Blague (Prague Blog)

Wow! After walking around the Prague castle and St. Vitras Cathedral, we head to dinner

over top of grape vines and fruit trees down the hills to red tiled roofs, winding

cobblestone streets, and church spires. Walking back down the hill we watch fireworks from

the Charles Bridge while a pair of young men play concert level classical fusion on cello to

a large entranced crowd. Amazing! Day 2 we hire a guide to take us through the Jewish

Quarter. The tour is a little long and tedious, however the Pinkas Synagogue walls with the

plaque of those who hid Jewish kids and families and the 77 thousand names of those who

didn’t return moves us. Sierra finds some of Hersh’s family names. Of the 10,000 children to

be murdered, some is still childlike, as adults tried to help the kids retain hope. One

child’s art piece is particularly striking—a huge table with chairs. One lone child remains,

sitting alone in this big empty room.
After lunch we wander past sculptures into the overly ornate and musty St. Nicholas Church

with endless cherubs, saints, and depictions of Mary and Jesus. We end the morning by

climbing up the medieval Powder Tower. Sierra had been particularly patient through this

long day and we head back to give her some extended facebook time with friends and us some

rest. In the evening we attend a beautiful candlelit chamber orchestra concert, wander

through the newer section of Prague and watch as the seagulls glide in the dark, full moon

sky around the stone bridge tower. Between the tower, the castle backdrop, and a strange

light shadow show on the water, it feels rather enchanted, here in Prague—We overlook the

pollution and dismissive manner of some merchants—reasonable given the swarms of tourists

like us. Everything to see is close by. We walk in a general direction, as often would

happen and say ”hey—there is that cool monument we read about,” or we stroll around a

corner and think, wow, another amazing sculpture! Sierra isn’t usually wowed, however, was

impressed by the hip hop break dancing marionetters. Earlier we added our wish on the

famous John Lennon wall, smiled at the gate with piles of locks symbolizing marriage and at

another spot, the keys to the locks. When we noticed the sculpture of Jesus with Hebrew

writing it leads to an interesting conversation with a young man and group travelling via

Birthright from Israel.

Last Days in Berlin

(with pix to follow...)

We are on a train heading for Prague. The question is, what do we most want to see and experience in one and a half days. Probably we will heed advice and head to a few popular sites at night and in the early morning to avoid some of the throngs of tourists—The Charles Bridge and old town area tonight, Jewish Quarter tomorrow morning. Beyond that I have 10 pages of blog photos and tips to cull through and select from. If any of you ever do a 5 day trip to Prague I think I will have a plan for you too!
We are travelling through fields of corn and wheat and Queen Anne’s Lace, with church spires and wine turbines spinning in the background, visiting with our Hamburg car partners about their plans to train travel to the border of the Czech Republic and cycle back—sounds like great fun! Slowly the landscape moves into small forested landscapes as the gentle motion lulls Sierra to sleep.
This morning we said goodbye to Savannah and headed to the train, kindly driven by our host’s son Johannes. What a great trip we had in Berlin—a blend of visiting and activities -- from taking in the holocaust memorials and the Berlin wall history, to experiencing the vibrant, diverse, and fascinating blend of East-West Germany. I liked what the Time Out Guidebook wrote: Berlin is the “capital of cool”…an insistent and often surprising fusion of different trends and traditions where crossing boundaries is part of what makes Berlin unique. Yesterday we flashed onto novel delights: a playground complete with outdoor table tennis and a trampoline; a restaurant that simultaneously sold clothes and offered up live DJ minimal techno music.. a wire mannequin sculpture outside Alexa mall, to the donair stand that picked out the meat accidentally placed in my vegetarian donair and threw it on the floor---see, there was no meat…what was Savannah complaining about! I had a final run in the local park, past the grand architecture of the Soviet monument to their dead soldiers, and went to the Reichstag to view the city through an amazing eco friendly modern dome atop an old roman styled parliament building. And from the fabulous outdoor exhibit on the history of unification in Germany wherein year after year writers, church groups, peace and environmental moments, human rights groups, the populace and even the East Berlin government staff themselves protested and organized despite danger--against control, oppression and violence. While Hersh and I read the exhibit Savannah and Sierra played in the square during Olympic Day.
The day before yesterday, we took a tour with our wonderful host family’s three adult children—past the amazing East Side gallery of wall art to the Jewish quarter with names of deported families on the sides of buildings to the Tacheles art house. On Saturday, we also toured Ka Da Ve and passed on the cavier bliny offering for over 130 euros, instead opting for (well you can probably guess), chocolate mousse and a 7 layer chocolate cake of sorts. While in line to buy some chocoloate, a man asked Savannah and Hersh “where in Canada are you from?” Hersh asked him how he knew we were Canadian’s: “Your [Mountain Equipment Co-op] backpack gave you away!” Savannah: “Have you been in Berlin long?” The man, (kind of out of the side of his mouth) “I’m the Canadian Ambassador to Germany… I’m in disguise today.” And then, he quickly spirited himself away…
Top Berlin Highlights:
Hersh --
1) the fresh smell of the air, after the rain;
2) Tacheles Art House;
3) Mauer Park bearpit karaoke;
4) The sense of hope and aliveness with this constantly changing city, that has come through such such repression;
5) Time with family – ours, and our new home exchange familys
6) Sitting on the balcony, sipping wine with Savannah (Catherine had tea), by candlelight
7) Jewish Museum

