From Tuesday (June 2) to Thursday (June 4), we've been in Cesky Krumlov! It's this beautiful town in the Czech Republic, around four hours away from Prague. Unfortunately, I was severely allergic to the town, but it was definitely a good trip. We had our last goodbye dinner. Many people were tearful, and we hugged Vera & Michael & Pavlina (professors) goodbye. They have been excellent professors.
Trip is almost over. One more full day, then we leave.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Nothing new
Haven't done much new stuff in Prague... we kinda ran out of new things to do. Hence the lack of posts lately.
We are going to the Prague food festival tomorrow, though! Assuming I finish my papers.
Cesky Krumlov on Tuesday - Thursday, and we are going white water rafting. Then home on Saturday. Almost done.
We are going to the Prague food festival tomorrow, though! Assuming I finish my papers.
Cesky Krumlov on Tuesday - Thursday, and we are going white water rafting. Then home on Saturday. Almost done.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
PICTURES
Since I'm too lazy to upload individual pictures to entries (maybe I will later), I'll just post my facebook albums here.
Prague, Czech Republic:
#1
#2
#3
Budapest, Hungary:
#1
#2
Karlstejn Castle & Terezin, Czech Republic (Day Trips with the Family):
#1
Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic (Bike Trip):
#1
Berlin, Germany:
#1
#2
#3
#4
Berlin, Germany - Graffiti/Art Scene:
#1
#2
Dresden, Germany
#1
Haha, I just realized this blog is still in U.S. time, so it looks like I post things in the morning. I don't. We're nine hours ahead (of the west coast) here.
Prague, Czech Republic:
#1
#2
#3
Budapest, Hungary:
#1
#2
Karlstejn Castle & Terezin, Czech Republic (Day Trips with the Family):
#1
Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic (Bike Trip):
#1
Berlin, Germany:
#1
#2
#3
#4
Berlin, Germany - Graffiti/Art Scene:
#1
#2
Dresden, Germany
#1
Haha, I just realized this blog is still in U.S. time, so it looks like I post things in the morning. I don't. We're nine hours ahead (of the west coast) here.
Berlin - A Recap
Left for Berlin on a chartered bus at 8am Monday morning. Internet there cost me 1.5 euro/hour so I chose not to post. I'll try to remember what we did. I'll backdate these entries.
Also, thoughts on Germany:
I really liked it there (except for the fact that I was extremely allergic. One zyrtec + one benadryl a day did not seem to have any effect, unfortunately). I like the German sense of humor: very dry and not always obvious. Often sarcastic. Reminds me a bit of Czech humor. I think I've always had a bit of an aversion to Germany because of its Nazi past. I've never had any desire to visit before this. It's strange. But now that I've been there, I would be really interested in spending more time there. Anyway.
Also, thoughts on Germany:
I really liked it there (except for the fact that I was extremely allergic. One zyrtec + one benadryl a day did not seem to have any effect, unfortunately). I like the German sense of humor: very dry and not always obvious. Often sarcastic. Reminds me a bit of Czech humor. I think I've always had a bit of an aversion to Germany because of its Nazi past. I've never had any desire to visit before this. It's strange. But now that I've been there, I would be really interested in spending more time there. Anyway.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Dresden & VW
Just returned from Berlin! Internet was 1.5 euro/hour there so I chose to wait until I returned to Prague to post. Actually, for now I'm going to post about Dresden, though, which is where we were today (on the way back).
First we went to a VW manufacturing plant where they make the Phaeton, a luxury car. I guess I'm not that interested in cars, and honestly it was a little sickening to me. So much awesome technology and so much care and effort put into these... cars. Seemed like a huge waste of time to me. I mean, I appreciate that Vera and Michael set this up and gave us the opportunity to take the tour (which apparently is something a lot of people like to do), but it wasn't my thing at all.
I enjoyed walking around Dresden much more than the tour. It is a beautiful city. It was very strange, though. I mean, before this, all I knew was that Dresden was in Germany, and it was heavily, heavily bombed by the Americans during WWII. How do I know this? Through Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut). It's kinda sickening that I didn't know anything about it prior to reading the short story. No one here seemed to know about the bombings. Telling of the American education I suppose. These were not minor bombings. This was massive devastation. The entire city was bombed out and rebuilt. I felt guilty being there, being an American. I felt guilty for the lack of knowledge our group had about the city and its past and the bombings, felt guilty enjoying Dresden. But I did enjoy it. It has since been rebuilt completely. That was strange to me to... that there were no visible remnants of that past. Everything was intact, grandiose, beautiful.
