Saturday, July 29, 2017
A Brief 100 Year History of Prague
Prague is an unusually confident city probably because of its history over the past 100 years. It seems the city has the attitude of yeah - a lot has happened here in recent history, but we have overcome it and it has made us who we are today. I guess from having their archduke Ferdinand assassinated, which started WW1 and ended the Austrio-Hungarian rule creating Czechoslovakia, to being occupied by Nazi Germany starting in 1939 through the end of WW2, to being communist until "Prague Spring" in '68 which was an effort to become more democratic, to having the Soviet Union step in during '68 being like "no you aren't going to be a democracy, you are communist," to the fall of the Berlin Wall in '89, to becoming the Czech Republic in '93.. yeah a lot has gone on here.
Equally impressive through this time period was the Czech people's ability to resist. There were times during World War II where the Czech people were so rebellious that Nazi Germany had to pull back troops from the Eastern front to deal with the people of Prague. This led to massive murders of the Czech intellectuals and the Nazi's sent students, teachers, and politicians to concentration camps. Meanwhile the allied troops continued to drop bombs on Prague. Patton reached Prague first, but under Eisenhower's order was told not to liberate them and let the Russians take care of Prague.
All of this history is embedded into the city and if you know what to look for you can really see the influence. The most obvious of this is the architecture. There's an old Medieval area, which is the most pretty. However, as you leave that area you can tell which areas were bombed because they are replaced with really ugly communist buildings made largely of concrete. I do not know why the Soviets loved concrete blah looking buildings - but they are everywhere. Oddly enough, you see architecture like this in the newer parts of Havana as well, I don't know why, but something about communism makes residential development look incredibly depressing. (It's like they are saying "Here: Live in a Concrete Box!")
During their forced communism days the Czech people were equally not happy even though they were largely grateful the Russians liberated them during WW2. Very little was done under communism to help the people, buildings were in much needed repair, and the new government was unpopular. Finally in the 90s they were able to take control of their country and I am told had the most awesome president, Vaclav Havel, who organized the Prague Spring in '68 and spent several years in prison because of this. He was a famous playwright in the '60s creating art that was anticommunist and continued writing when he was in jail. Needless to say after the end of communism he was the natural choice for a leader and won re-election by a landslide.
Furthermore, you notice the communism influence in the city with the way the traffic and walking paths are organized. This I find personally infuriating because it DOESNT make sense. The philosophy about how to lay out the city seems to be "you walk here because I said so and I have decided this is best" instead of you know actually thinking and analyzing the patterns in which people walk and move. For instance, the biggest intersection near the apartment I'm staying in, which I cross every single day, DOESNT allow you to cross at the intersection. They have literally barred off every side of the intersection at the 4 corners. SO, what you have to do is walk to the middle of any of these roads, cross at the middle where you have to wait for a light for pedestrians, and then be on your merry way. WHY? It doesn't make sense! You see this everywhere in the city. Here's a picture that kind of shows what I'm talking about that I found on the internet. I HATE them - its all about controlling how you walk. I hate it.
The sad thing about this frustrating infrastructure is it will take several decades to undo because once the layout is made - it's done. It's more difficult to destroy and replace a traffic path than initially creating it.
This post may sound more negative than I intend it - I am enjoying my time here a lot. For instance, yesterday I spent time with a local artist creating a handmade notebook. Today I'm going to go to the KGB museum to look at old Soviet secret service things. I think what I'm struggling with most is that Prague is not as intuitive to me as other cities I've been in. Most cities I intuitively figure out in a day or two. I've been in Prague for 4 days now and I don't feel like I'm any closer to "figuring it out." I know a large part of this is because of its history and also the Eastern European cultural gap. I think it would take me much longer than a week to assimilate, but I only have a week. I find that frustrating - Northern Vietnam and Cuba were much much easier for me to assimilate to.
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| Old Town Prague. Mostly Medieval and some1890s buildings. |
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| Vaclav Havel |
All of this history is embedded into the city and if you know what to look for you can really see the influence. The most obvious of this is the architecture. There's an old Medieval area, which is the most pretty. However, as you leave that area you can tell which areas were bombed because they are replaced with really ugly communist buildings made largely of concrete. I do not know why the Soviets loved concrete blah looking buildings - but they are everywhere. Oddly enough, you see architecture like this in the newer parts of Havana as well, I don't know why, but something about communism makes residential development look incredibly depressing. (It's like they are saying "Here: Live in a Concrete Box!")
