Život v Cizine (was La Vie Expatriée)

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Dining Faux Pas

So, I went out to dinner this evening, to one of my preferred restaurants, U Básníka Pánve. I ordered one of my favorites, the boar goulash. In the mood for a green veggie to go with it, I also ordered a side of ... wait for it ... steamed broccoli!

What? You aren't shocked? The waiter was. "But, the goulash comes with dumplings!" "Yes, I know." "So, you want the broccoli instead of dumplings?" "No, I just want a green vegetable." "But no soup or salad?" "No, that will be all." So away he went, shaking his head at the strange American.

Maybe if I had ordered a side of red cabbage, it would have gone over better. As it is, I'm left to wonder if goulash with broccoli on the side is really that disturbing to Czech sensibilities. I have ordered broccoli at this restaurant before, though I don't remember whether or not I've ever done so with the goulash.

Both the goulash and the broccoli were fine, so at least the kitchen wasn't too offended.

The menu, incidentally, contains some of really enchanting examples of quirky translation:

• It took me a while to figure out that the "Lukul shrimps" are meant to be "Local shrimp" (although I'm still not certain where local shrimp could possibly be coming from).
• The Moravian goose liver is "nifty".
• Duck breast on torn lettuce with golden pear, walnuts and fig jam is "amazingly marinated".
• The Maravian sour with home-made sausages and smoked knee (sic) is "smoothed with ripened cream", not topped with sour cream.
• "Crunchy chick" is undoubtedly better than it sounds (it is described as a chicken breast marinated in Argentinean spices and stuffed with dry ham, cream cheese, coated with sweet corn flakes and almonds).
• The home-made chocolate cake with forest fruits and whipped cream is "bombastic", while the strawberry and banana fondue with chocolate and Baileys is "amorous".

Labels: dining, Prague

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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Garden "Event" at the Embassy

Yesterday, the Embassy here in Prague hosted an event, especially aimed at long-term U.S. residents in Prague, featuring "information on absentee voting procedures, consular services offered to American citizens in the Czech Republic (including passport, notary, and immigration services), as well as updates on federal benefits". I've already registered to vote, but I figured I might as well check it out, since I hadn't visited the Embassy before.

I must say that, while the gardens are perfectly lovely, the event was a bit of a snoozer, and I really didn't learn much of anything. It wasn't a complete loss, though, as they allowed the guests to visit the Glorieta at the top of the hill, which offers a splendid panoramic view of central Prague.

Prague Castle and the cathedral:

Sv. Mikuláše (in Malá Strana; not to be confused with sv. Mikuláše in Staré Město):

Looking out over Karlův Most (Charles Bridge) and the Vltava to Staré Město:

Looking north-east-ish (I think), up the Vltava:

Looking across to Vyšehrad and the basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul:

And Petřín Hill, with the Observatory Tower, Prague's answer to the Eiffel Tower:

Labels: embassy, Prague

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First anniversary in Prague

I completely forgot yesterday that it had been my first anniversary here in Prague. What should I do by way of a belated celebration? Should I do anything?

Labels: Prague

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Friday, June 27, 2008

No more pencils, no more books...

I taught my last two English classes of the academic year this morning. Whew!

Now to take the teacher hat off and put my student hat back on: that's right, Czech classes for me this summer! What fun.

Labels: ESL, Prague, teaching

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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Corpus Christi

For the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (formerly known as Corpus Christi), sv. Tomáš again had one of these joint Czech / Spanish / English liturgies. The reason for the joint liturgy was to ensure that we would have enough time for a procession after Mass:

We processed from sv. Tomáš to sv. Josef, which we entered and had a brief prayer and hymn in Spanish. From sv. Josef we went on to the Order of Malta church of Panna Marie Pod Retězem (Our Lady Beneath the Chain), where we switched to English for our prayer and hymn.

Aside: I've never heard of a devotion to "Our Lady Beneath the Chain". On Googling, the closest I could find was a devotion to Our Lady of the Chain, which originated at the end of the 14th century in Sicily, but apparently made it Malta early on. So I think this is just a confusion of prepositions.

The story in brief is of three young men condemned to die on the gallows. While awaiting their execution, in the church of St. Mary of the Port, they were chained, kept under guard, and the doors of the church were securely locked. That night, the guards that were on duty fell asleep and the three condemned men found themselves at the foot of an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They prayed fervently for deliverance. While they were praying, the chains mysteriously fell to the ground. The doors of the church opened by themselves, and they heard these words coming from the image of the Blessed Virgin: "Go, you are free, do not fear. The Divine Infant Whom I hold in my arms has heard your prayers and has granted your freedom." The prisoners silently walked out of the Church.

When the guards awakened, they went after and, finally, caught up with their prisoners. The men would have been chained again and taken away for execution, had it not been for the people who interceded for them with the King. The King, having heard what had happened, granted them their freedom, saying: "The Blessed Virgin Mary has set them free, so will I."

