Surf City

Larry and I have been staying in Surf City--Hungtington Beach, CA. He has been consulting for Boeing for this week. They have put us up in the Hilton on the beach. It's a tough life, but I'm coping! While Larry has gone off to work each day, I've had to figure out how to entertain myself. Monday, I took a long walk, then a nap until he got back to the hotel. Tuesday, I went off to the Fashion District in downtown LA for some fabric shopping. Wednesday, I went to Disneyland, and today I was off to Catalina Island. Whew! I've still got tomorrow left to hang out at the beach. I'm not sure what I'll decide to do. I think I may need some down time. Before I forget, I'll give some highlights of my 3 adventurous days.

Courage and determination! That's what I have kept in mind. It may not seem like much to those people use to driving on SoCal freeways and using nav systems, but to me it was a big deal. I did it! For the past 3 days I have set out by myself to far flung places using the nav system on our 5 year old Prius. I wasn't totally at ease with using it for a couple of reasons. First, it has taken us on some pretty round about routes that don't seem quite right. Second, it is the kind of system that relies on what was programmed 5 years ago. Sometimes streets change and it doesn't work out. We haven't had the system reprogrammed because it would cost $300. Maybe it would be worth it. I don't know. Plus we are thinking about getting a smartphone with GPS, so we wouldn't need to upgrade our Prius system. At any rate, I made a go for it with our existing nav system and wasn't disappointed. In fact, I was proud of myself for using it and getting to where I wanted to go all by myself on the dreaded SoCal freeways. To warm up, on Monday I made it to a vegan restaurant for lunch. Then on Tuesday I had the big test of driving to the fashion district on 3 freeways. The system didn't fail me during the hour long drive there, then back. I made it to Disneyland just fine, even during rush hour. When I missed one freeway transition, I exited and the system got me back on without a problem. Today I made it to the Long Beach Catalina Express terminal without a hitch. I guess I am sold on our system. What I especially like is that it shows the lanes of the freeway and whether exits are to the right or left. The visual cues are helpful!

Here are a few notes on my adventures. First, the fabric shopping on Tuesday. It was fun. I found some treasures for not much money. I think I got at least 20 yards of fabric, enough for plenty of experimenting. This time I had a car to take it with me. I discovered Michael Levine's loft, which I think I missed during my August trip with ASG'ers. I went there at the end of my day there, so was tired or would have gotten more. Everything there was sold by the pound, with solid colors half off. I found some solid slinky, plus a fun cotton knit for t-shirts. I also toured some of the ready-to-wear stores, but didn't find anything to tempt me.

Wednesday I made it to Disneyland right on schedule. I walked in the gates when they opened and kept going strong until after the closing parade. I decided just to do Disneyland this time, skipping CA Adventure. I wasn't disappointed. I found plenty to do. I revisited my favorite rides such as Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, and the Haunted Mansion. I did these 3 times each to take in all the details. I also went to some places we usually skip, such as Tom Sawyer's Island, the River Boat, and Casey Jr. train. I did most of the rides in Fantasy Land. Captain EO was back, as was Star Tours, so I revisited them also. The parade was surprisingly good. Several floats with dancers, each according to a movie theme. I made it back to the hotel in only 30 minutes. It's actually not too far from Huntington Beach.

Today I went to Catalina Island, the island of romance. 22 miles across the sea... I took the Catalina Express from Long Beach to get there. It was a comfortable, fast way to go, although it took me 45 minutes to get from the hotel to the terminal. The ride itself took only 1 hour and went past the Queen Mary. The water was nice and calm, so I napped both ways. At Avalon, on the island, I had in mind to do 2 things. I wanted to go to the historical museum to learn about the history and see the exhibit on Marilyn Monroe, who lived there for a year during WWII. I headed there first and wasn't disappointed. Marilyn was just 16 when she married a young merchant marine, who was assigned to train serviceman for the war. They lived in Avalon for a year, before she was Marilyn. There were some great photos and information on her early life. I asked one of the ladies who worked there what she liked to do on the island. She recommended going to the botanical gardens and mausoleum for Wrigley. I then formulated my plan for after the museum. I had lunch at a vegan friendly restaurant I had read about, Cafe Metropole. It was great. I had a nice grilled vegetable sandwich and cup of Thai soup. I then took off for the gardens. It turned out to be quite a hike. Most people who visit there drive golf carts. I made it anyway and walked up all the stairs at the mausoleum. I was rewarded with quite a view. The gardens feature some plants that are native only to the island or near-by areas, as well as some cactii that looked familiar from Tucson. On the return trip, I had a good view of the Queen Mary, docked in Long Beach. All in all, I liked my trip to Catalina Island and would recommend it.