During their forced communism days the Czech people were equally not happy even though they were largely grateful the Russians liberated them during WW2. Very little was done under communism to help the people, buildings were in much needed repair, and the new government was unpopular. Finally in the 90s they were able to take control of their country and I am told had the most awesome president, Vaclav Havel, who organized the Prague Spring in '68 and spent several years in prison because of this. He was a famous playwright in the '60s creating art that was anticommunist and continued writing when he was in jail. Needless to say after the end of communism he was the natural choice for a leader and won re-election by a landslide.
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| Examples of Communist architecture near where I'm staying. |
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| The red and white bars are the annoying barriers I've been talking about. |
The sad thing about this frustrating infrastructure is it will take several decades to undo because once the layout is made - it's done. It's more difficult to destroy and replace a traffic path than initially creating it.
This post may sound more negative than I intend it - I am enjoying my time here a lot. For instance, yesterday I spent time with a local artist creating a handmade notebook. Today I'm going to go to the KGB museum to look at old Soviet secret service things. I think what I'm struggling with most is that Prague is not as intuitive to me as other cities I've been in. Most cities I intuitively figure out in a day or two. I've been in Prague for 4 days now and I don't feel like I'm any closer to "figuring it out." I know a large part of this is because of its history and also the Eastern European cultural gap. I think it would take me much longer than a week to assimilate, but I only have a week. I find that frustrating - Northern Vietnam and Cuba were much much easier for me to assimilate to.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Where I am Staying in Prague
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| A nice and BIG kitchen for lunch and tea making! |
I have arrived in Prague and will be here for about a week. This is the part of the summer were I start lounging around in different parts of the world mostly to read books, write, nap, and maybe win the cultural victory on the Civ 6 game I'm working on (I'm really good at stealing famous art from other civs. I love my spies!). Or it's quite possible I will do none of the above and bum around. It's my summer after all.
We are staying a short distance from the touristy center in Prague. The goal today will be to eat dinner in a new neighborhood and explore AWAY from the tourists. I have a hunch there will be a neighborhood that I will fall in love with much like my favorite one in Amsterdam - but I could be wrong.
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| Living Room where I am writing from right now. |
The apartment I'm staying in is HUGE. I have a hard time managing larger spaces I am discovering. In NYC my apartment is so small I don't have to look very far to find whatever thing I misplaced or lost - it forgives a lot of my disorganized spacial tendencies. Here I have to wander between the 5 rooms and ask if anyone has seen my "Americanah" novel and debate with myself if I actually did leave it in the cab or put it somewhere else mindlessly. It was under my headphones, which was under my large cardigan and took 10 minutes of effort to find. It is also probably worth noting, I was not the one that found it. 😀 This is the kind of thing people near me have to learn to put up with, but I will try and be a little better at it. All the same, its nice to have a large space to spread out.
Lastly, the shower here is pretty amazing and deserves to be mentioned. It has heated floors, which I love and two different facets. I'm a big fan!
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| Another Writing Area. Although, I prefer the living room for myself. |
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Sunday, July 23, 2017
The Place I'm staying in Glastonbury
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| Entry to the house. Love the Tiles. |
Our hosts here are wonderful. Here are some of the pictures of their bed and breakfast. You can see more about their place here.
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| My room. |
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| Breakfast room. I love their pottery. |
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| The Garden in the Back. |
Friday, July 21, 2017
Post Brexit Britain
It's impossible to be in Great Britain and not hear about the Brexit negotiations. It's all over the BBC, it's on people's clothing, and people are adopting the film Dunkirk as a symbol to support their world view whether its for remaining or brexiting.