The final stop on our procession was the Infant of Prague church of Panny Marie Vítězné (Our Lady Victorious), where we finished up in Czech.

As on previous occasions when we've had processions, we gave the tourists a thrill.

Labels: liturgy, Prague, Sv. Tomas

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Saturday at Vysehrad

So, casting about Saturday for something to do, I ran across a reference to a Japanese Spring Festival at Vyšehrad.

Curious, I headed out to Vyšehrad.

While searching for the clearing where the Festival was to take place, I ran across a playground:

There were some wooden sculptures scattered about, but I have no idea who (or what) they represent:

When I found the clearing, people were just milling around:

But soon, they set up the drums:

Next, the banner came out:

I have no idea what this was, but it was brought onto the field next:

Finally, the games began. We had some mock swordplay:

There was drumming:




Next, we had the archers:

The participants in these displays all appeared to be Czech; they did not at any rate appear to be Japanese. There was a platform set up at one end of the clearing, and after the first round of games, some Japanese men took their places on the platform:

The main participants were recognized:

And then, it looked as though it was all starting over again, beginning (or resuming) with the mock swordplay. So, I pretty much lost interest, and wandered off.

The clearing where the festival was taking place was right next to the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul:

Closeups of the icons of Sts. Paul and Peter (respectively) that appear to either side of the rose window:

A nearby building has Elizabeth of Bohemia (the sister of Václav III, who was assassinated at Olomouc, ending the male Přemyslid line, and the mother of Charles IV) looking out from a corner, though why precisely, I couldn't say:

I wandered back to the clearing, and found that we were back to archery, so I continued my meandering and visited the cemetery adjoining the basilica. The grave of Milada Horáková was attracting the most visitors:

Mrs. Horáková had been a member of the Czech Resistance during WWII and spent time in Nazi prisons for her pains. She was subsequently an outspoken opponent of the Communist government, which executed her for treason in 1950. As a result, she is now considered a modern Czech heroine.

Even in death, (some) Czechs can be very particular about their titles, and you so you get "Dr", "MUDr", "JUDr" and "Ing" on the tombstones:

This tombstone simply pleased me: it's highly distinctive:

I believe that this part of the cemetery is reserved for the convent:

And, looking over the cemetery to the basilica:

Returning to the clearing, we were on drumming again. So I gradually wandered my way out of Vyšehrad. I didn't know what this was when I photographed it, but it appears that nowadays at least it's being used as a gardening shed:

I'm sure that it must have been built for something else, but who knows what?

And just a final shot, looking across to Prague Castle from Vyšehrad:

Labels: Japanese Spring Festival, Prague, Vysehrad

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Sunday, May 18, 2008

Fair at sv. Ignace

I don't know if it was related to the feast of John of Nepomuk on Friday, but on Saturday, sv. Ignace was holding a fair at Karlovo Náměstí. There was a swing set for the kiddies:

And a pony ride (I wanna ride a pony!):

There were craft booths:

And this being Prague, of course there was beer. And not just any beer, but Pilsner Urquell:

Of course, some people were content to just sit back and watch:

Labels: fair, Prague, sv. Ignace

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Saturday, May 17, 2008

St. John of Nepomuk

Legend has it that St. John of Nepomuk was martyred by Václav IV of Bohemia (AKA Václav the Drunkard) because the king, believing that his wife was cheating on him, tried to force her confessor, John of Nepomuk, to violate the seal of the confessional. Most reputable sources think that the real reason had to do with a power struggle, with John of Nepomuk thwarting the king's attempt to hand over the abbacy of a wealthy monastery to a candidate of the king's choosing. A much less interesting story. According to Wikipedia, "John of Nepomuk is seen by Catholics as a martyr to the cause of defending the Seal of the Confessional, by romantic nationalists as a Czech martyr to imperial interference, and by most historians as a victim of a late version of the inveterate investiture controversy between secular rulers and the catholic hierarchy." He is at any rate very popular, and there's scarcely a (Catholic) church in Prague without a statue or altar dedicated to him.

His feast is May 16 and it's celebrated by a joint vesper service with the church of sv. Tomáš and the church of St Francis on the other side of the river, and I attended this year's service. After vespers at sv. Tomáš, the two congregations made a solemn procession across Charles Bridge:

The procession stopped at the statue of St John of Nepomuk to commemorate his martyrdom:

We ended up at the church of St. Francis for a closing benediction.

As at Palm Sunday, the tourists were fascinated by this quaint custom and pictures aplenty were taken.

Labels: liturgy, Prague, St. John of Nepomuk, Sv. Tomas

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Pottery Making Market at Nelahozeves

While I was at Prague Castle on Saturday, in my failed attempt to get a look at the Czech Crown jewels, I happened to run across a flyer advertising a "Pottery Making Market at Nelahozeves". Nelahozeves is a Renaissance château a little ways north of Prague; it's been restituted to the Lobkowicz family. The town of Nelahozeves is also known for being the birthplace of Antonín Dvořák. So, on Sunday, rather than get up at some ungodly hour to stand in line at Prague Castle, I took the train up the river to Nelahozeves.

