czech republic: prague

this post is mostly going to be mostly photos, since i was in and out of prague for two weeks this summer...i was thrilled to spend some time with mom, and to get to know her city a bit better...lots of time walking, exploring, relaxing, people watching, etc...
i ate one of my favourite type of yogurts every day, sometimes i had two...they're awesome, and i can't get them in ukraine, i figured i might as well take advantage while i can:)
mom showed me a couple sculptures by the artist david czerny...they're modern, and not well liked by many czechs, but they are unique...one of them was a guy riding an upside down horse! it's suspended inside a small mall, of all places...somehow there is an agreement that it will stay there for quite a while, whether people want it there or not...hee hee...

another day she showed me another of his sculptures, this one of a guy hanging at the end of a pole...this wouldn't seem like anything special except that the pole is hanging off the edge of a building, over the middle of the street...you don't notice it at first, but when you do notice, it's quite a shock...at first i didn't realize what she was showing me, then it seemed like a real guy hanging over the street...his sculptures definitely command your attention!
mom showed me a statue of the guy who wrote the first dictionary of the czech language...
i went walking for an hour or so most nights, and got to know the neighbor hood pretty well...at least the looks of it, if nothing else...there are cafes on many corners, small shops, a few churches, small parks, etc...beautiful...mom said during the days of communism everything was grey, not particularly noteworthy...since then, many buildings have been painted, so every street seems picturesque to me...it was easy to keep taking photos, until i realized they all looked similar, to some extent...
i got to see where some of my extended family is buried and ashes spread...definitely not a touristy area of town...i can't tell if this cemetary is still used or not, but some of the gravemarkers and tombs look quite old, in a beautiful way...

i got to see a big thing dedicated to stalin...locals know that's why the metronome was built, but it isn't obvious to anyone else...so when communism fell, it was easy to disguise or hide why it's there...it's located in letna park, which has awesome views over the city...
i got to see a beautiful park/gardens, located up the side of a hill...the top of the garden is at the bottom of US embassy property...this wouldn't mean anything to most visitors, but the gardens weren't open for quite a while, during the days of communism, because of their location...



during those days, people tried to jump the fence into US embassy property, it was a way of getting to freedom...eventually the boundary fence of the gardens was built to be quite large, and the embassy fence was even taller, with barbed wire on top...that still didn't stop people from trying...the views over prague from the top of the gardens are stunning...you can see the tops of a lot of churches, you can see the castle, you can see the tv tower...it was sooo nice just to sit and look...when we first arrived a wedding had just finished, then the lady was having wedding photos taken while we were there, i can see why :)

one day we had lunch at a place called the dancing house...when you see the picture of the building in which the restaurant is located, it's easy to see where the name came from...originally it was called fred and ginger, but the powers that be decided that was too western...since the restaurant is at the top of the building, and is right next to the river, it's got great views...
there is a big tv tower not too far from where mom lives...the powers that be decided it was too ugly on it's own, so they commissioned someone to do some artwork...if you look closely, you can see sculptures of kids climbing on the tower...locals didn't like these either, but i think it's cute...it's definitely different from the way most tv towers look...

czech republic: karlovy vary

karlovy vary was the last town mom and i visited during my time in the czech republic this summer...we arrived to a rainy town in a valley, after a bus ride from plzen...it rained as we walked to the information office to figure out where our hotel was located, argh...
mom was surprised when the taxi driver didn't know immediately where the hotel was located, the information office told us the name had been changed in the last few months, so it wasn't entirely surprising...that being said, you'd think the hotel would've made sure people like taxi drivers would know about the name change...

according to the little brochure map handed out by the information office, the legend of the discovery of the local springs happened when emperor charles IV went hunting in the area...allegedly one of the dogs along for the hunt fell into a hot pool of water, and instead of being hurt, his injuries were healed due to the properties of the water...when the emperor heard about this, he put his arms in the water, and his body was healed as well...then he ordered the area to be settled, and now we have karlovy vary...somehow i doubt a dog fall into steaming hot water and felt good afterward, but i bet at least part of the story is true...

