Disneyland Paris

One of the reasons we elected to stay outside of the city instead of finding quarters more accessible to the museums and historical sites (and, let's face it, plain old tourist traps) was to have easy access to Disneyland Paris. Well, the main reason was so that we could stay at the awesome Marriott but Disney was definitely a consideration. Just think, I'd been to Florida dozens of times and never made it to Disney! I lived in California for three years and never visited the Happiest Place on Earth! For shame, Elaine, for shame. After we got married, Tony and I took a brief couple of days in Orlando before coming to Italy. We discussed Universal vs. Disney and I ultimately picked Universal Studios. Because Harry Potter, duh. 

Anyway, I had pretty high expectations of Euro Disney, but I was a little disappointed. It was somehow a little smaller than I expected, but that didn't stop us from having fun. There are two parks (Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park), and we lucked out with a sweet military discount that allowed us to get a two-day pass to both parks for basically what we'd otherwise pay for a one-day, one-park pass. (FYI, each military member can access this deal and sponsor on up to four other persons. We used Tony's ID in case I go back, or we want to take advantage of the military discount stateside before the end of this calendar year. A distinct possibility over the Christmas holidays.) We drove to the park on a Monday, and I was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed on our way in. We got a great parking spot (and promptly forgot where we parked), and I think I snapped about a hundred pictures of all the various "Welcome to Disneyland" signs. I admit I was surprised how crowded it was, though in retrospect I suppose I shouldn't have been. School was out for the summer, and I imagine many people taking a three-day weekend might just as easily elect to take a Monday off as a Friday. The crowds were not the worst I've seen though, and lines were bearable. We did choose to enter the single-rider line on more than one occasion though, which didn't bother us in the slightest. Five-minute wait instead of 45? And all I have to do is NOT sit next to my spouse for the two-minute ride? Okay, it's a deal. 

One complaint about both parks is that the layouts were a bit confusing and the signage was pretty darn minimal. It was hard to find the bathrooms, and there weren't a whole lot of food options. Many of the vendor carts were closed for the day. I was excited about the Ratatouille ride, but it was closed for maintenance when we went. We did eat at the Ratatouille restaurant though - Bistrot Chez Remy - and it was one area where Disney's legendary attention-to-detail paid off. We walked in and crossed a line an suddenly everything was rat-scaled. The tiny floor tiles grew enormous, we sat on chairs shaped like champagne bottle toppers, the tables had those paper tropical drink umbrellas over them (papier mache and human-sized, of course), and the ceiling was covered in enormous vines. Our tables were matchbook covers and the space dividers were giant plates, and we each got ratatouille and it was delicious. Tony had never seen the movie and it had been a while for me, so we later went and watched it. The restaurant was just like the restaurant in the movie!!! And if you're curious, Tony enjoyed the movie, too. 

Inside the Bistrot Chez Remy at Disneyland Paris, photo from their website

We did hit both parks in one day, and pretty much decided that was sufficient time to see everything and do what we wanted to do. However, we found ourselves at loose ends later in the week and went back to have dinner at Planet Hollywood and enter the park a couple hours before closing time. The service was abysmal and the food was mediocre, and that's all I'll say about Planet Hollywood. But I'm so happy we went back! We rode the Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror (or whatever it's called) ride again, and my hair stood straight up again, and it was fun again. We also got to ride the Finding Nemo ride and the Ratatouille ride, both of which we'd missed the first time, so it was worth it to go back just for those. The Nemo ride was cute, but I think of everything we did at Disney, the Ratatouille ride was my overall favorite. It's a 3D ride and not a roller coaster, and is based on the scene from the movie where Remy first enters the restaurant kitchen and has to dart between the wheels of rolling carts, narrowly escape flaming gas jets and clumsy feet, etc. This ride was so realistic I actually felt like a rat running through a kitchen. And bonus: when we got out of the ride, there was a magic window into the back side of the real Disney restaurant! Just such a lovely touch. 