Last Night in Paris

Our vacation is drawing to a close. We had an uneventful trip from Prague to Paris. Logistics: we walked to the train station in Prague, took the Airport Express bus for $2.50 a piece, and made it to the airport in plenty of time. We flew Czech Airlines, which took me back in time. They had no charges for checking one bag, gave out sandwiches and beer or wine, and arrived on schedule. We were able to get a good airfare, too--$130 a piece for a 2 hour flight. We struggled a bit figuring out how to get to our B&B in Paris. The owners recommended the Air France bus, which cost 15 euros. After just paying $2.50 to get to the airport in Prague, that seemed a bit stiff. We opted to take Metro instead. It took longer since there was a transfer involved, but we made it. We will take the Air France bus tomorrow since we don't want to mess around before our morning flight.

We are staying at the Gentle Gourmet B&B, the "world's first urban vegan B&B". I heard about the place from my vegan cooking teacher, who sometimes teaches classes here. They gave us an entire spacious apartment for the night. It is very nice, quiet and comfortable. We had time to walk around the neighborhood before dark. It is near the Arc d Triomphe and a long walk from the Eiffel Tower. Here is their website if you want to check it out: gentlegourmetbandb.com I wouldn't mind staying here again! We have an early vegan breakfast before taking the Air France bus to the airport. Not a bad way to start the day!

Funny Bones

My blog today is dedicated to son Phil, who was absolutely crazy about skeletons as a young child. His favorite book was "Funny Bones."

Today Larry and I had a nice day trip to Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora is a town of 20,000 that sits on top of what used to be Europe's largest silver mine. Unfortunately, the silver veins ran out in the 1700's, so the city lost it's money. But from the 1300's to that time, it had money! That means that there are some fabulous old buildings to see there. It's 40 miles east of Prague and accessible by train.

Sedlec Ossuary, or the Bone Church, looks normal on the outside. But on the inside, the bones of 40,000 people decorate the walls and ceilings. The monks got their raw material from the 14th century plagues and the 15th century wars. The monks wanted viewers to remember that the earthly church is a community of both the living and the dead.

Some of the bone designs were quite attractive.

Here is the masterpiece, a chandelier that includes every bone in the human body.

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! Cliff's friend Tracy might be interested in the evidence of dental decay in 14th century people.


Church across the street from the Bone Church. It was lovely inside.

The woodcarving is amazing.

There were several chapels in this cathedral. All of them were remarkable.

Here are St. Vincent's relics.

I would have liked to have heard a pipe organ concert this trip, since I saw so many beautiful instruments in Kutna Hora and in Prague, but I never managed it.


This apartment building may have been built during the Soviet era. They have done a nice job of adding color to make it seem warmer and more inviting. I noticed that with many apartment buildings in a blocky style. They tend to be painted. I have also been impressed by how well most buildings have been kept up.
The Czech Republic recycles just like in Seattle, but the citizens have to separate their stuff.
I was amused by these babies decorating the building in cubist style.
St. Barbara's Cathedral, a truly majestic building. I love the different style of the roof towers. The cathedral itself is old. Miners founded it in 1388. Frescoes inside feature mining and minting.
The countryside from near the cathedral.
An old cathedral, not as fancy as St. Barbara's.
Here is Sally H. at age 20--as cute as a button. In this life she is a tour guide at the Silver Museum.

The road to St. Barbara's had many statues.
Inside St. Barbara's.
Gorgeous stained glass windows!




Love those gargoyles!


Kutna Hora has an excellent museum of modern art that is housed in an old palace. Some of the art works seemed to be a reaction against communism. They reminded me of the memorial we saw a couple of days ago for the people who were lost during communism.

To sum up our experience at Kutna Hora--it is a great place to visit! Don't miss it if you visit the area. The town itself has charm and does not feel overrun with tourists like Prague. It seems to be a reflection of typical life in the Czech Republic. The top three things to see are the Bone Church, St. Barbara's Cathedral, and the Silver Mine Museum and Tour. The art museum is also very nice.

Larry and I especially enjoyed the Silver Mine Tour. Admission is with a tour group only, and we were told there were no more tours in English by the time we made it there. We decided to go on the tour anyway. A young man who leads tours there decided to give us the tour in English anyway. He was charming and gave a detailed explanation of what silver mining was like then and how the miners managed. We went underground to take a look at some of the tunnels. It was memorable!

Note on logistics: there are many trains that go there, but all of them are not direct from the main train station in Prague. It isn't so bad to transfer in Kolin, which we did both ways. The fare is quite reasonable, $16 roundtrip for two.

