Retrospective #1

It has been a while since I've done a proper blog post about anything, and for that I apologise. Adjusting to life in the states has been slow. Life seems kind of muted when compared to the grand adventure that our summer has been. There is still so much to write about! It might be a never-ending task to catch up with it all. So for right now, I will just tell you about the trip home, but I definitely want to share a few anecdotes in future posts.

The last full day in Prague was one dedicated to packing and getting the last few gifts we could find. It was kind of hectic, but we had a good time. We went to Maitrea again for dinner, and had the most delicious beet pancakes for what we assumed to be the lat time for a while (it turns out they're easy to make at home, and just as delicious), and then went to Letna park. I really like that park so much. It is so relaxing to just walk around, look at the city, watch people playing with their dogs, and sit under the gentle whine of the Metronome. Just writing about it is making me homesick, or rather, Praguesick.

We got up just before the crack of dawn, and got all our affairs in order. We could have watched the sun rise, but didn't have the time. That's one of my regrets for this trip - we never got to watch the sun rise. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to go back...

But anyway, we got the the airport via public transportation, which was quite an adventure when we had four heavy suitcases plus carry-on. We checked in with very little trouble, and started heading to the gate. By the way, the security in the rest of the world is a lot more passenger-friendly than the TSA. We didn't need to take our shoes off, which doesn't seem like a big deal until you have to pass through security three times on the way home. Leaving Prague was hard. Of course, so was leaving the apartment, getting on the bus, and even leaving Letna the night before, so whatever.

Amsterdam was interesting. It was reminiscent of London, in that the airport was one huge shopping mall, and that certain aspects of the airport and its inhabitants could be deemed adorable. And we met the best customs agents ever. My customs agent quizzed me on the X-men, and asked if I was really American when I failed to correctly identify the Ice man. I talked about it with Lauren afterwards, and when her customs agent saw where she was going, he remarked "Ah! Newark! The happiest place on Earth."

Speaking of Newark, arriving there was kind of a startling re-entry to the states. It was busy, and crowded, and everything was running late. Oh, and everyone spoke English, which was really weird. Lauren actually said "Excuse me" in Czech at the customs checkpoint.

Getting back to Denver was kind of nice, and it was wonderful to see family and start distributing gifts and stories. It's nice to hear what everyone else did with their summers, and to learn about all the absolutely insane things my sister did (catching a parasite in India? Heleskiing in New Zealand!?)

And I think Lauren mentioned this in the previous post, but we've gotten a whole ton of film developed. I've uploaded every roll save one, which will probably be uploaded at some future point. And there's still about 2000 digital pictures to upload... But you can see what we've got on the two flickr accounts, though it may soon be three flickr accounts just so we can get it all up.

More photos!

You can find them on our respective flickr accounts:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurengolder/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcbrown/

Reflective posts to come soon!

What we've been up to recently:

It's been a while since KC or I have written a full blog-post, so I've decided to provide you with a few highlights from the past few weeks. We're leaving for Denver the day after tomorrow, and I'm going to miss Eastern Europe like mad!

I was planning to post a ton of pictures tonight, but the internet is being particularly finicky. I'll show you some soon, promise!

12.7 - 20.7: My Mom and Brother Visit Prague

Prague has been really fun and I've constantly wanted to share it with my family, so it was quite cool to have Adam and my Mom here for slightly over a week. Unfortunately my Dad was busy with work stuff and couldn't come, but that means he'll just have to go on every cool trip possible in the future to make up for it!

In Vaclávski Naměsti a few hours after arriving. They don't look too tired, do they?

While they were here, KC and I acted as personal tour guides, being sure to show Mom and Adam all of the cool sights, restaurants, and antique stores in the city. The four of us ended up spending a fair amount of time shopping since Adam was going crazy for antiques and Mom was eyeing garnet jewelry and crystal. We also traveled to Bratislava and Vienna, both of which were fascinating (albeit quite expensive since they're on the Euro). I'll talk about these more when I post the photos.

22.7 - 26.7: KC and I Explore Poland

Most of my ancestors on my Dad's side are from Poland (or Russia, depending on which period of history you're thinking of), so I really wanted to go there this summer. We spent four days traveling around the country, visiting Warszawa, Gdansk, Sopot, and Kraków, and switching between night-trains and hotels for our sleeping accommodations. It was fantastic to see the countryside where my family is from, and now I can better imagine what their lives were like. I found the Polish language to be insanely difficult, but it was quite worth it to see Poland.

Warszawa

It seems like a lot of old cities have certain historical events that hang in the air for years after they occur. Budapest has Soviet rule, Wien has the Hapsburg Empire's heydays, and Warszawa has World War II. Over ninety percent of the city was razed by the Nazis following the Warsaw Uprising, which understandably left a huge scar on the national psyche. Amidst the rebuilt city are numerous monuments to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto and the heros of the Uprising - even though this was over half a century ago, it doesn't seem like anyone will be forgetting the painful impacts of the Nazi occupation anytime soon.