One park closed at 9pm, and in fact when we got off the last ride (Hotel Tower of Hollywood Torture, or whatever it's called) all the staff members were lined up ushering us straight out. Since the closing festivities were advertised as "shortly after park closing," we decided to stay for that, since I'd never done it before and my husband assures me one cannot have the full and complete Disney experience without partaking in them. On the one hand, I'm glad we stayed, because it was fantastic. On the other hand, "shortly after park closing" is Disney code for "two hours later." Ugh. It kept us out much later than we planned, but I think overall it was worth it. We parked out along the edge of a street and staked out a claim on a fence rail, so we could lean and sit, which was a stroke of accidental genius considering how long we waited and leaned and sat. FINALLY, the show started, and it was a sweet mix of French and English. Peter Pan lost his shadow and chased him through all sorts of Disney movie scenes magically projected onto Sleeping Beauty's castle, and the water show was 10x better than Bellagio's in Vegas! A little cheesy, but it put a big grin on my face and I was happy to experience the magic of Disney with my husband. Next up, Epcot! No, seriously, I really want to go when I'm in Florida this December. Who's with me?

Road Trip to France

In just a few short weeks, we will hit the halfway point of Tony's tour in Italy. Deny, deny, deny. It's hard to believe time is flying by so quickly, and we will be on the downhill stretch come October. I keep saying that the list of places to visit and things to do keeps getting longer and longer, and the time in which to do those things just gets shorter and shorter. Not only do I not want to leave Italy, but I don't even want to THINK about leaving Italy. However, I want to maximize our time here and so that means I do a fair amount of both dreaming and planning. Earlier this spring, around our one-year mark and just before a long-ish deployment, I asked Tony to think really hard about what his top trips would be. He definitely does not get to experience Italy the way I do, and while he graciously says, "At least one of us gets to enjoy it," I wanted to make sure we are able to check some things off of his list. His requests? Rome, Paris, and a tour of Ireland. 

Originally I thought we'd be able to visit Rome together when my mom comes to visit, but he will still be gone during that time frame. Oh well, it just means my fun adventure with my mom will also be a scouting trip for Tony! I'm not sure when we'll be able to visit Ireland, but we were able to head to France together earlier this summer. It was a timing fluke, since we weren't supposed to see each other again until the fall, but it actually worked out perfectly for us to spend some quality time together after I got back from my six-week trip to the States. Well, things didn't work out exactly according to plan since I have abysmal travel luck, but it was still a good opportunity for us to vacate the premises and have a nice little vacay. I was supposed to arrive at 0900 on Thursday morning, take the car to get fixed at 1000 morning (since I was hand-carrying the correct parts with me from Florida), and depart for France around 0700 morning. I got delayed in New Jersey for a little over 24 hours, so I didn't arrive in Venice until morning and didn't get back to Vicenza until after lunch. I picked up the rental car around 1500 and headed home to a) eat b) nap and c) unpack/pack. 

We hit the road in our trusty little rental car around 0730 morning for what we expected to be a ten-hour drive. Ha! HA HA HA HA! Our trusty little rental car ended up being not so trusty, pulling the exact same damn trick that our Honda has been pulling for the last 8 months: it randomly shut off while driving. Tony had the first leg of driving, and I didn't even notice anything was wrong until he started pulling over onto the shoulder. Of the highway. Where we'd been traveling at about 130 kilometers per hour. It was a really strange sense of deja vu, truth be told. We sat on the shoulder for a minute in stunned disbelief, and I started shuffling for the rental agreement to get some phone numbers from it while Tony attempted to re-start the car. It worked, so we cautiously decided to keep going. About five minutes later, the car did the same thing, so we had confirmation that something was egregiously wrong. I called the rental office and said we had a problem, and he directed us to roadside assistance and assured us they would be able to speak English. Meanwhile, Tony turned to Ye Olde Google and determined there was another rental office about 6km away, so we decided to see if the car would get us that far and hopefully save some time swapping out cars instead of waiting for a tow truck. We were somewhere to the west of Verona, and we could see Lake Garda, but I have no idea what small town we wound up in. Fortunately, the agency was open and there were no other customers, so we were immediately able to explain the problem and start working on a solution. The very kind lady said she only had one car available - a Smart Car - but if we wanted to go back to Verona they'd probably be able to give us something a little larger. We elected to take the Smart Car, and I am immensely grateful that we didn't pack our golf clubs or an ice chest, because our stuff barely fit as it was! We had to Tetris it in the car and even the difference in seat settings to account for Tony's height versus mine had a huge impact on available storage space. We had two boxes of audio cds from the library that we ended up cramming under one of the seats because there was nowhere else to put them. And of course the new car didn't have a cd player, so there went that plan out the window! Oh well, c'est la vie. All in all, we only lost a little more than an hour. Onward!

