Buenos aires first days

Since I was completely confused about time, and went to sleep at 0600 my first night in buenos aires, of course I didn't sleep long...I was wide awake 4 hours later...so I putzed around for a while, reading a little, catch up a bit on email, etc...Miranda and her flattie got up around noon:)...
Miranda is a foodie...she loves good food...no matter where she goes, she finds places to get good food...we went to brunch at 3 in the afternoon (this is typical, as I found out later)  at a place that mostly caters to expats...the idea of weekend breakfast/brunch is a Canadian/American idea, most countries don't do breakfast like we do...I ended up ordering corned beef hash...it wasn't at all what I expected, but it was good:)...a friend if hers joined us, he is Canadian...good food, good people, good conversation...

Eventually we left, and ended up waking to the subway, taking that to a shopping area of town...we didn't want to shop, but this is also an area where people can change money...there is an official exchange rate, but this is not the best rate you can get...the official exchange rate is approximately one US dollar to 5.3 argentinean pesos...the current black market rate is one US dollar to 7.8 argentinean pesos...in other words, it's a very good idea to bring dollars and change them here instead of using a bank card and ATMs, which is what I usually do while traveling...counterfeit money is (unfortunately) common here, so one has to be careful when exchanging money...

After money, we went to Starbucks...I wanted hot chocolate, and Miranda needed a bathroom...I ordered a small, and tried to pay with a 100 (approx $12USD) peso note...they didn't have change!!! A 24 peso drink, they didn't have change for a 100...apparently, this is common...what is not common is what happened next: the cashier told me I would get the drink free, because she couldn't make change!!! Wow!!!
On the way home we stopped in a big grocery store, then dropped everything in the flat...then we took Miranda's dog out for a walk...I went with her, and she showed me how to get to the recoleta cemetery...she knew I would be awake earlier in the morning, so now I knew where to go to see something:)

I did wake up earlier than anyone else, it was good to know where to go...I got to the cemetary around 1040 Sunday morning...not many other people were there, I love exploring in quiet, by myself...the tombs are impressive, to say the least...big, ornate, and very crowded...Eva Peron is buried there, as are former presidents and other important historical folks...I should point out that there is no grass in this cemetery...many coffins are actually underground but that is because there are sets of stairs inside many of the tombs/mausoleums...too many fancy, ornate, overdone tombs...or maybe this is not my style...i wonder how often family and friends visit these tombs?

After the cemetery, I walked through the weekend market just outside the cemetery...lots of leather, jewelry, etc...much of it appeared to be made by the folks selling it...a touristy market, but at the same time there were many unique pieces...
I got back to Miranda's flat to find she and her flattie jast getting up:)...breakfast was at 1300, hee hee...an hour later Miranda and I were picked up to go to an asado...
Argentines have tight families and communities...it is normal to spend a weekend day with your family or group of friends, usually around a BBQ or other food...the gathering is called an asado...

we went to the flat of another friend...he is American, and has been in Argentina for 4 years...his girlfriend is Bolivian...he did all the cooking, and it was awesome...I think we arrived at 1500, started eating around 1600, and didn't stop until 2000!!! Flank steak and filet mignon, two salads, cheesecake, corn on the cob, blood sausage, chorizo...good people, good conversation, good food...needless to say, we didn't eat any more after arriving home:)
The next morning I woke up early, as usual...after hanging out a while, I went for another walk...as i mentioned earlier, no one gets up early here, so a morning walk is really quiet...

on the way home from the asado I'd seen a couple memorials/statues, I figured they might be good for photos...they were good for photos, and I found a couple more places worth walking to...I made it back to the flat in time to go with Miranda to meet a couple other ladies for lunch...we had empanadas, a typical argentinean food...(I'm pretty sure heaps of countries have a variation of this food, and they all call it traditional)...yum! Good food, good conversation...
After lunch and chatting, Miranda and I went walking...she showed me the casa rosada (pink house,) which is like the White House in the US, only the president doesn't live in the casa...she lives in a big mansion, and is flown to the casa by helicopter quite regularly...this is all paid for by tax dollars, of course...

