Whirlwind of a Week Capped off by great Seder

I finally have a chance to breath from a crazy busy week and get some thoughts down on paper.  This blog post features:  a visit from friends, some actual studying, people watching on trams, street food, and a memorable Passover.

My friends!

What I love most about when people come to visit is watching them fall in love with Prague like I have.  This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to have four friends stay with me:  Evan and Mark, visiting Europe on spring break from Tel Aviv, and Lauren and Michael, visiting from London.  Needless to say, the flat was packed, but it was a great time all the way around.

Left, I take a picture of tourists as they take pictures of the astronomical clock going off (by the thousands)

Right, what a beautiful couple days we had...it was like summertime.  There was an Easter Market in Old Town Square.

Everyone who stayed with me on the Charles Bridge

Girls love jumping pictures; some love from two of my best friends.

Friday we basically saw everything in Prague except the Jewish Quarter.  The weather was far too beautiful not to try to do everything, so we started on a free tour and ended with my version of the Prague Castle tour.  Visiting Petrin Hill completely reaffirmed its status as my favorite spot in Prague.

 Me, Mark, and Evan on Petrin Hill

I won't summarize too much, as most of the stuff we did I've talked about before, plus it gets boring when I list things that I've done instead of observations about them.  But I will talk about two things in particular from the weekend, and they are going to services and going out Friday night.  

Because I'm going to be traveling a ton for the next month, I wasn't really going to have a chance to see Friday night services in Prague.  So, I took my friends to the Spanish synagogue where Bejt Praha meets, a conservative congregation in Prague.  It was a really nice time.  The guy leading the service was a leader in Bejt Praha, who I had been exchanging e-mails with over the past week in an attempt to find a seder.  He did the service in Czech and English, was very funny and warm, and made all feel welcome.  The prayers were basically all the same, just with some different tunes.  I'm beginning to be less surprised by similarities in Judaism across the world.


The synagogue, which I knew was beautiful, became even more special to me because it was active.  It was still use, through all the years of turmoil in the community.  Our service was ended by a visiting Argentinian who had a great voice, who sang a couple Hebrew/Israeli songs.  I think my friends enjoyed it as much as I did as well.


During the day, there was a huge debate (okay, not huge, but yes a debate) during the day about where to go late Friday night.  Should we go to the traditional Friday night spot with 80s music, or try out the same club we went to on St. Patrick's Day, called SaSaZu?  When it seemed like many kids on my program were going to SaSaZu, my flatmates reluctantly followed me and my friends to Usudu, a pretty Czech bar, and then SaSaZu.  Mark's girlfriend, who was also visiting Prague, also hung out with us during the weekend with her friends, and decided to come along also and forgo the temptatino of 80s night.  It was an excellent decision.


SaSaZu was one of the most European experiences I've had so far, and definitely the most European nightlife I've done.  It was the club's 1-year anniversary, and when we got to the club we found that it cost a lot more than usual to get in.  We were upset for about 30 seconds, then realized why it was more pricey.  It was because they had a whole show set up.


There were people pounding on barrels like Stomp in the U.S.  There were some weird guys dressed somewhat like construction workers creating sparks while sawing on some metal barrels and dancing.  Flames shot up from the stage on more than one occasion.  There were girls dressed up like Vegas showgirls, in "peacock" dresses, dancing around.  There was a woman playing saxophone to many of the beats, and she was actually really good.


Then, all of a sudden, the DJ booth descended from the ceiling in what looked like a flying saucer.  No joke, this thing just came out of nowhere from the ceiling and the DJ went nuts.  The music had a lot of rhythm and was so loud that my ears rang for hours after.  The whole scene was very Prague, very authentic, and a great experience.  It will definitely be something I remember because it is vastly different from what American nightlife is like.  People would not know how to handle that sort of thing at home.


I was sad to see my friends leave yesterday and today, but I will be seeing Evan and Mark in three days in Amsterdam, and Lauren and Michael next week in Barcelona, so I'm not that sad.



Exam Week

While I didn't actually intend on studying during my study abroad program, this week has left me no choice as we are faced with midterms.  The one that worried me the most is done with, and that is my Econ class about Central and Eastern European Growth and Development.  The take-home-portion of the midterm we got was mildly difficult, and took a lot of teamwork and even a visit to my professor's office hours.  There is a fair amount of math involved with the class, but as soon as I got the in-class-portion of the test I remembered that my teacher was pretty much central European, as he had copied and pasted the big questions from homeworks we had already completed. 

They have a different idea about what is "work" and how much studying is appropriate here compared to America.  For instance, one day during class this same teacher was a bit surprised to learn that we hadn't all googled the answers to the homework for that week, because apparently the solutions manual to the textbook was the first thing that popped up.  He laughed to himself about us definitely not being from Europe, that google is the first thing European students would do to try to do less work.

Nevertheless, I am learning a little bit from some of my classes, such as the fact that former Soviet countries are overeducated due to communism (too much education for not enough high-skill jobs because communism evened out the playing field and provided education for all).  Being in a transition economy is cool, because I can see how things have changed from 20 years ago and I realize that in 20 years from now the country could be unrecognizable.


I have a couple more exams this week in Czech language and the EU/European Integration, but I'm not too concerned after seeing what this test was like today.  I'm also realizing I'm spoiled because having to study a couple days for a couple hours each seemed like a ton, where at Michigan this would've been a fraction of the time I spent preparing for a major test.

Tram Culture

One thing that has fascinated me the last week is watching people interact on the trams, because this is where I can learn a lot about Czech people.  I try to sit silently in my seat, or gaze around if I am standing, and watch how people talk to each other, who gives up seats for the older people, who fools around, etc.

During the last week, I've realized that so many people in Prague, especially older people, walk around with canes or extended cane-like crutches, as opposed to wheel chairs.  Things just aren't handicapped-accessible, and I guess this is part of their solution to this fact.  Buildings in the U.S. are relatively new, so modern building codes all apply and they have to be wheelchair accessible.  That's not true here.

It's nice, because (most) people give up their seats immediately if someone is significantly older than they are, or if they are on crutches or have a cane, or if they are with small children.  One time, I did see someone refuse to give up her seat when asked by this woman who must've been 90 if she could sit down.  That wasn't Czech, that was just straight-up rude.  I also saw people work together and help the older people with canes up and down the stairs in the tram, which is nice to see.  Sometimes the elderly just need a hand up, but people almost always recognize this and help out.

I like watching how people avoid eye-contact and kind of quietly scope out the scene as well.  I know, this seems backwards, and I do miss the warm smiles of American strangers, but it is fascinating to see this definite and extreme difference in cultures.


Comparing Street Foods

I also want to start keeping track of the various street foods I try when visiting countries.  I'm a Chinsky, so I think that the native foods can say a lot about a culture.  So far here's what I got:

Prague:  Sausage, Beer, Smazeny Syr (fried cheese), Tredelnik (doughy sweet round thing rolled around a stick and baked in the oven with sugar)

Berlin:  Big Huge Soft Pretzels

Paris:  Crepes - by far my favorite street food so far (banana + nutella + crepe = excellence)

Krakow:  some weird bagel bite type of thing that wasn't very good

I'm sure Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Madrid will bring some new ones to talk about also.