When we left Italy, we were in the midst of a heat wave that seemed to last all summer. It didn't dip much below 97 degrees until mid-August. We really didn't get much of a break on our road trip until we reached the mountains, but it was noticeable and we were appreciative. We had to wait in line to go through a tunnel (with a ridiculous 40 Euro toll!) at the border, and we shut the engine off and continued listening to an audiobook via Bluetooth. God bless modern technology, y'all. We rolled the windows down and did a bit of people-watching while we waited. There were gondolas running up and down the mountain, we had a nice view of a waterfall, and we saw many people shredding downhill on mountain bikes. Turns out that area is part of a big national (or international) park. It was actually quite pleasant, and we only had to wait about 40 minutes or so. I guess they close the tunnel for an hour or so for traffic in each direction around mid-day for construction, and we hit it right in the middle of the closure. Already, we lost more than two hours on our road trip, but fortunately we didn't have any first-day plans in France. We didn't know before we entered how long it is, but it turns out the Mont Blanc Tunnel is over 11km long! There are signs and lights everywhere warning everyone to keep proper spacing  and not to drive too fast. No big deal in the summer time, but I'm sure in the winter icing can be a problem.

Our sweet little vacation cottage

Once we crossed the mountains, the weather was just about perfect for the entirety of our trip. It was easily twenty degrees cooler in France than Italy. Just think of all the money we saved on our summer utility bill! :P We elected to use some Marriott points, and stayed outside of Paris near Disney. I think it was about 25 miles to Paris and only a five-minute drive to Disney, and we were very happy with the location. I kind of wish we had at least one night in the city to save on the commute time, but the public transit was so easy it didn't end up being a really big deal. The Marriott was mostly a timeshare type village, which was pretty awesome. We basically had a whole cottage all to ourselves, and it overlooked a sweet little garden with lots of lavender and roses and other flowers. Many of them were blooming, but I bet it was even more amazing in the spring. In the distance we could see a little pond and a golf course, and we had easy access to the main building with its bistro, market, pool, and ping pong tables. There was a gym, but we didn't use it once the whole vacation. (We did use the pool, hot tubs, and sauna though.) We were so late getting in that we just opted to eat in the on-site bistro for dinner. After a fourteen-hour road trip we were ready to eat and crash. 

View from our balcony

Our first full day we took it easy and explored the hotel and enjoyed the pool. We also went to the market to pick up some food. This time we actually remembered to pack some spices, olive oil, and other basics for cooking, but were pleasantly surprised by the well-stocked welcome kit in our townhouse. We were able to pick up vegetables and breakfast supplies at the market for decent prices, though after the first day we bought those kinds of things at the grocery store in town. We bought several bottles of wine on site, too, and the markups were pretty reasonable. Even though we had some good wines on our trip, I have to say I prefer Italian wines over French ones. I am biased, of course.

That's all for today. Next up: my first-ever Disney theme park experience!

Hitchhiking with Sicilians

Back in May, I took a bus trip through the local outdoor recreation office to the coastal towns of the Cinque Terre. These five towns Rick Steves made a very popular tourist destination, but I Consider them a hidden gem as they are somewhat off the beaten path. It's difficult to access the towns by car, so most people arrive to the town of La Spezia and take a train in. You can walk between the towns on hiking paths of various difficulty, or take the local ferry, or of course take the shuttle train. Our group's bus trip to La Spezia took about three hours, and I wound up sitting next to another woman traveling alone. We hit it off and discovered we had similar expectations for the day, so we decided to hang out and formulated plan.

