Ukraine: Crimea: Sevastopol and yalta

The next weekend was also a long weekend because of another holiday...yippee!!!

I made sure to book train tickets well in advance, as I knew Crimea would be an area people want to visit, I didn't want to be stuck in kyiv with nowhere to go...

My train to Sevastopol took ages, almost 18 hours!! it wasn't expensive though...my arrival was late, but I didn't have any specific plans, so that didn't matter...I took a cab to my hotel, the driver charged me way too much...argh...he also gave me his card, and told me to call if i wanted a ride to go anywhere in sevastopol...um, NO...

After showering and getting rid of the feeling of travel, I started walking...I'd asked the hotel lady for directions, and though it took me a while to find a bus stop for the right bus, I eventually figured it out...

My first stop was a set mod Genoese ruins called chersonese/kersonese...the ruins aren't well protected, people walk everywhere...the ruins weren't super impressive, but I loved the view of the water...blue water going all the way to the horizon...I had fun taking photos and watching people...is it really necessary to take glamour shots next to ancient ruins? there are small rock beaches, and a few people in the water...my favourite part of the ruins was the huge number of red flowers all over...they are beautiful, but if they are not taken care of, they will destroy the ruins...

I took the same bus back into the city centre, then kept walking...as it was a holiday weekend, there were people out everywhere...I watched part of a concert by retired Russian sailors...it was the first time i've experienced such russian patriotism...there were plenty of cars driving through the city, honking and waving russian flags...
i noticed that the ice cream i often buy in kyiv costs twice as much here!!
wandering up this street gave me views of some of the russian ships in the port, and a couple memorials...i don't know what/who was being memorialized...

i had dinner at a bistro...(this is not a french word, though many people think so...it's a russian word that means fast, which is why bistros all over the world serve food quickly)...the food would've been awesome if it hadn't had so much mayonnaise slathered all over...
instead of grabbing a bus to get back to my hotel, i walked...it was long, but nice:)
the only problem with going to bed early is that you tend to wake up early as well...really early...which is not a great thing when you are on holiday, and want to have a lay in!! the price of my hotel included breakfast at a cafe next to the hotel...this was unexpected, but nice, of course...

i took a marshrutka to the town of balaklava...you have probably heard the name referring to the 'mask' some people wear while skiing, (or in cold climates during winter) and this town is where they were invented...little old ladies made them for soldiers fighting in wars in cold climates...i wasn't sure where to get off the marshrutka, so i got off when a heap of others got off...(i figured out later i could've stayed on a bit longer, but oh well)...
i walked for a while, not entirely sure i was going in the right direction, and eventually saw the entrance i was looking for...visitors go to balaklava mostly to see the former (secret, i think?) russian submarine base that is built into a hill...

it wasn't warm inside the tunnels of this base...quite chilly, actually...the sailors who stayed there must've worn warm clothes all the time, even in the middle of summer...the tunnels and various rooms had displays, with some of the signage in english...one docent kind of guy spoke a little english, and was eager to show me around...
on the other side of the bay (balaklava is built around a bay) are some ruins...the only way for me to get to the ruins was to walk all the way around the bay...there is no bridge across the water...
the other side of the bay was much more touristy...there were souvenir stalls the whole way along the water...i admit to giving in and buying a mug...(i'm always thrilled when i find something without english)...

i climbed up the hill to the ruins...they weren't anything special, but i did enjoy the views of the water on the other side...there was also a nice view over the entire bay...it turned out the climb up the hill was easier than the way back down...i slid quite a bit on the way down, falling on my bum a couple times...ooops...
i caught the marshrutka back to a station of sorts, and changed to another that took me to a place called cape fiolent...it's pretty, and the views of the water are nice...there are 700+ steps down to a small beach, which i opted not to do...not because the exercise would be too much, but because the beach was so very small, and i didnt think i would be able to see more from the bottom...there is a lovely monastery at the top of the hill...i wouldn't mind living there, just for the view alone:)
at the marshrutka station i bought a donut (well, sortof) and hopped on a marshrutka headed to the center of sevastopol...i walked back to my hotel and realized i was quite sunburned...ooops...

