AUS
On Wednesday, Garrett showed his extreme generosity and sent Kate and I off to Vienna for two days. We took a bus and the 5 hour ride was a wonderful time for the two of us to talk. We had to change buses about 2 hours in, which involved a mad-cap dash, at breakneck speed, wearing our backpacks, to find a WC, in the short time we had. Thankfully, Kate knew where the WC was, having been there the week before on a field trip. Upon arrival in Vienna, around 3:30, we were extremely hungry, but the train station where we disembarked was large and had a grocery store, so we picked up fixings for sandwiches. Neither of us had any Euros, only Czech crowns, but we saw signs for credit/ debit cards, so we weren't too worried. Except that they didn't take debit cards. Or apparently, any of the credit cards that we had with us. And the cashier only spoke limited English and we speak no German. So I waited with all of our stuff while Kate ran to an ATM. I really hate looking foolish and not knowing what I'm doing, so it was a rough wait.
When we were finally provided with food, we headed to the Praten- a large amusement park. I wanted to go because of its Ferris Wheel, actually built by Mr. Ferris himself, in the 1890s, which looks very similar to the one built for the Chicago World's fair, only smaller. We were planning to take a ride, but it cost 10 Euros and it just wasn't worth it.
But we ate and enjoyed the sun, then decided to head to Stephansplatz.
We walked around Stephansdom and went inside briefly. learning that there would be an English tour the next day at 3:00, so we decided to return then. We walked up and down the street, taking in all the tourists and searching for an information-giving place. Upon finding one, we picked up tons and tons of literature to help us to decide how to spend our time. And we decided to head immediately to the
Kunst Hundertwasser.
It was a unique art museum- Hundertwasser did not believe that things most people think should be straight or plumb need to be straight or plumb: floors, walls, etc.
He used his art for political activism it seemed, and from his quotes on the wall, would've gotten on famously with Henry David Thoreau. I think my favorite piece of his art we saw was a plan for a city- very eco-friendly and community-focused, with houses built under bridges and in hills, and lots of green space. The houses under bridges and in the sides of hill reminded me of Laura Ingalls Wilder's dugout. We then walked a few blocks to see a building he'd designed, the Hundertwasser House, basically an apartment building, which reminded me of a socialist commune.
We then climbed aboard a tram and set out to find our hostel in the dark. That took some doing, but we arrived, threw our stuff down, met our roommate for the night and headed back out to eat. On the way to eat, we followed some brown signs to Hayden's home. We picked a random German restaurant on some random street, where no one else was eating and the waiter spoke no English, without English menus. Quite an interestinng experience trying to decide what to eat. We did at least recognize "schnitzel" and apparently mushroom is a cognate between French and German, so I was able to recognize that. We wound up with some tasty food and headed hostel-ward quite full.
Labels: travel
CZ.2
Tuesday morning, we caught a train to Kutne Hora, about an hour's ride southeast of Prague in Bohemia, billed as a typical Czech town. There, we toured the Church of St. Barbara, which took over 500 years to complete. St. Barbara was the patron saint of miners and other people who die without a priest present to perform their last rites.
Speaking of miners, Kutne Hora was once home to a huge silver mine and we took a tour of it. We had a precious Czech tour guide who was very entertaining and seemed to really love his job. He seemed pretty excited to use his English and tried to make us laugh a lot. You have to have a very specialized lexicon to give a silver mine tour in another language. We donned our miner's coats and hard hats and descended 500 feet into the centuries old mine. It was super-cool (literally and figuratively) and an altogether unique experience.
We walked around and saw some of the other sites in town, like St. James' Church, the Stone House and an old, now defunct dodecahedron water fountain.
