Love locks in prague

Sunday Aug 29

I think it's a common practice of the love locks in europe, at least I'm starting to notice them. I saw it for the first time in cologne germany and again here in prague. It's a nice idea to come with someone you love and place the lock and throw the key into the river. Hmmm, I'm trying to think a place in az for me and gary to declare our undying love. With our luck we'll probably get arrested for defacing public property.

Beautiful Prague

Henry Tower near old town

Astronomical Clock in the old square

Weekend festival in the old square

"16" Cathedral in the old square

Charles Bridge

Sunday Aug 28

One of the best way to tour a city like this is with a bike tour. It takes you out a little further and on foot. We signed up for a ride in the morning. It's a city tour so I told Mike that I get nervous riding a bike through crowds so let's see. I had to practice a little while waiting for everyone to be ready :-) I just don't want to kill any unsuspecting tourists!

Our guide was a young guy named Michael. He was good at stopping frequently to tell us some history. We started in the old square where he promptly declared that the prominent sculptor in the middle was quite ugly. However, one of the figure was one of the most famous in czech history: Jan Hus. Jan Hus started the Protestan movement when he rebeled against the catholic church during the times when greed and power was a dominant feature. He was not popular with the church and had to go into semi-exile to his small village in slovakia. The pope invited him to a gathering in rome and promised him safety. He came and found out it was a lied and was arrested. The pope gave him the option to disclaim what he has preached and tell people he was possessed by the devil, or he would be burned at the stake for witchcraft. Well, he chose the later and became a hero/martyr for the locals.

Michael started out saying that czechs were cowardly people and usually did not fight back any foreign occupation. I would have said it differently, maybe they are just a peaceful people. As in Slovakia the country was under Austrain-Hungarian rule, then german occupation and then russian occupation. The revolution took place in 1989 and by 1991 they were a free country with their own constitution. Most interesting part of the tour was the jewish quarter. For centuries a specific part of the city was dedicated for the "jewish ghetto". Jews were not treated equally and not allowed to live outside an actual erected wall within the city. They could not build out as the population grew so they built up. The cementery nearby was small naturally so they had to bury the dead in layer (as in 10-20 layers per plot).

We rode by the charles bridge which was built in the 13 century and still standing strong today. Part of the reason is the diamond shaped feet column designed to take minimal impact of the water flow, especially during flooding. They really know how to build these things back then. Tour books will tell you that it's very crowded and advised times when you can go when it's more quiet. It's very popular because it's only a pedestrian bridge and has statues along the bridge. You will find many vendors and artists as you stroll across the bridge. I thought part of the charm are the crowds. Besides, it wasn't as bad as people made it sound. You haven't experienced crowded until you are on the champs Elysee on news years eve. Trust me, that's crowded.

Saw the "lennon wall" Just a big wall in a quiet neighborhood where people spray painted whatever they wanted to express. I guess during those occupied times, freedom of expression was a precious thing. Most of the drawings and words were related to j. lennon or the beatles. Someone mentioned that it's actively painted on so that you will see a different wall if you come back in a week.

It was a lovely sunny day and perfect for a bike ride.

Mike went back to dudo by 5pm and I went back into town and got tickets for a classical concert in the Rudolfino theatre. I like the music but I was interested in the building itself. Apparently during the german occupation it was used as headquarter for the german gestapo police. The concert was held in a smaller room with about 200 seats. The sounds was amazing and the czech symphony orchestra (the string section) played some popular collection of mozart, vivaldi and bizet. Loved it. The violinist was amazing, some pieces were so intricate and fast he held the audience transfixed. Prague seemed to have endless number of theatres, I was I had more time!

