Well dear readers, this seems like the end of the road. I’m back where I started from more or less: a Washington DC airport, thinking deep thoughts about what my trip to Prague meant to me. 116 days, thousands miles and countless memories is something that I will never really forget. It was great experience, probably the happiest four months that I’ve had in a very long time. I’ve gotten to know some very amusing and fascinating people, and explore one of the more interesting cities in the world.
To those of you that were there with me, if you reading this, Jake, Allie, Stef, Kate, Adrian, Steve, Tom, Tom, Tom, Ian, Walt, Alex, Kacy or any of the rest, thank you for making Prague so awesome. I’ll go back someday, I’m sure of it, but it won’t be the same without you guys or/and gals. I hope you enjoy your time back home and remember the time we spent together. As someone said to me the night we all parted in Prague, I hope to hear about your adventures, cause I'm sure you'll have them.
It's been real.
If you want more of me…join me on my next great adventure at chrisfilmprojectblog.blogspot.com, in which I will try and produce a 20 minute short documentary film about reenacting.
Goodbye.
Chris Oxenford
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Prague Part XII: Goodbye Prague
I would very much liked to have left things the way they were at the end of my last post…with me back from Berlin, studying for test with some of the best people I know, Walt, Ian and Ross that never comes…sort of a groundhog’s day scenario. To constantly be 21, and in Prague would be amazing.
Unfortunately every great story, every great adventure has to come to an end, and my sojourn in Prague over the course of the last four months is no great exception. The goodbyes, to my friends, to my professor and to the city itself would cover the entirely of the last week of the program.
These began even before I returned to Berlin. Kate left at some point that weekend…I don’t when because I was in Berlin. Monday, after easily passing Petr’s exam in history, I would see the last of Adrian, when we shared a meal at Bohemia Bagel and talked about our plans for the summer. I had already said goodbye to the high schoolers, and their teachers, as they were also entering final exams during my last week in Prague. I didn’t realize at the time that that would be our parting, but it was a finding end, since I first really met Adrian when he found us food in Munich.
Monday night would see me put to bed my final exam in Film Class, with a, hopefully, well written essay about Hitler and Stalin, and how they have influenced the films produced in Central Europe. I headed the paper in Tuesday morning…after some confusion about whether it had to be typed or emailed, there was no film. Next up was the last edition of Kevin Johnson’s film class. We watched a film called Grill Point, about a German man that owned a restaurant and his wife, and their family friends, who all ended up having affairs. After the film, Professor Johnson stuck around for a little while, and with me, Marnie(one of the girls from Minnesota) Jesse(a dude Ian and I met on the bus to Kutna Hora), and another had a brief review session. That review session would serve pretty much as the last time I saw Marnie, or Jesse either for that matter.
Tuesday would also mark the ending of ECES as a whole. That night they had a party for us on top of Strahov, the big monastery in Prague, which brews its own beer. The night was filled with conversation, and served as a sort of fairwell to Sarah Pilchek and Spencer and Jerry from the high school. It would mark the moment when I was given a certificate for my ten hours of volunteer work up at GJK. All of AIFS was apparently very impressed with that…I don’t why, all I really did was bother to turn in a list hours signed by the teachers, it wasn’t all that hard. The food at the party was nice (they had a whole roast pig and assorted other Czech foods. I got a few minutes to chit chat with my professor, Kevin Johnson. He seemed like a really interesting guy…I wish I had gotten to know him a little bit better.
ECES people at their party, which I basically crashed.
That was pretty much end of the party though, as Ian and I headed outside to hang out with Jan and Zee for a few minutes, during which time Zee explained both his own love of history(he came to it via art…I very diplomatically did not express my opinion of art history), and Jana told us that the weather was unusually cold for May. That night, some guys went out drinking with Jana, while Allie and I decided to stay in and finish up various papers.
On Wednesday I went out to lunch with my parents. We went to a small Italian place which was recommended to them by one of the people that worked at their hotel. It was quite good. From there, I headed to Professor Johnson’s exam. The exam itself wasn’t that difficult, though I do think I rushed a bit at the end, because I was running out of time, and I had to get to my next class…
Which was MittleEuropa. We got the finals back…three guesses as to what my grade was…I’ll give you a hint, I was very happy with it, as well as my overall grade for the course. We then watched a film about the early days of the Presidency of Vaclav Haval, at the beginning of 1989. It was really fascinating. They had lots of interviews with members of his staff, himself, President Bush(the first one), and Madeline Albright. Haval was, according to the documentary very important in bringing about the end of the USSR, and the fall of the Warsaw Pact, well as aiding the transition of the Czech Republic into a democracy.
After the film, I walked with Gabriel and Pueblo for a moment, and said farewell to them, as well as the other Erasmus students in my class. Then I headed back to the dorm in order to start preparing for family dinner with Allie. As it turns out, I didn’t need to hurry that much, because Allie was running a little bit behind schedule, so I got some work down on my paper for the last class that I had to worry about, Czechoslovak New Wave.
At it turned, Jake and Walt were later then Allie coming back from class, so we had enough time to cook some Tandori Chicken, make plans with my parents, and in Allie’s case change Jake’s computer background to a picture of Dave Groli, and sloppy potato him. Once he showed up, we took the food into the dining area for the last family dinner. Present were me, Jake, Allie, Walter, Kacy, Ryan, Jordan, Celia, Jenny, Sara, Sarah, and Alex Horn, it was almost like a rehash of the first dinner, minus Kate and Adrian, and with a slightly more maudlin feeling. After the ice cream, which Walt provided at great expense to himself, I could sense everyone’s reluctance to leave. It would be the last time I saw Jordan. But alas, I could hear my paper calling, and “I knew it was the only one” (yeah Wagon Wheel lyrics). I finished it before midnight, emailed it, and went to bed.
Thursday, was the second to last day before I left for the US. It began with Petr’s last class. He talked a bit about the break of the Czech Republic, and the Presidency of Vaclav Haval, but not too much, and then he gave us back our exams. They were good. Or at least mine was. Then it was Czechoslovak New Wave’s turn. After a presentation on the film we watch last week, The Party and The Guests, which was a very political film, we watched Closely Watched Trains…which to say the least, I did not closely watch.
After that I headed back home for a few minutes, and then left to meet my parents. We walked to Old Town Square, were we picked up Jake, Walt, and Kacy, and headed to Matria, The six of us ended up eating in the basement, where we were eventually joined by Allie. It was a good dinner and I think everyone really like my parents…and my parents really liked everyone.
After dinner we tried to get some drinks at the Hany Bany, or the Pub, Pub, but they were overwhelming crowded with Czechs watching a hockey game, and we had to go to one end of the metro system to catch a show, performed by the band Pavement. Instead we stopped in at the bar next to the venue and had a round, and then headed to the show.
Pavement was awesome. Like really mindblowingly awesome. I think they might actually have been the first Rock and Roll show that I enjoyed without any reservations. I think the good Czech Beer helped in that regard a little, but whatever. After the show, Jana showed up, and we hung out, and drunk a few more with her. After that, well I was done for the night, and headed back to the subway, and bed.
Pavement
Friday…was a both a really bad day, and a really good day. It was bad because well…it was my last in Prague, and I really didn’t want to go home. I spent most of it trying to avoid packing my suitcase. To do this, I first went to the AIFS office to return my ATM card(with only $3.16 still on it) and drop off some dishes. While there, I said a long goodbye to the Czech version of Dr. Whittenburg, Mr. Zee Benes. I hope to god I get back to Prague again, just so I can hang out with Zee some more.
After that, I had my last lunch in Prague, KFC. Then I headed back to the dorm, in time to pack up my suitcases. The room looked very bear without all my and Jake’s stuff in it. After packing, I headed out with Kacy, Walt, Allie, Elyssa, and Jake for our last dinner in Prague. We went to Clear Heads, another vegetarian restaurant. The food was awesome. Then we wandered around a little shopping for souvenirs. I bought a t-shirt(not one of the Prague drinking team ones though, I thought they were kind of tacky). We stopped briefly at a corner store to purchase some uniquely Czech Alcohol. Then Jake, Walt, Kacy and Elyssa went back to the dorm to pick up some other people, and Allie and I stayed down town. We shopped for a few more minutes, and then went to one of the fried cheese stands. We bought a couple, and gave them to some homeless people(it was something Allie said she had wanted to do on her last night in Prague, and I’m pretty much an enabler, so I went along with her. I ended up being the one who actually gave people the fried cheeses though). I also had my last sausage in Prague, spending pretty much my last couple of crowns on it.
Allie after feeding the homeless
But, I had just enough for one last beer at the Hany Bany. Allie and I were quickly rejoined by Jake, Walt and Kacy, and the five of us had a second round, and then headed back to the dorm. But not for very long, we all gathered In Walt’s room to listen to a rap about Prague he and Jake written and performed. It was really pretty awesome. And then, we all…and here I mean pretty much all of AIFS, me, Jake, Allie, Walt, Kacy, Stef, Diego, Bryan, all three Toms, Ry and John (Walt and Alex’s suitemates), Alex, Sarah, Sara, Jenny, Celia, Becca, Ross, Hadley, the California girls, Brittany, Rebecca Nieb and all their crew, Kim, who I hung out with London and of course Ian and Ross. It was like our own little impromptu farewell party.
And then it was nearly 2:30am, and time to go to bed, and that’s when the tears and the goodbyes really got going. I managed to stay pretty cleared eyed though, as I said goodbye, first Steve Thomas, then to the Toms, then to Ian, then to Alex, before heading inside with Walt, Jake, Allie and Kacy. Saying goodbye to Walt and Kacy, and Alex and Ian was pretty hard.
