going back in time (literally and figuratively)

I haven't updated in quite some time and many travels have ensued since then, so here goes--

My last days in Praha were too short but wonderful; I went back to Petrin and finally got to go up the the pseudo Eiffel tower and into the mirror labyrinth, and also finally went to the castle and saw some of its innards. I got to bake vanocka, the Czech braided Christmas bread studded with raisins and almonds--DELICIOUS. My host family made me a good-bye party, which was very sweet. They baked my absolute favorite, palacinky with tvaroh (pancakes with cottage cheese and also marmalade) and we exchanged holiday gifts and all played cards together. I miss them already.

I flew to England rather early on a Sunday morning and proceeded to take a very nice coach bus to OXFORD where I was met by my dear friend Gwen who is studying at Wadham (one of the colleges at Oxford) for the year. We went back to her flat, a very lovely flat, where we met another dear friend Sarah. The next day I got a grand tour of the city (village? town?) of Oxford, which is old and beautiful. First was the Botanical Gardens, which are enchanted and make you feel like you're in The Secret Garden. We went into Wadham to see the grounds and the cathedral and the "lingering tree," a tree you are not allowed to linger under, so naturally everyone does. I walked around the Bodleian Library, had a cream tea, went into St. Mary's cathedral and explored Blackwell's Booksellers. For dinner it had to be something quintessentially British, so we went to the kebab place. (Yes, kebab places have truly supplanted fish and chips as Britain's late-night food of choice.)

The next day another dear friend, Abby, arrived from Manchester and we did some more exploring of the town, mostly going to Christchurch college, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland as well as Hogwarts, and stopped at the Wadham pub, the King's Arms. The day was finished off with a bang with high tea, which involves scones, clotted cream, jam, cucumber sandwiches, cake, and of course, tea. Tres elegante. Alas, I had to leave early the next morning, but I would definitely like to go back to England someday and explore more...London, Canterbury, Stonehenge, York...

I went back to California for a short few days and am now in lush and tropical Kauai with the family. I'll be back in California in time for New Year's. Next semester: the Middle East!

konec

the last blog entry from the Czech Republic...short but sweet....

Germany was wonderful, I was in Goselhuring, Spauding, Regensburg and Nuremburg, all part of Bavaria, and saw many Christkindlmarkts (Christmas markets) and amazing cathedrals and cemetaries and explored the Nazi heritage of Nuremburg.

The independent study project is over and it went well, including the presentation...

We just got back from "Czech Switzerland" in northern Bohemia where I played with kittens and explored the Sudetenland and rode a horse.

Emotions are twisting and turning.

I will be in England on Monday, California on Thursday, and Hawaii on Sunday.

prace a hra

Finally done with my paper! Huzzah! Now, onlz the presentation to go next Tuesday...I hope that goes all right...I'm off for Germany later today so more on that afterwards...

But it was not all work and no play. On Monday I went to the National Museum with Tom and truly, it was all a National Museum is supposed to be. The building is absolutely opulent and stuffed to the gills with busts of old dead men, pseudo-Greek pillars, chandeliers, gorgeous murals and well tiled floors. Score ten points for Narodni Muzeum. Then, it to make it even better, it is truly a proper Olde Naturale Historie Museum because it has 4 rooms filled with absolutely nothing except cases and cases and cases of minerals, gems and crystals. FANTASTIC. We spent maybe forty minutes perusing the minerals and arguing about which minerals are the superior ones. THEN there is the zoology display with cases and cases of expertly taxidermied animals posed in the most ferocious and/or adorable positions one can imagine AND there is a dead whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling AND a dead MAMMOTH HEAD MOUNTED ON THE WALL. PLUS a buffalo. DEAD. YES. Then there is the Ye Olde Anciente Slavs and Celtics display, title my own, with tons of bronzeware and pottery and cult figures and Olde Toys and random artifacts from Greece and Italy strewn around for good measure. There is also a ridiculously awesome paleontological display that consists of jazillions of fossils crammed together in glass cases. YES. I LOVE THE NARODNI MUZEUM. And best of all, Czech museums all feature security people dressed in dapper suits who INSIST you follow an exact route of museum viewing and sometimes they will just start giving you the lowdown in Czech and you just have to say "Yo, yo, dekujeme, uh huh, vyborně."

I also went to the Zbraslav Asian art museum which was great and a Beethoven string quartet concert in an old monastery.

How can I leave this country? Sigh...

český znamký, židovský v praze, miminko, hudba, lanovka a vietnamska

I have been rather delighted with the weather lately. Cold and crisp! The project is progressing steadily as I´ve now begun work on the paper. Hopefully it will turn out well.

Christmas fever, aka "Vanoce" has hit the country. On December 5 there is St. Mikulas (sp?) Day where an angel, a devil and St. Mikulas visit each child and ask them if they have been good or bad so I'm pretty excited to witness this. Obviously, I have been good. Musicians are preparing the music for the midnight Mass and there are Christmas markets around Old Town, selling mostly kitschy stuff BUT also roasted chestnuts, which are pretty great. All sorts of yummy smells are in the air from mulled wine to Christmas bread with raisins and cinnamon and though there is definitely commercialism it is far less pronounced than American Christmas commercialism.

On Thursday I had several notable adventures, the first of which was a trip to the Postovni Muzeum which is the museum of postal history in the Czech Republic. Iťs housed in a former mill/mansion with paintings on the wall by Josef Navratil, so definitely a beautiful building on its own accord. The official librarian there was thrilled that someone was at the museum, especially a young person, so I got a personal tour of the entire museum, all in Czech. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to realize how much of it I actually did understand. Czech stamps are mighty classy, by the way.

Then I went to Chabad of Prague to pick up my free chanukia, candles and dreidel, because Chanukah is creeping up quickly. They had a nice facility and also a preschool for little kids run in English and Hebrew and naturally the rabbi and his wife knew all the Bay Area Chabad people, so there you have it, small world. There is even a giant chanukia lighting in front of the Rudolfinum next week.

Finally that night there was the baptism for my host cousin Nela, the one born on my birthday. All the extended family showed up at the church where the priest baptized her and then we all had wine and medovnik at the parish house and I played with 2-year-old Emma, who is learning her numbers and makes me super happy because not only is she ridiculously adorable, we are also at a similar linguistic level of Czech, so we understand each other very well.

Yesterday I went up to the castle and saw one of the big cathedrals there and will have to go back next week to get the full tour, because it's sort of crazy I've been in Prague this long and haven't toured the castle, and then went to Petrin where unfortunately the pseudo Eiffel tower was closed but I got to take the lanovka, the funicular railway, back down the hill. And tonight, after working on the paper, a piano concert at the Rudolfinum and maybe ice skating tomorrow (and more working).

Be well.