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Published: December 27th 2008
Die Donau
Seeing the Donau in Vienna for the second time this year--the first in Budapest.You're perhaps wondering what the title of this blog means, "Láska." That, ladies and gentlemen, is the Czech word for LOVE. Because I am in LOVE. And her name is ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA. I have found my absolute, uncontestable favorite land in Europe.
Also, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
So, let's get right to it.
On Thursday, the 18th, Libor and I woke up at the crack of dawn (after going to bed at the crack of dawn) to catch the train to Vienna. We had decided to go up really early so we could spend the entire day there trying to see everything for Christmas and how it looked. What we did not factor in, however, was the lovely Austrian winter weather of rain rain rain rain rain. We got to Vienna at about 10am, and then set out into the odd rain/snow combination that only Austria has--I can't describe it, it's just wet and cold and neither rain nor snow nor hail nor sleet, just some weird thing inbetween. We had decided to find the bus station where our bus in the evening would be leaving from, so that we could rent a locker for the day and dump our
Church
We stumbled upon this cool church. bags so they didn't get too wet. By the time we figured out where we were and got set to actually see the city, we were both soaked to the core. Our bus was leaving from the Prater U-Bahn stop (the giant ferris wheel in Vienna), so we decided to walk by that and then see the Donau for the second time of the semester (the first being in Budapest). We walked over a giant bridge and enjoyed being sheltered from the weather, to a section of Vienna known as Donau City, where both of us had never been. We wandered around there a bit, which had a lot of "skyscrapers," though nothing like New York, and ended up going to the Tower of Donau City, which is this giant almost space-needle like thing that overlooks all of Vienna. We were freezing and decided to go up to the cafe at the top and get something warm to heat up, and ended up staying there for a while just enjoying the view (the entire top was rotating so we could see all of Vienna--or at least what the clouds would allow us). From there, we headed back down and back
Soaked
It was doing the nasty rain-sleet-snow-hail thing and we'd been walking for about 2 hours. That's a drenched Czech you're seeing. into the storm, and went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was a really nice place, and I got this mango chicken thing that was similiar to the food I got with Hillary in Vienna way back when, and then I found out that it was Libor's first time eating real ("real") Chinese food, not just fastfood of Chinese food. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself greatly as he struggled to use chopsticks and found out the hard way that things cooked with Thai spices are a little bit spicy. From there, we hopped on the U-Bahn and shot over to Stephansplatz, the center of the city, and enjoyed everything lit for Christmas. We wandered around a little bit, and stopped so I could buy his sister a Christmas present ("One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," but with stickers and stuff to help learn spellings and vocabulary, which is perfect since she's trying to learn English and is only 7). We wandered along the Ringstrasse and found our way to the Hofburg, which was also very nice lit up for Christmas , and found the street where Hillary and I
Donau
Again had found an awesome chocolate shop, though we didn't go in since it was doing the nasty rain-snow-sleet-hail thing again. We made our way to the Rathaus, city hall, where the biggest Chrsitmas market was. We bought ourselves some Glühwein and found some shelter to relax for a little and try to heat up from the freezing weather we were experiencing. With the weather finally getting the best of us, we hopped on the U-Bahn and went to our stop at the Prater. We hung out there for a bit people-watching before boarding the bus, and off we went, next stop, BRNO!!
We got into Brno at about 9:30 at night, and immediately got on the tram to go to his grandfather's. We were both pretty tired and cold from the day, so we decided just to go straight to Franišek's. It was about 20 minutes with the tram, in the section of the city called Řičkovice, which is sort of the farthest reaches of the main section of the city. We got to his house, where I was confronted by the 60-year-old version of Libor. It was pretty startling, but I was shocked by how much Libor looks
Street Sign
Brno & Graz :) like his grandfather, so I just sat at the table looking back and forth which was funny. And so set in the language barrier. Libor became my personal translator, and I was cursing the Austrians in my Czech class for not being able to learn quicker (we have to go so slow because they can understand just about nothing in Czech). Anyways, we had a nice dinner, first soup (as is customary) followed by gulasch, washed down with Starobrno, the local beer, famous in Europe. We just hung out for the evening and warmed up, and then I got my first taste of the Czech Republic's past. As most of you know (or believe to still exist), the Czech Republic was half of the former Czechoslovakia, which then was a piece of the USSR, though always maintained a startling amount of independence. Libor's grandfather's house was built at the height of the USSR's reign, which I thought was probably the coolest thing ever, and I got my first taste of that when I went to take a shower. I had to sit in the tub and turn the heat dial until I saw a flame explode in the heat box
Vienna
From the cafe in the tower in Donau City. behind the tub, and then I had hot water. It was a fun experience, though definitely difficult to shower sitting down. Exhausted from the day, Libor and I both collapsed into our shared bed, in anticipation of the next day.