Anyway, we walked through a beautiful marketplace. I saw a lot of jewelry that Zoe would love, but I already bought her some presents and I was out of Euro. Ah well.
Back in Prague now.
First we went to a VW manufacturing plant where they make the Phaeton, a luxury car. I guess I'm not that interested in cars, and honestly it was a little sickening to me. So much awesome technology and so much care and effort put into these... cars. Seemed like a huge waste of time to me. I mean, I appreciate that Vera and Michael set this up and gave us the opportunity to take the tour (which apparently is something a lot of people like to do), but it wasn't my thing at all.
I enjoyed walking around Dresden much more than the tour. It is a beautiful city. It was very strange, though. I mean, before this, all I knew was that Dresden was in Germany, and it was heavily, heavily bombed by the Americans during WWII. How do I know this? Through Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut). It's kinda sickening that I didn't know anything about it prior to reading the short story. No one here seemed to know about the bombings. Telling of the American education I suppose. These were not minor bombings. This was massive devastation. The entire city was bombed out and rebuilt. I felt guilty being there, being an American. I felt guilty for the lack of knowledge our group had about the city and its past and the bombings, felt guilty enjoying Dresden. But I did enjoy it. It has since been rebuilt completely. That was strange to me to... that there were no visible remnants of that past. Everything was intact, grandiose, beautiful.
Anyway, we walked through a beautiful marketplace. I saw a lot of jewelry that Zoe would love, but I already bought her some presents and I was out of Euro. Ah well.
Back in Prague now.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Felt suit... not art.
Unfortunately, our concentration camp visit was cancelled because the only English speaking guide was sick, and Vera didn't quite speak enough German to translate. I'm still impressed that she speaks some German along with her Czech, English, and Slovak. Anyway, instead we went to a modern art museum which contained Warhol pieces. Unfortunately, the permanent exhibition was closed and instead all we could see was a terrible temporary exhibition. Terrible. Terrible! Can I emphasize this more? I wrote in my journal there:
This museum is already SO ridiculous and this voice commentary is NOT helping matters! Ty Huynh and I are very unsuccessfully trying not to laugh aloud. =) I feel like someone just BSed their way through art (neon lights, felt suit). How does this voice-over person manage not to laugh? "I'm a transmitter and I broadcast." - Beuyc, crazy artist. One hour of artistic propaganda and Ty Huynh believes! HAH. For me? Hell no! Crap is still crap no matter how long you stare at it.
That about sums it up. The felt suit was exactly that. A suit... made of felt. The commentary was so funny we listened to it three times. The person discussed how it was a suit like one you would wear except it wasn't hemmed, and it was made of felt which was to show that we are all isolated at some point because felt is a fabric which keeps in heat so it's like being kept in your little bubble of warmth, etc. Then they went on talking about Ibis and Egyptian goddesses and such. The neon light exhibit was... a bunch of neon lights. That the artist just found somewhere and put on the wall. It was art because of "the way the light was placed and the feeling it gave to the room." Um. Eight green neon lights on the inside wall and eight blue neon lights on the outside wall DOES NOT CONSTITUTE ART! Okay, so I did just argue in my six-page art essay that anything can be considered art. But if nothing else, this is not GOOD art. That I will stand by.
The gift shop was nearly redemptive enough. Should have just spent my time there. Spent like half an hour looking through a book of graffiti. SO cool! Then saw books of outfits, probably mostly from girls in Harajuku. Looked at a book of tattoos. So awesome!
Anyway. That was that. Then we went on a three hour boat cruise. Was random but relaxing at least.
JJ, Ty Huynh and I walked around before getting to the restaurant. We went into the former-school-turned-art-hangout. SO awesome. Graffiti everywhere. Cool graffiti. Cobras and such! I love love love graffiti! It made me really happy. I bought a print (and saw the actual painting, pretty awesome) and a pair of earrings. =) Also entered into some sort of art encampment, with painted vans and lots of people dressed like hippies. Looking happy. Huge pieces of metallic artwork and an outdoor bar. Awesome. Took over 100 pictures of the two places in total.
Went to get Singapore-style food with JJ & Ty Huynh. It was happy hour. They got drinks. I made JJ laugh while he was taking a sip of his mixed drink, and the alcohol went up his nose and came back out. Apparently it burns... haha. It was quite amusing. Ty Huynh chased her stronger mixed drink with her weaker mixed drink. Oh dear.
