July 5, 6 & 7 2006
Dual duty here, since we didn't get back in time to do posts on either Wednesday or Thursday. It's now early Friday afternoon here, but I've taken notes and can backtrack.
Tuesday night (July 4), we went out to dinner again with Martin & Pepov. They took us across town to an incredible greek restaurant. We both had a "mixed grill" of indeterminate things, but they assured us that they were parts of the animals (lamb, pork and chicken are my best guesses) that Americans normally like to eat. In any event, the food was excellent.
They then started showing us some of their favorite haunts around town, where the "real" people live, rather than just tourists. We learned a couple of things.
1. Beer comes in .5 liter draft glasses or mugs. .3 liter ones are called "Baby Beer", and it apparently impugnes your manhood to order one of these.
2. The first swallow of the beer, which has about an 1 1/2 inch head on it, needs to take the drink down at least that far. Foam mustaches are not considered impolite, but like slurping during a japanese tea service, it is a sign of the quality of the draft.
3. To drink only one beer at a tavern or pub apparently impugnes the brewmaster's integrity or the quality of the drinks in the establishment. This makes for a very slow, and somewhat involved, pub crawl.
As a result of all of this, we were out much later than normal, but didn't want to leave our new friends as it's unlikely that either of them will ever get to the US; apparently a Visa is hard to come by. They were off on Thursday to go to Rome for a long weekend.
If I repeat something that I said earlier, you'll just have to forgive me, as I don't go back and review since you pay for computer usage by the minute!
Wednesday morning the rest of our travel group left to return to the US. Some had VERY early flights, so we didn't see them, but others we met at breakfast for a quick goodbye. Nice people and we decided that travelling with a group like this was OK. Other than a couple of dinners and overview tours, we didn't necessarily do a lot together, but it was nice having someone you knew along that you could go out with if you wanted. Besides, some of them live in nice places to visit in the US (like New York or Philadelphia or Ft. Lauderdale), so maybe we'll be invited there!
After breakfast, we met another Martin, who Eddie had found over the internet and was going to be our tour guide for a couple of days. We told him that we wanted to get outside of Prague and see things that normal tourists might not regularly see.
Martin is a PhD in Organic Chemistry. He is internationally known for his work and papers on those subjects, and his english is incredibly fluent (he guest professors at UCLA occasionally). And with all those credentials, his love is being a tour guide! He told us he is 48, his wife is about the same age (she's a speech therapist for severely mentally handicapped children), and they have a daughter, 18, and a son, 15. He drives a "Skoda", which is a Czech car that is roughly the equivalent of a 92 VW Rabbit.
Without air.
We headed off for 3 stops to the north and west of Prague. I'm not going to do an overview or details, other than to point out that three castles in 1 day is TOO MUCH, especially when there are other points of interest along the way.
Apparently gothic / renaissance / baroque churches here are about as common as grain elevators in western Oklahoma.
Every little town has got one. After a while, they all start to look alike.
Of note, of course, is the food -- we had incredible beef medallians in a mushroom gravy with potato dumplings and cranberries for lunch. Oh, and a beer. It tasted wonderful, but of course it was also 2:00 in the afternoon before we got to eat and that might have contributed to it.
We've learned on this trip that you should always eat outdoors if possible. Regardless of the sign on the restaurant that says "air conditioning", it doesn't really mean it (at least not in the sense that we're used to). Oh, and tables are not exclusive. If you're in a crowded restaurant at a table that will hold 6 and you're only 3, other people will come up and sit with you.
As we were going between two places, Martin noticed a sign that indicated that the grounds were open at the President's summer palace, so we made a quick side trip. Flora here tends to be very familiar. The seasons are a bit behind -- grapes are still babies, compared to ours -- and Martin says that a mid-May freeze isn't all that unusual. We also noted that it stays light here much longer than at home -- dawn is coming along about 4:45 or so, and dusk doesn't hit until 9:45 or later.
For being the equivalent of "Camp David", security was VERY different than we would expect in the US. There were uniformed guards with handguns (uniforms are Carolina Blue, incidentally), but the grounds were open other than the immediate yard around the structure. We did a quick walk around there, then visited an adjacent chapel that was kind of nice.
After all that culture, we were exhausted. Of course, Tuesday night's pub crawl had nothing to do with that! It was the 7:30 start on Wednesday morning and all the walking -- incidentally, the pedometer didn't work that day so I don't know what we did, but our mileage on the 4th was the record -- 18.84 miles! The shortest we've hit was about 7.5, and that was on a "train day". These Nike's are gonna need a retread by the time that we get back.
By the time we got back (6:30ish), we opted out of a fancy dinner anywhere, grabbed pizza and a coke at a sidewalk cafe and were back and ready for bed by 9:30. Who says we can't live a wild life?? That's almost half an hour later than when we're at home!