We woke up and had breakfast with Libor's grandfather, then immediately got underway! We caught the tram into the city, and got off in the "Moravian Square," which had been dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the USSR. Once the Czech Republic finally gained total independence however, they wanted to do away with most of the traces of the USSR, though not all. They renamed the square as Moravian Square, but kept the statue in the center to remember--not the soldiers, but the past. That was one of the things I liked about the Czech Republic, everybody had that attitude: what's done is done, you're not going to change it, so let's just keep going and see where we end up. We took a quick tour of one part of the city, and climbed up to the city's castle, and Libor taught me a little bit about Czech history, which is really cool and really interesting...so naturally we learn
Vienna
Also from the Tower. none of it in school. From there, we headed back down to Petrov, the city's cathedral. We climbed up to the bell tower where we had awesome views of the city (which is pretty big, much bigger than Graz--it's the 2nd biggest city in the ČR after Praha...ok, Prague), and that's when my camera decided to die. We continued on our way and did some Christmas shopping, and I got to see Libor's university, too. We ate in a small restaurant by his school, where he ordered for me and said he had no idea what it was but it was on the daily menu and our only option, and that's when I adopted my new policy for the Czech Republic: don't ask, don't tell. I ate what I was given, and I still have no idea what 95% of it was. We did some more Christmas shopping, wandered around in the Hauptplatz, and then decided to call it an afternoon and headed back to Řičkovice, where we had dinner and hung out. Then, we took the tram back into the city, where I got my first experience with Czech youth. We met up with some of Libor's friends: Marek,
Me
Looking snazzy as always. Fanda, Petra, and Soňá. They had wanted to take Libor and me out to a bar to hang out and catch up, but since it was the Friday before Christmas, they couldn't get a reservation anywhere (yes, you have to reserve a place in a bar in the ČR), and so for an hour, I took the night tour of Brno as we searched for a place to go. Finally, we found a place, and then hung out for the dinner and wandered some more around the city, and it was a lot of fun! I spoke a bit in Czech, and then Soňá spoke really good English, so between her and Libor I had my translations coming at me in two languages.
Saturday we woke up and did some errands (I actually got a Czech cell number since it was exorbitantly expensive for me to RECEIVE calls outside of Austria), packed our things, said čau to Franišek, and headed for the train station. We first caught the regular train, and then changed for the express. It was a one cart train that went quite quickly and instead of hitting the major cities, did a tour of the villages
The Cafe
It was revolving actually pretty quickly so you could see all of Vienna. between Brno and Česká Třebová. After about 2 hours, we had arrived in Linhartice! We hopped off at the train station, which is half station, half family residence (the village is small, it only has about 300 people), and started the hike up to the house, which is about 2 minutes away from the train station on the other side of the river. As we were walking, we saw a light bobbing towards us and the scream of "ČAU!!!" And that's when I met my greatest ally in the Czech Republic, no other than Lenka, Libor's 7-year-old sister. She came to greet us and walk us back up to the house, and we chatted a little in Czech which was fun. Libor's house is probably the coolest house I've ever seen, and it's very European (or the image we have of Europe, at least). It's almost a square, but with one corner cut off for the gate that you have to drive through to come into the courtyard. Inside the courtyard is the L shaped house, in one section of which he lives, and in the other section his step-grandparents. The other half of the square is part a place
for animals--they have bunnies and chickens for meat--and then a huge old barn where they park the cars and keep a lot of other random junk. It. was. awesome. It was there that we were greeted by his mom, step-father, and step-grandparents, and then some of his cousins showed up, too. We all went inside and warmed up, and the house was also really nice. As we all sat around talking in a mixture of German and Czech, some friends of the family unexpectedly decided to drop in, so there were even more people and it was a great time overall, just hanging out and chatting and still getting adjusted to Czech culture. I also had my own room, which was really nice, and they had bought the bed the day before I got there so I was the first to break it in (they just moved into the house during the summer and so they're still putting it all together). My first day in Linhartice started out quite nicely!