We hopped on the shuttle train to the furthest town from La Spezia, Monterosso al Mare. Our point of contact particularly recommended a store to pick up pesto and wine (both of Which are specialties of the region) (but where in Italy is wine NOT a specialty?) So we headed there first. Monterosso is a cute little town and we enjoyed poking around and wandering along the beach, and eventually found the store. We bought a variety of pestos, including traditional and walnut, and then popped into a local bakery to pick up some bread. Well, since the area is known for its focaccia, that's what we DECIDED to go with. Our plan was to start the morning with a long hike, about two hours, to the next town of Vernazza. From there, we would take a combination of train and ferry to visit the other towns. We set off up the hill toward our hiking trail. Though we saw two signs for hiking paths, we passed up the first one as it Looked like it dead-ended at a church, and we did not want to deviate too much. We continued on the blacktop road, keeping our eyes peeled for the path and / or signs. After a nice bend in the road, we stopped on some steps to enjoy our makeshift picnic lunch, and the focaccia pestos and did not disappoint! My cake was covered in onions and perfect for dipping in the pesto and a spicy olive spread I picked up. After chowing down, we then continued on our way.

We did not see too many cars or people, and started getting Concerned That We may have missed the trail. However, we'd Both Been looking, and figured the odds were BOTH That We could not miss the sign and path, so we kept hiking. At one point, we saw a jogger coming from the opposite direction and stopped him to ask if we could hike to Vernazza the way we were going. He said yes, but That it would take a while. That jived with our plan, knowing we'd selected one of the longer hikes, so we continued up the hill. We saw a couple of small waterfalls and enjoyed the view of Monterosso from above. Eventually we came to an intersection That had some signs, and determined the left fork That would take us back down the hill to Monterosso, and the right fork would take us inland instead of along the coast, so we were Confronted with a dilemma - turn left and take a new path back to town, or turn back and go the way with Which We Were Already familiar? We DECIDED not to waste any more time, and just turned back, joking That We Should start hitchhiking to save some time. One car passed us, but it was fully of sketchy-looking guys and we joked That even if they'd stopped, we would not have gotten into the car. About twenty minutes after we turned around, an SUV passed us and stopped. We Looked at each other and agreed to at least talk to the driver. It turned out to be two parents and a teenage boy from Sicily, and they offered us a ride back to Monterosso, Claiming it was much to hot to be out walking (it was). So that's how we ended up hitchhiking with Sicilians. They were very nice, and Mama asked Sicilian Sicilian Papa (named Klaus, ironically) to stop once or twice to take photos. None of them spoke any Inglese but we Knew enough French to get by. Finally we arrived back at the bottom of the cliff and uttered our heartfelt thanks to the family, who were very nice and saved us probably an hour of hiking. We never did figure out how we missed the trail!

We got fresh frozen lemonade in Monterosso, and Reassessed our plan, since we'd lost a lot of time. Deciding to skip the middle town of Corniglia, we hopped on the train to Vernazza and caught a ferry. The ferry ride was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. Not only did we get to rest with the breeze in our faces after the disaster of a hike on the boiling blacktop, but we got to enjoy seeing 4 of the 5 towns from the water. We bought a ticket to the second town, Manarola, but got lucky. The ferry went all the way to the first town, Riomaggiore, and back-tracked. We got off at Manarola and enjoyed an early dinner and delightfully refreshing prosecco before heading back to La Spezia to meet our group.

I Can Say That while we got a nice taste of the towns in our day trip, eight hours is not enough time. I'd like to go back for a long weekend sometime and do some more exploring. And eating. They are known for Their fresh seafood, and I did not order any of That When we stopped for food. Since the towns dates back to the 11th century, there are anche many old buildings, including churches and towers, That I would like to visit. I would also love to watch the sun set over the ocean, and to take proper hike between the towns. We did not get to explore Riomaggiore Corniglia or at all, and I'm sure they're worth a visit, and I would love to spend some more time on the water either sailing or kayaking or even just relaxing on the beach. I consider this to sono stati a scouting trip, as I'm planning on going back before we leave Italy.