The next morning came rather sooner than I would have liked it to. Four hours of sleep was barely enough. We checked out of the dorm without a problem…except that our towels were all wet, but that was ok, and then headed out to Prague airport.
The Airport was a bit of a nightmare. For those you who haven’t been trying to travel anytime in the past couple of weeks, British Airlines, the airline that our tickets had been booked on had its cable crews go on strike. As a result, BA had to cut a number of flights from its schedule, including all of my flights back to DC, as well as many other people in the programs flights. Fortunately, they were able to reschedule us. Unforunatly, this meant instead of a nice straight through London to DC flight, I had to go Prague, to London, to JFK in New York, to Washington DC. On the bright side this considerable delayed the moment when I would have to say goodbye to Jake and Allie.
Anyway, this had all happened before we got to Prague Airport. The fact this though, that because of the strike, BA was only able to open their ticket counters at certain times for certain flights. As a result, Jake, Allie and I had to wait almost two hours until the counter opened to allow us to check in, and then to wait again in a long line, with some impatient Midwesterners to be checked in, and check our bags. After that though, getting to the plane, and getting to Heathrow was pretty easy.
Heathrow…was well Heathrow. It is the largest airport, or one of them at any rate, in the world, and we had to go from one terminal to another and get through security in under an hour and half to make it to Jake’s flight to Boston. We made…but just barely, the plane was already boarding, and had to run to grab a sandwich, and we had a fortunately abbreviated goodbye (any longer, and I probably would cried, and so would Allie).
Now that our trio was down to two (Lion King lyrics…yeah), Allie and I returned to the waiting area for our flights to New York. We both purchased some food with our left over pounds, and joined a couple of other people, Rebecca Nieb, Kim Phan, and Kristina for a brief chat session, until found out that Allie’s flight to New York had been delayed, and she might miss her connection unless we could move her to mine…which left slightly earlier. After saying goodbye to Kim, Rebecca and Kristina, Allie and I headed to the BA, Virgin (who was running her flight) and American (who were running mine) to try and get her changed. After some running around, we managed to get it done. Together, Allie and I headed to the gate to wait, and were joined by Jessica.
Seven hours later, at 7:30 New York time, we landed back in the USA, back in the USA (paraphrase of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA….yeah). The three of us cleared customs and the border without any sort of the problem, rechecked our bags, and raced for our gate. I spent a few US dollars…my first in four months, on a bottle of water, and then waited with Jessica and Allie for my flight home.
It came much sooner than I would have liked…so I said goodbye to the last of the people that have made the last four months so awesome and got onto my little tiny plane to Washington, while they waited for their flight to Raleigh.
In many ways, my trip to Prague ended as it had begun, with my on a plane by myself, and thinking. Wondering…what had (or would) transpire in the last four months…what did it mean...will I ever see any of my friends again?
Well, I’m home now…so that much concludes the story….I will post one more update…today or tomorrow as a kind of epilogue…and then…see were we go from there.
Next: Washington and Epilogue.
Unfortunately every great story, every great adventure has to come to an end, and my sojourn in Prague over the course of the last four months is no great exception. The goodbyes, to my friends, to my professor and to the city itself would cover the entirely of the last week of the program.
These began even before I returned to Berlin. Kate left at some point that weekend…I don’t when because I was in Berlin. Monday, after easily passing Petr’s exam in history, I would see the last of Adrian, when we shared a meal at Bohemia Bagel and talked about our plans for the summer. I had already said goodbye to the high schoolers, and their teachers, as they were also entering final exams during my last week in Prague. I didn’t realize at the time that that would be our parting, but it was a finding end, since I first really met Adrian when he found us food in Munich.
Monday night would see me put to bed my final exam in Film Class, with a, hopefully, well written essay about Hitler and Stalin, and how they have influenced the films produced in Central Europe. I headed the paper in Tuesday morning…after some confusion about whether it had to be typed or emailed, there was no film. Next up was the last edition of Kevin Johnson’s film class. We watched a film called Grill Point, about a German man that owned a restaurant and his wife, and their family friends, who all ended up having affairs. After the film, Professor Johnson stuck around for a little while, and with me, Marnie(one of the girls from Minnesota) Jesse(a dude Ian and I met on the bus to Kutna Hora), and another had a brief review session. That review session would serve pretty much as the last time I saw Marnie, or Jesse either for that matter.
Tuesday would also mark the ending of ECES as a whole. That night they had a party for us on top of Strahov, the big monastery in Prague, which brews its own beer. The night was filled with conversation, and served as a sort of fairwell to Sarah Pilchek and Spencer and Jerry from the high school. It would mark the moment when I was given a certificate for my ten hours of volunteer work up at GJK. All of AIFS was apparently very impressed with that…I don’t why, all I really did was bother to turn in a list hours signed by the teachers, it wasn’t all that hard. The food at the party was nice (they had a whole roast pig and assorted other Czech foods. I got a few minutes to chit chat with my professor, Kevin Johnson. He seemed like a really interesting guy…I wish I had gotten to know him a little bit better.
ECES people at their party, which I basically crashed.
That was pretty much end of the party though, as Ian and I headed outside to hang out with Jan and Zee for a few minutes, during which time Zee explained both his own love of history(he came to it via art…I very diplomatically did not express my opinion of art history), and Jana told us that the weather was unusually cold for May. That night, some guys went out drinking with Jana, while Allie and I decided to stay in and finish up various papers.
On Wednesday I went out to lunch with my parents. We went to a small Italian place which was recommended to them by one of the people that worked at their hotel. It was quite good. From there, I headed to Professor Johnson’s exam. The exam itself wasn’t that difficult, though I do think I rushed a bit at the end, because I was running out of time, and I had to get to my next class…
Which was MittleEuropa. We got the finals back…three guesses as to what my grade was…I’ll give you a hint, I was very happy with it, as well as my overall grade for the course. We then watched a film about the early days of the Presidency of Vaclav Haval, at the beginning of 1989. It was really fascinating. They had lots of interviews with members of his staff, himself, President Bush(the first one), and Madeline Albright. Haval was, according to the documentary very important in bringing about the end of the USSR, and the fall of the Warsaw Pact, well as aiding the transition of the Czech Republic into a democracy.
After the film, I walked with Gabriel and Pueblo for a moment, and said farewell to them, as well as the other Erasmus students in my class. Then I headed back to the dorm in order to start preparing for family dinner with Allie. As it turns out, I didn’t need to hurry that much, because Allie was running a little bit behind schedule, so I got some work down on my paper for the last class that I had to worry about, Czechoslovak New Wave.
At it turned, Jake and Walt were later then Allie coming back from class, so we had enough time to cook some Tandori Chicken, make plans with my parents, and in Allie’s case change Jake’s computer background to a picture of Dave Groli, and sloppy potato him. Once he showed up, we took the food into the dining area for the last family dinner. Present were me, Jake, Allie, Walter, Kacy, Ryan, Jordan, Celia, Jenny, Sara, Sarah, and Alex Horn, it was almost like a rehash of the first dinner, minus Kate and Adrian, and with a slightly more maudlin feeling. After the ice cream, which Walt provided at great expense to himself, I could sense everyone’s reluctance to leave. It would be the last time I saw Jordan. But alas, I could hear my paper calling, and “I knew it was the only one” (yeah Wagon Wheel lyrics). I finished it before midnight, emailed it, and went to bed.
Thursday, was the second to last day before I left for the US. It began with Petr’s last class. He talked a bit about the break of the Czech Republic, and the Presidency of Vaclav Haval, but not too much, and then he gave us back our exams. They were good. Or at least mine was. Then it was Czechoslovak New Wave’s turn. After a presentation on the film we watch last week, The Party and The Guests, which was a very political film, we watched Closely Watched Trains…which to say the least, I did not closely watch.
After that I headed back home for a few minutes, and then left to meet my parents. We walked to Old Town Square, were we picked up Jake, Walt, and Kacy, and headed to Matria, The six of us ended up eating in the basement, where we were eventually joined by Allie. It was a good dinner and I think everyone really like my parents…and my parents really liked everyone.
After dinner we tried to get some drinks at the Hany Bany, or the Pub, Pub, but they were overwhelming crowded with Czechs watching a hockey game, and we had to go to one end of the metro system to catch a show, performed by the band Pavement. Instead we stopped in at the bar next to the venue and had a round, and then headed to the show.
Pavement was awesome. Like really mindblowingly awesome. I think they might actually have been the first Rock and Roll show that I enjoyed without any reservations. I think the good Czech Beer helped in that regard a little, but whatever. After the show, Jana showed up, and we hung out, and drunk a few more with her. After that, well I was done for the night, and headed back to the subway, and bed.
Pavement
Friday…was a both a really bad day, and a really good day. It was bad because well…it was my last in Prague, and I really didn’t want to go home. I spent most of it trying to avoid packing my suitcase. To do this, I first went to the AIFS office to return my ATM card(with only $3.16 still on it) and drop off some dishes. While there, I said a long goodbye to the Czech version of Dr. Whittenburg, Mr. Zee Benes. I hope to god I get back to Prague again, just so I can hang out with Zee some more.
