again found incredible places to run. Our flat is about 2 blocks from the Vltava River. The first thing I see when I cross the road at Legii most (the Bridge of Legions) is the Vltava, Petřín Hill and Letna ascending on the west bank of the river, and Prague Castle on the hill to the northwest. It is the defining view of Prague for me. Some days when I’m feeling adventurous, I climb the hill to Letna and can run in a park with a view of the entire city below me to the east. Just amazing…Not every day is so picturesque, mind you. There was the day it was sunny when I left home and 2 miles later I was battling driving rain and wind, and the day I got lost and ended up in an extremely touristy section of the city with 80-year old German tourists looking at me like I was a moron for trying to run through the crowds, and another day I got lost and ended up at a soccer stadium running through a swarm of police in riot gear. “Pardon me, Mr. Scary Policeman in SWAT team gear with guns and helmets!” I may not have the best sense of direction, but it does provide for some interesting stories!

Libi se mi ceska kultura (I love Czech culture)

I get uncomfortable with sweeping generalizations ascribing habits and stereotypes to “Czechs” or “Czech culture”. People do it all the time to describe Czechs, Germans, Austrians, Americans, etc. and I’ve heard lots of derogatory comments that make me angry. On the other hand, there are social norms and behaviors I’ve noticed that really seem to be specific to just one country or culture or group of people. I just want to lay out the caveat that it is very difficult to say that all people do this or that just because of where they live. So while I ascribe these things to “Czech culture”, I’m positive lots of other places do similar things. I just so happened to notice them here!

Flowers (Kvetiny) – You cannot walk the streets of Prague without seeing a flower shop or stand every few minutes. Seriously. Almost everyday, I see people walking in the streets with bouquets of flowers. Men and women, on their way home (I assume) with fresh cut flowers. This is incredible! Americans, take note!

Shoe etiquette – This is an incredibly important lesson to learn early in a visit to the Czech Republic. There are strict rules about inside and outside shoes. Woe unto the person who crosses the line. Shoes are considered dirty. When you enter your home or another person’s home, you must take off the shoes you wore outside. You never walk around in an indoor space with outside shoes on. For example, when Phil goes to the gym, he must either change his shoes at the door before entering the gym or put on plastic booties to cover the soles of his shoes. When I go to my yoga studio, you must leave your shoes in the “shoe cubbies” at the door. When children go to school in the Czech republic, they have indoor shoes or slippers that they wear while inside. It is tantamount to an offense against humanity if you break these rules. I learned this lesson when I put my feet up on the seat across from me on a train ride. When an old man walked by, he yelled quickly and loudly at me and hit my feet with a book he was holding. I’m not kidding. I learned fast that shoe etiquette is serious! The more and more I thought about it, I totally understand. The streets of Prague are really dirty. It make sense that you don’t want to track the city’s grim into your home or anyone else’s home. I just wish someone had told me about it before the old dude taught me this lesson on the train…

Dogs – I would guess that there is a 1:1 ratio of people to dogs in the Czech Republic. Everyone has a dog! Interestingly, no one in the Czech Republic spays or neuters their dogs. This might add to the reason why there are so many dogs here...We see tiny dogs, (the smallest dog we have ever seen weighed in at around 2 lbs.) mid-range, and even some big guys. There is a pair of huskies that live in our neighborhood who are enormous. (I’d guess they outweigh Dawkins and Rugby, our favorite big labs, but none as good-looking as they are. That’s impossible, Steve.) One slight downer: the habit of picking up after your dogs is, shall we say, optional? Big positive: no matter how young or old you are, you have a companion by your side. My personal favorite owner/dog combo live near Kampa Island. I see this man and his dog out for a walk at least once a week when I run through this park. I’d guess he is in his 80’s, uses two canes to walk/shuffle to the park. Yet there he is, making his way around the park with his scruffly little dog slowly keeping up and watching over him. I’ve never talked to him and have no idea what his story is. But I imagine that he and his dog have seen a thing or two in their lifetime…at least that’s the story I like to believe…

Trdlo – not a cultural statement, but a delicious street food I am obsessed with. Trdla (the plural) are rolls of sweet dough cooked by being wrapped around a hot metal rod and “roasted”. They are covered in cinnamon sugar that forms a sweet crust on the outside of the dough. My Czech language teacher once told me that Trdlo are made from an "ancient Bohemian recipe". She was intensely proud of all things Czech, so if she says they are Bohemian, I've chosen to believe her. For 40 kč (a little over $2), you can pick up one of these cylindrical pieces of heaven on the street. Luckily, the nearest Trdlo stand is around the corner from our flat. MMMmmmmm.

Just a few of my thoughts about why I love this city. Prague’s nicknames include Magic Prague, the City of a Hundred Spires, and the Golden City, but for now, I’ll just call it home.

New York Giants - NFC Champions

2008-01-25T04:37:00.000-08:00

We watched the Dallas game at a friend's house (we love satellite TV) and listened to the Packers game via the internet. 4:15 a.m. Prague time on the morning of January 21st was a joyous occasion in the Haberdong house.

The New York Giants are going to the Super Bowl! Go Big Blue!

The only problem now is that we will be at a Fulbright conference in the middle of nowhere for the Super Bowl. Apparently, our room will have wireless, so we will probably listen again. (For those of you in the States, we recommend AM 1380 out of Ormond Beach, FL, for the best overseas NFL broadcasts) We'll lay in a supply of Red Bull, Pilsner Urquell, and chips for the game, and we'll hope for the best. Expect semi-delirious emails celebrating an upset at 7:00 a.m., Czech time! Haberdong prediction: Giants 24, Pats 20.

Gingerbread Houses - Prague Style

2007-12-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas and all the traditions that accompany Christmas. So when our friend A asked if we would be excited about building and decorating a gingerbread house for Christmas, the obvious answer was, "Yes!" Since we are in Prague with some of America's best and brightest scholars (i.e. the Fulbrights), we decided to ask a few of them to help us in our quest for Christmas fun. Thus spawned the weekend of building the "best gingerbread house ever"...

When A and I decided to organize gingerbread house making, we enlisted two architects, E and Z, to come up with a plan. I have to admit, A and I put a lot of pressure on E and Z to design a "really cool" structure. And because they are good sports, and were willing to humor us, they produced plans for the most amazing gingerbread house ever built: a replica of a church in Namesti Jiriho Z Pojebradeho in Prague, the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of our Lord (Kostel Nejsvětějšího Srdce Páně na náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad). (Note: E also spent 16 hours designing a Gothic tower turned helmet to wear during Halloween, so he didn't need that much convincing...)

I can't really put into words how incredible the plans were for this Czech gingerbread church. There were computer renderings, measurements to scale of the building, a trial run earlier in the week to estimate the length, width, and height of the gingerbread, and at least 50+ individual pieces of gingerbread cut and baked. Did I mention the plans for a Cubist lamppost that involved 72 individual pieces of gingerbread? Sorry Z, that was the one thing we had to 86...but there's always next year! I'm convinced that E and Z really don't understand how amazing, incredible, and over-the-top their efforts were in this architectural extravaganza. They are both incredibly smart, unique, and innovative individuals who humored A and me by lending their talents to the gingerbread house extravaganza like they had just been commissioned to design the new National Library in Prague. Of course, if we had wanted the library, we could have just chucked a bunch of dough in the oven and covered it with green sprinkles and some purple Jolly Ranchers. (By the way, I'd much rather have them design a new library than see what is planned right now get built, but I digress...)

