Claire and Ben's Trip to the Czech Republic - clairestravelsinthecr

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Welcome

Welcome to a site about Claire and Ben's experiences in the Czech Republic for a month in summer 2009.  We were fortunate enough to be accepted into the International Music Academy Pilsen, run by Stephen Shipps of the University of Michigan.  Plzen (that's the Czech spelling of Pilsen) is the fourth largest city in the Czech Republic, is the home of Pilsner beer, and is only an hour away from Praha (Prague), the capital of the Czech Republic so we were able to visit there as well. :-)

This is our story!

Pictures

Czech It Out - Summer 2009 in the Czech Republic

Preparing for the Trip
Preparing for the Trip
I got everything to fit in one suitcase, well under 40 lbs!
I might be a little paranoid...
I might be a little paranoid...
...about my violin.  Behold my compulsive packing and my stuffed lobster, Fred.
Last American Meal
Last American Meal

An Unexpected Perk...
An Unexpected Perk...
I was mysteriously but happily upgraded to business class for the flight from JFK to Prague! :-)  Behold pictures of all the perks!
More Business Class Perks...
More Business Class Perks...
Behold, the nice comfy blanket and pillow, the complimentary water and a lot of leg room.
Fred and the Boarding Pass
Fred and the Boarding Pass
My boarding pass of awesome.
So Many Buttons!
So Many Buttons!
This is the control panel for my seat.  It was awesome.
My Personal TV Screen...
My Personal TV Screen...
...showing our progress over the Atlantic.
My Dorm Room
My Dorm Room
It's normally a triple, so it was really big if not the most glamorous...
Another view of the dorm room
Another view of the dorm room
Note the lovely lace curtains.  Those windows face due east.  I was definitely woken up at 5:30 every morning as the sun rose.
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The View from My Dorm Window
The View from My Dorm Window
So, guys, this is Europe!  Isn't it GORGEOUS?
Look to the right...
Look to the right...
Oh, okay.  THERE'S Europe.  Note the cathedral tower at the right edge of the picture, the historic downtown, and the castle on the hill far off in the distance.
Classy, classy dorm
Classy, classy dorm
This is the other tower of our dorm where the boys lived.  Yay, Soviet-era dorm!
The Sky Over Europe
The Sky Over Europe
I have no idea what time this picture was taken.
First Picture in Europe!!
First Picture in Europe!!
Welcome to the Prague Airport.
Ulice B. Smetany
Ulice B. Smetany
Yes.  There is a street named after Bedrich Smetana.  The Konzervatory was just around the corner to the left and the bank on the left is where I went to the ATM (which is called a Bankomat in the CR) to get money.

Ulice B. Smetany - the other way.
Ulice B. Smetany - the other way.
Extremely jet-lagged Americans wandering the streets of Plzen in an attempt to stay awake the whole day...
St. Bartholomew Cathedral
St. Bartholomew Cathedral
This is Namesti Republiky, or, the main square of Plzen.  That is St. Bartholomew's Cathedral.
Another view of the square
Another view of the square

Namesti Republiky
Namesti Republiky

Plague Column
Plague Column
Not exactly sure why this is called a Plague Column.  But there it is.
Doors to St. Bartholomew's.
Doors to St. Bartholomew's.
The Europeans do doors well.
Gorgeous Building
Gorgeous Building
...they also do buildings very well.
The Town Hall
The Town Hall
Yeah.  Czech (har de har har) THAT out!
Claire Contemplates the Square Through a Haze of Jet-lag.
Claire Contemplates the Square Through a Haze of Jet-lag.
The "train" across the way goes to the zoo and back.
Pilsner
Pilsner
For the sake of any employers or officials who may be looking at this as part of a background check, let me just say that in the Czech Republic the legal drinking age is 18.  Therefore, I purchased this beer legally.  

I couldn't manage to drink all of it though.  Four weeks in Plzen did not turn me into a beer drinker.

Pilsner Urquell, by the way, is the most famous beer in the Czech Republic and the brewery was on the outskirts of the city.

Plzen in the morning
Plzen in the morning

Claire with Smetana
Claire with Smetana
There was a statue of Bedrich Smetana in the park outside the Konzervatory.
Smetana and Ben
Smetana and Ben

Beautiful side street in Plzen
Beautiful side street in Plzen

Pigeon
Pigeon
The pigeons in the CR are absolutely fearless. They were everywhere and showed no sign of concern when people walked by.
St. Bartholomew Cathedral
St. Bartholomew Cathedral

Claire Climbing the Tower
Claire Climbing the Tower
You can climb the tower of St. Bartholomew's Cathedral for 20 Kc and get the workout of your lifetime.
Claire Atop St. Bartholomews'
Claire Atop St. Bartholomews'
Enjoying the amazing view.
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 1
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 1
So yeah.  This is Plzen!  The building in the upper right corner with the scaffolding is the opera house, I believe.