Gdansk and Sopot

We were originally planning to head straight to Gdansk after Warszawa, but decided to go a bit farther north to visit Sopot first instead (oh, the beauty of rail passes. . . ) It is a fairly swanky resort town along the Baltic coast, and its claim to fame is the longest pier in Europe which extend about 500m into the sea. KC and I have been hoping to go swimming and escape the summer heat since we got here, and being in Sopot was the perfect opportunity to do so! 

After changing into swimsuits in the KFC bathroom, we headed for the surprisingly crowded beach. It was a lovely, sandy place with cliffs jutting out in the distance; we stepped into the algae-filled Balticas soon as our stuff was securely piled on the sand. THE WATER WAS SO COLD OH MY GOD. Even though it was an incredibly hot day, my first steps into the Baltic were less refreshing than I expected - we knew it would be chilly, but wow. After a few minutes of acclimation we got used to the cold water, and then it was easy to see why the beach was so crowded: shallow water, gentle waves, startlingly cool water . . . awesome. Plus, now I feel like quite the badass because I can say I've swam in the Baltic Sea.

We spent the afternoon wandering around Gdansk, which is quite charming and a good place to eat fish thanks to it being a port city and all. KC and I enjoyed a very filling dinner of fried flounder and a massive baked potato with broccoli, mushroom, and yoghurt-dill sauce -- East European food is so heavy and so delicious! There were a lot of nice churches in Gdansk as well (Poland is generally quite religious), but after seeing so many we began to grow a bit jaded and stopped visiting them. Along the river there are a few buildings which remain completely in ruin, presumably from Axis bombing during WWII, and these stood out to me most. I never really thought about how bad German occupation was for all Poles, especially those in places like Warsaw and not just the Jews. Even though the country is a great place to visit, it seems like they still haven't been able to recover from the damage done during the war.

Kraków

We woke up the following morning a few miles outside of Krakow thanks to a night train, and began exploring the city post-haste. I really like Krakow, and would love to go back. Our hotel was in Kazimierz, the old Jewish district, and we got to take a lovely walk to the river while waiting to check in. (I have concluded that former Jewish districts are almost always the coolest places to be in Central/Eastern European cities).

KC and I agreed that while we were in Poland, we needed to visit Auschwitz. I just wouldn't have felt right going to Poland without going there, too. The fact that my family is from this region and a number of them were murdered during the Holocaust made the trip particularly difficult -- it was absolutely horrible. I don't really know what to write about Auschwitz other than that seeing it made me feel physically ill. It is as though evil still hangs heavy in the air there; the vileness of it will probably remain in that place forever. I ended up skipping a few of the more gruesome sites on the grounds in an effort to maintain some semblance composure and keep from vomiting; after all, once you see something it can't be taken back. Once I have had more time to process everything I will probably be able to write about it more coherently, but right now I can only reiterate how incredibly heartbreaking the whole visit was.

After the trip to Auschwitz, KC and I felt really somber and physically and emotionally drained, so the rest of the evening was quite quiet. Going to a place like that isn't something you can just brush off when you hop on the train back home.

We spent the last day wandering around Kraków, visiting the castle, old town, and exploring more of Kazimierz and the suburbs. It was definitely my favorite of the Polish cities we visited, and I would like to go back at some point to get to know the place better. We visited a particularly interesting district on the outskirts of town called Nova Huta, which literally translates as "New Steel Works." As you might guess, it is a Socialist Realist town built by Stalin, and is absolutely bizarre. All of the buildings look shockingly similar, the roads are extremely wide and lined with lots of greenery, and the town is centered around a gigantic steel mill. The Polish Solidarity movement was quite prominent here, and dissidents were actually able to use the wide Soviet streets to hold protests during state-sponsored rallies. It was fascinating to explore the place, and I really want to learn more about it. 

I can't believe we are leaving for Denver in less than forty-eight hours! This summer has been absolutely amazing and I am going to miss Prague so much. I'll post some general reflections (and more pictures!) once we get back home, but right now I have to go pack!

Some film, finally.

Sorry for the lack of updates, we've been very busy, what with Lauren's mom and brother visiting and then our trip to Poland. I don't actually have much time to write right now either, because we're going down to Brno later today, but I just wanted to upload some photos I've gotten developed. They're all black and white medium format, from Prague and Hungary.
Look, it's Prague! This grainy picture does not do the city justice.
This one's taken in Prague Castle. The massive cathedral leaning over the building is St. Vitus.
This is Vystaviste, an exhibition grounds from the 1890s. I want to climb that spiral staircase so much!
The old Jewish cemetery in Prague. Tombstones everywhere.
This is the rail station we pulled into in Budapest. I was trying to focus on the rafters, but the camera had other plans in mind.
Hungarian Parliament! What a cool building. I wanted to see the inside, but as it was an active government building, access was infrequent and expensive.

