Filed under: Le voyage | Tags: airplane, backpack, before, bought, buy, day, heavy, leaving, lots, packing, shopping, spree, store, stuff, things, travel, trip
Well today was my last day over at my grandparent’s house and I had to begin the grueling task of shoving the alarming amount of stuff back into my little, purple backpack. It seems that the things that I brought with me have been multiplied behind my back… It also doesn’t help that I want to take most of the books that I brought over with me 
The plight of a traveling bookworm. I put everything on my bed to asset the situation and was astounded that I had bought so many things (Shopping Spree(s)!!)
... Where am I going to put all this stuff
Filed under: Photos, Random Observations | Tags: bazaar, collecting, collection, geeky, hobby, huge, lots, magic, mail, post, postage, Prague, stamps
One thing that I love about the bazaars here in Prague is that you can find some really fascinating stamps. One of my secret geek hobbies is stamp collecting and as an avid collector I’m always on the look out for interesting ones. I went to this one bazaar a few days and they were selling bags of stamps for 100 krowns, or about 5 dollars. I bought the biggest bag I could find and expanded my collection by 468 stamps (I counted them all… twice *_*) In this particular bag I definitely got what I was looking for, diversity. Some of the more memorable include the whale stamp from Russia, the Czech gun stamp and of course the near mint condition Adolf Hitler stamp. Grandpa, a fellow collector, took one look at it and said that one had some money on it. I thought that it was funny that money passed through some body’s hands in disguise and they didn’t even know it. One thing that I don’t understand about some stamp collectors is why they would collect one genre of stamps. Why would you only collect flower stamps and miss out on some cool Olympic stamp or a funny cartoon one. I love looking through my stamp collection because of the sheer variety of it. If you look through the pages you can see that the colorful, bright stamps of flowers and animals balance out the more sober, monotoned stamps of presidents and world leaders. It’s magical to see a stamp from Australia or Vietnam and think that a person wrote to somebody they knew from those places and now I have that connection they had together hidden away in my album.
Runners, and Castles, and Planes oh my!
Filed under: Le voyage | Tags: bollocks, dancing, days, dog, Dům, house, last, Prague, seeing, sight, Tančicí, trip
In an attempt to see as many Czech monuments as possible before we leave, Grandpa has been taking us to Prague almost everyday. Today he took us to see the Tančicí Dům, or the Dancing House. One of the newer monument found in Prague (by only 200 years or so) , the Dancing House is an architectural marvel. It’s namesake comes from the snazzy glass wall that slopes on the side of the building. Apparently in the right light the glass panels make it look like the house is dancing although I myself didn’t witness any. The house is a residential area so we weren’t allowed to go inside but a few pictures from afar were fine with me. My sister Andy joked that the designer probably had a couple of drinks in him when he was planning it. She told me that when the building was finished he looked at it for a while and said “Well it was straight when I drew it!”
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- Tančicí Dům Afar
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- Up Close and Personal
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- City at Your Feet
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- Trdlo
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- Oh my…
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- hehehe
Filed under: Le voyage | Tags: bathroom, fee, funny, go, indoor, now, pee, plumbing, run, shrubbries
Today I ran in to one of those problems that you don’t know exist until you happen to stumble across it; or in my case run blindly into it rather quickly while trying to keep yourself composed. It’s not as if I was being chasing by a group of invisible demons but it comes pretty close. Grandpa took us out to town to introduce us to a whole part of the city that we’ve never seen before, this including the recently built mall in the area. I wandered around this gargantuan mall (Five stories high with stores from all around the world) with a gape-mouthed expression on my face trying to take it all in when suddenly I was struck with the most desperate need to go. The worst part was that it wasn’t the kind of thing that went away with a little wiggle; this was one of those if-you-don’t-locate-the-proper-facilities-soon-you’ll-have-a-very-unsightly-accident things to put it bluntly.
As you can imagine I made it my top priority to find a restroom a.s.a.p.; I set world records racing through the metro(because the mall was connected to it. Now that’s class ^_^) in search of one. During the final leg of my mission, with my goal in sight, I was intercepted by a woman at the door. I don’t know how it slipped my mind, maybe because of the heat of the moment, but I totally forgot about the bathroom fee in Prague. It works quite simply; you pay the attendant a certain amount of money (it varies depending on how popular the spot is) and they give you toilet paper. A fair exchange in my mind if not a bit annoying, and expensive. Frustrated, I had to run back to Grandpa to get the required amount, having spent the last of my money a looong time ago. Thank god for indoor plumbing.
It’s not as if this concept is new to me, like I said it just slipped my mind. I remember one time this one guy was charging females more than males, boy did that ruffle my feathers. After some angry side comment and a few dirty looks, I turned and took my business elsewhere. Thank god for shrubberies. 
