The return

Well, we flew back from Paris yesterday but it wasn't your ordinary, run-of-the-mill flight. We were randomly upgraded to first class, which completely surprised us. I've never flown first class and to get the chance on a flight that was 10 hours long was a sheer delight. The food was great. The wine even better. The seats were HUGE with Grand Canyon-size leg room and a variety of reclining positions, including full sleep recline. Needless to say, I will be sad to fly economy next time, but at least I got this chance. Thanks, Delta!

I'm not going to post a lot this time since I'm feeling ready to take another 12 hour nap (I awoke at 3:30 this morning ready to go). Hopefully, I can hold out until 8. I've just started uploading photos and reviewing them. I'll plan to post a bunch during the weekend.

Here's a poster we saw a bit of around Paris and Lyon. It's apparently from a union protest in 2009 and refers to Sarkozy's attempts to reduce worker rights. I thought it was pretty amusing.

More later.

Paris

We've made it to the last stop on our European vacation. Paris is lousy with tourists at the moment (of course, we add to that teaming mass of humanity gawking at buildings and statues, etc.). Our hotel has limited Wifi (read: pay by the hour), so this may be the last post until we return.

Although we briefly contemplated going to witness the end of the Tour de France, we decided we would skip the party of thousands of spectators and just watch the final bit on tv. Didn't miss the crowds at all...plus we could watch while having our afternoon lie down.

The weather is lovely - sunny and warm but not hot. Perfect summer weather. Not much more to say but we're enjoying the food, the weather, the sights, etc. Expecting to see a Eugene Atget photo show on Tuesday (he took photos, many many many photos of Paris...I'm not sure he photographed anything else). Who know what other things we'll see. I'm sure it'll all be good, or at least interesting.

The Hell's Angels on scooters

This crew of scooters were revving their engines outside our hotel this afternoon. We decided it was definitely not something you'd see in the US.

Our cool hotel in Lyon

The hotel used to be a school and it has kept with that theme. There are wooden desks, blackboards, maps, lockers, etc. beautiful place. We may never leave.

Giant lollipops!

I don't really understand how anyone would ever be able to eat one of these monster candies. I had Levi stand next to the display for perspective. They're huge and can be bought at the duty-free in Prague. Make a note of that.

Leaving for Lyon

I haven't posted anything over the past couple days. Long days and late evenings so I've been a bit too tired to write.

On Tuesday, we met my friend Fanda who took us on a walking tour of Prague (Prague 6, 7, 8) - through parks, to the zoo, the botanical gardens, the national technical museum and the residential areas of the city. We also met a couple of his friends, Irena and Jiří and their very cute baby, Christina. The first evening we went to Irena and Jiří's apartment for coffee. Last night we went out to a very good Italian restaurant near their apartment (though I was completely lost since the apartment blocks are huge and numerous - some from the communist era and some more contemporary). My Czech is still awful but it was good to have three people try to help me. We worked on Czech and English tongue twisters to round out the evening. A very pleasant way to spend vacation time.

We're now waiting at the Prague airport for our flight to Lyon. The weather turned warm and sunny yesterday and continues to be pleasant today. I'm pretty sure it will be delightful in France. I've got a bit of the traveler's malaise - longing for my routines and not to be pulling clothes from suitcases. It will pass quickly but I still miss home a bit. Anyhow, it's onward and upward.

Of course, by the time I tried to upload this post, my free 15 mins (15 mins?!! Are you kidding me) on the airport WIFI has expired, so I'll have to post this when we arrive in France.

 

Driving to Prague

Despite our map-studies and the contingent plans we made in case we missed our turns to get back into Prague, we got lost en route back to the city. The most frustrating thing seemed to be "banging a u-y" wasn't the simplest activity. At one point, after figuring out where we were (a minor miracle to my mind), we realized we needed to turn around, so we took the next right in order to turn around. Unfortunately, the street turned out to be a tunnel that spit us out somewhere else. Still, I managed to keep my cool (I was the navigator).

Finally, we managed to get directions from a fellow on the street and made it to Malá Strana only to miss our left turn to get us to the hotel. No problem, right? Well, there was a massive backup and the road we wound up on had massive construction on it. Missed another turn after turning around again (at this point I lost it...I kept insisting that the soccer stadium was just an illusion, that we couldn't possibly be passing it and the map must be wrong). Finally, calmer minds prevailed and got us back to where we needed to be and finally to our hotel. This is the second time we've driven into Prague and both times have been extremely challenging. Somehow I believed this second time would be easier. I can drive in NYC but here is extremely nerve-wracking.

Prior to arriving in Prague, we had driven to Jihlava, which is the birthplace of Gustave Mahler. He is a picture of a park built in his honor:

And here is a picture of Levi enjoying an RC Cola in the Smile Bar:

 

After a run this morning, we'll meet my friend Fanda for a local's tour of the city. Hopefully, it doesn't rain too much (I'm wishing I brought at least one more pair of pants since it's been a bit on the cool side).

Pictures of the amazing fountain

In Olomouc:

 

 

Olomouc

Found ourselves a lovely pension in the heart of Olomouc in Moravia. It seems as though we're the only ones here at the moment so it's really quiet. The city is very European looking...town squares, winding streets, churches, bells, cafés, mini-golf (well, the mini golf courses aren't quite what I'd call European, but there's one nearby in case we get a hankering). It's currently raining and thundering outside, but we're hunkered down watching steeplechase (human) on German telly. It seems to rain every afternoon and then turn nice again afterward. All in all the weather's pleasant though not super summery. Olomouc has a lot to offer. On Sundays, the museum of modern art and the archdiocesan museum are free. There are lots of old things to gawk at. Cobblestone streets to wander. Lots of parks and gardens. Plus it has an amazing fountain of Arion that is so cool and complicated it's worth a trip here just for that. A highly recommended place to visit.