That's all for now, I'll upload everything I've got to the Flickr later. If you don't have the URL, it's right here.

Hiking in Česky Raj!

First, let me apologize for the lack of updates on this here blog-thing. Wifi in the apartment is less reliable than ever, so we've had a tough time doing much of anything internet-related. That being said, KC and I have been doing a lot of fun things here and Prague is great!

Earlier this week, we took a train out to the small town of Turnov to go hiking in the region of Česky Raj (the name means "Bohemian Paradise"). After a rainy start and some serious difficulties finding the hiking trail, or "rambling path," we had a wonderful time exploring the countryside and taking lots of pictures. The region is characterized by verdant forest and striking limestone geomorphology: karst, sinkholes, caves, etc. Here are just a few photos - this place is gorgeous!

Interesting building we saw from the train. I really liked the contrast of the pretty flowers and the decaying structure.

This is the old Jewish cemetery in Turnov. Like most Jewish cemeteries we've seen in Europe, the graves are crammed together in a very small area due to lack of space. This cemetery is particularly interesting, though, because about half of it is covered by a small highway overpass.

The view from the beginning of the trail, which goes through a lovely residential neighborhood in Turnov.

Beautiful forest.

KC at an overlook on the top of a karst formation. There was a small spiral staircase attached to this towering rock feature, and the view from the top was amazing.

Me, at the same overlook.

LIMESTONE.

After hiking for a while, we came upon the Valdštejn Castle, which was first built about 1,000 years ago and added on to over the centuries. The structure was built right into some amazing limestone karst towers, which made it even more spectacular.

Statue in the gardens of Valdštejn.

The view of the valley, as seen from Valdštejn Castle.

Since Valdštejn is so ancient, there are also a fair amount of ruins there, like this one.

This whole country is absolutely gorgeous. Everything looks like a painting.

KC on the trail.

These are the limestone karst I was talking about.

Absolutely spectacular, right?

"Rock towns" in the Hruba Skala region. 

While walking to the bus station in Sedmihorky (near Turnov), we saw a lot of beautiful agricultural lands as well. This part of the world is so gorgeous in every way, and I feel incredibly lucky to experience it.

The day we arrived in Budapest, we were very disoriented. The East train station was a bunch of rails, a roof, and not much else. We couldn't find a map anywhere. We ended up navigating using google maps over Lauren's phone. After a false start in completely the wrong direction, we finally started heading towards our hotel.

It was a long walk, and a very hot day. The walk was really fascinating, walking through a city we've never seen before without anyone to show us the way. But the incident that sticks out most in my mind is something that happened pretty close to the beginning of the trek. We were walking alongside one of the many construction sites in Budapest, and a man in front of us walking towards us starts laughing. He came toward me, announced in very broken English that I am a good man, hugged me and kissed me on the cheek, then resumed walking past us. I was kind of shocked into speechlessness for a few moments, before Lauren suggested I check my pockets. I did, and nothing was missing, even though I did have some spare change in one of my open pockets. I guess he was just really friendly.

And that kind of set a tone for the whole excursion. Budapest was a place filled with the unexpected. Whether it was the gorgeous tiled roofs on so many of the buildings, or the giant cliffs right next to the river on the Buda side of town, or the insanely-gorgeous Parliament building.

Of course, not all was good. It was pretty plain that Hungary was hit really hard by Communism. Much more so in Prague, Budapest showed signs of just how bad things got. There were still buildings on the street that were damaged back during the revolt in 1956. We visited a Communist statue park outside of town, which was full of cool old statues, but also put into perspective just how controlled Hungary was by the Russians. There were fresh flowers on most of the memorials around town to those who stood against Communism, even the little monuments on the side of buildings in back streets. It was much more dramatic than anything I could have expected.

I really want to go back. I don't understand the language at all and the public transit system is much more confusing than Prague's, but still I was just so taken with the city and I want to spend more time exploring every corner and learning more about everything. So much of what's there is really really depressing, but the more I saw the more I was glad I went.

A few photos from Budapest

Since KC is writing about our travels to Budapest, I figured I would post some of our photos from the excursion.

Also, if you click on a picture it will become gigantic. Enjoy!

One of the really interesting things about Budapest is its lack of reconstruction post-WWII and -1956. I don't mean to imply that the whole city is in disrepair, it actually looks quite nice, but there are definitely places where you can still see the damage from these now-old conflicts. Our hotel was in the Jewish Quarter, which was once a ghetto but is now pretty bohemian-hip. This photo doesn't show it too clearly, but in that neighborhood especially there were many memorials and bits of evidence from WWII and the 1956 uprising. 