karlovy vary is a spa town...back in the day, czechs from all over the country would come for 2-3 weeks at a time, to 'take the waters' and be cured of their bodily ills...these visits were state sponsored!! can you imagine anything like that happening now??? (i'd be the first to sign up)...now the town is filled with spas and businesses catering to the tourists spending time in those spas...
mom noticed she heard almost no czech being spoken while walking along the streets...i noticed most menu boards and signs were written in russian and czech, a few had english as well...booo...

back in the day, people we start their daily treatments in the morning, then spend the afternoon walking along the promenade while drinking water from the springs in special cups...there are benches all over, so people can sit for a while...obviously, this is a great town for people watching...
our hotel was in the spa area of town, and since this is the area mom wanted me to see, i didn't have time to explore anywhere else in the city...
after checking into our hotel, and relaxing for a while, we went for a walk...it was nice to see the famous springs for which the town was founded, and the areas along which people walk walk walk...

we stopped for a snack/drink at cafe hotel pupp, the oldest hotel in the area...it's an old hotel, but still quite glorious...some of the people who have stayed there are well known, of course they promote the names of their famous guests...(i think every business in this town promotes its history and famous patrons?)
dinner that night came from food vladka had packed for us, YUM...
the next morning mom and i were both slow about waking up...after finding our way to the breakfast area (we had to take the elevator down, then walk across the building, then take a different elevator back up...neither one of us understood why two parts of the same hotel aren't connected) and taking a while at breakfast, we tried to figure out how to sign me up for one of the spa services offered by the spa in the hotel...massage, mud wrap, baths, etc...some needed a medical check ahead of time, others were possible straightaway...all prices listed in euros...

this is one place where communist bureaucracy still exists...mom asked the front desk how to sign me up, that lady sent us to a room in the spa area...then that room said we should go somewhere else...since mom and i have both lived in the west, we were both annoyed by the total lack of convenience...if you want visitors to spend money, you have to make it possible for them to do so!! at the same time, because we've both spent time in the east, we understood that bureaucracy sometimes exists just to give people official jobs...(in which they don't always actually DO anything)...

anywho, i ended up getting a foot massage at another place in town...it felt sooo good...i wish i had a few days so i could take advantage of more spa options...we checked out of the hotel, then walked around for 90 minutes before heading back to the bus station for our bus back to prague...

czech republic: plzen, and a day trip around the area

mom and i took an early morning bus from prague to plzen, which is the hometown of one of mom's friends from university...plzen is only an hour from prague, and buses leave regularly...this was another bus with free wifi :)
mom's friend picked us up from the bus stop, and took us to their home...they own the entire home, which is three floors...each floor is actually an individual flat, mom and i stayed on the second floor...i loved it, there were large windows letting in lots of natural light...
mom has kept in touch with several of her friends from university, so she now has friends in various areas of the country...

vladka had prepared lunch so it was ready as soon as we got home...it was a very early lunch so mom and i weren't super hungry, but both of us loved it and probably ate too much...something about homemade food makes me eat eat eat!! zucchini soup and a dish called moroccan chicken...and dessert afterward...
as soon as lunch was done, all four of us got in the car, vladka's husband drove...i thought we were going to the city centre for a tour, i had no idea what was happening...a while later we drove into another town, and parked near a castle...
they asked me if i wanted to take a tour of the castle, i said i had no idea...

mom wanted a more specific answer, and i told her i had no idea what was going on, i wasn't able to make a decision when i didn't know what was happening...the castle was called horsovsky tyn...
i ended up passing on the tour, but we walked around the gardens behind the castle, there were ducks and a couple swans paddling around the pond...cute...i would've been happy to walk around more of the town and take photos if anyone had wanted to, especially since there was some kind of festival going on near the castle, but i found out this was a day road trip so there was more on the itinerary, and we had to go...

before going, mom bought two coffee mugs...one had the diminutive of my name, the other had the diminutive of my sister's name...i love it and use it all the time in my flat in kyiv...
the next stop was a town called domazlice...the platz in the middle of town reminded me of the platz in telc, but this one was not at all touristy, as it does not have the UNESCO designation...for that reason, i liked this one a little better, as it seemed more 'real'...it was super picturesque, and very quiet...it was saturday in the middle of the day, which would normally be the time everyone is out for a promenade, so i'm guessing there aren't a lot of people here...

