Is One the lonliest number?

As I examined my calendar last weekend, I realized time was running short and I still have places I want to go. So I decided to got to Kracow this past weekend. I choose to go alone. Partly because I grew tired of the effort required to arrange my schedule based on the schedules of others and partly because I felt I needed some "Ben time". It turned out to be a great decision. I was able to accomplish a lot at my pace, doing what I want for as long as I wanted. I was able to meet some interesting people and I read a whole Dan Brown book on the train and the bus because I had no one to talk to. (Deception Point if you were wondering, which is just as predictable as the rest but still engrossing and well researched) The only downside is I noticed an increasing tendencey for me to talk to myself.

I had been told that the train from Prague to Kracow was a dangerous one, known for theft, so I was extra careful. I should give a shout out to Barry, my suitemate, who lent me locks for my backpack as well as Deception Point. I had no problems though and at 6 am Friday morning I arrived. I wandered around the Old Town for few hours and evantually I was able to find the Bling Bling Hostel and get a bed. I didn't want to waste time because I was only staying for two days. By 6pm that night I was able to tour around the Old Town, which includes a Cloth Hall, some museums, churches, etc. I also visited Wawel Castle and Cathedral. The Castle had an excellent armoury which housed the Polish coronation sword. I even made it to the old Jewish section and I must highly recommend visiting the Old Synagogue which has become a museum. Not only is there an excellent collection of artifacts and pictures but Jewish holidays and practices are well explained. Which is how it should be in a country that is roughly 90% Catholic.
Friday night, I went out with a some people I met in the hostel. There was Brit, an Aussi, and girl from Holland. We had a great time once it was decided that we weren't allowed to discuss religion or politics.

On Saturday, I got up early to go to Auschwitz. It was a lot to process and I think I was better off on my own. I spent quite some time at Auschwitz 1 and Birkenhau. If you go, join a tour and make sure you have some time. This is an understatement, but it was a very emotinonal experience.

The question everyone wants answered at this point is - What did you eat? Well, I'm sure at least my mother is curious. On Friday, I had lunch at Chlopske Jadlo (that could be mispelled) which came highly recommended by people who had already been to Kracow. Their salad bar included some health salad and the best pickle I've had since I've been in Europe. I had mixed order of pierogi which included some with potato and cheese, some with meat, etc. All were terrific. I should also mention that the bread was served with lard and I fell for it. It always looks like mashed potatos to me. (Which probably still wouldn't be good on bread, right?) In fact I once heard that lard is used on tv when they need to show mashed potatos. For dinner I ate at Cafe Ariel, in the Jewish section. It was recommended by guide book. I struggled with the menu for quite some time but I decided on chopped liver (fantastic, no regrets) and stuffed cabbage. The cabbage was good but not like Grandma's. I expected it to be more oniony but this was strictly beef and rice. Also the sauce was a creamy orange sauce, with a hint of sun-dried tomato flavor.
On Saturday night I decided to try this place called Hospoda something or other. It was on the square but cheap and serving traditional polish food. I ordered globki as an appetizer to see if it was a different stuffed cabbage, but it was pretty much what I had the night before. This one was even better, I will definitely be searching for a polish place to eat when I get back to New York. I also had a traditional village beef dish which had a great gravy and was served with kasha. Maybe I'm getting tired of food in Prague, but I have been having terrific culinary experiences every time I travel.

To conclude, for the train ride back I bought a ticket in a sleeper car. It turned out to be a luxurious three man car. It had a sink and they provided soap and a towel, and bottled water. To top it off, no one else got in the car and I had it all to myself. I locked it up tight and had great night's sleep.

Now its Sunday evening and I'm going to see a hockey game between Sparta Praha and Slavia Praha, quite the rivalry apparently.

You don't have to leave Prague for a good time

I know its been a while since I've written, so I'll try to make this one extra good as share what I've been up to recently. My internship is going well, but leaving me with a bit less free time. I'm working hard organizing the archives of the EastWest Institute and I occasionally am given an additional project, usually involving some internet research. Anyway on Friday, I took part in an optional trip to Terezin. It was an experience. We were there with a Czech historian who is a survivor and he was able to tell us about his experiences inTerezin. I can never really understand how someone could discuss something so terrible, but when I asked him about it he said simply that Terezin wasn't the worst place he has been. It was a transit camp, not a death camp.

