I think it’s an interesting step by the Prague government to deal with the homelessness issue, I wonder how it would effect those of us who look less vagrant?

Yes, I’m thinking back to May when I spent the night at Prague Airport. To be honest, I didn’t notice a huge number of homeless. That was far more of a problem at Praha Hlavní Nádraží when I’d head there to catch a train. Then again, it wasn’t the depth of winter either.

Judging by Prague’s section in Budget Traveller’s Guide to Sleeping in Airports, I’m certainly not the first to do so. In addition there were facilities open to serve those of us there –without a place to sleep or waiting for connections. I wonder how they’d feel if the night time clients were chased out?

“We want to expand our perspective, see each other as locals might and constantly push the limits of our role as tourists,” wrote Duke University junior Casey Dean and NYU’s Billy O’Hare, the magazines editors-in-chief, in a letter featured on the site.

I was vaguely aware of The Prague Wanderer, currently in its second semester, while in Prague this summer but it didn’t seem to have much relevance to our short summer term. I think it’s definitely a good idea to push not only beyond the status of tourists but the often equally negative “college student” perception. For some reason, students who choose to study abroad are regarded as party animals, rather than as people interested in learning about a new culture, language, etc.

My personal favorite at the moment is the Top Ten Column: Recognizing an American in Prague, which includes amusing items like smiling and shell suits. The ‘zine, however, also tackles more important issues such as disabled access in Prague.

I think this ‘zine could prove an interesting connection with other NYU Study Abroad programs as well as other university’s programs in Prague and in other cities.

ETA: WSN’s Interactive Study Abroad Issue

So that photo woud be at the foot of the stairs looking back towards the main door. And yes, human bones form the decoration of Kutna Hora’s Ossuary. I wasn’t happy with most of the photos, hence there not being any posts to the Gallery, but I thought these were pretty cool. I knew Kutna Hora had a ‘bone church’ but this was not at all what I expected. Also a huge number of primary school kids: cannot see that going over well at home “You’re traumatizing my kid!”

Kutna Hora itself was a quiet day. We did the ossuary and then the Church of St. Barbara with its flying buttresses. It was odd: you can take pics at the Ossuary (for a fee) but they’re forbidden at St. Barbara. I didn’t even take any from outside because the camera is completely posessed and I didn’t feel like fussing with it. After the second church, Jana walked us into the town and we were free to explore.

The Alchemy Museum was cool, but it was hot so I happily sat in the shade with a Calippo Lime and my book. Calippo Lime has been a great blast from the past and last night after dinner, we sat on a docked boat on the river for drinks and ended up talking about TV shows and movies we remembered. With classmates ranging from 19-37 it was inevitable that we covered a wide range. It was a good last night together since we split up this evening and two are leaving tomorrow after class.

I can’t believe these four weeks are done. I leave Saturday morning for Zurich and fly Monday from Geneva. Looking forward to Switzerland, but I can’t wait for my bed and a good shower. Simple pleasures.

I love Salem, but this would make for one hell of a Halloween!

We basically wrapped yesterday with a tour of the Prague Sports’ Facilities including Sazka Arena, Czech Lawn-Tennis Club (where Navratilova trained before immigrating to the US) and Toyota Arena, home to AC Sparta. We had a great tour of Sazka and received a book about the development of the arena, and were even allowed on the field at Toyota. Even not being much of a soccer fan, that was pretty cool. Although we didn’t have a tour of the tennis center I enjoyed seeing pictures of Martina, since she was Queen at the time I really loved tennis. OK co-queen with Sabatini, Steffi Graf, etc.

After the tour finished we came back to the study lounge here at the apartments where we did our presentations. I didn’t stress about mine because I’ve looked at the socio-cultural impact of tourism throughout the class, it was easy to add sports. We focused mainly on the Olympics (which has been the focus of the class since Prague is considering a 2016 bid) but added in the World Cup and Japan’s concern about soccer hooligans.

We decided to go to a celebratory ‘end of class’ dinner and one person recommended the Matylda Botel. It was wonderfully located right on the river, good food and quite cheap (<$400 US for 15 people,including dessert and drinks). We had a lot of fun and then some headed out to karaoke. I opted not to but on the way back to the tram a few of us got a sight: our first Czech prostitute. It was good for a laugh.

So Sports Tourism is over. Some general thoughts on the class and Prague:

-sports and tourism are even more connected than I’d initially thought, and not just in connection with large events such as The Olympic, World Cup, etc. There really needs to be a strong partnership in order for the two worlds to work well together.

-sports tourism covers things that I normally would not have thought of i.e. spa tourism. It just didn’t occur to me as a sport.