Seder Tonight!  Chag Sameach!

This year is the first year of my life that I have been away from my family for Passover.  I remember when I started at Michigan Rosh Hashanah sucked, it was awful, I felt really homesick and sad.  I was hoping to avoid this by finding a good seder to go to with my friends.  Luckily, my friend Andrew from Tulane, on my program, found room for 7 of us at Beit Simcha, a reform-liberal congregation at Prague that was having its seder at a banquet hall of some sort.

Before the seder at our table...check out that view!

As promised, here's a shout-out to Andrew for a great find and for helping us have a great night.  He reserved our spots, we paid at the door, and had a pretty tasty meal of chicken, veggies, and potatoes.  Each person had some matzah, some charosets, plenty of wine, and Haggadahs in Czech, Hebrew, and English.  The service was in all three languages as well, as it seemed about half local and half international.

The bottom line is this:  the service was great.  It seems that I've had a few of these nice moments the past couple weeks revolved around finding some Jewish culture, from Krakow to Friday night services in Prague, and now to this.  The seder was in a room overlooking the water, and I actually got to sit at the table right on the window overlooking the national theater in one direction and Prague castle in the other direction.

The guy leading the service, who apparently was a professional singer in some type of Prague choir, was excellent and hilarious (because by the end that fourth cup of wine definitely hit him).  A ton of the songs were just what we usually sing at home, and, like my dad's seders, we did very little of the after dinner part because we were full, or for some people, because they just wanted to drink the wine (hey, we were at a Czech seder after all, so the wine is key when beer becomes un-kosher during Passover).  There was plenty of singing at the end, with a touching version of Hatikvah to close the night.

Above, the four questions; below, the end of the seder with the guy leading the service in the picture with us!

We met a nice man from Delware originally/ now living in Prague (for the past 15 years) who wanted to come to a seder, and had a good time picking his brain and enjoying the seder.  It was all very welcoming, we were definitely not the only Americans, and hey, Hebrew is Hebrew so it worked.  For my first seder (and hopefully last) away from my family, it was pretty good.

I should probably go read a little bit about the EU, although undoubtedly I will probably just go Skype some more for a while.  Happy Passover, enjoy the holiday, I'll write to you after exams or from Amsterdam!

GLORIOUS

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

My new favorite spot: Petrin Hill

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Krakow, Auschwitz, and the Most Beautiful Run I've Ever Had

Sorry it's been a little bit later than usual on the blog posting...I'll try to avoid this happening too often, but since my traveling is picking up, it's going to be difficult!

Last weekend, my program took us on a trip to Krakow, Poland, with a visit to Auschwitz as well.  Krakow is about a 8-9 hour bus ride away, though it could be faster if the bus didn't drive so slow and we didn't stop every 15 minutes for some reason.  But anyway, we met at school about 5 pm on Thursday, boarded the bus for a late night arrival into Krakow, and were on our way.

I'm used to doing some long bus rides from high school, where we had many weekend trips for water polo tournaments.  But, this bus was smaller, and definitely more uncomfortable, with less room for people in the seats (and virtually no legroom).  We made it to Krakow about 2:30 am, checked into our hostel called Nathan's Villa, and went to sleep for the night.

We woke up Friday (to a freezing cold room, the heat was on and off the whole weekend) and got ready for our walking tour of Krakow.  After "breakfast" consisting of bread and jam, we divided into a couple groups and walked around the city.  It was smaller than Prague, but some parts of it were similar.  For instance, it had a really old castle, an Old Town in the city center, and an Old Town Square.  Some parts of Krakow were beautiful, others were more run-down than I've seen.

The Castle in Krakow; Andrew and I in Old Town Square

After the tour, I got a recommendation from our tour guide for some good pierogis.  It was about a ten minute walk away, but somehow we found the place, and yes, it was worth it.  I ordered some kind of fried beef and cabbage pierogi with my zloty (the Polish currency), and it was very good.  But, it was cheap, and I was craving some regular potato ones as well, so I ordered some more.  Those were amazingly good, just how they should taste in my opinion.

Delicious lunch in a somewhat traditional Polish place.

For the afternoon, we had a tour of the Jewish town of Krakow and the old Jewish ghetto (most of the area is called Kazmieritz).  This was pretty fascinating to me, because although Prague had some Jews before the Holocaust, Poland had a LOT of Jews and a thriving community.  It was kind of bizarre to walk through parts of this area, because although there still is a Jewish community in Krakow, it is only a fraction of what it once was.

We saw old synagogues, the Jewish cemetary, the location of where the Jewish restaurants are/ and also used to be, and a few other important buildings.  Crossing the river, we entered the old Jewish ghetto from World War II.  For the most part, you really couldn't tell it was a ghetto except where the memorial to the deported Jews was.

Me and Litsey inside on old synagogue; our guide Marek in the Jewish cemetery

This memorial was quite interesting.  It was in the plaza where the Jews had to leave their belongings and board the train for deportation, mostly to Auschwitz.  There were empty chairs lined up all along this plaza.  I think it symbolized the empty places at tables where the Jews would not return, but like many memorials, interpretation is really up to the individual.  We finished the tour by going to Oscar Schindler's factory, where he saved so many Jews and was immortalized in Spielberg's film.

The ghetto memorial, and part of the remaining ghetto wall.

The night got pretty interesting, however.  As we walked home from this tour, we passed an active temple in Krakow, and I started to have my first real regret in Europe, which was not going to services.  The music was loud, it sounded like a reform congregation from the tunes and liveliness, and there was a sign on the door saying it was full.  This surprised me on two accounts:  that there was possibly a reform congregation, and that it was full.

At one point, I even put my ear close to the wall and listened, wishing I could see what it was like inside.  When the usher started to look at me funny, I just said Shabbat Shalom and joined the rest of my group walking home.  By this time, I was kind of sad I hadn't looked into this possibility sooner.  We also passed the JCC in Krakow, where there were tables set with challah and a Friday night meal.  Again, I wished I had had prior arrangements.

But, all was not lost.  I ran into another friend from my program, Dave, and he said that he was actually going to meet up with Hannah and Rachel (from my program), who said they were going to Friday night dinner at the JCC and anyone could come.  Really?  Yes, he said, apparently.

So, we turned around and headed back towards the Jewish area.  At the entrance to dinner, which was now more full of people who were there for the meal, we told the guy that we thought our friends were there somewhere.  Without asking for any money or checking ID or anything, he told us okay, go up to the third floor.

Shortly thereafter, we found the girls and sat down in the middle of the room for Friday night dinner.  The Jewish community there provides dinner free apparently for anyone, and it was great.  There was plenty of challah to go around, which was the key factor of course.

