Friday, December 29, 2006


Prague (picture: sunset over the Vltava River with Charles Bridge)

I’ve recently returned from spending a week over Christmas in Prague, with a day trip down to Český Krumlov in the south of the Czech Republic. Although I didn’t get the white Christmas that I had hoped for, I still had a great time! Highlights included:
- The best hostel breakfast ever, although it was an extra €4 it was more than worth it, and we ate so much every morning that there was no need for lunch!
- The view of Prague from the castle and cathedral
- The way the Czechs have adopted English words into their language simply by adding a ‘y’ to the end, Caitlin and I were continuously amused by menus with ‘steaky’ and ‘kebaby’, and ads for cameras with ‘mexapixely’…
- Charles Bridge and the Vltava River at sunset
- A first-hand experience of the famous Czech Christmas tradition: fresh carp on Christmas Eve. Scattered over Prague, there are rough salt-of-the-earth types selling live carp out of big plastic tubs. The guy catches the carp in a net, weighs it in front of the customer (whilst the fish is flopping around like crazy), then ceremoniously clubs it on the head… The customer takes the whole fish, or the guys fillets it, and it’s dumped into a plastic bag (blood dripping) ready to take home… ew! Apparently the real traditionalists take the live carp home and keep it in their bathtub before killing it themselves on Christmas Eve! Needless to say Caitlin and I avoided all the carp specialties on the menus after that incident.
- Trying and failing to make it midnight mass on Christmas Eve, and ending up in the old town square with a bunch of crazy Australians from our hostel, drunkenly singing ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer’ to a crowd of bemused tourists… then pinching some Christmas decorations on the way home to put on our tree!
- The day trip to Český Krumlov, despite the bus drivers with a penchant for blasting the air con and playing bad Czech renditions of Elvis Presley and the Beatles! A beautiful old town on a meander of the Vltava River in the south of the Czech Republic (near the border with Austria and Germany), it has a castle with a moat that used to be filled with bears! There was only one there when we went…
I’ve put some more photos up on Flickr. I hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas, and will have a wonderful New Year!

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Strasbourg, the ‘capital of Christmas’
I returned on Sunday night from three days with a friend in Strasbourg, a beautiful town on the border with Germany that has a reputation for its traditional Christmas markets and lights. Even though it didn’t snow, I felt that I experienced a real European Christmas atmosphere. Strasbourg is in the province of Alsace, and people speak Alsatian as well as French and German. The markets (‘Christkindelsmärik’ in Alsatian) were lovely, there were stalls selling decorations, lights, craft items, and lots of traditional Alsatian food. The smell in the air was delicious – a mixture of cinnamon and hot bread… I ate soooo much! Doughnuts, bretzel (like a pretzel made from bread, covered in cheese, or cinnamon and sugar), chocolate coated fruit, waffles, chocolate, and lots and lots of bredel (Christmas cookies – gingerbread, cinnamon, chocolate - delicious!!) I just wanted to try everything all at once! I also drank hot orange juice with honey, and Glühwein (hot red wine with spices). Strasbourg is a great place to wander aimlessly, and most of the time I just followed the prettiest streets. The city is located on an island in the middle of the river Ill, and the whole island is a Unesco World Heritage Site. There were lots of cobbled laneways with their own unique Christmas decorations. The area called ‘Petite France’ (Little France) is especially charming, with all the woodframe houses preserved for centuries. I’ll put up photos on Flickr, just click on one of the photos in the viewer on the right and it will take you to my photo albums. There were lots of free concerts, and I went every evening to go and see a choir sing in either the Temple Neuf or the cathedral (which is an amazing building). Although I didn’t know any of the songs (which were sung in French and German), it was still lovely.The Christmas lights at night were spectacular, and there were many people in the streets (lots of kids too!), despite the freezing cold. The giant Christmas tree (30m tall) in Place Kleber was strung with fairy lights and other lit decorations, it was really pretty. Apparently they cut it down in some forest, but it looks like it had been growing there forever! I returned to Paris at midnight on Sunday, and I realized that I hadn’t really seen any of Paris at Christmas time. So on Monday evening I went exploring a bit, and I saw the amazing displays are the ‘grand old dames’ of department stores: Printemps and the Galeries Lafayette (kinda like David Jones but way classier and more… Parisian), as well as a beautiful Christmas tree in front of Notre Dame. Tomorrow morning I have to pack, I have class in the afternoon and then I am heading off to Prague! My birthday present to myself :)

Monday, December 04, 2006

A Winter's Day in Paris
I feel the need to describe a bit more about this beautiful city that I am living in. As I was wandering along the Seine yesterday on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I was struck by the real beauty of Paris. Maybe it was the time of day, maybe it was the sudden break in the clouds that let through the bright winter sunshine and lit the gold statues on Pont Alexandre III, maybe it was the bare trees along the Seine and the Eiffel Tower etched in charcoal in the dusky sky… whatever it was, I felt incredibly lucky to be living here.
I think it was also because for the first time in a while, I took a day off to be a ‘tourist’. I met up with my friends Mel and Tori in the morning and went to the Musée du Quai Branley, which opened in July of this year. It holds an amazing collection of indigenous art from all around the world, in particular West Africa, but even some Australian indigenous art works. The architecture and layout of the building was quite modern and intriguing, and although it was busy the visitors were predominantly French which made a nice change. We spent several hours there, including a leisurely (and expensive!) lunch in the café with a view of the Eiffel Tower.
I am settling into what I imagine is a ‘Parisian’ lifestyle, although there are so many different aspects to life here there can hardly be ‘one’ lifestyle. I am eating inordinate amounts of baguettes and cheese, and trying to get accustomed to red wine. I have more or less mastered the metro system. I’ve found that Parisians can actually be quite friendly and don’t deserve their reputation for being rude and aloof. It probably helps that I speak French though. I find that I am starting to think in French and to use French words in English conversation… I’ve been going to charming cafes for hot chocolates (I wish I drank coffee – so much cheaper) with friends to observe the passers-by. On Friday evening I wandered along Boulevard St Germain, admiring the lights strung in the trees and the Christmas market, and discovering hidden cobbled laneways. It’s just like in the van Gogh painting, ‘Terrasse de café la nuit, Arles’. I’ve discovered, if not a local, at least a regular bar – ‘Chez Georges’. It’s run by a couple of Israeli guys, downstairs in the ‘cellar’ is the place to be: a bit cramped, but a great atmosphere and great music (an eclectic mix of French, Israeli and American classics) – and a place where Parisians go, not just tourists… although there are a lot of international students there as well…
And being a student in Paris… I enjoy all my classes, I don’t have too much work but enough to keep me occupied, I feel like I am learning a lot. I’ve done two presentations in class and feel more confident with asking questions. I’ve discovered the study area in the library with views of a garden and the surrounding charming buildings, with the quaint and distinctly Parisian skyline of mismatched chimney pots. More conducive to daydreaming than to working…
Ok, I will stop rambling on now! I guess this post has been a bit more reflective than previous ones, but I really wanted to give an idea of my day-to-day life, rather than just the travel.


Mel and me in front of the Musée du Quai Branley