vladka's husband pointed out the white bell tower, and said the views from the tower were nice...we decided to climb up, though the sign you see straightaway after entering says the tower is leaning by 59 centimeters...there were just under 200 steps to get to the viewing level...since domazlice is a small town, i was able again to see nearby agricultural areas...
after domazlice we kept going, to an area known as ujezd...vladka's husband and mom told me some history related to this area, and the country as a whole, but i admit i don't remember the specifics...a dog was involved though, and i could see this at our next stop, as there was a statue of the guy and a statue of his dog...it was a BIG dog statue!! both of these statues are on a hill looking over the area, i was even able to see domazlice off in the distance...

from this point, we crossed the border into germany, just because we could...when mom and her contemporaries were growing up, they were not able to cross this border...mom took photos of me standing in between the signs marking the borders of cesko and germany...you can still see remnants of the border, as there are a number of allegedly duty free shops right there...back in the day, the few people who could cross the border would do so and shop shop shop, then bring the goods back to their cities and sell them...
we stopped in the closest german town called waldmunchen, and found a cafe...ice cream and drinks, YUM...mom and her friends figured out our server was actually czech, all of them spoke in their native language...

the chick was obviously used to speaking german while at work, and a couple times we all noticed a mix of the two languages coming out, which was really funny...when it comes to ice cream, i understand/speak enough german to get what i want, so i laughed too...i love languages :)
from there we drove back into cesko, and stopped in a town called rokycany...there is a small monument marking the exact line designating the easternmost movement of american troops during WWII...east of the line, the area was 'liberated' by the soviet army, and west of the line the area was liberated by the americans...the sign next to the monument is written in russian, czech, and english...

i'm not sure, but i'm guessing this monument was not built until after the fall of communism, as the puppet government didn't want to admit that the 'freedom' enjoyed by the area wasn't due to the soviet army...
after the monument, vladka's husband took us to an outdoor history museum...we arrived after closing time, but jiri knew the owner, and we were able to walk around anywho...the museum holds a lot of 'old vehicles' (and a couple planes, tanks, etc)...according to jiri, when movies are being made about this period of history, the movie companies arrange to use these vehicles in the filming...i bet this museum gets lots of visits from school children on field trips...i loved it...

dinner that night back in plzen came from vladka's backyard...she grows several fruit trees, and has other produce...awesome!! (though none of us were very hungry, the ice cream from earlier was still in our bellies:)
the next morning vladka prepared another big meal for breakfast...jiri dropped off me, mom, and vladka at the brewery for pilsner urquel at opening time, we were annoyed to find out that the first tour of the day wasn't offered until 1030...so we bought those tickets, then went into the city centre...
since this was sunday, the buses weren't running as often, so we crossed the street and took a tram...the tram tracks were being worked on, so we didn't go as far as vladka wanted, but it didn't matter to me...

we saw the exterior of the world's 3rd largest synagogue...it's red, and looks nothing like any other synagogue i've ever seen...it didn't open until 10, we weren't able to see the inside...
we also saw a memorial that specifically thanks the american troops who liberated the city during WWII...it is written in both czech and english, and is located at the start of america street....there is a map showing the movement of american troops as well...it's simple, but awesome...mom told me the monument wasn't built until after communism fell, as the government wouldn't allow it before then...apparently as soon as the communists fell, money poured in to build the monument even though most czechs had little or no extra money for such a thing...

from the monument we walked to the city center platz...there is a huge church in the middle of the square, but it's otherwise a very open area...city hall is on one side of the square, the decor of the building is awesome...this square reminded me of what i've seen in lviv, ukraine...the inside of the church is pretty, didn't have much light, so it was a bit dark despite the sunlight streaming into some of the windows...
after leavning the square, we walked past a church, part of a monastery...it was early baroque, so it wasn't quite as 'busy' as full on baroque churches...only the front entry area was open, but i liked what i saw...
we continued walking back to the brewery, i took a few more photos along the way...there is a lot of history in this town, and the streets look good in photos...i wish we'd had a couple more days so i could wander without worrying about time...

