"July 4th" Celebrating American Independence Day

So I went to an official function at the US Ambassador's Residence--Again...




And I met the President of the Czech Republic--Again




I also met the US Ambassador to CZ for the second time.

There was fanfare...

And nice speeches...(CZ values its friendship with the US...The US if very happy to be partners with CZ...lots of love and warmth)

And there was SPECTACULAR food. YES!!!

And some American icons...

This was my first clue that it was going to be a bigger deal than I had thought. There was a huge line outside with some very official-looking people.

And a security check. We didn't have THAT the first time I came to visit the residence.


Radek S. and Jan B--interesting Czech people. Fascinating stories.


Cabell, The Virginian. Funny guy. He was an intern at the Fulbright office in Prague while he was on summer break from school. I wish I had known about things like that when I was in school, but I can't complain--or waste time looking back and kicking myself. I did my best for then, and I think I do juuuuust fine now. It's now and tomorrow that counts anyway. =)

--KM

Dublin--Gotta love the Irish!

Don't Worry
There are only two things to worry about: either you are well or you are sick. If you are well then there's nothing to worry about. If you are sick then there are only two things to worry about: Either you will get well or you will die. If you get well then there's nothing to worry about. If you die, then there are only two things to worry about: You will either go to heaven or to hell. If you go to heaven then there's nothing to worry about. If you go to hell, you will be so busy shaking hands with all your friends that there will be nothing to worry about!

There is definitely a carefree feeling in Dublin. I don't remember the last time I was around such friendly, open people. I am positive I will return to Ireland!! I want to see a lot more of it.


A pub, capitalizing on the atmosphere and reputation of the entire Temple Bar area.

Temple Bar is a live, happening place in Dublin! Full of Pubs, people, music, life.

Sean and his comical uncle (Chris? John?). Very nice people. Very fun people.



The River Liffey


TRINITY COLLEGE--I was very curious about seeing the place where so many famous Irish Writers studied. I walked through thinking of Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde, in particular. And while I enjoyed a very spirited (and thankfully brief) tour, I have to admit that I was disappointed in the lack of information about the famous attendees. I saw the Book of Kells, but it didn't really excite me that much.

Trinty too


Writers Museum

Now THIS was a treat. A very interesting display and non-redundant audio tour, arranged by period and writer. I learned a lot of fascinating things about the featured writers (Yeats, Beckett, Wilde, etc.). I am glad I made it there. Before I left, I felt obliged to buy a book by one of the Irish writers, so I looked around and came away with...Bram Stoker's DRACULA. It was a good read. I liked it a lot despite some of its irritating conventions.


Writers' Museum window--INSIDE the building, by the way. The house used to belong to someone interesting, whom I have already forgotten about. A lot of time and events have passed since I was there--sorry.


James Joyce's House. Didn't go there. Maybe next time. Would like to see what they do on Bloomsday.


The tour that wasn't. I really really wanted to take this Ghostbus tour, but I failed to plan it properly, and I missed the cut-off time for buying tickets in advance. When I got to the bus, the tour was already sold out =(. I did a ghost tour in Virgina with my mom, but it was a walking tour. I imagined that the stories in Ireland would be much more interesting--and maybe about some of the writers I like. Oh, well, another reason to go back.


Arched entryway to St. Stephens Green. I didn't really go inside, but I walked by A LOT of times. It would be a cool place to hang and have a good talk, I think. It is very close to a great place to go shopping too, so it could be a rest stop for sure.


Molly Malone. I don't know if I have ever heard the song or not, but she is a famous character from a well-known Irish song. Art and life--characters are sometimes as real as actual people, and as loved.


A modern sculpture! Reminds me of Roger Rabbit, for some reason. =)



And my hotel room--my LOVEly hotel room. If it had been a bit quieter in the hallways, it would have been perfect. I was so excited sometimes just to sit in my room and watch TV--in ENGLISH!! Bless the Irish!

In addition to the guys I met in the pub, I also met Aoife--a super-nice Irish girl. We met up for lunch and chatted like pals. Overall, I was very impressed by the people I met in Dublin.

For so many reasons, I was thankful for the Irish on that weekend!

How I Met the President of the Czech Republic

A short story by Kylowna Moton




We stopped by his house. He was there.

The End

Lany

Lany

On our way to Karlstejn, the Harajdas and I stopped in Lany to see the grave of Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia.

Graves of the Masaryk family.

I wasn't thrilled about looking at a gravesite, but afterward, we went to the President's Weekend/vacation home (like our Camp David, I believe), which was also in Lany, and had a brief look around. The grounds were quite impressive. There was a large park--very large--and greenhouses, and the general atmosphere was very tranquil. It was really beautiful.


We even managed to see the end of the changing of the guards at the gate to the residence. I swear, they must pick only the most handsome soldiers for this duty because every single one of them was VERY good-looking, not to mention polite. The guard on duty even smiled at me! I didn't think they were allowed to do that.


Mrs. Harajdova and I had a little rest outside of the greenhouses. The Presidential residence is in the background.



Guard--serious, but friendly and helpful too. Look at the land in the background.