the next morning i didn't get out the door of my hotel nearly as fast as i should have...i ended up having to wait until 11 for a bus to yalta...i think the ride was around two hours, which meant i didn't arrive until 1300 or so...then it took me quite a while to find my hostel...the google map i'd printed had the wrong address marked, it was very wrong...i ended up walking quite a ways...it turned out not to be a normal hostel...i think it was a teaching hostel, if that makes any sense? hard to explain, but it definitely wasn't the normal hostel i expected...there was only one plug in a room with 14 beds! there was no communal room, no computers, etc...i was able to schedule dinner, which was nice...the bed was okay, i slept well...being so far from the city centre meant it was very quiet...

it took me a while to find the correct marshrutka to take me to the cable car at ay petri...last year, when i visited crimea, taking a ride on this cable car was something i missed, and really wanted to do during this trip...i was surprised at the price (60 grivna each way i think?) and i wasn't thrilled with the experience...maybe because i didnt give myself much time...if i had had more time i would've been able to hike/walk around the area up top, and explore more...the area just outside where you get off the cable car is filled with souvenir stalls...some with knickknacks, some with food...i walked through the area, then took the cable car back down...the skies were clear, but the views weren't as awesome as i had expected...

i caught the next marshrutka to a place called alupka...i don't know if it is a town or village or something along those lines?
i walked through a park to vorontsov palace...since i like to see historical places, i really wanted to see this palace...this was another place i'd missed during my first crimea visit...churchill and his delegation stayed here during the yalta conference of WWII...i liked this palace in that i was able to wander around on my own, i wasn't stuck taking a tour in a language i didn't understand...each room had a sign with information (in english and russian!) about the room...one of the rooms were more interesting than others, one was an indoor garden...i guess that was quite the rage when the palace was built...

there was haze, so i wasn't able to see the water; the palace is built in gardens that overlook the water...if i had had more time, i would've followed a trail that goes for several kilometers along the water...(my next visit to crimea will be planned better, with more attention paid to timing)...
when i got back to my hostel, the lady got my dinner ready, it was tasty:)
after dinner i walked into town to use the free wifi of mcdonalds...there was another chick in my room, already asleep...
the next morning i woke up before my alarm went off...the other chick was still asleep! i walked to the bus station, and bought an orange dreamsicle for breakfast...healthy, i know:)...it was at this bus station that i finally found postcards for sevastopol...why was i unable to find these in sevastopol itself?

on my bus to simferopol the lady sitting next to me seemed put out that i wanted to put my own bag under my feet, and she had to move her bag...did she think i would keep my bag on my lap while her bag was under my feet? this bus took me straight to the simferopol train station, which was a relief...not all the buses from yalta to simferopol do so, i wasn't keen to figure out how to get from the city centre to the train station...
in my coupe car back to kyiv there were three others, i think they'd been camping for days...based on how they smelled, i don't think they had showered for days...yuck...at least the train back to kyiv went on time...

Running Geneva

While looking at a calendar of holidays and running races, I realized I had a long weekend at the same time as Geneva would host a marathon...I also realized cloe lives only 20km west of Geneva, just over the French border...it was the perfect chance to see a great friend and run a race...after the ridiculously unorganized race I'd run the weekend before in kyiv, I was super excited about 'Swiss efficiency'...
I flew into Geneva, transiting through Brussels...(that airport does not have free wifi, how annoying)...after landing, I took the free (!!!) train into the city centre, then walked to my hostel...it's been a while since I've stayed in a dorm room of a hostel...

One of my students last year in kyiv has been living in Geneva this year with his mom while she attends school...while getting ready for this trip I made plans to get together with them, just for a catch up...I was able to find their flat, it was nice to hang out and chat for a couple hours...
The next morning took full advantage of the giant breakfast included in the price of my hostel...nothing is cheap in Switzerland, so 'free' breakfast is a great thing...food was served in a large room, filled with people...the hostel houses a lot of people, many more than I thought...there were several floors of dorm rooms...