There were several dozen stalls, in the outer courtyard, in the approach to the château, and in the inner courtyard, most, but not all, of which were selling pottery or ceramics. There was also a grassy area which was mostly dedicated to games and demonstrations. And, of course, plenty of (not too outrageously overpriced) food and drink. This being the Czech Republic, there was sausage and potato pancakes and goulash and beer.

They were also running the regular tour of the château. There was no English language tour, though; instead, they gave me a pamphlet with the English text of the tour and sent me off with a Czech group.

Since I was in the neighborhood, I wanted to get a look at Dvořák's birthplace, but it's open only alternate weekends, and this wasn't one of those weekends. (You'd really think they couldn't have coordinated this better!).

I took enough photos that, rather than include them in this posting, I've put them into a slideshow.

Labels: Dvorak, Nelahozeves, Prague, sightseeing, slideshow

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(Not) Seeing the Czech Crown Jewels

The Czech crown jewels are not on permanent display, but are trotted out only once every few years, and the current display marks the first time in five years that they have been shown.

I had heard that, at the time of the last display, so many people lined up that the line was being closed by 11 AM (for an exhibit that closes its door to visitors at 5 PM), so I made a point of heading to Prague Castle at 9 AM on Saturday morning, only to find that the line, for an exhibit that opened at 9 AM, was already closed for the day. According to the Prague Post, people were getting in line at 3 in the morning! Given the popularity of the exhibit, I really don't understand why the government doesn't put the jewels on more frequent, if not permanent, display.

Since I wasn't able to see the crown jewels but was in the general vicinity, I did pay a visit to the Loreto, which houses a replica of the Santa Casa in Loreto, Italy. (I highly recommend the website's virtual tour.)

Reportedly, the Loreto was built during the 17th century as part of the Catholic campaign to attract the Czechs back to Catholicism.

Besides the Church of the Nativity and the Santa Casa, the complex houses a treasury which was well worth the visit. The most stunning piece on display was a diamond-encrusted monstrance known as the Prague Sun.

The entrance fee of 110 CZK is waived for priests and religious, which I thought a charming professional gesture.

I'm told by one of my students that replicas of the crown jewels are on permanent display at Karlštejn (a castle near Prague), so I suppose I'll have to make the trek out there one of these days. It won't be quite the same, but at least I'll get a rough sense of what I missed.

Labels: Czech crown jewels, Karlstejn, Loreto, Prague, sightseeing

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Phantom of the Opera: A Ballet

I visited Národní Divadlo (the National Theater) to go to the opera, so now it was time to visit Státní Opera (the State Opera) to go the ballet. (To make this come full circle, I'd need to attend a play at the National Ballet, but, alas, there is no such theater. The National Ballet also performs at Národní Divadlo).

I went to see Phantom of the Opera, which recently premiered and which is billed as a "dancing horror love story". It follows the basic story line so familiar from Gaston Leroux's original story and all the many dramatizations that have followed, except that, suitably enough, Christina is now a dancer, and the Phantom has composed a ballet to showcase her talents. (But so why, then, did they not call it Phantom of the Ballet?) The guiding force behind this production was Libor Vaculík.

I was reasonably pleased by the ballet. The music didn't particularly impress me (and a few passages put me strongly in mind of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber!), and while the dancing was of a fine calibre, the choreography emphasized more telling the story than dancing. I would very much more like to see how the company can dance than how it can act. They did manage to introduce a welcome note of humor into the drama, and I have no complaint with the dancers.

The theater itself is an exquisite little jewel box, and I look forward to returning. With both Státní Opera and Národní Divadlo, my mental standard for comparison is the San Francisco Opera House, which is downright cavernous by comparison. These theaters are much more intimate, and I don't think that there can be a bad seat in the house.

The day was really quite nice: it's a pity that I couldn't have gone to the ballet yesterday and had today for my trip to Kŕivoklát!

Labels: ballet, National Opera, Phantom of the Opera, Prague

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Saturday, March 29, 2008

Spring in Stromovka Park

So, spring is putting in some tentative appearances: the snow seems to have stopped, the cherry blossoms are in bloom, and people are venturing into the parks. I paid my first visit to Stromovka ("place of trees") Park this weekend.

The weeping willows are drooping picturesquely:

The afore-mentioned cherry blossoms are on display:

And everything is beautifully green:

(And no, I'm not sure what these buildings are.)

There's also a planetarium in Stromovka, and I was thinking about visiting, as I dearly love a planetarium show. But the commentary would all be in Czech, so I decided against it. For now, anyway.

