Video Addendum

Here are some of the videos I took today!

This first one is awesome and a little bit awkward. The band was playing a really cool song, so I was just takin' a video. No big deal. But then the old guy next to me starts singing along! It was so cute that I had to capture it on video, but then I got worried he saw me so I pan all over the place. Anyway, listen a look for the patriotic man who knows all the Czech words and ignore the ghastly cinematography.

This is a video of the free concert on Narodni Trida! I don't know what was going on with my camera, but it is REALLY out of focus. It is actually Joan Baez singing "We Shall Overcome" and the little man on the right in the white scarf is Vaclav Havel! Just listen to her melodious voice. :)

Viva la Velvet Revolution!!!

Hello All! I know you must all be so thrilled right now because this is my second update in a week! Woohoo! But I absolutely had to update you on my very culturally and historically significant day. Today - November 17, 2009 - is the twentieth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, the nonviolent end of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. As the last country under the Iron Curtain to break free of their Soviet ties, this is seen as the end of communism in the 20th century! Hurrah! For this important holiday, we all had the day off of classes and we were encouraged to participate in the various activities going on in Prague. It was an exhausting day (that miiiight have included a necessary nap in coffeeheaven) but really interesting and FUN. Old Town square was set up with a band and food stands, while Wenceslas Square was outfitted with some outdoor exhibitions. Thousands of people reenacted the students march (it took almost 3 hrs) from the outskirts of the city to the National Theatre, and then there was a free concert!

This is part of the exhibition set up around the city to celebrate the anniversary. Shown in the pictures are some of the first student protests in Prague. (That took place in the actual square where these placards were set up!)

This is a guy who was speaking to the crowd from the top of a car. He was VERY worked up about something, but as I don't speak Czech, I have no idea what that something is.

This is the plaque dedicated to Jan Palach, a student martyr of the late 1960s that was decorated for the occasion. People also lit candles and put them on the statue of St. Wenceslas, killed in 935. They love their history over here! I can dig it.

Alex in the sea of umbrellas in Old Town Square!

This is me after Alex and I got our totally official Czech ribbons! SO patriotic. :)

The sun did make a brief appearance to light up Tyne Church!

We attended a free concert following the reenactment of the student march. Although we couldn't see any of the march because we were way too short, we did get a great view of the stage for the concert. In the picture above is Vaclav Havel, the first president of the democratic Czechoslovakia. He is QUITE famous over here, and was very involved in the activism that led to the Velvet Revolution in 1989. About 30 seconds after I took this picture, he introduced Joan Baez! She sang a wonderful rendition of "We Shall Overcome," and although I was the only person of my age group to appreciate this (thanks Mom and Dad hehe), we all sang along.

Sooooo to sum up - HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY TO THE VELVET REVOLUTION!!! Now you all have a reason to celebrate! Now go drink a Pilsner Urquell.

This is Julia Miller reporting for the Blague!

A day trip to Dresden!

Please see the previous post for my apologies on the lateness of my updates!

This weekend was the first in quite awhile that I was actually in Prague for the weekend. After hearing many people rave about Dresden, Alex and I planned a day trip! Dresden, Germany is about two hours away from Prague by train, so we pulled our hineys out of bed veryyyy early to get on the train before 9 am. Dresden is a fascinating place, as most of it has been rebuilt from the overload of bombings during WWII. The city was almost destroyed, and most of the historical buildings have been rebuilt in the last decade or so. Alex and I walked around the city's historic center and saw most of the main buildings and a lot of really neat churches. One of the most famous parts of the city is the Master's Gallery, which is home to the paintings of Titian, Rafael, Rembrandt, and many more. The most famous painting of the exhibition is Rafael's Madonna, which has the famous cherubs leaning on their elbows. Perhaps that is not the best description, but if you google Rafael's Cherubs you will recognize them immediately, I promise! Interestingly, they are at the very bottom of a very large painting and not the focal point of the piece at all. It makes you wonder how those little angel babies got so darn famous... :)

After a day of walking and being historical, Alex and I spent a little bit of time in Dresden's nice shopping district, where I may or may not have paid a visit to American Apparel and overpaid for a V-neck. I saw it as necessary. We then took the train back to Prague and hit the hay early after a day of travel and adventure!

Here are some pics of Dresden...

Inner courtyard of the old palace that now houses the Masters' Gallery and other museums.
Front view of the Masters' Gallery!

