Leaving Day

Monday was our final day.  I had been in Europe since June 27 and Reginald since May 24.  Now it was time to return to Paris for one night and then back to Memphis.  Gabi drove us to Prague airport for our flight and went on to see our old Memphis Czech friends, Vytek and Paulina.  She was planning to spend the day with them.

Once we got to CDG, we took the bus to our hotel nearby.  We rested and made plans for our last evening.  We wanted to spend it with Josephine in Paris and eat at Chez Andre.  After several attempts, we were finally able to get Josephine on the phone and made plans.

It was cheaper to take the RER to Paris, so we left around 5.  Still that took an hour since we had to take the bus to the station before catching the train.  Once there, we descended at Chatelet, probably the busiest metro and RER stop in the whole city.  We just ascended at the closest exit and found "Les Halles."  What we did not know was that there is a big restoration of Les Halles going on now.  We made our way to the Louvre and took the metro to Franklin Roosevelt station to walk the rest of the way.  Just as we neared Josephine's place, we had a downpour and ducked into the Plaza Athenee Hotel.  I must say that I was not impressed at all.  The Peabody lobby has much more to offer!

Eventually, we made it to Josephine's, had a drink, and then left for the restaurant.  We sat in a lovely corner of the restaurant and had a very typical French meal.  I had endives with roquefort followed by poulet frites.  Reginald had the endives also with a steak tartar.  Josphine is not eating much but took the shrimp entree.  Afterward, we walked her home.  Of course, the main topic for the evening was Bruno, whom we all miss.

We took a taxi back to the hotel since it was late and we could not face the RER again!  Now it was time to pack up and leave France.  We don't know when we will return, but we know that this summer was a special one. 

A very warm Sunday

Sunday, July 28, was predicted to be very hot, and it was!  We are used to such weather in the southern US, but not in the Czech Republic.  However, we were prepared.

We started our day by going to the local air-conditioned mall.  This is an ultra-modern facility with lots of shops and even a grocery store.  I admit that I am not used to stores being opened so early on Sunday, but they are here.  We did some looking around and then went to the grocery store for provisions.

We decided that we would buy some open-faced sandwiches for lunch, so later on we walked from Gabi's apartment to the local bakery.  I love the idea of nicely designed and delicious open-faced sandwiches!  We chose the ones we wanted and headed home.  Again, we decided to eat outside. 

As the afternoon began heating up, four of us--Gabi, Vera, Reginald, and I--headed to Gabi's aunt's house in the countryside, about six miles from Pilsen.  There we sat in the shade, enjoyed a fruit salad (and later coffee and walnut cake), and just talked.  There was an above-ground pool, so we cooled off in that.  All in all, a lovely evening.

We returned home to prepare for our last evening in Pilsen.  It will be sad to say good-bye, but we see Gabi again in two months.

Above the trees in Bavaria

On Saturday, we planned to go to Regensberg, Germany, Saturday, but the distance and the very warm weather made us rethink that.  Why would we walk around a hot city when we could go to the Bavarian Forest National park  and The Tree Top Walk?  Our trip to Bavaris took us to some lovely scenic spots.  The Tree Top Walk was just that—a walkway that took us through a 1.3 kilometer walk that ended up at the top of the trees.  We discovered that the three main trees here are birch, fir, and spruce.  We were actually able to look down on the trees once we reached the top.  The weather was not as hot here, and there was an area for eating lunch and then having a drink afterward.  Pictures do not do justice, but here is one anyway.

We decided to return to Pilsen by way of Bodenmais, a well-know glass making town.  Go to http://www.bodenmais.de/en/ for pictures.  We visited one of the many glass shops and were struck by the number of various objects.  I was glad I had not brought any grandchildren into this place!  

There was a little train that took tourists around the town, so we caught that and saw the area.  It was exactly my storybook view of Bavarian villages.  

We then returned home to partake of a spaghetti carbonara and salad, again eating under the pergola.