After that, I had my last lunch in Prague, KFC. Then I headed back to the dorm, in time to pack up my suitcases. The room looked very bear without all my and Jake’s stuff in it. After packing, I headed out with Kacy, Walt, Allie, Elyssa, and Jake for our last dinner in Prague. We went to Clear Heads, another vegetarian restaurant. The food was awesome. Then we wandered around a little shopping for souvenirs. I bought a t-shirt(not one of the Prague drinking team ones though, I thought they were kind of tacky). We stopped briefly at a corner store to purchase some uniquely Czech Alcohol. Then Jake, Walt, Kacy and Elyssa went back to the dorm to pick up some other people, and Allie and I stayed down town. We shopped for a few more minutes, and then went to one of the fried cheese stands. We bought a couple, and gave them to some homeless people(it was something Allie said she had wanted to do on her last night in Prague, and I’m pretty much an enabler, so I went along with her. I ended up being the one who actually gave people the fried cheeses though). I also had my last sausage in Prague, spending pretty much my last couple of crowns on it.
Allie after feeding the homeless
But, I had just enough for one last beer at the Hany Bany. Allie and I were quickly rejoined by Jake, Walt and Kacy, and the five of us had a second round, and then headed back to the dorm. But not for very long, we all gathered In Walt’s room to listen to a rap about Prague he and Jake written and performed. It was really pretty awesome. And then, we all…and here I mean pretty much all of AIFS, me, Jake, Allie, Walt, Kacy, Stef, Diego, Bryan, all three Toms, Ry and John (Walt and Alex’s suitemates), Alex, Sarah, Sara, Jenny, Celia, Becca, Ross, Hadley, the California girls, Brittany, Rebecca Nieb and all their crew, Kim, who I hung out with London and of course Ian and Ross. It was like our own little impromptu farewell party.
And then it was nearly 2:30am, and time to go to bed, and that’s when the tears and the goodbyes really got going. I managed to stay pretty cleared eyed though, as I said goodbye, first Steve Thomas, then to the Toms, then to Ian, then to Alex, before heading inside with Walt, Jake, Allie and Kacy. Saying goodbye to Walt and Kacy, and Alex and Ian was pretty hard.
The next morning came rather sooner than I would have liked it to. Four hours of sleep was barely enough. We checked out of the dorm without a problem…except that our towels were all wet, but that was ok, and then headed out to Prague airport.
The Airport was a bit of a nightmare. For those you who haven’t been trying to travel anytime in the past couple of weeks, British Airlines, the airline that our tickets had been booked on had its cable crews go on strike. As a result, BA had to cut a number of flights from its schedule, including all of my flights back to DC, as well as many other people in the programs flights. Fortunately, they were able to reschedule us. Unforunatly, this meant instead of a nice straight through London to DC flight, I had to go Prague, to London, to JFK in New York, to Washington DC. On the bright side this considerable delayed the moment when I would have to say goodbye to Jake and Allie.
Anyway, this had all happened before we got to Prague Airport. The fact this though, that because of the strike, BA was only able to open their ticket counters at certain times for certain flights. As a result, Jake, Allie and I had to wait almost two hours until the counter opened to allow us to check in, and then to wait again in a long line, with some impatient Midwesterners to be checked in, and check our bags. After that though, getting to the plane, and getting to Heathrow was pretty easy.
Heathrow…was well Heathrow. It is the largest airport, or one of them at any rate, in the world, and we had to go from one terminal to another and get through security in under an hour and half to make it to Jake’s flight to Boston. We made…but just barely, the plane was already boarding, and had to run to grab a sandwich, and we had a fortunately abbreviated goodbye (any longer, and I probably would cried, and so would Allie).
Now that our trio was down to two (Lion King lyrics…yeah), Allie and I returned to the waiting area for our flights to New York. We both purchased some food with our left over pounds, and joined a couple of other people, Rebecca Nieb, Kim Phan, and Kristina for a brief chat session, until found out that Allie’s flight to New York had been delayed, and she might miss her connection unless we could move her to mine…which left slightly earlier. After saying goodbye to Kim, Rebecca and Kristina, Allie and I headed to the BA, Virgin (who was running her flight) and American (who were running mine) to try and get her changed. After some running around, we managed to get it done. Together, Allie and I headed to the gate to wait, and were joined by Jessica.
Seven hours later, at 7:30 New York time, we landed back in the USA, back in the USA (paraphrase of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA….yeah). The three of us cleared customs and the border without any sort of the problem, rechecked our bags, and raced for our gate. I spent a few US dollars…my first in four months, on a bottle of water, and then waited with Jessica and Allie for my flight home.
It came much sooner than I would have liked…so I said goodbye to the last of the people that have made the last four months so awesome and got onto my little tiny plane to Washington, while they waited for their flight to Raleigh.
In many ways, my trip to Prague ended as it had begun, with my on a plane by myself, and thinking. Wondering…what had (or would) transpire in the last four months…what did it mean...will I ever see any of my friends again?
Well, I’m home now…so that much concludes the story….I will post one more update…today or tomorrow as a kind of epilogue…and then…see were we go from there.
Next: Washington and Epilogue.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Berlin: City of Museums
Berlin is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Germany. Like most European cities, it has a history older than the United States, serving first as the Capital of the Electors of Brandenburg, then of the Kings of Prussia, and finally of almost all of the rules of the United Germany. Of course after the conclusion of the Second World War the city was split into two parts, East and West Berlin. In 1989, obviously, the city was reunified, and since that time has once again served as the Capital of Germany.
My parents and I visited the city last weekend. Our train from Prague arrived at 9:45pm( 15 minutes late, for which I’m sure someone was shot). at Berlin’s Main Station(Hauptbahnhof in German). The Hauptbahnhof is an ultra modern structure made of glass and steel, and sits a markedly different tone then the older, and more worn looking, construction of Prague.
From the Hauptbahnhof, my parents and I headed to our hotel, which was located on the sight of the former Berlin Wall, near Check Point Charlie. After staying up for a few minutes, using the Hotel’s wireless internet, and then hit the, much more comfortable then my dorm bed’s, sheets.
We got up at 8 in the morning on Friday, just to be sure that we would have enough time to see everything we wanted to see. We started out be wandering to Unter De Linden, the main street of Berlin, and seeing the Brandenburg Gate. The Gate was a little bit smaller than I expected, and actually dwarfed by the US Embassy which is right nearby. Standing in front of the gate, we were surprised to see an imperial Stormtrooper. Apparently, Darth Vader’s embassy was nearby as well.
Brandenburg Gate...notice the Stormtrooper.
Across the street from the gate we noticed a giant picture of President Obama. Beneath it was the Museum of the Kennedys, which was built to honor JFK’s visit to Berlin in 1962, and his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner”(literal translation, I am a jelly donut, but they understood) speech. There were a surprising number of Kennedy related, including the phonetic spelling of that famous phrase. Also in museum were exhibits on Ted and Bobby, and the up and coming young Kennedys, their kids, as well as photos of many of Barack Obama’s closest advisers, and a photo exhibit from 1976 about the most powerful people in that time, including Carter, Ford, and their advisers (like the little known director of the CIA, some guy named George HW Shr…I mean Bush.)
See if you can guess what caught my eye.
After that, we walked over to the Reichstag building, hoping to see if we could get in to the dome, which is supposed to have a great view of the city. Unfortunately, the line was almost three hours long. Not willing to stand around for three hours, we walked down Unter de Linden again, and came to the German History Museum. The Museum chronicles all of German history, from the migrations of the 3rd century AD, through the middle ages, and the various wars fought in Europe between 1600-1800, to the period of the French Revolution(I was surprised to see George Washington and Ben Franklin hanging out here), to the Unification of Germany, and the beginnings of the First World War.
German History Museum
.
After a pause for lunch, we saw the other half of the museum, which was exhibits on the Weimer Republic, the Rise of Nazism, and the Second World War, the period of division in Germany during the Cold War, and finally reunification. Overall, the museum, which went into an amazing level of detail, was a good way to kill three hours.
From the German History Museum we headed to Check Point Charlie, and the Museum of the Wall. The Museum of the Wall is by far on the strangest museums I have ever been in. It recounts the history of attempts to escape from East Germany by going under, over, or through the Berlin Wall. But it was includes several rooms discussing human rights issues, one on Axel Spegel , a German publisher who disliked the wall, and one which(much to my mother’s disgusted) glorified Ronald Reagan for his role in bringing down the Wall.
My Parents at Check Point Charlie.
After that, we decided to try our luck at the Reichstag once again. This time we were luckier. The line to get in was much, much shorter. It only took us about an hour to get up to the dome. But, it was rather cold, so I bought myself a nice Berlin track jacket. The view from the dome was just as incredible as promised. The dome is made entirely of glass, so that you can see the entire city, and also down into the Bundestag’s chamber(they sit in purple seats). There is also restaurant on top of the building, which would be really awesome place to get something to eat. After about an hour on top of the Reichstag, we headed down again and back to our hotel, as it was now nearly 11pm.
Berlin at Night
Parliament Chamber.
The next morning, Saturday we got up fairly early to try and take in some more museums. At this point though, it had gotten much colder and begun to rain. We tried to head to what is called Museum Island, which is home to half a dozen museums covering ancient history. When we got there however, we saw that the lines were running out the doors of the all the museums and down to the streets. There was no way we would be able to get in for a least a couple of hours. So we hailed a cab, and headed to Potsdammer Platz, which is like the Times Square of Berlin. It is home to the German Film and Television museum.
Like its counterpart in German History, the Film and Television museum goes into exhaustive detail about the history of German cinema. It includes exhibits on early German films like the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, the German film star Marlene Dietrich, the propaganda films of Leni Riefenstahl, and the modern German cinema, including some of the films that I had to watch for class. It was a most impressive museum…and they had an Oscar…which I wanted to steal…I guess I’ll just have to win one...someday.
