Praha je hezky

Prague is fun. That is the title of this post. See? I'm learning-slowly but surely. I spent last weekend in Prague being a bum and am planning on being in town this weekend as well. But I plan on being less bummy. Here are the week's highlights.
On Monday I had quite a treat in my Architecture class. After over 10 visits to Prague castle the class was wowed by a unique experience. I may have told some of you already that my professor has his own keys to the castle. He is the National Architecture Historian. All of our professors are quite high up. Jiri Pehe was the political advisor to Vaclav Havel. They are bff. Jan Urban, a czech dissident, was one of the signators of charter 77 and was in line to be president but turned down the honor, ever the rebel. But back to the castle. We went up to St. Vitus cathedral but instead of heading in the main entrance we turned and came to the base of one of the tower. There, Lukes (lukesh), my professor, whipped out his keys, glanced over his shoulder, and opened a tiny tiny door at the base of the tower. "Ok. Let's go," he said. We climbed the staircase, which was tightly wound and quite steep, until we got to the third landing. He opened another door and we found ourselves looking down on the floor of the cathedral. We wound our way around the galleries of the empty church, got a close up view of the gianr rose window, the treasury staircase, the rennaissance organ, the portraits of the architects and contributors. We saw, up close, all the areas of the church. I could have spit out the window onto the flying buttresses (ps, how cool are flying buttresses? GENIUS). In short, it was amazing. I don't have pictures, but my suitemates do and I will add them as soon as they return from Karlovy Vary.
Last night I went to a concert for the hip hop group Pharcyde. They were popular in the 90s. Many of you will remember their song "She keeps on passing me by." You'll know it when you hear it, trust me. I went with Megan and my building manager Martina. Martina is one cool czech lady. She's not too much older than me and has lived in four countries. We met up with some of her friends at a pub and proceeded to the giant warehouse cum concert hall. The show was great-not too packed but full of energy. Pharcyde put on an amazing show and flattered the crowd, praised the cesky beer, and proceeded to pass out cups of Remy Martin to anyone standing near enough to reach. After the show we hung around for a while discussing our respective musical tastes. Megan's friend, Joe, and I got into a deep discussion about 50s pop music. Then Martina pops back up with the Pharcyde dj and tells me and Megan to get our butts moving 'cause we're hitching a ride. We piled into the van with the band and drove and drove. Pharcyde were all really cool, really chill. The one DJ had spent some time in Atlanta-used to live on Peachtree and 26th, so we chatted about that a bit. Martina asked the driver to drop us at Wenceslas square. But she, assuming he was czech, asked him in czech. He did not understand and replied "Why is she talking to me in czech?! I am not f***ing czech! I don't stop for anybody!!" Hilarious. Apparently he was Slovinian. Or something. So we rode all the way to Prague 8 and jumped out at the hotel. We decided to stay and hang out for a bit. We chatted some more about music, silk screened t-shirts, race relations, blahblahblah. Apparently Romeye thinks I'm hilarious. So now there's 2 people in the world who think I'm funny. Megan and I started to get sleepy so we said our goodbyes, traded business cards, were asked to myspace everyone (I hate myspace. how does one use it? I am useless with technology) and hailed a cab. Note to fellow praguers: hailing a cab is much cheaper than calling one.Romeye is the guy on the left. On the right is Imani. There are 3 other members of the band-2 djs and a drummer. I couldn't find pics of them, sorry.
So I got to chill with a rap group. Saweeeeeeeeeeeet.
But now more about Prague:
A while back in my American Literature class (I know-am lit in prague? Don't worry-it's more of a let's compare postwar am lit and postwar czech lit class) we read an excerpt from Jaroslav Hasek's (pronounced Carl Hashek) famous novel The Good Soldier Svejk (pronounced Shveyk). This is often held up as the typical czech novel, typical of czech humor. My professor, and my class, don't agree with this assertion. But the book is quite witty and worth czeching out. Sorry, couldn't help myself. Anyways, the professor shared some biographical information about Hasek with us which I found funny. Apparently, Czechs are quite ironic people. They may not smile a whole lot, but they certainly have a sense of humor. There are several instances in Czech history of fake political parties. Or, rather, real political parties with silly names and agendas. Hasek, in 1911, decided to estabilish his own party called "The party of Moderate Progress within the Limits Set by the Law." They held their meetings in a cabaret/pub and failed miserably in their campaign. Since the fall of communism the tradition of silly political parties has been revived. Two parties which popped up in 1989 were "The Poetic Party" and "The Independent Erotic Initiative." The poetic party ran surrealist campaign commercials and the IEI, well, you can imagine their campaign.
Speaking of which...I recently found out that one of the popular expat nightspots, Nebe, which spins 80s and alternative music and has become an NYU favorite during the week, films hardcore pornography during the day. In the same space. One the club couches. Good thing I love dancing so much-otherwise I might have sat down on said couches. How did I find out about this? One of the students stumbled upon film clips on the internet. Gotta love the web.
So that's what's happened recently. Tomorrow Ryan and her boy come to town. I plan to impress them with my extensive knowledge of Prague Castle.

