Friday, June 19, 2009
day 5 (tuesday 16th june) continued...
hi all.
from jewish communities i went to art & architecture of prague. it was the day of religion!
we trekked over to the NATIONAL GALLERY of PRAGUE. the exhibition; BOHEMIA & CENTRAL EUROPE 1200-1550. if i never see another statue or painting of the virgin mary/madonna again, it will be too soon. i can handle a few and yes it was amazing to see these works of art that were done in the 12th century, but i think it was a little overload. i will just post photos for this because honestly, my "awe" wore off after about an hour.
after class brittney and cassandra (two of my flatmates) and i went on an adventure to find a sketch book needed for class. we didn't find one. things close pretty early unless you are a grocery store. but we did come upon some very interesting sites. i'll let the photos speak for themselves.
i left them at the tram and decided to watch the sunset over the charles bridge, wow! so ya ready...close your eyes and envision this...i am standing on the CHARLES BRIDGE looking towards the PRAGUE CASTLE and listening to this lovely czech man serenade all of us on the bridge with his violin, the only thing that could have made it more perfect was a great glass of wine. my bottle of water had to do, i didn't want to interrupt the bliss that my senses were experiencing.
i ended the nite at a lovely jazz restaurant. pork and potato goulash with potato dumplings and a KRUSOVICE czech beer. another serenade, this time by the house jazz band. yeah, i'm thinkin' heaven.
went to bed full and happy, ready for the adventures of wednesday.
getting caught up
i woke up this morning to the sound of rain dancing on the window. what a beautiful way to greet the day. it was late considering the last few days i have been waking up, of my own volition, around 4:30am. i got up and instantly enjoyed the silence. my flat mates are on an excursion today. why did i not partake you ask? well, first and foremost they were going hiking, and if you know me at all, i do not like hiking. walking, meandering, wandering; yes. hiking no. plus, i have that pulled groin muscle and it's just starting to feel better.
with rain i figured i would get caught up on this blog thingy. i am pretty sure i can't insert pictures wherever i want so i will write the blog and then post the pictures pertaining to that blog directly after. hope that's ok ;-)
i drank my instant coffee (don't judge, it's all i can get) with tons of sugar and MARESI, which is some kind of milk/creamer that czechs put in their coffee and began typing.
i think i left off on monday...
day 5 (tuesday 16th june)
today my jewish communities class ventured to the JEWISH QUARTER. i saw the oldest synagogue in prague KLAUSOVA SYNAGOGA (photo). you can feel the pride and pain in this area of the city, it resonates here. it was awe inspiring to go through the synagogues and see how they began and what became of them during WWII. i was unable to take photographs inside, but don't think any photograph can do it justice. the craftsmanship of the woodwork is incredible and the detail of the paintings on the wood and walls are immaculate. there is every color imaginable, and gold was in common use. i got so close that i could see the artist's brushstrokes and when i closed my eyes, i could envision the curve of the artist's hand and the love that was put into each individual scene. here is a link to a photograph of the interior of the SPANESLKA SYNAGOGA
the interior of this synagogue is completed hand-painted. inside of this particular synagogue there was a box full of tallits and tefillins (prayer shawls). they were confiscated by the nazis when the jews were taken from the ghettos to Terezin and Auchswitz. a simple wooden box with hundreds of them behind a thick piece of glass. even now writing this i have a feeling of pain and anger in the pit of my stomach.
class finished and i made a promise to myself to go back and REALLY experience this part of town.
this is also the part of town where the statue of FRANZ KAFKA sitting on his own shoulders stands (photo). I will be going back to the museums that house his works. photos to follow.
i think i'll post this part and the photos and then continue the rest of this day on a new post...