Folkloric and Historic Bohemia

Friday, July 26, 2013

There is a place in Pilsen near the zoo where you can take your empty water bottles (or any bottles for that matter) and fill them with wine!  You enter an old bulding that actually houses offices for the zoo, pass several pictures and posters of animals, and enter an old office.  There a very nice man will advise you about the latest wines he has in, but we knew what we wanted.  We had been drinking the Sauvignon, and it was quite good, so we ordered four liters.  I think we paid $12 dollars.  From there, we took our receipt and went down to a cellar.  It looked like the cellar from La Giraudiere, quite unkept and a little scary, but a guy was there to meet us and took our order.  We looked around at many big plastic containers of various wines, many empty or almost so, and many just scattered around.  Reginald said that the people working there looked more sober than the wine merchants in France!  We got our wine and left for our day’s adventure.

Horsovsky Tyn  is, according to the brochure, “situated in the valley of the river Radbuza in the southwest of the Pilsner region.”  The place is very old, a  residence of many Prague bishops in the past.  It played a role in the Hussite Wars, where the town (being Catholic) withstood repeated attacks of Hussite troops.  I had to look up the Hussite Wars and found this on the internet:  “Hussite Wars, series of conflicts in the 15th cent., caused by the rise of the Hussites in Bohemia and Moravia. It was a religious struggle between Hussites and the Roman Catholic Church, a national struggle between Czechs and Germans, and a social struggle between the landed and peasant classes.”

(Read more: Hussite Wars | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/hussite-wars.html#ixzz2aK4sV2PC)

The town and its castle were owned by aristocratic families from the 16^th to the 20^th century.  I noted that the last family, the Trouttmanndorfs.  They left in 1945 (no one said why, but I can guess), and the castle reverted to the state.

A never-ending theme in the many sites we have visited in Europe is war and fire.  Every castle documents the wars that took place there and the buildings that were rebuilt “after the great fire of …(fill in the blank).”  It was the same with this castle, which started out as a medieval castle but was rebuilt as a Renaissance castle after the fire.  It was furnished with period furniture and assessories and it housed an incredible library of leather-bound books; it contains 15,000 volumes.

The town itself was setting up for a festival to honor St. Anne, whose feast day is this weekend.  It was very picturesque and the houses were a lovely baroque style of many colors were eye-catching. 

Houses in Horsovsky Tyn

After visiting this area, we drove to another area for lunch, seeing the Czech countryside from the comfort of Gabi’s air-conditioned car!

Lunch at Chodska Challupa

There is an area of Bohemia near the German border called Chodenland.

When the lords of ancient times settled in the area, they also established villages whose main function was to protect the border.  The area protects its folkloric customs and its history.  We ate at a restaurant near the monument of J.S. Kozina, who tried to seek more power for the common folk and was, of course, executed.  This was in 1695, but he is still remembered with a big monument.  The view from the restaurant was beautiful, and the waiters in costumes.  I could not take their pictures, but I have an example of a folkloric costume.  Jari, Gabi’s friend who was with us, remembers her grandmother wearing dress similar to this.

We had a typical Czech meal: pork, cabbage and dumplings for Reginald, potato pancakes for Jari, and Svickova,, a typical Czech dish and one of the most popular Czech meals.  It is a sirloin served with houskové knedlíky (bread dumplings). After visiting for a bit, we then headed for Jari’s home town of Domazlice .

Folkloric dress from the Chodenland area

Trip to Domazlice

Domazlice is another historic town near the Czech-German border.  There is evidence of merchant activity here as early as 993, and this town was founded in 1265 by Czech King Premysl Otakar II.  A tower in the square is the landmark for this town, and la watch tower later incorporated into the church.  Also located in the town is Chodsky Castle.  Originally a Gothic castle founded in the 1260s, it was visited by several kings.  After the (guess what?)  fire of 1592, it way in ruins until the 18^th century.  It is now home to the Chodsko museum.  There you find artifacts of those who lived here all those centuries with replicas of their homes and dress.  