This museum is already SO ridiculous and this voice commentary is NOT helping matters! Ty Huynh and I are very unsuccessfully trying not to laugh aloud. =) I feel like someone just BSed their way through art (neon lights, felt suit). How does this voice-over person manage not to laugh? "I'm a transmitter and I broadcast." - Beuyc, crazy artist. One hour of artistic propaganda and Ty Huynh believes! HAH. For me? Hell no! Crap is still crap no matter how long you stare at it.
That about sums it up. The felt suit was exactly that. A suit... made of felt. The commentary was so funny we listened to it three times. The person discussed how it was a suit like one you would wear except it wasn't hemmed, and it was made of felt which was to show that we are all isolated at some point because felt is a fabric which keeps in heat so it's like being kept in your little bubble of warmth, etc. Then they went on talking about Ibis and Egyptian goddesses and such. The neon light exhibit was... a bunch of neon lights. That the artist just found somewhere and put on the wall. It was art because of "the way the light was placed and the feeling it gave to the room." Um. Eight green neon lights on the inside wall and eight blue neon lights on the outside wall DOES NOT CONSTITUTE ART! Okay, so I did just argue in my six-page art essay that anything can be considered art. But if nothing else, this is not GOOD art. That I will stand by.
The gift shop was nearly redemptive enough. Should have just spent my time there. Spent like half an hour looking through a book of graffiti. SO cool! Then saw books of outfits, probably mostly from girls in Harajuku. Looked at a book of tattoos. So awesome!
Anyway. That was that. Then we went on a three hour boat cruise. Was random but relaxing at least.
JJ, Ty Huynh and I walked around before getting to the restaurant. We went into the former-school-turned-art-hangout. SO awesome. Graffiti everywhere. Cool graffiti. Cobras and such! I love love love graffiti! It made me really happy. I bought a print (and saw the actual painting, pretty awesome) and a pair of earrings. =) Also entered into some sort of art encampment, with painted vans and lots of people dressed like hippies. Looking happy. Huge pieces of metallic artwork and an outdoor bar. Awesome. Took over 100 pictures of the two places in total.
Went to get Singapore-style food with JJ & Ty Huynh. It was happy hour. They got drinks. I made JJ laugh while he was taking a sip of his mixed drink, and the alcohol went up his nose and came back out. Apparently it burns... haha. It was quite amusing. Ty Huynh chased her stronger mixed drink with her weaker mixed drink. Oh dear.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Jewish Quarter in Berlin
Hour-long walk through the neighborhood. We were in the former Jewish quarter. Saw a Berlin synagogue which was oddly built/designed by a Christian architect. Interestingly, Otto von Bismarck (possibly Germany's greatest leader) attended the inauguration. It was rescued during Kristallnacht despite everything else around it being destroyed, by a police captain who claimed the building as a national landmark, thus granting it protection under the law. For his courageous act, he was released from the police force, but the building does stand today.
We saw the site of a Jewish school. We thought the barrier in front of the building was for construction but turns out it was an anti-terrorism measure. The first female rabbi ever was educated there.
Walked through a park and saw a memorial entitled "The Room that was Left Behind." It was a metallic sculpture of an upright table with chairs in disarray (one having fallen down). It was to commemorate the expulsion of the German Jews from Berlin, and the memorial had a poem around the edges. The piece was about interruption.
We came across the Jewish cemetery in Berlin, which unfortunately is no longer intact. The Nazis used the gravestones to reinforce gutters so almost the entire graveyard was essentially destroyed, except for a few gravestones, one being that of Moses Mendelssohn, founder of the Berlin Enlightenment (and a Jew). Outside, there was a memorial to the female victims of Fascism, with no reference to the fact that it was placed in front of a Jewish cemetery. Strange.
Ty Huynh and I tried pho for dinner. It did not qualify as pho.
We saw the site of a Jewish school. We thought the barrier in front of the building was for construction but turns out it was an anti-terrorism measure. The first female rabbi ever was educated there.
Walked through a park and saw a memorial entitled "The Room that was Left Behind." It was a metallic sculpture of an upright table with chairs in disarray (one having fallen down). It was to commemorate the expulsion of the German Jews from Berlin, and the memorial had a poem around the edges. The piece was about interruption.
We came across the Jewish cemetery in Berlin, which unfortunately is no longer intact. The Nazis used the gravestones to reinforce gutters so almost the entire graveyard was essentially destroyed, except for a few gravestones, one being that of Moses Mendelssohn, founder of the Berlin Enlightenment (and a Jew). Outside, there was a memorial to the female victims of Fascism, with no reference to the fact that it was placed in front of a Jewish cemetery. Strange.
Ty Huynh and I tried pho for dinner. It did not qualify as pho.
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