The British trade negations in Brussels have been going poorly, but the BBC doesn't report it as such. Instead they say: "Well now we have a much clearer picture what the EU wants from us.. they really did their homework well, didn't they?." The British negotiators did not know how to answer the EUs questions such as "what happens to EU members who live in the UK" and "what happens to the British people abroad" in addition to several travel issues related to British businesses and especially the conflicts in Northern Ireland. They also have not agreed on how much Britain must pay to leave the EU - and they are keeping any numbers quiet due to the expected public uproar. As one guy put it on the BBC, "the most pragmatic members of parliament are thinking about how leaving affects all the moving pieces of our country and are pushing for a 2 year phase out to create the most optimal outcomes for our country." However, the most urgent people for Brexit are demanding that it happens now.
I really empathize for the youngest members of the UK society who are much more global than the baby boomers who did this to them. Its hard to say exactly how this will impact them, but I do think there's a general sense of lose among many people, especially the younger generation. It's so hard to watch older people create a world that you do not want that will actively affect you for much of your early adult life. You know, right at the time when you maybe are starting a family or buying a house. Meanwhile, the value of the pound continues to drop while rent and inflation increases and the future trade policies that will shape your society are in jeopardy. That's a lot of uncertainty to swallow.
But not all is lost, I saw a 60 year old woman riding her bike through a London neighborhood wearing an EU sweatshirt. I thought that was pretty powerful.
The British trade negations in Brussels have been going poorly, but the BBC doesn't report it as such. Instead they say: "Well now we have a much clearer picture what the EU wants from us.. they really did their homework well, didn't they?." The British negotiators did not know how to answer the EUs questions such as "what happens to EU members who live in the UK" and "what happens to the British people abroad" in addition to several travel issues related to British businesses and especially the conflicts in Northern Ireland. They also have not agreed on how much Britain must pay to leave the EU - and they are keeping any numbers quiet due to the expected public uproar. As one guy put it on the BBC, "the most pragmatic members of parliament are thinking about how leaving affects all the moving pieces of our country and are pushing for a 2 year phase out to create the most optimal outcomes for our country." However, the most urgent people for Brexit are demanding that it happens now.
I really empathize for the youngest members of the UK society who are much more global than the baby boomers who did this to them. Its hard to say exactly how this will impact them, but I do think there's a general sense of lose among many people, especially the younger generation. It's so hard to watch older people create a world that you do not want that will actively affect you for much of your early adult life. You know, right at the time when you maybe are starting a family or buying a house. Meanwhile, the value of the pound continues to drop while rent and inflation increases and the future trade policies that will shape your society are in jeopardy. That's a lot of uncertainty to swallow.
But not all is lost, I saw a 60 year old woman riding her bike through a London neighborhood wearing an EU sweatshirt. I thought that was pretty powerful.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
"Art Should Disturb the Comfortable and Comfort the Disturbed" -Cesar Cruz
I'm in London! I've been averaging about 7+ miles per day since July 1st, which makes for a very tired Amanda by mid-July so I have been passing out as soon as I get home instead of blogging. Also, I haven't been carrying my camera around because after a few miles it feels like lead. But nonetheless here I am.
My trip to London has largely been dominated by art. Yesterday I went to the Tate Modern for the first time and spent a couple hours in their Giacometti (Swiss sculptor) and Soul of Nation (Black art in America from the 1960-80s) Exhibitions. For me the Soul of the Nation exhibition stole the show - I found it to be incredibly powerful and moving. I don't think I'm ready to talk about my reflections in a blog format aside from encouraging everyone to see it. Learning more about who "we" are as America will always be difficult if comfortable Americans refuse to be uncomfortable. It might be one of the most powerful art exhibitions I have seen in my life thus far and I know I will continue to think about it probably forever. It might be the highlight of my summer.
One a different note, I found myself being incredibly grateful for my liberal arts education. I took a class on modern art that focused on artists in the 2000-2010. Although I didn't always like everything that was presented in the class, I learned how to value and create art, which was the ultimate goal. I'm not sure if I would have appreciated the exhibits as much as did without this entry point and for that I am thankful.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Friday, July 14, 2017
Thoughts about Antwerp
It was on a whim that I ended up going and staying 3 days in Antwerp. Especially, considering I doubt I could have told you Antwerp was in Belgium before this trip, more or less what one would find and do there. However, I was pleasantly surprised with Antwerp and may even consider revisiting it for the winter holidays. Below are some of my thoughts and observations about Antwerp.