While waiting for the tram home, I noticed these paintings on the walls of adjoining buildings:

I'd kind of heard of Jiří z Poděbrad, though I couldn't off-hand tell you much more than that he was a King of Bohemia and that the next metro stop from Náměstí Míru is named for him. Vlasta, on the other hand, was completely new to me, and it took me a bit of Googling to find out who she was. Turns out that she is said to have been the favorite handmaid of the mythical Libuše, the prophetess who founded Prague. Libuše had been careful to protect the rights of women, and when she died, those rights were endangered. So Vlasta rallied the other women, and launched the Maidens' War. There is, alas, no happy ending. Which is probably why it's so hard to find out who she was.

Labels: Prague, spring, Stromovka Park

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Night shooting

I haven't yet mastered the art of taking photos at night. At the very least, I think I need a tripod, but it may just be that my trusty little Canon isn't up to the task. I keep trying, though, and I'm actually quite enchanted with this shot of Týnský Chram (Tyn Cathedral):

Très surreal, n'est-ce pas?

Labels: Canon, pictures, Prague, Tynsky Chram

posted at 4:40 PM permalink  1 comments

Easter Markets and Pomlázky

Easter Markets

I was curious to know if Easter Markets were substantially different from Advent Markets. There are really only trivial differences. They're smaller, for one; in fact, Náměstí Míru didn't even have one. Most of the stalls sell the same touristy junk that they sold before Christmas, and the food and drink are largely the same. In particular, the trdelník stalls are hugely popular:

It's fun to watch trdelník being made. They start with sweet yeasted bread dough. The baker rolls a chunk of dough into a long snake, which is then wrapped around a stainless steel cylinder. After two or three snakes have been wrapped, the cylinder serves as a rolling pin to flatten the dough while it's rolled in a mixture of coarse, spiced sugar and almonds. The dough-covered cylinder is then set in a rack that spins the cylinder over an open fire so that the dough bakes and the sugar caramelizes. When the trdelník is all nice and toasty brown, it comes off the fire and is rolled once more in the sugar and almond mixture. Needless to say, they're best hot off the fire.

The main place where the Easter markets differ from the Advent markets is that the Christmas decorations are (mostly) replaced by decorated eggs:

Easter Market at Anděl

The Easter Market at Anděl is a small one: just a couple of dozen stalls. What I like about it, though, is that it has a pony ride:

It also has a couple of other rides for children. There's a choo-choo train:

And there's a car ride:

Easter Market at Staroměstské Náměstí

The big Easter market, at Staroměstské Náměstí (Old Town Square), on the other hand, has a much larger collection of stalls. In addition, there's a sort of little petting zoo:

The Easter Rabbit?

There's also a blacksmith at work:

Instead of a Christmas tree, there's an Easter egg:

There's also an Easter tree (there, behind the Jan Hus memorial):

Florists and Pomlázky

A few weeks ago, I started seeing these bundles of twigs trimmed with multi-colored ribbons at florists' stands:

I asked one of my students about them, and he became a little flustered and claimed (rather disingenuously) that they're just a traditional Spring decoration. It took me a while longer to find out that they are supposed to be used on Easter Monday, when the men whip the women to keep them beautiful and/or fertile. Not surprisingly, the men in my classes all disclaim any participation in this pagan ritual: "It's practiced only in some of the smaller villages these days", they tell me. And according to this article from the Prague Post, they may be correct. However, several of my women students have admitted that their husbands or boyfriends have brought home their pomlázky, which will be used for the traditional purpose. (I'm staying out of this: they're consenting adults and I've no reason to believe that any of these women is in an abusive relationship.)

And, it turns out that pussy willows aren't just for Palm Sunday:

Labels: Czech Republic, Easter, Easter market, pomlazka, Prague

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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The camera returns...

So, I finally called Canon again and, this time, I was successful in reaching someone who spoke English. I explained the problem and was referred to an authorized Canon repair shop, which oh-so-conveniently is just a few blocks from my flat. I went in, handed over the camera with the speculation that it was a problem with the CCD. The technician looked at it, agreed, confirmed that this was a problem that Canon had agreed to fix for free, and told me that my camera would be ready within 14 days. He also told me how to check for status on their website. And so it is that, barely 10 days later, I have my camera back again: yippee!

Labels: Canon, pictures, Prague

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Saturday, March 15, 2008

Night at the Opera

My Friday night visit to hear Martinů's Řecké pašije (Greek Passion) marked my first visit to any serious theater since leaving California. The opera is based on Nikos Kazantzakis's novel Christ Recrucified.

Brief synopsis:

The preparations for the annual Passion play in the Greek village of Lycovrissi are interrupted by the arrival of refugees whose village has been destroyed by a Turkish attack. The refugees are defended by the shepherd Manolios, who had been chosen for the role of Jesus Christ. Other villagers, particularly the Passion play's Mary Magdalene (who in real life is also the village prostitute), St. James, St. Peter, and St. John, similarly attempt to help the refugees, but the priest, Grigoris, leads resistance to their presence. Finally, in an argument, the villager Panait, the Passion's Judas, kills Manolios, and the refugees leave the village in search of a new home.