View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 2
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 2
Wider shot of the city.  You can see just the corner of the synagogue on the right.
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 3
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 3

View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 4
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 4
So if you look at the yellow-ish building dead center, that is the Konzervatory.
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 5
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 5
Pretty.
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 6
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 6
This is the synagogue.  It's the third largest synagogue in the world.  Isn't the zoom on Ben's camera amazing?
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 7
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 7
Zoomed out view of the synagogue.
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 8
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 8
We're very high up...
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 9
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 9
The slightly less picturesque part of the city in the distance.  Our dorm is in the clump of the buildings in the middle of the right side of the picture.
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 10
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 10
Aren't those roofs gorgeous?
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 11
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 11
Really really pretty building.
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 12
View of the City from St. Bartholomew's 12
Ben zoomed in to see what the statue was and we discovered that it was a naked lady.
Ben and Claire on top of St. Bartholomew's Tower
Ben and Claire on top of St. Bartholomew's Tower
Aren't we cute?
Ben and Claire on top of St. Bartholomew's Tower 2
Ben and Claire on top of St. Bartholomew's Tower 2
Ben decided to try it without a hat...
Ben and Claire on top of St. Bartholomew's Tower 3
Ben and Claire on top of St. Bartholomew's Tower 3
Yeah.  We're kind of adorable. ;-)  I love my boyfriend.  And his camera.  
City Hall
City Hall
Don't you wish city halls in the States looked like this?
Zoomed out view of City Hall
Zoomed out view of City Hall

Top of the Spire
Top of the Spire

Ben's Zoom at Work Again
Ben's Zoom at Work Again

The Muzeum
The Muzeum
See the building with the cool black stuff on top? That's the Muzeum.  Half of the Academy recitals were there.  There was also a pretty great Dali exhibit that we went to.
The Plague Column
The Plague Column
I really need to do some research to figure out why these were called plague columns.  But there it is, right in the square next to the cathedral.
St. Bartholomew Cathedral (side)
St. Bartholomew Cathedral (side)
Can we say Gothic and Baroque architecture?
The Clock on the Side of St. Bartholomew's
The Clock on the Side of St. Bartholomew's
We walked past the inner workings of this chronometer when we were climbing.
St. Bartholomew Cathedral
St. Bartholomew Cathedral
European churches tend to be really, really big.
St. Bartholomew's
St. Bartholomew's
Another shot of the cathedral.
Ulice Frantiskanska
Ulice Frantiskanska
"Franciscan Street."  The monastery where I went to Mass is on the right.
Vaclave Namesti
Vaclave Namesti
Or, Wenceslas Square, the heart of Prague's New Town.  The massive building is the National Museum and the statue in front is St. Wenceslas.
St. Wenceslas and the National Museum
St. Wenceslas and the National Museum
Closer view.
The View Down the Square
The View Down the Square
Yay.  The Square!  Which is really more of a rectangle...
St. Wenceslas and the National Museum
St. Wenceslas and the National Museum
More of the same.  So beautiful.
Our First Glimpse of Old Town Square
Our First Glimpse of Old Town Square
The castle-looking thing with towers is Tyn Church, and the tower on the left belongs to the Old Town Hall.
Claire in Prague
Claire in Prague
I'm in Europe!
The Astronomical Clock and TYn Church
The Astronomical Clock and TYn Church
Old Town Square.
The Astronomical Clock
The Astronomical Clock
This clock is pretty cool.
Astronomical Clock and Tyn Church
Astronomical Clock and Tyn Church
Slightly different angle, same gorgeous buildings.
Tyn Church
Tyn Church
Note the beautiful gold image of Mary in the middle.
The Astronomical Clock
The Astronomical Clock
This clock means business.  In addition to telling normal time, it also shows when sunrise and sunset are and about ten other things.
Jan Hus Memorial
Jan Hus Memorial
Also in the Old Town Square.  Jan Hus was a church reformer predating Martin Luther by about a century.  He was burned at the stake. 
Jazz Band in Old Town Square
Jazz Band in Old Town Square
These guys were really great, especially the clarinetist!
Jan Hus Memorial
Jan Hus Memorial
Our good friend Jan again.
Tyn Church
Tyn Church
We obviously can't get enough of these buildings.
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Ben in Old Town Square
Ben in Old Town Square
Doesn't he look happy?
Claire in Old Town Square
Claire in Old Town Square

