Trains in London

So, after shocking the whole of Gary's family with my big beard I found myself standing on the train platform heading into the city where I would switch lines and then head to the airport. There's something about being in train stations that makes my heart flutter. It's such a shame that so few people in the United States get to experience this feeling. The bigger, more obvious implication is that we dismantled our streetcars and discontinued affordable train travel options in favor of the automobile which is now destroying our way of life. Funny, that the invention which was once the universally accepted symbol of American freedom and independence is now a very large monkey on our backs!

In the distance I suddenly heard a whistle blowing and my heart began fluttering again...

Ramblings from the Rambler...

Here in my Cubist apartment facing the Vltava River I sit on my bed and gaze out on the river as tourist boats glide by with cameras flashing. The tour guide is explaining the history of the buildings in my neighborhood.

When we first moved here, I couldn't distinguish the flashing cameras from the spark of the tram wires. And now, though both are continuous, neither are noticeable. For me, the rumbling of a tram is the perfect background noise. It puts me right to sleep.

Well, after a perfectly sunny weekend spent hiking around the parks that surround Prague Castle and stopping (twice) at the brewery attached to the Monastery complex behind the castle...I feel it is time to gloat.

Sorry, but this is truly a dream being realized. I've wanted to do this (live in Europe) for so long and I'm having a great time! So, no real news. Just smiles from afar.....(is anybody reading this)?

Lednice-Valtice

The combined area of these two small villages, or 'willages' as my students would say, is protected by UNESCO. 17th Century dukes or princes from Liechtenstein owned vast land holdings in southern Moravia and the chateaus were built there as summer palaces.

We approached from the south and began to wind through the very rural village. We were not expecting much from the run-down homes on the outskirts and old men grimacing as they rode their bicycles past, but that scene changed abruptly as the road took a sharp right.

Suddenly elegant spires soared towards the heavens and trees abounded. The estate house in Lednice is incredible! It's surrounded by a massive English garden and greenhouse with the Dyje River quietly winding along beside it. The building had quite a collection of ornate sculpture jutting out from every possible space. As well as a handful of sculptures scattered throughout the gardens. From its 'backyard' you could see the late 1700's Turkish minaret across the lake in the distance some 7km away. I believe the minaret was given as a gift to the ruling Liechtensteiners.

Beckov Hrad

First, this place was a stark reminder of the struggle of Jews in the Diaspora.

Also, it was an awe-inspiring castle clinging to a wonderfully colored rock formation surrounded by rolling green hills at the base of the Lesser Carpathian mountain range near the Czech-Slovak border.

With respect to the first point, the Jewish cemetery adjoining the castle complex is merely the latest example of my growing awareness of the ongoing hatred of the Jews throughout Europe; particularly in the central European countries.

As the evidence piles up, I'm left feeling a tremendous amount of shame for the human race in general. This past weekend was full of cultural and natural beauty, but garnished with revolting reminders of the despicable deficiencies of the global human spirit. In the shadows of this magnificent castle was an appalling assemblage of annihilated gravestones and burials, some of which had actually been eerily exhumed and their contents removed or scattered about the surrounding area.

The gravestones that bore inscriptions in Hebrew were the most molested:

Some of the older less sophisticated headstones were just ripped right out of the ground:

As my stomach turned and the clouds covered then uncovered the sun sending random bursts of sunshine across the hills illuminating grisly scene after grisly scene, I awkwardly placed stones on top of the few intact graves to honor the deceased hoping to bring some element of peace to their tortured afterlives.

YMCA: "The color of a person's skin reveals only one thing. The color of a person's skin."

Bob Dylan: "How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?"

Trenčín

New adventures in Slovakia!

My Slovakian adventures were limited to Bratislava and the nearby castle of Devín prior to last weekend and my Lonely Planet (not a plug for those Brits!) described Trenčín as a town "with a distinctly sedate pace of living." Also said it had a bunch of Renaissance buildings as well as a massive castle looming over the town from jutting mountaintop.

The Romans were there ages ago and left their mark in the base of the rock, an inscription that survives today. Pretty wild!

The town only had a few churches. The main one, orange in color and big, was at the end of the main pedestrian walkway under the castle just inside the old gate. It really was a monster and it had two great onion-dome spires. The inside was remarkable too...despite the fact that I've now seen more churches than could ever hope to recount. It had a great deal of ornate artwork, sculpture and the like.

There was also this one abandoned synagogue...much more about that later!

We got there Friday at about 4pm. The sun was breaking the clouds and allowed for a quick round of photos before retreating for good for the evening. So, we dug into relatively good...albeit strange Mexican? food. Slovakian Mexican I guess! Then proceeded to hit the Irish? pub next door for a few beers.

The most famous Slovakian beer as near as I can tell is Zlatý Bažant, which this pub had for 27 Slovak Crowns. That's equal to $1 exactly. Not bad. They had Guiness for $2.57, but not a full pint.

Anyway, to my absolute surprise...I think my exact words were, "Holy @%&# sh*t.....you gotta be kidding me!" I saw this sign:

I mean in Trenčín, Slovakia of all places in the world to find a Goose sign!?! I couldn't believe it! I'd be surprised to see it in the States...Trenčín, Slovakia...talk about blown away!

So, the next day we got up, ate breakfast at the pension (fantastic omelettey-thingy with a bacon base and egg with cucumber), then climbed up the back of the mountain to the castle. We got rained on a bit, but not really wet.

This castle was about 75% rebuilt. However, the area that we accessed in the back was where the real magic hid. The walls were mostly original with the wooden posts jutting out (albeit broken posts) in many spots.The combination of being completely on our own surrounded by patches of snow with the imposing historic castle staring down at us was enough to make us giddy.We found the castle accessible only from the old town, however. So, after mincing about in the moat and on the walls we clamoured down to the old town and paid the fee to enter for real. The wind was absolutely ripping through our layers of clothes sending shivers through our bodies and a chill straight to the bone.

We ducked in the info center for hot chocolate. Then went to meet the guide at 12:15. The guide was playing hooky apparently, though, so we got barked at by a dog for 15 minutes and left. Next we went to Beckov Castle.....