This was my first visit to the National Theater (Národní Divadlo), since it's not open to visitors except for performances. It's a really lovely theater (alas that I'm still camera-less).

The performance itself was wonderfully sung and beautifully staged, and I very much enjoyed the evening out.

Labels: Greek Passion, Narodni Divadlo, opera, Prague

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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Dutiful Pedestrians, Revisited

I wrote about Czech pedestrians and their willingness to wait on traffic lights several months ago. This past weekend, I particularly noticed the phenomenon again. I was waiting at a traffic light, and on the other side of the street, there were a couple of Prague police officers and another couple. The couple, after checking to make sure that there was no oncoming traffic, started across the street. One of the police officers started calling after them, but they ignored her until they had crossed the street. Only then did they look behind them to acknowledge the officer. I couldn't understand what the officer said, but from her gestures and her tone, I would guess that it was something along the lines of, "Get back here and wait for the light". The couple shrugged and went on, while the pair of officers waited for the light. I turned around to peek after crossing the street, but no, the officers did not set off in hot pursuit of the jaywalking pair.

I mentioned this to the students in one of my classes and found that the penalties for jaywalking, in Prague at least, are quite stiff. In fact, if you're the victim of an accident that occurs when you are crossing against the light, you will leave the hospital only to be hit with a citation and a hefty fine. That "The pedestrian has the right of way" is apparently an entirely foreign concept here.

Labels: Czech Republic, pedestrians, Prague

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

The Butter Museum at Máslovice

Last month, one of my students told me, in response to my usual "So, what did you do this weekend?", that she and her boyfriend had visited the Butter Museum at Máslovice.

"Wait: did you say butter?"

"Yes, the Butter Museum."

"Butter? The yellow stuff they make with milk and you spread it on your bread? Butter?"

"Yes, the Butter Museum. They have a Betlem (Nativity scene) made out of butter."

"So wait, now where is this? Máslovice? Where's that?"

"I'll bring you a map."

And the next class, she did indeed bring me

• a map showing where to find the correct bus stop at the Kobylisy metro station;
• a map of Máslovice, showing where the museum is in relation to the bus stop;
• a bus schedule; and
• notes about when the museum is open (Saturday and Sunday, from 10 to 12 and from 1 to 4) and how long the Betlem would be there (from the beginning of December through the end of January).

Máslovice is north of Prague, and there's a certain logic to a Butter Museum being housed there, as the Czech word for butter is máslo. The bus ride from the Kobylisy metro station takes about 30 minutes. The countryside surrounding Prague becomes rural amazingly quickly, and the map of Máslovice was really not necessary, as there's hardly anything there and the museum, small as it is, was hard to miss.

The "curator" is a very nice young man named David, who seemed delighted to have a native English speaker to practice his (very good) English on. He willingly showed me through the museum, explaining the exhibits, leaving my side only to collect the admission fee from other visitors and then returning to continue our conversation. There is in fact no butter connection to Máslovice: the town was named after a person named Máslovics. I asked about the Betlem: it was carved by a 24-year old actress living in Prague, but this was to be its last weekend. It was beginning to stink, David candidly observed. Only the third of the three rooms of the museum is devoted to butter, but it is full of butter making implements and paraphernalia, including butter molds, a collection of butter wrappers from around the world, and more kinds of churns than I had ever realized existed. I was particularly taken with one in the form of a child's rocking horse. The container for the milk forms the body of the horse, so the child's rocking can churn the butter. I thought that was particularly ingenious.

The second of the three rooms of the museum is actually dedicated to chocolate. It turns out that the person who is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the largest number of chocolate wrappers is a Czech (though not an inhabitant of Máslovice), and it's a rotating portion of his collection that is on display.

The first of the three rooms is just the gift shop/reception area. If you're in the Prague area looking for gifts depicting cows, this is where you want to come.

The weekend of April 12-13, there's to be a Butter Festival at which visitors will be able to participate in making their own butter. I'm thinking that it might be fun to go back for that.

Labels: Butter Museum, Czech Republic, Maslovice, Prague, sightseeing

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Trip to Vienna and comparative Advent markets

I've heard a lot about Austrian Advent markets, and I was curious to make the comparison with the Prague markets. One of my students told me that she thinks that the Salzburg markets are much better than the ones in Vienna, so I was thinking about going there. However, it's 5 hours by train to Salzburg, and there's only one direct train per day from Prague, and it arrives in Salzburg after midnight. So I went to Vienna instead. Since my camera is on the blink, I bought a disposable camera, but I haven't yet had it developed (or even used it all up), so pictures will have to wait.

Vienna itself is a pretty city, although I found it somewhat shabbier in feel than Prague. A lot of it could use, at the very least, a fresh coat of paint!

On Saturday, I visited the main market, in front of the City Hall. Like the markets in Prague, the most heavily trafficked stalls were those selling food and drink. In Prague markets, though, the non-food stalls mainly sell the usual touristy junk that you find in the souvenir shops around, for example, Old Town Square. The Viennese market, on the other hand, actually had stalls where you might reasonably buy genuine (non-souvenir) gifts.