Berlin

On the left, me and my travel companions (ie two of the coolest girls ever, Alizeh and Krissy). On the right is Alizeh riding one of the countless Berline bears. The bear is a symbol of berlin. Also, it's the guardian of the west. Just a side note.

Berlin both met and defied my expectations. I left Prague Friday morning with Krissy and Alizeh, slept on the train, and wandered around the train station before finding my friend Nick, with whom we would be staying. It was a gorgeous day-clear and sunny, no smog tent. Berlin is a very colorful city so the sunlight helped to highlight all the interesting architecture and the bright bright paint covering all the buildings. The colors looked the way the Edwar Scissorhands neighborhood would have looked if you turned the brightness up on the tv screen. Nick is on the NYU in Berlin program which just started this year. The dorm is located at the edge of East Berlin. The site of the wall was about 40 feet from his door. You can still see the site of the wall, it's all land being dug up and roped off. If you look closely you can see that the streetlamps are different on either side. The NYU dorm is old communist housing. I was actually surprised to see that the vestiges of communism had been largely erased. Sparkling new facades covered buildings which should have looked grim and gray. It looked a little like a yuppie's paradise which was quite disconcerting but would make for good shopping, I guess. Nick lives in the Turkish neighborhood and we thoroughly enjoyed the food.
Krissy, Alizeh and I decided to do our tourism in one go and do a four hour walking tour of historical sites in Berlin. Here are the highlights:

























On the right is a picture of Krissy and me at Brandenburg gate.
On the left is the Air Ministry which escaped bombing during WW2. During communist rule this building became the Ministry of Ministries. You can see a mural under the portico. It is a depiction of what life under communism is like- a piece of propaganda filled with smiling workers all clad in blue and white-the colors of communism in Berlin.





























On the right is a close up of the top of Brandenberg gate.
On the left is me in babelplatz, in front of the opera house. The opera house was rebuilt twice because it was apparently a favorite mark for bombs. On the square is the library of Humboldt University which prides itself on producing genius. The founder of the university is responsible for the "publish or perish" practice for university professors. The idea is that professors should never stop being students, they should continue to learn and bring new ideas to the classroom.















Both of these depict the Reichstag.


























On the left is the Berlin wall. It looks kind of puny but there were actually two walls, an outer and an inner wall. This wall is only about 10 feet high and is now protected by a wire fence.
On the right is a sign from checkpoint charlie, one of the most famous crossing points from east to west berlin. Our tour guide, Brian, whom you can see in the air ministry photo, told us a funny story about east berlin escapes. There was some dude who was studying in Berlin and his girlfriend was from East Berlin. He was getting ready to leave and wanted to take his girl along. So he went into West Berlin, rents a tiny tiny two door car, goes back to East Berlin, grabs his girl and says "Let's go." She replied "Ok, let's. But I can't leave my mom behind." So they put mom in the trunk, get in the car, drive up to the checkpoint. The checkpoint had thos moving arms that you see in parking garages worldwide. So the arm goes down, the guards start to walk over to check the paperwork, the guy slinks down in his seat and guns it- the car fits under the arm and they make it to freedom. This story caused a huge sensation and was printed all over. So of course there's another guy with a gf in east berlin. He leaves, goes to West Berlin, rents the exact same car- not even just the same make and model, the same actual car- goes back to east berlin, waves at the guards, grabs his girl, drives up to the checkpoint, guard starts coming over, he GUNS it and they make it to freedom. After that spikes were added to the parking arms. Ha.






