our tour group gathered, and since it was in czech, i got a print out of all the information in english...mom and i both opted not to pay the fee to take photos, i think only one person in the group did pay the fee...(he then proceeded to take photos of EVERYTHING during the tour)...
the tour tells the history of the brewery, and shows the historical area of the brewery...(it didn't surprise me that we weren't taken into the modern areas, as they probably don't want people stealing their 'secrets'...we did get to see the building in which the bottles are cleaned and sorted...it's LOUD, we were told the employees all wear ear plugs...a lot of machinery keeps everything going in a smooth line...

during the tour we learned that the company employs master barrel makers, so the beer is fermented properly...the room in which the barrels are kept is chilly, i think they said 12C? this was the point in the tour i wish i'd had a jumper with me...this was also the area where tourists could taste the beer, mom tried it...this is one of those times i wish i could drink, i always want to try the local alcoholic drink in any place i visit...
on a side note, vladka and her husband told us most locals don't drink beer from this brewery anymore...they think its good beer and all, but there is other beer that is equally good, and costs less...they figure locals don't need to support such an international company...(pilsner urquel is now owned by a south african company)...

after the tour, we went back home for another awesome lunch, then they took us to the bus station for our next bus...
i would love to come back, both to spend more time with vladka and her husband, and to see more of this area of the country...

czech republic: day trip from prague

my mom's best friend from childhood picked us up at mom's flat at 10am, with her husband as the driver...they wanted to do a day trip around prague to show me a bit more of the country...i am always keen for day trips :)...they made me sit in the front passenger seat, so i would be able to see everything...
we started by taking back roads to a castle called konopiste...it's not far from prague, but not terribly well known...if i understood correctly, the castle was owned by the serbian family involved in the start of WWI...wow! The family liked to hunt, and the castle is located in a wooded area, there are still hunted animals in the area...behind one fence we could see a couple deer with lovely antlers...who knows, one of them might've been rudolph!

The only way to see the interior of the castle was to take one of three tours, but they seemed rather expensive to me, so i said no...especially because you had to take three different tours to see the entire castle...i didn't have the time or desire for that...i could see part of one interior, with a lot of trophy heads on the walls...remember how i mentioned the family enjoyed hunting?
Instead of a tour, we all walked to the rear of the castle, to check out the landscaped garden...there were at least three peacocks wandering around freely!! after the garden we stopped for a drink break at a small cafe...on the way back to the parkplatz i bought a coffee mug that had no english...and postcards of course...

back in the car we drove for a while, the next stop was in the small town of vrchotovy janovice...i had to repeat after mom at least ten times to get the name right, it isn't easy to say for non slavic language speakers...(i still have the accents wrong, i'm sure)...we all took the tour of the castle, after stopping for a ridiculously large lunch...(mine was six pieces of knedliky and goulash)...if i had known it was going to be such a big portion i would've had mom ask for a half portion...given how much i can eat, that's saying a lot!

the castle has been used by a number of people/groups over history...it was used by a family, it was used as a military barracks, and it was abandoned...the last inhabitant was a single woman with a variety of 'friends'...it is now a museum exhibiting items from the national museum...only one room has objects and photos from the castle itself :(
after the tour i wandered with mom's friend through the unlandscaped area around the castle...it must've been nice to have land to wander on...there is a small pond with ducks, a few trees too...

on the way back to prague we stopped twice...once was at an overlook at a corner of a river...really pretty...apparently we weren't the only ones who thought so, as there is a tiny little cafe with tables set to take advantage of the view...we didn't eat, but i loved looking out over the area...we also stopped by the cabin owned by mom's friends...it was just as it would've been in the old days, including the really old radio...the names of towns listed on the radio for short wave tuning in were mostly in the old east bloc!!
a nice day exploring the area around prague :)

germany: dresden

i was on yet another bus the next day...this was an international bus, going to dresden...i didn't know it before i arrived in prague, but dresden is only two hours from prague by bus...mom said a lot of czechs used to go shopping in dresden for the day, since they could get western clothes there, for reasonable prices, compared to what was available in prague...i don't know how much that still happens, but i was just happy the transportation was easy...this bus company goes to a number of cities in europe, i'd love to use them again :)

dresden was almost completely destroyed by bombing during WWII, and the city has been almost entirely rebuilt in the years since...the historical centre survived though, and i liked the juxtaposition of modern and old architecture so close to each other...the weather during my visit was crappy, raining from time to time...
it was an easy walk from where the bus dropped me off to the historical centre, it was a pedestrian street with a lot of shops...i went into a bakery straightaway, i LOVE german bakeries...i didn't need to buy any of what i did, but it was sooo good!