The exterior of St. Stephen's Basilica. This place is absolutely massive, and its chapel houses the mummified right hand of St. Stephen who died in the 11th Century. I found this a bit strange, but apparently it's a very important religious object.

See? We really did eat ice cream shaped like roses! And it was delicious!

KC took this photo at the top of an immense staircase leading up to the Buda Castle District. Great view, but SO many stairs! Later that day we found out that there is a funicular going straight up the hill, but walking up was actually rather neat (albeit tiring).

View of Budapest and the Danube River from Buda Castle. Buda is on the left side of the picture, and Pest is on the right. Beautiful city, right?

Fisherman's Bastion, in the Castle District. This structure is incredibly gorgeous and fascinating, but a large portion of it was fenced off due to construction. There is a ton of restoration and construction going on in Budapest, and we predict that the city will continue to become a more popular tourist destination as the years pass. I'm glad we got to see it before the rush!

Photo of KC and I, taken at Fisherman's Bastion. Budapest is really spectacular from all angles.

St. Matthew's Cathedral in the Buda Castle district. This building is also under construction for stone restoration and the like, but still looked quite nice on the outside (we didn't go in). I really love the patterned roof tiles - a lot of roofs in Budapest have bright, stunning mosaic patterns. It's too bad more cities haven't adopted this roofing style, as it's immensely pleasing. 

This is the Dohany Street Synagogue, built around 1850 only a few blocks from our hotel in Pest. According to the tour guide, who had a NY accent and was named Reuben, this is "the first and second largest synagogue in the world." It seats fewer people than Temple Emmanuel in New York City, but has more physical space. The building is really ornate for a synagogue, and actually looks kind of like a church (except for the stars of David, Holocaust Memorial, lack of angel/biblical frescoes, large number of Jews, etc.). It was quite interesting to see this place, as Hungary's Jewish community appears to be thriving today but was decimated during the Holocaust (Hungary was a German ally, and was also rather anti-Semitic to begin with). The cemetery outside of the synagogue is probably about one-fourth of an acre, but has over 8,000 people buried there in mass graves. During WWII, the small but populous Jewish district was walled off as a ghetto and no supplies were allowed in, meaning many people died from starvation and otherwise-curable illnesses. Visiting this place was yet another reminder of the realities of 20th-century conflicts in Central Europe. Although the cemetery and memorial were quite sobering, it was nice to see that the Jewish community in Budapest is thriving once again.

I guess this is a good place to add that Budapest is quite multicultural, which is cool. There is more ethnic variation than in Prague, which I think might be a product of Hungary's shifting rulers over the past millenia - Turkish, Magyar, Hapsburg, they've seen it all.

The Hungarian Parliament, as seen from the tower of St. Stephen's Basilica. The Parliament building is gorgeous, and looks like a cross between a gothic castle and a gothic church. It's spectacularly gothic and incredibly ornate.

KC and I on the tower of St. Stephen's Basilica.

On Saturday we went to Esceri, a flea market on the southern edge of town. They had a ton of interesting antiques for pretty reasonable prices, and we had a blast. However, we  forgot to eat lunch before leaving, so we had to buy this delicious fried potato dough topped with grated cheese. I don't remember what it was called, but holy cow was it greasy and delicious.

KC  has a million cameras. Ok, one of them is mine, but still - what a gangsta.

While we were in Budapest, KC and I visited a supremely strange place called Memento Park. After the fall of Communism, no one wanted Soviet statues or monuments anymore, so the founders of Memento Park collected a bunch of surviving one's from Central Europe and put them on a few acres outside of Budapest. Seeing these statues was bizarre and kind of depressing; I actually felt a bit guilty for paying money to see the imposed-idols that tyrannized this part of the world for so many years. Interesting, sure, but also quite sobering.

Silhouette of a Soviet statue.

Outside the park they had an old Soviet Trabant, which was apparently a notoriously unreliable automobile. This one was in particularly bad shape thanks to tourists breaking off pieces, but there was still enough of the car left for KC to squeeze inside and look ridiculous.

A Soviet-era radio.

I don't know what this building is, but the roof is absolutely gorgeous. This picture doesn't do it justice - the roof is a mosaic of green and yellow tiles that shine in the sun. KC was absolutely fascinated by it when we passed it on the tram, and we went back later so he could photograph it.

I really love Budapest, and I'm so glad we went. It's pretty different from  Prague, but comparing the two cannot convey the true nature of either city. I am so unbelievably fortunate to travel the way I am right now, and I plan to savor every moment of it. Everything we have done and seen so far has been amazing, and as cliche as it sounds, we'll remember this forever.