Sunday, August 12, 2007
The CZ, Baby! Part I
We're in the middle of August and the anxiety and fear of the upcoming school year is beginning to turn in my stomach. But I have to say that if travel is my passion, then hi-ho hi-ho, it's off to work I go. We've been back for a week from our trip to the Czech Republic and we are quite busy. Ben returned to work the following day and I took an art and writing class at UCSB. The drive was long and exhausting, although I enjoyed the misty morning drives and raged as I sat in bumper to bumper traffic almost the whole way home.
So I am officially 30 now. We boarded a plane for the Czech Republic on my birthday, which I didn't really mind except that when we arrived in Prague, it was already the 22nd and I had no birthday what-so-ever. So I have decided that I will be 29 for another year, thank you very much. The flight was horrid as all 10 1/2 hour, non red eye flights must be. We had purchased our seats and should have been in the 3rd to last row of the airplane where there are only two seats in a row. However, when we found our seats as shown on our ticket, we were both shocked to see that we were in the middle section with no window view, no place for me to lean and sleep, no way out. Luckily, I hardly remember that now.
We arrived after noon on Sunday, the 22nd. My aunt and my cousin's husband were waiting for us. We loaded the car with our luggage and 100 lbs. of presents (not an exaggeration) and began the 2+ hour journey to Brno. We were going to go back to my aunt's place because we had been up for almost two days, but we decided to stop at their cottage to see my cousin and her 1 year old son, Vasik, pronounced Va-sheek (short for Vaclav, a very old fashioned Czech name. My mom said that it was like naming your kid Edna, or something. However, in my cousin Klarka's defense, she did not want her son to be the 12th Honza - Czech equivalent to John, I think- in his class). After a few hellos, we headed off to my aunt's apartment, where she made my favorite, fried cauliflower.
Sleeping in the living room on the couch, Ben and I passed out early and woke up several times during the night. But we were up fairly early to begin the Czech experience. We rode the chalina (cable car) with my aunt on her way to work in the city. We checked out Petrov Cathedral, featured on the 10 koruna. We went up to the tower to check out some amazing views of the city.
We had lunch downtown at a brewery called Pegas. I think it is one of the few breweries in the Czech Republic that brews hefeweizen. Delicious! Check out my fried cheese.
After lunch we made our way to Spilberk Castle. Founded in the early 1200s, many kings lived there before it was finally turned into a military fortress in the 1700s. Rebels from around Europe were imprisoned in its Prison of the Nations until the prison was closed in 1853. During World War II, the Nazis reopened the prison. The castle has many points of interests for visitors including a museum of prison life, the Brno city museum, a baroque pharmacy, and a lookout tower. Ben and I simply walked through the gardens, all the way up up up the hill, circled the castle, relaxed with a beverage and made our way back down. Later that evening, the Shakespeare Festival began and lasted for a week at Spilberk with famous Czech actors in the roles.
Still tired from the long flight, we returned to my Teta Jitka's house, probably had a few beers and went to sleep.
The following day, we walked around Brno. We tried for a second time to get into the Warhol exhibit at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, but were denied because they were only open Wednesday - Sunday. I showed Ben some of my favorite stores and bought a few things. I showed Ben where my mom grew up. I also told him some of the stories my mom told me about the Brno dragon and wheel.
The legend says that the Brno dragon terrorized the city's waterways. Actually, the dragon is an Amazon River crocodile donated by Archprince Matyas in 1608. The wheel was made by a man from Lednice (the same town where Alphonse Mucha was born). In 1636, he made a bet with a friend that he could chop down a tree, build a wheel from the lumber and roll it 50 km to Brno before dusk. He was successful and the wheel has been on display ever since. Unfortunately, someone started a rumor that the cartwright received diabolic assistance and because of this he died penniless when all of his business went elsewhere.
So I am officially 30 now. We boarded a plane for the Czech Republic on my birthday, which I didn't really mind except that when we arrived in Prague, it was already the 22nd and I had no birthday what-so-ever. So I have decided that I will be 29 for another year, thank you very much. The flight was horrid as all 10 1/2 hour, non red eye flights must be. We had purchased our seats and should have been in the 3rd to last row of the airplane where there are only two seats in a row. However, when we found our seats as shown on our ticket, we were both shocked to see that we were in the middle section with no window view, no place for me to lean and sleep, no way out. Luckily, I hardly remember that now.
We arrived after noon on Sunday, the 22nd. My aunt and my cousin's husband were waiting for us. We loaded the car with our luggage and 100 lbs. of presents (not an exaggeration) and began the 2+ hour journey to Brno. We were going to go back to my aunt's place because we had been up for almost two days, but we decided to stop at their cottage to see my cousin and her 1 year old son, Vasik, pronounced Va-sheek (short for Vaclav, a very old fashioned Czech name. My mom said that it was like naming your kid Edna, or something. However, in my cousin Klarka's defense, she did not want her son to be the 12th Honza - Czech equivalent to John, I think- in his class). After a few hellos, we headed off to my aunt's apartment, where she made my favorite, fried cauliflower.
Sleeping in the living room on the couch, Ben and I passed out early and woke up several times during the night. But we were up fairly early to begin the Czech experience. We rode the chalina (cable car) with my aunt on her way to work in the city. We checked out Petrov Cathedral, featured on the 10 koruna. We went up to the tower to check out some amazing views of the city.
We had lunch downtown at a brewery called Pegas. I think it is one of the few breweries in the Czech Republic that brews hefeweizen. Delicious! Check out my fried cheese.
After lunch we made our way to Spilberk Castle. Founded in the early 1200s, many kings lived there before it was finally turned into a military fortress in the 1700s. Rebels from around Europe were imprisoned in its Prison of the Nations until the prison was closed in 1853. During World War II, the Nazis reopened the prison. The castle has many points of interests for visitors including a museum of prison life, the Brno city museum, a baroque pharmacy, and a lookout tower. Ben and I simply walked through the gardens, all the way up up up the hill, circled the castle, relaxed with a beverage and made our way back down. Later that evening, the Shakespeare Festival began and lasted for a week at Spilberk with famous Czech actors in the roles.
Still tired from the long flight, we returned to my Teta Jitka's house, probably had a few beers and went to sleep.
The following day, we walked around Brno. We tried for a second time to get into the Warhol exhibit at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, but were denied because they were only open Wednesday - Sunday. I showed Ben some of my favorite stores and bought a few things. I showed Ben where my mom grew up. I also told him some of the stories my mom told me about the Brno dragon and wheel.
The legend says that the Brno dragon terrorized the city's waterways. Actually, the dragon is an Amazon River crocodile donated by Archprince Matyas in 1608. The wheel was made by a man from Lednice (the same town where Alphonse Mucha was born). In 1636, he made a bet with a friend that he could chop down a tree, build a wheel from the lumber and roll it 50 km to Brno before dusk. He was successful and the wheel has been on display ever since. Unfortunately, someone started a rumor that the cartwright received diabolic assistance and because of this he died penniless when all of his business went elsewhere.
# posted by RZV @ 8:11 PM 
