Good King Wenceslas looked out...

...on the kids of Riva! Actually, on the streets of Praha (or Prague), the next--and my favorite--stop of the northeastern Europe trip.

The statue is that of king Wenceslas, of common Christmas carol fame. He is the patron Saint of the Czech Republic, and was king of Bohemia in the 10th century. I'm not too keen on the details anymore, but I do remember that he was martyred after being assassinated by his brother and his supporters, and that the reason the song is sang around Christmas time is because St. Stephen's feast (mentioned in the carol) was celebrated on December 26th. Other than the date proximity, there really is no connection to the nativity. The statue is on St. Wenceslas square, which is the Prague equivalent to the Champs Elysees in France. All of its big shopping stops are found along this corridor, along with several unique buildings, new and old. In the middle of the street on the medians, to make the scenery even more distinctive, is an impressive modern art display. It features abstract, realistic, and even historical sculptures all the way to the end of the square. Here are two that I found slightly haunting, yet very well done.



There was also an interesting home appliance/flower sculpture in there, featuring metal pipe like stems leading to kitchen sink and toilet buds and blooms. This wasn't too attractive to me, but apparently the locals loved it, because there was more than one set on the street.
Other major highlights of the trip included:

The Astronomical Clock:
The most famous piece in Old Town Prague, its centerpiece was built in 1410, and accurately shows the day, time, zodiac sign, place of the sun and moon in the sky, and displays the activities typically done in the current month of the year(back in the 15th century). It is an absolutely captivating sight, and when the clock strikes on the hour, death--represented by the skeleton--rings the bell of time, and keeps it moving. The other figures at his side represent greed, vanity, and lust. Each of them moves slightly with the tolling of the bell, and while all of this goes on, at the top doors, the twelve apostles appear and show themselves to the crowd. It really is a sight to see, and really makes you want to go back at every opportunity to see how much the clock has moved(funny, maybe slightly ridiculous, but true...it moves much differently than what we're used to) and to see how the moving figures change with each hour.

St. Vitus Cathedral:

A place so big I couldn't fit it all even in three panoramics. It really is a monumental structure, and just takes your breath away both inside and out. A MUST SEE if you ever go to Prague, and yet another to add to the ever growing list of extravagant Catholic churches of Europe's seemingly endless Christian connection and history.

















Charles Bridge and Prague Castle:
The bridge, led on by this large facade, is perhaps the city's most traversed and is for sure the prettiest. It has several statues along the path, mostly depicting scenes from the bible. On the path itself, you'll find street vendors selling their paintings, and a talented musical show for you pretty much twenty four hours a day. I was fortunate to cross when a really fun jazz band was playing. They made it feel like I had traveled back in time--people around were dancing to their music and everyone who walked by stopped to enjoy the music and scenery.
The Castle, visible from the bridge, is really large...the largest ancient castle in the world actually, according to the Guinness book of records. It's so big even, that it completely encircles the St. Vitus Cathedral, a basilica, monastery, and several other palaces, towers, and gardens. When we visited we got a chance to see the changing of the guards as well. The guard is then responsible for standing watch at the Castle gate with no movement until the end of their shift. Its not unlike the English royal guard most of us Americans have seen on TV or in the movies. The procession was very neat to see, and full of Czech fanfare.

The TV Tower:

After hearing about this place in an email from my grandparents (Thanks so much!), and being the I-love- sci-fi- stuff kinda guy I am, I had to visit this spot before leaving Prague. There were basically 3 reasons why: 1) This description, courtesy of my grandfather, and I quote-- "A gray metal tower that can be seen from almost everywhere in the city. The Czech's hate it. It was built by the communists, during their regime, on a site of an old Jewish cemetery. You will notice a number of mutant, alien babies climbing up the steel tubes. You can take an elevator up to the viewing platform where we were told there is an awesome view of the city". He wasn't lying about those mutant alien babies, its pretty much exactly what they are. I may even add a tad android, but the description fits the bill just fine. 2)I had yet to see an up high view of the city, and 3) I couldn't remember the last time I saw a good sunset, and was determined to watch it go the day I made it out to the tower. In Europe, most times the sun is obscured, even in Riva, and it's pretty disappointing. Here, however, I went to the top of the tower, snapped a bunch of pictures, and stayed there for about 2 hours just taking it all in. It was a good time to just think to myself, on the events of the past year, what all had happened on the trip thus far, and what was to come in the near future. The tower, because of the sunset above all else, is my favorite part of Prague. Here's a really cool one just as the sun was hitting the city line. It was a beautiful night.