We saw many of the robes (gifts) that the President was given during some of his diplomatic travels. They were in glass cases, and the light in that room made them difficult to photograph, but here is one.

Karlstejn

I was told that this was the most important castle in CZ after the gorgeous Prague castle in...well...Prague. So I stayed in the country for a weekend and took a day trip with the Harajdas--my family here in CZ. =) It is nice for me when I spend time with them, so I really looked forward to our trip. The above picture is a lovely view of the castle.





When I got up close, I was surprised it wasn't better taken care of, better restored since it is supposed to be so important to the country. I guess they are working on it.




The other thing that surprised me was the lack of interesting exhibits on the inside. We took a tour, but we were not allowed to take photos. There were some paintings of Charles IV' s family, some pieces of furniture, a couple of rooms were set up "as used in the time of..." but the main draw seemed to be that Charles IV built it and lived here, held reign here, had his four women here...I guess if you really idealize him, it could be interesting to see where he lived. A beautiful crown was on display in a glass case, but Mr. Harajda said it was a replica.

A couple of people in period costume were waiting in one room to sing a song. Well, a guy played a guitar-type instrument and a girl (with a great voice) sang an old style song. Which got me to thinking...wouldn't it be fantastic if there were people in period costume in every room, re-enacting life as it was lived there AND they did the talking instead of a tourguide???? It would be awesome--and not just in this place. Many places could benefit from such a thing. I am thinking of places like the ghost towns of the Old West of the USA for starters--or anywhere there are tours of buildings that are no longer used as what they were intended. Hmmmm...


I agreed to go on the Czech tour because I was the only one of my party who would have needed the English tour, and it was 90 crowns more expensive for English. I didn't mind it because I find that tourguides rarely say anything I actually care about anyway. I usually spend my time day-dreaming. =)

But the thing that killed me about this tour was that every time we went into a room, the tourguide locked us in! It was like I was in Jail--or HELL! She stood there holding the ring of keys until she finished giving her (Czech) speech and then she would unlock the next door, escort us into a new room, and LOCK us in there too! Some of these rooms were way too small for our group. It was grating on my nerves! I got more and more antsy as we progressed to each new room. I would look at each room for about 1-2 minutes and I'd be ready to move on--but I couldn't! And I so hate feeling trapped, confined, restricted in my movement. I am a butterfly, and butterflies are free. =) Anyway, the tour was scheduled for 50 minutes, and by the last room (when we were at 54 minutes), I was begging (inside my head) to be released, "please, someone, let me out of heeeeere..." Then finally, it was over! I can't remember when I have been so happy to get out of a place.


All thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Harajda, though. I appreciate their kindness and interest in wanting to go somewhere with me and show me something. It meant a lot to me. =)

KM

Beer Tasting

Exterior of Hops Institute

Many months ago, I was invited to dinner with Marta and some of her English students from the Hops company. We had a nice time, and they also invited me to come for a beer tasting at the Hops Institute when the time came. Well, the time came!

MY HOSTS:

Mr. Urban


Dasa: I don't remember her last name, but she is super nice. It was great to see both of them again. We had a good time talking together, and I learned a great deal about beer and hops! I will be some kind of expert when I get home. =)


Zatec Drawing--an early layout of the town.


This is the world's smallest brewery, located in the Hops Institute. They brew beer to test the different hops they breed and cross-breed. Interesting.


Hops, malt, and hop pellets


This wasn't just sitting around drinking beer. It was a bonafide business meeting, and I felt privileged to be invited. There were lectures on different hops issues (not in English) and issues related to beer production and consumption, like health benefits of drinking beer and overuse of alcohol (especially among youth). Germans, apparently, drink the most beer (not the Czechs, as my students say--although maybe they mean per capita and this was overall??) and the Belgians produce the most beer, followed by the USA. Who Knew?? Belgium! Makers of my Hoegaarten. =)



Beer. When tasting, we had to rate which ones we liked best in three categories. Overall flavor, enjoyment of bitterness, and after taste were the categories. Then in the second round, there were two of three that were the same, and we had to see if we could tell the difference. I could! But mostly because of the smell.


When I was in Amsterdam last weekend, I saw one of these on the move in the street. I thought it was pretty cool, but I was too slow to get a picture of it. Imagine my surprise when I saw one here at the Hops Institute! I was told that they saw one on the internet, and then built one of their own. And I got to ride on it. Seats were hard! But it was fun.


The pedals...


Driver


The pivo


Joe Cool--check out his nifty vest. It has Hops symbols on it. I really liked it. I can't remember exactly, but there are some special clubs and organizations around beer and hops...Oh! There was a fake article written many years ago as an April Fools joke for the newspaper, but it was printed late (after April 1st), and it said archaeologists had discovered the very first beer drinker, blah blah blah. Well, people believed it. And now, for fun, there is a society dedicated to this first beer drinker. I can't remember his name, but it's pretty funny and they too have uniforms and everything.

It was a nice day, and afterward, I was off to school for afternoon lessons and then to Prague to see Beth and Rigoletto. Busy day!

KM