My (almost missed) travel to Prague

Saturday Aug 27
So it was time for another bonehead move on my part. A couple of months ago I planned a weekend in Prague while I'm working in Bratislava. Bought plane tickets out of the local airport, it's only 1 hour flight. Cool. My friend Mike from Dudo will join me in Prague so he also bought tickets. Cool. Well come Saturday morning I took a taxi to the Brat local airport. When inside I couldn't find my flight on the monitor and didn't see any counters for Czech Air. Perplexed I finally found someone and showed him my e-ticket. It was a group of 3 workers and they first laughed and then told me that they cancelled this route over 2 months ago and there are no flights to Prague from this airport. It took a few seconds for it to sink in and i realize that my friend Mike has landed in prague by this time and waiting for me. I asked the worker if there are any other way to get to prague and could he help me. I hadnt decided to go after all but let's get all the info first. The orignal plan was to go saturday morning and go back by 6pm the next day. Not a lot of time to begin with and I already lost valuable time. Well, turns out there was a train that leaves Bratislava around noon and gets into Prague 4 hours later. At first I was going to forget the whole thing. Not enough time there and going alone on a train in a foreign country in which I don't speak any of the language? Definitely outside of my comfort zone. I guess in my old age I've lost some of my adventurous (a.k.a. stupidity) spirit, at least enough to make me hesitate. I took the local bus to the train station even while texting Mike that I haven't decided what to do yet but on my way to the train station to get more info. Eventually I got the brilliant idea to go after all and stay until Monday making it worth the trip. By the way Monday was a bank holiday so we had that day off anyway! In a very round about way I got tickets - it was only $50 round trip. I have always wanted to see Prague and who knows when I will get to go. Gary has already been there so it's usually not first on our list of trips.
Train trip was easy enough and I found my way to the hotel. Taxi driver at the train station tried to rip me off with the first quote. I told him the price was too much and I'll just take the subway (it was a bluff because I didn't know my way around yet and it was raining). Miraculously his colleague came to me and cut the price in half, bastards. I can imagine how people they've ripped off.

Mike and I walked around old town a little bit but the rain was a bummer, even with our umbrella. Then we decided to duck into one of the theatres and bought tix to a show. The performance was Carmen. It was very innovative because they made it a combo of an opera on one side of the stage and a ballet on the other side, with a small orchestra playing in a back corner. The singers were fantastic and they even had a marquee on top of the stage to translate the singers.

After the theatre we sat in one of the sidewalk cafe for a pitcher of sangria and cheese. Nice view right next to the astronomical clock in the old square. A few minutes before 10pm all these tourists suddenly appeared in front of the clock and held their cameras poised. I had no idea what was going on but also got out my camera and held it ready. At 10pm the clock chimed a few times and that was that.How lame!! Well, the next day someone told us that at the top of each hour there are 12 figurines that come out of the clock and it's only up until 9pm!

So sad to hear a german talking like a cali surfer

Most of the time my german (or from other countries) asks me to teach them proper english. This audit is a different experience because we have 2 americans in our group of 5. Me and Clay who is from southern cal and talks like it. The other night one of our german colleague wanted to learn some american slang. I refused to teach him because I didn't want to be responsible for corrupting the poor guy. So what does he do? he goes to Clay who was more than happy to teach him. It was so funny that I couldn't help but throw in some words of my own like "dude" or "moron" or "that's so wacked". By the end of the evening Stefan was calling us douch bags (this was NOT part of my contribution). I was busting up when he had to google the word during dinner to figure out what that word meant and wanted us to explain further! Ofcourse Clay was more than happy to explain where the word douche came from (in french it means shower but in the US it's used very differently!) There was also fascination about the culture of LA (about the girls in particular) which I was quick to say does NOT represent the rest of the country. Some of the topics were so funny and cannot be posted here!

Hrad castle at night

This castle makes an imposing view from most anywhere in the city. Pretty impressive

A walk along the Danube river

August 21

It was such a lovely day for a long walk along the Danube river which flows right past the old town. I crossed over an old pedestrian bridge to get a shot of old town (and castle) from the middle of the river. There's the UFO restaurant/bar at one of a the bridge that takes you into town. You can guess why they call it that! Lots of people out and eating ice cream. It was the perfect temp of high 70's and sunny. Still too humid for me though. In the last picture I thought it was funny that a bar/ice cream joint by the river had some swings for the customers. They were taken otherwise I would be spending some time there eating an icecream!

Me, wine tasting, who would have thunk!

August 20

At the end of the wine tour we stopped in the village of Pezinok to some wine tasting. It was interesting to know that we are located in the middle of the wine region. Because of the carpathian foothills and the nice climate there are many wine makers in the area. They make mostly white wine and only until recently as temp gets warmer they are making some red wine.