I hope no one is offended by the transition but I'm going to move to the lighter side and tell you about my ridiculous Sunday. Joe and I decided to go to Kutna Hora to see the famous "Bone Church". (normal Church on the outside, objects made of human bone on the inside) We got to the train station a little after noon and were told that we had missed the train and the next one was at 2:08. Its only a 40 minute train ride, so we decided to head to the bus station and try our luck there. And what do you know? We missed the bus as well, and the next one was at 4. So we headed back to the train station. Now you should also know that last night was the beginning of Forum 2000. Forum 2000 is an annual conference organized by former President Vaclav Havel focused on "Bridging Global Gaps". Joe has been interning for them and needed to be at the Opening Ceremony at 7. I also wanted to go but I didn't have a ticket. So now its a time issue, can we get there and back in time. Turns out that a train leaves Kutna Hora at 5:20 and it would get back with just enough time. Joe and I buy our tickets and kill a little time hanging out outside the train station. Finally we are able to get on our train. We sit and wait and the train doesn't seem to be filling up. We hear some announcments but they don't seem to be about our train. By now its ten minutes after our train shoud have left and we're a bit nervous. So, I went to speak to one of the conductors and find out that our train was cancelled or moved, I couldn't really tell he only spoke Czech. The train we were on is about to leave for Boroun. We got off just in time and really all we could do was laugh.

Joe and I decided two things. We seem to be cursed, so we are taking at least one more person with us in the future. And at this point we might as well have a good meal. We went to Pizzeria Grossetto which is the only place I have been in the Czech Republic that puts silverware out on the table. The custom here is to receive a cup or a plate with silverware and napkin and for you to divide them amongst yourselves. We went back to our rooms and shortly thereafter Joe called to let me know that I was going to the Forum 2000 Opening. Thea, our Associate Director had managed to get a few tickets for students and had set up a system to devise who would receive them. She had a shoebox with slips of paper, some with happy faces and some with sad faces. Each ticket was good for two. On Saturday night, Lauren and I were discussing that we had both been unsucessful and decided that if either of us got a ticket we would take the other as our date. Well what do you know, Sunday afternoon Lauren got a ticket and I'm off to the Opening.

The Forum 2000 opening ceremony was incredible. Vaclav Havel made a brief speech to open the conference. This was followed by a few other speeches and a performance by a Czech girl band that reminds me of Bond (if you know them you have a good idea) Then came the reception, there were classy hors d'vores and champagne everywhere. What I really love about the Czechs is that even at an event that big, they still had kegs of Pilsner Urquell. They understand that when you can make a beer that good, there is nothing lowbrow about it.
After all I shared a few with a gentleman from the Czech ministry of finance, while we discussed Prague, Washington DC, and good pubs. I should also mention this was towards the end of the evening and almost everyone had cleared out by the time we left. Earlier in the evening I had talked with an Iraqi fellow who has lived in London for some time and ran an NGO. He was really interesting to talk to. He was very smart and blatantly unafraid of ruffling a few feathers.
I think I will definitely go to a few more Forum events as it continues today and tomorrow.

I hope this satsifies everyone's Blog cravings, I need to go get some lunch before class.

Screwed by Foreign Holidays...Again

Through the great and benevolent university that is NYU, I spent the last weekend in Berlin. Let me first say that I really enjoy traveling by charter bus. Sure trains are nice but I feel you get a much better chance to experience a country by bus. You also get to see foreign rest stops. It seems only Americans fill theirs with Roy Rogers and Bob's Big Boy. (Italy had near gourmet restaurants) I could go on and share the explanations I've come up with but you are probably more interested in my take on Berlin.

We left Friday morning and made it to Berlin in the early afternoon. After checking in to our rooms, we had a guided tour of Jewish Berlin. We saw the site of the first synagogue, a few memorials, and the rebuilding done by Berlin's current population. It left me feeling rather bizarre, I mean the Holocaust is by no means ancient history. Don't get me wrong I liked Berlin, but I do not want to live there. This was certainly not the opinion of our tour guide, an LA native who had lived in Berlin for 9 years. She was certainly well informed and good natured, she just had a terrible sense of humor and she chose to bring her son along with her. (Hes 5, and named Jonatan, but she calls him Tantan)
That night I went with my room (Dave, Barry, and Dan) as well as Joe, Jared, Alex, and Sarah to a traditional German restaurant. I bravely tried the Hoppel Poppel, coincidentally the only thing on the menu I could pronounce, which was described as being two meats, friend potatos, onions, and eggs prepared in one pan. My blatant disregard for complete knowledge of what I'm eating was rewarded again. The meat was in small chunks as were the potatos and it was all cooked into a giant dinner omelette type thing. I still don't know which meats they were but I don't care (I'm pretty confident they were some form of pork or beef)