Book-ish

I've been pretty sporadic with reading for fun this year. I had a few lulls while I was still in school, and then binged when I was flying back and forth all over creation. I've had some winners and a few that I couldn't get into at all. If anyone's curious, here's a not-so-brief recap, in no particular order.

1) The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje. Wonderfully well-written, but not nearly as good as the movie, which I don't say very often. I appreciated that it was set in Italy, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped to.

2) Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase, aka Nancy Drew 1 & 2. I used to love the Nancy Drew books; I had the first forty or so in hardback, and most of the others up to about 120 in paperback. They were my favorite, and I was very excited when they were released in digital format. However, I regret reading them as an adult in the 2010s. Nancy has evolved over the years, as of course have I. These two books were written in the 1930s and I found the plot so ridiculously simple and implausible that I just couldn't connect, which left me quite sad.

3) The Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini. Magic, dragons, and epic journeys. I loved all four of these books and will probably reread them often.

4) It Ain't Sauce, It's Gravy, by Steve Martorano. (Subtitled Macaroni, Homestyle Cheesesteaks, the Best Meatballs in the World, and How Food Saved my Life.) Very formulaic book about an Italian chef growing up in a mobster-family in Philadelphia, but worth it for the recipes. The meatballs really are tasty.

5) Yes, Please by Amy Poehler. This was a quick read and I can really hear Amy Poehler narrating this story. It wasn't as funny as I hoped and had some really trite and cliche advice, but the advice is still good and the pictures and SNL inside-scoop stories were nice little bonuses that met my expectations. I still want to hang out with her. Preferably with Tina Fey and my high school friends, and fair amounts of alcohol and french fries.

6) The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean. By all rights, this book shouldn't be on the list, as I started it three times and couldn't finish. But I really WANT to finish it and I'm going to one day! It's based on a true story of a man and an Indian tribe who got into trouble for poaching orchids in South Florida. I've never seen the Spike Jonze movie Adaptation, but it's based on this book. Maybe that's how I'll break back into this story.

7) Spiced: A Pastry Chef's True Stories of Trial by Fire, After-Hours Exploits, and What Really Goes on in the Kitchen, by Dalia Jurgensen. Another cooking/chef's memoir book, because I generally like the genre. Too much sex and not enough food; could have been better, but if it's your thing, go for it.

8) The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, by Libba Bray. Fantasy novels set in the last years of the 19th century, about a young girl who discovers a family secret and her own magical access to the realms. I liked the insight into the day-to-day life of a teenager in a British women's boarding school, but wasn't crazy about the whole realms thing. The third book was the longest, and I wish the first and second books had been shortened and combined. Those are pretty minor complaints though. If either of those things sound like your scene, go for it.

9) A Day No Pigs Would Die and its sequel, A Part of the Sky, by Robert Newton Peck. I'd read both of these in middle school but never since. There are some graphic scenes about animal husbandry and butchery, and I remember disliking these books as a kid. As an adult, however, I recommend them. Also, now I want to read more about the Shaker faith.

10) The Ruins, by Scott Smith. Ugh. Set in Mexico, this is the story of some friends who go exploring in Mexico and get roped into something strange. It's creepy and full of nightmare-inducing images. Loved it! It reminds me of some of Stephen King's work in a good way, and I think there may be a movie based on this story. If so, I plan to find and watch it, preferably during daylight hours.

11) The Maze Runner Trilogy, by James Dashner. It started off strong and went downhill from there. I watched the movie based on the first book, but I probably won't watch the rest of them.

12) From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg. This was recommended to me by a friend, and I zoomed right through it. A sweet story of two siblings who run away from home and live in one of New York's most famous museums for a short period of time.

13) The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The first and probably last book of Tolkien's I'll ever read. I'm glad I read it, but just don't care all that much about this world.

14) Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth. Hated it. An entire novel about a grown Jewish man bitching about his mother, undergoing the trendy psychoanalysis of the 1940s and 50s, and masturbating entirely too much.

15) Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia. The first in a fantasy series about a young girl who can cast magic and a teenage boy who wants to get the heck out of his small town. I haven't gotten to read any of the remaining books yet, as they're all on hold at the library, but I look forward to them.

16) The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick DeWitt. A story of two assassin brothers in the 1850s. I picked this book up because it was on the book club shelf at my local library, and it was a good read. Even though I wasn't crazy about any of the protagonists and the skewed power relationship between the two brothers, it was an interesting look into the gold rush era.

17) How to Build a Girl, by Caitlin Moran. I really did not like this one. Maybe the author's British sensibility and humor just isn't a good fit with mine. It's a semi-autobiographical look into a teenage girl's excursion into music criticism, drugs, and sex. She turns into a horrible person, and though she kind of redeems herself in the end, by that point I didn't care much.

18) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. Perhaps one of my favorites of the year. A teenage boy leaves his reservation school to attend a white high school twenty miles away. His Indian friends think he's a traitor and the white kids don't know how to handle someone who's so different from them. He doesn't quite know how to fit in either, and manages through drawing his own comics and joining the basketball team. It's pretty funny, though he doesn't shy away from difficult topics such as Indian alcoholism and bullying. Two thumbs up.

19) Every Secret Thing, by Laura Lipman. A crime novel about two little girls charged with murder. Whoa nelly. This book creeped me the heck out. In a good way. This was a standalone book and I guess the author has published a crime/mystery series that I'm itching to get my hands on now.

20) Behind Every Man: The Forgotten Women Behind the World's Famous and Infamous, by Marlene Wagman-Geller. Some fun trivia, speculation, and alternate looks at a male-dominated history. I think there were something like 40 vignettes in this book, and I wish there were 40 more!

21) Black Rose Trilogy, by Renee Bernard. Romance book that also has about twelve layers of scheming and revenge. A breezy summer read.

22) The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins. A mystery novel from the viewpoint of three British women. An alcoholic, her ex-husband's current wife, and the woman a few doors down from the ex who did a short stint as the nanny. The alcoholic commutes on the same train every day and spies on her old neighborhood. When the nanny goes missing, the alcoholic gets involved. It reminded me a bit of Gone Girl in that I wasn't crazy about the main characters, but it was a pretty gripping story.

23) Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn. Chicago journalist has to go back to her tiny, gossipy home town to report on a series of murders. I enjoyed it far more than Gone Girl, and if you're a mystery lover this should be on your list.

Worth mentioning, I've already read all of the Harry Potter books again this year, as well as Pride and Prejudcie and two of its fan fiction sequels (the Linda Berdoll ones, if you're wondering). I'm sure I've forgotten some of the other books I've read, as I have a random library of Kindle books that did not come from the library which I typically delete when I'm done. Those are most likely to be romance novels that I pick up when traveling or don't have the time or energy to get into a "real" book. Also, we listened to three classic novels on our road trip to and from France earlier this summer: To Kill a Mockingbird, Call of the Wild, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I think maybe I've got my husband hooked on audiobooks!

If you've got any recommendations, send them my way in the comments or on Facebook!

Prague, Czech Republic aka Praha

After spending the day in Boleslawic, Poland, we hopped on our bus and ventured forth to Prague. We passed fields and fields of a strange yellow flower, which I learned was either rapeseed or canola. (The two terms are often used interchangeably, but are not the same plant, thus the oil they produce are different from each other.) I never got tired of looking at the scenery; there were lots of rolling fields and cute farmhouses which I'm sure were working farms which would probably take umbrage at me calling them "cute" if they were sentient.