I replaced my stuff, then found my way to the hotel I'd booked for my next night...finding and getting to that hotel took longer than expected, but I had time...then I went back to the main train station and met Bo as his train arrived...(he'd just spent a few days in garmischers after finishing his job)...
We dropped off his stuff, then used the free public transport for a day passes provided by our hotel to go back into the city centre...Geneva is a financial centre, a classic town, but it isn't particularly picturesque...there are no scenes that make you think wow, Geneva...but it was still nice to walk around...

we picked up dinner from a supermarket, and ate while sitting on a bench near a tree...after more walking we found the chocolate section of a big supermarket...apparently a lot of people buy heaps of chocolate to bring home with them...we saw numerous people with bags and bags of chocolate...I like Swiss chocolate, buuuuuuut...
The next morning Bo and I visited another supermarket to get breakfast...bakeries in Switzerland are soooooo much better than what I've seen in Ukraine...properly baked items...good bread...lovely cream...lots of variety...heaven...

We took the bus into the city centre, and found the English gardens, where the marathon village had been set up...I love this part of a marathon...at an expo you get to see different races, products, gear, etc...and of course the important part of picking up my race shirt and number...the race in kyiv didn't have anything other than race numbers and tshirts, and even that was amazingly unorganized, so I loved Geneva even more...I realized I'd forgotten my running hat, so I bought a hat to wear during the race...(useful both for keeping the sun and sweat out of my face...since I'd signed up for this race a month in advance, my name was printed on my bib number!! :)

We picked up our stuff from the hotel, then went to the train station to meet cloe...we ended up waiting longer than expected, as cloe was coming with her boyfriend, and he was having issues at work...anywho, they rolled up, cloe and I were super excited to see each other again...it had been almost a year since she left kyiv...
Victor drove to Cloe's flat, we got the grand tour, then we had some snacks and chatted...mostly in English, but a few phrases in French, Russian, and Portuguese...good times:)
We walked to the town bakery the next morning for breakfast, cloe lives in a very small town...not surprisingly, my eyes are much bigger than my tummy...oops...anywho, so good...eventually we hopped back in the car, and went to the supermarket...cloe hadn't been in her flat in over a week, so she had very little food...plus, Bo said he would cook dinner that night so he needed ingredients...it was awesome to be in a supermarket with so many choices, and so many products I haven't seen in a while...

Later that afternoon cloe took Bo and I to see the school where she has been teaching this year...fun:)...across the street from the school is a park with a nice walking trail...Bo and I went for a walk, as the weather was lovely...
Dinner by Bo, yum!!
The next morning everyone was up early, we left the flat around 0700...I wanted to arrive 30 minutes before race time and google maps said it would take 30 minutes...we added in extra time in case of detours or getting lost, hee hee...we arrived just when I wanted to arrive:)...I had run half marathons previously, so I knew what was happening...Bo used to race bicycles, but hasn't run distance races...victor and cloe had never seen this sort of event up close...I love the energy during prerace time...some people talk with friends, others stretch...some people do warmups, I just make sure my number is pinned on securely...(ive always hated warmups, even when i was a swimmer...why would you want to use all that energy before the event that counts????)

the race was organized to start in waves, i started out in E section...race time came, the crowd slowly moved forward...I started the GPS/distance gizmo on my iPod nano...eventually I crossed the start line, people spread out a little, the race started and I settled into a good pace...(I hadn't trained at all, so I knew not to go as fast as would have felt okay at the begging of the race)...the course was lovely...half countryside, half city...I got to see fields of bright yellow flowers and a few small villages...everything was well marked, and there were people out cheering everywhere...I loved hearing my name, from people who didn't know me at all!!