What ensued was the coolest, best-est, most awesome gingerbread cathedral ever constructed.

Highlights included:
7 hours of baking on Friday night
6 hours of construction on Saturday night
2 Jon Dong inspired play lists full of Bell Biv DeVoe and the Crue
30 cups of powdered sugar + 18 egg whites to make the icing/cement that held the gingerbread together
A stained glass window made of crushed and baked hard candy (in place of the clock that more accurately should be in there)
Svarene vino (mulled wine) to fortify our Christmas spirit - this is totally coming back with us for the Xmas holidays, so be prepared for some Czech goodness.

A, I love friends who also think building a gingerbread church is the most fun ever. E and Z, I love architects with a sense of humor.

I love Christmas in Prague.

The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Red Bull

2007-12-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

Phil and I just returned from a wonderful weekend in Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg is famous for many things including being the birthplace of Mozart and, to many Americans (and Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer lovers), as the location of The Sound of Music. Salzburg is also famous as the hometown of Deitrich Mateschitz, billionaire owner of Red Bull. While many people may be aware of the Sound of Music and Mozart connections, I'm not sure many people know about the latter. Why do Phil and I know about the Red Bull connection (considering I had never tried Red Bull's infamous energy drink until last weekend)? Well, that brings us to why we spent a weekend in Salzburg...

A childhood friend of mine, Jen, used to be a bartender in New York City. During her time mixing cocktails at swanky NYC bars, she began to work with Red Bull. I'll spare everyone the lengthy details, but this fall she was offered an amazing opportunity to live in Salzburg and work for a few months at Hangar-7, a one-of-a-kind airplane hangar/restaurant/museum/bar. Adventurous soul that she is, Jen decided to do it and move to Salzburg for a few months. Phil and I obviously had to visit to: 1) most importantly, spend time with Jen, 2) see Salzburg and 3) check out Hangar-7.

First and foremost, we had an amazing time with Jen. She's just one of those beautiful people who makes the world a better place just because you know her. She makes you laugh, helps you see that the world is full of opportunities, and loves life. I don't know anyone else in the world like her, and Phil and I are lucky to call her our friend. Jen, we love you so very much.

As for Salzburg, what a beautiful city! Everyone we talked to told us we were very fortunate to have beautiful weather, particularly on Saturday afternoon. The skies were clear and the weather wasn't too cold. Considering it was the first weekend of December in Austria, I couldn't complain about 40 degree weather...Phil, Jen, and I spend most of Saturday walking around the city. Salzburg is very accessible, small enough to walk around but large enough to still feel like a city. We started the day off by exploring Monchsberg, Monk's Mountain, for all the non-Deutsch speakers (like me). We hiked up the hill and had an incredible view of the city. The Austrian Alps felt like they were only a stone's throw from the city. These were not the Appalachians of Virginia!

In addition to the views, we cruised by the Museum of Modern Art, the Sacher Hotel (famous for the Sacher Torte), walked along the Salzach River, and explored the Mirabell Garden. Below is a photo of the garden, made famous by Fraulein Maria's singing and frolicking under the arbor.

We also timed our visit to Salzburg to coincide with the first Sunday of Advent. In Salzburg (and in Prague), Christmas markets open up in all the squares throughout the city. The opening day of the markets was on Saturday, and the streets were packed! All the Christmas decorations, lights, and general merriment made it really feel like the start of the Christmas season to me. And I really love Christmas, so this was an extra special treat!

Our Friday and Saturday night destination was Hangar-7, where Jen has been working for the past few months. Our evenings at Hangar-7 with Jen "the mixology queen" were fantastic. Hangar-7 is difficult to explain, and I'll try to be brief. Herr Mateschitz, Red Bull's billionaire owner, apparently loves airplanes, cars, and other vehicles that go fast. As his collection of these large toys increased, he needed a place to house them. So he decided to build his own airplane hangar next to the Salzburg airport. But he didn't just stop there. He also decided to build another gorgeous glass building and call it Hangar-7. This building houses a "museum" of prized planes and cars, an art gallery, a beautiful restaurant, and two swanky bars, the Mayday Bar and the Sky Bar. While I think Hangar-7 is completely over the top in its extravagance, I'm glad that Herr Mateschitz decided to invest his money in food and art in addition to his fast vehicles;) Phil and I spent most of our time with Jen in the Sky Bar, which was a pretty astounding structure in itself. The bar is an enclosed glass "bubble" hanging from the ceiling above the planes and cars below. Even the floor is glass so you can see straight down - certainly not a place for people with a fear of heights. What I was struck by was the attention to detail of Hangar-7. The sleek, modern style was executed exquisitely. Whoever the architect and designer of this place are, they really know what they are doing. I'm not sure my photos will do it justice, but the Hangar-7 website is pretty incredible if you want to take a look. Our trip to Salzburg was quite an experience. From the snow-capped Alps to a chi-chi, glass-encased bar, there was never a dull moment. Jen, you are an amazing hostess! Much love to you!

Seriously, Phil, What Do You Do in Prague?

2007-12-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

Looking back over our posts, one things is glaringly absent: anything about my work (besides my sincere hope for a posting on the variety of mullets here:) I managed to get the government to pay for Danielle and me to live here; I even got UVA to lend a hand. But what are they paying me for? This is a fascinating question.

So, I am mostly a historian. Not quite yet, but it's getting close. When I was in divinity school, one of my favorite professors told me that there are two kinds of historians: those that find new sources, and those that do new things with old sources. I am certainly one of that latter. Think of it this way: I'm trying to write a story that chooses certain facts and leaves others out - these choices are what ultimately makes one historian different from all the others. I don't dig around in musty archives trying to find a long-lost chronicle from the city notary of Plzen (and trust me, there are many folks who do just this). I do read all of the articles and books written by people that do, and I consult the sources that are out there so I can piece together my own account of the past.

The problem with this is that when everyone draws on the same sources, there's only so much difference. So, most of my time is spent being really nervous that I'm saying the same thing as someone else - and it's probably written in another language, which I barely read (i.e. Czech). So, it's read, read, read, write (a little) - read more to make sure everything is accurate, read the authors those people cite, write (a little less). It's a time consuming process, but I like it. I spend a lot of time in libraries, at coffee shops, and on our couch with the TV on mute, with an open dictionary and a pencil.

I suspect that this explains why our blog is mostly concerned with travel, food, and fun. But, it really is much better than it sounds. I just finished a chapter of the dissertation (55 pages - it's a hot read), and I am ready for the next. I am a) not burned out, which is positive, and b) feeling like I am bringing something new to the table in terms of my field.

So, that's what I do. It is strange to be just writing now, without teaching. Being in my head, and with my favorite dead Czechs, all the time is a little disconcerting. It is good to put this last piece of the puzzle into the picture, though, and realize that I can do the research part of this job. Obviously, I am in a writing mode right now - as this post is much too long, but this is the danger of an historian with a blog. Look forward to Christmas festivities, a trip to Switzerland, and a wrap-up before we head home for the holidays...