Filed under: Le voyage | Tags: bazaar, bizarre, forever, mood, sale, selling, shopping, things, waiting, yard
I’ve been in a yard saling mood lately but unfortunately most of the people living in the area don’t have a yard to sell things on. So my Dad thought that he’d take me to a couple of bazaars around town. A bazaar is pretty much a yard sale under a roof but with some really random stuff. We went to a bazaar that was selling beer cosies from all over the Czech Republic and for a pretty penny too. Once we got into the bazaar shopping mood Dad told me about this one near the zoo that sold nearly everything but the kitchen sink. Being slightly obsessed with the whole thing, I agreed wholeheartedly that we should go as soon as possible.
The problem then became actually getting into the bazaar. We rode a few days ago to check it out but the shop was closed. Yesterday before we went on our historic tram ride we walked by again but the door was closed with a hastily made sticker on the door saying the owner was out on lunch break and would be back at 2 o’ clock. It was 2:30 when we walked by. Today was our third attempt to visit the shop and to about and hour or so I thought that we were unsuccessful yet again.
We left the house around 10-ish, an educated guess because neither Dad or I could remember what time the bazaar opened for it opened at a different time everyday of the week. As it turned out that on Wednesdays the store opened at 10:30 so we had some time to kill before it opened. After a slow walk around the area (there happened to be another bazaar that we looked at not to far from the one we were persistently staking out that had some nice stuff) and at 10:38 we were back at the front door of the store, still as stubbornly padlocked as it was when we left. Figuring that the lazy store owner would show up eventually, Dad and I went for coffee at the cafe across the street. When we finished our cups of espresso at 11:10 we went back to the bazaar. This time there was another sticker on the door saying he’d be back in 15 minutes… I almost lost it ^-^’ It was quite frustrating because I saw all this interesting stuff on the other side of the window and there was little hope of getting to it. I’ve never stalked anything before but I’m sure that waiting outside the store for the man with a key to arrive is diffinately up there. Just as I was about to suggest that we leave, a rather voluminous man waddled down the street and opened the door, finally. It was 11:20. As you can imagine we practically pushed him out of the way in our haste to get in, just in case he decided to take another break.
The store itself was incredibly dusty, coating some of the things on display in at least an inch of dust. After digging through the merchandise the tips of my fingers were black with the stuff (Don’t let the dust bunnies get you!!) Dad was right with the amount of random stuff; there were small souvenirs from all over the globe and in the back a few sets of hubcabs (which I’m pretty sure got there illegaly) One thing that really catch my eye was this little ceramic snake about the size of a dollar coin. When I went to pay the man for it (he was probably already counting the minutes to lunch) he gave it to me for free. All in all I think that it was worth the prolonged wait.
Filed under: Le voyage | Tags: brother, excited, fun, little, metro, round, seeing, sight, slang, tram, trip
Today, my little brother Willy got to taste of the city on board one of the historic trams that circulate through Prague every hour and show you what riding a tram a hundred years ago was like. They work like any other tram in service except that the only place where you can come aboard is at the tram shed, the first stop of the route. Besides that you can leave the tram at any of the stops along the way. The main purpose of our trip was to let Willy ride on the metro and the trains, which he loves with the burning passion of three suns. In his own little Willy slang he dubbed the metro “tunnel train” and the tram “sun train”. When our tram pulled into the station he could barely keep himself from jumping up and down.
The “sun train” made a loose circle around Prague giving any tourists on board (like me *cough cough*) a great chance to take pictures of the city. While I was shooting pictures like crazy I thought that I might as well give you something the other trams to compare with what I rode in today. The round pill-like one is the kind of tram that I am most familiar with because it’s the kind that I have been riding all my life. The sleek turbo one is seemingly a new addition to the tram family and is most likely the kind of tram that I will be riding in the future.
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- Past
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- Present
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- Future
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- Pan Průvodčí
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- The Interloper
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- Ponderous Thoughts
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- Strangely
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- Look up
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- Ohhh…
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- Alley way
Filed under: Le voyage, Uncategorized | Tags: activity, awful, Czech, drinking, fountain, health, karlovy, metal, mineral, mug, myth, Republic, taste, vary, volcano, water
Every city has something that it’s famous for; in Plzeň it’s the beer, in Prague it’s the churches and cathedrals. For the city that we visited today, Karlovy Vary, it’s the water. Near the northern border of the Czech Republic, nestled in a wooded valley lies the scenic town of Karlovy Vary. This town sits on a natural hot spring that is said to have special health effects to those who drink it. Back in the 17th century when the royal families would take their summer tours of Europe Karlovy Vary was on the list. They would stop here to recuperate from the trials of traveling and to soak in the minerals of the “magic water”; exactly why we decided to take the trip.
We arrived in Karlovy Vary after battling through semi-standtill traffic and made our way to where the springs meet the surface. The water comes up from the ground in drinking fountains that are located in various spots of the town though they are mostly cluttered together. Each of the fountains are different and depending on which one you drink from determine the temperature of the water and the kind of minerals you take in.
