Prague

Prague. For starters I'm just going to say it's amazing. 

 Prague Castle 

It was the perfect time to see the city. The fall colors were all around, but the weather still held so it was wonderful. Fog came in from somewhere and added to the mystere and enchantment of it all. With the castle, the fog, the autumnal colors, and Halloween just around the corner, it was a perfectly enchanting weekend.

 In the Gardens, the ground was carpeted with fallen leaves. There was a lot of ivy as well, so you had the dark cool green and the warm yellows and browns.

Down in the gully between the Gardens and the Castle. I could see the battlements and it seemed as though I had been transported back to the 15th century. I felt like I had popped in on the set of "Ever After" and was kind of hoping my prince charming would walk down the path with Da Vinci in his boat shoes. Alas, he forgot to make an appearance, but the city made up for any romantic disappointment.

 The Old Town Square

 The Municipal Building

Mucha designed a fair bit of this, including the stain glass, the mural, the light fixtures inside the restaurant, and a bunch of other stuff. This was all during the Art Deco era, where Prague had a revitalization.

 Here you can better see the stain glass, which I adore and somehow want to transfer into my future mansion.

 Some funny window display for a restaurant/club in honor of halloween. I appreciate the sentiment.

 Prague is apparently known for its crystal. You can buy it anywhere and everywhere. Here was a lovely art decor place that specialized in crystal chandeliers and vases. The things were amazing in beauty, artistry, and so ridiculously expensive you didn't dare breathe.

Some lovely fall flowers outside the alchemy shop. The alchemy shop distilled herbs and vinegars and spices to make various potions and cocktails for love, for memory, and other fantastical things that people thought of in the medieval ages. The recipes they used were found underneath the shop when the owners decided to extend the property and instead discovered the remains of an old apothecary, full of bottles, ingredients, and recipes. 

An interesting art exhibit. The artist created pieces, almost sculptures, with random objects and covered them in some sort of plastic. I don't know what he did to this purse but he made it see-through with all the stuff inside. It was a fun exhibit and very unique.

Outside the Castle again. The property is huge (as it should be, being a castle and all). I loved the changing color of the ivy. Very pretty.

The Cathedral Saint-Guy was spectacular. The stain glass there was incredible, so detailed. The colors were astonishingly vibrant, and particularly purple and pink in color.

The rose window here was very nice, but I was so distracted by the other windows I hardly noticed.

A mosaic lamb on the wall underneath another astonishing window.

The cathedral wasn't technically finished until Mucha came and painted this window in the 20th century. Most cathedrals of this grandeur and age let the unfinished remain unfinished but Prague thought that a couple hundreds years was enough of a break and they could finish the last window. It was spectacular. Mucha's renderings are very interesting because they are somewhat cartoon-like, but quite effusive and beautiful. They're perfect for the window. Totally gorgeous.

In the square of some saint, still at the palace. Cool buildings.

Depressing statue to remind everyone what happens when you do something bad. But I still liked it. So I took a picture.

FRIENDS! This whole trip was done with my childhood friend and her husband. The company absolutely made the trip and it was a blast to see this incredible place with incredible people. Here they are eating the odd cinnamon cylinder thing that they made in Prague. It's like the Eastern-European version of the churro. Delish.

We went to see the Strahov Cloister, where they have some amazing libraries with thousands of books. We saw this sign and it made us giggle. Tingle the bell! Go on, tingle it!

We found this unique store next to the Old Town Square. It was full of jewelry and a few clothes, but it was all made by local artists. They were art students who lived in Prague, and they created some incredible stuff. Those net-like pieces were made of wood. And there were others, like a rope necklace that had been soaked in salt water until salt crystals grew. Seriously cool stuff, but a bit steep for other struggling students. Still managed to buy a pair of earrings though. It's called DEBUT GALLERY if anyone is interested. Worth a visit. The owners walrus mustache is also a major bonus.

From the end of Charles bridge, a view of the castle at night. So lovely. So enchanting. 

Statue from the famous bridge. I'm glad we saw it at night when the crowd was low. Prague is a packed city and if you don't want some elderly Asian backing into you to take a photo and thus getting into your photo, then see the bridge either early or late.

