Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Happy Independence Day! This may come as a surprise to some folks, but July 4 isn't the end-all and be-all over here. Surprising, isn't it, since most Americans tend to think that we are, in fact, the most important people in the world!
On the other hand, July 5 and 6 are holidays in the Czech Republic, and lots of people are getting ready for them.
Last night we had dinner with some people we'd found over the internet prior to coming. It's amazing what happens when you put up a post and say that you're coming to visit somewhere, and people will answer and tell you where to go or not go, what to do or not do, and then some of them will have dinner with you. Thus, we met Martin and Pepov.
Well, we met Pepov, but didn't have much conversation, since he didn't speak English. He came along to keep Martin company on the ride on the subway, I think. He jsut smiled and nodded a lot. They are from an adjacent town, about 20 minutes away by public transit, and run a company that makes comforters, pillows and draperies -- surprising, huh? We go half-way around the world to meet someone in textiles who knows about North Carolina (at least a little bit!).
They took us to a very nice restaurant nearby. We ate in the sub-basement, which was not at all what you'd think -- ceilings 20 ft. high, it had a vaulted top and looked like a wine cellar in an old castle or something. You're probably tired of dinner recitations by now, so I won't go through it other than to say that we had an excellent Pino Noir with dinner.
Afterwards, we walked through parts of town that we hadn't been before, in the "New Town" part of Prague. We went through Wenceslas Square (of Christmas Carol fame - more about him later) and then rode at tram (above ground electric train) out to a neighborhood pub that a friend of theirs owned. It was named something about a fish -- the logo looked to be a siamese fighting fish. The owner also had done some incredible modern art that hung on the wall -- combination pub / gallery. At least they had big screen televisions with motocross on them, so Pepov wasn't completely bored.
Once again we were introduced to Czech beer. For those of us who are not beer drinkers (like me), it's hard to be objective. But it comes served in litres with about an inch and a half of foam on top, and after the first one you start to acquire a taste for it. After the second one, you decide that you don't need any more!
People here tend to keep later hours than we do, so they were surprised a little when we were calling it a night just after 11. Rather than abandoning us to our own devices, though, they were kind enough to ride the subway back with us to Wenceslas Square.
Getting on the subway was a trip. They're incredibly deep in the ground -- much more so than in the US -- so to get to it, you ride an escallator that was 4 stories, at least, with no turns or landings. One trip on that and you'd take out a crowd! The one coming up was just as tall and steep, and they said that these weren't the deepest ones by far.
Subways here are clean and safe, they run VERY FAST, and they have little countdown clocks that etell you when the next one will be along.
We had such a nice time with them that they're going to go to dinner with us again tonight. After that they're going to Rome for the holiday -- isn't that amazing? They go to Rome for a long weekend like we would go to the beach!
Tuesday apparently saw us better rested, as we both woke up before the alarm went off. On the other hand, it may have been that Czech beer coming back, because about 5:30 I had to have an extra Tagamet!
We had no specific plans this morning and spent the time wandering around the town (this side of the river), just doing a llittle shopping and people watching. We went to some areas that we hadn't been before and found a little farmer's market / flea market that was kind of cool. Just being out of the tourist aras was nice.
After we went back and rested a little, we grabbed a slice of pizza and a soft drink to get ready to go and tour the castle across the river.
Now, don't go thinking "castle". This is a CASTLE, the largest fortified structure in Europe. It had half a dozen churches as well as the government buildings, and dates back to when St. Wenceslas (who was a king of the Hamburg dynasty, as well as being a saint -- those second careers can really take off for some folks!) built the first part in 960.
St. Nicholas also is buried here, although I don't think that he's royalty -- no candy canes or decorations to speak of, though, and St. Vitus is another important one. You medical types may have heard of a disease "St. Vitus Dance" -- well, it comes from the fact that the pagans, apparently not any more happy about conversion attempts than the Hungarians were, boiled him in oil. The symptoms of that disease, a stilted, jerking gait, apparently mimic his actions, or at least got a disease named after him.
Seeing how all these saints met their end trying to convert people who just wanted to be left alone and eat their supper in peace makes me feel not nearly so bad about shutting the door on the Jehovah's Witnesses when they come knocking.
After 2 hours of explanation, we were kind of castled out and glad that the tour was over. Other than going into part of St. Vitus Cathedral (he predates Wenceslas, but I don't know how long), we didn't go into the castle. Other people in our group did, and their assessment was that "it's mid-evil. There's nothing there" and thus not worth the price of admission.
A walk back to town brings us to now, when it's time to clean up and get ready for dinner. Hope that all of you enjoy your holiday with all the trimmings -- hot dogs, burgers, fireworks and all. We leave the tour group tomorrow (or they leave us, rather), and we've booked a guide to take us outside of Prague into the countryside to see things kind of off the beaten path. I'm not sure exactly what we're doing, but there's some castle or fortress or something that we've got tickets for, and they only let in about 25 people a day, so that might be kind of different.
