Chez PLJ

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If you’d been following our Twitter posts you’d have figured out why we haven’t been posting here for awhile: We’ve been getting ready for, experiencing, and recovering from, our latest adventure.

This adventure comes courtesy of very generous gifts from Grandpa S. and Nana Tara, and Grandma—Thank you, thank you all! Since Jon’s Easter Seals camp* is now 10! days! long!—we were offered the opportunity to go on a real—overseas—vacation for the first time in 21 years.

After soliciting a lot of friends’ opinions, and discussing whether we wanted to revisit somewhere we’d already been (Paris? Florence? London?), and worrying about whether Eyjafjallajökull would affect flights (yeah I could’ve written “Icelandic volcano”, but who can resist that name?); we finally decided on Prague and Vienna. Both beautiful, artistic cities with wonderful architecture…and lots of cobblestones. Sorry, Jon.

We decided to travel extremely light, with only carry-on bags, which turned out to be a very sensible decision for airports. Unlike our previous European trip 21 years ago, we weren’t exactly roughing it this time: Our bags (the same bags as before, in fact) only had to carry clothes for nine days, not a month. Also, our hotels were definitely a few grades better than the youth hostels we stayed in before!

Ottawa, ho!

Our schedule on August 1 was chockablock enough to make us antsy: Up early; pack car; 4-hour drive to Jon’s camp near Smiths Falls; drop Jon off; drive to Ottawa to Ann & Dave’s to drop off the car; get to Ottawa Airport for our 5:15 pm flight. We needn’t have fretted: All our milestones went smoothly, though just like last year Jon unnerved us by being extremely serious and grave about the whole situation.

He looks happy here, but don’t be fooled: Jon was mostly pretty quiet and serious when we left.

I had the dubious pleasure of getting body-scanned at Ottawa Airport (at least that was totally random, unlike the rather invasive pat-down I got later at Frankfurt Airport, apparently set off by the metal links on my sandals.)

We had an hour at Frankfurt Airport to change planes, and after being misdirected had to go through security again. There was such a disorganized mob of people at the security gate that a bunch of us were herded haphazardly towards an overflow security entrance. They were calling for people who needed to go to Gate “A”, while holding up a sign that said “B”. We were not terribly impressed with the lack of efficiency. It seemed so un-German, somehow.

(When I tweeted about the chaos, I got a reply tweet from Frankfurt Airport apologizing for the inconvenience. Now that’s more like the German efficiency we know and stereotype!)

One short Lufthansa hop later, and we were in the Czech Republic.

Prague: City of Cobblestones

Prague has cobblestones. Lots and lots of cobblestones. Good thing Jon wasn’t here!

Upon arrival, we managed to figure out how to buy a transit ticket that would get us to downtown Prague. Twenty-six Czech Kč (koruna), about $1.50. (There is even a cheaper ticket, 18 Kč, for short trips.) The bus/subway trip was fast and efficient, and was the last time we took public transit in Prague, since it is such a compact city and we’re good walkers.

Our hotel, the Red and Blue Design Hotel, was a 5-minute walk from the subway, and right next to Petřín Park, one of the largest parks and highest hills in the city, which provides lovely views of the city. The hotel was very modern and newly-renovated inside (in Google Street View it’s still covered with scaffolding.)

Left: Monument to the victims of Communism at the bottom of the Petřín Park hill; Right: View from funicular railway up the park hill.

We quickly set to wandering around the city. First stop, of course, was Karlův most (Charles Bridge). In all we must’ve crossed this bridge a dozen times during our stay, at many times of the day (with varying amounts of tourists, vendors and musicians), in sun and rain. Obviously it’s more hauntingly beautiful when it’s fairly empty, but even when packed with tourists it’s still an impressive sight, with its jolly bustle of humanity surrounded by the blackened statues. Lots of history to digest when reading about the bridge; lots of saints with freaky headgear.

Karlův most at low tourist time. (Click on picture for panoramic view.)

Patron saint of beanie-wearers?

Across the bridge you are in Staré Město (Old Town). The main sight here is Old Town Square, ringed with impressive buildings, and featuring the Old City Hall with the Astronomical Clock. The crowds of tourists that build up for the hourly shows is just as impressive as the show itself! We figure that here is where the mythical filigree fairy (distant cousin to the tooth fairy) must’ve done lots of overtime. [I say she was on a drunken bender—P]

Astronomical Clock in Staré Město

Old Town Square, Ground Zero of filigree. (Click on picture for panoramic view.)

From Staré Město you can head south to Nové město (New Town, a mere stripling of a town, only founded in 1348), whose main landmark is Wenceslas Square, which is a long wide boulevard, somewhat resembling Toronto’s University Ave. Not as impressive as Old Town, it’s a commercial mecca, mainly lined with banks, Czech department stores and multi-national chains. Near here we actually spotted a Hooters (the low cultural point of the trip) and goggled a bit at the incongruity of the street-level restaurant logo, topped by the building’s graceful, filigree-lined roof. Not far away we also found a little store specializing in vintage optical equipment: cameras, opthalmologists’ lenses, microscopes…the kind of unique store that aficionados world-wide would find out about.

Where vintage optical lens nerds go to heaven.

Hey, Tamo! A store for you!

One notable modern building in Nové město, Tančící dům (Dancing House, aka “Fred and Ginger”)

We ate mainly Czech-style food while in Prague, ranging in quality from dive-y tourist joints to the much more upscale (though still largely touristy) Pravda restaurant. The first night we ate at a decent restaurant with a nice patio; when we passed by over the next couple of days the furniture was all packed up and the restaurant was gone!