Behind the casa is an area of town called puerto madero...it's a new district, with new flats and restaurants...it doesn't have the soul or charm you feel in the rest of the city, it could be in any big city of the world...after walking through that area, and to the edge of an ecological reserve, we took a cab to another area called la boca...a much poorer part of town, you can really see the difference in the condition of buildings...oddly enough, la boca survives as a touristy area, despite the neighborhood all around...the area is supposed to be big on tango...the buildings are all brightly colored...there are shops selling souvenirs and a few restaurants...after walking around a bit, we found train tracks...

crossing those tracks would literally have put us on the wrong side of the tracks...you could see the stark contrast between the tourist area and the rest of the neighborhood...at times, there are police officers standing guard to make sure you don't cross the tracks!
We took a bus back to Miranda's area of town, and had dinner...well, I had dinner, she just had a bit, to tide her over until her dinner plans later in the evening...(argentineans eat dinner at 2200!!)...not that I needed it, but we stopped at a bakery on the way home...SO GOOD!!! I will definitely be back for more:)

praha

After living and working in the states for a long time, my mom recently moved back to czech republic, her home country...since i'm in ukraine, on the same continent, it seemed like a good idea to go visit her:)
this was my first time flying out of terminal D in kyiv's borispil airport...this terminal was built quite recently, as an update to infrastructure to help accomodate visitors when ukraine and poland cohosted the euro 2012 tournament...the building itself is quite modern, but getting through emigration/passport control was slow, and there is almost no food available after you go through security...are any plans in the works to change that?

i flew friday, late afternoon, landing after dark in praha, mom met me at the airport...she is retired, so she gets to use all public transport in the city for free...how awesome is that? she'd already bought me a ticket to use for the evening, so we hopped right on a bus, which took us to a subway line...her flat isn't far from a subway stop, it's a great location...
as i love to do, we stopped at a grocery store on the way to her flat...i found the yogurt section, mom said the yogurt she'd grown up eating was still sold, i figured i should try it...and i'm sooooo glad i did...AWESOME...BEST YOGURT EVER...really thick...probably loaded with calories, but i loved it...it's probably a good thing i've never seen this particular yogurt in another country, as i would be eating it constantly...
we stayed up fairly late that night, just talking...getting caught up with each other, what has happened with each of us since we last saw each other in september at my sister's wedding...she told me ideas of how i could spend my time during this visit, and she told me a bit about the people she hangs out with on a regular basis...

i woke up before mom the next morning, which did not surprise me at all...she's retired, she doesn't have a reason to get up early every morning...plus, my body thought it was an hour later, since kyiv is one time zone to the east of prague...
another jar (did i mention that this fabulous yogurt comes in a glass jar, i love it!!) of yogurt for breakfast, and my version of milk tea...after i dumped out the tea leaves mom wondered what they were, she hadn't seen them sitting in a sink like that before...(yes, i know, i should've dumped them straight into the trash, and i did do so after i finished drinking my tea)

after a while we left the flat, and bought me a 24 hour ticket for the metro/tram/bus...since mom is retired, she gets a card that entitles her to free public transport all over the city...how awesome is that??? after the metro we hopped on a tram, which took us into the center of the historical area of the city, the area most tourists visit...immediately upon alighting (how's that for a fancy word??) she pointed out a coffee shop, and mentioned that her dad used to go there every day for a coffee...sadly, this particular shop is now a starbucks...if i'd been able to take a photo that would've meant something, i would've done so...but it doesn't look the same or have the same atmosphere as it did when deda was alive...

at that point, mom showed me where i would want to go as a tourist...we both recognized that since she lives in the city, and grew up there, she didn't need to visit tourist sights, especially those that haven't changed in the past 100 years...i started by walking into a big baroque church...i loved the decoration, even if i found it all to feel a bit 'busy'...one of the aspects of this church that i enjoyed most was the chance to go up stairs, to the gallery...looking down into a big church is such a different perspective...i was disappointed to see a lot of names had been scratched into the wooden railings...why do people do that?

i followed a few tourists (early march is not heavy tourist season, but i don't think the city is ever empty of tourists) up the hill toward the castle area...of course i took a photo with the guards...i wonder what goes through their heads all day as gbillions of people pose next to them all day...
i walked all the way through st vitus' cathedral, which is stunning...i was frozen by the time i came out, as a stone church is never particularly warm...the stained glass all through the church is beautiful, and i love the color that these windows provide to the rest of the church...there are quite a few smaller chapels arranged around the main altar, each is very different...the outside of this church is beautiful too...
i made my way down the hill (on a different street from how i'd walked up) while checking postcard prices in every shop i passed along the way...
i walked along the river for a while, it was absolutely lovely...then i walked across the charles bridge...arguably one of the most famous bridges in europe...there are statues at regular points along the bridge, and vendors set up every couple of feet...it's a great place for people watching, if a bit crowded...