Amazing!

Look at this picture and guess what it is...

It's confetti from the Flaming Lips show at Colours of Ostrava that landed in my jacket hood. I was covered with more of the stuff. Why did I have so much confetti on my person, you're asking. Well, I got to stand right in the front row and had the joy of an unblocked view of the show (unlike the Antony and the Johnsons show where a 6'7" behemoth of a man blocked most of my view unless I closed one eye and tilted my head). We waited over an hour in our spots, which isn't much of a wait to my mind. The show was great and worth skipping dinner (though we snagged some roasted cashews as we were leaving around 2 am). After the show ended, the crowd, which was huge, seemed ready to party well into the wee hours. We just hit the road back to the hotel to crash.

Hotel challenge

Our original hotel in Ostrava was, unfortunately less than ideal. It was on the main drag, which wouldn't have been bad except that we had no AC in our room (contrary to what we were told) so we had to open the windows. However, the noise was so bad it made sleeping pretty near impossible. At 9:30 we packed up and went on a quest for a new hotel. Surprise surprise the entire town was booked solid. We drove all over the place checking hotels (because, trust me, you usually want to cast an eye on the place before you book). Finally, we gave up and headed to the next town, Frýdek-Místek to look. First place we found was lovely, quiet and had windows we could open! What a joy.

After settling in, we drove back to Ostrava to the music festival. What an amazing place...it's an old industrial complex that has enormous rusty old structures and is just beautiful in its decay. Lots of photo ops. Tonight we saw Rufus Wainwright who played a great show...what a beautiful voice he has. After that we went over to the Kronos performance but we were still reeling with the tremendous R.W. show, the efforts of the day and perhaps a little woozy from all the herb that was being smoked around us that we decided to call it a night.

After getting back to the hotel, I was checking my emails and was sadly surprised to see an email from one of the hotels I had emailed this morning about a room. It was the one hotel that we tried to locate but gave up on when couldn't find it driving around Ostrava. The email said, "Yes, we have a free room for you." Sigh. Oh well, it's just the way things go sometimes when you travel.

Here is a view from our current hotel:

 

Driving to Ostrava

Unlike our experience last year, we were able to pick up our rental car, get back to the hotel and get out of Prague without a problem. Diving to Ostrava was also a pretty easy endeavour (though we were impressed/horrified at the fearless passing the Czechs do on the road - absolutely crazy passing speeds and such small margins for error). Getting to the hotel once we arrived in the city was the challenge - we had the wrong address so each place we went to was "correct" but not the actual hotel. We even wound up in one of the sketchier areas of town - I was quite happy that the hotel wasn't actually located in this area. Eventually, we talked to the people who know where things are - local cab drivers who pointed us to the hotel, which was about 5 minutes away by foot.

The weather is quite nice, though our room's a bit on the hot side especially because we need to keep the windows closed since we're in the local party-area. Colours of Ostrava starts tomorrow so we get to see Rufus Wainwright, Kronos Quartet, and Mogwai the first day. The 2nd day has many more events during the day through to the evening including Bobby McFerrin, Antony and the Johnsons, and the band that actually got us to commit to the trip here - The Flaming Lips.

Hoping to sleep well tonight..I was really really tired this afternoon.

We saw a lot of this kind of view today.

Sunrise at Red & Blue Hotel

I've been awake since 3:30 so I finally got up and took some early morning pictures out the window. Here's one with the sun starting to rise.

Czech Republic Day 1

After what seemed like the endless day (leaving home at 9:30 am on the 9th and arriving in Prague at 1:30 pm on the 10th), we are finally settling in to the hotel for the evening. We got here after an uneventful couple flights and took a 3 hour nap, which was utterly delightful, though it was a bit difficult to rouse ourselves from our slumber. Finally got up and took a wander up Petřín hill to look at the views, the gardens, and to climb the tower. The weather was perfect - sunny and not too hot. I would post pictures but I didn't take any with the iPad yet (although it's a better device, it's not as portable as my phone).

After out hill climb, we descended toward Nerudova Street and stopped in a great pub for beer and herring (yummy!). Levi has decided that we should go there every day - laid back and comfortable atmosphere.

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow it's off to Ostrava and the Colours Festival.

 

 

Seven weeks on one drawing

I just finished the Spring drawing session at Tacoma Academy of Fine Arts. I'm not naturally good at drawing and lack much of patience and steely-purpose required of classical drawing. However, I thought I should try it. The first sessions were rough...I was working on a vase and it seemed to take forever (which it did...9 hours on a vase that wasn't exactly high art by the time I finished it).

After the vase, I drew a cast of a female torso. I spent 7 or 8 weeks on this drawing (3 hours per session). I finally finished it last week. Here are the progress pictures (the photos aren't very good since I was shooting in odd light with my iPhone):

After a while, the drawing practice became somewhat meditative for me. It calmed me down and allowed me to work on my looking skills. I think it turned out pretty good considering where I started from. It tells me that if I keep working at it I'll continue improving.