Enough on that, Saturday morning started with a trip to the Jewish Musuem (Jewish history being an intentional theme, and one of the reasons I chose Berlin over Vienna or Salzburg) It was designed by the same man who is designing the 9/11 memorial. It had a powerful tower that was an isolating structure made to simulate in some small way life in a concentration camp and it was very moving. As was the memorial garden which feature slanting rows of large pillars. The museum also had a good collection which detailed the history and contributions of Jewish people in Berlin and Germany at large.
We went touring again, with our favorite tour guide and Tantan, to see such highlights as Checkpoint Charlie, and still existing streches of the Berlin Wall. We ended at the Reichstag, the Parliamentary building, and we were able to climbs its glass dome to have a terrific view of the city. Nearby there was bit of a carnival to celeberate the official reunification of East and West Berlin on October 3, 1990. We had some good brats, went on a ferris wheel, and listened to some bad bands performs such classics as "She works hard for her money"

I should say that both nights included consumption of Wodka Gorbachow (w is v in German) and quests for cool bars and clubs each night. I should also mention that with Joe and Jared, we discovered two awesome playgrounds. The latter of which was particularly exciting as it included a small zip line.
Anyway, Sunday morning we went off to see the Wannsee Villa where Hitler and other party members developed the "final solution" for the Jews. It was in a beautiful lakefront neighborhood with winding streets that I'm sure the bus driver enjoyed. Well we walk up to Wannsee and wouldn't you know its closed. Why? Berlin Reunification Day. If any of you remember the title of this post, you'll say didn't you say "again"? Yes I did, earlier in the summer, July 6, to be precise I went to the Czech Embassy in New York to get my visa and it was closed. Why? Jan Hus Day. Its a bad streak, and I intend to be quite cautious on November 5.
We did however get to go to Potsdam, site of the conference which decided the fate of Germany in 1945. We did not have a tour guide but thanks a few pages of info and my vast tour guide experience I was able to show most of the group around, and we all learned some pretty interesting stuff. For example did you know that Stalin was the only head of state to make it to Yalta and all of Potsdam? FDR was dead by then, and Truman was there and Churchill lost an election to Atlee which caused a break in the conference for two days.

I could go on but this post has been long enough, let just say I made it safely back to Prague last night, and learned that the Giants after beating Green Bay are now 3-1.

If anyone is curious, November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day. It is a commemoration of Guy Fawkes who intended to blow up Parliament and King James I in 1605. He intended it be part of an uprising by angry English Catholics.

stupid computer and/or Berlin Part 1

I just lost a lengthy post on my experiences in Berlin because when I went to publish it, I got a cannot find server message. Right now I don't have the patience to write it again, so I'll give you some highlights and add more later.

I had a tour of Jewish Berlin, which included the site of the first synagogue, a few memorials, and sites of the regrowing Jewish community.

The Jewish Museum, designed by the same man doing the new World Trade Center/ 9/11 memorial. It was really moving and had a tower which served to isolate you from the world to allow you to in some way relate to experiences in a concentration camp. There was also a memorial garden, with slanting concrete square poles and a good and very interactive collection detailing the history and contributions of Jews in Berlin and Germany at large.

I also visited Checkpoint Charlie, the only checkpoint through the wall used by foreigners. As well as the Reichstag, the Parliamentary building which feature a large glass dome which you can climb to the top of and get a great view of the city.

On Sunday, we visited Potsdam on our way home. We did not have a tour guide but thanks to a few pages of information and my skills and experience as a tour guide, I was able to lead a few people through the former home of Crown Prince Wilheim, the site of the Conference in 1945 in which Truman, Stalin, Churchill then Atlee (Churchill's party lost the Parliament during the conference) decided the fate of Germany.

I wrote a lot more and I promise I'll add it back but not now. As a teaser it will include my experience with Hoppel Poppel.