Even more interesting is that most of these wine makers do this as a hobby or make it for their own consumption or sell it locally to restaurants. That's why most houses are built with their own wine cellars. Even though we see vinyards throughout the hills you don't see big wineries in the area. With that said, our wine tasting took place in the home of P. Borik. I have to say I had my doubts in the beginning. Our van stopped in front of this modest house in the middle of a regular looking neighborhood. Our guide rang the doorbell and a few minutes later a robust looking man come to the gate with some giant dogs flanking him. He takes us round the back and still I only see a regular backyard with a herb and tomato garden. He then ushers us down some stairs to his basement and I'm thinking this looks suspicious! He could chop us up and bury us in his garden and who would know?!

But all is well as we sat down at a table in a small but nice brick line cellar. He had laid out plates of h'ordeurves of pates and pickled onions filled with local cheese to eat while we drink. I had no intention to drink much wine but they all tasted so good! We tasted a total of 3 whites and 2 reds. Granted, each tasting was only 1/4 of a glass. After the first I didn't feel anything so I kept going. It occurred to me later that he started us out with the lightest wine and it continued to be heavier and stronger. By the time we got to the reds I was starting to feel it and had to stop when he brought out the cabernet. Everyone told me that I wasnt REALLY red but this picture told me that they lied! Our host was such a nice man. He was curious about where we were from and what we did. He was fascinated by arizona and kept turning to me and saying bad snakes! At one point he asked me what special alcohol came from our state and I couldn't really tell him so I said we generally drink wines from other places! He actually studied culinary in school and worked in germany for 20 years before moving back to slovakia. His winery is small but he makes 15,000 bottles a year and exports about 20%. The 2 australian girls from london (who claimed that the guys in bratislava are cuter than in london) were loving the wine and were bummed that they couldn't bring back any with them. When I found out a bottle only cost 5 euros I bought 4! One for me to sip for the next 3 weeks (we'll see) and the other 3 for the guys on my team. We spent almost 2 hours in peter's cellar drinking and chatting (our tour group was only 5 people) it was a lot of fun. The couple in our group was from belgium and were proud to boast that even though they might not have good wine they have over 600 brands of beer. Now that's a lot for a country that small! Peter didn't want us to leave and kept offering more drink. At one point he brought out his "slovakian moonshine" to share with us. I had said no because by that time the alcohol had caught up with me and I was feeling dizzy and drunk! As he poured the moonshine into these small glasses (see the picture above) I was too curious and wanted to check it out. I took a whiff and the strong smell of alcohol was enough to get me drunker! I took a small sip and it tasted like rubbing alcohol! Everyone drank it like a shot but there was no way I would drink that, it would knock me out for sure!

On the way out we were all a little tipsy and very quiet, I was comatosed. It was a great day.

Wine tour around the carpathian mountains

August 20

Did an awesome half day tour to see the surrounding areas of bratislava. I normally wouldn't have signed up for a wine tour since I don't drink much but I happened to like the itinerary of this tour and it seemed to be a nice way to see some of the country. We followed the wine route which goes around the foothills of the carpathian mountain range which stretches west to east from slovakia through ukraine to romania.

We stopped in the town of modra to see the famous pottery. Because of the special clay in the area the town has been making these pretty vases and pottery for centuries. Our guide took us to a museum for a demo of how it's made. They don't use the normal wheel but bigger machineries, I guess it's faster for mass production. It was interesting that in the early years red was not a popular color because people associate this color with blood.

We spent a couple of hours at cerveny kamen which means red rock castle, in the northeast of bratislava. Built in the 13th century, it's the most intact castle in the country because it has never been attacked. It was more modern looking than what I expected. Up until ww2 it was occupied by noble families most recently the palffys. We toured through one major wing of the castle where the families lived, and into the huge multi level wine cellars. There was this crazy sled made out of gold, those poor horses having to lug the person and the heavy sled! It was interesting to see the different styles of furniture preferred by the different generations, including a bed made of gold! The funniest was a toilet hidden in a fancy chest of drawers that can be moved room to room.