One of the things that the Viennese markets do that I really like is when you buy a drink (coffee or hot wine or hot punch), instead of giving it to you in a paper cup, they give it to you in a mug, for which you pay a 2€ deposit. When you return the mug, you get your deposit back. Alternately, you can choose to keep your 2€ souvenir mug. However, the information booths also sell (clean) souvenir mugs for the same 2€ fee, so why put the dirty mug in your purse or bag? It put me in mind of Grandma's adage, "Never steal a dirty ashtray".

"Never steal a dirty ashtray"

The story that Mom always told in illustration of Grandma's adage goes like this: once she and Auntie Jo were out having lunch somewhere with Grandma, and Grandma took a liking to the ashtray. However, since all three were smokers, by the end of their meal, the ashtray was thoroughly dirty. So, when it came time to pay the bill and leave, Grandma handed the ashtray to the nice young waiter, explaining that she didn't care to put the dirty ashtray in her purse and asking him to please bring her a clean one. The nice young waiter dutifully went away and returned shortly with a properly cleaned ashtray, which Grandma promptly stowed in her purse. Mom never said, but I do hope that they gave that waiter a healthy tip!

Since I was downtown for the market, I took advantage of the proximity to visit the Hofburg Palace as well and saw the Imperial Apartments, Sisi Museum (the museum dedicated to Empress Elizabeth) and Imperial Silver Collection. I also wandered in the gardens while it snowed picturesquely on me. I think it would be lovely to visit in the Spring.

Sunday, I went to visit the Schloss Schönbrunn, which I liked even better than the Hofburg. The grounds are more expansive than the Hofburg's, and again, would be well worth a Spring visit. When I bought my ticket to tour the palace, I hadn't realized that there would be about a two-hour delay between the purchase and the time I would actually be allowed to enter (the tickets are stamped with the admission time). Fortunately, there was a little Advent market in front, so it wasn't too painful to while away the time.

BTW, this posting (from another, food-specific, blog) describes the food at Prague advent markets very well. Plus, there are pictures of the market at Old Town Square.

Labels: Advent market, Hofburg, Prague, Schonbrunn, travel, Vienna

posted at 3:15 PM permalink  1 comments

Clubbing carp for Christmas

The traditional Christmas Eve dinner in the Czech Republic is carp, breaded and deep fried, served with potato salad. In anticipation of this dinner, fish mongers with tubs of live carp appear on street corners and plazas a few days before Christmas Eve, and people line up to buy their carp. I'm told that some Czechs take the carp home live and kill the fish themselves. Most people, though, let the fish mongers do the dirty deed. And so the fish sellers scoop a carp out of the tub and give it a few sharp whacks on the head with a mallet before beheading it. (People take the fish heads, too, since fish soup is also a traditional accompaniment to the dinner.)

I suppose that if one isn't vegetarian, it's just as well to be reminded of exactly what is entailed in the eating of fish or poultry or meat.

And every time I saw this transaction taking place, I was reminded of Tom Lehrer's Poisoning Pigeons in the Park:

Indeed, I'm sure that if Lehrer were Czech, he might have come up with something along the lines of Clubbing Carp for Christmas.

You can also buy carp filets at the supermarket, and indeed, I even saw some frozen breaded carp all ready for cooking, but very few of the Czechs with whom I've spoken admit to going that route.

Labels: carp, Christmas, Czech Republic, Lehrer, Prague

posted at 2:28 PM permalink  1 comments

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Camera out of whack

No pictures for a while, folks. My camera, a Canon PowerShot A70, has blacked out on me. From Googling around, it appears that this is a known problem that Canon has agreed to fix. Unfortunately, I can't reach any English speakers at Canon in Prague to help me, and Canon in the US refuses to do anything. Snarl.

After Christmas, I'm going to have to recruit one of my Czech friends to help me deal with this. Snarl.

In the meantime, I picked up a disposable camera, and I hope to post a few pictures when I get them developed. It's really weird to be taking pictures with a (more or less) conventional camera again, though, and I'm not sure how well they're going to turn out.

Labels: Canon, pictures, Prague

posted at 2:27 PM permalink  0 comments

Monday, November 26, 2007

Snow

There was a flurry of snow this afternoon. It didn't last long, and it mostly melted as soon as it hit the pavement, but it was enough to dust Náměstí Míru and the Advent Market.

I feel so sorry for the merchants in those drafty little stalls!

The snow resumed this evening, and has been going off and on for the past couple of hours.

Incidentally, for those of you who may be wondering, yes, I have been wearing my coat. And frequently my hat and gloves. Sometimes even a scarf 'round my throat.

Labels: Prague, snow

posted at 9:38 PM permalink  0 comments

Friday, November 23, 2007

Advent Market

Well, it's not quite Advent, but the Advent Market at Náměstí Míru has already started:

The most popular stalls are the ones selling hot wine and sausages:

I'm not seeing a lot of buying going on; most people seem content just to look, at least for now.