The Tale of Two Thanksgivings

2007-11-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

When Phil and I commigted to spending the year in Prague, we anticipated many incredible things about living in Prague: the old beauty of St. Vitus across the river (a view we see almost every day), the newness (and challenges!) of a different culture and language, the vibrant city life of Prague, and the accessibility of so many amazing places to visit from our new home in Central Europe. While there were so many things we were excited about, but we never anticipated the best thing we've experienced living here: the incredible people we've met. Our Thanksgiving(s) highlighted this for us in a very special way. Being far (in distance) from our family and friends back in the States, we have been blessed to be able to celebrate with new friends in Prague. And we were lucky enough to celebrate it twice;)

On Thursday, November 22, we attended a Thanksgiving day extravaganza at the home of our new friends, Phil and Shanna. They are an incredible couple with two children (and one on the way!) who are missionaries here in the Czech Republic. They throw an annual Thanksgiving Day bash, and this year was no different. They had fifty adults, twenty children, four turkeys, truckloads of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and assorted casseroles, and six pumpkin pies. To say that they outdid themselves would be an understatement. And to really make it feel like Thanksgiving, the Lions vs. Packers game was on TV thanks to the magic of satellite cable. There were a few funny discussions between some Americans and British expats regarding American football vs. "real" football (i.e. soccer)! While the rest of the Czech Republic went on like any other Thursday, we were able to take a break (from my Czech classes and from Phil's research and writing) to share a wonderful day with new friends.

On Saturday, November 24, we helped organize our second Thanksgiving a.k.a. The Fulbright Thanksgiving Blowout. The director of the commission generously offered to host a sit down dinner for 25 people at her home. All the Americans had to do was come up with the meal...no problem! I quickly emailed a sign up sheet to all the Fulbrighters to organize what everyone would bring for dinner. (Yes, I'm really that organized on occasion.) The response was fantastic! We had every side dish you could think of...and now all that was left was to get the turkey. Phil and I were able to procured a 18 lb. turkey and two 4 lb chickens from a British butcher in Prague. I won't bore you with all the details of getting the birds, but just picture Phil on three different trams carrying them in an oversized Ikea bag. To complicate matters, we don't have an oven (welcome to our Euro flat and tiny kitchen!) so we spent Friday night roasting them at our friend Alice's place. Yes, we took photos with the bird...Phil named her Queen Zophie. Don't ask me why... (editor's note: Zophie was the queen of Bohemia during the 1410s and a real fan of Jan Hus. Obviously, that's why the turkey was named after her)

On Saturday afternoon, all of us and our assorted Thanksgiving offering made it to Hanka and Pavel's house, about 20 miles outside of Prague, via cars and trains. By the time we sat down for dinner, I was astounded again at the incredible meal we had put together! At the end of the day, we had to appreciate the new people we had found in Prague. If friends are the family you choose, we felt very thankful for our new Czech family. And while we can't wait to see everyone at home for Christmas and New Year's, we must admit that we never really missed Thanksgiving in the States - it felt like we were there.

Life in a Northern (Czech) Town

2007-11-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

As the Dream Academy once sang, "In winter 1963, it felt like the world would freeze." Well, it's 2007 now, but last weekend Danielle and I knew what they meant. We ventured to the northern Czech Republic to visit our fellow-Fulbrighters, Chad and Chloe, and to take a serious look at the glass industry in our new home. Just to remind everyone where we are, here is a map of the Czech Republic:

View Larger Map

Before we get details, I have to say I'm sorry. I've been hiding for weeks, because I've been writing, and we have been keeping our heads down. Thus, posts have been few and far between. The good news is that things are picking up again - we had our visit last weekend, our Thanksgiving(s) here, the beginning of the Christmas season, and a potential visit to Austria. So, be prepared for Na Zdravi to pick up again...

So, here's the back story. Chad, Chloe, and their son Thomas live in a small town named Kamenicky Senov. They are from Seattle, and Chad is a glass artist. He came over here to learn certain techniques for engraving and sculpting that are done in the C.R., so he can teach these techniques back in the States. Chad is working and studying at a technical high school in Kamenicky Senov that is the oldest glass-working school in the country, with a man named Frantisek that he has known for several years. Last weekend, the school had an open house, and Chad invited us all up. We also visited a glass factory, a combo glass-studio and restaurant, and experienced life in a small Czech town. All in all, about fifteen of us headed north via car and the Czech bus system (ugghh - it makes Greyhound looks like Rolls Royce; trust me - stick to the trains in Europe), and we got in on Friday night.

The whole trip was amazing. We ate in a great restaurant on Friday night that featured traditional Czech food and glass blowing. It was called Ajeto, and was in Novy Bor, which is the largest town near Kamenicky Senov. Chad blows glass there once a week, and the owner is an incredible artist. We watched him (his name is Petr Novotny) create a sculpture which consisted of a hand holding a conical vase; he also let Elise, the seven-year-old daughter of our friends, Heidi and Mark, blow a Mickey Mouse head after dessert.

After dinner, we retired to our hotel, which was a German villa during the first half of the twentieth century. After WWII, most of the Germans left (read: were not so politely asked to leave by the new Czech government), so it was taken over and turned into a hotel. It also has a spring in back of the hotel which still delivers clean water. Kamenicky Senov is set on a couple of hill tops that rise from a small valley, and it became a glass center because the forest there is primarily beech - the ash from beech can be used to fuse glass when it is burned, so it was natural for glass furnaces to be built there. The town has about 5,000 people, and a couple of major glass makers. The most famous is Preciosa, who makes chandeliers; they recently sent a crystal chandelier to Dubai that was 8 meters high.

We toured the Jilek factory, which is a smaller firm that makes hand-blown art glass. They also do a lot of sales in the Middle East, and the factory was amazing. We watched the workers, who operate in teams of three or four, blow vases - one man takes a lump of molten glass and smooths out the imperfections, a second blows it into a a hollow globe, a third blows the vase into a mold, while a fourth works the mold and finishes the base. We learned several surprising things from the tour:

1) The glass blowing industry is unapologetically all-male. The blowers and bosses are all men, while the few women work the molds or finish pieces. When asked why this was, the director of the factory suggested that women weren't strong enough to handle the steel glass-blowing rods, would be offended by the blowers' lack of manners(!), and wouldn't want to use the communal rods. Needless to say, Danielle was totally satisfied with this explanation.

2) Everyone drinks while they work. Generally, I would hesitate to mix alcohol and 1300 degree molten glass, but it seems to work for them.

3) Being in a small town and seeing a traditional industry made us appreciate just how how conservative life can be in the Czech Republic. People were nice, but older men really seemed to feel responsible for us. It was surprising, and sometimes frustrating, but you could really see how traditional social values have persisted in the country.

The undoubted highlight of the weekend was our visit to the school where Chad works. It is called Střední uměleckoprůmyslová škola sklářská. The school was amazing! The students' work was remarkable, and we learned about blowing, carving, engraving, and finishing glass. We also learned about how the students are trained, because they have to master figural drawing, scultpting, and some art theory and history before they begin to work with glass. Students elect to attend this school at age 14, and train until they are 19. Even though the school is the equivalent to a high school in the U.S., the students' education is more like a college degree in art. The showcase of their products was amazing, and Danielle and I bought a beautiful clear glass plate with sandblasted squares and cut grooves on the edge of the surface. It was crazy to think that an 18-year old had made this! Be sure to check out the gallery on the website to see what the students have done.