Our guide was suzanna, a young college student from the area. Nowadays kids learn english starting in secondary school so her english is very good. Now it explains why most people we run into speak some english. It makes things much easier for us! During the ride suzanna would share a little history of the country which was so interesting to me. Slovakia was formerly part of Czecholsvakia, which for centuries was under the austro-hungarian empire. In 1993 with the fall of russia the country split into czech republic with prague as its capital and slovakia with bratislava as its capital. You can see influences of these cultures in bratislava through the music, food, architecture and even furniture.

Bratislava

Aug 15, 2011

4 weeks in Bratislava, yikes! This is the longest assignment so let's see how I do. The team consists of me and 4 guys from germany, japan and southern cal. All very nice and laid back so we are having fun. Bratislava is the captial of Slovakia and very close to Vienna. In fact I flew into Vienna from the US and took a taxi to our hotel in Bratislava. Our hotel is right next to Old Town and a convenient walk to all the restaurants. We are also close to the Danube river, there are castles nearby - cant wait to explore more during our free time.

I'm liking the cuisine, last night we had a nice dinner at a rest. with local cuisine. Lots of meats and potatoes in their diet. Loved my grilled trout (pictured above :-)). So glad this group likes (and can afford to) go out to dinner every night. I told stefan that we can literally eat at a different restaurant every night we are here! The old town is so quaint, pedestrian only and with lots of winding narrow cobblestone streets.

Our hotel has a nice spa area on the top floor with views of the castle - massages are cheap so guess what I'll be getting every week! Cant' wait to check out the shopping!

Bye bye germany

Aug 5

Hooray! All done and on my way home to sunny az. Last 3 wks made me homesick for a little sun and happier attitudes! Because the weather has been so crappy it's the top conversation piece here. I tell you, people are pissed that it's in the middle of the summer and it's been cold and rainy! It's enough that the weather is like this year round but they expected at least a few weeks of decent weather. One colleague asked me if I have any idea what it's like to have kids on school holiday with nowhere to go?! They are so happy when a little sun peeks out for a few minutes but cranky again when it's not. THis is usually the time when I brag about the 360 days of sunshine in az and that it's 43C right now. I will NOT miss the humidity!

It's been a great audit and fun to do with M. THis is the first time where all were experience and it's been much less work and stress. We both knew what to do and how to do it. Went to a networking bbq at hkl and was fun. Ran into some people I knew and some where I have only worked with via email. Wursts and steak on the grill and kegs of beer, it was great.

Girls night out!

July 29

Talk about a way to end the week. Marietta wanted to make sure we finish our report end of day Friday (so we don't have work on the weekend) so she coordinated weeks prior a girls night out. I tried the "I'm an old married woman" excuse but that was rejected immediately. The plan was to have cocktails at M's place at 9pm and afterwards we go out dancing. Again I tried to tell them that I am usually in bed by 10pm and again that was rejected. And so I went and had a great time. There were 5 of us girls including 2 that I met for the first time. It was fun to do girl talk while sipping on champagne. I have to say I was starting to get tired by midnight and we still haven't gone out yet. We did manage to leave around 12:30 and went to les halles, a really cool dance club that's a restaurant by day. It's like a big old house and the music gets louder as you go towards the center room. The further you go in the more crowded and the louder the music. The loud music really gets your blood pumping and we were dancing and having fun to the typical house music. Then at one point I heard the dj talking with a southern (as in southern carolina) accent, what the heck?! It definitely wasn't german when he was asking "howr y'all doin?"! By 3:30am I was running out of steam and ready to head home. The girls were still going at it, bless them. Ofcourse they are at least 15-20 years younger than me so I have a good excuse. When I was told to bring clubbing clothes for this night I just laughed at them. I texted gary on the taxi ride home and he couldn't believe I was still up, lol! I rarely go out on a friday night while at home because I do want to go to bed by 10!

Still, it was a fun night and to live vicariously through these young girls who still have so much energy in them. Hey, I was like that but many many years ago! Now my idea of fun is to relaxing on the couch and watching a movie with my hubby.

Daytrip to Maastricht, Netherlands

July 30, 2011

My friend Mike and I drove to the Netherlands for the day, so great I can say that! Because he was an american expat he had to show off driving his mercedes on the autobahn over 100 mph. Cars were still passing us by so it wasnt that fast in the scheme of things.

