Heaven is a Place on Earth...

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

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...

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

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?

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

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

"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!

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...