Sunday I woke up but hung out in my room a little bit until I was certain Libor was awake. I went down for breakfast, and then just hung
Golf Kills
I laughed pretty hard. This is a sign in the park at the base of the tower. out. Libor had to go to his step-grandparents' to translate a letter from German to Czech, so I hung out with Lenka. We played Solitaire on Libor's computer, and attempted to understand each other while I spoke rudementary Czech and she counted the cards in German. It was fun, though, and I definitely won her over. Libor's step-grandmother came back with him to visit, and she said (which Libor translated) that she couldn't get over how Czech I look, and that she'd never suspect that I wasn't from there, because I look perfectly Czech. Who knew? We had lunch, and then Libor and I decided to go outside for the first time all day (at about 2pm, remember), and go for a walk down the road with Aja, the dog, to some ruins from the 10th century, which were really cool. We wandered around there, and then went up on the little mountain behind Libor's house where we could overlook the entire village and see Moravská Třebová. It was awesome, we just wandered around for a little bit and enjoyed the amazing views of a nice little pocket of the world. After that, we just walked back to Libor's house
Chinese Food
He'd never had sit-down Chinese food before (only fastfood style), and was at first baffled by the spoon. and hung out for the afternoon and watched a movie at night. It was a nice and relaxing day, and great to be in a house again (with a couch!).
On Monday we woke up bright and early and went into the city, Moravská Třebová, with Libor's mom. In other words, that was my first time in a car since SEPTEMBER FIRST. It was pretty exciting. It was also the first time for Libor since August, so we were both giddy with glee. We got to Moravská Třebová, which is only about 5 minutes away, and he and I split off from his mom to see the city and do some last minute Christmas shopping. We wandered around and tried to visit the city's castle, which was unfortunately closed for winter, and then later met up with his mom and wandered around a little more and did some shopping. We went home for lunch, and hung out for the afternoon until 5, where we went to Lenka's school. It's traditional in the Czech Republic to have a little ceremony to receive the "Light from Bethlehem," and so we went a little concert where kids in kindergarten, 1st grade, etc.,
Until...
...the chopsticks came. sang songs and recited things for Christmas before they each had a candle lit from a flame from Bethlehem. It was entertaining, and then afterwards we talked to some of their friends, where I had one of the guys there hand me a flask and told me to drink some to wish me luck in the Czech Republic. Turns out it was slivovice, but more on that later. After the concert, we headed over to some of the family's friends' house, the ones who had been at ours the night Libor and I arrived in Linhartice. We hung out for the night there and chatted and it was overall a lot of fun, yet again. Czechs on the whole are very laid back and just happy people, and I think that's why I like them so much. They're refreshing to be around.
On the 23rd, Libor, Lenka, and I headed out to the village next to Linhartice, where Libor grew up. There, we climbed up to more castle ruins, named Hrad Cimburk. I believe they were first documented as existing in the 13th century, and were occupied until the 18th century when lightning struck and the castle burned. It
Stephansplatz
Decorated for Christmas. was very cool, though, and apparently a popular place for the people from the town to go and hang out during the summer, and a lot of town events take place there. We explored the ruins, and climbed here and there, and then Libor decided he wanted to take a picture of Lenka and me in a window from below. Lenka and I hiked back up to the complex and climbed into one of the windows, where we had our picture taken. On the way down, I gave her a piggy back, and of course chose to step on the one loose stone of the bunch, and so we went sliding down the side of the hill. She was laughing and had a great time, and I on the other hand had huge scratches and cuts running up and down my leg, and thus I have officially shed blood in the Czech Republic! I'm a champ, I know. We went back to Linhartice for lunch, where I met Libor's cousin Anna who is very cool, she speaks German (her boyfriend is from Switzerland) and lives in Prague, so we hung out with her for the afternoon. I also watched The
Stephansplatz
Christmas Tree. Santa Clause with Libor on tv, but dubbed into Czech. It was nonetheless funny, though he said the whole Santa Claus concept to him is so odd (they have another tradition). In the evening, Libor, Josef (Libor's step-father), Lenka, and I headed into Moravská Třebova, where we met Radim and Pavla, Libor's brother and sister-in-law, as well as Karel and Zita (the family friends from the last few nights), and spent the night bowling and hanging out having fun. Pretty much never a bad time in the Republic!