Sitting across from us at the table, we met Janek, a Polish Jew from outside of Krakow who was visiting the city for the weekend with his son's high school class.  From the hints we got from other people around the table, he seemed to be a pretty important guy, some kind of scholar of Eastern European Jewry and someone who does a lot of work with cemetery preservation, etc.  He had been to the town in the Ukraine where Dave's great-great-grandfather had worked in the Vodka factory.  He knew of the small village in Poland where Hannah's grandmother had come from before WWII.  It was all kind of surreal, and a bit freaky.

Dinner at the JCC!  Three of the four of us sitting at the table.

He invited us to come walking with them after dinner, and at this point, of course we couldn't say no.  Plus, Hannah really wanted to find some chocolate Babka, and Janek seemed to have a couple ideas.  Thus, the journey called Babka began.

We wandered around most of the same areas we had been during the day, but this time Janek had his own stories and take on the buildings.  He was a really interesting guy to listen to, and he certainly liked talking.  We walked back across the ghetto, which was even creepier at night, and finally across the Iron Bridge, where the Nazis filmed some of their propaganda videos.  As he walked us back to the hostel, he tried to teach Hannah a Polish good-bye song (mostly unsuccessful), and tried to get Hannah to teach him an American one.  He really liked talking, and after all, what good-bye doesn't take 30 minutes?  Eventually, we all just said Laila Tov (good night), and Hannah and Janek exchanged e-mails.

It was just so strange and wonderful to see a person and a Jewish community so accepted halfway across the world.  They had no way of knowing who we are, but the community was finally feeling safe in Krakow to allow people to come in, to wear Yamekahs/Keepot around the city, and to embrace strangers.  It was something I will not surely forget.  Oh, and we never did find that Babka, hmm.  We hung out at the hostel that night because we didn't want to be too tired for the next day...

Which was our visit to Auschwitz.  What can I really say about it?  It was awful.  It was hard to be there.  It was deeply saddening.  It was disgusting and cruel.  It was scary.  It was huge (at least Birkenau, the death camp, was enormous).  It looked, for the most part, like the pictures I had seen and studied for so long.  It was a lot what I expected, but some things I didn't, like the cells for punishment where you had to stand, or where you couldn't breath and died of suffocation, or where you hung with your arms twisted so that your shoulders dislocated.

Auschwitz I, the Concentration Camp.  I couldn't bring myself to take pictures at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the Death Camp.

At this point, it's hard for me to figure out how much I should write about in this blog, what I'm comfortable with.  I guess I'll just say one of the more memorable and horrifying things that our guide told us when we were in Birkenau.  We were visiting the wooden barracks and "toilet" areas, which were mostly reconstructed because most the death camp was either destroyed by the Nazis to cover their tracks or had fallen apart because it was so shabby (not intended to be comfortable, obviously).

Our guide told us that one thing the prisoners hated the most were the rats (and this was something I had never really been told before, despite classes, learning, etc.).  She said the camp inmates always tried to fall asleep as soon as they could so that they didn't have to feel the rats crawling all over them, and see their blankets "moving" as they were infested with insects.  If a prisoner died in his sleep, he or she would often wake up with no nose or ears because the rats would eat you.  If a mother had a baby, she could only keep the baby for so long with the Nazis noticing, and often they would put the baby on the floor outside the barracks, defenseless, to be eaten by the rats.  And, there were a lot of rats, because with so much human flesh there was an ample food supply.

It's an awful story.  Something that will hopefully never again happen.

As we ended the tour beside the ruins of Gas Chamber #2 and the monument of despair in the back of the death camp, our guide made sure to tell us that whenever we see injustice in the world, think of this place and act.  It was a saddening experience.  As I walked toward the entrance back toward our bus (which looked eerily like the pictures, and reminded me of a mouth with two eyes swallowing people - the mouth opening was where the railway entered the camp to the unloading platform), I quietly said the Kaddish and hoped I never really had to come back there again.  This was a place where between 1.1 and 1.5 million people were murdered, one of the biggest graveyards in the world.

Alright, enough of that.  It is even hard to write that, let alone think about it.

I fell asleep almost immediately on the bus ride back, which was good because I needed to be at peace for a little bit.  Back in Krakow, we walked around for a bit, found dinner at a pizza place, and tried to figure out plans for the night.  Though it was a tough morning, we were only in Krakow one weekend so wanted to go out and see what the nightlife was like.  Most of our program started out at the hostel bar for a bit, then headed out to various clubs.  We found some club called Diva, and it was actually a pretty good time.  Late that night, we returned back to the hostel and fell asleep.

Sunday, on the way home, we stopped for a couple hours in a famous salt mine near Krakow.  This mine was something like 500 years old, which is crazy to think about.  Most of the chambers we saw were on the upper levels of the mine, carved out by hand before power tools were available.  Though the mine was no longer active, as of about 15 years ago, it was incredible.  There were actually underground meeting rooms, churches, dining areas, and more in this place.  There was a lake that was apparently saltier than the Dead Sea.  There was a huge cathedral-like church, 200 feet underground, that still held mass every Sunday morning!

I'm only pretending to lick the wall, don't worry; the underground cathedral was amazing.

We stayed at the mine longer than we should have after the tour, as everyone was getting restless.  The bus ride home took forever, and was not helped by the fact we stopped too frequently and for too long.  Finally, we made it home, and I watched the health care debate for a couple hours before bed.

This weekend was a bit tough to be gone.  Between missing March Madness and not getting to see all the health care coverage (I can now, because I can watch CNN/C-Span online and such, but not in Poland) I was a little bit homesick.  But of course, I'm happy to be here.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the most beautiful week of weather.  It is in the low 60s and sunny and has the bluest sky I've ever seen.  Last night after class, I went for a run along the Vltava (the river through Prague) and it was stunning.  The castle was glowing, and buildings were all glistening in the sun, people were out walking or riding their bikes or touring, and I literally ran right next to the water nearly the entire time.  I am going to LOVE spring and summer here in Prague so much.  This city becomes transformed, it's wonderful.

That's about all for now.  Thursday Evan, Mark, and Caleb come from Tel Aviv, and Friday Lauren and Michael come from London!  It is going to be a party at my flat this weekend with some of my best friends.  Hopefully blog before the fun starts!

Hezky Den!

SPRING!

You know how sometimes you are in a new place for a while, then all of a sudden, you see something that just makes you say, "Wow, where am I?"  That's today for me in Prague.

Today in Prague is the first day of spring.  Officially by the calendar, no.  But it is sunny, and warm so that you don't really need a jacket, and all the snow is finally melted...it's like the dust has cleared and a whole new city.  Every single beautiful thing about the city has become magnified.  The colors of the buildings are breathtaking.  The castle against a blue sky is unreal.  Looking out from a bridge, there is actually no way to know if the year is 2010 or 1850, as nothing major has changed since then and the city remains an old treasure.