Maastricht is on the southern part of the netherlands near the border of germany, only an hour drive from dudo. We started with a visit to the St.Peter's caves which was really a limestone quarry. Mike used his GPS to get us there and without realizing it it led us off the road which ended about half mile from our destination and onto a walking path! I made a comment that it was awefully narrow and we kept hoping that it would eventually widen up. Well, the opposite happened and without an obvious turnaround point. We had a steep dirt hill on one side and a drop off on the other and only a few inches in between. Panic set in when we reached end of the path and no way to turn around. SO I had to get out of the car and directed Mike as he SLOWLY backed up. OMG, disaster averted! There were a few walkers in the area who must have thought we were idiots, they weren't far off! When we parked the car by the church and walked back the way we drove, I could see tire marks on the side of the hill when the car was turning to much and was trying to climb a vertical dirt hill. I was laughing hysterically the rest of the day.

At the start of the cave tour when they told us that it was really a quarry for sandstone Mike started complaining about being ripped off because it wasnt a real cave. However, he got more impressed as we learned that it was a quarry that started in the 11th century and continued to be mined for centuries. In the end it was a labrynth of 200km with ceilings up to 30 feet. The stones were actually sawed away, one big block at a time, so that the cave walls were relatively smooth and neat. During wwII 50,000 people hid in the caves. The most impressive parts were the charcoal paintings on the walls (last picture on this blog).

The rest of the day we explored the medieval town. At one point we got lazy and did a trolley tour to get the feel of the town. I liked the cathedral but only got 5 minutes inside before they closed. We walked into a cool bookstore that was formerly an old church (2nd to last picture on this blog). There was even a small coffee shop in it. I didn't venture into any of the "coffeeshops" there were you can smoke some pot. Smelled it once in awhile though.

Stopped by the designer outlet on the way back. Bad luck but the stores were just closing. I fell in love with a burberry trench coat so Mike was generous enough to drive back the next day so I could get it. Too bad they did not have my size but I made up for it with a purse and an armani jacket! We budgeted 2 hours at the outlets including lunch because both of us needed to do some work in the afternoon. Good thing because I probably would have done a LOT of damage to my wallet. Would have been crazy if I had one of my shopping girlfriends with me. Fun weekend but back to work now, last week of the audit, can't wait to go home and see gary and ayla(maybe).

They really take their bbq parties seriously here....

July 23
Went to a bbq at WE's house. It was a mix of a summer celebration & a birthday party. For a grillmaster we had a brazilian who really knew his meats. At first pass was a whole selection of bratwurst, so good with a variation of cold salads. Then out came the beef! Over the next 5 hours gustavo put on the grill one piece of steak at a time. When a piece is done he would cut it in small slices and the group standing around the charcoal grill would take a piece with their fork. By the end of the night a smaller group of us were taking tequila shots and eating the meat with our fingers. So I have seen one extreme where my german friends are eating a hamburger with a knife and fork and now I'm seeing them eat steak with their fingers, off a cutting board. I think they do let their guards down when in a more relaxed and social environment.

By midnight it was a few of us sitting around the outside patio table. I watched in horror at the way they sop up the blood from the steak with bread. Gustavo would take a steak off the grill (by now he has moved the grill to our table so he can sit with us), cut up into slices and pass it around the table. When the empty cutting board gets back to him he would then ask each one of us "blood?" If someone says yes then he would take a piece of bread and soak it with the juice from the steak which is mostly the blood. It was a funny ritual to watch.

They really are against paperware here. Only real glasses, silverware & plates no matter how big the group. I felt bad seeing the mountain of dishes WE's wife had to do, luckily she did have a dishwasher.

Some of the group had planned to go to the carnival afterwards but I had gotten a little cold and the weather was kind of crappy so didn't want to risk getting worse. What was up with the summer weather?! It's been cold and rainy here and boy did I pack wrong! Thank goodness I thought to bring a light jacket, I've worned it everyday!

Gustavo's recipe for steak: coat either sides with coarse sea salt, or marinate in herbal butter.......have to try it when I get home.