On the left is an art museum on museum island. The architect is Schoenkel (I think that's spelled correctly) who designed pretty much every architecturally significant building in Berlin. In front is the world's largest stone bowl which is outside the museum because the columns were erected before the bowl was finished so it wouldn't fit through the door. Moral of the story: always take measurements before you begin to furnish.
On the left is the giant TV tower in Alexander Platz. It is a great landmark since it can be seen pretty much anywhere in the city. In this picture we are really quite far from Alexander Platz. The TV towers in these european cities always seem to be big landmarks and tourist sites. I remember marking myself by the defunct tv tower in London, and in Prague, certainly, the tv tower is something to see. A Czech sculptor covered the tower in giant purple babies.This is the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. It was designed by Peter Eisenman, a New York artist. His design was selected from several others in a design competition. The memorial is modeled after the Jewish cemetery in...PRAGUE where over 100, 000 jews are buried. The plot of land is wavy and the cement slabs vary in height. In fact no two slabs share the same plane in the whole memorial. They increase in height, from sharing a plane with the ground and then rising to 15 feet high, from the edge to the center of the memorial. This memorial, as you might guess, carries with it lots of controversy. The artist wanted the memorial to be in this spot because it is one of the most highly trafficked areas in Berlin. He wanted to make sure no one would miss it. Here is another interesting part of the controversy which tour guide Brian shared with us: The slabs were treated with a special chemical to repel graffiti. In the process of treating the slabs, I think they were about 1/3 of the way through, the company supplying the chemical realized something. They were supplying a chemical to protect the memorial to the murdered jews of europe. Guess what other kind of chemical they supplied to the germans. That's right- zyklon B, the poison gas used to murder jews in concentration camp gas chambers. So of course they switched companies, but there are still stones treated by the original company left in the memorial. I think that it can be seen in a positive or negative light, depends on how you look at it. For reference, here is a picture of the cemetery in Prague:
Turns out that while we were in Berlin the celebration for Fat Tuesday/ Shrove Tuesday/ Mardis Gras/ Whatever-you-choose-to-call-it had already started. Everyone dresses up in crazy costumes and partakes of the parade. Instead of throwing beads, like they do in New Orleans, Berliners throw candy and hand out beer. Kids and adults alike can be seen with their umbrellas upside down catching candy along Unter der Linden, on of the main streets in town. Here are some pictures:






















The nightlife in Berlin is famous and definitely exceeded expectations. Especially the gian 4 story warehouse called "Panarama." Very German. All in all Berlin was a beautiful city, full of designers and architects, young people, snappy dressers, crazy hairstyles. Berliners love to recycle and care for their environment. They smoke more than the czechs. BUT I did get the distinct impression that the city had been whitewashed. I wish they'd let the grit show through a little.