After my family left this week, things went back into a routine, somewhat.  Classes this week were pretty easy, and everyone in my program seemed pretty unfocused.  For instance, my economics class Monday was kind of a joke.  We talked about the history of European religion and major empires through the ages for about an hour, while going through a map and learning some basic geography.  Then, my teacher decided to move class to a coffee shop and buy us all coffee.  At this place (illy is the name) across the street from school, we talked for another half hour about whatever, mostly asking our teacher questions about himself.  Then, he decided we should probably have lecture for about 45 minutes, and then let us go early.  Not bad for what was supposed to be a 3 hour 20 minute class.  And the coffee was really really good.

Tuesday I got my first haircut in the Czech Republic at a place called Hair Gods, located down the block from school.  I went there based on a recommendation from a friend and with the info that they offered a student discount.  At 340 crowns (about $17-18), it wasn't cheap for a buzz cut, but the service was great, they spoke English, and I look normal.

This brings me to yesterday:  St. Patrick's Day.  They don't really celebrate here like they do at home, so I missed the festivities going on in Ann Arbor.  Actually, even the Irish kid in my class told me that America is such a better celebration than Dublin even, where there are just a bunch of riots and violence and 15-16 year old kids getting drunk.  No joke.

The day was pretty mellow (but I did wear green), but the night was awesome.  This club called SaSaZu, located in Prague 7, had a big St. Patrick's Day party.  I guess Wednesday nights at this place are either Erasmus student (Europeans studying in other European countries, a big program pushed by the EU) or Ex-Pat (Americans who have moved to Prague) night, because it was extremely international and really fun.

The place was enormous, with bars all around surrounding couches and a giant dance floor.  The music was pretty good also, alternating between DJs and live bands.  They had some usual St. Patty's Day stuff such as green beer, but also put a European spin on everything.  It was lots of fun, and we stayed out extremely late.

Now, I am getting ready to pack for a weekend in Krakow, Poland, with a visit to Auschwitz as well.  This trip is obviously going to be part fun and part somber, so we'll see how it goes.  I am also hoping to find some sports bars with American tv so that I can watch March Madness...this is a tough weekend not to be home for!

I'll try to send a picture via e-mail from Poland!

Au Revoir Paris! Au Revoir Family!

 Trivia:  What do you think this is?  Read down below for the answer!

When last we spoke (well you listened) my family had been in Paris for just about a day, and was in a great apartment with the Eiffel Tower out the window.  I am now writing from the end of the trip, sitting in Charles DeGaulle Airport as I wait for my flight back to Prague.  The rest of my family is off in the international terminal, probably boarding their flight to Detroit right about now.

Warning and Note:  this is longer than the Berlin post (a new world record).  Sorry, I just do a stream of consciousness thing and go with the flow.  Also, I just added some pictures to the previous post, so please check those out.

Overall, I really liked Paris a lot more than Berlin.  Actually, the two cities are not really comparable in any way, shape or form.  Paris, first of all, is beautiful.  It is not the same type of beauty Prague has, which is more or less medieval.  Paris is just grand.  Everything about it is big and done in a way that attempts to please the eye.  Unlike Berlin, the “coolness” of Paris is not as dark, and of course the difference in histories have created much different cultures.  And, most stereotypes about the French and Parisians seem to hold true, but more on that later.

I’m sure that a big reason I like Paris and the feel of the city is that it reminds me of my favorite city, Washington, DC.  The French were an ally during the Revolutionary War, and the French influence on the construction of our nation’s capital is so apparent.  There are buildings in Paris that look the SAME as the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and more.  The straight-line alignment of the Lourve, Toulleries Gardens, the Obelisk, and the Champs with the Arc de Triumph at the end and the Eiffel Tower off to the side is the same basic idea as the National Mall, where the Capitol, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Monument are all in a row with the White House off to one side.

T

The kids and grandpa on Pont Neuf

Like DC, Paris also has a great metro system.  After our blunders of the first day, trying to get a metro ticket, Friday and Saturday we had some very nice tellers at the metro station who sold us day tickets and spoke English.  Once we had a ticket, the metro system was great, getting us everywhere (though some stations could be more clearly marked on the street).

However, the people in DC and the people in Paris are definitely not the same.  DC people are very busy, very into work and moving ahead in careers, and very political (duh).  Parisians are a different breed.  Everything moves at a slower pace, from meals to work to strolling along the boulevards.  How you look is so important; fashion in Paris apparently says a lot about people, because the nice clothes and scarves and such were everywhere.

This past summer, I thought DC was expensive, and then I came here and realized that Paris is on another level.  I’m not quite sure how regular people can afford to live here.  Waiters and department store workers and bartenders much make much more money than in America because the cost of living an “acceptable” life in Parisian terms is ridiculous.  Even simple things cost a lot more money, especially compared to Prague.  A middle-class Parisian would be a rich Czech person for sure.

I think, all in all, that what people think about the French is pretty much true.  A lot of them are rude and condescending, because after all, what can be better in the world than being a Parisian?  I’m not sure if this attitude is just towards Americans, or all other people.  That one is hard to answer.  People look nicer here, and again, like Prague, there aren’t very many bigger/obese people walking around.  I guess they all smoke cigarettes and drink wine instead of eating.  (And yes, body odor was present at times, but actually not more than usual).

Now, let’s get onto the itinerary Friday and Saturday, which you can supplement with whatever my family sends out and my mom posts on facebook in the near future.  Friday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast in our apartment.  Mom and Dad picked up some bread and pastries from Rue Cler around the corner, and we set out for the day’s activities.

Our plan was to go to Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle churches, get the museums out of the way, and wander around the Marais and Jewish part of Paris.  Again, this is why I like my family at times, because we not really museum people. (Who goes to Paris and goes to the Lourve to “get it out of the way?”  We do.) We are eating people.  This time, taking the metro was much easier, as the person who sold us day tickets was friendly enough and we understood what we were doing this time.

We visited Notre Dame, and I think we found it pretty cool.  There was a service about to start, so part of the church was blocked off.  But, it was pretty inside and the history was great, of course.  We made our way towards Saint Chapelle, but the line was really long and not moving.  Because of our short time in Paris, it wasn’t worth it to wait however many hours to go in.

After Saint Chapelle, we of course stopped on Pont Neuf, the bridge where “everyone romantic movie ends with the two people kissing and getting together.”  The views of Paris were awesome along the river, even though it was cloudy and a bit cold.

 Mom and Dad on the romantic Pont Neuf.

We then crossed the river and headed to the Lourve.  In my opinion, the most impressive thing about the Lourve is the building itself, which is a work of art.  As Napolean’s Palace, of course it is enormous.  The modern glass pyramids that form the entrance are really cool.  After buying tickets, we headed straight for the Mona Lisa (which is not nearly as awesome as the painting on the opposing wall, which is the biggest painting I have ever seen and is of a feast, the name escapes me).

On the way, we saw the statue for Nike, the Winged Goddess of Victory, and also the source of inspiration for the Nike swoosh.  As far as things inside the Lourve go, excluding the interior decorating, this is my favorite thing in the museum.  I just think the status is magnificent.  Feel free to disagree.

Okay, then we saw the Mona Lisa.  That was that.  We went to find the famous statue hall, and saw Michelangelo’s Venus de Milo, the famous statue without any arms.  Daniel wanted to see Hammurabi’s Code, one of the first set of laws ever, which were carved in stones, so we went to see that, and we were done with the Lourve.