Famous mural of the Prince's Procession. Or something of that nature. It was made of painted tiles and really neat-o!

Main square of reconstructed Dresden

This is Our Lady Church, which was almost completely demolished in the bombings of WWII. It has been rebuilt with some of the old stones, but is mostly a new building. Still very cool though!

This is Julia Miller reporting for The Blague.

Poland: Krakow and Auschwitz

First of all, allow me to apologize for the long absence of updates on the Blague. Life has been just crazy over here in past couple weeks! The weekend after the Parisian adventure, all of the AIFS group was off to Krakow, Poland. This was followed by a week of midterms (UGH SCHOOL) and a weekend here in Prague with lots to do!

I shall start with a quick bit on Krakow! I had absolutely no expectations for this trip, because I had no idea what to expect from a place I had never been and never really heard about. And as I had no expectations, I could not be disappointed! Nobody was in the best mood upon arrival, because we spent nine hours on a cramped bus to get there. However, once we got into the city center (which was conveniently close to our hotel) everyone brightened up a bit - including me! We did not get there until Friday evening, so we had just enough time for a dinner of traditional Polish food and a cocktail before resting up for the next day of tours. For dinner, we had perogies which are stuffed little dumplings! Very delicious indeed. Alex and I split a platter that had some with meat, cheese, and veggies. The next day we did two different city tours. The first was around the town center and main square, where Z showed us countless old churches and things. After a lunch break, we saw the castle area and the old Jewish Quarter. It was pretty gloomy and rainy, but I still really enjoyed the tours and thought Krakow was very cool.

Here's some pictures!

This is the main church in the castle area (equivalent to Prague's St. Vitus).

Just another view of the castle area!
Statue of St. Andrew in the main square of Krakow.
Old fortification right outside the city center! Fun stuffs.

On our long journey back to Prague the next day, the whole group stopped at Auschwitz for a few hours. I didn't realize before, but there are actually multiple Auschwitz Camps - Auschwitz II or Birkenau being the most famous and recognizable of the bunch. At this extermination camp, historians estimate that over 1 1/2 million people were murdered. I have decided not to put up any pictures of Auschwitz, because it was a very difficult experience for me. I did take some pictures, but there is no way they can express the feeling of overwhelming sadness and hopelessness that lives in the air there. To be in a place that knew such horror and saw the ultimate low of humanity is a very sobering experience. As we walked around Auschwitz I, almost no one spoke a word for the whole two hours we were there. There is no way I can describe the feeling of such a truly horrible place. One of the most disturbing exhibits was a room just filled with human hair, more than you can imagine. It was shaved off most of the women before they were sent to the gas chambers, and the Nazis kept it with the intention of making various materials out of it. Now, however, it simply stands alone as evidence of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz. After a very emotionally draining day, we all returned to Prague not quite ready to face midterms.

Although the experience was very difficult, it is important to pay respects and keep the memory of Holocaust victims alive. The historian in me rejoices in the salvage of places like this - a place that forgos entrance fees and gift shops, and had the sole aim of preserving the memory of Auschwitz. It was a very difficult experience, but I am very glad to say I have done it.

So that was my trip to Poland! Very fun and interesting, as well as sobering. But all in all a great trip before I was off to the next adventure!

This is Julia Miller reporting for the Blague!

Happy Halloween!

We recorded this festive video from underneath the Eiffel Tower! Happy (belated) Halloween everyone!

A Gastronomic Tour of Paris

Bonjour Blagueies! I have just returned from a wonderful reunion weekend in Paris! Alex and I flew out on Thursday, and we had one connecting flight in Dusseldorf, Germany. Apparently the weather in Dusseldorf was dicey (fog ya know), so our flight from Prague was delayed, and we actually had to run through the airport to catch our connecting flight to Paris! I found this strangle exhilarating and couldn't stop giggling. But we did make in onto the plane! And we arrived, albeit a bit late, in Paris in time to meet Annemarie and Breanna for a late lunch. Breanna arrived a day earlier, and had already walked the entire geography of the left bank by the time we arrived! Haha.

Annemarie and I were reunited at last! We had delicious salads - by far the healthiest meal of the whole weekend. Afterwords, we walked quite a ways through the center of the city past Notre Dam and other large and imposing historic buildings.

Notre Dam remains a constant on the Paris landscape, and we even had some friendly American tourists take a group picture of us ladies. (Please see Annemarie Everett's blog!)