Czech Hip Hop

Many of you may not find this post of interest. However, any of you who thought the hotpants purchase was a good idea will.
Thursday evening I went to a nearby club called Radost FX, which means happiness in czech. I went with my friend Megan who is the only other female I know who enjoys hip hop as much as I do. Thursday night at Radost is hip hop night (as is Saturday and you best believe I'll be back there tonight). So we go and it's super fun-the music is much better than the music at Mecca's hip hop night. We run up to the front, as per usual, and start shaking our stuff. We're so awesome that the dancer invites us up on stage. Most of the clubs here have dancers who dance around on platforms or on stage near the DJ. Most of them suck. In fact, we thought this girl sucked. But then this couple struts in and starts going nuts and puts us all to shame. THen the dancer busted it out and she was pretty freaking awesome. The guy came down and danced with megan and me and said we were really good which was a huge compliment and at which we decided we would ask the manager for jobs. Then we take a break and go to the bar and the movie Rize is on. Rize is a film about Krumping which, for those who don't know, is a style of dance which evolved from clown dancing in LA/Compton. It is incredibly kinetic and fast paced. It looks kind of crazy. The Black Eyed Peas "hey mama" music video features krumping backup dancers and other examples can be found with minimal searching. Anyhoo, this kid Adam, who is also on the NYU program, urges us on saying he can krump and that we should bust it out. So we go back in and wait for the right music and the DJ puts on like 5 fast paced songs in a row. I nearly broke in half I danced so hard. (Sorry Krissy! you missed it.) When we took our next break we met this Polish guy who had one of the most annoying voices I've ever heard. But he told us that he sells hip hop clothing to stores in Praha and he gave us the scoop on this great sneaker store. So then we dance again and take another break which isn't really a break but us getting kicked out because the bar is closing for the night. The DJ came up to use and we got ANOTHER dance compliment. He told us he DJs all the time and that he started the only hip hop magazine in the czech republic. People like to brag at clubs. He took my phone # so he could text us about his other sets. Sweet. The next day Megan and I trekked out to the sneaker store and caught it just before closing time. It was pretty awesome and they have these high top adidas with snakeskin trim that I am seriously considering purchasing. The guys who work there are really sweet and gave us the scoop on the graffiti scene, all the good hip hop clubs, and some other clothing stores to check out. Then one of the guys, Thomas (pronounced Thomash), told us that Radost was good on thursdays because DJ Bezzy plays and we said "oh yes we know dj bezzy." and he said "wait-were you there this thursday?" and we said yes and he said "oh because he was telling me about some girls he met and I think it was you." So HURRAY! I am ingratiating myself into the czech hip hop scene! Super sweet. We chatted some more because Thomas was reading for school and Megan and I are both lit majors. He was reading Crime and Punishment which is one of my fave books. And then we left because they were closing. And that is my story.

On a side note, CONGRATULATIONS to my brother Gregory, who hates when I use his full name and probably won't read this anyways, on getting into all 4 colleges he's heard from so far. He rocks my socks.

Also, I sound like a teenage girl in this post. I apologize. My excitement overwhelms me.

Budapest

I just got back from a weekend in Budapest with the entire NYU program. Pretty much everyone decided that it would be a great weekend for travel and we all chose Budapest.
The train ride there was loads of fun. We all got sleeper cars in the same train car. Lots of eating and drinking ensued. It was a bit disconcerting being woken up in the middle of the night by border patrol in Slovakia and Hungary, especially when, from the next car, I heard "Anna can't find her passport" and "Go back to Prague! Back to Prague!" But all turned out well, don't worry.
Budapest is a very regal city. It is set up very similarly to London in that it is centered around a large river, the Danube. This picture is a view of the Danube from castle hill. If you look closely you can see a statue on the hill behind the bridge. That is the edge of the citadel. You can take a bus to the top but Krissy and I decided to do it the better way. We walked. Or rather hiked and climbed. The entire hill is covered in switchback staircases. Because it is a popular tourist site the stairs see a lot of traffic. The snow gets packed down into ice. It was treacherous and wonderful. I contemplated sledding the way back down, but, alas, I could find neither cardboard box nor plastic bag on which to slide.
Here are a series of pictures illustrating the hike:
on the left is Krissy walking up the hill
on the right is me
at the tippy top
and the last is the
statue at the citadela.

All of this took place on the second day. The first day we dropped our stuff and headed over to the synagogue which was about twenty paces from the hostel. Here are some photos. Due to a lack of research on my part and a lack of literature on the synagogue's part, I can't tell you a whole heck of a lot. It was pretty.

After the synagogue we jetted over to the metro so we could go to the baths. As soon as we stepped off the metro we were greeted by the beautiful Parliament building.