Then we headed to the Sedlec Ossuary. Ossuary meaning a receptacle for the burial of human bones. This particular ossuary was also a Catholic chapel. Legend has it a cleric brought some dirt back from the Holy Land and sprinkled it on the grounds and therefore everyone wanted to be buried there. So many people that there was a frequent, high turnover of graves and a pile of bones amassed at the chapel. After many years, the (a?) monks decided to use the bones to decorate the chapel, in order to remind people of their mortality. Certainly one of the uniquest things I've ever seen. Not to mention that there was what appeared to be a photo shoot for some death metal singer, covered in black face paint, going on while we were there. Rather unsettling.
We headed back to the train station around 4 and waited quite awhile to catch the train back to Prague. And for dinner, Kate and Garrett took me to a wonderfully tasty Indian restaurant that was full of ex-pats.
Onto Vienna for a day or two...
Labels: travel
summer reading
Yesterday was the last day of school, and I have yet to really ponder my summer reading list. Which is particularly unfortunate as my summer will be 3 weeks longer than usual this year and the 3 weeks of it I will be in a new city where I know few people. Gonna need a lot to read. Here's what I've got so far. I'd love suggestions!
Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, Nathan L.K. Bierma
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
City of God, St. Augustine (really, I think a more reasonable goal is to finish this thousand + page tome before I graduate)
What is the What, Dave Eggers
Labels: books
CZ
So today is the last day of my secondary teaching career, but I'm going to rewind a bit. Back to Spring Break, the first full week in April. Saturday afternoon, I headed to Hartsfield and hopped on a plane bound for Prague to see Kate and Garrett! (Well, technically it was bound for Amsterdam... minor details. We only did two of the things listed in
36 Hours in Prague, but it was still an excellent trip.Upon my arrival Sunday morning, I showered and we headed out to Wenceslas Square, home to the Tyn Church and Prague's astronomical clock.
There was also an Easter Market and a statue of Jan Hus, a pre-Luther Czech Reformer. Aside from the fact that it's been 6 weeks since then, I had also only slept about 4 of the last 30 hours and my memory of Sunday is a little fuzzy... From there, we walked across the Charles Bridge and found our way into the Wallenstein Gardens, where the Czech Senate and riding school are housed. along with this wall meant to resemble stalactites.
We also visited a Czech pottery and jewelry store before heading to Cafe Architecture for dinner. Around this point, I my brain began to feel like I was adrift on the ocean, but a rousing game of Settlers helped keep me up until 9:30.
Monday morning, we slept in (well, I did- a full 12 hours!) and headed out around eleven to climb Petrin Hill. This statue is a memorial to the victims of communism.
We took some sort of tram/tube-thingy up to the top. In the park at the top, we climbed the replica of the Eiffel Tower, whose top is as far above sea level as the real Eiffel Tower, but is only 200 some feet high. We played around in a house of mirrors and headed towards the Prague Castle.
The last few blocks, we followed a unit of soldiers marching in formation. Unfortunately, there were barricades and security surrounding the main entrance, so we couldn't get in. It became clear that some sort of dignitary would soon arrive for some sort of ceremony. We waited around for awhile, saw some limos and important-looking, unfamiliar people arrive and decided to leave. From there we headed to Vyserad, where Kate and Garrett got engaged.
Sadly, the cathedral is closed on Mondays, but we walked around the cemetery and found Dvorak's grave.
There are some ruins of a medieval bath on the edge of the Vltava River and there's a large portion of the wall that once guarded Prague.
I love such things.
Then, we headed back to the northern end of Prague to a football game: Slavia vs. Liberec. My first European football game. Since it was a Monday afternoon, it was pretty calm, but Kate and Garrett had some funny stories to tell.
That night, we headed to the beer garden for dinner. They live a block from one of the largest parks in Prague, with a HUGE beer garden that had only opened for the season the week before. It was packed, but we grabbed the end of a table and indulged a leisurely meal of Czech libations and sausage. Until it started raining. Then it turned into something more like chugging and we tested the notion that you can make it back to their apartment in 2 minutes, running.
On to Kutne Hora tomorrow.