Thursday, June 18, 2009
My first few days in Prague
Ahoj everyone!!!
wow. yup. that's appropriate. where should i start? my hope is to give you the interesting tidbits of my journey here in prague. i will try to make you laugh and hope you don't get bored. if there is anything specific you would like to know please don't hesitate to ask. if there is something that you would like for me to photograph, shoot me a message. this is a breathtaking place filled with so much history and wonder. my hope is to do as many "local" things as i can while seeing the "must sees" such as the castle and such. welcome to my world. i am so excited to share it with you :-)
since this first post spans a few days i will break it up so you can jump around if you'd like.
day 1 (friday 12th june)
i left austin this morning and flew into houston,
smooth sailing! from houston flew to amsterdam, 9 hours and 25 minutes. i slept a little but excitement had begun to set in and i was like the kid ready to go to disneyland.
day 2 (saturday 13th june)
my adventure truly starts here. i arrived in amsterdam 30 minutes late, NOT a good thing. i had to run, yes, literally run for a half an hour across the whole airport, and we all know how much i like running, NOT. on my intense run, i passed an amazing CHEESE STORE, the kiosk was a giant wheel of cheese!! i will be stopping by on the way home, if i have to miss my plane...so be it. so, i make it to customs, and run a smidge more and get to my gate, by this time, i can't breathe and my leg is strangely throbbing. i get on the plane, and sit down to decompress. get up to go to the bathroom and...HOLY SHIT, my leg is on fire. with the intense run and the weight of my carry-on bags, i managed to pull my groin muscle :-( i popped some tylenol because right then, nothing mattered, i was going to PRAGUE!
land in prague and head off to baggage claim...well folks, its true what they say, THEY WILL LOSE YOUR LUGGAGE. i went, gave the very kind woman my flat address and headed off to meet my contact person. i was very thankful to have thought ahead and packed the essentials in my carry-on.
Arrival at the flat...SERIOUSLY!! the first thing i see when i walk in the door...ADAM & EVE. there are replication mural paintings of MUCHA's works all over. i live in a 3 bedroom flat with 4 other girls. i have my own room, yup that's right, what can i say, i am a textbook "only child". My flat is amazing.
i unpacked my one small bag and decided to head out! i spent most of the day walking around.
as i was walking i heard this woman screaming/singing to Anastacia. After a moment I figured where it was coming from..."BAR 5" a local dive bar right down the street from the dancing building. i went for my first czech beer. the girl singing was veronica and annie was her friend the bartender. they spoke some english but were very fun to hang out with. after a couple of minutes a huge group (9+) scotsmen came in, as rambunctious as ever. they started to irritate annie, so she started ignoring their drink orders and paid much more attention to veronica and i. it was really funny. she would only help the ones that said please and thank you in czech. so, the three of us sat there and drank beer and did shots of some czech herb liquor. i don't remember the name, bill, i'm sure you know what i am talking about. a hour passed and i could feel the booze, i decided to leave, i wanted to make it home on my first day. the rest of the day was spent wandering.
day 3 (sunday 14th june)
woke up early and headed off to find breakfast. "CAFE BECHER" . what an amazing breakfast. 2 'just baked" croissants with homemade marmalade and honey, and 1 soft boiled egg that i dipped my homemade rye bread into. the coffee was not something to be desired. i am learning that czechs really love their instant coffee, that's right folks, i said INSTANT. very sad for me, but if that is my only bad thing, i am in good shape. spent the rest of the day walking around with a magical smile on my face.
day 4 (monday 15th june)
BEST BREAKFAST ever!!! "PRAHA BAKESHOP" i ventured into old town, this city is so quaint and wonderful at 7am, no tourists, very little people out and about. i had a double espresso, which was yummy, i was so thankful. but for breakfast i had local tomato & goat cheese czech style quiche, oh my fucking goodness. i was in heaven. sitting there eating this beautiful meal staring out at the astronomical clock. then it was off to class, history of the jewish communities. after class i wandered some more and took tons of photos. i just realized, i am having technically difficulties with posting pics. forgive me, i will figure it out soon.
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