Brontosaurus ribs (in both size and moistness.)

Meat, and much of it was the ticket, ranging from roasted (often overcooked) pork, smoked pork (aka ham), sausages, roast duck or beef goulash (aka beef stew without the veggies). All accompanied by the ubiquitous potato or bready dumplings. Greek-style salads were common (and palatable). Except for some very tasty desserts (chocolate cake, tiramisu) at Pravda, we didn’t go for sweets much in Prague, except for gelato (which also ranged in quality from “meh” to “yum”.)

Much tastier! Pravda’s tirimasu was among the best I’ve ever had.

In Josefov (Jewish Quarter) we toured the Old Jewish Cemetery, where hundreds of years of burials had raised the ground level to considerably above street level, and packed the headstones flat together. The attached Pinkasova synagoga is now a sobering memorial to Holocaust victims, with a heartbreaking display of children’s art from the concentration camp at Terezín.

Later, we were absolutely delighted by the UPM—the Uměleckoprůmyslové museum v Praze (Decorative Arts Museum). Keep in mind that we’re art and craftsmanship geeks, but this museum was laid out with such enthusiasm for showing all sorts of artisanal professions—glasswork (of course), linen and lace, fancy dress clothing, clocks, fancy woodwork from all over Europe, even promotional posters from the early part of the century. In addition, after the glasswork show you were provided with a safety pin, a piece of steel wire (with pliers nearby) and a bin with multitudes of different glass beads—you were encouraged to build your own piece of jewellery, as a free keepsake. It’s the one place we regret we didn’t spend enough time in.

Last day: Pražský hrad

Our last full day in Prague was spent at the Pražský hrad (Prague Castle). It’s not a fantastically ornate palace, like Versaille or the Hermitage; rather, it impresses because of its size, sheer age (parts date from the 9th Century) and tenacity (it’s been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries).

The entrance to the hrad. The guards’ light-blue uniforms were designed by the costume designer of the movie Amadeus (which was filmed in Prague).

The constant cycle of fire/war—rebuilding means that the castle and churches are a motley patchwork of architectural and interior decoration styles, ranging from Gothic and Baroque (and neo-Gothic and neo-Baroque) to Art Nouveau. Saint Vitus’s Cathedral, the largest church in the hrad, was started in 1344 but didn’t get officially finished until 1929, so there’s quite a range of styles. This continually unfinished state of the cathedral became the symbol and embodiment of the Czech psyche (which somehow also seems very Canadian in a way).

The focal point of the hrad: St. Vitus’s Cathedral. (Click on picture for panoramic view of city from church tower.)

The side porch of St. Vitus’s Cathedral was recently restored. Notice the very old buttresses above the modern wooden doors.

Home decorating tip: When installing stain-glass windows, pick an era and style and STICK WITH IT. Lest your guests’ brains fry from astonishment. (The stained-glass windows in Vitus’s Cathedral range from Victorian to early 20th C. styles.)

One window was designed in the 1920s by Art Nouveau notable Alfons Mucha (Note the prominent credit to its sponsor, Banka Slavie)

Metronome on the hill.

Peter walked over to Letná Park to see the giant Metronome sculpture that sits on a massive plinth originally built for an infamous monument to Stalin that was dynamited in the 60s. Now it’s home to mainly skateboarders and graffiti artists. [One gets the feeling that the city allows the youth to get their graffiti ya-ya’s out on the backside of the metronome, in exchange for leaving the Old Town and New Town more or less graffiti free.]

The giant Metronome at Letná Park and the graffiti on its backside.

Walking back to our hotel from the hrad. Always with those picturesque buildings… (Click on picture for panoramic view.)

The next morning we walked across Legií most (Legions Bridge) to Praha hlavní nádraží, the main railway station to catch our train to Vienna. At the train station was a Czech bookstore, where we looked at books by Czech and translated foreign writers. We noticed that Czech womens’ surnames always end in -ová, but the Czechs also put -ová at the end of foreign women’s names. Thus you get J.K. Rowlingová and Candace Bushnellová, which just looks odd.

Impressions? In the end, Praha was Peter’s favourite of the two cities. The main undercurrent of the Czech mindset, the soul of the country, seems to be rooted in artisanal activities. It’s not the most stunning art in Europe (hello, Italia) and certainly not heavily monied (hello Wien), but clearly there was an innate dedication to making something look good when you built it. Rarely did you pass a very plain building, and usually you knew it was a product of the Communist years. We started making jokes “Oh, yet another street where the filigree fairy’s had her way” or “Apparently the sculptors finished their job early, so they decided to paint a mural”, but at those times we were just overloaded with constant eye candy.

Warning boats on Čechův most bridge.

This the base of a regular lampost on Legií most bridge

Just holdin’ up a balcony

On the train we shared a foursome with two young Brits travelling Europe’s youth hostels, who found our stories about Canada exotic, and our money bizarre (Hockey on the $5! [wish I’d had a $20 bill too!—P] I don’t understand the quote from the poem! What’s OUR Queen doing on YOUR country’s money?!) And after a pleasant 5-hour ride—noticing a pleasing number of wind turbines along the way—we arrived in Wien, Österreich!

Next: Part 2

Bye Praha! (the Hrad at dusk)

* Which we will blog about in an upcoming post.↩