Antwerp City:
The store fronts in Antwerp are struggling!! This is a trend you also see in New York City, but its much more extreme here. I saw one block with 3 store fronts in a row empty. As the world shifts more and more toward online shopping, I imagine this trend will become even more dramatic.
Despite the store fronts struggling, Antwerp is known for its shopping. There's a larger fashion industry here and a larger emphasis on design in general than most cities. I bought a white maxi dress in a specific style that I've been looking for over the past 2 years. It's strange to me that I found it in Antwerp.
The Cathedral is late white Gothic and beautiful, but you have to pay 6 euro to get in (why do they do that!). It has a famous painting of the "Descent of Christ" by Rubens that I personally found to be uncomfortable (maybe that's why they make you pay?). You can see a picture of it below - in real life its roughly 3 times as tall as me (~15 feet).
Antwerp has an impressive train station that was built with the money they got from killing Africans for rubber. It also has the largest diamond industry in the world historically - also thanks to Africa. It's a city whose wealth was built off of colonialism, which is uncomfortable. But I'm impressed by the Belgians who not only recognize it, talk about it, and are starting to take responsibility for it. There is a colonialism museum in Brussels that was recommended to me and I'm hoping to see it.
Trappist Beer is beer made by monks and it is delicious.
Below are some beers I tried in Antwerp.
Interactions with the People:
The Belgians are incredibly warm, friendly, and pragmatic people. They are like the best of both worlds when it comes to northern versus southern Europeans.
A waiter last night sat down and chatted with us about Belgium and shared some of his travel stories. He was in Laos/Thailand/Cambodia for 10 months and loved it. He said that its weird when you are in the jungle - the birds there have all died from the hunting so the jungle is silent.
The cab driver told us to not say we are from the USA when in Brussels since our president called it "Hell on Earth" and the people of Brussels do not appreciate it. (Do you blame them? I would be super upset if a foreign prime minister called New York "Hell on Earth" after 911 - it is just BAD diplomacy.) I think I'll continue saying I live in New York - people get way more excited about that and tend to be more forgiving towards my American shortcomings.
The same cab driver found out I like beer and told me I should try the beer Jupiler. "It is really good," he said. I have not tried it and probably will not - it is the beer I keep seeing young people with and its the cheapest on the menus - I imagine its like keystone or Miller light.
The Europeans are confused why Americans don't want universal healthcare and they ask about this a lot. I tell them I don't really get it either and say I think the argument people make against it is it will raise taxes.
They respond, "but it pays for your healthcare."
Me: "I know, but the Americans are a proud and self centered people and would rather take out a second mortgage on their home (even lose their home!), work multiple jobs and force their teenage kids to work to pay off their health debt when dad gets cancer rather than pitch in for anyone else's dad that gets cancer. They do this in the name of 'freedom,' its a special kind of American privileged."
Them: I think I'll stick to Europe.
Me: That is probably smart.
Platin-Moretus Museum (aka The Printing Press Museum)
The printing press museum in Antwerp is AMAZING. I spent 2 hours there and could have easily spent 3.5 hours, but they kicked me out because it was closing. It is fascinating how quickly knowledge spread with the printing press and how much power the publishers had in deciding what got published (mostly Bibles, Christianity stuff, and Greek philosophy). Books were a luxury item so only the rich had access to the books that were printed - women (who could read) were not allowed to read anything except the Bible.
Making mistakes in printing early books was fairly common because the process was so cumbersome. It took 8 hours to set the letters/words for ONE page of a book. Most books had to be translated from their original Greek or Latin so either the translation would get mixed up or the format would get mixed up, this at times could change the meaning of the text even if it was off by one letter. They had scholars they hired to catch these mistakes, however, because making books was so expensive and time consuming it wasn't unusual for several hundred copies of a misprinted page to be sent out into the world.
Antwerp City:
The store fronts in Antwerp are struggling!! This is a trend you also see in New York City, but its much more extreme here. I saw one block with 3 store fronts in a row empty. As the world shifts more and more toward online shopping, I imagine this trend will become even more dramatic.