After that we raced across Berlin to reach the Jewish history museum. The Jewish History Museum was another intense and exhaustive exploration of history, beginning with Judaisms founding in the Holy Land and running up to the present day. Of course the museum is also kind of a memorial for the Holocaust, complete with a vast empty room, which is complete pitch black as a kind of memorial. It was really interesting. Unfortunately we got there so close to closing that we had to rush through the whole of modern Jewish history, and missed an exhibit on Jewish influences on comic books.
Superman outside the Jewish History Museum.
After that, the three of us were pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel, and grabbed a quick bit to eat at a restaurant run by a guy speaking Italian…in Germany. The next morning was fairly laid back. We managed to make it to the Train Station with plenty of time. The trip back to Prague was fortunately uneventful. As soon as I got home though, I had to start hitting the books for my history final on Monday.
Next: Prague Part XII: Na Sleddou
My parents and I visited the city last weekend. Our train from Prague arrived at 9:45pm( 15 minutes late, for which I’m sure someone was shot). at Berlin’s Main Station(Hauptbahnhof in German). The Hauptbahnhof is an ultra modern structure made of glass and steel, and sits a markedly different tone then the older, and more worn looking, construction of Prague.
From the Hauptbahnhof, my parents and I headed to our hotel, which was located on the sight of the former Berlin Wall, near Check Point Charlie. After staying up for a few minutes, using the Hotel’s wireless internet, and then hit the, much more comfortable then my dorm bed’s, sheets.
We got up at 8 in the morning on Friday, just to be sure that we would have enough time to see everything we wanted to see. We started out be wandering to Unter De Linden, the main street of Berlin, and seeing the Brandenburg Gate. The Gate was a little bit smaller than I expected, and actually dwarfed by the US Embassy which is right nearby. Standing in front of the gate, we were surprised to see an imperial Stormtrooper. Apparently, Darth Vader’s embassy was nearby as well.
Brandenburg Gate...notice the Stormtrooper.
Across the street from the gate we noticed a giant picture of President Obama. Beneath it was the Museum of the Kennedys, which was built to honor JFK’s visit to Berlin in 1962, and his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner”(literal translation, I am a jelly donut, but they understood) speech. There were a surprising number of Kennedy related, including the phonetic spelling of that famous phrase. Also in museum were exhibits on Ted and Bobby, and the up and coming young Kennedys, their kids, as well as photos of many of Barack Obama’s closest advisers, and a photo exhibit from 1976 about the most powerful people in that time, including Carter, Ford, and their advisers (like the little known director of the CIA, some guy named George HW Shr…I mean Bush.)
See if you can guess what caught my eye.
After that, we walked over to the Reichstag building, hoping to see if we could get in to the dome, which is supposed to have a great view of the city. Unfortunately, the line was almost three hours long. Not willing to stand around for three hours, we walked down Unter de Linden again, and came to the German History Museum. The Museum chronicles all of German history, from the migrations of the 3rd century AD, through the middle ages, and the various wars fought in Europe between 1600-1800, to the period of the French Revolution(I was surprised to see George Washington and Ben Franklin hanging out here), to the Unification of Germany, and the beginnings of the First World War.
German History Museum
.
After a pause for lunch, we saw the other half of the museum, which was exhibits on the Weimer Republic, the Rise of Nazism, and the Second World War, the period of division in Germany during the Cold War, and finally reunification. Overall, the museum, which went into an amazing level of detail, was a good way to kill three hours.
From the German History Museum we headed to Check Point Charlie, and the Museum of the Wall. The Museum of the Wall is by far on the strangest museums I have ever been in. It recounts the history of attempts to escape from East Germany by going under, over, or through the Berlin Wall. But it was includes several rooms discussing human rights issues, one on Axel Spegel , a German publisher who disliked the wall, and one which(much to my mother’s disgusted) glorified Ronald Reagan for his role in bringing down the Wall.
My Parents at Check Point Charlie.
After that, we decided to try our luck at the Reichstag once again. This time we were luckier. The line to get in was much, much shorter. It only took us about an hour to get up to the dome. But, it was rather cold, so I bought myself a nice Berlin track jacket. The view from the dome was just as incredible as promised. The dome is made entirely of glass, so that you can see the entire city, and also down into the Bundestag’s chamber(they sit in purple seats). There is also restaurant on top of the building, which would be really awesome place to get something to eat. After about an hour on top of the Reichstag, we headed down again and back to our hotel, as it was now nearly 11pm.
Berlin at Night
Parliament Chamber.
The next morning, Saturday we got up fairly early to try and take in some more museums. At this point though, it had gotten much colder and begun to rain. We tried to head to what is called Museum Island, which is home to half a dozen museums covering ancient history. When we got there however, we saw that the lines were running out the doors of the all the museums and down to the streets. There was no way we would be able to get in for a least a couple of hours. So we hailed a cab, and headed to Potsdammer Platz, which is like the Times Square of Berlin. It is home to the German Film and Television museum.
Like its counterpart in German History, the Film and Television museum goes into exhaustive detail about the history of German cinema. It includes exhibits on early German films like the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, the German film star Marlene Dietrich, the propaganda films of Leni Riefenstahl, and the modern German cinema, including some of the films that I had to watch for class. It was a most impressive museum…and they had an Oscar…which I wanted to steal…I guess I’ll just have to win one...someday.
After that we raced across Berlin to reach the Jewish history museum. The Jewish History Museum was another intense and exhaustive exploration of history, beginning with Judaisms founding in the Holy Land and running up to the present day. Of course the museum is also kind of a memorial for the Holocaust, complete with a vast empty room, which is complete pitch black as a kind of memorial. It was really interesting. Unfortunately we got there so close to closing that we had to rush through the whole of modern Jewish history, and missed an exhibit on Jewish influences on comic books.
Superman outside the Jewish History Museum.
After that, the three of us were pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel, and grabbed a quick bit to eat at a restaurant run by a guy speaking Italian…in Germany. The next morning was fairly laid back. We managed to make it to the Train Station with plenty of time. The trip back to Prague was fortunately uneventful. As soon as I got home though, I had to start hitting the books for my history final on Monday.
Next: Prague Part XII: Na Sleddou
Prague Part XI: On the Last Days in Prague, and My Parents Arrival
A minor note: It seems that I forgot some things in the last update…to be fair it was written on a train to Berlin, so I can be forgiven. On Saturday, that May 1, two rather important events happened. First, we went to an anti-fascist demonstration, concert thing, at which we saw a couple of dudes rapping in Czech, and an awesome Canadian rock band. Then, we made our own music, at the dorm’s open mike night, which was of course dominated by the three people with musical talent, Jake, Walt and Kate.
So, with that out of the way, when I left off, we were standing on Pilsen’s main street, on the 2nd May, meaning that there were exactly 20 days between those events and my still impending departure. The Monday of that week pasted with an increasing sense of dread, at least on my part, as we were nearing the official AIFS Farewell Party, not helped, at all, by the fact that there were still finals to look forward to too (ha).
Tuesday proved to be a nice break however. After watching the reasonably comprehensible Stalker (just ask Sasha Prokov.) and the slightly less understandable but still enjoyable A Short Film About Love, AIFS out went for our first group outing in quite some time.
Jake’s performance the Sunday before had greatly impressed somebody at Red Room, and so they had invited him back to perform a show. Jake, being the creative person that he is, threw together a show, and a band, with Walter on accordion, and Kate on Ukulele. This not the first time this group had played together, on Saturday we had had the dorm open mike night, which mostly consisted of those three play, and my trying to figure out Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano. Those three sounded awesome, at Red Room, especially when they played together, and even more especially on the song that for me has become the theme of the trip, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Wagon Wheel. Them play this was enough to basically annex Red Room to the United States for a couple hours, as about 50 people from AIFS showed up.
Jake and Kate perform...awesomely
Some of their adoring fans.
After the show was over, a bunch us, including the three musicians piled onto the last train of the night and headed for the Dorm. As it happened, the three of them decided to play Wagon Wheel one more time, and everyone else decided to sing along. At first I’m fairly certain that the Czech people on the train were convinced that this bunch of singing Americans were either very drunk, or very insane. But eventually they got into it. Some much so that by the time the Americans finished the song they all started clapping and making requests….which unfortunately Jake, Walt and Kate were unable to fulfill.
The next morning was another ascent to the Hrad…at least for me. You see, the Czech kids were having a test that day, and I had forgotten that the Professor told me not to show up…after that bit of stupidly, I went back down the hill to my discussion section with Prof. Johnson, not before stopping off in the AIFS Office to print out my assignment, and then off to MittleEuropa once again. Then it was back to the Dorm to get ready for the AIFS Farewell Party.
By this point it had started raining, and I didn’t bring an umbrella with me to the Czech Republic, something my parents would comment on when they finally arrived. So I got pretty good and wet going to the AIFS party…but that was ok. Once I got there it was a pretty lively scene. Jana had managed to produce a local band that was playing some Jazz music. They had good Czech food(loved the Goulash) and good conversation with my friends.
As the night wore on however, people started dancing…and I was getting a little bored. It turns out that some of the English Country dancing lessons I got paid off just a little, because I managed to swing dance with a couple of the girls….and then with Alex Horn…which was awesome because Alex is a much better dancer than I am…I pretty sure the pictures are on Facebook…and someone ,probably Jake or Walt has a video it too…which they should put on Facebook.