-still no great interest in Prague/The Czech Republic. Sure, Prague is a fun city and it’s a great place to take these classes, but I have little to no interest in the city itself. I shouldn’t be surprised, it was the same last time when I went to Vienna nearly as soon as I arrived. It’s not like I can pinpoint an interest in a specific other location since it’s basically 7 cities in a month (Londo, Prague, Krakow/Oswiecim, Rome, Berlin, Zurich and Geneva) but just the general ease of travel and desire to explore. I’ll see more of the Czech Republic and Prague in the next class though.

I’m really looking forward to Rome, I’m staying in the center so I should come back with many photos, I hope. I have a few from the sports tour that I need to take off the camera.

~International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience

Well that sign on the walls of the “Small Fortress in Terezin was to be my only photo from the day, however it’s a devil to make a yellow text on blue sign photo legible. It’s not that I didn’t take any photos, I did. 26 to be precise, but I’m not happy with them. I’m a little unsettled about the whole Terezin experience, to be honest.

Some of it is left over feelings of unsettledness about Auschwitz this weekend, but some of it is completely different. In many ways, Terezin/Theresienstadt is completely different. I think this stems from the fact that Terezin was in use as a fortress/prison long before the Nazis. Unlike Oswiecim and other sites which might not be on world maps if not for WW II and the Holocaust, Terezin had a pre-existing place in Czech history. I think it’s safe to say though that the international interest stems from World War II when the small fortress became a Gestapo headquarters.

On a non-WW II basis, I was very intrigued. We were able to visit the cell in the small fortress where Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, was housed. One thing I have learned about the Czech Republic in my time here is how central the Czech Republic (in its various incarnations as Czechoslovakia, Bohemia and Moravia, etc.) has been to European history. Its role (along with battles here such as White Mountain) is certainly not something that comes up frequently in history classes in the US. Seeing the “Small Fortress” itself brought back memories of the Alamo, though I have no idea why.

Our tour actually started in the Ghetto Museum and then the Magdeburg Barracks. I admit, I’d mentally checked out of some of this. I found it heartwrenching to see the artwork, music, writings, etc of people who never made it out, especially children. I did buy the book relating to Hana’s Suitcase, but that was more for its Czech/Japanese tie than anything else. Both the Museum and Barracks were museums and not really reconstructions of any sort.

From there, the tour moved to the National Cemetery and Small Fortress. The National Cemetery is intriguing in that its allegedly one of the few places in the world where you can see a cross and Star of David side by side. When compared to Auschwitz/Birkenau, the reason Terezin bothered me was primarily superficial: there were food sales, souvenir shops and other current items within the grounds. To me, those belong outside a historic site. The cinema can be explained, it’s apparently where the SS guards would watch their movies, and the pool was built by the prisoners in preparation for the Red Cross visit in 1944, but there is no need for a souvenir shop and cafe within the grounds. Put them outside the gate, but they didn’t ask me. I’m sure there was some good reason, but the guide didn’t know.

So basically Terezin is a good place to learn about Czech history, and if you haven’t done anothr Holocaust site such as Auschwitz/Dachau (as a classmate said)/etc. it’s a good place to learn about the Holocaust.

I think where I’m still ‘unsettled’ re: Auschwitz (meaning the Auschwitz section of the camps not the whole compound) is the fact that apart from the famous sign, you could be anywhere. Even the barbed wire doesn’t ‘say’ Holocaust. The exhibits do, of course, however the exhibits aren’t that different from Holocaust exhibits elsewhere. That isn’t to say they’re not good, just that there’s no differentiation. Why do people go to Auschwitz? I personally think a big part of it is name association. In many cases, you say Holocaust and people think Auschwitz. I’d love to look further into the stats of who goes and why.

As for Terezin, the same question of ‘why’ applies. It doesn’t have the name association that Auschwitz does. It is however significantly closer to Prague than Auschwitz/Birkenau is to Krakow, which helps. I wonder how many people are aware of Terezin, or that it’s in the Czech Republic before coming to the area? Do they plan to go or are they enticed by the Prague tour companies ‘selling’ it that well? I’d definitely be interested in that.

I think I have my paper topic for Culture & Heritage Tourism.

(+6)

Karlovy Vary is better known to Europeans as Karlsbad. Not surprisingly, I felt more like I was in Germany than in the Czech Republic. Then again, I feel like that a lot of the time in Prague. Prague is as Czech as New York is American. Our tour was run through Premiant and picked us up at the apartments at 8:45 AM. It was about a two hour drive, but you know me and moving vehicles. I was asleep before we got out of Prague.