We went to the Dali exhibit and it was way fun. The more I see of Dali the more I like. Some of his stuff is very bizarre, no denying it, but it's very specific, decided. He does exactly what he means to. At this exhibit there were a lot of smaller pieces I've never seen before, like the piece above. There was an entire room for all the paintings Dali did of the Divine Comedy. Apparently Dali was a little obsessed.

Favorite statue of the place. I mean, that is just the best. 

A litte Inception going on in front of the melting clocks. Smaller than you thought, right?  Also in the corner, which I thought a little rude, because no one puts baby (melting clocks) in the corner.

Another fun piece. 

Then on to Mucha! 

A wonderful rendition of Hamlet, for some theater poster. I wouldn't go Ophelia-mad for him, but pretty close.

I love Mucha's outfits. They are the bomb. And so regal. Don't mind the reflections.

I really really liked this one. I can't explain why, I just do.

Then we took a turn for the somber and headed off to the Old Jewish Cemetery and surrounding synagogues. 

The cemetery was perfect perfect for fall and Halloween. The cemetery wasn't as old as I thought, but apparently they've been stacking for several hundred years and the cemetery actually started about 20 feet below where the current one stands.

Pebbles and coins for good luck. 

The synagogue we started in was a building dedicated to all the Czech Jews that died in concentration camps. The walls were covered with names of the deceased and the numbers they bore. Walls and walls with small writing. It was an incredible piece of art and memory.

Prague is a city of some serious cobblestone. The sidewalks were cobblestoned, like this. And most of the inner-city streets. And different kinds of cobblestone, different eras. There were large cobbles, small cobbles, skinny cobbles, and square cobbles. Some cobbles in the oldest parts were incredibly uneven and thus could be quite dangerous to walk on. In some areas they were redoing the cobble, but they were just take out the old stones and relay them more evenly, which I love. No need to get new material, just refresh the old.

All in all it was an incredible trip and we saw and did so much. I love it, pretty sure it loved me. Good times man, good times.

Learning What Not To Say

When in the midst of learning a language, you naturally make mistakes. And the longer you try to learn a language the more opportunity you have to make a fool of yourself. 

Mistake 1: I went to the patisserie (my favorite place here) and I wanted to try something new. I saw a little mini cake-shaped item that had some almonds on top, labeled as a "souccé". So I pointed to it and said "Je voudrais un sooseh" The vendeuse looked at me bizarrely then saw me pointing and went "Ah! It sook-seh, madame, pas sooseh. It is not the same thing!" And I was, like, ok whatever, I just want to eat it. But then she started to chuckle, and the two men behind me started to chuckle. I got my "soucce" and sat down to eat it but everyone in the store continued to chuckle and laugh and making eye-contact and laughing again. 

So I sat in the shame corner of the bakery while me and my friend tried to deduce what I could have possibly said. Once one of the men had collected his breath he came over. "So sorry, but do you know why we are laughing?" No, obviously not. Hello? Shame corner. "Sorry, but it nothing against you, nothing at all, but you said 'sucer'. Do you know what this is? It means, uh, to suck." And then everyone started laughing again and the vendeuse had to lean both arms on the counter to keep herself standing. 

I had told the vendeuse, with all confidence, "I would like to suck [this]." 

Mistake 2: I was telling my class about how in the past my dad had raised bigs and cows for slaughter. Also how one day I went over to my dad's house while the butcher was there, taking care of the pigs, and how I got an eyeful. 

On kid asked me if it was traumatic and I said no, because a few years previously my grandpa had showed us kids a deer without its skin. He had hunted the deer himself and removed the skin, and for some unknown reason he wanted to show us his handiwork. 

After I finished speaking everyone was staring at me with large, disturbed eyes. "He what?" Someone asked, so I repeated myself, saying "Il nous a monté le cerf." The other students looked at each other asked for clarification, all very confused, very disturbed. Then at last the teacher leaned over and said, "Do you mean 'montrer'?" Then everything clicked and I understood. 

I had told the class that my grandpa had made us mount his dead deer (monter, as in 'ride a horse') , instead of telling them that he had shown us his dead deer (montrer). 

Mistake 3: In any language, especially French, there are a lot of double entendres words with sexual connotation. 

