The Lennon Wall

For one of my photo class assignments I had to take pictures of tourists on the Charles Bridge. So I did.
I walked from the East side of Prague across the river to the West side, and while I was there I went looking for the Lock Gate. I don't know what it's really called, but according to tradition when you find the love of your life, you're supposed to write your and their name on a lock, then connect it around one of the poles on the gate so you'll be together forever. It's very cute, but the Czech Republic has a very high divorce rate, so it's not quite working.

Those shiny things are padlocks.
On my way to the gate, I passed the Lennon Wall.

There were also people on Segways, which was funny.

Haha. Segways.

This was on the wall next to the Gate.

There's a new art installation behind Old Town Square/Next to school.
It's the word Revolution (Revolucion, because it's Czech), and it's all done using keys. According to my positively adorable photo professor, when the revolucion started and the communists were getting kicked out, the people stood in the streets and shook their keys at the communists. Sort of like groggers on Purim, but as a way to say "Haha, you are done here, get out!".
The giant R is the R from the daily paper from the Communist time.

I also saw a Cubist street light, which is tucked into a little corner of a street that nobody but me was on. It was tempting to do a Singin' in the Rain, but nobody was there, so I'll try to do it another day.

Budapest! Or, How I Was Not Hungry in Hungary

Budapest was great. It was a lot like a more communist Prague with a more built up downtown area. However, the lack of built up skyscrapers/big buildings in Prague is part of what gives it it's nice feel.

We had a nice sunny weekend, and used it to walk around the Chain Bridge and look at Pest from the castle in Buda.

The Chain Bridge and St. Stephen's in Pest.

The Parliament building. Beautiful Gothic building.

Lots of pictures, so more after the jump.

I'm Back! Part 1 of Stuff I've Been Doing

So...after that hiatus, here are a few things I've been doing recently:
1. Going to Berlin
2. Going to Budapest
3. Seeing the Lennon Wall
4. Midterms

What can I say? Classes are things that happen between weekends here.

1. Berlin
Berlin was pretty awesome. It has a lot of history, and they're very, very open about it, which is pretty admirable. However, it's still pretty weird being there because of the history. But it had a lot of gorgeous architecture and the Pergamonmuseum which houses the Ishtar Gates. THE ISHTAR GATES!
The Ishtar Gates are awesome. They're ancient Babylonian Gates which the Germans gacked (Read: Stole because of Imperialism/Having an Empire) during excavations.

They're really old and super cool.
We also saw the Reichstag, which is the German Parliament Building. It has this giant inverted glass cone thing on the roof, which uses solar power to power the building, and is surrounded by a glass dome, which is meant to represent the transparency of the government.

Rest of the post behind a jump.

Prague Metro

The Prague Metro is based on an honor system. You're supposed to buy a ticket, but you don't really have to, unless you get caught by the transit police while they're checking your tickets.

The first week we were here, everybody got checked by the transit police at least once at the Muzeum stop. There are always cops there checking, so if you're going there your best bet is to have a ticket.

Of course, because I didn't speak any Czech I didn't realize they were the transit cops. They were gesturing and speaking at me, and I didn't noticed the badges.

Instead of showing them my pass, I put up a hand and said "Ne, dekuji" (No thank you), thinking they were selling something.

Later, I found out that every single one of my friends thought the same thing, and reacted the same way.
Funny how that works.