I love Prague.
The thing that amazed me most in the city in general is how unbelievably clean it was. The streets were spotless for the most part, and everywhere you went, the stores, marketplaces, historical sites and etc. were all well kept. Toward the TV tower you started to see lots of graffiti, but mostly the people there keep their places well kempt, and it feels safe, so if anyone is worried about the security of places, Prague would be up near the top of my list of worry free places to visit.

There's so much more to that part of the trip, and it can all be seen in the album. Check it out!

Until next time folks, Love and Peace.
Next stop...Munich!
B Ezie

Movin' on up, to the East side

We've finally got a piece of the pie!

Random fun quiz: Which TV show is that from?

Anyway, here I am posting once again. It's been a long while not because of travel this time, but because of the Finance class I'm taking. It's a lot of fun and pretty interesting to boot, but it's been sapping up my time recently. Some days we have class 9 hours of class, with 3 hour at a time sittings. The only downside to it is that despite my efforts to do the right thing and focus on the work, even in my free time, I still only fare average (slightly sub average in our class, 3 points below) on the exams... The final is this coming Tuesday and I'm really nervous about it. The material is easy to understand, and I feel like I have a good hold on it, but I was outsmarted on the midterm, and it's really costing me. I had hoped to have an A in my first in-major class, but that has all but become a pipedream at this point, unless the person who eeked out a 98% score on the midterm slips up pretty big and I get the highest grade.

This trip has had plenty of ups in it, but it's been a slow process when it comes to the recent business classes. Each class is different, and I have basically no idea how the proffesor will come at me with the material often until it is too late. The professors are great, and the material compelling, but for whatever reason I'm not performing the way that I've become accustomed to at home. Its really not even the difficulty of the material that is the issue as to why I'm struggling; at this point I don't have an answer to that question, so as of now I'm still working my hardest and hoping for the best.

Back to the Trip. The first portion of our Northeastern trip was to Budapest, Hungary. Here are a few highlights:

Heroes' Square:








A major landmark in Budapest that commemorates the seven tribe leaders that founded Hungary, as well as several other outstanding figures in Hungarian History. It was started in 1896 to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Hungary's formation and was completed 33 years later.













Mathias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion:

Two adjacent important pieces of Hungarian History. The church contains both pieces of Baroque and Gothic style, and incorporates both to serve as a reminder of portions of their distinct periods in history. The interior even combines the floral designs of one time period with the patterned designs of another. It's really a very unique place. The Fisherman's Bastion (also partially seen in the church picture, bottom right) is the fortificaton behind the church that includes seven towers, also representing the seven Magyar tribes that settled in around 896 AD. It gets its name from the guild of fisherman who kept watch over the Pest portion of the city in the Middle Ages.

Gellért Hill, site of the Freedom Statue:
Aside from offering a great panoramic view of the Danube River, the top of this hill features the Freedom Statue, constructed by the Soviet Red Army after their victory in World War II. It and many other Red Army statues were created in Budapest, but only this one remains because it's meaning was transferred after Hungary as a nation separated itself from communism, and it now stands as a symbol of its political freedom as well.

Visegrád:
This is a side view of the upper castle, one of three (upper, lower, and royal palace) in Pest. Each of the three are being renovated to show the way people lived there in the Middle ages. It also offered a really good panoramic view at the top (see photo album). Some of us even got to use medieval weapons and do target practice (for a fee).




All in all, I had a really good time in Budapest. Riots (from civilians uprising against their prime minister, whom lied to them for years and finally admitted it, yet promised to change) still carried on in the first night of our stay, and some students wandered off and even got video footage, but it was far enough away from us as a whole that it never threatened our safety. By the time the next night rolled on, the noise subsided and we didnt hear a thing about it. We also took a night boat ride on the Danube, and got a general tour of the buildings and statues visible from it up and down the river. We also explored the Balkan marketplace, which is a highly recommended stop if you want to get souveniers. While there, we visited a winery and tasted their different varieties. It was there I discovered that sweet wine is not my cup o' tea-- its actually rather appalling, in my opinion.

After all that was done we hopped on a bus toward my favorite destination of the trip...PRAGUE!

Details on that portion to come--

Stay serene, much love,
B Ezie