If it seems like I’m going fast here, it’s because we did go fast.  All of this was before lunch on Friday.  I told you, we aren’t really museum people.  We went to the Lourve because how could we go to Paris and not go to the Lourve.

We hopped on the metro and went to the Rue de Rivoli and the Marais, right where I stayed the first time I came to Paris a couple years ago, as my Uncle’s high school graduation present for me.  I love the Marais, and it is tied as my favorite neighborhood in Paris with Saint Germaine.  We stopped at a café, had a typical French lunch with omellettes and Croque Monseiur and Croque Madame, and salads, and of course baguettes.  The waiter was so friendly, maybe the friendliest Parisian in the world.

Daniel and Dad ordered the Croque Madame (ham sandwich with baked cheese, and a fried egg on top) and Mom and Sara ordered the Croque Monseiur (same thing minus the egg), so the waiter joked that the males ordered the Madame and the females ordered the Monseiur.  I got an omelet, and grandpa ordered a ham baguette I believe.

By lunch’s end, it was mid afternoon, so we wandered through a couple streets in the Marais, stopped to get a cookie in a bakery, and found the Jewish part of town.  Because it was Friday afternoon, just before Shabbat, the place was hopping.

 The main Jewish street in Paris, with beautiful challah in one window.

Everyone was shopping for last minute Challah, or picking up food for dinner for the night, or just celebrating.  We stopped in a really cool gallery and got some Bar/Bat Mitzvah presents (the same gallery I got Sara her Bat Mitzvah present three years ago, a necklace). 

After this gallery, we kept walking down the street and saw some Chabad guys hanging out, dancing, and talking to people down the block.  Generally, at home, I’m not so much of a Chabad guy.  I’m reform, so we have a lot of different customs, and Chabad always seems pretty intense for me.  Not that it’s bad, it’s just not me. 

Well, why do I say all this?

As we passed them, Mom of course said, “Shabbat Shalom” because it was polite, and they were Jewish, and we were Jewish.  Well, upon hearing this and realizing that there were some Jews with interest in their presence, the Chabad guys sprang into actions and tried to get us to come over, and say some prayers, and put on some tefillin.

Daniel decided it was a good idea to try tefillin.  Again, my family is reform, so the last time my dad put on tefillin was his Bar Mitzvah, and my brother and I had never done it.  So somehow I got roped into doing it, with my only consolation being that Dad also got roped into it.  Grandpa managed to escape by booking it down the street (aka, running away).

It turned out to be pretty cool, and an awesome memory.  We said the Sh’ma, a couple other prayers, took some pictures with the guys, gave them a little donation, and went on our way.

Why?  I do not know.

Judaism is universal, cross-cultural.  When I went on Birthright, we had a speaker talk to us about Jews being “unified without being uniform.”  So far, between our guide Vida in Terezin/Prague and the Jewish section in Paris, I can see how this is so true.

We then passed some falafel stands, but managed to restrain ourselves.  We checked out a Jewish clothing shop, then went to the kosher bakery across the street where I got the most amazing Baklavah ever.  They know how to make it there.

By this point, we were pretty tired.  But before we went back to our apartment, we stopped at Musee de L'Orangerie (one of the few museums Mom really wanted to go to) to see Monet's incredible water lilies.  Quite simply, they were beautiful.  They were in circular panels surrounding two rooms.  There were a ton of famous pieces of art in this museum, from Picasso to Matisse to Renoir.

Surrounded by water lilies; my family outside the museum.

We went back to the apartment to nap, rest, and get ready for dinner with my friend Sophie who is in Prague with me.  Her family was also visiting, so our two families plus a bunch of Sophie’s friends from home, who were in Paris, all went to Chez Andre, a pretty typical French Bistro close to the Champs.  Dinner was okay, but the company was great.

After dinner, I went out with Sohpie and her friends to the Eiffel Tower, to watch the light show, and then to Saint Germaine to try and find a bar that apparently serves drinks in baby bottles.  Whether this bar exists or not is still a mystery to me, because we never found it.  I ran into Danielle, a friend of mine in Public Policy at Michigan, who is studying in Florence but was visiting Paris.  I also ran into another friend, Tim, who is studying in Prague but does not go to Michigan.  So no, we never found the bar; instead, we went inside another cool bar, very Paris, and had a glass of wine.  I thought about trying to meet with other friends at a club, but I was just way too tired.  We split cabs home, and I called it a night.

 Sophie and I with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Saturday, we had to wake up relatively early and switch to a hotel down the street, because another group had reserved the apartment for the next few days.  Sara had some difficulty figuring out how to use our key to our room, but Daniel let her in (eventually, after we both laughed pretty hard).  We then decided to go to the church Sacre Coeur, which is on a hill overlooking Paris with beautiful views in a neighborhood called Montemarte.

The church was really cool, but the most interesting part was that there was a mass going on while we wandered around with the other tourists inside.  Honestly, there were probably as many religious people in that church as in the entire Czech Republic.  Okay, slight exaggeration, but seriously, a huge huge HUGE different between Prague and Paris is that in Paris, people are religious, and the churches and synagogues are still used very often and well-attended. 

We wondered if the people in the church thought of their church as something special, and a tourist attraction, or simply as their home church.  The service created such a soothing atmosphere, and even though we didn’t speak French we pretty much understood what the priest was saying.  Again, religious is pretty universal.

After the Sacre Coeur, we walked around Montemarte for a bit, got the most delicious banana-nutella crepes (so much better than Prague street food, which is basically sausage and fried cheese), and headed towards Moulin Rouge.  Dad wanted to get a picture in front of the famous night theater, but walking there was a bit uncomfortable.  We walked through Paris’ adult entertainment district, with Sara in the group.  She got the whole side of Paris I guess.

 Paris street food dominates Prague street food.  Here I am with a banana-nutella crepe in my mouth.

We took the metro to Rue Saint Germaine, another upscale district with tons to see and lots of cafes and shops.  We ate lunch at Le Bonaparte, a typical French café right off the main strip.  The two cafes we tried going to before were too crowded for six people because it was lunchtime and they were somewhat famous.  Nevertheless, our lunch was good.

We wandered through the area and some side streets.  I didn’t know there could be so many cafes per square mile (or square kilometer if you prefer).  Everywhere I looked, another café or tourist shop, with some real shops mixed in.  I finally found a new scarf to buy, since I need to look trendy when I’m in Europe.  We hopped on the metro to go back to our hotel and get ready for visiting the Eiffel Tower at sunset and then dinner.

The Eiffel Tower was the best thing we could’ve done to wrap up the trip.  Luckily we bought tickets ahead of time, so we got the shorter lines.  But there were definitely lines, as this is the most visited monument in the world (thank you Wikipedia).  There are three floors, plus the ground floor.  As we waited in line for the elevator between the 2^nd and 3^rd floors (the top), we realized we didn’t have to right tickets, so I hopped out of the line (or the “queue”) and quickly bought tickets and hopped back in.  That could've been bad if we went to the front, waited at least a half hour, and were turned back.

