End of a Chapter

So this blog marks the end of a chapter in my "Exploration to Find Self." Today, Em went home (well, to the airport where she catches a plane to Dublin and then has a 12 hour lay-over and then catches a plane to LA) and with her departure the end of our little romp through the Middle East and Eastern Europe has arrived. This entry should bring you up to date with the intervening time between Hungary and Poland.

Praha..Prag...Praga...Prague
Prague, my second home...literally. I used to live here for those that didn't know. I effectively ran away from home when I was sixteen under the guise of studying abroad for a year, and this is where I was placed. So when Em and I decided to skip Greece and head to Eastern Europe, it was with all intensive purposes for the point of coming back here and introducing this city and my Czech family to Em.

We hopped a ten hour train from Budapest and arrived in Prague in the evening. Stepping off the platform, I was nervous because I was afraid that I wouldn't remember what my host father looked like or be able to talk to my host family or any of a hundred other things that could possibly go wrong for it's been eight years since I was last here. Thanks to the ever present dogs that my host family is so fond of and to Em who can talk bullshit for hours if awkward pauses develop, none of the foreseen tragedies occurred. My host father arrived with one of his three Czechoslovakian Wolfdogs (a cross between a German Shepard and a wolf), making him easy to recognize even though I knew him instantly. Em helped break the ice by babbling incessantly until I could think of something meaningful to say and all and all it was an easy transition back into the roll of second daughter (Petra is the family's real daughter).

Jana, my host mother, was happy to see us and started mothering with food the minute we walked in the door. It was as if I'd never gone home and there hadn't been an eight year gap since I last saw them. The funny thing is that this time around, everyone speaks to me only in Czech. When I was last here I had to fight tooth and nail to get people to speak to me in Czech and now that's all they do and they assume that I understand everything. Using my enhanced vocabulary of a three year old, I am doing quite well expressing myself with the same 8 or 10 phrases, but it's all coming back and thus things are well.

The first day, Pavel and Jana accompanied Em and I to the city. We walked all around downtown, the Old Square, Old Town, and Prague Castle. I made Em stand with the other 2000 tourist and watch the giant clock in Old Town Square. This clock was built in the 15th century and still works using its original parts (no metal I believe). Every hour on the hour, there are two windows that open and the 12 Apostles go around them while a skeleton pulls a bell. It sounds a lot more magical than it really is and Em's response was: "That's it? You had me believing that it was something cool!" What can I say? It's the fact that it's an antique that's fascinating.

Being back in Prague was interesting. I had all of these images of what I remembered it being like and the reality of present-day Prague doesn't measure up. Some would say that's because I've evolved or changed over the years or that when I last was here I viewed everything through child-like eyes, but I don't think that's it entirely. When I was last here, most of the world had never heard of the Czech Republic or even of Prague. It was a little unknown country, hardly touched by the disastrous world of consumer tourism. Now it's a hub of tourism - a "Top Ten" getaway destination. Instead of people saying "What's Prague? Where's that?" they say: "You've never been to Prague? What's the matter with you? It's a must see place!"

Tourism, although a great thing for the economy; is a great way to destroy personality and uniqueness. Many of the places, foods, attractions, etc. that I'd been babbling to Em about for weeks were either missing, changed for the worse, or way too expensive (a decline in the value of the American dollar and popularity have made this city quite pricey). Just as an example, I wanted to take Em to Golden Lane at the Prague Castle. This is the little street where all of the shops have doors that are about three feet high and you have to duck to get into them and all the buildings are painted different colors. Now, to visit this 200m long stretch, it cost you $5. What's up with that? They've made everything into an attraction and it makes it a lot harder to just go meandering and visually sightsee.

Don't take all of this the wrong way, Prague is still a great place and I still love it, it's just that it has changed and in my opinion, not for the better. If I had come here for the first time ever now, I wouldn't be any the wiser to how things used to be and would have been quite pleased with what I found. The same small cobblestone streets and shops crammed into nooks, the same hidden away tea shops, the same fired cheese that's terrible for the body but so good for the taste buds, the same great language, the same beautiful scenery; it's all still there, you just need to look harder to find it.

We were in Prague and the CZ for five days. In that time we toured many of my old haunts and chilled with the family. My old host grandparents and cousin came over to visit and say hi. Everyone looked the same as they did 8 years ago and everyone expressed the idea that I stay forever and not go back home. I think that is taking it a bit far, but I caved in to staying for a week or two of my in-between Em going home and me going to Jordan time. It'll be nice to have a home base for a bit and just relax, but that is a story for another day and another entry.

I made sure to take Em to Karlstejn, which is the most infamous castle in the Czech Republic. It's also the one most nicely preserved and easiest to get to for a day trip. The Castle, like many others in Europe, is set above a town and incorporated as part of that town. The Town of Karlstejn is also where I can purchase my much loved honey wine. Or it used to be. They still sell it, but it was hard to find what I was looking for as it is no longer as prevalent as it used to be. After a little scouraging around, I came out triumphant and Em and I cracked open our reward on the train home.

As our days started to dwindling and we realized that Em would be heading home soon, we said goodbye to Prague - her for the foreseeable future and me for a few days - and set out for Krakow, Poland.

Krakow
Krakow is considered to be the home of Jewish Europe. Before World War II and as a consequence the War, this city was a major hub of Jewish activity. Now, it is a major tourist destination and a great place from which to day trip to other places. This is also the last stop on Em and Robby's Summer 2006 Whrilwind Adventure...sniffle, sniffle.