Despite the store fronts struggling, Antwerp is known for its shopping. There's a larger fashion industry here and a larger emphasis on design in general than most cities. I bought a white maxi dress in a specific style that I've been looking for over the past 2 years. It's strange to me that I found it in Antwerp.
The Cathedral is late white Gothic and beautiful, but you have to pay 6 euro to get in (why do they do that!). It has a famous painting of the "Descent of Christ" by Rubens that I personally found to be uncomfortable (maybe that's why they make you pay?). You can see a picture of it below - in real life its roughly 3 times as tall as me (~15 feet).
Antwerp has an impressive train station that was built with the money they got from killing Africans for rubber. It also has the largest diamond industry in the world historically - also thanks to Africa. It's a city whose wealth was built off of colonialism, which is uncomfortable. But I'm impressed by the Belgians who not only recognize it, talk about it, and are starting to take responsibility for it. There is a colonialism museum in Brussels that was recommended to me and I'm hoping to see it.
Trappist Beer is beer made by monks and it is delicious.
Below are some beers I tried in Antwerp.
Interactions with the People:
The Belgians are incredibly warm, friendly, and pragmatic people. They are like the best of both worlds when it comes to northern versus southern Europeans.
A waiter last night sat down and chatted with us about Belgium and shared some of his travel stories. He was in Laos/Thailand/Cambodia for 10 months and loved it. He said that its weird when you are in the jungle - the birds there have all died from the hunting so the jungle is silent.
The cab driver told us to not say we are from the USA when in Brussels since our president called it "Hell on Earth" and the people of Brussels do not appreciate it. (Do you blame them? I would be super upset if a foreign prime minister called New York "Hell on Earth" after 911 - it is just BAD diplomacy.) I think I'll continue saying I live in New York - people get way more excited about that and tend to be more forgiving towards my American shortcomings.
The same cab driver found out I like beer and told me I should try the beer Jupiler. "It is really good," he said. I have not tried it and probably will not - it is the beer I keep seeing young people with and its the cheapest on the menus - I imagine its like keystone or Miller light.
The Europeans are confused why Americans don't want universal healthcare and they ask about this a lot. I tell them I don't really get it either and say I think the argument people make against it is it will raise taxes.
They respond, "but it pays for your healthcare."
Me: "I know, but the Americans are a proud and self centered people and would rather take out a second mortgage on their home (even lose their home!), work multiple jobs and force their teenage kids to work to pay off their health debt when dad gets cancer rather than pitch in for anyone else's dad that gets cancer. They do this in the name of 'freedom,' its a special kind of American privileged."
Them: I think I'll stick to Europe.
Me: That is probably smart.
Platin-Moretus Museum (aka The Printing Press Museum)
The printing press museum in Antwerp is AMAZING. I spent 2 hours there and could have easily spent 3.5 hours, but they kicked me out because it was closing. It is fascinating how quickly knowledge spread with the printing press and how much power the publishers had in deciding what got published (mostly Bibles, Christianity stuff, and Greek philosophy). Books were a luxury item so only the rich had access to the books that were printed - women (who could read) were not allowed to read anything except the Bible.
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| The Printing Room where books were made in Antwerp. |
Making mistakes in printing early books was fairly common because the process was so cumbersome. It took 8 hours to set the letters/words for ONE page of a book. Most books had to be translated from their original Greek or Latin so either the translation would get mixed up or the format would get mixed up, this at times could change the meaning of the text even if it was off by one letter. They had scholars they hired to catch these mistakes, however, because making books was so expensive and time consuming it wasn't unusual for several hundred copies of a misprinted page to be sent out into the world.
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| To be more competitive in the printing market, Platin hired someone to create the Garmond font. It is the same font you can use on word today. Above are the letters that were placed into the printing press to make text. |
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
The Place I'm staying at in Antwerp
I'm staying in a studio apartment in Antwerp that's near the old center. It's nothing too special but it is close to most things, so that is nice. The most hilarious part about it is there is a big street light right outside the windows. When you turn off your apartment lights its as if nothing changed - which admittedly made us laugh. "Usually when I turn off the lights something happens??" But not in this case. Fortunately, I have a eye mask that I use on flights, which also works well for this space too.
For more details about the place I'm staying at you can click here.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
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