As the elevator ascended to the top, Mom and Grandpa couldn’t get over how tall the tower actually was.  Grandpa has a little fear of heights, but it was so tall he said it didn’t bother him because it was like being in an elevator.  From the top, we saw everything.  As it turned dark (no sunset unfortunately, too cloudy), the city lit up.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves here.

Answer to trivia:  looking down at the Eiffel Tower's light show.

 From top to bottom:  the Eiffel Tower's searchlight over Paris at night; the Arc de Triumph at night; my brother and sister and I on top of the Eiffel Tower.

Bottom line:  Le Tour Eiffel was great.  Pretty funny story:  as we waited for the second light show to begin, inside the cafe at the Eiffel Tower, my mom was trying to read the menu behind the counter and all the sudden burst out laughing.  Apparently, what was "Croque Mensieur" on the menu appeared to be "Cookie Monster" for a second in her mind, and she couldn't figure out why there was English on the menu.  After that, we headed back towards dinner, also in the same neighborhood.

I’m sure Daniel will post pictures of dinner somewhere on facebook, as he has been photographing every meal on this trip, but we had made a reservation at Le Florimand, recommended to us by the people who owned the apartment we stayed at the first two nights.  We had a late dinner start at 9, but at least my meal was worth the wait.

The restaurant was small, probably only 30-32 people could fit.  They were famous for their stuffed cabbage apparently, and for good reason.  It was fantastic.  I capped the night off with La Fromage, some cheese for dessert.  If our waiter in the Marais was the nicest Parisian ever, the guy at Le Florimand had to have been the second nicest.

My stuffed cabbage (below) was way better than mom's beef (above)

In my opinion, he had every right to be frustrated with the fact that none of us except Sara knew a word of French.  He translated the menu for us, answered any questions, joked with us, and really made our meal comfortable.  The food was good overall except for Mom and Grandpa’s beef, which was a bit tough. 

The place was very Paris, and even though it was relatively upscale it was clearly a neighborhood place, as the waiter (who may have been the owner as well) kissed every other person to walk through the door on both cheeks, with a hug; also, the stuffed cabbage was the chef’s grandmother’s recipe.

That pretty much brings me to the end of Paris (finally, I feel like I’ve wrote a novel here).  I was too tired to go out after dinner, and this morning we just ate at the hotel and then went to the airport.

Okay, I can’t get through a week’s worth of posting about a family vacation without ragging on my family a little bit.  Luckily, they are headed back to the U.S. now so I won’t have to listen to them complain about it, except when my mom undoubtedly BlackBerry Messages (BBMs) me and tells me that I am being mean. 

A BlackBerry is a gift and a curse, as I found out when Mom sent me at least 10 messages Friday night when she couldn’t reach me, because service was bad.  I’m not dead, don’t worry…don’t abuse the BlackBerry.  As for Dad, he proved that the only thing worse than no sense of direction is a bad sense of direction, as he can save patients’ lives but is INEPT at reading maps even though he constantly wants to know where we are going and asked if this was the station were getting off every single station we passed.  And for the record, in Prague, they are called trams, not trolleys.

 Daniel and Sara in our room at the hotel, with Le Tour Eiffel in the background.

Daniel and Sara…I actually don’t have much to complain about for this trip, except Daniel updating me on something Michigan every thirty seconds (what else is new) and Sara, you didn’t use enough French.  Grandpa, I got nothing, you da man (but unfortunately, since you don’t use computers, you won’t ever be able to read this L)

One thing I want to do when I’m abroad is compare the attitudes of the different countries towards America.  So far, I feel like Germans are pretty indifferent but sometimes annoyed, and the French are often annoyed (could just be a Parisian thing) but sometimes really friendly and funny.

That’s all for now.  I’ll leave you with one more cross-cultural thing:  kids are kids.  There is a family sitting near me by the gate with three little ones, and they are running around chasing each other and the parents are obviously frustrated.  No translation necessary.

Me, Daniel, and Sara on Pont Neuf with the Lourve in the background

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The View from our Apartment

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

It worked!  My first picture successfully e-mail to the blog.  As my cousin Ryan said last night when we skyped our Ann Arbor cousins, "Is that the real Eiffel Tower?"  Yes, it's the real thing.

Bonjour from Paris (Family Part 2)

Well, it's been an exciting couple days for the Chinsky family here, and although I wasn't planning on blogging mid-Paris trip, I really have to keep track of what's happened so far.  I apologize for lack of pictures...I'll add them later when I have a camera-computer cord.

First, a quick recap of the rest of the Prague portion of family vacation, which was great.  Tuesday, I met up with my family in the morning at their hotel and took them to Rembrandt Donuts, a local bakery chain in Prague that has awesome pastries, sandwiches, and general baked goods, without any English.  So, it's legit, and they loved it.  Dad got a warm apple pastry of some sort, which I know he will remember as the best food of the trip. 

After Rembrandt, I took them around Wenceslas Square for a while, looking a lot, shopping a little, and enjoying the scenes.  We had to stop and get sausages for lunch of course, as we continued eating our way through Prague.  Then, we walked around the Havel Market for a few minutes on our way to explore Prague 3 a little bit.  I wanted to show them the tv tower (also known as the Baby Tower for the statues of babies placed crawling up the tower to make it more interesting/ less ugly).

 On the left, the tower with the babies crawling up; on the right, Daniel, Sara, and I with Prague behind us.

 Dad, Mom, and Grandpa with the Old Town of Prague and Prague Castle in the background.

The views from the top were awesome.  The day was really clear, so we saw all around Prague, a panoramic view I would recommend to anyone who visits.  I headed back to class, and later that night we ate at another nicer place in Prague called Z Vatisi.  It was delicious, and mom and I got the wine-pairing with our meal so it was fun to try.

Wednesday, I pretty much had class all day, so the family wandered around for a while.  We all went out to dinner with my flatmates at a local Czech micro-brewery called Pivovarsky Dum (meaning Beer _____ House - I don't know what the middle part is).  We tried many different flavors of beers from nettle to coffee to sour apple, to more traditional flavors like light and dark and wheat.  It was nice to be together with everyone.

 My flatmates and the different beer flavors at Pivovarsky Dum.

That brings me to today, Paris, day 1.  Paris is a really cool city.  It is about the same size as Berlin, but it doesn't feel anything like it.  Most Americans perceive the French in a certain way, as slightly arrogant and kind of rude and impatient towards tourists who don't speak French.  Today proved some of that true and some of that false.

The flight to Paris was fine, more or less.  There were some issues with Daniel's ticket, but they were all resolved.  I met a really nice Czech guy on the plane, who sat in my row.  He was flying to Paris on business, and was extremely talkative for a Czech person.  We talked about all sorts of things, from school to sports to traveling, to differences between cultures and countries.  It was pretty interesting to listen to him, and his English was good for never having traveled to the U.S.  In the end, he even gave me his card and told me that he usually came to Prague from his home in the southern CZ during the week, so we could get a beer or something.  It was definitely an unusual experience for me as far as meeting Czechs go.  I think he was as curious about meeting an American as I was about meeting a Czech person.

