Today we went to the Mucha Museum. He was from the Czech Republic - Bohemian region and was an instrumental member of the Art Deco or Art Nouveau period at the turn of the century. Reproductions of his pieces are all over town. They are on postcards, as prints, even on beautiful eggs (usually sold at the same stores at the Russian nesting dolls}. This was a small museum by some standards, but quite quaint and I liked it because it focused on only one artist’s works. It also had a thorough little film about his life and motivations. His drawing and paintings are very moving, especially in his later works related to the Slav Epic. It basically was 20 huge canvasses that he worked for many years on, detailing the trials and tribulations of the people of the Czech Republic and Slovakian region. The Slav epic canvases were not here at this museum, as they are elsewhere, but reproductions are and they are also discussed and shown in the film. I would definitely recommend this museum to all. Very beautiful.

After that went on another Ghost Tour. This time we went with the Prague Walks company for one hour in the Old Town hearing various spooky stories. I didn’t like this tour at all. The guide was trying to be too dramatic and wore this cloak with something on his back to make him appear to have a hunchback and then spoke way too soft and with a very thick accent so I could not hear what he said most of the time. Also, it was one of those companies where at certain times people dressed up in costumes would jump out to scare you, and as I was the only girl on the tour, I was grabbed twice and shook while being screamed at by a “ghost:. It was horribly stupid. I basically just started taking photos to preoccupy my time and waited for the next ghost to “scare” me.

Tags: Art Deco,Art Nouveau,Ghost Tour,Mucha Museum,Prague Walks
Categories: Becky Blogs, Prague
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We came to the grand old city of Prague in the Czech Republic. They call it The city with a 1000 spires.   Since its the only major city in Eastern Europe not damaged by World War I & II it is in beautiful condition with lots of history.   Because of this, locals and  others often say its the  ”Paris of the East“.

That is Becky on the also famous pedestrian bridge called “Charles Bridge”. Great views from it.  It is one kick ass bridge.  Its in all of the movies like XXX. Rachel my sister-in-law said Prague looked beautiful from the movie triple X.

I heard many tales of Prague being cheap and it’s all lies!!!   Maybe they were years ago when they first broke away from communism but now  most things were about the same price as in the USA (at least in Indiana).   Of course, this makes it about 10% - 20% or so cheaper then other big Western Europe cities like Paris or Venice, since the American dollar is so weak when compared to the Euro.  

Since Prague is not part of the EU (European Union),  it still has its own cool currency called Korunas (Crowns). $1 US dollar equals about 22 Kournas. You think great! You can live like a king.  But, your average diet coke costs you about 22 Korunas, or sometimes 50 in the touristy areas.  You do that math.  That means a diet coke costs $1-$2 US dollars.  No big savings there.  The Euro gets about 28 Kournas. Goodie for them.  Don’t expect to save any real money in this not so Eastern European city.  The city was beautiful like that of Paris and and very touristy with tons of tourists and  people, not to mention the gobs of Japanese tourist groups even in late October.  Overall it was just too crowed even late at night.

The St.  Charles bridge is called that because King Charles IV commissioned it.   There are lots of statues on either side of the bridge.  The most famous was some sainted priest dude named John that would NOT tell the naughty confessions of the Queen to the King.  So, the King had him tortured, hung and then tossed off the Charles Bridge. Then, the miracle happened!  Ahhhhhhh!   Five glowing stars emerged from his head and floated up to the heavens.  That is how you become a saint.   Easy huh?

Now birds just pooh on him and his other saintly friends chill’n on the bridge.  Our time was limited, so basically all I did was drink with my friend Lenny and see the bridge. I also walked around, but not into the castle.  I also saw some God awful black light show called Aspects of Alice.  You can read Becky’s blog more for the terror of the play.  

Tags: bird pooh,Chalres Bridge,Prague
Categories: Chris Blogs, Prague
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EuroTrip is one of my favorite movies.   It is a must see for everyone.  And it is defiantly a must see for anyone who has gone or will be going to Europe for that classic “Eurotrip”.  It makes fun of the many stereotypes across Europe and shows some possible scenarios one may encounter while in Europe, albeit they are grossly exaggerated.

One of my favorites scenes is on the train with the gay Italian pervert. Two words “Mi Scusi”.  Hahahaha!  Right now I am on an Italian train heading to Naples from Florence with a stop over in Rome. At the time of this writing we are sitting on the train waiting in Rome.  How exciting!  I have my ears perked to hear a real Italian say “Mi Scusi”.  Hmmm  I wonder if they wear thongs like the Italian guy did in the movie?

So what does Prague have to do with EuroTrip?  In the movie they never went there.   Well my good friend Lenny (see other blog) showed us the light!   He too is a fan of Eurotrip.  The scene where they are suppose to be sitting on a bridge after their night in Amsterdam is just Hollywood magic.  It’s actually in Prague!   See below…

Categories: Chris Blogs, Prague
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Today was a down day. We thought, maybe a little shopping and after that perhaps take in one of these blacklight plays that they advertise all over town. The shopping in Prague is a bit overwhelming though. It is very touristy. In the Old Town, which was the area of town we were staying in, there are people everywhere and if you are looking for cheap, well, then Prague ain’t it. There seems to be a big theme as far as types of shops though.