The proper etiquette for drinking from one of these fountains is to buy one of the mugs that were available for sale in one of the many knick knack stores lining the town. It’s looked down upon to bring your own glass (They’ve got to make money some how ) These mugs ranged from sizes a little larger than thimbles to mugs the that could double as beer cups. The one thing that they all had in common was this straw-like attachment so that you could sip the water that you collected from the fountains. Grandpa bought this really cute pink one for me to use that happened to fit perfectly into the pocket of my jacket (it was a sign!) I was genuinely excited to sample some of this legendary water and was a bit impatient when I had to preform the customary mug-washing to get rid of the dust and any other unwanted small things. As I took a sip from my souvenir mug my tongue was greeted with an onslaught of tastes, and not many of them good. The water is, of course, made of all-natural minerals and is heated by volcanic activity which also adds a sulfuric taste so when you drink it the water kind of tastes like blood; salty, warm, and tasting of metal. The first sip that I took almost resulted in a spitting up. I was amazed how some of the older people present drank it like it was a coke or a soda, not some heated cocktail laced with funky-tasting minerals. Barely anybody I saw drank it with a grimace on their face, me not being one of them. Keeping in mind the mythical properties, I choked down two mugs of the stuff I wondered what magical health changes I’d witness in my body.
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- Rear view Gone
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- Posh Villa
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- Drinking Plaza
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- Didgeridoo Dude
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- Water Bearer
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- Telegraf
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- Together
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- Countryside I
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- Countryside II
Filed under: Photos | Tags: Ceská, Czech, futuristic, jacket, lights, metro, Republic, station, train, waiting
Metro Lights
While we were waiting for our metro to come and take us to Průhonice, my Dad took this picture of my sister and I. The photo reminds me of some futuristic film that I saw awhile ago (can’t remember what it was called though…) because of the lighting and the perspective. Does everyone like my new jacket by the way ^_^ I got it the other day at H&M on sale and it looks really nice on me.
Filed under: Random Observations | Tags: art, city, graffiti, metro, paint, scene, spray, wall
In all cities (especially the major ones) you will find some degree of graffiti; Prague is no different. When I was little I thought that any form of the vandalism was a hideous blemish on the face of this speculator city. I even had a plan about how some Prague officials would launch a citywide cleaning to get rid of all the graffiti, with me at the head (I was weird as a child I know) As I grew up I eventually began to accept graffiti as a part of life and even have started to appreciate it as an art form. I’m not talking about the little halfhearted scribbles on the side of the wall though, I mean the really artistic pieces that look like someone put some real thought into it. A fine example of this would be this picture that we saw the other day as we walked out of the metro station. I marveled at the graffiti and couldn’t imagine how someone could make such a detailed piece using only spray paint and a wall while also not being spotted. Of course my Dad told me that the artist was probably hired to paint it but I still like to pretend that they did it under the cover of night, painting and looking over their shoulder the whole time.
Feel the City
Filed under: Le voyage | Tags: bells, climb, hot, metro, Petřín, Prague, praha, tired, toll, tower, tram, travel, trip, weather
You know those elliptical machines found in some YMCAs that act like a never ending stair case from some bad horror movie so that you can exercise those thigh muscles? Those cramps that you feel after working on one of those things for a while are the exactly the same as the ones you get from actually climbing up real steps. Amazing isn’t it? Believe it or not we have our very own 1/5 scale model of the Eiffel Tower here in Prague and I climbed it today. Petřín, as it is called, sits on a nice sloping hill (or should I say sheer cliff?) surrounded by recreational parks. To get to the top of Petřín you have to hike up 300 steps, which may not sound like a lot but really is. Do I sound sore today today? Because I really am (hahaha punny)
I went on the little trip with just my sister’s and my Dad (Grandpa, probably having more sense then the lot of us put together stayed home) We took the long way around so that we could ride one of the longest escalators that I’ve ever seen. The weather was hotter today than it has been in a long time so we had to periodically stop for ice cream now and then to ward away the “bad travel vibes” I got to ride on the lanovka, a train that is built to be able to go up the side of a steep hill, to conserve my energy for the climb ahead. Going up Petřín wasn’t really so bad. Near the top of the tower there was a nice breeze blowing that kept you cooled off as you enjoyed the view of the city below; my Dad took some really nice bird’s eye view shots. It was when you got to the bottom that the jelly legs began to kick in and on wobbly legs we made our way to a nearby monastery. Quite by accident, we timed our arrival at the strike of noon and were able to hear the bells toll the hour (for five minutes) If you’ve ever hear church bells ring then you know that it’s kind of a surreal experience to listen to the bells hum and chime together. When after they had finished I could still hear the faint ringing caused by the final vibrations of the bell. Even thought I was tired like nobody’s business I found that I could still appreciate the roses on the side on the road.
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- Up, up, up… up
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- Daaaad
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- In the Shadows of Giants
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- Brochure Photo
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- Castle Aloft
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- Karlův Most
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- Bell Tower