Sierra—
1. Time with Savannah
2. Bowling
3. Car ride with Joey
4. Friends (Season 1 for the 5th time)
5. I had wifi!
6. Swimming at the beach


Catherine (many have been listed---here are others!)
1. Time with Savannah running in Corrina and Dieter’s local park
2. View from the top of the Reichstag
3. East Side Gallery (tour with Eva and Joey)
4. Walking in Tiergarden with Hersh
5. Meeting all the people that have nurtured Savannah

cooler weather...

Last night it rained, and the heatwave is now officially broken.

On Wednesday, we went swimming on a converted barge in the River Spree...



and Sierra ended up with a sunburn on her back, and a sleep-preventing itch, which led to her staying in the apartment today -- after being up much of the night. I think she rather enjoyed it. Watching Friends, skyping, watching a movie....


Catherine and I went for a long walk through Tiergarten Park, sort of Berlin's equivalent of Central Park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiergarten












We saw more street installations talking about the fall of the wall. I find it very fascinating! One thing we learned today: an unexpected gift of the wall was a natural reclamation of flora and fauna in the dead zone; today, Berliners are working on maintaining an ecological zone here.


This evening, Savannah and I went to a Salvador Dali exhibit. I've been a fan of his for many years, and it turns out Savannah is as well.
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/30301/new-dal-museum-opens-in-berlin/

After that, she and I went to a wine bar, and shared a 1/2 litre of wine, and a bowl of lentil soup, with -- of all things -- a dollop of sweet whipped cream!

Tomorrow we will do a driving tour of Berlin, with our home exchange "kids", in their 2 old Citroens. A 2cv tour! Should be a lot of fun....
On Monday, we leave Berlin for Prague for 2 nights, then on to the Alps and Dolomites.

New Venice -- The Old one comes later!

Today we went to (our home exchange partner) Corrina's parents' cabin, in the Eastern part of Berlin. We had a day of paddling and swimming, and being hosted by Corrina's gracious and generous mother, and her 10-year old grand-daughter.

The cabin is on a canal in Neu Venedig, or New Venice.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neu-Venedig
Here are a few pix of the day....









On the way back to Dieter and Corrina's apartment, we found a great restaurant!
www.mauna-kea.de

A great Berlin day!

These 2 pictures were the view from where we heard an outdoor Tchaikovsky concert on Saturday night....

Yesterday we went to this free cool outdoor karoake concert. 1000 people sitting in an amphatheatre listening to whoever was brave enough to sign up. Some were too brave! Some were fabulous. Because it is Germany they sold beer and then collected bottles...all organized clean fun. And it happens every Sunday.

Check out this website: http://bearpitkaraoke.com/

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bearpit+karaoke+2010&aq=3



Berlin is a much more exciting city than I thought it would be. Hersh and I would be happy to stay as long as possible, but we do have a reservation in Venice for the 28th of this month which might be hard to give up and find later dates for. So I obsessively started searching last night for Austrian resorts on lakes Sierra could swim (her one request ongoingly--swimming please!). After several hours of gluing myself to the computer I found an area and possible location. Going off to bed, I thought -- oh no! This is Austria in the mountains...sure enough Hersh looked up the water temperature and it is only 16 degrees!! And you know how fond I am of cold water...I think I wll wait a day before venturing back into internet research!

We are off to some shopping, another view of these amazing 4 foot chocolate sculptures, up the iconic radio tower for tea and cake, by the Holocaust memorial, and down to an Ethiopian restaurant to enjoy dinner with all of our home exchange family adult kids to dinner.