Claire In Front of the Jan Hus Memorial
Claire In Front of the Jan Hus Memorial
Another happy snap.  
Goulash a la Dvou Kocek
Goulash a la Dvou Kocek
Two Cats Goulash.  Don't worry, it was beef, not cat, stew.  I was extremely happy to have food.  It was also really good food.
Goulash a la Dvou Kocek
Goulash a la Dvou Kocek
Goulash is a savory beef stew with onions, a slice of hardboiled egg, and chunks of beef so tender they melt in your mouth.  Served with it are dumplings, which in the Czech Republic resemble bread with bits of potato and bacon in it.  Delicious.
Ben's Lunch
Ben's Lunch
He got fish and chips.  In a landlocked country.
The Approach to Karlov Most
The Approach to Karlov Most
The crowd grew denser as we approached Charles Bridge.
St. Vitus Cathedral
St. Vitus Cathedral
Taken from across the river.  Behold the power of Ben's zoom.
Statue on Charles Bridge
Statue on Charles Bridge
Mary holding Jesus' body.  Beautiful statue.
The Vltava River and the Smetana Museum
The Vltava River and the Smetana Museum
Taken from Charles Bridge.
Another Statue on the Bridge
Another Statue on the Bridge
Gotta love the art here.
Prague Castle Complex
Prague Castle Complex
Yes.  My first European castle. :-)
St. Vitus Cathedral
St. Vitus Cathedral
Behold Ben's zoom.
The Vltava River
The Vltava River

More of Prague Castle
More of Prague Castle
Yeah.  No comment necessary.
The Streets of Prague
The Streets of Prague

Ben on Charles Bridge
Ben on Charles Bridge
Isn't he cute?
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The View of Prague from the Royal Gardens
The View of Prague from the Royal Gardens
Yes.
Claire and St. Vitus Cathedral
Claire and St. Vitus Cathedral
Me with a pretty cathedral.
St. Vitus Cathedral
St. Vitus Cathedral
View from the Royal Gardens
Claire in the Royal Gardens
Claire in the Royal Gardens

My Handsome Boyfriend in the Royal Gardens
My Handsome Boyfriend in the Royal Gardens
This is Ben.  He's my boyfriend.  He's in Europe.  :-)  Love.
St. Vitus Cathedral
St. Vitus Cathedral
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a church.
The Interior of St. Vitus
The Interior of St. Vitus
Wow.
St. Vitus Interior
St. Vitus Interior
Yeah.
St. Vitus Cathedral, Interior
St. Vitus Cathedral, Interior
Yes.
Stained Glass Window in St Vitus
Stained Glass Window in St Vitus
Wow.
More Stained Glass in St. Vitus
More Stained Glass in St. Vitus
Yes.
The Rose Window
The Rose Window
Wow...
St. Vitus Cathedral, Interior
St. Vitus Cathedral, Interior
Epic church.
Altar
Altar
There were at least ten altars in this church.
Epic Woodcut
Epic Woodcut
Woodcut of Prague.  The castle is on the right.
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Tomb of St. John
Tomb of St. John
He's in there somewhere...
Beautiful
Beautiful

Tomb of St. John
Tomb of St. John

Tomb of St. John
Tomb of St. John

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The Organ
The Organ
To the Bach Organ at B-W: Weep, for you have been outclassed.
Obelisks are a big deal in Europe
Obelisks are a big deal in Europe

Claire and St. Vitus Cathedral
Claire and St. Vitus Cathedral
Epic church.
Ben and St. Vitus
Ben and St. Vitus
More epic church.
The Old Royal Hall
The Old Royal Hall
This is the main room in the Old Royal Palace.  This room hosted many events when the Palace was in use, everything from audiences with the king to feasts, dances, and even jousts!
Royal Crest
Royal Crest
More really pretty European stonework featuring the two-tailed lion, the symbol of Bohemia (the region Praha in which is located)
View of Prague
View of Prague
Taken from the balcony of the Old Royal Palace.
Prague
Prague
Taken from the balcony of the Old Royal Palace.
Claire and the Audio Guide
Claire and the Audio Guide
Claire listening very diligently to the audio guide we purchased...
Claire and Prague
Claire and Prague