On the 24th, what we in America know as Christmas Eve, everything was different. We woke up and ate all together in the morning, and then Libor and Josef brought in the tree. The stand was actually made out of a stump that Josef had carved, and so the 3 of us together set it up. Then, Libor put on the lights and I helped Lenka put hooks on ornaments. The 3 kids then decorated the tree with an assortment of ornaments, candies, gingerbread cookies, etc., while the Libor's parents worked on the evening meal. We had a weird milky soup for lunch with sauerkraut in it, and then that's all
Dom und Baum
Cathedral and Tree. your allowed to eat until dinner. The room with the Christmas tree is closed off for the day, and so then we just hung out and waited for Jeíšek, the baby Jesus, to arrive. Libor and I both had minor problems with wrapping our gifts, as we had both not done it yet and there was hardly any wrapping paper in the house, but we made due. The 5 of us sat down together to a quiet, formal dinner, and we ate and enjoyed ourselves with Czech Christmas music playing. It's traditional in the Republic, as well, to eat caper, and so we first had caper soup and then breaded caper, and let me tell you, I stuffed that baby down. It actually wasn't half bad, though I did almost kill myself at one point with some of the bones... As we were clearing the table, a bell in the room with the Christmas tree rang, letting us know that Jeíšek had come! We went into the room and Lenka passed out our presents, and we all opened them together. I got a Czech soccer jersey from Libor with my name on it which is awesome, a puzzle of Prague
Vienna
Decorated for Christmas. from his parents, as well as socks (how did they know??), and then some Adidas deodorant and shower stuff from the step-grandparents. We settled in for the night and watched Christmas with the Kranks (of course dubbed), and just enjoyed the Christmasy atmosphere. Overall, it was a new and strange Christmas, but a fun one.
The 25th was kind of odd. The 24th is the biggest day, though the 25th is also recognized, but is not even close in importance. It was pretty much a regular day. Well, as regular a day as it could be. We ate breakfast and then Libor and I headed out for Bouzov, a village about 20 minutes away from Linhartice, to see the village's castle! On Christmas, we'd also watched a Czech movie that took place at Bouzov, so it was exciting to see it in person. It was really cool and absolutely dominates the village, and is everything you think of when you think of a castle. It was unfortunately closed for the winter, and so we just walked around the outside, but it was impressive nonetheless. At one point, I looked at Libor and said, "Jo, ale máme Disneylanda." Yea, but
Hofburg
Winter Palace of the Hapsburgs. we've got Disneyland. He got a kick out of that, and I told his parents after, too, and they both enjoyed it. We went back for lunch, and then Radim and Pavla came to visit for Christmas. I got quite the surprise when Jeíšek also brought me something at their house, and I got a really cool beer mug with a picture of the city hall painted with Moravská Třebová written underneath. After that, we settled in for another night of Christmas movies, and watched Anděl Páně, Angel of the Lord, which was actually pretty funny, even when I couldn´t understand all the words. I also asked Libor's mom to break out the home movies, so I got to see little Libor and little Radim, which was highly entertaining and highly embarassing.
Today we woke up and were on the road by 9:30, headed for Brno. It took a little over an hour, and then we made a stop at a cemetary to visit the grave of Libor's mother's mother and grandparents. It was actually pretty interesting, 'cause the graves were different then in America, with little gardens in front of every one. After that, we headed back to
Rathaus
City hall. his grandfather's, where Jeíšek had also made a stop, and then had a nice dinner and I was also packed a lunch by Libor's mother and his grandfather. Libor and I then set out for the inner city, since I wanted to buy a heavy duty travel backpack (which were cheaper than in Austria 'cause everything in Austria is overpriced...though still difficult to understand in the Czech Republic since they don't use the euro yet...they're all pretty pissed because Slovakia is introducing the euro starting January 1st, and so that means they have to wait until maybe 2012, when they were supposed to get it in 2010). I bid Libor adieu, and hopped on the bus, actually quite sad. I had such a great time and loved the Czech Republic so much that I actually didn't want to come back to Austria. Such is life, though, and so 2 1/2 hours later I arrived in Vienna, where I hopped on the U-Bahn, broke the strap on my bookbag (luckily not the one that I just bought), and caught the train with 6 minutes to spare to Graz. Wanting to have a relaxing 2 1/2 hour trainride back to Graz, I
For Hillary
The Roman ruins are at the bottom of the picture and the street is where we found the chocolate shop. of course did not get that, and a family of 5 decided to sit in my compartment for 6, with 3 little boys who were screaming the entire time. Luckily, they had to change trains, so the last 50 minutes of the trip I had some peace to myself. Since then, I've just been back in my apartment, which is really sad because it's so empty since everyone is in their respective countries.
Now, for more cultural notes. Let's start with the language.