View of Domazlice

Our lovely guide told us all about this.  No, wait, we had no guide, just information in English.  Who was that person?

Our lovely, and not so knowledgeable guide

After walking around, visiting the museum, and having a drink at a local café, we returned to Pilsen.

For dinner, we ate outside again, having a lovely chef’s salad, cheese, and chodsky kolac, a dessert specialty from the Domazlice.  All in all, a very informative day!

Prague and Mucha

Thursday was our much anticipated day in Prague, one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.  We left for Prague at 9:30 and arrived in about an hour.  After we parked near Charles Bridge, we walked through old town--Stare Mesto--toward the Municipal House which housed Alphonse Mucha’s exhibit, the one owned by Ivan Lendl.  Mucha was the Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist whose posters of Sarah Bernhardt are well known.  We spent the rest of the morning seeing the exhibit and discussing Mucha’s work.  Afterward, we walked around to find a place to eat lunch outside, really to take advantage of the nice weather.  Eventually, we  found a café, Kolkovna, which served Czech food. Gabi had the goulash, and Reginald had potato soup in a bread bowl.  I had a Cesar salad with grilled chicken.  It was warm, and I knew we would have a big supper, so I opted for a lighter meal. 

From there we walked back toward Charles Bridge crossing through the Jewish area and giving a quick glance to the old Synagogue.  We were on our way to catch a boat that took us through the “Venice “ of Prague.  It was a nice trip with commentary on the various sites.  It turns out that many films that show scenes of Venice are actually shot in Prague! 

Then we visited the museum of the museum of the Charles bridge and saw pictures and displays on how the bridge was build.

Across Charles Bridge to Mala Strana  we walked, crossing the bridge over the canal we had just traveled and seeing the John Lennon wall with all its graffiti.  We  then caught a tram to the castle.  We took a tour of the castle area, Hradcany, after having a drink.

Then we walked back down to the car and drove home.  Dinner was again outside under the pergola at Gabi’s.  Vera had made us some stuffed peppers, green beans, and homemade strudel.  We were tired but enjoyed our dinner wine while talking about our day.

A Pilsen kind of day

Wednesday morning I went to the University of West Bohemia Summer Program to visit Charles Hall, Robert Jordan, and several of my students.  I participated in Charles' class and stayed for Robert's.  Later Gabi showed up with Reginald, and (lo and behold), one of Reginald's former students from MUS was in the class!  We toured the campus and looked especially at the new art building--an open spaced an modern edifice that includes not only art but fashion design and show design!  Evidently, there are sometimes live models, but we did not see any.  We left to see Gabi's office, which is located closer to downtown in a new building (actually an old building, but new for them).  There is a market next to it, so we bought a few fruits and vegetables.  I noticed a monument to the American forces of WWII nearby. Pilsen was liberated by the Americans, and the people here are still thankful.

We came back to Gabi's apartment for lunch.  Afterward, we took the tram to downtown to visit Pilsen and make a special trip to the Jewish Synagogue, which often houses exhibitions.  The one we saw was by Karel Steiner, a Czech who moved to the US and eventually to Paris. 

That evening we ate outside in the Kleckova perogola.  We had invited Gabi's mother, Vera, and her cousin, Jacob, who visited us in the US years ago.  We made turkey kabobs and grilled them.  I very nice evening!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Today was traveling day.  We got up early to take the rental car back to Angers.  Then we caught the 10:43 train to CDG airport.  After waiting about an hour, we got on the Czech Airlines flight to Prague.  Gabi met us as we left the airport and drove us to her apartment in Pilsen.  Up to this point, we had not really had much to eat--just grabbing bites quickly.  Now in Pilsen, we sat outside under a lovely pergola and munched on homemade hummus.  We then had a meal of carp, rocket salad, and French bread with a dessert of raspberries and pistachio nut ice cream.  It was worth the travels!  Tomorrow I will visit the University of West Bohemia summer school and say hello to some of my students.  I taught in that program in 1993--so hard to believe it was 20 years ago!  It will be fun to see how it has changed in that time.