Our first stop once in town was the Becherovka Museum. The tour itself was in many ways similar to the tour of the Bundaberg Rum Factory, although Becherovka wasn’t anywhere near as good. It was far too strong (reminded me a bit of Sambvca), sweet and… Just not my thing. Touring the factory was fun and a nice surprise. From there we had a walking tour of Karlovy Vary, which really is a pretty old town. In some ways, it’s very much like you expect European towns to look. Of course I had my obligatory flower shot, but my personal favourite was the Hotel Romance. The picture itself is crooked, but I don’t care. It looked just like it would belong in Osaka–which says something about Japanese love hotels.

We had lunch at the Hotel Thermal which looked like a beacon of communism in an otherwise ‘fairy tale’ village. Yes, there is no question that what was then Czechoslovakia was under communist rule, but did that rule have to apply to the architecture? Someone in our group raised the point that if you’re in it, at least you don’t have to look at it. It’s really interesting that they’d choose to build something so out of alignment with the look of the town.

It was a nice lunch and we then had two hours free time. Some chose to swim, I preferred to take photos and read (I *will* finish that book by the time I leave Europe!) Weather was perfect for both followed by a nap on the way back to Prague

Today was Terezin, so there may be another post. I can’t believe this class is over in two more days!

So according to Flight Memory, I’ve flown 112,781 miles since August 2001. I’m not sure whether I expected that to be higher or lower, but I wish there were an equivalent for the bus since apparently the circumfrence of Australia is 10,000 miles and I doubled up in some areas and also went up and down the middle. Re: flight travel, I could go back further but I’m not sure I’ll remember all flights and I don’t think it will add a significant amount with the exception of London in December 2000 and Spain in April 1996. Translation the mileage gained isn’t worth the brain power of trying to remember flight details.

Today my preferred mode of travel was by boat. After class and lunch, Monica and I decided to do a river cruise. Distance wise, it was a short tour but I got some good photos with my favourite being the one above. I just love how the castle seemingly presides over the city. One of the couples on the boat was from Spain so it was a good opportunity to get to use my Spanish. I was grateful they were there because the guide’s Spanish was far better than her English! Walking around the city/to and from class, I also got a few other miscellaneous pics including one of the sign for the Museum of Communism. Make sure to take a good look at the doll’s teeth! Class itself is going well. We meet for a few hours in the morning and then do stuff around the city in the afternoon. Next week we’ll take a few trips out of town, including Terezin and Karlovy Vary.

Tomorrow evening after class, I catch the 20:55 train from Prague to Krakow, where I’ll arrive at about 6 am. I’ll have about an hour before catching the bus to Ozwiecim/Auschwitz. I think it’s going to be a day that really makes me think, but thinking is what it’s supposed to make you do. My mind keeps wanting to go to what this will be like, but I’m not letting it. I don’t think Auschwitz can compare to anything else. For the same reason, I’m trying to avoid reading too much about it before I go. I want this to be my opinions only. I’m just reading enough so that I know how to get from Krakow/Auschwtiz and vice versa. I know that I’m still regretting not having gone in 2003, so I’m not going to miss the opportunity to do so now. Although it’s not listed in their collection, I truly hope they have a copy of Holocaust Journey because it’s meant to be an eye-opening read. I’ve heard the same about Generations Should Remember, and I’m glad the museum has a copy. Somehow I don’t think I’ll be lacking for anything to read after this trip.

The return train to Prague is at ~11p (love that they’re both overnight so I don’t lose any time) so depending on how long I spend on site, I may do a tour of Krakow. It’spurely history for me as I know very little about Poland. I’ve borrowed an Eastern European Phrasebook for the trip but I doub I’m the first non-Polish speaking visitor

We had a very interesting lecture this morning from Jiri Pehe, the Director of the NYU in Prague program. I had a rough idea of Czech/Czechoslovakian history, but loved all the holes he filled in. Of course like any good lecture, it left me wanting to know more so I spent part of the afternoon on a quest for books. Came up empty, but I’ll find some when I get home. There are many more bookstores with English books than before.

After the lecture, Professor Boland–he wants us to call him Bob, I can’t do it so I don’t end up addressing him at all–introduced the course and outlined the overlap between sports and tourism. I like the fact that we’re each going to be responsible for teaching a section. With my being the only tourism student in the class, I don’t foresee difficulty in getting the section(s) I want, so I’m looking forward to my day.

