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.

Smazeny Syr

Let's talk about smazeny syr.

1. It's amazing.
2. It's amazing.
3. It's amazing.

There you go.

Smazeny syr is a food that is very, very Czech. It's something that's not particularly good for you in mass quantities, fried in oil, and then topped with something that's not particularly good for you.

Smazeny syr is fried cheese- syr meaning cheese and smazeny meaning fried. The main cheese used in smaz is Eidam, which is a pretty mild, and by some judges flavorless, cheese. I think it's good.

To make smaz, you take a hunk of cheese, cover it in flour, dip it in egg, coat it in bread crumbs, and fry it in oil. When it's a delightful golden brown color, you remove it from the oil, pat it dry, and serve with tartar sauce.

You can get smazeny syr in restaurants, where it's served as pieces, sort of like a gigantic mozzarella stick. Vendors also sell smaz in Wenceslas Square, where it's served as a patty in a hamburger bun. Then you can put mayo, ketchup, and/or mustard on it.

It's sort of like the dirty water hot dogs of NYC, except much more likely to clog your arteries quicker.

The Czech people really know how to live.

Terezin

On Friday, I visited Terezin.

Terezin was originally a fortress, built between 1780 and 1790 by Emperor Joseph to protect access routes to Bohemia. In World War II, the residents were evacuated and it was used as a ghetto/transit camp by the Nazis.
Approximately 140,000 men, women and children were deported to Terezin. Within Terezin, there was also "The Small Fortress". 32,000 prisoners passed through there. Both Jewish and non-Jewish POWs went through the Small Fortress. At least 10,000 people alone died in the Small Fortress. From Terezin, prisoners were sent to other camps, usually Auschwitz-Birkenau. The prisoners were kept in rooms with two tier "bunk beds". There were usually about 100 people in the room. In some of the smaller rooms, about 60 prisoners would be kept, and they would have to sleep standing up.

Naturally, the conditions were horrific. Terezin was used as a "model camp" to convince outsiders that nothing was wrong. In preparation for a Red Cross visit, a hospital was created. The hospital was clean and functioning and had supplies. Needless to say, it was never used. The Red Cross visited, and did absolutely nothing.

After WWII, the town was re-inhabited. Today it's a regular town, although it was a bit gray on the day I visited. Apparently a majority of the inhabitants are mentally disabled. There is a home for many of these people in the center of the town, but they just sort of roam the town. The rest of the townspeople either work at the Terezin museum or in some of the shops.

The museum for Terezin was oddly sterile and cold. Right inside the entrance for the Small Fortress is a cafe. After our tour, we were all hungry, so we sat in the cafe. Then we left. It was strange. I'm still hoping to get to Auschwitz.

 

Not the sign everybody knows. It's strange that it was in Terezin, as Terezin wasn't a work camp.

 

Window in the small room. Only source of light. It wasn't opened, so it wasn't a source of air.

 

Barbed wire.

 

Gavrilo Princip, the man who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and started WWI, was imprisoned in this solitary confinement cell.

 

Wall used for target practice/executions. You can see four areas that are shot at.

Solitary confinement cells in the Small Fortress.

Fasanky!

So last week was pretty boring (comparatively speaking) as most of my friends were getting over minor colds (sorry guys!) and we let the week be filled with R/R.
The weekend however, included a weekend trip to two towns in Moravia to celebrate the Czech version of Mardi Gras, which may or may not be called Fasanky (hacek over the s!).
In the spirit of Mardi Gras, it was completely ridiculous.

 

Clowns!