(sorry, no pictures of this...I was dancing so I couldn't take any)
After the dancing, there was a bit of toast making. Allie and Walt both made fairly moving toasts…and then yours truly went imitated Diego’s toast from fourth months ago. But it was all in good fun…and Allie, Walt, Jake, Kate, myself, and for a wonder of wonders Ryan Perry, head off to Usudu, another bar in Prague, where we seem to finish up the night fairly often. We were joined at Usudu, some minutes later by my dancing partner, Alex, and Becca as well. At this point though, Allie and I decided to head back to the dorm. After all, since it was a Wednesday I had a class I couldn’t miss the next morning.
And I didn’t miss it…though I might have been a little late (sorry Professor). In film class we watch a Milos Forman film, Fireman’s Ball which was far better than the run of the mill Czech New Wave film. I was very impressed. I hung out at the dorm for a while after my class, and then headed out with Ian, and some of the boys for a night of revelry in honor of the honorary member of AIFS, Sarah Pilchek(who basically moved into our dorm after she figured out how cool we all are…did that sound arrogant? Opps).
I headed back earlier then most…probably because I had to attend to make up class for Czechoslovak New Wave. We missed one earlier in the semester because the Professor was out sick. The make-up class was interesting though, because we watched a film from 2003, Boredom in Brno. The film pays tribute to the films of the Czechoslovak New Wave and some critics, including yours truly (in my final paper) have argued that it should be included in that august group.
That night was fairly quiet because Jake and Allie had headed out earlier to Liberec to plant trees. I managed to find some people to hang out with, the three Toms, Steve Thomas, Bryan K, and Tom Bearce’s little brother. At pretty relaxed crowd. We got some drinks and played some cards...in which I got utterly beaten by the other guys, and then Bryan and I folded and went back to the dorm...
With Jake and Allie gone, Saturday and Sunday were both pretty uneventful. With the except a day trip with Zee on Saturday. We, myself, Zee, Stephanie Woodward, and Brigitte(Zee's regular crowd) headed out to a garden on the outskirts of Prague. It is home to the Czech botanical society, and is absolutely one of the most beautiful places in Prague. We stopped for Pizza on our way back to the Dorm. After that, I crashed pretty hard didn’t do much of anything for the rest of Saturday, except stay in my room and watch Babylon 5(great TV show by the way, but now I’m going to have to shell out for four more DVD sets…damned things are like crack.)
On Sunday, I decided to check something I'd been meaning to see for a while, the Museum of Communism. The Museum chronicles the history of the Czech Republic from its take over by the communists in 1948 under the leadership of Klement Gottwald, to the end of Communism in 1989(its so weird that I was actually alive at that point) with the Velvet Revolution and the election of Vaclav Haval as President. I was very impressed with museum and I bought an awesome Lenin postcard to prove it.
Like everything else, some Prague streets were renamed to honor revolutionary "heroes".
On Tuesday, that is, the 11th of May, my parents finally arrived in Prague. And wonder of wonders what should happen but the weather turned nasty and cold. Zee blames it on the Volcano, but I think that the Oxenfords should never travel to Europe as a group…but it was definitely nice to have someone other than me pay for dinner those nights, and it was good to see my family after being away from them for four months.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I showed them around Prague a little bit. Then on Thursday afternoon, we headed for the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin….
Next: Berlin: City of Museums
Then: Prague Part Part XII: Na Sleddou.
So, with that out of the way, when I left off, we were standing on Pilsen’s main street, on the 2nd May, meaning that there were exactly 20 days between those events and my still impending departure. The Monday of that week pasted with an increasing sense of dread, at least on my part, as we were nearing the official AIFS Farewell Party, not helped, at all, by the fact that there were still finals to look forward to too (ha).
Tuesday proved to be a nice break however. After watching the reasonably comprehensible Stalker (just ask Sasha Prokov.) and the slightly less understandable but still enjoyable A Short Film About Love, AIFS out went for our first group outing in quite some time.
Jake’s performance the Sunday before had greatly impressed somebody at Red Room, and so they had invited him back to perform a show. Jake, being the creative person that he is, threw together a show, and a band, with Walter on accordion, and Kate on Ukulele. This not the first time this group had played together, on Saturday we had had the dorm open mike night, which mostly consisted of those three play, and my trying to figure out Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano. Those three sounded awesome, at Red Room, especially when they played together, and even more especially on the song that for me has become the theme of the trip, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Wagon Wheel. Them play this was enough to basically annex Red Room to the United States for a couple hours, as about 50 people from AIFS showed up.
Jake and Kate perform...awesomely
Some of their adoring fans.
After the show was over, a bunch us, including the three musicians piled onto the last train of the night and headed for the Dorm. As it happened, the three of them decided to play Wagon Wheel one more time, and everyone else decided to sing along. At first I’m fairly certain that the Czech people on the train were convinced that this bunch of singing Americans were either very drunk, or very insane. But eventually they got into it. Some much so that by the time the Americans finished the song they all started clapping and making requests….which unfortunately Jake, Walt and Kate were unable to fulfill.
The next morning was another ascent to the Hrad…at least for me. You see, the Czech kids were having a test that day, and I had forgotten that the Professor told me not to show up…after that bit of stupidly, I went back down the hill to my discussion section with Prof. Johnson, not before stopping off in the AIFS Office to print out my assignment, and then off to MittleEuropa once again. Then it was back to the Dorm to get ready for the AIFS Farewell Party.
By this point it had started raining, and I didn’t bring an umbrella with me to the Czech Republic, something my parents would comment on when they finally arrived. So I got pretty good and wet going to the AIFS party…but that was ok. Once I got there it was a pretty lively scene. Jana had managed to produce a local band that was playing some Jazz music. They had good Czech food(loved the Goulash) and good conversation with my friends.
As the night wore on however, people started dancing…and I was getting a little bored. It turns out that some of the English Country dancing lessons I got paid off just a little, because I managed to swing dance with a couple of the girls….and then with Alex Horn…which was awesome because Alex is a much better dancer than I am…I pretty sure the pictures are on Facebook…and someone ,probably Jake or Walt has a video it too…which they should put on Facebook.
(sorry, no pictures of this...I was dancing so I couldn't take any)
After the dancing, there was a bit of toast making. Allie and Walt both made fairly moving toasts…and then yours truly went imitated Diego’s toast from fourth months ago. But it was all in good fun…and Allie, Walt, Jake, Kate, myself, and for a wonder of wonders Ryan Perry, head off to Usudu, another bar in Prague, where we seem to finish up the night fairly often. We were joined at Usudu, some minutes later by my dancing partner, Alex, and Becca as well. At this point though, Allie and I decided to head back to the dorm. After all, since it was a Wednesday I had a class I couldn’t miss the next morning.
And I didn’t miss it…though I might have been a little late (sorry Professor). In film class we watch a Milos Forman film, Fireman’s Ball which was far better than the run of the mill Czech New Wave film. I was very impressed. I hung out at the dorm for a while after my class, and then headed out with Ian, and some of the boys for a night of revelry in honor of the honorary member of AIFS, Sarah Pilchek(who basically moved into our dorm after she figured out how cool we all are…did that sound arrogant? Opps).
I headed back earlier then most…probably because I had to attend to make up class for Czechoslovak New Wave. We missed one earlier in the semester because the Professor was out sick. The make-up class was interesting though, because we watched a film from 2003, Boredom in Brno. The film pays tribute to the films of the Czechoslovak New Wave and some critics, including yours truly (in my final paper) have argued that it should be included in that august group.
That night was fairly quiet because Jake and Allie had headed out earlier to Liberec to plant trees. I managed to find some people to hang out with, the three Toms, Steve Thomas, Bryan K, and Tom Bearce’s little brother. At pretty relaxed crowd. We got some drinks and played some cards...in which I got utterly beaten by the other guys, and then Bryan and I folded and went back to the dorm...
With Jake and Allie gone, Saturday and Sunday were both pretty uneventful. With the except a day trip with Zee on Saturday. We, myself, Zee, Stephanie Woodward, and Brigitte(Zee's regular crowd) headed out to a garden on the outskirts of Prague. It is home to the Czech botanical society, and is absolutely one of the most beautiful places in Prague. We stopped for Pizza on our way back to the Dorm. After that, I crashed pretty hard didn’t do much of anything for the rest of Saturday, except stay in my room and watch Babylon 5(great TV show by the way, but now I’m going to have to shell out for four more DVD sets…damned things are like crack.)
On Sunday, I decided to check something I'd been meaning to see for a while, the Museum of Communism. The Museum chronicles the history of the Czech Republic from its take over by the communists in 1948 under the leadership of Klement Gottwald, to the end of Communism in 1989(its so weird that I was actually alive at that point) with the Velvet Revolution and the election of Vaclav Haval as President. I was very impressed with museum and I bought an awesome Lenin postcard to prove it.
Like everything else, some Prague streets were renamed to honor revolutionary "heroes".
On Tuesday, that is, the 11th of May, my parents finally arrived in Prague. And wonder of wonders what should happen but the weather turned nasty and cold. Zee blames it on the Volcano, but I think that the Oxenfords should never travel to Europe as a group…but it was definitely nice to have someone other than me pay for dinner those nights, and it was good to see my family after being away from them for four months.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I showed them around Prague a little bit. Then on Thursday afternoon, we headed for the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin….
Next: Berlin: City of Museums
Then: Prague Part Part XII: Na Sleddou.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Prague Part X: Spring Days, Czech Government, and the Final Countdown Begins
The week after Krakow, which happened to mark four weeks until are return to the United States, was uniformly warm and sunny, something that has been unique in our experience in Prague. That was not however, the first thing I noticed when I got back from Krakow…the thing I noticed most was that we, me, Gabriel and Pablo, had two days until we had to present on the subject of Hungary during the inter-war period to our MittleEuropa class.