Otherwise, we had a long dinner and lunch in local hotspots (i.e. smoky pubs) and just spent time walking through the town and the beautiful woods surrounding it. There were 10 inches of snow on the ground, and it was misty all day. Between the surroundings and the amazing art we saw, it was a great escape from Prague. The tiny town was REALLY different, but an incredible experience; seeing people create something beautiful out of ash, sand, and a handful of chemicals (for color) what an unexpected reminder of what people can do with artistic vision and traditional materials. BIG thanks to Chad and Chloe (and Thomas!) for hosting us and sharing their world with us for a weekend. Below is a slide show of some of the incredible photos from the weekend.

D's Czech Lessons - I Love Consonants

2007-11-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

In the past two weeks since we went to London, Phil and I have spent a wonderful two weeks here in Prague. We have a few trips planned before the Christmas holidays, so we thought it might be a good idea to stay put in Prague for two weekends in a row;) I wouldn’t want anyone to get the false impression that our life in Prague is all fun and games. (Well, it’s mostly fun and games with a little work thrown in here and there...) Phil has been digging through archives, translating Czech and Latin texts, and getting down to the lengthy process of writing his dissertation. I can testify to the fact that he is working hard, but then again, I can also tell you there isn’t a time when he isn’t working hard! On the other hand, I decided to take the plunge and begin an intensive Czech language class. It meets five days a week for six hours a day. I decided to dive head first into a Slavic language and see if I would sink or swim. I prefer to think of myself as currently treading water while desperately grasping for a life vest...but that’s just on good days;)

As many of you know, Phil spent eight weeks in Bloomington last summer taking an intensive Czech language class. And as even more of you know, that husband of mine has a real aptitude for languages. He is well on his way to being “that American guy who can communicate”. In other words, he speaks solid “Survival Czech”. I, on the other hand, am just beginning to get a feel for the sounds, the accent, the grammar…all of it is completely new. I have only been in class for eight days, but I thought I'd report on my initial thoughts and impressions.

First and foremost, the pronunciation is astounding. I’m not in Virginia anymore. Even the deepest Southern drawl or the harshest New York accent cannot compare to the new sounds I hear everyday. As I listen and read Czech words, I've learned that there are specific rules for the pronunciation. As long as you follow them, things should theoretically be ok. But, yikes! Learning the rules with a few totally new sounds that don’t exist in English (or French, my only other foreign language) is proving to be, shall we say... challenging. The sounds I am attempting to make are very foreign to my mouth and ears. For instance, the letter ř is pronounced “ruh-jzuh”... sort of. (Forgive me, I am learning!) On the other hand, "c" sounds like “ts” in the word cats. So the world “co” (‘what’ in Czech) is pronounced “t-so”, a bit like the English word ‘so’ with a ‘t’ sound at the beginning. An ě when paired with the letter m becomes “mě” pronounced like “mn-ye”. Whew! My brain hurts just thinking about it.

My pronunciation issues started to kick into high gear when I realized that Czech has a serious dearth of vowels. I am overwhelmed by the number of consonants I am supposed to be able to pronounce in a row. Seriously. A few of my new favorite words are: zmrzlina = ice cream; samozřjmě = of course; čtvrtek = Thursday; trh = market. And just in case you didn’t believe me, this is a sentence that has no vowels: Strč prst skrz krk. I’m not kidding, I learned this on day two in class .

So after eight days of Czech classes, what have I learned? Well, you’d be surprised. I can say things like

Excuse me, I would like to buy a loaf of bread and an apple. = Promiňte, chtela bych cléb a jablko.

I can carry on the following conversation:

Would you like something to drink? Yes, I’ll have a large beer, please. = Co si daté k pití? Ano, dám si vélké pivo, prosím.

In addition to my useful knowledge, I’ve also learned some ridiculous phrases that I will never use:

I have a blue notebook= Mám modrý sešit.

And my personal favorite:

I’m hungry like a wolf! = Mám hlad jako vlk!

Yes, the title of lesson eight in my textbook translated to hungry like a wolf. Wasn’t that a Duran Duran song? Better question: why was this the title of my lesson today? I'm not making this up.

Even with the extraordinary newness of Czech, I am really enjoying my class. There are eight of us in the class from all over: Paraguay, Spain, France, Sweden, Switzerland, and Israel. Each person has a fascinating story about why he or she is living in Prague, and everyone has been extremely friendly. We are all beginners trying to figure out what is going on everyday in class. I have found the experience of starting from ground zero quite liberating. While daunting, it is concurrently freeing to learn Czech from the very beginning with “dobry den” (hello) and good bye (na shledanou).

I guess one of the most important reasons I wanted to take Czech was the fact that a small amount of Czech goes a LONG way to making life easier. We live in Praha 1, the center of things, and there are tons of tourists as well as locals in the area. From our interactions at the local potraviny (convenience store), to the ticket counter in the metro, to the local grocery store, everything is made easier and more pleasant with a few small Czech phrases/niceties. Many people here speak great English, though they will almost undoubtedly tell you they do not. It seems to me that many Czechs I have encountered really appreciate any attempt by foreigners to speak Czech. Phil has had more than one older Czech lady at the potraviny give him an extra smile just because he can tell her “You are very kind to help us” in Czech. I have no illusions that I’m going to master the Czech language in one short year. Regardless, I know I made the right decision to take some Czech lessons while here Prague.

I can’t wait to use my new Czech skills this weekend. Along with a few other friends, Phil and I are going to a small town on the Czech-German border called Novy Bor. One of the other Fulbrights is a glass artist and is studying at an art school. His school is having an open house and invited us all to visit. It will be my first experience in small town Czech Republic. I’m guessing English won’t be useful, so I’ll just have to try out some of my new Czech phrases. I’m hoping to find a way to work into my conversations, “I’m hungry like a wolf”. If that happens, I think the weekend will be a success! We will be sure to report back when we return…

NYG vs. Miami – NFL in Europe – 28 October 2007

2007-11-01T06:59:00.000-07:00

My love of the New York Giants is an inherited passion. My Dad first bought season tickets to the NYG about 500 years ago. Just kidding, but it was over forty years ago! The autumns of my childhood were filled with Sunday tailgating at the Meadowlands with my immediate family (Mom, Dad, and brother) and my aunt and uncle. We had lunch in the parking lot before heading inside to the swirling winds of Giants Stadium. (Anyone who has ever been there knows the wind is ridiculous, especially during a mid-December game). We knew every person in row 22, section 107 of Giants Stadium. When I think about my love of the G-men, part of it is certainly about the game of football. I love watching great football on TV or live. The other part of my Giants love is certainly due to my childhood and the memories. There is a happy piece of my life as a child, teenager, and now adult that is wrapped up in the Sunday experience of cold weather/tailgating/game watching/cheering for Big Blue. I have a special place in my heart for the experience of going to a Giants game.

My brother has inherited our family’s season tickets now and attends every home game, rain or shine. (Solid work, Big Brother). If Phil and I ever end up living in the NY/NJ area, we’d be right there every fall. Instead, our life has taken us to other places like Charlottesville and now Prague, and attending a Giants game has become a once a year activity if we are lucky. Nostalgia aside, when I heard that the Giants were going to be playing in London the same time Phil and I were living in Prague, I thought to myself, “Obviously, this is a sign. We must go.” The game sold out extraordinarily quickly even though Wembley Stadium seats over 90,000 people. Thanks to our extraordinarily resourceful friend Tia, (a Tarheel living in London), we got tickets and we made it to the game (T, you are the best!)