Our bus drivers dropped us off near the Dancing Houses in Prague, aka the Fred and Ginger, and we walked to our hotel from there. We stayed at the fantastic Mosaic House, and I would definitely stay there again. It was part hostel, part hotel, and part club. It was in a fantastic location as well, walking distance to many of the historic and plain cool sites in the city. Shortly after arrival, we met a group of new friends and trekked less than a block to a fantastic Thai restaurant. It's hard to find Thai food near us in Vicenza, much less GOOD Thai food, and that place did not disappoint. I wish I remembered the  name of it, but it's the closest one to the restaurant. We were sorely tempted by Pho practically across the street, but I'm happy we wound up going for Thai instead. I had shared appetizers, a huge meal and a drink all for less than ten euro, and everything was delicious. I'm a wee bit ashamed to say I didn't take further advantage of the night life, but after so many hours on a bus I was happy to get a night's sleep in a real bed.

Jewish Cemetery to the upper left

The next morning, we met a group of people outside the hotel for a free (tips-only) walking tour of the city which lasted about three hours. We got a brief history lesson on some of the main sites, and fortunately the rain held off for us to do a bit more exploring. We went through Wenceslaus Square, the old town square to view the famous Astronomical Clock, and also passed the Charles Bridge and Jewish Cemetery and the collective Jewish Museum(s). The Old Town City hall is, appropriately, located in the old city square, and there were tons of street performers, food vendors, and street musicians out and about. I got to hear a few of the old jazz standards and it made me a little nostalgic. We later walked through the old Jewish section of town, called the Jewish Quarter or Josefov, and it was pretty amazing. There were stalls of tourist-trap vendors underneath the cemetery which was both intriguing and distracting. I shouldn't say under the cemetery; the cemetery is built higher than street level as city layout dictated it expand vertically instead of horizontally, and the vendors were along the retaining wall and on both sides of the street, giving the illusion that they are under the cemetery. That section of town dates to the 13th century and has one of the oldest synagogues in Europe; it's definitely the oldest synagogue in the Czech Republic. (Many of these old buildings are still standing, since Hitler declared them off-limits as a "Museum of the Extinct Race." I think it is not he who is having the last laugh...) One of the last things we saw before departing the Jewish Quarter was a big statue of Franz Kafka; you're supposed to touch his boots for luck. We also passed the Prague Opera House, the only Cubist lamppost in the world, at least one monastery, and the very famous brewery attached to/built in the monastery. The brewery is called...wait for it...the Monastery Brewery. Very clever, these Czechs. We also got a pretty nice view of a giant metronome built into a park on a hillside, which supposedly replaced a statue of Stalin.

Prague Astronomical Clock

One of my favorite sites in Prague was really just a blip on our tour. I really got a kick out of the statue of King Wenceslaus riding a dead horse inside the atrium of the Lucerna Palace. Prague is home to many covered alley shortcuts which house both shops and artwork. Right smack in the middle of the atrium, which can be accessed via some of these covered shortcuts, is a giant statue of a man riding an upside-down horse. That is, he sits on the horse's belly and both are suspended from the ceiling. I think it's a political statement or some such, but I enjoyed it so much I took a picture and had it made into a tshirt for my dad. This statue is across from the oldest wine shop in Prague but, sadly, we didn't have time to stop and check it out.

Wenceslaus riding a dead horse

After our tour, we stopped for a traditional lunch, then walked along the Vltava River for a bit of shopping and sight-seeing. Technically our free walking tour didn't bring us along the river or to the bridge, but we ended at a very convenient location to continue exploring on our own. (Side note: I felt like a heel at the end of the tour. I didn't have any small Euro or Czech Koruna, so I tipped the guide in dollars. She seemed pleased, and said it was her first tip in American money, which made me feel slightly less bad about it.) Though we didn't cross the river, we did walk out onto the bridge and had a phenomenal view of the Prague Castle. One of the many neat things about this bridge is its statuary, I think something like 30 or 40 of them, honoring saints and political figures. They date back to the 1600s! Or at least, the originals are from the 17th and 18th centuries; they've been replaced with replicas over the years, and the originals are in the National Museum. We also walked along the royal route or King's Road which dates to the 14th century, and somewhere in there we passed a demonstration against "lies associated with Armenian Genocide." 