During the day i wandered around the historical area...i saw the semperopera, (great outside, they offer tours of the inside)...i saw the schloss (the gardens in the middle were pretty, and i loved walking along the tops of the walls all around)...i went in a couple churches, nothing struck me as awesome...normally i love the cool temperatures of churches in summer, but with the wet weather outside, it wasn't a good feeling...my feet were cold :(...for that matter, no part of me felt good, due to the wet weather...yuck yuck yuck...then again, the wet weather was an excuse to step into bakeries a bit more :)

dresden used to have unesco designation, but then lost it...the reason for this is because the city planned to build an ugly bridge very close to the historical centre of the church...the unesco people heard about it and told the city not to build the bridge, as they would be destroying the aesthetic appeal of the centre...the city decided to build the bridge anywho, so they lost unesco designation...i don't think that happens very often! I wonder if the city has noticed a monetary loss as a result...
i walked across one of the bridges, and walked up the street on the other side...

at one end of the street was a golden statue of a guy on a horse...i'm not sure why the statue was a very bright shade of gold, it didn't really fit in with anything...the street was split into two sides, with a park line down the middle...pretty, and nice for walking...
i briefly checked into the building called markethalle, but it wasn't really a market...just small stores without walls in between...there was one produce stand, with nothing cheap...
then it was time to walk back to my bus...i stopped in the bakery again, just because i could...more pastries and hot chocolate, YUM...
mom picked me up at the bus station back in prague...i love having people meet me when i get off a bus or plane, it doesn't happen very often...

czech republic: cesky krumlov

my next visit with mom was an overnight trip...the bus to and from cesky krumlov was 3 hours each way, with free wifi, plugs, and mini personal tvs...it was like being on a long, international flight, yahoo!!!
our first day in cesky krumlov was rainy off and on the entire day...argh...i hate rain...
cesky krumlov is a unesco listed town in the south of czech republic...it's a small town, built on an S-curve of a river...the town is very picturesque, with a castle built out of the rock on the higher side of the river...

we walked from the bus stop to our hotel, with a beautiful view along the way...well, it would've been beautiful if not for the clouds and rain...argh...we were too early to check in, but we were able to drop our bags...
after wandering and hiding from the rain for a while, we stopped for lunch...i had traditional czech food: pork, knedliky, and gravy...after eating we checked in, our room was HUGE!!! somehow we'd gotten a family sized room for the price of a double...there was bed space enough for four people...i loved it:) ...

the owner of the hotel didn't know what language to speak to us, since mom obviously speaks perfect czech, but was also speaking to me in perfectly good english...plus, when the owner spoke some german, mom responded in that language...
after relaxing for a while, we headed out again...we crossed the river and headed up to the castle...we bought tickets to the museum, and up the bell tower...the museum was small, but i liked it...good displays, though the room with the mummy was a bit on the creepy side...(maybe because it was completely unexpected)...

i liked seeing the old photos and clothes...the tiny, steep stairways to get up the bell tower made it a challenge with all the tourists who aren't used to paying attention to anyone else...people don't know how to share public space anymore...
on the way back from the castle we stopped for a drink...mom had beer, i had hot chocolate, and we split a large pitcher of water...after the break we tried to visit st vitus church, but it appeared to be closed...argh...after that disappointment, we decided to have ice cream, then finished off sandwiches for dinner...

the next morning we woke up to great weather, yahoo!! before breakfast i ran around retaking some of the photos i'd taken the day before, so i could have blue skies instead...breakfast was included in our hotel price, we ate in the next door restaurant: cheese slices, bread, salami, ham slices, baguettes, butter, jam, spreadable cheese, salad, tea, and orange juice...
after breakfast we walked to the brewery area of town...we didn't take the tour, so we weren't able to go anywhere past the entry gate...oh well...mom pointed out that the brewery was located on brewery street, hee hee...