The entire day was fun-filled from beginning to end. Let me just go ahead and say it: the best part was the Giants win. The fan in me that is so excited about the Giants six game winning streak and 6-2 record. Even if the football was ugly (which it was) and the game stats were less than ideal (which they were), a win is a win. Here are a few pictures I snapped during the game:

Just some of my thoughts on our experience of NFL football in London:

1) Giants Fans on the Tube: While heading to Wembley on the tube, we encountered a family from Garfield, NJ heading to the game. They were season ticket holders (section 308) who had booked hotel and plane reservations the day the NFL announced the Giants were going to play in London. It was incredible: three generations of Big Blue fans (I talked to grandma for awhile), complete with heavy Jerz accents and decked out head to toe in Giants gear –and one Slippery When Wet-era acid washed black jean jacket. I felt like I was back in the parking lot at the Meadowlands…

2) God Save the Queen: The Star Spangled Banner was followed by the British national anthem, God Save the Queen. Impressively, everyone in the crowd was belting out the song and I captured the last few moments of the song on video. Though the quality of the picture isn’t great, I do love how fired up the crowd was. As a mortifying “I love Americans” side note, I heard more than one story about Americans in the crowd wondering why England stole the tune of America the Beautiful for God Save the Queen…yikes.

3) Unusual booing: Proof that the game was being played in London and being watched by people who didn’t really understand the game:

During the coin toss, one of the honorary captains was John Terry, captain of Chelsea (and English national) soccer team. Chelsea is seriously underachieving right now and London is not happy about it. When his name was announced, the crowd booed so loudly that you could barely hear anything during the coin toss. Love it.
At the end of the game, it was 13-10 Giants. After the onsides kick attempt by the Dolphins failed (Jay Feely kicked it out of bounds – which didn’t surprise any Giants’ fans), Eli and the G-men knelt down for three plays to run out the clock. You could not believe how much booing ensued! The Brits wanted more football and were mad they weren’t getting anymore.

4) Streaking: A man dressed up as a referee streaked the field at the start of the second half. The security response was pretty apathetic – perhaps they thought this was typical in American football? Enough said.

5) Public Drinking: consuming beer seems to be encouraged in public places in England, especially on public transportation. 90,000 fans + no laws about beer + long lines = one heck of a game day atmosphere.

6) Outdated Jerseys: I know that ridiculous throwbacks are gaining in notoriety these days (for proof, see the “Straight Cash, Homey” section on ESPN.com), but we saw some sweet ones in London. I really liked the Culpepper and R. Williams Miami jerseys, and was surprised that they were more popular than the jersey of the actual starting quarterback for the Dolphins (Cleo Lemon??!!). Here is a photo of a quality Ron "No Gain" Dayne " jersey. What is with the Eagles helmet on his head? Obviously, not a real Giants fan...

7) Cheerleaders: I guess they don’t have them across the pond, so pretty much all we heard about from the English dudes was their…ummm…"appreciation" for the cheerleaders from the Dolphins. Some of the guys might have seen some of the game, but I doubt it.

8) Wembley Stadium – fantastic but underprepared: I loved the “Wembley arch” which is visible as soon as you exit the tube station. The stadium is enormous, seating 90,000, and an excellent place to watch a game. Our seats were near the end zone on the Giants sideline and our view was top notch. The only problems with Wembley were how unprepared they were to deal with the rush of consumerism. First, the lines at the souvenir stands were outrageous. Londoners love to queue up (stand in line), but throw a bunch of American NFL fans into the mix, and the queue ceases to exist. Not a pretty scene. Secondly, there were two ATMs in the entire stadium and one ran out of cash halfway through the game. Come on people. Didn’t you expect people to spend their money?? Favorite items at the stands: “match day scarves,” which are a soccer staple, and “the rugby balls you play with,” as Tia’s friend from New Zealand described the balls. He stood in line for twenty minutes to buy one, but they sold out just as he got to front of the queue/line/mob.

All in all, this was a day to remember. Good friends, fun times, and the NY Giants.

Heaven is a Place on Earth...

2007-10-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

And its name is Borough Market in London, England. Now let me explain. Phil and I just spent a long weekend in London. We had multiple reasons for going. First, we wanted to visit our friend Tia, a fellow Tarheel living in London. Second, we (well, probably more I) had to attend the NFL’s first game in Europe to see my beloved NY Giants stomp on the Miami Dolphins (more on the game in a separate post later). Lastly, because we could! How could we say no to a short two hour flight from Prague to London? Little did I know that I would actual find my own personal heaven in smer-y London. (Smer-y is a new word I learned that means “not really raining, but sort of damp or misty”. Amazing addition to my vocabulary. Really, brilliant. (Another UKism that I think is quality.) Anyway, on to the market…

Anyone who says London doesn’t have good food has certainly has never been to Borough Market. It is located on the south side of the Thames River near the London Bridge tube station (for anyone who is familiar with the area). It is apparently the oldest food market in London and has been there for 250 years. As someone who LOVES food markets, I jumped at Tia’s suggestion that we go for lunch on Saturday. It did not disappoint. There were endless stands of incredible produce, specialty shops of every variety, fresh fish stands, butchers…you name it and it was there. It was a veritable Mecca for food. Now I love our local Charlottesville farmers' market, I adored the Baltimore City Market, and first discovered my love of local markets at a small weekly market in Brookline, MA (Thanks to Edith Dietz!), but Borough brought the market experience to a whole new level. In my humble opinion, it was much better than the Green Market in Union Square, NYC. Our goal for the afternoon was to buy some bread, cheese, olives, and chocolates. We ended up sitting at a nearby pub with outside seating and enjoyed a few beers with our bounty. But what actually made me decide that Borough Market was heaven was the famous Brindisa chorizo roll, the best sandwich I have ever eaten. I can admit that I am not afraid of hyperbole on occasion (one of my favorite words is phenomenal), but this meal was the real deal.

The queue at Brindisa, a specialty shop selling Spanish delicacies, was no less than 50 people long when we arrived. Tia assured me that it would go quickly, but I had my doubts about the superiority of this particular sandwich when I saw how long we had to wait. Tia, you were right, I was wrong, thank goodness you made us wait. If you don’t like chorizo, you won’t appreciate the magic of this meal. (And I think you are just plain crazy.) But if you love charred chorizo, this one is for you. First, the chorizo is split and thrown on a searing hot flat top grill. After a few minutes, it is then charred on a flaming grill. The "single or double meat" is then thrown onto grilled ciabatta bread. Roasted red peppers, rocket (aka spicy arugula), and a drizzle of olive oil finish off this masterpiece. For your viewing pleasure, here is a video of how the magic happens.

We have plenty more to tell you about London’s museums, beautiful green spaces, interesting people and, of course, the Giants game. But seriously, if you had just discovered heaven on earth, wouldn’t you want to tell your friends and family about it first?

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."
Virginia Woolf

Konopiště Castle – Guns, Antlers, and a Missing Bear

2007-10-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

Fall has arrived in the Czech Republic! All the Praguers we know keep telling us to enjoy it while it lasts. Apparently, Prague’s winter is cold and very grey. Everyone seems to fear the cold here. For those who really know us, you are aware that we like the cold better than the extreme heat, so we aren’t too worried about the winter. (Phil may tell you I only like 67-75 degree weather, but I would beg to differ!) I am probably jinxing us as I write, but so far, our weather has been fairly cooperative. Our typical fall days have been cold/cool in the mornings and evenings, but warm and usually sunny during the day. Last Saturday might have been the perfect fall day – clear blue skies, bright sunshine, and that crisp fall air that makes you want to get out of the city and go on a field trip. So we did just that and spent the day at Konopiště, a castle about 40 miles southeast of Prague.