Looking Back on our Trip

Larry and I returned home to Seattle yesterday afternoon and agree that our trip was a success. We both had fun. We had so many new things to do and see that we didn't seem to go crazy being together 24/7 for 19 days. In fact, we were only separated for 1 hour while I went window shopping by myself. We did fine without cell phones to communicate with each other. Whenever we started to head toward disagreement about what to do, we just picked up a guidebook and did what it told us to do. We didn't watch much TV at all and each managed to read a few trashy novels. We did have a computer along since we had Wi-fi at each place we stayed. That was helpful in tracking down sights, entrance fees, and figuring out train time tables and airline notices. It also doubled as a DVD player when we needed to veg out. We ended up opening a Skype account so we could make phone calls or receive voicemails if needed. We liked all of the places where we stayed. The format for our trip worked for us pretty well. We wonder if we would be happier participating in an organized tour vs. renting our own apartments here and there. We were able to feel settled in each city, but had to figure out many things for ourselves, even with our trusty guidebooks at hand. If we were on an organized tour, we wouldn't have to worry about little details, would have an agenda for most days, and may make new friends. The down side could be that we might be stuck with a few people we might find irritating, would have to pack up and move frequently, and I may not be able to find vegetarian/vegan food that could work for all meals. We'll probably try an organized group tour to a place we are less sure about than Europe to see how it feels.

What would we do differently? First, packing. I tried to travel light and succeeded to some extent. I could cut down on clothes even more as long as I knew we would have a washer available. I didn't need shorts, my skirt and top, and batik outfit. I was glad I brought both my knit hoodie as well as pink nylon rain jacket. The temperatures of the cities we visited varied by 20 degrees. We had both warm weather (Budapest) and cool, wet weather (Prague). Athletic shoes and sandals seemed to do both of us well. I'm glad I brought my most sturdy pairs since we sometimes walked on rough cobblestones and were on our feet so much. We could have used another tube of sunblock. I brought too many US dollars along for emergencies. Cash machines worked well and we never used the dollars. The foreign exchange booths had poor exchange rates for dollars, so I'm glad we didn't need to use them. Next for next trip, which is probably at least a year away, I might consider an e-reader of some sort. It would have been handy to have books downloaded as well as maps and travel guides. I keep thinking the technology on them will improve and it is better to wait a little while.

What did I get out of traveling? One big thing I noticed is that I lived in the moment more. It was refreshing to be concerned only with what was going on around me and observing life instead of thinking about day-to-day worries. Many people showed us small kindnesses. In Paris, where some people think of the natives as aloof, several people stopped and asked us if we needed help when they saw us discussing the map. That was also true in Budapest and Prague. I felt good about the nature of people on this trip. I also got a feeling of confidence from trouble shooting the many day-to-day problems that came up, such as figuring out how to get to places on public transportation, understanding money, going shopping in grocery stores, reading signs, and using appliances with sketchy directions. Larry and I seemed to pull together as a team in figuring out things, which helped us bond. And, of course, we learned more about how other people lived.

On the Trail of Art Nouveau

Princess Hyacinth by Alphse Mucha.

Today we took to the streets in search of Art Nouveau. We had read that Prague was the center of the movement in the early 1900's and has the most and best preserved buildings from that era. We didn't even have to leave our building for the first two shots of attractive buildings. This is taken from our living room window. It shows the Church of St. Vltech.

This is the window down the stairs from our apartment.
Dancing Houses! For real. Janet Davies have you seen this building? (She painted our picture Dancing Houses that we have hanging in Seattle.) Ginger is on the left, with 8 legs, and Fred, with his hat on, is on the right. This was designed by Frank Gehry, who designed Seattle's Experience Music Project. I like this one better than EMP.

A lovely touch of stained glass at a ticket booth.

Larry liked this building.
The State Opera House
The ugliest building around! It is the Museum of Communism right across the street from the impressive National Museum.
A memorial to victims of communism.
St. Wenceslas, of course, on his Square.

Here he is again inside the lovely Lucerna Gallery. It's a grand mall with some leftover Art Deco glamour from the 1930's. This is a sculpture by David Cerny (1999) called Wenceslas Riding an Upside-Down Horse.
The Municipal House.
On Wenceslas Square, we passed some women getting pedicures. Fish were eating away at their dry, dead skin. I've heard that it feels good and is actually pretty sanitary. I decided not to have it done, though.

We liked the looks of this hotel on Wenceslas Square.

This hotel is famous because people leading rallies against the government would speak from the balconies. It is also on Wenceslas Square.
More Cubist Statues with sore necks!
I was waiting to see if these two fellows would accidently grab on to something embarassing to steady themselves as they worked.
To infinity--the cycle of tanks, then rebuilding.
We spent most of our afternoon at the Mucha Museum. He was a popular Czech artist famous for his Art Nouveau posters and considered one of the founders of the movement.