Labels: travel
fine dining
I love good food. I would rather pay for a good meal with friends any day than go see a movie. I've always had a list of restaurants in Atlanta where I'd like to eat, but now that I'm moving, eating at the places on the list is a little more pressing. Here's what remains:
Chocolate Bar
2 Urban Licks
Agave
Watershed
Sun in my Belly
Avra
NanJCT Kitchen
There are probably a few more that should be added, but I've only got 2 months.
Last night, I checked one off the list: Laura and I ate at
Floataway Cafe. It was
excellent. We started with an appetizer of piccolo fritto: fried squid and lemons. It also came with a vinegar pepper dipping sauce. Who knew fried lemons could be so good?!
For a main course, Laura had a saffron risotto with Georgia white shrimp, asparagus, and peas. It was good and she loved it. But I loved what I had better: gnocchi in a light, thin buttery sauce, with maine lobster and grapefruit, seasoned with tarragon. It was like heaven in my mouth. We saved room for dessert and I am SO excited about eating my leftovers for lunch.
For dessert, we had lemon meringues with lemon mint granita. I was in the mood for something pretty light, and that hit the spot. All in all, one of the best meals I've had in a few months, with excellent conversation to boot.
Labels: good eatin'
adulthood
I run from the notion that I am an adult, at least figuratively. Some would probably say that there are times I run from the idea literally, sprinting down a hill at breakneck speed. I won't deny it.
Especially over the last two years, on many occasions, I have realized my perspective on various things in life is much closer to that of the "real adults" than to my students' perspective. But I fight adulthood tooth and nail. One of the highlights of the last few weeks for me was climbing on playground equipment at night, pretending it was a ship, being pelted by the bombs (tennis balls) of pirates (my friends).
I have a few mental benchmarks on what makes someone an adult: full time job. Check. Owning a car. Check. Being married. Nope. Owning a house. Nope. Having enough money in savings that if you were unemployed for awhile you would survive. Check. Ordering wine and having some clue what to do when the waiter brings the bottle for your approval. Check. Having a child. Nope. Having sufficient extra sheets and towels for company. Check. Traveling to a foreign country alone. Check.
So this is a rather haphazard list and probably not a good indicator of adulthood; oh well. It is about to get a few more check marks though. No, I am not getting married and no, I am not pregnant. But I am thinking about buying a house in Nashville. In fact, Friday afternoon, I am headed up there (with my mother because I am not really an adult) to meet my realtor (AH!) and check out a few places, with the knowledge that I have been approved for a loan (AH!)
Nothing for sure and I'm trying to hold this VERY loosely, because it may not work out and I wind up in an apartment. Which would be OK because then I remain those few steps away from real adulthood...
But we ate and enjoyed the sun, then decided to head to Stephansplatz.
It was a unique art museum- Hundertwasser did not believe that things most people think should be straight or plumb need to be straight or plumb: floors, walls, etc. 
He used his art for political activism it seemed, and from his quotes on the wall, would've gotten on famously with Henry David Thoreau. I think my favorite piece of his art we saw was a plan for a city- very eco-friendly and community-focused, with houses built under bridges and in hills, and lots of green space. The houses under bridges and in the sides of hill reminded me of Laura Ingalls Wilder's dugout. We then walked a few blocks to see a building he'd designed, the Hundertwasser House, basically an apartment building, which reminded me of a socialist commune.
We then climbed aboard a tram and set out to find our hostel in the dark. That took some doing, but we arrived, threw our stuff down, met our roommate for the night and headed back out to eat. On the way to eat, we followed some brown signs to Hayden's home. We picked a random German restaurant on some random street, where no one else was eating and the waiter spoke no English, without English menus. Quite an interestinng experience trying to decide what to eat. We did at least recognize "schnitzel" and apparently mushroom is a cognate between French and German, so I was able to recognize that. We wound up with some tasty food and headed hostel-ward quite full.
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