Tulips blooming in front of the Charles Bridge in Prague

We met our bus in the mid-afternoon, and the skies opened up on us while we were waiting. I got pretty drenched, to say the least. I'm so happy it held off until it was time for us to leave. I had fewer than 24 hours in Prague and loved every second. I did not, however, love the bus ride back. We got stuck in some horrendous traffic, and our bus driver actually left the bus to go talk to some other drivers. After probably an hour or more, we turned the bus around and took some back roads. It was scenic, but we got back several hours later than we planned, in the wee hours of the morning on Monday. Maybe next time I'll take a train and indeed, I'm going to try my hardest to make sure I go back to explore some more of this beautiful city.

Boleslawic, Poland

This past spring I hopped on a bus for a quick trip to Boleslawic, Poland and Prague, Czech Republic arranged by Lucas of www.cookingwithlucas.com. I've taken several of his cooking classes and he's never steered me wrong, so I took advantage of his organizational skills and group discount to venture to two countries I'd never visited before. For this particular adventure, my friend Helena was my travel buddy and partner in crie. We left on a Friday evening and arrived in the town of Boleslawic Saturday morning. Lucas provided sandwiches and wine, and of course Helena and I also brought our own wine, so I slept decently on the bus. Well, decently for me, anyway. It was such a long ride I was happy that most of it was overnight. I'm not sure I'd do it again, but I'm glad I did it once, and I highly recommend keeping an eye mask and ear plugs in your travel bags! The primary purpose of the Poland half of our visit was to buy Polish pottery, whereas we had nothing specific planned for Prague.

We went straight to Andy Pottery (www.andypolishpottery.com) on the outskirts of Boleslawic, and quickly overran the place. Frankly, I thought their customer service was terrible. They neatly wrapped and packed our goods for us, but were unhelpful and unfriendly. There were nearly 40 of us crammed in there, but I'd venture to say that 90% of us found something to purchase so it was disappointing to be confronted with basic indifference by the shop owner and attendants. I was almost overwhelmed by all the options; there are so many different pieces and patterns to choose from.

My only goals were to buy a teapot for my mother-in-law, some mismatched plates for myself, and find something for Tony's grandpa. Check, check, and check! I got Tony's mom a cute little set where the teapot sits on top of its matching mug, and though I debated on some birds and piggy banks for Grandpa, I ultimately settled on a ceramic cross for him. I found my dinner plates and also treated myself to two mugs, a mortar and pestle, and a lasagna pan. I do not regret those extra purchases in the slightest! The pan may be my favorite purchase, since it is versatile and incredibly easy to clean, but it also makes me super happy to look at and use my mugs. I was one of the first ones to check out, because I didn't want to get stuck standing in line. Good call, past-Elaine! After purchasing my ceramics, I poked around the back of the shop to see where all the wares are hand-painted, and then I went outside to take some pictures of the tulips. They were everywhere in Poland, and I particularly loved the ruffled double tulips! You know me: I never met a flower I didn't like.

After Andy's, we went into the city proper to visit another pottery shop, with even MORE options! I forget the name of that place, and it's actually where I picked up the cross for Grandpa and my mortar and pestle. I was sorely tempted to purchase a mixing and/or salad bowl, but couldn't quite justify it. Now I rather wish I had...we made some new friends on this trip and walked to downtown Boleslawic for lunch after visiting the second ceramic shop. We found a little place on the corner of the main square and ordered four different kinds of pierogies. If I remember correctly, mine had meat and mushrooms, one had spinach, and one had cheese. I forget the other, but I got to try them all and they were delicious! We had a little extra time, so we did a quick tour of the town, which was quite small, and then went into a grocery store to compare goods. I was really tempted by some leather shoes made in Poland, but talked myself out of them. I also bought a bunch of chocolate for my friend Krista, which I really ate myself over the course of the last few months. Whoops! I was intrigued by all the different vodka varieties, but ultimately passed them up as I'm not a huge vodka fan. I always like poking around in stores when I visit other places, and Poland did not disappoint. Everything was relatively cheap, the manufactured goods seemed well-made, and the chocolate was of course delicious.

Kids hanging outside the church in Boleslawic's main square

After our outing in Boleslawic, we hopped on the bus to Prague...to be continued...