Here is a video clip taken at the Holocaust memorial -- slightly irreverent, but hopefully enjoyable for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4RQvkYZxEw

Amsterdam to Berlin

I am in Berlin now, with Savannah, Hersh and Sierra. It is so nice to see Savannah and hear how much she is loving her summer in Berlin. What a life--20 years old and doing a degree in Europe! It is clearly shaping her in a way she would not be if at home (eg --as you know-- democracy and American style values are not seen as the be all/end all here and leisure/socializing is deeply valued. She says that every day Berlin surprises her in some way she wasn't expecting--a sculpture here, an interesting club there, etc.

We are in this lovely 6 room flat where every inch of space has been tastefully used. The flat borders a park I think that you would love--Savannah and I ran in it yesterday--past large beautiful, fenced off allotment gardens (some with small cabins so people can come and stay in their garden for a weekend), on one side and forest on the other. At the end of the park is this massive Russian monument to their dead soldiers--rather powerful with grave like sections and large towers, pillars and sculptures.




2 nights ago Sierra and I hardly slept--some sort of loud electronica festival was on, complete with all night long pounding sounds and beats resonating into the flat from afar. In Paris the same thing happened only it was a jazz party. People just tolerate this...I appreciate Victoria's quiet (and smoking ban--seems like half of Europe smokes). Yesterday we took a regular bus tour (saw the bottom of everything!) and then went to the Jewish Museum--striking architecture designed to evoke emotion containing the entire history of the Jewish people. Well worth it..We then went to listen to part of an outdoor opera, see Berlin Wall artifacts and history, and see the last remaining gate (Roman Pillars and sculpture),

After dinner we sat on our tiny balcony with candles and wine (Hersh and Sav) and tea (me) as the sun went down. As you can gather, we are having a great holiday. And while I always love home exchanges (so that alone makes it fabulous to be in Berlin), I also loved Amsterdam (surprisingly even more than Paris and London!)--friendly english speaking people, smaller city with interesting sites and neighborhoods, bicycle's buzzing around you everywhere, and fabulous bakeries and restaurants. Of course we did arrive in Amsterdam on the heels of their national celebration for their defeated soccer team--800 thousand people in orange shirts came from around Holland to celebrate. Hollanders know how to honor their athletes for sure!

Paris and London were spectacular, if hot, large and busy. I'll save telling you the details so this email isn't too long...apparently in German there are lots of ways to end conversations and written communication in order to be efficient and to the point.

Today we are going on a bike ride (if Savannah wakes up soon), meeting Savannah's host family, walking in Berlin's version of Central Park and going out for an Ethiopian or German-Indian (add extra cream!) dinner...Sounds promising...

We have't decided on Austria or Prague next (Hersh and I differ a little on what we want, as you might recall)..Maybe we will do both...I am going to look up all inclusive spas/tours on the totally unrealistic notion that we could afford that! We could both get behind that...

So, I haven't thought about work at all...except for the news I heard that Maria is retiring! That is big news. I also am not working on the doctorate, except for a little, and I do mean little, enjoyable reading here and there. Gearing up when I am back home will be a feat!

I have done a few short runs in the past couple of weeks and lots of walking. It is too hot for more.

Viele Gruße

Catherine

The early days... London, Paris, Amsterdam

London and Paris
One look at the many pics on Sierra’s facebook will summarize this trip. We loved seeing the high points, travelling in a group where details were covered and fitting so much in. The Jack the ripper tour was novel in London. We spent longer in Paris and I loved running on the river path and through Monet’s impressionist Garden by our hotel. We walked, Sierra had fun shopping with friends and I spent a fabulous afternoon at the Pomedeu ?? Modern Museum. I would do another tour and so would Sierra, if a little more upscale for me.
....
Amsterdam
It seems like so long since we were in Amsterdam. We loved it!!!! Here are some highlights:
Patriotic party scene on arrival celebrating the Holland World Cup team. Everyone was wearing orange, most were drinking and cheering as they walk and cheers. Streamers, balloons and window displays like the 4 tier marzipan player soccer ball and cleat cake complete the picture. What it means for us though is that we have to pay a trumped up amount to hire a cab to take us part way to the hotel and then walk the rest of the way through carooning fans.
Bakeries were better than anywhere we travelled, people the friendliest, streets so happy-cycle friendly.
We cycled, walked along the canal, saw the red light district, went to a place that Savannah’s Dutch friend Merill recommended, a traditional Dutch town with windmills, Hersh toured to Van Gogh Museum and I cycled far into the countryside while Sierra could sleep in and have some computer time.