Monday…well not much happened with that on Monday…Gabriel was still in Poland, and the airlines were still shutdown because of some ridiculousness with a volcano with too many consonants (something Iceland and the Czech Republic had in common). On Tuesday…while not much happened with that on Tuesday either, expect for a exchange of emails on the subject, which concluded with a decision to meet on Wednesday to finalize the project, and for me to write up a brief timeline of that period on Hungarian history(a timeline that ran to two pages, and was done 45 minutes before the start of class, but that’s how things are done in Europe.) Fortunately…for me…my Eroticism, Power and Fate Professor had gotten himself stuck in Cleveland(a fate I’ve heard you don’t want to wish on anybody), so I was off the hook for the class that normally meets right before Mittleeuropa, so we had a chance to finish and be ready to present.
Of course, things never go off without at hitch, and the hitch, was that one of the my group members was running a little bit behind schedule, so that we had to go second the presentation. Fortunately, this meant that our deadline was the end of class. Unfortunately, we nearly busted this deadline…we probably used way too many details about the Treaty of Triannon(The Hungarian Versailles) Bela Kun, and the various Prime Ministers, and not enough about Regent Horthy, and his rather unique form of government(a kingdom without a king, a Admiral without a navy.), but what really mattered was it was done.
Then…well then it was time to go out and celebrate our success…and something about Alex Horn’s birthday….yeah that was actually the man excuse to go out and have a pretty wild night, and not make it back to the dorm until 3 in the morning….
Needless to say I did not exactly make it to class the next morning.(I’m proud of myself that was one of only two times I skipped my 9 in the morning history class. Next up was Czechoslovak New Wave, in which we watched a film called Cremator…about…well a guy who runs a crematorium before the second World War, and generally goes sort of insane. I volunteered to do a presentation on it, along with a guy from Villanova, because it was actually an interesting movie.
I then went home, and took a nap. As a result, Thursday was pretty much a lost day that week. But we made up for it on Friday. You see, Friday was our Czech civics lesson. Marketa, the resident director of our program had arranged for us a tour of the Czech Supreme Court, and the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech Parliament that is responsible for electing the President, and from whom the Prime Minster and the Government receive their support(think US House of Represenatives, or UK House of Commons.)
The Supreme Court was the first on the docket (did you like my little lawyer comment…yeah, I watched too much Law and Order in my youth...and now its been cancelled, sob!). The Supreme Court building has been continuously in use since at least the independence of the Czechoslovakia from Austria-Hungary. The Nazis and the Soviets both used it for show trials and executions of political prisoners, and suspected political threats, as well as for executions. Today, the Court serves as the final court of appeal. Inside, the building is decorated with a number of statues depicting various important points of Czech History. The courtroom itself looks pretty like what you might see in Law and Order, except that there is no jury in the Czech justice system, everything is decided by a panel of judges.
The Supreme Court Room, note the random law students, and are tour guide relaxing on the rail.
After our morning tour of the Supreme Court we, me, Alex, and Jake headed to Malo Stranka, which is where the Chamber of Deputies is located. We had about an hour or so to kill, and paused to get some lunch, and see the John Lennon Wall, which is a wall near the French Embassy that has been heavily graffiti-ed as an act of protest against the communists, and the Lock Bridge, on which, Czech couples hang locks which symbolize their commitment to each other.
Alex looks at the locks
After that we headed back to the Chamber of Deputies, which is located inside of an old palace. The inside of the Chamber is suited to its history, which a fair amount of gilding, and a piano, that I’m sure the Deputies play when they are not voting. We were able to go into the gallery and see the actual chamber, though unfortunately because the Czech government is currently dissolved, we did not get to see the Czech government inaction (not a typo…a bad pun)
After that, I headed back to the AIFS office to pick up Zee’s tour of Prague for the day…the tour turned out to be just me and Zee, but was not less enjoyable for the experience. He actually took me back through Malovkanka, the area with the Lennon Wall and the Lock Bridge, explaining that the creek the bridge runs across is called Devil’s Creek…for reasons passing understanding. We also stopped at the church where I attended Easter Services, and the where the Infant of Prague is kept. Then we headed up to Pertin Hill, and back down to almost back to my dorm.
Saturday dawned beautiful and warm, so Jake, Kate, Allie, Walter, Kacy and I headed out to Divorka Sarka, a nature park located at the end of one of the Prague Tram lines. We walked all around the Prague, getting really great views from on top of mountains, and of the lake. It was really relaxing to be outside of urban Prague, and was really easy to forget that we were in a city.
Sunday was a bit of a lazy day, we stayed out pretty late Saturday night, but that night was quite fun. Jake played his guitar at an open mike night at Bar Called the Red Room. He was really good, playing a couple of original songs and a couple of covers, including my favorite, Wagon Wheel. I headed back earlier then most of the crew this time, because I had a class Monday morning…and because I had already missed that class once I was determined not to have it happen again.
The rest of the week was pretty much par for course, Monday was history and more history with a little bit of conversation with Czech students, films on Tuesday...etc, etc. The weather however was incredibly beautiful, so warm you almost didn’t need a jacket anymore. I spent most of that weeks afternoon’s camped outside, reading Stephen King of my Kindle…as the week wore on however, this beautiful weather began to give way to a rather growing sense of dread…you see, I started to realize that it was only 21 days until I headed back to the United States….a prospect which does not make me happy.
This growing unhappiness was reinforced by Friday April 30, which in the Czech Republic is an annual witch burning festival. For record they don’t actually burn witches. What they do is build gigantic bonfires(perfect for roasting marshmallows) and drink wine…lots of wine.. As it was also Kate and Stef’s birthdays that week, Friday night got pretty silly…though I’m pleased to say that I was one of the last ones of my group standing by the end of the night.
On Saturday we, the usual suspects, me, Jake, Allie, Kate, Walt and Kacy, planned to head out to Cesky Krumlov, a town on the south of the Czech Republic…but unfortunately we failed to buy our tickets ahead of time…poor life choice. Instead we headed up hanging out in one of Prague’s nice green spaces, eating sandwiches we purchased from the bus station…they were actually pretty good. I headed back after a few hours to catch up with Zee once again, and learn a little bit about the history of Dejivcka the area we have been living in for the past 4 months. As it turns out, it was the site of some pretty intense fighting in the last week of World War II, between the Russians and the Soviets…
We got to experience some of this fighting the next day, Sunday May 2. We headed out that day to the town of Pilsen, which was one of the few in the Czech Republic to be liberated by the American Soldiers(Patton really really wanted some good Czech beer I’m sure, and Pilsen is where the brewery is). For almost an hour, Second War Vinatge Tanks, Planes and Automobiles rolled down Pilsen’s man street. I took lots of pictures and videos…something to work into my senior honor’s project…god willing. Then we head back to Prague, and back to the grind stone, now with only two weeks left…damn where did the time go?
At this point, I can see the end of the road, and the end of this blog…there will probably be four posts, one to be titled Prague Part XI: The Final Days, the next Prague Part XII: On Travelling with My Parents, Berlin: City of Museums, and then a final Prague Post, Part Thirteen, assuming of course the BA strike doesn’t strand me in Prague, and I’m forced to write more…I hope that happens, cause I’m really not ready to leave this city, or these people.
So Next: Prague XI: The Final Days Part I.
Monday…well not much happened with that on Monday…Gabriel was still in Poland, and the airlines were still shutdown because of some ridiculousness with a volcano with too many consonants (something Iceland and the Czech Republic had in common). On Tuesday…while not much happened with that on Tuesday either, expect for a exchange of emails on the subject, which concluded with a decision to meet on Wednesday to finalize the project, and for me to write up a brief timeline of that period on Hungarian history(a timeline that ran to two pages, and was done 45 minutes before the start of class, but that’s how things are done in Europe.) Fortunately…for me…my Eroticism, Power and Fate Professor had gotten himself stuck in Cleveland(a fate I’ve heard you don’t want to wish on anybody), so I was off the hook for the class that normally meets right before Mittleeuropa, so we had a chance to finish and be ready to present.
Of course, things never go off without at hitch, and the hitch, was that one of the my group members was running a little bit behind schedule, so that we had to go second the presentation. Fortunately, this meant that our deadline was the end of class. Unfortunately, we nearly busted this deadline…we probably used way too many details about the Treaty of Triannon(The Hungarian Versailles) Bela Kun, and the various Prime Ministers, and not enough about Regent Horthy, and his rather unique form of government(a kingdom without a king, a Admiral without a navy.), but what really mattered was it was done.
Then…well then it was time to go out and celebrate our success…and something about Alex Horn’s birthday….yeah that was actually the man excuse to go out and have a pretty wild night, and not make it back to the dorm until 3 in the morning….
Needless to say I did not exactly make it to class the next morning.(I’m proud of myself that was one of only two times I skipped my 9 in the morning history class. Next up was Czechoslovak New Wave, in which we watched a film called Cremator…about…well a guy who runs a crematorium before the second World War, and generally goes sort of insane. I volunteered to do a presentation on it, along with a guy from Villanova, because it was actually an interesting movie.
I then went home, and took a nap. As a result, Thursday was pretty much a lost day that week. But we made up for it on Friday. You see, Friday was our Czech civics lesson. Marketa, the resident director of our program had arranged for us a tour of the Czech Supreme Court, and the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech Parliament that is responsible for electing the President, and from whom the Prime Minster and the Government receive their support(think US House of Represenatives, or UK House of Commons.)