The big Advent Market will be at Old Town Square, but that isn't set up yet.

Labels: Advent market, Prague, shopping

posted at 8:53 PM permalink  0 comments

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Hot water is a privilege, not a right...

Most Prague districts are supplied with hot water from power stations and heating plants using centralized heat distribution. Unfortunately, maintenance is performed annually, which means residents must do without hot water for several days (typically 5 to 12) every year. Each district has its own schedule, so there isn't a city-wide shortage of hot water, and most natives make do by heading for their gyms, instead.

This regularly scheduled maintenance, however, is apparently not the cause for the present absence of hot water in my flat, where we have been without hot water for very nearly a week now. I don't know what the problem is: all I've heard from the landlord on the subject is "Damn technicians!".

I knew of course that things would be different outside the US; that was, in fact, part of the point of my leaving. But gosharoonie: I wasn't expecting things to be this primitive!

Labels: hot water, Prague

posted at 6:06 PM permalink  0 comments

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Dutiful Pedestrians

Czech pedestrians are very complaisant when faced with traffic lights. They will stand patiently at the curb, waiting for the light to change, even when there's no traffic in sight, even at midnight, even at 9 AM when they're scurrying to work. (Well, actually, I don't believe I've ever seen a Czech scurry.)

Czech drivers, on the other hand, and most particularly cab drivers, appear to consider traffic lights to be strictly advisory. Which, come to think of it, may be why the pedestrians are so cautious.

Labels: Czech Republic, Prague

posted at 9:59 AM permalink  0 comments

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

My New(ish) Neighborhood

So, now that I'm settling kinda sorta permanently (well for a year or so anyway) in Prague, I've taken a new apartment, a shared flat, in Vinohrady, near Náměstí Míru.

I continue to be fascinated by the colors and ornamentation of the buildings. The three buildings I can see from out my bedroom window:

And more buildings from a random walking tour around my neighborhood:

In a very different mood, there's this, the Žižkov TV Tower:

The Church of the Sacred Heart is also kinda sorta in my neighborhood. It's a relatively modern church, having been completed in 1932. One of its most noteworthy features is the transparent clock in the tower (which unfortunately you can't see from the angle at which this picture was taken):

Labels: buildings, Prague, Vinohrady

posted at 5:29 PM permalink  0 comments

Friday, August 17, 2007

English as Lingua Franca

On the wall of the classroom where I had my TEFL course, a poster cited a statistic to the effect that 25% of the world's population speaks English. There was no source given for the statistic, nor was there any context. What level of fluency, for example, is encompassed by this statistic? Does it include people who took a year of English in high school 30 years ago, for example? And even if it does, 25% still seems awfully high.

Living in Prague, though, I'm starting to come around to the view that English really is becoming a lingua franca. On tours and in restaurants and shops, I frequently hear conversations being conducted in English between Czechs and tourists who are obviously not Anglophones. And even once I get off the tourist track in Prague, I have no trouble finding people who can manage at least a little English. Occasionally, as they apologize for their limited English, they come up with some novel constructions. (I once had a clerk quote me a price of "1000 CZK less 1", rather than 999 CZK.)

I suppose this effect was present in France, too, although to a more limited extent. Paris, at least, offers a lot more accommodation than does Prague to tourists who speak neither French nor English. On the other hand, although my classmates at the Institut Catholique were not exclusively American, almost all of them spoke some English in addition to French and their native languages.

So I was interested to see this article in The Economist recently, which takes for granted English's exalted status and goes on to discuss the problems. In particular, that "English, in effect, blocks the learning of other languages", and not just for notoriously foreign language averse Americans. It's good news, of course, for a would-be English teacher.

Yet another reminder of the ways in which I'm one of a priveleged few!

Labels: English, Prague

posted at 10:46 AM permalink  0 comments

Monday, August 06, 2007

Getting Outside of Prague, Part 2

The other trip I've taken outside of Prague since my arrival was to Kutna Hora, a UNESCO-protected Heritage site.

Kutna Hora mainly came to fame in the 13th century because it was close to the site of some very prolific silver mines; it remained one of the richest cities in Bohemia until the mines finally petered out in the 18th century.

Sites in Kutna Hora include the Cathedral of St. Barbara (the patron saint of miners):

Another view of St. Barbara's, including a charming view of the scaffolding:

Instead of the usual crucifix, the altarpiece is a painted bas-relief of the Last Supper, which is something I've never seen before, but which makes perfect sense.

Horse-drawn carriages are a popular tourist fixture in Kutna Hora (in Prague as well):

The proximity of Kutna Hora to the silver mines led to the establishment of a Royal Mint. We toured the site of the mint, where coinmaking was demonstrated by a resident coinmaker:

I had always thought that coins were molded, but instead (at Kutna Hora, at least) they were stamped.