Phil and I boarded a train bright and early for Benešov, the town closest to Konopiště. Our new friend, Dave joined us for the trip on just a few hours sleep. As a Red Sox fan, he had been awake in the wee hours of the morning watching game 1 of the ALCS. (I know, I know, but he and I are still friends.) He is also a Fulbright and a mathematician (translation: Dave does something with numbers that we don’t understand.) After an hour on the train, we had a 2 km walk to the castle (zámek in Czech). While the town of Benešov is nothing to write home about, here is a photo of the landscape just outside Benešov. The leaves are just starting to change colors here. While this particular photo doesn't do it justice, you can see a lot of fabulous yellows and oranges throughout the countryside.

The Konopiště Castle was the summer home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. He is actually most famous because his assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 marked the beginning of World War I. There is your history lesson for the day, readers. You might ask what makes Konopiště castle more intriguing than any other castle in Europe? The answer is what’s inside it. The Archduke Franz LOVED hunting. And when I say loved, I mean really and truly loved it. He is said to have killed 300,000 animals in his lifetime. Whoa. There are three separate tours available to the public because his collections and the castle are so extensive, you really can’t see them all in just one hour. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take photos, so you’ll have to rely on my ability to describe the collections. Here is a link to a few photos on the Konopiště website if you are interested. We chose tour number two, also known as the “dead animals and weapons” tour. Every inch of wall space was covered in animal skins, mounted animal heads or whole birds, horns, or antlers carefully labeled with a date and place of the hunt. Franz must have been a little obsessive compulsive with all that organization. One of the strangest “prizes” was an ashtray made of an elephant’s foot sitting on a table made from it’s leg. Creepy. In the last room of the tour, we even saw three stuffed bears, one posed up on its hind legs as if it were ready to attack. Apparently, Franz really loved bears and used to keep them in the moat around the castle. Even today, a real bear named Kazimir lives in the moat with his own zoo-like setup. Phil was pretty upset that we didn’t get to see him, and by the end of the day was convinced the missing bear was a lie, just a ploy to get people to the castle. I think the bear was just sleeping inside his little cave, but who knows?

The other part of the tour showed us Franz’s collection of weapons and armor dating from the 16^th century. Many of the guns were actually pieces of art, not just hunting tools. There was a gun made entirely of ivory, guns with inlaid jewels and mother-of-pearl handles, or others etched with detailed biblical or battle scenes. I was impressed more by the artistic talent it must have taken to create these guns than with the Archduke’s obsession with shooting them.

For the rest of the afternoon, we explored the grounds of Konopiště – the gardens were out of season, but still well manicured. There was also a gorgeous lake which we spent a while walking around. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the day:

So a martyr, a baby, and a bearded lady walk into a bar...

2007-10-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

So, it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that I (this is Phil) have been struck by the incredible variety in the churches and church decoration here in the Czech Republic. It's been alternately amazing, shocking, humorous, and awe-inspiring to see how people have chosen to design and construct space and images to help them get in the mood to worship God. So, while I have not yet found any sketchy AM radio Czech preaching to make me feel like I'm back in Virginia, I will now mention five things that I have particularly enjoyed as images of Czech religious history:

1) the creepy: two 2nd century Spanish martyrs reconstructed out of wax (Sts. Felicissimus and Marcia), with real human hair in the wigs. The actual skulls of the martyrs are embedded in the wax, and they are preserved in glass cases inside a chapel. We were not allowed to take photos at the Loreta's chapel, so here is a link to the virtual tour to view these wax figures. Seriously, the photos don't do them justice. A less creepy, and more expensive, version of this type of preservation can be seen with the skull of St. Wenceslas. He has a golden bust in which his head is kept, and it is displayed every year on his feast day (September 28th).

2) the ironic: the Bethlehem Chapel, where Jan Hus preached for 10 years, was saved from destruction by the Communists(!) around 1950. It had been used as a barn and warehouse, but the socialists saw Hus as the leader of a proto-proletariat revolution, so his church was worth saving. In the course of reconstruction, the archaeologists uncovered fragments of texts written on the walls in 1412 and 1415. Then they ruined the authenticity by painting pictures of peasants whacking knights with flails all over the place (the pictures are taken from a manuscript from about 1500) - oh well, I suppose you need some ideological continuity...

3) the ostentatious: during the 18th century, Catholic authorities needed a homegrown Bohemian saint to replace the popular Hus, so they cobbled together a legend for Jan Nepomuk, a fourteenth century "martyr" who was drowned in the Vltava river by the king, Wenceslas IV. So how do you commemorate a new saint? How about building a tomb in the cathedral out of a TON of pure silver. Yikes. It is also worth noting that when his body was dug up to be transferred to its new digs in 1719, it was found that his tongue was miraculously intact. Why does this matter? Because he was killed for refusing to tell the king what his wife, Queen Sophie, had said in the confessional.

4) the bizarre: in the same complex as the wax saints, there is a side chapel with another wax statue of the little known St. Wilgefortis, who was a bearded lady (yes, I'm serious). She didn't want to get married, so she prayed to God that he would make her so ugly that no man would have her. A monstrous beard certainly did the trick, and her father crucified her for defying his wishes that she marry. And yes, the statue's beard is made of real human hair. You know you think I made this up, so here's a link to the Catholic Encyclopedia's article on Wilgefortis.

5) the miraculous: there is a small wax figurine of the Infant Jesus (think Ricky Bobby in Talledega nights if you want to get in the mood) in one church in Prague (the Church of our Lady of Victory). This figure has cause the miraculous healings of many people over the years. In thanks, many people have sewn robes for the Infant Jesus. He has enough clothes now that he can no longer wear each outfit during the year. There is a museum in the church with some of his most spectacular threads from places such as the Philippines, Colombia (with national flags sewn into the hem), and Brazil. This is a bit ironic as well, as the church was once the first Lutheran church in Prague - it was also the first church built in the baroque style. The church is both an active parish and a popular pilgrimage site - if you want to see the Infant, you can read more on the church's website.

So, mega-churches and Jesus Camp it ain't. After seeing it all, though, you do have to appreciate the creativity, ingenuity, and pure devotion of people over time. One man's holy relic is another man's sideshow attraction, I guess (sorry, Wilgefortis). If we come across more things that top these, we'll be sure to let you know, but I suspect that these sites (along with the Ossuary) will be tough to top.

Kutna Hora and the Bone Church

2007-10-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

One of the last few days my parents were here, the four of us took a day trip to Kutna Hora, a town about 45 miles east of Prague. There are a few highlights in the town, but the most famous are Saint Barbara’s Cathedral and All Souls Chapel and Ossuary. In 1999, Phil visited Kutna Hora and was particularly struck by the ossuary. My Dad remembered talking about it with Phil back then and has wanted to see the ossuary ever since. So after eight years, we made it happen.