Czech is hands-down the coolest language I've encountered. I think it sounds really nice and really melodious. It's a Slavic language, and thus when you speak Czech, you can also understand: Polish, Russian, Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian, etc. It's also about 90% the same as Slovakian, since the two were of course once the same country. The word for yes is "ano," (which I like to think is how Hillary says "I know" when she's being an idiot: "Ah noh") and no is "ne." Slang for yes, however, is "jo," as in Austria, or "no," the shortened form of "ano." My entire time in the Republic I was always confused whenever I would ask something and
Rathaus
Vienna City Hall with the Christmas Market. be told no, and then get what I asked for. They always got a kick out of my confusion, too, because I'd explained how odd it was for no to mean yes for me. In Czech, there is also a 7-case system, whereas German only has 4. Thus, words morph according to part of speech, whether that be subject, object, indirect object (to Matthew, for example), possessive (of Matthew), instrumental (with Matthew), etc. There is one case (technically the 5th), which exists in a lot of language, called the Vocative, which is used for addressing somebody. Thus, when somebody says Libor's name to him, they say Libore. When somebody addressed Lenka, they'd say Lenko. Mamka (Mom) was Mamko), tatinec (dad) was tatinci. It always works that way, regardless of if it's a proper name, or if you're addressing someone as friend (kamarád becomes kamaráde). Czech is designed for this. English is not. Thus, having the most English name possible, I posed quite a problem for the Czechs, and so the entire time they experimented with different ways to call me. My name in Czech is Matěj, and so sometimes I was addressed as Matěj, others as Matei, Matij, Matthewe, Matthewi,
Brno!
Brno, the capital city of Moravia, the university city of the Czech Republic, where I considered going instead of Graz, and where ironically Libor studies. Mattu. Being the language geek that I am, I enjoyed it greatly and got a kick out of it every time. Also, the regular greeting in Czech (for both hello and goodbye) is either Ahoj! (as in English ahoy) or Čau! (as in Italian ciao). Linguistically, it's a fun country.
The food aspect is also really cool. I was told that the Czech tradition says: breakfast alone, lunch with your special one, dinner with whoever (though not really friends, somewhere inbetween friends and random people, acquaintances of sorts). In other words, a small breakfast, a huge lunch, and a shared but small dinner. Lunch was always the biggest meal of the day, and there was always a soup first followed by a big dish. I got badgered the entire time (but in a good way) about not eating breakfast, not eating enough at lunch, and only munching at dinnertime. The funniest part for me was that I kept telling myself I needed to stop eating 'cause I was eating too much and taking too much advantage, and here they were telling me I wasn't eating enough. All the while, Libor was caught in the middle as my interpreter, and
Church
The church at the head of one of the main streets of Brno. kept begging me to eat something, anything, just so they'd shut up. It was highly entertaining.
Also, there is the aspect of the culture perfect for Hillary. Everyone in every house has what they call papučky, house shoes. You NEVER enter a Czech residence in your street shoes. Never. Even for a second. I had my own special pair bought just for me, and when visiting another's house, you are also given a pair or you go in your socks (though having papučky is the preferred option). Thus, Czech residences are remarkably clean, though that makes sense since there's no dirt being tracked anywhere.
Ah, I almost forgot, drinking culture. In the Czech Republic, like European but even moreso in the Slavic countries, drinking is just a part of life. Everyone makes their own wine at home (I tried some of Libor's family's which was actually the only wine I've ever had that I liked the taste of...it was sweet but not pungeant), and they also make what is called Slivovice. I can't really explain how they make it since I was told in Czech and understood it but don't really know how to translate it, so it's
Flags
Czech Republic and EU. just made from fruit and stuff and is sort of like vodka but not really. You do shots of eat to each other's health, to celebrate, to mourn, it's really for every occassion. For instance, at Lenka's concert when I was handed a flask and had to drink from it, it was slivovice. Every family has a different type, and Josef gave me a little bottle that I have here with me for a taste of the ČR every now and again.
That's about it, though. I could give a lot more details, but it's late and I've been doing this for a while and have to upload pictures still. The things I do for you people. Overall, I absolutely love the Czech Republic, it is without a doubt my favorite place I've been in Europe. I'm very glad I got to see the real side first, rather than just go to Prague, since capital cities are typically a horrible representation of a country (I've found, at least...I can't stand Vienna). When I said bye to Libor's mother today, she looked at me and said, "So, I'll see you in April." I responded with, "Nerozumím," I don't understand. "Well
Red Church
I'd write its name in Czech but it won't show up 'cause of the accents and such. of course you're coming for Easter!" Thus, I'm kind of sad to be back in Austria (as bratty as that sounds), though am looking forward to April to go back to the ČR. I can't complain, either, since 2 nights from now I'll be on the train shooting south to Florence, to spend a day there before meeting Julie in Roma for 9 days in Italia!
Life is rough :-)
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Nanny
non-member comment
Life is Good!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow. What a great holiday and here we all were worried that you would be missing us........huh!!!!!!!!!!! Now is Libor's Grandfather really only 60?????? Or does he just look 60. How nice you have been invited back...........safe travels to Italy and have fun with Julie. Happy New Year. Love ya Nanny