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Wednesday and Thursday were holidays here. Wednesday was the Celebration of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. For those who haven't kept up with their Saints, they were invited to Moravia (this area of the Czech Republic) in the mid 9th Century. They were Greek Scholars, and were to bring Christanity to the region from Thessolonica. They introduced the latin liturgy to the area and, given the number of churches here, are apparently impacting the economy even today. Oh, and they developed the Cyrrilic (!) alphabet so that the language could be written for the first time.
Thursday is a non-church holiday in memory of Jan Huss. He was a predecessor in the vein of Martin Luther who opposed abuses in the church 100 years before him. He was burned in Constantine as a heretic, and July 6 commemorates this event (maybe a BBQ is appropriate??).
He was, incidentally pardoned by John Paul II who decreed that the chuch council may have acted a bit hastily at the time.
Interestingly, the burning of heretics was seen as a way to save their souls through the sacrifice of their flesh. First, when things start getting toasty most folks recant, but aside from that, the burning of the flesh would seem to purify -- how this reconciles with free will in the Christian teachings I don't quite understand, but that's the facts as I understood them.
Incidentally, Mr. Huss refused to recant.
We started toward Southern Bohemia (one of the 3 states of the Czech Republic; Moldovia is another one, and darned if I can remember the 3rd one). We were headed to the Rosenburg Castle. Rosenburgs were a powerful royal family.
On the way, though, we stopped in the original town of Budweiss. Yes, of trademark fame. There's also been lawsuits over it by Anheiser-Busch, but since they've used the name here since the town was founded in 1215, they won. But in the US, it's "Czech Beer".
Budweiss was designed to put a presence of the King (which one I don't recall) in this area since the Rosenburg family was getting a little big for their britches. It was a "planned community", in that there wasn't a town there before, they drew off a big square and set out streets in an orderly fashion, with different districts for different purposes, etc.
Oh, and of course there's a Gothic Church.
With a bell tower. Have to climb something tall in every country, so here it was. 225 steps to the top.
OSHA and building inspectors would have a fit. Low ceilings, stairs that are more like ladders at about an 80 degree angle.
Of course, the inevitible gift shop is at the top. That's also where you pay your 50 crown admission. I'm not sure if you're paying for the view once you're there, or for the right to go back down once yo're at the top.
There are 3 bells in the tower, the largest being 3 1/2 tons. The City Hall, diagonally across the square, also has a carriollon that plays on the hour -- amazing that these things work after this long.
In addition to Beer, Budweiss's other claim to fame is that they have large graphite mines that have operated for about 500 years, and thus they have been the makers of pencils for most of europe during that time.
We didn't get to tour the factory, though, it being a holiday and all.
Martin told us that he'd been stationed in Budweiss in 1981 when he was in the military. Rather than fighting the "American Imperialists", he opted to learn English and become a tour guide.
30 minutes later we were at the Krumlov castle. I think I called it something different earlier -- it was owned by the Rosenburgs, but this is the name.
While waiting for our tour (3:00), we hit a restaurant known for fish. Given that the country is landlocked, I didn't think that bode well, but then we learned that they were freshwater fish. Eddie had trout and I had carp with garlic.
I think I understand why American's don't tend to eat carp a lot now. Lots of bones, and it was OK, but not spectacular.
The beer was incredible, though -- we were told to mix the light and dark lager that was locally brewed, and it was very good. The waiter, who was a real cutup you could tell, looked at us after we'd all ordered and said (in Czech) "One beer, 3 spoons!" to the enjoyment of the rest of the people there.
Amazing structure that hasn't been changed a lot. Several rooms still furnished in the original style and with original tapestry, paintings, etc. There was, of course, some renovation later, so some of the rooms were done in the Baroque and Renaissance styles.
In all the exhibits, we took english language tours and usually had very good guides. We then had a VERY long car ride back to Prague (about 2 hours +), partially through thunderstorms, and hit the hotel 7ish in the evening. Not as tired as the night before, so we went out to grab some dinner and then back to the room.
Today was castle and church free. Spent Friday shopping, having a later breakfast and just putzing around. Since this is the last post from the trip (although I may do a wrapup after we get back), the one thought that I've come up with to conclude all this is:
Renovation is never done. No matter how hard you try.
Having felt like the kitchen was our last project, this doesn't bode well. But when you see a castle and are told that it's a "Gothic Castle from the 12th Century which was rebuilt in the Renaissance Style and later in a modified baroque style" in the 15th, 16 and 18th Centuries, it makes you understand that contractors will always be under foot.
The other thing that I suspect is that they pay for all of these renovations though the "Pay to Pee" program. Change is important. Toilets are not free. Big bills are not appreciated, coins are.
And with that, I leave to go back and find some lunch. We fly out at 9ish in the morning, lay over in Frankfurt again, then go to Charlotte from there, getting home mid-afternoon on Saturday if all goes well.