The first day that we were in Krakow, we decided to take in the town and to see the much famed Jewish quarter. Being the type of people that we are, we got lost on purpose and wandered the streets going in approximately the correct direction until we stumbled upon what we sought. The Jewish Quarter is in a section of town, Kazimierz, that was once its own city. The Krakow Jews were transferred to Kazimierz in 1495 by royal decree of King Jan I Olbracht and there made a bustling Jewish quarter that became a major center for the Jewish Diaspora over the next three centuries. Until the Nazi invasion during World War II, Kazimierz, was a safe haven for persecuted Jews from the rest of Europe.

We toured the streets taking in the architecture and trying to reconstruct what it used to be like. We visited a few synagogues and went to the Old Jewish cemetery. The Cemetery is interesting in that many of the tombs overlap one another and the earth has pushed parts of graves that were once underground back into the sunlight. Also of note, there is a wall that completely surrounds the Cemetery from the street and this wall is made (at least the inside portion), from headstones. Em and I weren't sure whether this was to honor tombs that may have been destroyed during the Holocaust or whether there were actual tombs within the wall. I think that it is a memorial of some sort as many of the headstones in the wall are mere fragments.

Are second day had us on a local bus to Auschwitz, (in Polish the town is called Oswiecim). Many might wonder why two Jewish girls would be interested in going to a site where there was a great injustice done to their people, but I think that this is no different than Christians who search out the spot where Jesus was crucified. As the famous quote goes, "It is better to know one's history or else we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past" or something along those lines. Human beings as a whole are a culture that is drawn, some knowingly and some cluelessly, towards death, destruction, and cruelty. Scenes or death and torture are constantly bombarding the average person as they turn on the television and watch there favorite drama or even the everyday news. Crucifixion icons are seen in every Church. Action blockblusters sell out theaters. And the morbidly curious flock to scenes of horrible cruelty. That is the way of human nature, and being humans ourselves, Em and I were drawn to this place haunted with the spirits of a million and a half dead.

If one didn't know the terrible deeds that had taken place at Auschwitz and Birkenau, and they had just stumbled upon these sites, they might think that they'd walked into a summer camp. If one were to ignore the twin rows of electrified barbed wire, then this place would look like any other neatly ordered camp or school. There are rows of buildings interspersed with grass and tree lined streets. It's only when you take in the guard towers and the fences or read the signs that tell what used to take place where you're standing, do you feel that you really are standing in one of the World's most heinous prisons.

Em and I opted to take the guided tour through the two camps, but I think that it would have been better to have taken in the history at our own pace and to have gone without a group. Many of the buildings are as they were when built and all that's been changed is that the paint has been touched up and the evidence removed or made into more eye-catching and thought-provoking displays. I'm glad that we went, but I don't feel that I can express what the place is like. If you have the chance, go and visit. See the cruelty of mankind at it's best and then strive to make sure that we never again see it.

Knowing that visiting Auschwitz would be depressing, we made plans to head to Zakopane the next day. Zakopane is advertised as the "Winter City of Poland." It is the biggest winter resort town in Europe north of the Alps, and doesn't do too badly in the summer either. It was like a typical snow town, with a cute main street lined with shops selling winter apparel, pubs, restaurants, and street vendors. Almost every ten feet, there were people selling what we at first believed was bread. This "bread" turned out to be the local snack, oscypek, a piece of smoked sheep cheese. The smoked flavor is actually quite good and taste kind of meaty. The un-smoked kind though were a little too salty for our tastes.

We spent the day poking around in the different shops and eating oscypek, bbq, and waffles with whipped cream and raspberry sauce. Unfortunately we never made it up the mountain where there is great hiking and more sights to see. I think that we really need a minimum of two, if not three, days to really see this town and its surrounding wilderness.

Day four in Krakow, today. The last day of Em and my's journal together and our last day in the city. Since we hadn't gotten to see the Krakow Castle on our first day, we decided to visit it today. Being a giant tourist hub, the Castle was broken into many different parts, all charging various admissions. We arrived later in the morning and some of the places that we'd wanted to go see were sold out for the day. So we visited the Wawel exhibit and the State Rooms.

The Wawel exhibit is a small archaeological exhibit that is built around the ruins of the Castle foundations. There is a walkway that allows one to walk around these ruins while viewing a few artifacts in display cases. It was a nice exhibit, but could have been greatly enhanced with the aid of English translations and more things to see.

The State Rooms are where members of State used to live. These are richly decorated in tapestries and reliefs that depict royal people and Biblical scenes. Yet again, mankind' fascination with death is shone, as many of the rooms show battle scenes, the Crucifixion of Christ and the world dying in the Great Flood.

To commemorate our last hours together, we found, by chance, a tea shop and had one last cup of tea together. Then it was a race back to the hostel to grab gear and a speed walk to the train station. Em boarded the train that would take her to the airport and after a quick hug, she was gone.

And thus ends this chapter. Now I have 19 days time for which I know not what I will be doing. I will start by returning to Prague and my host family, but I don't know how long I will stay. Maybe a few days, maybe all 19. Stay tuned for more updates, but be aware that that they may be shorter, farther between, and far less interesting as there might not be much new to say. Thanks for staying with me this far.