i continued following people into another area of the city, eventually stopping when i saw the crowd gathered around the famous clock tower...as a new hour comes close, the crowd gets to be quite large; the 'show' put on by the clock each hour is neat to see...it's a beautiful clock, a very old clock...it's been working for hundreds of years...
that clock is right next to a large square, another great place for people watching...i stayed there for a while, then tried to make my way to another square (wenceslas square) to get home...i took a wrong street at some point, thankfully i figured out that mistake sooner rather than later :)...from wenceslas square i hopped on the metro and went home to mom...

she made me a traditional czech food for dinner, a salad made with celery root...yum:)
i didn't sleep all the way through the night, argh...oh well...
mom had made lunch plans for us the next day...we got out the door a bit earlier, so mom was able to show me a bit more of the city...we walked through palladium mall, which is a fully modern mall, filled with all the brand names westerners know and love...for mom, it's still crazy to see a mall like this, as it never would've existed while she grew up in the city...
we walked under the powder tower into the last square i'd visited the day before, stopping along the way so i could buy postcards...we also looked into two churches...in some ways it's amazing so many old churches still exist here, since the communist regime that ruled for so long did not permit religious expression and gatherings...in many countries who used to be ruled by the communists, churches and religious buildings were completely destroyed...

we met mom's childhood friend for lunch...they grew up in the same building, and went to the same schools...we ate at a restaurant in the municipal building, the menu is traditional czech food...the decoration is art deco, and there is art on many of the walls throughout the buildings...
after lunch, the three of us took the metro and tram to the neighborhood in which the two of them grew up...for both of them it's interesting to return to this area of the city...neither one of them lives there now...the building in which they grew up still stands, they pointed it out to me...howeva, the inside of the building has been completely renovated, the apartments in which they each spent years no longer exist...or rather, they do, but smaller flats have been combined to make larger flats, so it isn't the same...the building is about a block away from their first school...

there is a large park on a hill at the other end of the street, mom said she and her dad sometimes went for a walk there...
we rode the tram again to malostranska, this is the same route mom rode thousands of times when she was younger, heading to university, or for another reason to go into the city centre...'experiencing' history is awesome...
as we arrived i discovered the jewish quarter sights were already closed for the day, so i put those off for another time...we walked around for a while, talking about everything and nothing...i was thrilled to see a milk frother in the window of one store, so i went in and bought one...i'd been looking for a milk frother for ages, i haven't found one in ukraine...(strange purchase, i know)

that night we attended a ballet performance at the national theatre...the exterior of the theatre is amazing, even though it's under renovation at the moment...the inside is fantastic as well...the ballet was a modern performance, (an adaptation of an old serbian legend,) definitely not the style i normally prefer, but i still enjoyed the performance...the dancers were great, everything was really well done...
walking across the street from the theatre i was able to take a photo of the castle all lit up at night...beautiful...i'm sure that's one of the most commonly taken photos in the city:)

the next morning we headed to the rudolfium...another theatre/performance hall...the prague philharmonic orchestra has a full season of performances, i learned they also have a full season of rehearsal performances...each month (or maybe bi-weekly? i don't remember exactly) people are able to buy tickets for dress rehearsal performances...the choir and musicians were all in casual dress, but the music was still incredible...proper theatre etiquette was observed by everyone in the audience, which i loved...i sat separately from mom, who normally attends these performances with a group of friends from her university days...i hope i get to see another of these performances, it was awesome!!

after the performance, mom went with her friends to lunch, i decided to explore the jewish quarter of the city...there is an entrance fee, it struck me as rather steep...visitors are able to go into several synagogues, each of which is totally different...each synagogue is a small museum as well, different bits of history are presented...you can also walk through an old jewish cemetary...
my lunch was the traditional czech food called halushky...
i tried to walk back to the main river through the city, and eventually found it after getting a bit lost along the way...i went back to mom's flat...

mom lives across the street from a cemetary...we went for a walk through the cemetary, she translated some of the gravestones for me...we saw the tomb of the first mayor of prague, as well as that of the first czech consul to the US...some of the graves were really old, and haven't been cared for in quite some time...the cemetary is quite large, we only walked through a small area...
that was the last time i walked around outside in the city...the next morning mom and i hung out in her flat before she came with me to the aiport...prague airport has free wifi:)
the security line i went through moved VERY slowly, as they seemed to be looking at all cosmetics in particular...i changed planes in munich, which has a terminal almost exclusively for lufthansa...free tea, coffee, and newspapers available for lufthansa customers...how awesome is that???