the brewery was kinda close to the castle, so i asked mom if i could retake a couple photos there as well...since it wasn't raining, i walked really fast and saw part of the gardens as well, which we hadn't seen the day before...i wondered how big the gardens were...
we next wandered the platz in the middle of the city just for a bit of people watching, then walked over to the old synagogue...i didn't like the art display set up in the middle, but i enjoyed the building itself...the stained glass window was very nice...
after the synagoge we had lunch (i had salad, since it felt like we'd been eating almost constantly) then picked up our bags from the hotel...we walked back to the bus stop, and caught the bus back to prague...my plug didn't work this time, but wifi did :)

czech republic: kutna hora

mom and i visited kutna hora on another day trip from prague...we left the flat at 0715, to get to the train station on time for our 0800 train...sitting across from us on the train was a chick from san francisco, who was traveling europe for a couple weeks...after arriving in kutna hora we figured out we had to take another, tiny little regional train to get to where we wanted to be...thank goodness for information offices in small towns...(and thank goodness mom was able to figure it out without taking time to wait in a queue)...this tiny little train took us to a place called sedlec...

we hopped off, and walked...we first passed a church with an open door, so we ducked in...we weren't the only people looking around, since the open door made everyone think it was open for visitors...an employee (or maybe volunteer?) came to tell everyone that the church wasn't yet open, and pointed to a board showing opening times...the board did indeed show the opening time to be an hour later, but the time the guy said was half an hour after that...we all left, and i wonder if anyone went back...i also wonder what time the church actually opened...
mom and i were among the first visitors to arrive at the ossuary...the ossuary is well known, and is probably the biggest reason people make this day trip...it was a lot smaller than i expected, but still pretty stunning...the entire room is decorated with bones...i've forgotten how many people's bones are used, but the number is big...decorations on the wall, a chandelier, and a shield of sorts...(a coat of arms)...plus a couple giant piles of bones in the general shape of pyramids...

i'm glad mom and i were some of the first to arrive, otherwise we never would've been able to take any photos without people in them...
we just missed the next tiny little train, so we had to wait a while at the tiny little train stop...it was a very sunny day, i was sweating like crazy, but oh well...the following train came along and took us to the city centre of kutna hora...(i think the ossuary is technically located in a suburb called sedlec, but most people call the entire area kutna hora)...

mom had read that we could take tours of a former royal mint, so that was where we went first...this is when i learned that the english word dollar originally came from this area, when they called a certain coin a thaler...give it a few years, then a different language and soon enough the word becomes dollar...i like the museum display of coins/money that had been produced and used in the area...another part of this tour took us through a residence area of the castle...it was small, but i loved the way the rooms were decorated...i wasn't a big fan of the personal chapel, it wasn't my style...

all the streets in the city centre were uneven cobblestone...it was tough enough for us in the middle of summer, i bet the roads are treacherous in winter with snow and ice...kutna hora is small though, i doubt there is a huge amount of traffic in winter...
we visited the former jesuit college, it is now an art gallery...a big art gallery...one room remained as it used to be, when it was an apotheke...we could see the ceiling painting, but that was the only bit of note...the gallery was huge...we kept thinking we'd seen everything, but in the end we ended up skipping the top floor, we were both tired of art...

i can see it as a good place to come for a specific exhibit, but not to see the entire thing at once...apparently a lot of people come to the gallery and try to sneak in without entry tickets, because our tickets were checked no less than four different times during our visit!
we also visited st barbara's cathedral...it was never finished, but you would never know that, as it is huge, and doesn't look or feel unfinished...when you enter they give you information sheets with specific aspects of the church...i read a bit, but all the information was really detailed, and it got to be a bit overwhelming...i think audioguides were also available...behind the main altar there were quite a few smaller chapels/altars...

after the cathedral we stopped for tea/coffee and chocolate mousse cake...a nice break, and tasty :)
from there it was easy to get back to the mini train station, then the main station in kutna hora, then back to prague..