We walked across the River Seine and into Annemarie's neighborhood. She lives in the Latin Quarter, which was on the opposite side of the River from our hotel. We had a long, lovely walk over to Annemarie's apartment, where we relaxed for a bit and made some plans for the weekend while sipping a lovely Bordeaux purchased from the corner wine store. ;) Keepin' it classy!

After some lovely wine and catching up, the four of us walked over to Rue Mouffetard which is lined with small food vendors and restaurants. For dinner, we had savory crepes and let our stomachs recover for about 10 minutes before getting rose-shaped gelato. Twas quite delicious! I had coffee and stracciatella flavor - both of which I would highly recommend! After all this traveling and walking and eating, we were all quite exhausted and headed home to rest up for the next day.

The next morning Alex, Breanna, and I walked by this funny looking statue on our way to Annemarie's neighborhood to start the day! She took us to her favorite neighborhood baker (a very friendly curly-haired Frenchman) for pastries. I had the classic Pains au Chocolate, which was not the healthiest breakfast, but quite delicious.

We then walked through Luxembourg Gardens to Annemarie's school, and visited her favorite cafe for coffee. We stopped in a couple churches (can't remember the names... bad Julia) as well, and attempted to find all the best bakeries and pastry shops in the area.

The most amazing place we went to was Laduree - very famous for their delicious macaroons! We took these macaroons and other goodies to the Eiffel Tower, and ate them with a wonderful view of one of the world's most famous landmarks!

French macaroons are not at all like the gross coconut balls we get in the States! No no. The are delicious cookies with ganache in the middle. (For a technical definition of ganache, please see Annemarie Everett.) Actually, the taking of the above picture almost led directly to the theft of my camera. Two gypsy girls came up and were begging us for food and grabbing at our macaroons, and we're thinking, "For what we paid for these macaroons? You're gonna have to pry them from my cold dead hands." And as they start reaching for our food, I see one of them go for my camera! The nerve! So I snatched it up and said, "I saw you try to steal my camera!" Of course she denied it, but I was so angry that I just grabbed up all my things and said, "I saw what you tried to do, and we're not giving you any of our food!" And we made a scene and stormed away. If shame was their only punishment, I am satisfied.

(We missed you Marissa!!!)

We took oodles of pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, we took the Metro (finallyyyy my legs were killing me) to the Mosque in Paris for mint tea and bakhlava. And then it was off to the Louvre!

We did just a quick highlights tour of the Louvre, because we were all pretty zonked at this point. I'm pretty sure we walked through most of the city - or at least from one famous pastry shop to another.

After The Louvre, we found a great sushi boat place and had a quite tasty and economical dinner! By that night, we were dead to the world and I thought my feet would never recover. So we all passed out in our hotel room and tried to get as much sleep as humanly possible.

The next day we met again for guess what - more walking! We saw some more amazing buildings, including the Garnier Opera (above), the Madeleine, and the Centre Pompidou. We were waiting in line for some falafel (below) when we decided that we would rather pay twice as much to sit down inside. And it was worth it! Easily the best falafel I've ever had - although I have to say I'm not the world's most knowledgeable falafel consumer, I was reassured of its goodness by Alex, who has much more sophisticated falafel knowledge.

After falafel, we returned to the amazing Laduree for tea and pastries. We spent a solid chunk of the afternoon being very girly over expensive tea and relishing the Parisian experience. Apparently I was having too much fun, because Parisians like to give me the stink-eye of disapproval when I laugh loudly. Who needs 'em? Then we had a lovely Middle-Eastern cuisine dinner in the neighborhood and then trekked over to the Eiffel Tower one last time to drink wine and watch the lights show!

Aaaahhh, isn't she beautiful all lit up at night? :) We saw a few exuberant ex-pats in Halloween garb, but definitely not the all-out costumes that I was used to! At least I didn't injure myself this year...

Anyway, we crashed again Saturday night after a long day, and met Annemarie this morning for breakfast before heading back to our respective host countries. It was so nice to be reunited with old friends and share this experience with them. There was lots of hugs and catching up over food. I should probably mention at this point that I was in a constant state of fullness the entire trip. (Wish this was an exaggeration...) But other than feeling like I had to waddle back to Prague, it was a truly great weekend!

Next weekend: Krakow, Poland. NOT known for its delicious pastries, so I should be safe!

This is Julia Miller reporting for the Blague!