Larry & Eddie
Tuesday night (July 4), we went out to dinner again with Martin & Pepov. They took us across town to an incredible greek restaurant. We both had a "mixed grill" of indeterminate things, but they assured us that they were parts of the animals (lamb, pork and chicken are my best guesses) that Americans normally like to eat. In any event, the food was excellent.
They then started showing us some of their favorite haunts around town, where the "real" people live, rather than just tourists. We learned a couple of things.
1. Beer comes in .5 liter draft glasses or mugs. .3 liter ones are called "Baby Beer", and it apparently impugnes your manhood to order one of these.
2. The first swallow of the beer, which has about an 1 1/2 inch head on it, needs to take the drink down at least that far. Foam mustaches are not considered impolite, but like slurping during a japanese tea service, it is a sign of the quality of the draft.
3. To drink only one beer at a tavern or pub apparently impugnes the brewmaster's integrity or the quality of the drinks in the establishment. This makes for a very slow, and somewhat involved, pub crawl.
As a result of all of this, we were out much later than normal, but didn't want to leave our new friends as it's unlikely that either of them will ever get to the US; apparently a Visa is hard to come by. They were off on Thursday to go to Rome for a long weekend.
If I repeat something that I said earlier, you'll just have to forgive me, as I don't go back and review since you pay for computer usage by the minute!
Wednesday morning the rest of our travel group left to return to the US. Some had VERY early flights, so we didn't see them, but others we met at breakfast for a quick goodbye. Nice people and we decided that travelling with a group like this was OK. Other than a couple of dinners and overview tours, we didn't necessarily do a lot together, but it was nice having someone you knew along that you could go out with if you wanted. Besides, some of them live in nice places to visit in the US (like New York or Philadelphia or Ft. Lauderdale), so maybe we'll be invited there!
After breakfast, we met another Martin, who Eddie had found over the internet and was going to be our tour guide for a couple of days. We told him that we wanted to get outside of Prague and see things that normal tourists might not regularly see.
Martin is a PhD in Organic Chemistry. He is internationally known for his work and papers on those subjects, and his english is incredibly fluent (he guest professors at UCLA occasionally). And with all those credentials, his love is being a tour guide! He told us he is 48, his wife is about the same age (she's a speech therapist for severely mentally handicapped children), and they have a daughter, 18, and a son, 15. He drives a "Skoda", which is a Czech car that is roughly the equivalent of a 92 VW Rabbit.
Without air.
We headed off for 3 stops to the north and west of Prague. I'm not going to do an overview or details, other than to point out that three castles in 1 day is TOO MUCH, especially when there are other points of interest along the way.
Apparently gothic / renaissance / baroque churches here are about as common as grain elevators in western Oklahoma.
Every little town has got one. After a while, they all start to look alike.
Of note, of course, is the food -- we had incredible beef medallians in a mushroom gravy with potato dumplings and cranberries for lunch. Oh, and a beer. It tasted wonderful, but of course it was also 2:00 in the afternoon before we got to eat and that might have contributed to it.
We've learned on this trip that you should always eat outdoors if possible. Regardless of the sign on the restaurant that says "air conditioning", it doesn't really mean it (at least not in the sense that we're used to). Oh, and tables are not exclusive. If you're in a crowded restaurant at a table that will hold 6 and you're only 3, other people will come up and sit with you.
As we were going between two places, Martin noticed a sign that indicated that the grounds were open at the President's summer palace, so we made a quick side trip. Flora here tends to be very familiar. The seasons are a bit behind -- grapes are still babies, compared to ours -- and Martin says that a mid-May freeze isn't all that unusual. We also noted that it stays light here much longer than at home -- dawn is coming along about 4:45 or so, and dusk doesn't hit until 9:45 or later.
For being the equivalent of "Camp David", security was VERY different than we would expect in the US. There were uniformed guards with handguns (uniforms are Carolina Blue, incidentally), but the grounds were open other than the immediate yard around the structure. We did a quick walk around there, then visited an adjacent chapel that was kind of nice.
After all that culture, we were exhausted. Of course, Tuesday night's pub crawl had nothing to do with that! It was the 7:30 start on Wednesday morning and all the walking -- incidentally, the pedometer didn't work that day so I don't know what we did, but our mileage on the 4th was the record -- 18.84 miles! The shortest we've hit was about 7.5, and that was on a "train day". These Nike's are gonna need a retread by the time that we get back.
By the time we got back (6:30ish), we opted out of a fancy dinner anywhere, grabbed pizza and a coke at a sidewalk cafe and were back and ready for bed by 9:30. Who says we can't live a wild life?? That's almost half an hour later than when we're at home!