Not surprisingly, the last few kilometers were tough...my legs weren't happy, but I still finished with a good kick...the finish was at one end of a bridge, so there is a nice straightaway that is great for trying to sprint the finish...it's also great for people gathered on each side of the street...lots of cheering...awesome...
I saw cloe, Bo, and victor at the beginning if the race, another time in the middle, and again at the finish line...awesome!! They held my bag during the race, and watched all the runners while drinking wine and eating cheese ( cloe is French, after all)...I grabbed treats at the finish line, as well as a couple bottles of water, then walked back to the marathon village with cloe, Bo, and victor...we walked slowly, but I made sure to keep moving the entire time, so my legs didn't tighten up...
After walking around a while, we got back in the car and drive back to Cloe's flat...Bo and I both fell asleep in the back seat, cloe was nice enough to document that with photos of us looking awful:)
After relaxing for a while back in the flat, Bo cooked dinner again...yum, of course...
The next morning cloe had to go back to teaching, Bo came with me to the hospital...I loved the efficiency of checkin and security, I was sad to leave...

sweden: karlstad, sunne, family

i was always told that i had swedish relatives...i remember hearing about the swedish relatives as a child, and i've heard about them as an adult too...i was told that i met many of them when i was just 9 months old, but of course i don't remember any of that...that introduction was during a visit to sweden, of course i don't remember that either...
in the middle of winter this year, my dad mentioned to me that he would be traveling to sweden for a conference, and planned to stay an extra few days to see the relatives...he said it would be great if i could join up for the family visit...i looked at a calendar, didn't see any conflicts, and booked the tickets...

i landed late on a thursday afternoon...i made the mistake of not eating earlier in the day, and flew a budget airline, which didn't feed me during the flight...by the time i got off the plane i had a horrible headache...the kind that makes me nauseous, the kind that makes it painful to think...i knew i needed food and water immediately, even though the thought of chewing and swallowing wasn't particularly appetizing...dad got me some food, and about 20 minutes later i felt a lot better...
two of our relatives picked us up at the airport, then we drove drove drove...i think the drive was about 3 hours in total, i'm not sure...we stopped for dinner at some point, at a swedish fast food place...

eventually we rolled into a city called karlstad...one of the relatives lives in an apartment complex here, the others were able to book the guest flat in the complex for dad and i that night...
the next morning we went to the flat of our relative for breakfast and chatting...thank goodness most swedes speak a fair amount of english...plus, dad has visited these relatives several times previously, so there was an easy flow to conversation...
after a couple hours, the ladies we'd driven with last night came and picked us up, and the four of us went to lunch in the city centre...the building in which we had lunch had historical significance...it's where a document was signed which split sweden and norway into two countries...we all had the same meal: fish, mashed potatoes and lingon berries...a very traditional swedish meal...

they took us to a hospital to visit with another relative...as we were hanging out there, we met an american couple originally from minnesota...totally awesome!! they'd met in japan, and since moved to sweden...while we were visiting with the relative, the ladies were meeting with his doctor...
next up was taking dad and i to a hotel...the flat we'd stayed in the night before was booked for this night, so they'd made reservations for us at a hotel...the hotel used to be a prison!!! is this where i get to make the joke about how much the swedish branch of the family thinks of us? hee hee...the hotel price included breakfast and dinner, so they agreed to come back after a couple hours for dinner...

great dinner...a lot of food...good people and good conversation:)
the next morning dad and i were up early and went for a walk...karlstad isn't exactly picturesque, but it was nice...plus, the weather was great...chilly, but sunny...breakfast afterward was lovely...
the family picked us up, and we picked up another relative at the train station...of course, this meant a packed car, but it was still fun...we drove to a town called sunne, i think it's about an hour from karlstad? after stopping for a coffee, we continued to a very small area...not even a village...this is where my great grandfather lived before he emigrated to the states...the cabin in which he lived still stands, and is still owned by the family...