The Supreme Court was the first on the docket (did you like my little lawyer comment…yeah, I watched too much Law and Order in my youth...and now its been cancelled, sob!). The Supreme Court building has been continuously in use since at least the independence of the Czechoslovakia from Austria-Hungary. The Nazis and the Soviets both used it for show trials and executions of political prisoners, and suspected political threats, as well as for executions. Today, the Court serves as the final court of appeal. Inside, the building is decorated with a number of statues depicting various important points of Czech History. The courtroom itself looks pretty like what you might see in Law and Order, except that there is no jury in the Czech justice system, everything is decided by a panel of judges.
The Supreme Court Room, note the random law students, and are tour guide relaxing on the rail.
After our morning tour of the Supreme Court we, me, Alex, and Jake headed to Malo Stranka, which is where the Chamber of Deputies is located. We had about an hour or so to kill, and paused to get some lunch, and see the John Lennon Wall, which is a wall near the French Embassy that has been heavily graffiti-ed as an act of protest against the communists, and the Lock Bridge, on which, Czech couples hang locks which symbolize their commitment to each other.
Alex looks at the locks
After that we headed back to the Chamber of Deputies, which is located inside of an old palace. The inside of the Chamber is suited to its history, which a fair amount of gilding, and a piano, that I’m sure the Deputies play when they are not voting. We were able to go into the gallery and see the actual chamber, though unfortunately because the Czech government is currently dissolved, we did not get to see the Czech government inaction (not a typo…a bad pun)
After that, I headed back to the AIFS office to pick up Zee’s tour of Prague for the day…the tour turned out to be just me and Zee, but was not less enjoyable for the experience. He actually took me back through Malovkanka, the area with the Lennon Wall and the Lock Bridge, explaining that the creek the bridge runs across is called Devil’s Creek…for reasons passing understanding. We also stopped at the church where I attended Easter Services, and the where the Infant of Prague is kept. Then we headed up to Pertin Hill, and back down to almost back to my dorm.
Saturday dawned beautiful and warm, so Jake, Kate, Allie, Walter, Kacy and I headed out to Divorka Sarka, a nature park located at the end of one of the Prague Tram lines. We walked all around the Prague, getting really great views from on top of mountains, and of the lake. It was really relaxing to be outside of urban Prague, and was really easy to forget that we were in a city.
Sunday was a bit of a lazy day, we stayed out pretty late Saturday night, but that night was quite fun. Jake played his guitar at an open mike night at Bar Called the Red Room. He was really good, playing a couple of original songs and a couple of covers, including my favorite, Wagon Wheel. I headed back earlier then most of the crew this time, because I had a class Monday morning…and because I had already missed that class once I was determined not to have it happen again.
The rest of the week was pretty much par for course, Monday was history and more history with a little bit of conversation with Czech students, films on Tuesday...etc, etc. The weather however was incredibly beautiful, so warm you almost didn’t need a jacket anymore. I spent most of that weeks afternoon’s camped outside, reading Stephen King of my Kindle…as the week wore on however, this beautiful weather began to give way to a rather growing sense of dread…you see, I started to realize that it was only 21 days until I headed back to the United States….a prospect which does not make me happy.
This growing unhappiness was reinforced by Friday April 30, which in the Czech Republic is an annual witch burning festival. For record they don’t actually burn witches. What they do is build gigantic bonfires(perfect for roasting marshmallows) and drink wine…lots of wine.. As it was also Kate and Stef’s birthdays that week, Friday night got pretty silly…though I’m pleased to say that I was one of the last ones of my group standing by the end of the night.
On Saturday we, the usual suspects, me, Jake, Allie, Kate, Walt and Kacy, planned to head out to Cesky Krumlov, a town on the south of the Czech Republic…but unfortunately we failed to buy our tickets ahead of time…poor life choice. Instead we headed up hanging out in one of Prague’s nice green spaces, eating sandwiches we purchased from the bus station…they were actually pretty good. I headed back after a few hours to catch up with Zee once again, and learn a little bit about the history of Dejivcka the area we have been living in for the past 4 months. As it turns out, it was the site of some pretty intense fighting in the last week of World War II, between the Russians and the Soviets…
We got to experience some of this fighting the next day, Sunday May 2. We headed out that day to the town of Pilsen, which was one of the few in the Czech Republic to be liberated by the American Soldiers(Patton really really wanted some good Czech beer I’m sure, and Pilsen is where the brewery is). For almost an hour, Second War Vinatge Tanks, Planes and Automobiles rolled down Pilsen’s man street. I took lots of pictures and videos…something to work into my senior honor’s project…god willing. Then we head back to Prague, and back to the grind stone, now with only two weeks left…damn where did the time go?
At this point, I can see the end of the road, and the end of this blog…there will probably be four posts, one to be titled Prague Part XI: The Final Days, the next Prague Part XII: On Travelling with My Parents, Berlin: City of Museums, and then a final Prague Post, Part Thirteen, assuming of course the BA strike doesn’t strand me in Prague, and I’m forced to write more…I hope that happens, cause I’m really not ready to leave this city, or these people.
So Next: Prague XI: The Final Days Part I.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Krakow Part II: Auschwitz
As a word of caution, don't expect to laugh to much during this one...is about Auschwitz after all.
The enormity of what happened at Auschwitz is very difficult to describe . More than a million and a half people, roughly equivalent to the population of Prague or Greater Richmond, or Washington DC during rush hour(this figures are from Wikipedia), died at Auschwitz. The kind of cruelty, or insanity do such a thing is difficult to matter, and to be honest, I expected…rings of fire, maybe a lidless eye, some sign that something so terrible happened...but in a way its much worse than that.
The extermination camp at Auschwitz was established in 1942 by order of a man that who would become infamous, especially in the Czech Republic, where he served as Governor, Reinhard Heydrich. In January, Heydrich chaired the Wannsee conference, which planned the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”, the mass murder of the Jews. Under the direction of Heydrich, and Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, Rudolf Hoss was named the camps first commandant, and it was he, and Dr. Joesph Mengele, who were responsible for some of the worst actions at Auschwitz, including the use of Zyclon B as a way to murder human beings.
Auschwitz I, the first camp, and the one that is mostly intact, is located in a village, which if it hadn’t been the site of one of the worst atrocities in human history, would actually be kind of a nice place to live. Upon arriving at the camp, you pass through a visitor’s center, and then arrive at the actual entrance to the camp, with the famous or infamous gate. Inside, the gate the camp looks very much like a military compound, with a number of uniform structures surrounded by a wood and barbed wire fence, with signs in German that warn you not to approach, on pain of death.
Buildings
Barbed wire
The inside of the buildings have been turned into a museum. One contains images of many of the people that were sent to Auschwitz and never returned, another recreates the conditions in which prisoners would have lived, a third has some of the prison cells in which prisoners that broke the rules would be confined, and basically tortured, the last one contains many of the items that the prisoners brought with them to the camp. I found this one especially chilling; in one room in particular there were several thousands of pairs of eye glasses, and in another, suitcases with names and addresses, and artificial limbs, and crutches.
Beyond the walls, is probably the worst part of the camp. A small gallows sits there, where they hanged some prisoners and Rudolf Hoss in 1946(If it’s not the most deserved hanging in human history, I don’t know what is). Beyond the gallows is the one gas chamber at Auschwitz that is still standing (the Nazis blew up the others to try and cover their guilt…didn’t work, thank god.). The gas chamber is really chilling. You walk in, and there’s literally nothing except pipes, which were used to bring in the gas, and gouged pretty deep in the wall, scratch marks, were people tried to claw their way out. Past that, and you get to the crematoriums, which are still more or less intact…and then you pretty much run out into the fresh air.
That’s also about the time that noticed that Auschwitz is chillingly silent, and chillingly still, very few birds seem to sing inside the camp, and no one talks...but they have a book shop and a candy store, and wonder of wonders, they had Skittles in the candy store(the first I’ve seen in Europe), and a much needed Chaka boost, especially considering where we went next. We piled back on the bus, and drove across the village to Auschwitz II/Birkenau.
Birkenau is where most of the victims of Auschwitz were sent to die. Of the complex of camps that was located at Auschwitz, Birkenau was the pure extermination camps…most people who were sent there dead in something like three days, if they weren’t sent to the gas chambers immediately upon arrival, as many woman, children and old people were.
Unlike Auschwitz I however, anything the Nazis believed might implicate them in the Holocaust was destroyed. The crematoriums/gas chambers there are simply piles of rubble, blow up more than 65 years ago. The barracks at the camp still stand however, like silent witnesses. Like Auschwitz I, the camp is completely silent, and you can almost hear ghosts, wanting to speak. The Poles apparently say that nothing will grow at Birkenau, and having been there, I believe it.
We explored the ruins of the pausing briefly at the ruins of the gas chambers, a memorial to the victims, and one of countless barracks. Inside the barracks, some of the prisoners had written their names and/or the dates of their imprisonment. With that, we headed back to Prague...
If only 1.5 million people could have done the same 65 years ago.
Next Prague Ten: Spring Days, and the Final Countdown Begins.
The enormity of what happened at Auschwitz is very difficult to describe . More than a million and a half people, roughly equivalent to the population of Prague or Greater Richmond, or Washington DC during rush hour(this figures are from Wikipedia), died at Auschwitz. The kind of cruelty, or insanity do such a thing is difficult to matter, and to be honest, I expected…rings of fire, maybe a lidless eye, some sign that something so terrible happened...but in a way its much worse than that.