Budapest is studded with Turkish baths from the 16th century. The water in Budapest is chock full of minerals. Even the drinking water. It tastes very bitter and is rich in calcium. No osteoporosis for me! The bath we went to is called Kiraly. It is one of the older baths. We went on an all women day so we could bathe in the nude. We were each given a towel and a changing room. We trekked downstairs to the baths assuming we could jump right in. Wrong. We had to shower off first. Everyone stood around shyly at first and then we chucked the towls. The baths were beautiful. One huge hot bath stood in the middle of the room surrounded by two really hot baths, a cold bath, and a steam room. The steam room was steamier than anything I have been in before. It was incredibly hot and almost hard to breathe. But it felt glorious. The main bath was covered by a giant domed cieling studded with small octagonal windows so beams of light pierced down through the water. I felt like a Grecian nymph, let me tell you.

After we went to the baths we took a nice hike by the river and crossed the liberty bridge. Saturday, after my hike, I took a walk around town. Turns out our hostel was very near-everything. Here is a picture of the opera house. We also walked by the basilica but my camera died. So no pics. Sunday, our final day in Budapest, I woke up early and went to the castle with my friends Krissy and Annessa. Unfortunately I did not get to go inside the church because it was sunday and it is still a functioning church. Moral of this trip: do research. But I had a blast. So, so what.

Hello my american friends! I hope I haven't kept you waiting on tenterhooks for this next post. My weekend was rather tame. It was pretty much spent talking to my friends Stephanie and Krissy. And I also discovered a wonderful little Cesky restaurant right by my dorm. SO since I have little news I decided I would give you the background info missing from my first post.
A family friend asked my mom why I loved Prague so much. It's hard to give a reason because so much of it is just a feel. It really is a magical city; everything I learn makes me feel like I'm in the middle of a fairy tale. For instance, in my architecture class we visited Prague Castle. In the main courtyard stands a stone arch, a triumphal arch, left over from Hapsburg rule. Beside the arch are two giant flagpoles, each displaying the czech flag. Our teacher explained that they are symbols of democracy. Each flagpole is made of a single tree, taken from the farthest reaches of the hinterlands. They stretch high above the buildings in the courtyard, and where they reach above the archway, they are painted gold to symbolize the triumph of democracy. Also at prague castle is St. Vitus cathedral. This cathedral contains a variety of architectural styles. Begun in the gothic period, St. Vitus was abandoned and left unfinished. The organ gallery is Renaissance. The rest is neo gothic and art nouveau because it was picked back up in the late 19th century and finally finished in 1929. Inside the cathedral lie the crown jewels, leftover from the time when the castle actually housed a king. The crown is the second oldest in the world. According to a decree by the king the jewels are only removed once every coronation period. Even to this day. The jewels are only removed once every 100 years. In between viewings the jewels are kept locked away in St. Vitus behind a large door containing 7 locks. Each lock is opened by a separate key. All 7 keys are held by the 7 highest officials of the land who must assemble together every century.
gargoyle at prague castle guard at prague castle.

These are all my stories for now. I am saving some for later. I hope everyone is well.

ooh. look at me-I've entered the blogosphere

I never thought this day would arrive, but here it is, ladies and gentlemen. I have started a blog. I feel a little dirty, or pompous, or selfish, or something. But I figured some of you might like to see/hear about my adventures. Especially since many of you are skype challenged.
So far prague is . . . indescribable. I can't find a way to express the wonder and majesty, the mystery and magic of this place without sounding corny or understating my awe. It's great. I'll say that. Today I wandered all the way over to Holesovice in Prague 7 which is across the Vltava. It's an up an coming neighborhood where the graffiti approaches bearable and the art school kids reside. It used to be mostly working class. It has been compared to williamsburg but I think that's crap. My friend Tia and I found some hot pink hotpants which we will hastily purchase as soon as the store is open. Weekends are not big business days here. Unless you're on Metro Patrol. I got badge flashed twice today.
One of these days I'll figure out how to make the hacek on this computer. Until then cao will be cao.
so...cao