While explaining a trip I was going to take with a friend, I was trying to explain that we were sleeping in the same room, sharing a room, to save on money. But she only heard "nous nous coucherons" which basically meant "yeah, we're going to sleep together." My host mom smiled and nodded, "Oh, that's great!" Then she started laughing and corrected me. 

I also have a really hard time saying that I'm excited about something. "I'm going to see my friend in Prague, I'm so excited!" Apparently excited has a sexual meaning too, so all my local friends are like, "Who is this friend of yours?" Which results in a lot of backtracking, clarification, and use of more neutral synonyms. 

Other things I've learned not to say: 

Je suis chaude (neutral meaning: I'm hot. Not neutral (normal) meaning: I'm horny) 

Il m'a baisé (dictionary meaning: he kissed me. Average meaning: He screwed me) 

Je suis excité (neutral meaning: I'm excited. Not neutral meaning: I'm turned on)

Making Cookies.

The other day (Monday to be exact) I decided I was going to make cookies. I am an American girl and I love me a good cookie. My host mom is not much of a cook so I knew I was obligated to go out and buy supplies, but before I left I double checked the kitchen to see what other things I might be in need of. 

EVERYTHING was the answer. I needed to buy everything. My host mom does not own the basic items I consider necessary for living, such as, oh I don't know, a BOWL. She honestly did not have a mixing bowl before I so generously bought one for our survival. She also did not own a wooden spoon, a spatula, a cookie sheet, a measuring cup of any sort. It's like living with a bunch of bachelors, only there's less frozen burritos (because we're in France). 

So I got myself a hefty shopping bag and proceeded to the largest grocery store in town. Flour and sugar were relatively easy to find, sold in 1 kg bags, which is, like, enough to feed my family breakfast. Brown sugar did not exist. At least I couldn't find it hiding between the midget-sized bags of flour and sugar. I did fine cane sugar, which looks brown. And even though I knew cane sugar is not brown sugar, I was desperate, so my cookies had brown-colored, large-grained sugar plus the normal kind. 

I got distracted from the baking supplies and wandered to the kitchen supplies and I was shocked at their selection of bowls. This Casino is like the French equivalent of a super Wal-Mart and they offered 3 different kind of bowls: Small, small metal, not-as-small. I then went to the tupperware section and bought a bigger, plastic one. Then wooden spoon, then back to the tupperware to get containers for flour and sugar. 

Measuring cups are a different story. I have heard it said before that the French don't really measure their ingredients, and for several reasons I believed this to be true. And now I know it to be true. I found 3 different styles of measuring cups, all for liquid, 1 small glass in grams, one large glass in grams, one large plastic in not grams. C'est tout. No cups, just cup. And measuring spoons, non-existent. 

Back in the baking supplies aisle, I consternated greatly to understand if the packet I was holding was baking soda, baking powder, or something else entirely. After returning home I discovered that it was baking powder. It's sold in little individual packets, rather like instant-yeast packets. I bought two different kinds, thinking one was baking soda, but no, they're both the same. And sold in packets of 11 grams. 

Chocolate chips, there were three bags in total and the cost per bag averaged about $5. And the bags were tiny, like half a 12 oz bag (which some people say is 6 oz). So my cookies did not have chocolate chips. Butter was easy, it was somewhere between the yogurt and the cheese (which take up a surprising amount of space here). 

After all the difficulty I have concluded that most French people do not bake. Really there's no need to with so many pastry stores around, and all of them doing their job so well. Therefore the average house does not bake. They need a lot of sugar cubes for their tea and coffee, but no marshmallows, no raisins, no cocoa powder, so baking soda. 

Then after the tortuous trip the the giant Casino I went home and had to transcribe the measurements to weight measurements without a scale. Then adjust for no baking soda and brown sugar. They did have oats, which, apparently is a rarity here. My teacher was surprised that I was able to get oats. And I just wanted to shout at her, "But where's the cocoa powder??!!" 

Sometimes this is a strange place in a way that does not please me. My cookies were actually quite yummy. Everybody took seconds. Cookies are rare is. Some patisseries sell them, but usually only 1 flavor (chocolate chip) and they're very standard. My teacher said she had never had a homemade cookie, or knew someone to make cookies. I guess the French croissant fills many holes.