The extermination camp at Auschwitz was established in 1942 by order of a man that who would become infamous, especially in the Czech Republic, where he served as Governor, Reinhard Heydrich. In January, Heydrich chaired the Wannsee conference, which planned the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”, the mass murder of the Jews. Under the direction of Heydrich, and Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, Rudolf Hoss was named the camps first commandant, and it was he, and Dr. Joesph Mengele, who were responsible for some of the worst actions at Auschwitz, including the use of Zyclon B as a way to murder human beings.
Auschwitz I, the first camp, and the one that is mostly intact, is located in a village, which if it hadn’t been the site of one of the worst atrocities in human history, would actually be kind of a nice place to live. Upon arriving at the camp, you pass through a visitor’s center, and then arrive at the actual entrance to the camp, with the famous or infamous gate. Inside, the gate the camp looks very much like a military compound, with a number of uniform structures surrounded by a wood and barbed wire fence, with signs in German that warn you not to approach, on pain of death.
Buildings
Barbed wire
The inside of the buildings have been turned into a museum. One contains images of many of the people that were sent to Auschwitz and never returned, another recreates the conditions in which prisoners would have lived, a third has some of the prison cells in which prisoners that broke the rules would be confined, and basically tortured, the last one contains many of the items that the prisoners brought with them to the camp. I found this one especially chilling; in one room in particular there were several thousands of pairs of eye glasses, and in another, suitcases with names and addresses, and artificial limbs, and crutches.
Beyond the walls, is probably the worst part of the camp. A small gallows sits there, where they hanged some prisoners and Rudolf Hoss in 1946(If it’s not the most deserved hanging in human history, I don’t know what is). Beyond the gallows is the one gas chamber at Auschwitz that is still standing (the Nazis blew up the others to try and cover their guilt…didn’t work, thank god.). The gas chamber is really chilling. You walk in, and there’s literally nothing except pipes, which were used to bring in the gas, and gouged pretty deep in the wall, scratch marks, were people tried to claw their way out. Past that, and you get to the crematoriums, which are still more or less intact…and then you pretty much run out into the fresh air.
That’s also about the time that noticed that Auschwitz is chillingly silent, and chillingly still, very few birds seem to sing inside the camp, and no one talks...but they have a book shop and a candy store, and wonder of wonders, they had Skittles in the candy store(the first I’ve seen in Europe), and a much needed Chaka boost, especially considering where we went next. We piled back on the bus, and drove across the village to Auschwitz II/Birkenau.
Birkenau is where most of the victims of Auschwitz were sent to die. Of the complex of camps that was located at Auschwitz, Birkenau was the pure extermination camps…most people who were sent there dead in something like three days, if they weren’t sent to the gas chambers immediately upon arrival, as many woman, children and old people were.
Unlike Auschwitz I however, anything the Nazis believed might implicate them in the Holocaust was destroyed. The crematoriums/gas chambers there are simply piles of rubble, blow up more than 65 years ago. The barracks at the camp still stand however, like silent witnesses. Like Auschwitz I, the camp is completely silent, and you can almost hear ghosts, wanting to speak. The Poles apparently say that nothing will grow at Birkenau, and having been there, I believe it.
We explored the ruins of the pausing briefly at the ruins of the gas chambers, a memorial to the victims, and one of countless barracks. Inside the barracks, some of the prisoners had written their names and/or the dates of their imprisonment. With that, we headed back to Prague...
If only 1.5 million people could have done the same 65 years ago.
Next Prague Ten: Spring Days, and the Final Countdown Begins.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Krakow Part I: City in Mourning
As I mentioned in my previous post, the week before we were scheduled to arrive in Krakow, the Polish President was killed when his airplane crashed in Russia. The President was scheduled to be buried in the Woclaw Castle, which was used as the Capital of Poland for several centuries and is the place where the great kings and national heroes of Poland are buried, on Sunday, the day we visited Auschwitz(More on that…in another post). As such, Poland as whole, and the city of Krakow in particular was in a state of mourning.
When we left Maraysova Kolej at a little past eight in the morning(nicely done Ian, nicely done), we didn’t know what to expect in the eight hours it would take as to reach Krakow, or what we would find when we arrived. It didn’t really matter to me at that point however, because my noise was buried pretty deeply in the virtual pages of my Kindle (it’s just the gift that keeps on giving). I would be aroused, somewhat from my reading, when we made a rather unexpected stop. You see, one of our follow travels kind of…somehow…passed out. In the front of the bus, apparently on his way to ask for a rest stop. A rest stop we got too....any way, if that excitement out of the way, it was nice relaxing trip to Krakow, one which the Barbara, one of the employees of AIFS informed us was the quickest they had made from the outskirts of Krakow into the center.
Krakow follows the Standard European City Layout to a T. Like Prague, Munich, Vienna, Paris, and Budapest ect, the city Is located next to a body of water, the Vistula river. It is dominated by a castle located on a rise above town, and has large central square, with the obligatory Cathedral, and most of the economic functions of the town are located. It was to this central square that the ever incredible, Zee led us. Here he explained the significance of the church; apparently it had one of the prettiest altars in Europe, and then told us some good places to eat. Myself, Jake, Allie, Ryan and Jordan, Ian, and Rachelle, a fellow Arlingtonian, set out to a Georgian Restaurant. The food was pretty good, cooked beef, and Coke Light that was actually cheaper than the beer(a first in any East Central European Country). After the restaurant, the group wandered around trying to find something to do. First, we found an alcohol store, and started to head back to hotel to partake. After we got there though, we decided instead to head out and find some Gelatto. It being 11 clock on a Friday night, in a country officially in mourning, we didn’t have a whole lot of luck with that. What we did find was a fellow American, Evan from Midgeville, Georgia(for those of you who are not Civil War freaks, Midgeville served, in 1864, as a temporary state capital, at least till William T. Sherman and about 100,000 of his closest friends burned the place, after enacting a mock session of the state legislator.) who desperately wanted to get a drink with some Americans. We obliged. (For the record, as my father and I can both attest, this sort of friendly openness is not at all out of place in the South, though rather odd to see in East Central Europe). We went to a little Polish Bar, and enjoyed some Polish beer, and a few hours of chit chat. As it was now nearly 1 in the morning, we head back to the hotel.
The church, the next day, but still.
The next morning was two tours of the City with our good friend, and the Dr. Whittenburg of Europe, Zee. Zee started out our tour with a monument to the Battle of Grunwald, in which, in 1410, the Poles and Lithuanians, broke and utterly beat the Teutonic Knights, effectively ending their power in the Baltic(yeah, I had to look up, I’m not Zee). Next, he took us through the town’s defensive walls, past the market square, and to the site of Church in which his Holiness, John Paul II preached before he became Pope. This church was also home to a copy of Shroud of Turin, purported to be the burial shroud of Christ Himself, complete with blood stains from where the nails were pressed in…did I mention that Poland is a very religious country, and then to yet another church, this one constructed by the Jesuits. This is where the tour finished up, at least for about two hours. This was long enough to go into another basement room, and get some food at a Ukrainian Restaurant. Good food, and a lot of interesting conversation(for anyone who was there: I was right, there is a Dunkin Donuts in Arlington County, on Lee Highway, across from the Safeway, down the street from Seven Eleven.)
Grunwald memorial.
After that pleasant little interlude we headed back to the Church to meet Zee for our afternoon tour. Zee took us up to the Cathedral/Castle were the President was being buried. Inside there was a monument to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a hero of three nations, Poland for leading its armies during a revolt against Russia, and the United States for help us out during the Revolution, and then leading armies for France in the service in Napoleon
Beyond Kosciuszko, we went into the Cathedral. Three Polish kings, and a queen and some saints are buried above ground in the Church, with placards that describe in English and Polish what they did, and why they are important. Also important in the Castle Complex was a site that according to Zee was important to Hindus. Apparently one of the gods, maybe Shiva, I can’t remember, throw a bunch of stones all over the world that serve as place to recharge your Chaka, or good energy, one apparently landed in Krakow, and had a castle built on top of it. Zee took us as close to that spot as we could get, because according to him Auschwitz would completely drain our Chaka otherwise.
The chaka refilling castle.
After maxing out our Chaka, we drained some of it. From Castle, Zee led us down into the Jewish Quarter of Krakow. Once upon time, before the Nazis came, Krakow had a large and thriving population of Jews. More than 76,000 of them supposedly lived in the city, as in those days, Poland was one of the few countries in Europe that treated Jewish people halfway decently. And then the Nazis showed up, and sent almost all of them 60kms down the road to Auschwitz (more then you will ever want to hear about that, I assure you). Today, there are only 150 Jewish people in Krakow.(No, that’s not a typo, I wrote exactly what I meant to, 150.) The quarter itself looks pretty run down, and apparently was pretty much a no go zone until the fall of Communism, because almost no one live there.
The Jewish Quarter
After this, we were all a little bummed out, but fortunately Krakow had something to take our minds off the depression caused by mass murder, and where we were going the next day. That thing was a massive water park located just outside of town. The park had a pool into which at least half a dozen slides emptied, a series of lily pad type things, a balancing rope, water volleyball pools, and saunas. We, meaning Jake, me, Ian, Alex, and Alex’s crew, did just about everything for just about three or four hours. By the time we got back we were pretty tuckered out, but very hungry.
From our hotel we headed out to the center of town once again, finally to get some Polish food. This turned out to be some ravioli like dishes, stuff with meat, or fruit. They were pretty good and very filling. After that we headed back to the hotel, talked for a while…or something like that…and went to bed.
Next: Krakow Part II: Auschwitz
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