there is no running water, no electricity...somehow, it's still awesome to see...the family let it out, so we weren't able to go inside, but i was content to wander around outdoors...the relative who lived there worked at a mill just down the hill, so we walked to see the remains of that...after all the years of hearing about this guy, and his life before emigration, it was really really nifty to see it...it was really muddy, but i'm glad we saw the area...
on the way from sunne back to karlstad, we stopped at the home of a swedish writer...she won a nobel prize in literature...her home has been turned into a museum at which one of my relatives used to be a tour guide...she still remembers a lot of random information:)

the night we had dinner at the first flat we'd visited in karlstad...homecooked by the ladies...a lovely evening...we took a family photo just before leaving...we went back to the hospital to get a family photo with that relative as well...
the next morning the ladies picked up dad and i to drive back to stockholm, and the airport...it was a quick weekend, but i'm glad i finally got to meet some of my swedish relatives:)

kyiv: the fortress after a blizzard

friday it started snowing...and SNOWING...and snowing some more...it was windy the whole day, and i could hear the wind through my windows as i settled into my flat for the night...

i woke up saturday to continued snow and WIND...the snow was blowing sideways the entire day...
sunday i woke up to blue skies...no more snow, and just a little wind...i could see the snow was piled up from the 36 hours of snow, i wanted to get out and explore...

i made plans to meet up with camille and gregoire, we decided to go to the fortress and play in the snow...fortunately, the subway was working...i didn't know it at the time, but many of the buses/trolleys/marshrutkas weren't going due to the crazy snow accumulation...

the fortress was great fun...a lot of what camille and i had seen in the fall was completely covered by snow...i couldn't see walls or stairs, and ended up climbing up a wall of snow instead...ooops...SO MUCH FUN...

the wind picked up at various times, but for the most part our biggest problem was in figuring out how to get from one place to another in the fortress...because the snow had fallen in huge drifts, at some places it was past my waist...SO MUCH FUN...

i need to get proper snow/ski pants...my boots didn't let water/snow in, but since i didn't have a proper seal over my socks/ankles, plenty of snow got in that way, and later in the day i discovered my feet were quite cold and wet...almost purple...ooops...
SO MUCH FUN...

ukraine: ternopil, kremenets, pochayiv

camille enjoyed traveling to lviv enough that she was willing to travel with me again over a holiday weekend the next month...we had a three day weekend, and stupidly decided to wait until the last minute to buy train tickets...note to self, this is not a good idea, as there are few tickets left for any destination...i ended up picking some random city listed in the guidebook just because we wanted to go somewhere, and not be stuck in kyiv for a long, holiday weekend...
our night train took us to ternopil...as soon as we exited the train station in the morning, we took a taxi to the bus station...maybe we could've walked, but we had no map, and it was just barely daylight, and much colder than we'd expected...

we got to the bus station, and the ladies selling tickets were telling everyone they couldn't sell any tickets for the time being, as no buses were going anywhere due to the bad weather...since we didn't understand the reason, all we knew was that we were at a bus station in a small town, unable to go anywhere, which just annoyed us...
when we did figure out it was because of bad weather both of us wondered about that...this is ukraine, which gets more than its fair share of cold, crappy winter weather...eventually the storm hit us, and we understood...bits of hail, sleet, and general yuckiness...

eventually buses did start to leave, and we were able to get seats to a town called kremenets...its a small town in western ukraine...according to lonely planet, this town was never captured by the mongols when they came through this area in 1240-1241...
there is a fortress on top of a hill just outside town, and my original goal was for camille and i to hike up to the fortress...there isn't much left to the fortress, it's more a few ruins, a ring of walls, and a gate tower...howeva, as we got off the bus, we realized the hike was not going to happen...the wind was blowing, the snow was falling, and neither one of us was mentally prepared to deal with the messy weather while hiking...plus, we didn't know where to find the trail head...