Larry & Eddie
On the other hand, July 5 and 6 are holidays in the Czech Republic, and lots of people are getting ready for them.
Last night we had dinner with some people we'd found over the internet prior to coming. It's amazing what happens when you put up a post and say that you're coming to visit somewhere, and people will answer and tell you where to go or not go, what to do or not do, and then some of them will have dinner with you. Thus, we met Martin and Pepov.
Well, we met Pepov, but didn't have much conversation, since he didn't speak English. He came along to keep Martin company on the ride on the subway, I think. He jsut smiled and nodded a lot. They are from an adjacent town, about 20 minutes away by public transit, and run a company that makes comforters, pillows and draperies -- surprising, huh? We go half-way around the world to meet someone in textiles who knows about North Carolina (at least a little bit!).
They took us to a very nice restaurant nearby. We ate in the sub-basement, which was not at all what you'd think -- ceilings 20 ft. high, it had a vaulted top and looked like a wine cellar in an old castle or something. You're probably tired of dinner recitations by now, so I won't go through it other than to say that we had an excellent Pino Noir with dinner.
Afterwards, we walked through parts of town that we hadn't been before, in the "New Town" part of Prague. We went through Wenceslas Square (of Christmas Carol fame - more about him later) and then rode at tram (above ground electric train) out to a neighborhood pub that a friend of theirs owned. It was named something about a fish -- the logo looked to be a siamese fighting fish. The owner also had done some incredible modern art that hung on the wall -- combination pub / gallery. At least they had big screen televisions with motocross on them, so Pepov wasn't completely bored.
Once again we were introduced to Czech beer. For those of us who are not beer drinkers (like me), it's hard to be objective. But it comes served in litres with about an inch and a half of foam on top, and after the first one you start to acquire a taste for it. After the second one, you decide that you don't need any more!
People here tend to keep later hours than we do, so they were surprised a little when we were calling it a night just after 11. Rather than abandoning us to our own devices, though, they were kind enough to ride the subway back with us to Wenceslas Square.
Getting on the subway was a trip. They're incredibly deep in the ground -- much more so than in the US -- so to get to it, you ride an escallator that was 4 stories, at least, with no turns or landings. One trip on that and you'd take out a crowd! The one coming up was just as tall and steep, and they said that these weren't the deepest ones by far.
Subways here are clean and safe, they run VERY FAST, and they have little countdown clocks that etell you when the next one will be along.
We had such a nice time with them that they're going to go to dinner with us again tonight. After that they're going to Rome for the holiday -- isn't that amazing? They go to Rome for a long weekend like we would go to the beach!
Tuesday apparently saw us better rested, as we both woke up before the alarm went off. On the other hand, it may have been that Czech beer coming back, because about 5:30 I had to have an extra Tagamet!
We had no specific plans this morning and spent the time wandering around the town (this side of the river), just doing a llittle shopping and people watching. We went to some areas that we hadn't been before and found a little farmer's market / flea market that was kind of cool. Just being out of the tourist aras was nice.
After we went back and rested a little, we grabbed a slice of pizza and a soft drink to get ready to go and tour the castle across the river.
Now, don't go thinking "castle". This is a CASTLE, the largest fortified structure in Europe. It had half a dozen churches as well as the government buildings, and dates back to when St. Wenceslas (who was a king of the Hamburg dynasty, as well as being a saint -- those second careers can really take off for some folks!) built the first part in 960.
St. Nicholas also is buried here, although I don't think that he's royalty -- no candy canes or decorations to speak of, though, and St. Vitus is another important one. You medical types may have heard of a disease "St. Vitus Dance" -- well, it comes from the fact that the pagans, apparently not any more happy about conversion attempts than the Hungarians were, boiled him in oil. The symptoms of that disease, a stilted, jerking gait, apparently mimic his actions, or at least got a disease named after him.
Seeing how all these saints met their end trying to convert people who just wanted to be left alone and eat their supper in peace makes me feel not nearly so bad about shutting the door on the Jehovah's Witnesses when they come knocking.
After 2 hours of explanation, we were kind of castled out and glad that the tour was over. Other than going into part of St. Vitus Cathedral (he predates Wenceslas, but I don't know how long), we didn't go into the castle. Other people in our group did, and their assessment was that "it's mid-evil. There's nothing there" and thus not worth the price of admission.
A walk back to town brings us to now, when it's time to clean up and get ready for dinner. Hope that all of you enjoy your holiday with all the trimmings -- hot dogs, burgers, fireworks and all. We leave the tour group tomorrow (or they leave us, rather), and we've booked a guide to take us outside of Prague into the countryside to see things kind of off the beaten path. I'm not sure exactly what we're doing, but there's some castle or fortress or something that we've got tickets for, and they only let in about 25 people a day, so that might be kind of different.
Larry & Eddie
posted by me | 8:17 AM
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