There are the Marionette shops where you can buy any type of marionette wearing any type of costume you can imagine. There are even marionettes that are dragons and animals, etc. (The marionette plays are also big here). Some of these marionettes can cost hundreds of dollars and are to me are very artistic.

There are the Russian Nesting Doll (Matryoshka) shops. You know, those wooden things where they are all brightly decorated and they all come apart and one fits into the inside of another all nice and neat in decreasing/increasing sizes. They are all in a huge array of sizes, colors, and even designs. They also have themes, like Disney or the Simpson’s, etc. and then if there is a theme, every one is decorated with a different character. It is all a bit much to try to pick just one as some of the artwork on each piece is oh so delicate, but the flashes of color when you enter the store is fantastic.

The other stores that are big here are Crystal/Glass Stores (with lots of sparkley stuff to attract Becky’s attention) and Amber Jewelry Stores and LOTS of stores selling cheap Pashminas (clothing wraps for all the men that have no idea what I am talking about). But, you have to wander around to try to find the best deals and it can be very overwhelming indeed. It is also a bit annoying for me to try to haggle with a vendor while also trying to remember in my head what the correct conversion rate is for the Czech Crown (about 22 Crowns to 1 U.S. Dollar).

After blowing some money shopping we decided to blow some more and went out to find a play to go to. We had wanted to go to this one that was apparently more like Cirque Du Soleil, but they were all sold out, so we settled for Te Fantastika - Aspects of Alice. It is a blacklight theater that has no words, just acting and music, with some stage tricks thanks to blacklight and stagehands dressed all in black. At 48 Euro for two people though, I would have to say that it was the worst thing that I have ever sat though that was in that cost range. It is even hard for me to describe. Apparently the plot of the play takes place after Alice returns from the looking glass. In the 1st act of the play she flies (literally because she is lifted on harnesses) all over Prague (the stage), dances with huge puppets along with lit candles that “dance” across the stage, and is surrounded by “glowing” hands. Ok Ok, neat tricks, but still due to the freaky accordion/harpsichord music it was a bit weird. But, then came the 2nd act, OMG was it worse. It started with Alice realizing that she is old enough to stop wearing tights and start shaving her legs and then in the next scene she is topless touching another woman’s breasts (yes, Chris liked that scene) and then in seconds she was still topless and getting married and then topless again and pregnant and then topless once more and carrying a child. After that the curtain closed and the play was over. Good Lord. We were speechless as we left. What was that? I was numb. During the play, the whole time I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. It was just so horrible. It was like slowing down to watch an accident on the highway. You just can’t leave or turn away. You have to stay till the end just to see if something more horrible happens. Just trust me though, don’t go to this play, do something else instead.

Tags: amber jewelry,aspects of alice,blacklight plays,cyrstal stores,marionettes,matryoshka,pashminas,russian nesting dolls,shopping,te fantastika
Categories: Becky Blogs, Prague
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The best part about Prague, by far, was seeing my old childhood friend Lenny a.k.a. Leo. He is in the process of moving here to start up a new and exciting business. Seeing him brought many memories back from the past. Playing role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, not to mention a few hours of Old Nintendo games like R.C. Pro-Am. It a was little racing game where you raced with remote control cars that could attack the competition. We played for hours on end. One time Lenny played it straight for 5 or 6 hours collecting the letters that spelled “NINTENDO” multiple times and the game race tracks started to repeat themselves.. There is no ending! Evil!! But I digress.

Of course there are all those memories of growing up that happen in high-school. They range from girls, to parties and bonfires, to heading off to that scary exciting thing called college. One of the strongest memories I have with Lenny is when we both volunteered to be away from home for weeks at a time for the first time in our lives. Imagine not having any parental units looking over you. I am talking about Camp Millhouse, in South Bend, Indiana, for mentally handicapped children. It was not until a few years later that the the more PC term “special needs” children came out. It was the year of 1989, the summer of 8th grade, at the tender age of 13 & 14. The next school year we would move from grade school, at Schumker, to the big new multi-million dollar mega-size Penn high-school across the street. It was an awakening age, that time of growth, on many levels.

We came to the summer camp as counselors in training, or C.I.T’S, and volunteered on and off for several weeks that first summer and in later years. One summer Lenny got away from his challenging family and became a full time camp counselor. We changed diapers on adults, fed kids who had no ability to feed themselves, met amazing people, not to mention girls. It was a time of many firsts. First make-outs and even more, like discovery of those yummy girl bits. There is so much that I could write tomes on it.

That experience led me to become a full-time camp counselor. I taught arts & crafts at various camps during the summer months while I attended university. In 1994 & 1995, I was at a YMCA in California and in 2000 I was at an “at-risk” youth camp in Michigan.

It was great seeing Lenny and hearing about all the things he has accomplished in his life so far. He was a great host showing us all around. We even got to meet some of his new friends. He and I got pretty drunk one night and saw some cool old bars in dark spaces and in under ground vaults. We both wished we had more time to hang out. We both made comments while in the states that we rarely visited each other and yet here we were in Prague on the other side of the world and we had made the time. Isn’t life funny that way?

Tags: Astronomical Clock,Chris,Lenny,nintendo,Prague,R.C. Pro-Am
Categories: Chris Blogs, Prague
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