We recovered our luggage, eventually found our ride to our Parisien Apartment, and were off.  The driver was also friendly, and explained what we were looking at as we passed the main Paris soccer stadium, the Arc de Triumph, and more.  My mom found an awesome apartment to rent for the first two nights we are here, and then we are moving to a hotel.

Here is where I will put some pictures of the apartment, but it is truly spectacular.  I don't think real people can find or afford to own this sort of apartment, so it is great that we can rent it.  In the world real estate market, this is prime real estate, equal to something in Georgetown or on the Upper East Side in NY, easily.  I can see the Eiffel Tower outside my window right now, and it is so close.

There are three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, tv room where Sara is sleeping, laundry room, and a lot of space.  We have all the amenities including full dishes and a tv with hundreds of channels, which dad went through immediately.  There are a bunch we don't have at home, such as Al Jazeera Children's Channel.  As dad said:  "You didn't think I could go through 700 channels in ten minutes.  See, I have skill."  That's my dad.

The biggest challenge of our apartment so far was finding it, as both times we left we had a really hard time finding it on the way home, with multiple wrong turns.  The other challenge we had to using the keys:  they are old keys, and figuring out how to use them has not been as easy as it should be.

We are staying in the 7th Arr/District of Paris, which is traditionally a little bit less touristy and more residential for the upper class of Paris.  The buildings are beautiful (not quite as pretty as Prague, but of course I'm biased).  Right around the corner is a great food market on Rue Cler.  If you know my family, you know that we would much rather spend 2 hours at a food market than 2 hours at a museum.  That was proven true again today, as we dined in a cafe with salads and French onion soup, and then had some great sweets on the way back to our apartment.

 A bakery in Rue Cler that we frequently bought pastries and bread from.

Our plan was then to rest for a bit, hit the Lourve late afternoon when it would be less crowded, and then find somewhere along the Champs Eylsses to eat for dinner.  Turns out that on Thursdays the Lourve closes early, so scratch that plan.  How about go to the Eiffel Tower for sunset?  Nope, that was too crowded also.  So, we then attempted to the find the nearest metro station to Le Tour Eiffel and get ourselves to the Champs.

Bottom line:  it was not easy.  We had to walk many blocks in the supposedly easy Paris metro system, and when we got there the machine was not taking my mom's credit cards.  The women at the information desk either did not speak English or was unwilling to help us, so we basically walked around and struggled at the metro station until we found some change for our Euro bills and put some coins in the machine to give us tickets.

There was a general sense of frustration mounting, so luckily we made it to the Champs safely and found a great restaurant off of the main stretch called Le Victoria.  It was pretty cozy, reasonably priced considering the location, and had good food.  Our waiter was friendly enough, and halfway through the meal he even put on a soccer match that was of interest to the local people at the bar part of the restaurant.  We had a compete French meal, including Escargo, Crepes, and wine.

 Daniel "Mr. Lacoste" has found his store; I try escargo (snail) on the right.

But, unfortunately, we had another frustrating time finding the metro on our way back.  To avoid the long walk we had going to the station on the way to dinner, we decided to walk down the Champs for a bit to find another metro line that ends up closer to home.  But, even though I said it was a good 20 minute walk, no one seemed to want to follow the map.

After darting through some crazy intersections near the Obelisk, and watching grandpa move like he was 25 again, we finally found the metro station, and made it back safely.

Tomorrow will be a very full day.  We want to have breakfast here from the local bakeries, go to the Lourve, Notre Dame, Sante Chapelle, Jewish Quarter, and maybe a couple things more.  We are having dinner tomorrow with my friend Sophie and her family (she is studying in Prague with me and is in Paris this weekend also).  I hope to see my friends Jake (also in Prague, also a friend from school who I'm traveling with over spring break), who is visiting Paris this weekend, and Nikki, also a friend from school and Jake's girlfriend.

Au Revoir!

It's All in the Family Part 1, Plus Terezin

So let's see if I can get a post done before my class starts here...

My family is in Europe!  They successfully arrived, sort of, on Friday afternoon, without Sara's luggage and with some issues with boarding passes.  Luckily, everything got sorted out, she has her bags now, and they are enjoying the Marriot in Namesti Republiky (which, I must say, so am I).

Upon arrival Friday and doing the usual sweep of the hotel, we walked through Old Town and Old Town Square to get them some metro passes at the Mustek station, at the base of Wenceslas Square.  So, basically, they saw many of the major sights right there.  I don't think Mom could've said, "That looks magical" one more time.  At least not without everyone yelling at her.

Friday we took it pretty easy because they were all pretty tired from traveling.  I showed them a few cool points of interest near their hotel, then we found a touristy pasta and pizza place for dinner (actually pretty tasty).  After relaxing in the hotel for a bit, I left them for the evening and they went to sleep, and I went out with my friends.

Saturday morning I somehow woke up to meet them at the hotel about 10 am for brunch, but it was absolutely worth it.  Complete American style with eggs and pancakes and bacon and breads and potatoes.  It was a nice reminder of home.  We headed over to the astronomical clock in search of a free tour.  I could try to be a tour guide, but would never be as efficient as the pros.  I knew that the newEurope tours (the one I went on in Berlin) also had one in Prague, so we set out to find it.

We found a girl/woman who was waiting to give her free tour, so we figured that must be it.  However, a few minutes into the tour, we quickly realized that it was some other free tour, and I saw the tour we intended to go on a few groups over.  But, our group wasn't that big, and we would have felt really guilty for leaving our group, so we stuck with it.  Turned out to be a great decision.

The person guiding us was a native Czech who had just finished law school at Charles University.  She was looking for a good job and giving tours in the meantime.  This was already an advantage over the other tour groups, who were sure to be led by a native English-speaker from Ireland, Britain, etc.  Throughout the tour, she gave us little bits of her own life in the tour and really made it authentic, such as when she talked about "her" country and differences between communism and now, and how her grandpa takes a shot of the Czech liquor Becherovka every morning because it is made with herbs and is good for the blood, and how the language is so hard that trying to help us pronounce things was pretty futile (lucky for me, I have Czech class for that).

We walked all around Old Town, across a bridge where we got a good view of the Charles Bridge without all the crowds, and towards Mala Strana (Little Quarter, near my flat).  The tour continued to the castle, but since my family is probably going there today we said thanks and left the tour.  But, before we left, our guide gave us a free CD that normally we have to pay for, and said feel free to come back to finish the tour another day...she was really great.

I showed my parents my flat, and the nice little Italian coffee store next door, and then went back to their hotel to take a nap in a nice comfy bed.  Later that night, we went to dinner at Kampa Park, one of Prague's fancier and more famous restaurants and definitely one of those places you let your parents take you.

Daniel and I at Kampa Park; the other end of the table with Dad, Mom, Sara, and Grandpa at Kampa Park

 The view out of the window at Kampa Park; so gorgeous!