The “bone church” deserves some explanation, so bear with me for a little historical context: In 1142, a Cistertian monastery was founded in Sedlec, which is now part of the town of Kutna Hora. This monastery had burial grounds on the land and for a multitude of reasons including the plague and wars, thousands of people were buried there over the centuries. A chapel was built in the 15^th century and an ossuary (kostinice in Czech) to house the bones was established. As the story continues, legend mixes with a bit of history. A half-blind monk was put in charge of the ossuary during this time and began assembling and organizing the bones. (I’m not entirely clear how or why the “half-blind monk” is pivotal in the story, but he’s in every single account of the ossuary, so I felt obliged to keep him in this mini-history.) By the 19^th century, there was quite a collection of bones in the ossuary and a Baroque chapel had been built on the grounds as well. At this point, a man named Františeck Rint used the bones to decorate the chapel. It is said that the bones of 40,000 people are in the chapel.

I had and still have very mixed feelings about the “bone church”. On one hand, it is an incredible sight. From a purely aesthetic viewpoint, it is astounding. There is a cross, a chandelier (containing every bone in the human body), and the papal coat of arms made entirely of human bones. The detail and intricate design of the bones clearly indicate that Františeck had some artistic vision and engineering ability to dream up the bone church and make the idea a reality. On the other hand, there is an overwhelming sadness to the chapel, amidst the tourist snapping photos in the dimly lit room (myself among them). The bones are human bones, from real people, thousands of them…I found it hard to wrap my brain around all of it. I was standing in a graveyard, a uniquely decorated one, but a graveyard nonetheless. I was glad that there were candles available to light near the cross on the wall. My Mom and I lit a candle for the souls of the people who had died and were buried there. As I said, I still feel conflicted about the ossuary, but right now, I believe it is a moving, sad, strangely beautiful, and intriguing place.

Moving on to the rest of the town of Kutna Hora – what an adorable town! We spent the rest of the day roaming around the picturesque center of town. The main cathedral, Saint Barbara’s, was a classic Gothic cathedral. (I’m quickly learning the architecture of cathedrals. Gothic = windows with pointed arches at the top, flying buttresses, stained glass windows, BIG freaking ceilings. Very precise architectural terms.) After seeing Saint Barbara’s we walked all over town: cute stores, lots of green space, an Italian Court (Vlašsky Dvur) built in the 14^th century which became a royal residence...just your average town in the Czech Republic!

The weather was lovely, and this particular Saturday, we saw five weddings. No joke, five brides and five grooms, each taking photos in front of the same fountain in the main square. One of the funniest “cliché tourist” moments happened when we ran into a Chinese tour group. (My Dad was standing next to the group and recognized a few people speaking Chinese.) The entire group surrounded the bride and groom, started clapping for them, and snapping photos of them! The group was large enough to elbow the couple’s wedding photographer out of the way so they could get better photos of the couple! It was pretty hilarious.

All in all, our first trip outside of Prague was a great success. We enjoyed both the complexities of the bone church, and the simplicity of quality time spend with family. Dad, I’m glad you wanted to visit Kutna Hora and that we (finally) made it happen.

How do Czechs stay so skinny?

2007-10-11T08:33:00.001-07:00

Seriously, look at the two dishes in these photos. That's most of a pig with Hank, and an entire fish, three potatoes, and a garden's worth of buttered peas and carrots for Danielle. Add in a few brew-dogs, and these meals will make you look like you just walked out of the Golden Corral back home. So, why aren't people who live here permanently fat? At first, we figured it was the portions, or that people didn't eat like this every day. That might be true, but I've seen a ton of Czechs eating street sausages and pastries as well.

Our best current guesses comes via Danielle and our new friend Svatka, a native Czech who is married to a British army officer: 1) no junk in the food - there seem to be less preservatives, corn syrup, and other chemical flavorings. Farmer John would be psyched; 2) lots of super fatty foods didn't arrive until after the fall of Communism - candy, chips, McDonalds, and KFC (note: KFC is big here - folks love it, and it has a hint of Taco Bell as well, in an odd dish called a Qurrito). Thus, many adults never developed a taste for them.

At the end of the day, I suppose we could say that Czechs stay skinny by eating the way Hank did while he was here: a little beer, a lot of freshly prepared meat, and just enough walking to get the pulse rate up. Who knew that Hank and his pork knee contained the secret to being skinny? We think he should write a book.

Slideshow of Vltava River Cruise

2007-10-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

The weather was gorgeous the day we decided to go on a river cruise: blue skies and sunshine. We were quite lucky. It was a great way the city from a slightly different view. Instead of walking, we floated along and drank a few beers! Everyone was happy about a relaxing afternoon, particularly Phil "the tour guide"Haberkern. He finally got a break from leading us around the city!

Important Birthdays and Anniversaries

2007-10-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

"You are only as old as you think you are"

I saw this quote on a card a few years ago and it made me smile. I thought of it again while my family was here and we celebrated two momentous occasions: my Dad turned 69 on October 1st and my aunt and uncle celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on October 4th! Since my aunt and uncle went back to the US on October 2nd, we had a joint celebration on October 1st. We had a wonderful dinner at Cerny Kohout, (The Black Rooster) an incredible restaurant only a few blocks from our house. The dinner was spectacular and I'd recommend it to anyone who has an occasion to celebrate. Phil and I read about it in a New York Times review a few months ago. Just as the article said, the owner's wife was waiting tables in this cozy little place. It was very special to celebrate together in Prague. Happy 55th Anniversary Catherine and Fred and Happy Birthday Dad! We love you guys very much!

Family Fun in Praha!

2007-10-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

The family fun began on September 25 (exactly two weeks after Phil and I arrived in Prague) when my uncle and aunt, Fred and Catherine, arrived for a visit. Two days later, my parents, Ann and Hank, arrived as well. My aunt and uncle are world travelers, adding on a trip to Prague after spending time in Italy. On the other hand, my parents were visiting Europe for the first time in many years. For all four of them, it was their first time in the Czech Republic and our new city, Prague! There were so many highlights, I can't really fit them all in to just one post. So above is a collage of some of our favorite family photos from the visit.

One of the best parts of my family's visit was the opportunity for Phil and I to see Prague as tourists. Since we'd only been here a few weeks, it gave us the chance to hit some of the sightseeing "highlights". I visited Prague in 1998 and spend a few days enjoying the city. Phil knows...shall we say a ton...about the history of Prague (the 14th and 15th centuries are his wheelhouse!) and he lived here for a few weeks in both 1999 and 2005. So between Phil and I (mostly Phil), we showed my family as much of the city as we could! At some point, my aunt and uncle started referring to him as "the tour guide". He even carried an umbrella to point out important sights and round up the troops. Here are just a few of the photos:

View of the beautiful castle and Saint Vitus Cathedral (Svaty Vitus) from the Bridge of Legions (Legii most) one block from our house. This is my favorite view in Praha...

We took a river cruise down the Vltava River! This is a view of the Charles Bridge (Karluv most) from the boat.

These two photos are of the Astronomical Clock (Orloj) in Old Town Square (Stare Mesto). It was installed in the early 15th century!! Every hour, the little figures next to the clock dance around as the bells chime. As you can imagine, it is quite a scene below as crowds of people stare!

A rainbow! If you look closely at the center of the photo, you can see the rainbow over Prague. The view is from the high point of the city, the Castle, looking down onto the Vltava river. I love rainbows and think of them as signs of good in the world...just my opinion:)

I hope to share more photos and stories in the coming days...