We passed by a plague memorial:

All in all, while Kutna Hora is a very pretty town, it didn't really seem to be worth the trouble of the trip, and I'm not quite clear on why UNESCO has chosen to add it to its list of Heritage sites. Of course, I visited on a Sunday, when everything was shut down. I might have derived a more positive impression had it been livelier.

The tour included a trip to the Sedlec Ossuary, which was indeed worth the visit. The ossuary is home to something like 40,000 (!) human skeletons, which form some of the "decorations" for the chapel. This chandelier, for example:

Or this coat of arms, for the Schwarzenberg family:

There's also an unremarkable graveyard outside the chapel:

Labels: Kutna Hora, ossuary, Prague, sightseeing

posted at 9:45 AM permalink  0 comments

Getting Outside of Prague, Part 1

I've taken a couple of tours outside of Prague, one of which was to Terezín (the so-called "Garden Ghetto" of the Nazi era).

The tour started with the fortress at Terezín. I had actually never heard about the fortress before. Terezín had originally been built in the 18th century as a fortress by the Austrians. During WWI, it was used as a prisoner of war camp; Gavrilo Princip, whose assassination of Franz Ferdinand set off the war, was imprisoned and died (of tuberculosis) there.

During the Nazi occupation, the Small Fortress was used as the Gestapo prison for the Prague region. Roughly 90,000 prisoners passed through the Fortress; some 2600 died there. For the most part, the prisoners were not Jewish, unless they were also political prisoners. Terezín wasn't used as an extermination camp: for the most part, those who died, died of disease brought on by overcrowding, malnutrition, and poor hygiene.

The cemetary at the entrance to the Fortress:

"Work shall make you free", over the doorway leading to the original cell blocks:

We also visited the town of Terezín, which is now a perfectly ordinary looking town. The phrase "the banality of evil" comes to mind. Although, according to the tour guide, you can buy an apartment in Terezín for just about 15,000€: it seems that few people are interested in making their homes in a town with such a history. Some of the buildings have been repurposed as museums and memorials. The permanent displays especially feature art, both official and secret, created by the prisoners.

Although Terezín was not an extermination camp, only a few thousand of those who passed through it survived the war: if disease didn't get them in Terezín, they tended to end up in extermination camps elsewhere.

Labels: Prague, Terezin

posted at 9:01 AM permalink  0 comments

Prague Slideshow

Ya know, sometimes one of the reasons that I hold off on posting is because I have all these photos piled up, and so I wait 'til I get them formatted, then I have to think about how to weave them into a coherent narrative, and it's just all so daunting that I put it off and put it off and put it off...

So, I'm just going to put up this little slideshow, mostly from a walking tour I took of Prague, and then I can just get on with posting about life here without having these photos hanging over my head!

Labels: buildings, Prague, sightseeing, slideshow, travel

posted at 8:16 AM permalink  0 comments

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Prague's Goldilocks Rating

Well, Prague has achieved a "just right" on my Goldilocks comfort scale (cf my post Next Stop: Prague). I've found that not speaking the language goes a long ways towards determining the Goldilocks rating. At any rate, I've decided to settle here, at least for a year or so.

In honor of my decision, I've rebaptized my blog, giving it a Czech name. According to my preceptress (thanks, Alena!), Život v Cizine means "Life Abroad".

Labels: blog, Goldilocks rating, Prague

posted at 8:47 AM permalink  1 comments

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Safe and sound in Prague

Well, I'm here, although it's not clear that I have the expected Internet access, so I may be quiet for a few days!

Labels: Prague

posted at 2:24 PM permalink  0 comments

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Next Stop: Prague

Well, I've decided that Paris is really not for me, at least not just now. So, with the end of classes and the lease on my apartment next week, I'm moving on to Prague, where I've signed up for a TEFL/TESOL Course.

After that, I'm not sure what I'll do. I'm kind of toying with the idea of China. Or maybe Russia. Or I may decide on Central or Eastern Europe. Or I may backtrack to Western Europe.

It all depends on how well I take to Prague.

See, here's the thing: moving to Paris was relatively easy (once I got over the whole "Oh my God, I'm completely and totally insane" phase with which I was boring people). France is, after all, a Western, industrialized nation and I was already familiar with the language. So on the comfort scale, France isn't all that far out there. In fact, I think that's the problem: it's not far enough out there. So I'll try a little farther out the comfort scale, i.e., the Czech Republic.

If it turns out that Prague is just way too uncomfortable, I'll backtrack, if not to France, then to Western Europe. (Spain or Portugal might work.) On the other hand, if Prague is still not uncomfortable enough, then I'll push out the comfort scale still further. Then again, if the comfort level seems just right, then I'll stay. In brief, I'm doing a Goldilocks number.

I'm also partially motivated by a concern for hanging out someplace that'll look good on my resume when I get home. And really, Western Europe has been done to death. As for France, in particular, not even the French are trying to start careers in France.

Labels: France, Prague, travel, work

posted at 6:15 PM permalink  0 comments