Shortly after 1 we adjourned and scattered. A few of us went to lunch, more pasta for me. I seem to be replacing my sushi fix with a pasta fix, odd because I don’t usually like pasta. Today’s pasta was spaghetti with italian bacon and chili peppers. So far have yet to end up in a restaurant without an English menu even though we keep wandering off the square. I think it’s partially because Prague is such a tourist city. There is a ton more English than last time, which is good. Makes it a lot easier. I never did find the post office though On the plus side, I did find Citibank. On a related note, I LOVE Skype. I’m still having issues with my Debit card pulling from the wrong checking account so I looked to see if I could call 800 numbers from Skype. Yep. It was as easy as calling from home and I think/hope it’s finally fixed.

I posted a few photos. I’d say I really have been behaving but in truth I kept 27 of the ones I took. I just find editing photos in Gimp to be annoying so I don’t end up posting them. I have been taking a ton of photos and in preparation for this weekend’s trip, I went to Tesco and got the second set of batteries and second memory card I’ve been talking about. Prices here are pretty good: 256mb Sony Memory Stick Pro and 2 rechargeable NiMH batteries for $56. Probably would have been cheaper had I gotten my act together to get them at home, but I didn’t and so they weren’t too bad to get here. I’d already run out of memory card space in London and don’t want that to happen.

It’s interesting as I walk through the city, take pictures and think about the photos I took last time. I passed Namesti Miru on the tram today and remembered the church before the name of the place. I’ve gone across the Vlatva but not up to the castle yet as we’re doing that next class so I don’t feel the need to do it twice.

I didn’t really have a destination in mind today, just wandered until it got chilly. Boland said that Prague’s old town is like “old town on steroids”, which is one way of putting it. I think what I love about Prague is that with the castles, churches and other old buildings, you feel as if you’ve stepped into a time machine and gone back three hundred years. I’m glad that the Soviets and Nazis didn’t destroy the heart of the old culture, and that it escaped serious damage in WW II. That’s the big difference with Japan, where there’s history but it doesn’t feel like it because everything has been rebuilt so often.

On our way back from ‘class’ (more on that later) this AM, I wanted to stop for bandaids because my new shoes chewed up my feet. I brought bandaids with me but they didn’t stick very well in the heat under the strap of the shoes. So I go into the drug store near the apartments and ask for a ‘band aid’. Got offered a tampon, then a pad. Finally I slipped off the sandals and showed him the blisters.

I got a box of “Bang-Ze”s. My favourite part:

“Scope of Application: It is mainly used for surgery to paste wound or fix pinhead of intravenous transfusion.”

Guess I got some sturdy bang-zes.

I’m going to file bandaids with hangers and adaptors.

Class was a non-event today. We met in the computer lab at 9:30 to walk together because none of us knew where we were going. We eventually arrived at 12:15 after a scenic tour of Prague. It was a good way to learn the city and get to know each other a bit. We met the staff at the NYU Center (some photos-not mine- here) and then opted for a ‘traditional Czech lunch’ (mmm tagliatelle with salmon!) before returning to the rooms for a siesta.

We aimed to attend the Czech soccer/football match, but 45 minutes after the game had started, we were still wandering around so 9 of us chose to watch it from a pub while a few braved the elements. I’m not too heart broken because we’ll be touring the stadium later in the week.

While we haven’t had a formal class, we had some interesting discussions re: naming rights, sports and tourism, the Olympics, etc. I think it’s going to be a great class. And as per usual when I’m in Europe, I want to see it all. I have three weekends to play with and they’re shaping up to be: Auschwitz, Berlin and ____. With the pattern I almost need a “C” city though I’m actually leaning towards Italy if there’s a cheap flight since the trains are just too long (+5 from Prague to Vienna). Copenhagen is a possibility however since Sterling flies there. I love LCL for all the options they offer.

Decisions, decisions…

I’ve puttered around the neighbourhood a bit. Found the aforementioned shop for dinner last night and lunch this AM, forgot how cheap food is here. Made an interesting tuna/pasta puttanesca and passed out aroud 5pm last night. Woke up at 7 trying to figure out if I’d slept the night or not and passed back out until midnight when the bladder woke me. Woke around 8am and kinda vegged as I woke. It wasn’t jet lag so much as having pulled an all-nighter after two days of little sleep.

Books read so far this trip:

What Color is Your Jockstrap? -Jennifer L. Leo
The Sun in My Eyes – Josie Dew

I need to slow down or I’ll finish all my books before the 12 hour train trip and flights home and that’s not allowed.

Off to study some more Czech, I didn’t lose nearly as much as I thought which is good. Picking more back up as I walk around the neighbourhood. Things like a Lego sign are a good clue that ‘hradcy’ means ‘toys’ and other words are similar enough to English like a sign that read ‘delicatess’. Lots of Italian products in the grocery stores, of which there are three within a few block radius, so that makes cooking easy.