low country

one of my best friends during uni was a girl named mel...i met her my second year of uni, we've been close ever since...our lives have gone in totally different directions, but that's how long term friendships work, and i still love her...i was lucky enough to see her in korea when her job sent her to seoul for a conference, but that was back in 2006 or 2007...since then she'd left that job, worked another job, met and married her husband, and had two kids...i've continued living in different countries, traveling around even more countries...mel's family is small and tight, i travel everywhere independently...
mel now lives in a very small town in GA...the town is called ludowici, and it is not possible to get there by public transport...i took advantage of this situation to hire a car, and planned to drive to her house...two things made this a particularly adventurous decision...one, i didn't have a map, and two, mel's house is in such a newly developed area that it does not yet show up on GPS, or google maps...hmmm...
i figured out how to get to her house, and took off from the airport in atlanta...the first part of the drive went really well...i got to the right highways, singing along to country music on the radio...at one point the directions i'd printed out said to exit onto a smaller, state highway...i never saw the exit...(later on, i figured out where the exit should've been, and i think it was marked with another number, since that particular road was actually 2 different roads that joined up for a while)...ooops...missing that exit meant i ended up driving all the way to savannah, which wasn't my intention...
this actually ended up being a good thing though, as i drove into savannah, and saw a sign directing me to tourist information...i figured they would have people who could answer my questions, and, more importantly, i hoped they would have georgia state maps...and they did...it turned out the little old lady i talked to knew exactly where ludowici was located, she'd even lived there...the map i picked up made it much easier to get to where i was going...easier, but not quite easy...
i finally made it to mel's house, though it took me a couple hours longer than expected...(and without a phone, there was no way i could call or text mel to let her know where i was)...mel was in the same group in uni with the two saras i got to see in DC...mel and i sat around and talked until her husband came home from work...he'd been texting throughout the day, asking if i had arrived, he was wondering where i was as much as i was while i was driving...
a few years ago, mel got married to a guy named eric...they married quickly, but it's easy to see the relationship is a good one, and they're both happy...he's in the army, hence the reason they live where they do...they'd just moved from one base to another, so the house wasn't completely organized, and they didn't have their kids with them...(they didn't want to live in a hotel with the kids until the house was bought, moved into and set up, paperwork arranged for everything in the area, etc)...the kids were up in indiana, with mel's parents...her parents were going to drive down sometime in the next couple days with the kids, mel and eric were both really happy for the upcoming reunion...
dinner the first night was one of eric's favourite meals...chicken something i think? i'm terrible at remembering specific meals...it was nice to have a proper, homecooked meal...i helped with cleanup afterward, i try not to be a total mooch when i'm visiting someone:)...
the next day mel and i decided to drive to savannah...since i'd already been there, the highways entering the city seemed familiar, but i didn't know anything else about the area...savannah is a typical "old south" city that somehow escaped being destroyed during the civil war...
you get to see the riverfront area, which is now covered by restaurants and touristy shops...it's a nice walk, and at the end of that area is a statue of the girl who is said to have waited there every day for the sailor boy she loved...(he never came back, but she was greeted by many people on the ships that sailed the area)...
we also walked bull street, the other famous area of the city...lunch was at a cafe, mel chose the place...since she'd been in the area a few weeks already, she'd explored savannah a bit before i got there...i expect she'll know the city really really well by the time she and her husband move to his next posting...

many of the houses and other buildings on the street are now museums that give you a good idea what life was like back during the days of antebellum living...we didn't go in any of the museums, i know i'd have wanted to see more than one, and the entry fees aren't the cheapest, as well as adding up quickly...it's fun to soak up the atmosphere, and see the old styles of architecture...driving on bull street would drive me crazy, as every other intersection is actually a square, with a big memorial/statue/park in the middle...constantly stopping, turning, etc would be soooo annoying...
we visited a nice fountain, and a cemetary...both of which are supposed to be known, neither of which do i remember the names...whoops...
the next day mel and i just hung out in the house...as much as i love traveling, i love doing a whole lot of nothing, just catching up with a good friend i haven't seen in a long while...
the next day, i left...it was easier to get back to atlanta this time:)