at that point, our goal changed to finding food...we had been on the train all night, then on a bus, so we were hungry...we walked through more than half of kremenets before finding a place for food...it's a small town, there are not a lot of restaurants...my guess is that they don't get a lot of tourists, especially not foreigners...the place we ate was a bar of sorts...
we took a look at the jesuit collegium, which was built by the poles when they took control of kremenets (1731-1743)...we didn't go inside, but the outside of the buildings are pretty...plus they are slightly up a hill, so we could see over the town a bit...not stunning, but definitely nice...what breaks up the aesthetic beauty of the collegium is the war monument in front, built by the soviets to memorialize their triumph in WWII...the memorial looks decent, but couldn't they have put it in a different place?

famous violinist isaac stern was born in kremenets in 1920...there were jewish communities here for centuries, until the nazis massacred 15000 people they'd hearded into a ghetto in 1942...(these communities, like so many others around ukraine, have essentially disappeared now)...
after walking through a park, looking in a couple churches, and eating, we walked back to the bus "station" (and by station i mean parking lot) and boarded a marshrutka bound for pochayiv...
pochayiv is another small town, mentioned in the guidebook for only just one reason...pochayiv monastery is "a beacon of ukrainian orthodoxy - moscow patriarchate - on the edge of a largely ukrainian catholic region" according to lonely planet...you can see the monastery as soon as you get off the bus...

the monastery is the second largest orthodox complex in the country, after the lavra in kyiv, and was founded by monks fleeing the mongols in 1240...as it is so big, there are a lot of visitors, but they are almost all pilgrims, not tourists...somehow, you can sense the difference in atmosphere from what i've felt in kyiv...
to get into the monastery complex, visitors (women) who aren't already wearing a skirt and headscarf must go in a small room and borrow (with a deposit) these articles of clothing...at first we didn't know the money was just a deposit, we thought it was a rental fee, and were disappointed by the price...

wandering around the monastery was awesome...except for when an old lady in one of the churches started yelling at us, and we weren't able to figure out why...at first we thought she was indicating something about us not being allowed to take photos, except that we werent taking photos!! (there were very clear signs upon church entry that said no photos)...then she started pulling at our pants, maybe she was saying we shouldn't be wearing those? except that we had on the borrowed skirts over our pants, and we certainly weren't the only people with this particular fashion statement...maybe she was just crazy? camille and i never did figure this out...

after exploring the monastery and wandering the town (the town walk took about 10 minutes) we found a place to catch a bus back to ternopil...this ride was a true adventure on roads not in particularly good shape...winter weather in ukraine must make it VERY DIFFICULT for road engineers to keep anything in good shape...lots of potholes and bumps...
we got to the hotel easily enough in ternopil, they had our reservation...one of the reasons i'd chosen this hotel was their listing of having a sauna...it turned out to be part of a complex called aqua world...or something along those lines...after me arguing a bit, we were able to pay for just the turkish hamam (we weren't going to spend any time in the pool, and had no desire to pay for that)...an hour of steam room time alternating with dips in the cold pool and the dry sauna, and we both felt amazing...i'd go back to ternopil just to go to that sauna:)
our hotel had room service, we both ordered pizzas for dinner...nothing outstanding, but we didn't care...

the next morning we had breakfast in our room, packed up and checked out...we didn't have much of a map, so wandering around was a challenge...we found a big street market that covered both sides of a road...normal stuff available: fruits and veggies, tires, mops, bread, etc...
we found a park along a river, that was lovely and peaceful...there was snow on the ground, and it wasn't completely dry so we had to watch where we went...
in town i was taking a picture of a statue with flowers laid at the bottom when a congregation came to the statue and sang hymns...i was not able to figure out what was happening...but when i thought about it, it was a holiday weekend, so that probably meant something...
we found a park along a lake...there was an island in the middle of the lake, with a very picturesque bridge leading to an area looking out to the island...the lake was frozen at the time, which made everything that much more picturesque...awesome...i was not very patient in waiting for people to get out of my photos...(usually i can wait for a long time, but i was very impatient that day)
the train station ended up being quite close, we timed our arrival so we didn't have to wait long for our train...the train ride back to kyiv was nice, mostly during daylight:)

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???