Meeting Farmer John

2007-09-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

I think the theme of the first few weeks in Prague has become "You can't make this stuff up". Sometimes, random things happen that just brighten my day. I don't know how it happens, but I'm not complaining. As an example, a few days ago, I made a new friend named Farmer John. I sat next to him while eating lunch at Country Life, the Czech Republic's first "Bio" store. It is a wonderful store: imagine a very small vegetarian Whole Foods in a country known most famously for roasted meat and heavy gravy. Farmer John and his three companions (two Czechs and one other American) asked if they could join me at my table. I told them "Of course" and we began to chat. I told him I just moved here with my husband and we were just getting settled in Prague. Farmer John told me he was here to promote his movie, a documentary about his life as a farmer in Illinois. As I learned more, he was totally fascinating and completely eccentric. As you can see from the poster, he is a farmer who loves tractors and loves to dress up in leopard print and feather boas. He invited me to the screening of the film. At this point, I was intrigued by my new friend, so of course, I told him Phil and I would be there.

I went home and did a bit more research about the movie. Apparently, it has won many film festival awards in the US and gotten some great reviews from people like Al Gore and Alice Waters. The movie documents his life, his struggle to keep his family farm, his personal journey, and his current success running an organic, biodynamic farm, one of the largest community supported agriculture (CSA) farms in the US. So last night, Phil, a fellow-Fulbrighter Claire, and I went to see the film. (Claire's sister lives in Chicago is actually a member of his CSA! Such a small world.) It was absolutely fascinating! We spent some time talking to Farmer John after the film (while he was wearing his favorite pink boa) and he was just wonderful to talk to. He was on a European tour with the film and then off to Australia and New Zealand. He gave Claire and I pins that say "Farmer John loves me". Who knows who I'll meet next in Prague? You just can't make this stuff up.

Here is a link to his film and the farm if you are curious:
http://www.angelicorganics.com/

Food at the Festival

2007-09-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

In the US, I have been to a number of state fairs (particularly in New Jersey and North Carolina). Fairs tend to have a large variety of questionable food including things like deep-fried Snickers (NC) or sketchy sausage and peppers (NJ). As most people know, I LOVE food. I have never been afraid to try whatever is put in front of me. But the food at my first Czech festival took "fair" food to a new level. The delicacy I sampled was: a sausage/hot dog wrapped in a saurkraut potato pancake that was sprinkled with raw garlic. Honestly, there are no words. Mmmmmmmm.

At the Vinohrady Wine Festival

2007-09-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

Here we are last Sunday at the Vinohrady Wine Festival. Vinohrady is a beautiful neighborhood in Prague located on land that used to be the King's vineyards. Even today, there are grapes grown on a small hill in Vinohrady. There were two festivals going on that day to celebrate the first Burchak of the season. What exactly is Burchak, you might ask? As we discovered, it is a brownish cloudy beverage that smells vaugely like yeast and tastes more like cider. Burckak is wine that is very early in the fermentation process - thus, the yeast smell. We learned a few valuable lessons about Burchak while at the festival. Lesson 1. It tastes better than it smells or looks. Seriously, it has a mellow apple flavor. I did not want to drink more than one or two of them, but I enjoyed the one I had. Lesson 2. Burchak is sold in plastic liter bottles. Do NOT leave the cap on the bottles. Since the yeast is still active, pressure can build up inside the bottle and explode. Phil was unfortunate enough to be standing next to someone carrying a bottle that exploded. It sounded like a gunshot and sprayed the crowd with Burchak...fun times! Lesson 3. Burchak is not expensive. A glass (or more precisely, each plastic cup) cost 20 ck, about $1. The crowds of people at the festival were happily drinking lots of Burchak. All in all, it was a wonderful fall day in Prague!

Getting Oriented

2007-09-23T12:06:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry about the long absence (again). Danielle and I spent the week getting inundated with information about the Czech Republic from the friendly faces at the Fulbright. They spent all week teaching us about the language, history, politics, and culture of the Cz.R. - it was fascinating, but long, so we've been busy. We also got to see a Czech opera (our first) and visit the U.S. ambassador's residence, which would be demeaned by being referred to as a palace. The ambassador was nice, and his wife gave one of the other Fulbrights a cheese top hat and bow tie. The Fulbright had gone to Wisconsin, and His Excellency was from Milwaukee. You can't make this stuff up.

As for the other Fulbrights, they are great. Everyone's interests are really different, but each person seems to really have a great reason for being here and a real desire to hang out. We've already been invited to the Fulbright director's house for Thanksgiving (although we'll need to do the real American cooking), and we are thinking of heading to the north of Bohemia to see how glass is made and engraved with Chad, a glass artist from Seattle.

Danielle made some great contacts this week for possible volunteer options - each person she talked to had another NGO or local agency who could use a smart and personable American who could help teach English to their staff. It was really encouraging, and Danielle also got interested in the culture of the Roma (i.e. Gypsies) who live in the Cz.R. They are a major minority, but aren't very well integrated in Czech culture. More on that is sure to follow. I will sign off for now, and we'll try to write more often and with more amusing insights. We are starting to prepare two photo-essays for your enjoyment: 1) the mullets of Prague, and 2) the ten smallest dogs on earth. Forget golden retrievers or cocker spaniels - everyone here either has a 13 oz. dog or a mastiff, and NONE of them are on leashes or neutered. Who knew?

Oh well, that's it for now. Danielle's aunt and uncle and mom and dad get here mid-week, so we're sure to have many adventures to report.

Na shledanou,
Phil and D

2007-09-17T05:04:00.000-07:00

Folks,

So, Danielle and I just moved in to our new apartment. We are just behind the national theatre, in a great neighborhood, and an easy walk from the National Library. We had been staying at the Czech Inn, and despite the questionable pun it was a great hotel/hostel. We had to keep switching rooms around, though, which was difficult because of our many bags. We are all unpacked in the new place, though, and renting an apartment couldn't have been easier. Things are "streamlined" here - no credit check, just a cash security deposit and a quick check of your passport. This is fantastic, especially when you're sick and tired of living out of your suitcases.

We have a kick-off dinner tonight with the Fulbright folks; it will be good to meet my colleagues for the year, and we're hoping they're all fun folks. It's an interesting mix - two architects, a glass artist, a film-maker, a harpist, a mathematician, and me. I suspect they all have low expectations for the medieval historian, but D and I will do our best to show them how fun we are.

So, our new address is listed below in the contacts section - our phone is up and running, so we can also be reached that way. And, if anyone is reading this who is moving to Prague in the future, here are two good links -

Czech Inn: www.czech-inn.com
Tide Reality, and ask for Martin: www.tide.com

Now that we're settled, posts will come more often. We'll fill people in on our orientation and the start of the school year later this week, and there is a local wine festival on Friday we'll attend and post pictures from...

Na shledanou,
Phil and D

Welcome to Na Zdravi!

2007-09-09T07:43:00.001-07:00

Folks,

We just wanted to create a small blog where we can keep our friends and family abreast of our ongoing adventures in Prague. We are really excited about our year abroad, and hope that you will keep checking out the blog (and commenting on it) to share in our travels. We'll be posting photos and some videos throughout the year, as well as occasional posts about what we've been doing. We hope everyone enjoys the posts, and we'll see you over the holidays.

Best,
Danielle and Phil