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Wednesday and Thursday were holidays here. Wednesday was the Celebration of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. For those who haven't kept up with their Saints, they were invited to Moravia (this area of the Czech Republic) in the mid 9th Century. They were Greek Scholars, and were to bring Christanity to the region from Thessolonica. They introduced the latin liturgy to the area and, given the number of churches here, are apparently impacting the economy even today. Oh, and they developed the Cyrrilic (!) alphabet so that the language could be written for the first time.
Thursday is a non-church holiday in memory of Jan Huss. He was a predecessor in the vein of Martin Luther who opposed abuses in the church 100 years before him. He was burned in Constantine as a heretic, and July 6 commemorates this event (maybe a BBQ is appropriate??).
He was, incidentally pardoned by John Paul II who decreed that the chuch council may have acted a bit hastily at the time.
Interestingly, the burning of heretics was seen as a way to save their souls through the sacrifice of their flesh. First, when things start getting toasty most folks recant, but aside from that, the burning of the flesh would seem to purify -- how this reconciles with free will in the Christian teachings I don't quite understand, but that's the facts as I understood them.
Incidentally, Mr. Huss refused to recant.
We started toward Southern Bohemia (one of the 3 states of the Czech Republic; Moldovia is another one, and darned if I can remember the 3rd one). We were headed to the Rosenburg Castle. Rosenburgs were a powerful royal family.
On the way, though, we stopped in the original town of Budweiss. Yes, of trademark fame. There's also been lawsuits over it by Anheiser-Busch, but since they've used the name here since the town was founded in 1215, they won. But in the US, it's "Czech Beer".
Budweiss was designed to put a presence of the King (which one I don't recall) in this area since the Rosenburg family was getting a little big for their britches. It was a "planned community", in that there wasn't a town there before, they drew off a big square and set out streets in an orderly fashion, with different districts for different purposes, etc.
Oh, and of course there's a Gothic Church.
With a bell tower. Have to climb something tall in every country, so here it was. 225 steps to the top.
OSHA and building inspectors would have a fit. Low ceilings, stairs that are more like ladders at about an 80 degree angle.
Of course, the inevitible gift shop is at the top. That's also where you pay your 50 crown admission. I'm not sure if you're paying for the view once you're there, or for the right to go back down once yo're at the top.
There are 3 bells in the tower, the largest being 3 1/2 tons. The City Hall, diagonally across the square, also has a carriollon that plays on the hour -- amazing that these things work after this long.
In addition to Beer, Budweiss's other claim to fame is that they have large graphite mines that have operated for about 500 years, and thus they have been the makers of pencils for most of europe during that time.
We didn't get to tour the factory, though, it being a holiday and all.
Martin told us that he'd been stationed in Budweiss in 1981 when he was in the military. Rather than fighting the "American Imperialists", he opted to learn English and become a tour guide.
30 minutes later we were at the Krumlov castle. I think I called it something different earlier -- it was owned by the Rosenburgs, but this is the name.
While waiting for our tour (3:00), we hit a restaurant known for fish. Given that the country is landlocked, I didn't think that bode well, but then we learned that they were freshwater fish. Eddie had trout and I had carp with garlic.
I think I understand why American's don't tend to eat carp a lot now. Lots of bones, and it was OK, but not spectacular.
The beer was incredible, though -- we were told to mix the light and dark lager that was locally brewed, and it was very good. The waiter, who was a real cutup you could tell, looked at us after we'd all ordered and said (in Czech) "One beer, 3 spoons!" to the enjoyment of the rest of the people there.
Amazing structure that hasn't been changed a lot. Several rooms still furnished in the original style and with original tapestry, paintings, etc. There was, of course, some renovation later, so some of the rooms were done in the Baroque and Renaissance styles.
In all the exhibits, we took english language tours and usually had very good guides. We then had a VERY long car ride back to Prague (about 2 hours +), partially through thunderstorms, and hit the hotel 7ish in the evening. Not as tired as the night before, so we went out to grab some dinner and then back to the room.
Today was castle and church free. Spent Friday shopping, having a later breakfast and just putzing around. Since this is the last post from the trip (although I may do a wrapup after we get back), the one thought that I've come up with to conclude all this is:
Renovation is never done. No matter how hard you try.
Having felt like the kitchen was our last project, this doesn't bode well. But when you see a castle and are told that it's a "Gothic Castle from the 12th Century which was rebuilt in the Renaissance Style and later in a modified baroque style" in the 15th, 16 and 18th Centuries, it makes you understand that contractors will always be under foot.
The other thing that I suspect is that they pay for all of these renovations though the "Pay to Pee" program. Change is important. Toilets are not free. Big bills are not appreciated, coins are.
And with that, I leave to go back and find some lunch. We fly out at 9ish in the morning, lay over in Frankfurt again, then go to Charlotte from there, getting home mid-afternoon on Saturday if all goes well.
Larry & Eddie
posted by me | 4:05 AM
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