Quite simply, the meal, the atmosphere, the company...was also fantastic.  The restaurant is located in a part of Mala Strana called Kampa, right next to the Charles Bridge.  Literally, it looked like we were floating on the water.  I, of course, had to get the most expensive thing on the menu, which was a half portion of about 5 different things to try, in different courses.  It was delicious, and I am so glad to have had this experience with my family.  Mom was also thrilled, because something she planned worked out so well.

We pretty much all hit a food coma after that, and had no desire to go out and do anything else.  Because we wanted to get an early start the next morning, we stopped at my flat, I got some clothes and a toothbrush, and I ended up sleeping at their hotel for the night.  It was nice hanging out with my family.

Sunday was definitely a day worth blogging about, because we had a private tour of the nearby former concentration camp, Terezin.  Located in the northern part of the Czech Republic, between Prague and the German border, Terezin (or Teresienstadt in German) held 50,000-60,000 Jews at a time from Bohemia/Czech lands, Germany, and some surrounding areas.  Eventually, most of these Jews were deported to Auschwitz or other death camps and killed.

The camp was pretty big, as it was a village before the Nazis came and kicked out all the people that lived there to make room for the Jews.  We saw the barracks where the men stayed, the women's barracks, the children's areas, and more.  We saw where the Danish and German Jews and richer Jews bribed there way to stay, and where the Nazi headquarters were.  We visited museums detailing the history of the area.  Some of these museums showcased art that Jewish artists illegally created showing how life truly was in the camp, while at the same time they were made to create art for Nazi propaganda showing how great the camps were.  There were rooms about Jewish composers and writers from Terezin, almost all of whom perished in the Holocaust.

What makes this camp unique is that it was the camp the Nazis used as a "show camp" for the Red Cross.  Now, anyone who knows Holocaust history will understand that the Red Cross was at least somewhat complicit in this whole scene, as they overlooked many of the obvious things wrong with the camps and human rights violations.  But, Terezin was prepared as a model camp for international aid workers to check.

 From left to right:  Vida, our guide, in a hidden synagogue in Terezin; the main cemetery that was actual a mass grave; the remnants of the railway to Auschwitz

We learned how they picked a bunch of good looking children out of the group, separated them a month before the Red Cross came, and fed them really well so they looked healthy.  They also taught them a play, so that an appearance of culture in the camp was created.  There was a created orchestra, theater tents built where Nazi army barracks stood, and many other such facades.  In the cemetery, they tried to create a sense of order with the crematorium, storing of the ashes, and burial ground.  It was all so surreal.  We also saw the boarding area where the Jews and some Christians said their final farewell as they got on trains to Auschwitz primarily.  There were several deportations just before the Red Cross came to make it seem like the camp was not so overcrowded.  It was all a farce, but the world wanted to believe everything was okay, so they did.

(Update:  It's now 11:45 pm...obviously didn't finish before class started)

The bleakest part of Terezin was definitely the political prison.  It resembled much of what you see in pictures and books about a "typical" concentration camp, complete with the sign "Arbeit Mach Frei," which translates from German to English as "Work Makes You Free."  The famous one of these hanging above Auschwitz was recently stolen, and then found.  The political prison was awful.

 The entrance to one courtyard in the political prison, and a typical cell with the wooden "beds"

The cells were completely bare except for some wooden beds.  The solitary cells had nothing.  The prison courtyards were so eerie, as there were often hangings and shootings there.  There was a shaving room in pristine condition that the Nazis built for the Red Cross, but never installed running water in.  The Red Cross never checked to see if they actually worked, so after they left the doors were closed and the room was never used, thus the perfect shape it is in today.

We entered a shower chamber, which Vida (our guide) explained was actually a shower chamber and not gas chamber, even though the Nazis originally planned to convert it.  She told us a story that Spielberg used in Shindler's List, and other filmmakers have used as well.  One time, about 100 Jews were brought to the camp, but there was no room for them.  So, while they waited for other prisoners to be transported to a death camp, the Nazis put them in the showers.  One of the Jews had heard horror stories about the gas chambers, and started screaming that "this was the end" and "flee for your lives" and "say good-bye."  All the other Jews started to get so nervous, and make a commotion.  Then, all of a sudden, water started flowing from the showers, and the roller coaster of emotions was so extreme for these prisoners.

We also saw the cell where the Serbian guy who assassinated Archduke Ferdinand and started WWI was held.  This part of the camp was awful, but apparently Terezin overall will seem like paradise compared to Auschwitz.  Food was still scarce, with people getting about 1200 calories a day.  People who worked more got more, and children got more.

Daniel in Grandpa in a room created for the Red Cross with shaving areas.  

On the left, the cell that held the Archduke's assassin.

The town was kind of bizarre.  Because the Germans evicted all the people that lived there before, then killed all the people who populated the town, it is still mostly a ghost town today.  About 2000 people live there, and slowly some of the people whose families lived there before are returning.  But really, who would want to live in Terezin today?  One person decided to turn a house where Nazis stayed into a hotel and restaurant, thinking that people traveling from Prague to Germany would have to stop in Terezin on the way (before there was a highway) and might want to get a bite to eat.  But, the hotel is always empty, and the highway was built, so his plan failed.

There were a few restaurants, a sporting goods shop, a pet food shop, and a lot of museum areas.  Seriously, that was it.  Granted, it wasn't tourist season, but it was still extremely quiet in the city.  I am also really happy we had a guided tour.

On the way home to Prague, Vida really opened up to us, which was nice.  She was a member of the small Prague Jewish community.  Her father was a Holocaust survivor, having passed through Terezin, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald, among others.  Her husband was not Jewish, because back when she was looking for a husband it wasn't really okay to advertise you were Jewish.  She has two sons around my age as well, one studying in Germany and one in Prague.

The best part was that she gave me a bunch of phone numbers of people I can call to connect with the Jewish community in Prague, including her number, someone from the Jewish community, and a guy who leads a youth group-type thing.  She really wants me to meet her son when he comes back for spring break, as he is right around my age.  This was really cool to connect with a Czech Jewish person like this.

That night, we went to U Provaznice, "By the Ropemakers Wife," to get some real Czech food.  Great Success!  Plenty of meat and dumplings and Pilsner to go around.

Dad and Mom in action at U Provaznice.

She also gave my family a tour of the Jewish Quarter while I was in class today.  After class, I met them back at the hotel, and we walked to Cafe Lourve, a Prague mainstay for many years.  We had a great dinner, tried some restaurant specialties (Mom tried Becherovka - Czech liquor; Daniel sort of tried it, but not really), and then I headed back for the night to relax.  It was a pretty full day with class, gym, family, not much sleep the night before, etc.

So far it has been great being with everyone in Europe, and I think they are all (including Daniel) enjoying it as well.  Dad's had his Czech food, so he is happy.  Tomorrow we are going to shop some more, see some interesting sights a little farther out, and just hang out.  My next post will most likely feature PARIS so stay tuned!