Expat Awkwardness

Hauling a office chair on tramI decided to buy a desk chair for our furnished apartment but didn’t like the affordable ones that came in a box from Ikea.  So we went to a Furniture Bazaar near the Eden shopping center.  They had both low-priced antiques and used furniture including a dozen chairs of the style that I wanted.  But they don’t deliver small items.  Since it was raining I decided to come back another day.

So I picked a sunny day and after the morning busy time on the trams to go back.  Sure enough the tram I caught near the Bazaar was mostly empty, but did fill up by the time I got to the Nameste Miru transfer point.  There I had to wait awhile for the next tram, which of course, made it quite full.  But I barged on with the chair anyway and tried to give everyone an apologetic look.  People looked at me but I did not see any sour looks until the next stop when I ran the chair into the legs of one passenger in order to allow another passenger off.

Karin had arranged to meet me at our stop for a photo opportunity, but the other people getting on and off spoiled the shot.  So I just became a crazy old man with his rolling chair.

Technorati Tags: expatriate,tram,public transit

Why Prague, Part Two

Recently I wrote a couple paragraphs on why we like Prague so much.  But now I can’t find it!  It was along the lines of architectural beauty everywhere you look plus something to see and do everyday all in a compact city that is easy to navigate.

Farmer's Market at Jiri z Podebrad squareNow in our first 24 hours back we discovered a new set of reasons to love Prague — our local neighborhood.  First, in our same block a dirty old pub has been converted into an Indian restaurant.  Not the fine dining kind like the India Jewel in Ungelt but a local good value place that you can return to often.  However, the cloud to this silver lining is that every time we walk by and sometimes through our open window we are subjected to enticing smells of Indian cooking spices.  We are going to get so fat!

frutis and vegetables at farmer's market PragueOur second discovery is that our local square, Jiriho z Podebad has a Farmer’s Market every Saturday morning.  There are tempting goodies here as well but at least we can balance them with lush looking vegetables.  They have the seasonal drink burčák but we have not sampled it yet because it seems to early in the day when we are there.

More later.

Re-dedication of Wilson station

The American Friends of the Czech Republic have worked long and hard, and raised a lot of money, to rebuild (not restore) the Wilson Monument at Prague’s central train station.  They are celebrating in style between 4 and 7 October including a $250 per plate dedication dinner.

We will only be attending two of the events, both free.  Here is the official announcement:

Dedication of Rebuilt Woodrow Wilson Monument

Where: Vrchlického sady, (Nové Město, between Opletalova Street and Main Train Station)
Time:    11:00 am      5 October

Admission: Free and Open to the Public

Dedication Ceremony featuring U.S. and Czech officials, musical and military tributes, and the formal unveiling of the Woodrow Wilson Monument and the Walk of Freedom.

The listed celebrities to attend are President Vaclav Klaus and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.  We will be attending because of our love of history and interest in the American connection.

Old Wilson Station with original statue, Prague

The original 3.5 meter statue was erected in 1928 and removed by the Germans in 1941.  The train station itself was originally opened in 1871 and named Franz Joseph I. During the first republic and between 1945 to 1953 it was named Wilson station (Wilsonovo nádraží­),  I haven’t found when after the communists left that the name was brought back as it is commonly called Prague main railway station.

Woodrow Wilson, US President from 1913-1921, had a long-standing friendship with first Czechoslovak President Tomas Masaryk and was instrumental in obtaining international recognition for the new country.  This relationship and the history of the founding of Czechoslovakia is the subject of a special exhibit at the New building(Vinohradska 1, Praha 1-Nové Město) of the National Museum that opens 4 October at 10 A.M.

I hope to follow up this post with some photos of Czech and American flag waving.  To read about another important statue at this same station see Hugging a Statue.

World’s Biggest: Prague

During our two previous trips to Prague we found our selves at the Strahov Monastery.  We had read about the Philosophical Library there but had never felt it worth while to pay the admission fee just to peek through the doorway.  Now that we have seen the 360 degree photo I don’t know if we do want to pay the fee or don’t need to.

As of his press release on 28 March 2011, Jeffrey Martin, whose photos I have used before, claims this photo as the largest in the world with a total resolution of 40 gigapixels.  It is composed of 2,947 individual photos shot over 5 days and stitched together by computer.  It is so sharp you can zoom in on the book titles and brush strokes in the ceiling art.

See it all at http://www.360cities.net/gigapixel/strahov-library.html

Be sure to use the controls to scan up, down, around and in and out.

Strohov monastery library by 360cities, Jeffery Martin