Ben and Claire at the Old Royal Palace
Ben and Claire at the Old Royal Palace
Taken by a fellow tourist on the balcony.
Ben and Prague
Ben and Prague
Isn't he cute?
The Throne Room
The Throne Room
Formerly the throne room and then the location of Parliament meetings...now just a room on the tour of the Old Royal Palace!
Paintings in the Throne Room
Paintings in the Throne Room

Golden Lane
Golden Lane
One of the most famous streets in Prague!
Golden Lane
Golden Lane

Claire the Tourist
Claire the Tourist
Claire juggles a map, her audio guide, souvenirs, and her Rick Steves travel guide (which she highly recommends!!)
Claire and St. Vitus
Claire and St. Vitus
Claire stops to rest against the foundations of St. Vitus.  
Statue in the Courtyard
Statue in the Courtyard
Taken in the courtyard of Prague Castle
The Gate to Prague Castle
The Gate to Prague Castle

The Gate to Prague Castle from the Outside
The Gate to Prague Castle from the Outside
Note the guards.  They are not allowed to move while on duty, which means they are routinely harassed by tourists.
Prague
Prague

Claire, Fred, and Rick
Claire, Fred, and Rick
Claire looking over Prague with Fred the stuffed lobster and Rick Steves Guide to Prague.  We referred to this book so much during our trip that we just started saying "Let's ask Rick for advice." or "What would Rick do?"
The General Patton Museum in Plzen
The General Patton Museum in Plzen
In early May 1945, the army commanded by General Patton liberated Plzen from Nazi control.  So they built him a museum.
Claire and the Most Disgusting Microwave Dinner Ever
Claire and the Most Disgusting Microwave Dinner Ever
I thought that since goulash and dumplings were so good in the restaurant, the pre-made microwave deals would be cheaper and edible.

I was wrong.

Plzen at night
Plzen at night
Man I miss this view.  If you look on the hill to the far left and see the lights on the top...that's the castle!  The big tower in the middle of town is St. Bartholomew's.
Masne Kramy
Masne Kramy
One of the art galleries we had recitals in for IMAP.
Muzeum
Muzeum
Our other IMAP concert venue. :-)
St. Bartholomew's Tower at Night
St. Bartholomew's Tower at Night

Claire and St. Bartholomew's at Night
Claire and St. Bartholomew's at Night

Top of the Plague Column in Plzen
Top of the Plague Column in Plzen

The Synagogue
The Synagogue
All credit for this picture goes to Ben.  I was just waiting for the tram.  He took this picture. :-)
The Franciscan Monastery in Plzen
The Franciscan Monastery in Plzen
I went to church here!
The Franciscan Monastery in Plzen
The Franciscan Monastery in Plzen
The interior senza gate.
The Franciscan Monastery in Plzen
The Franciscan Monastery in Plzen

The Altar at the Franciscan Monastery
The Altar at the Franciscan Monastery
Gorgeous Baroque altar.
Claire and a Strawberry Daquiri
Claire and a Strawberry Daquiri
Once again: This was ordered legally because I am legal in Europe.
Ben and his drink
Ben and his drink
Ben ordered something called the Hurricane.  He was rather dismayed when it turned out to be pink.
Ben Continues to Eye His Drink Suspiciously
Ben Continues to Eye His Drink Suspiciously

St. Wenceslas
St. Wenceslas
Close up of the statue from the square.  Pictures from excursion No. 2 into Prague start here.
The Door to a Franciscan Garden
The Door to a Franciscan Garden
Just off the beaten path in the New Quarter of Prague...great place if you're missing trees or just want a few moments of quiet!
Franciscan Garden
Franciscan Garden

Havelska Market
Havelska Market
This is where I did most of my souvenir shopping!  It's a great place to find something more unique than the things you find in "PRAGUE SOUVENIR" shops...scarves, woodwork, paintings and prints by local artists, fresh fruit, puppets, jewelry, hair clips, toys...very great place! :-)  Pretty good prices, too.  I got a cashmere and silk scarf for 200 Kc (or roughly $10).
The Vltava River, Charles Bridge, and Smetana Museum
The Vltava River, Charles Bridge, and Smetana Museum
The building all the way to the right is the Bedrich Smetana museum.  The bridge, of course, is the famous Charles Bridge, and above it all is St. Vitus Cathedral and the whole Prague Castle complex.
Smetana Museum!
Smetana Museum!

Claire and the Smetana Museum
Claire and the Smetana Museum
Doing my duty as a musician and paying homage to one of the most famous Czech composers!
The View Down the Vltava
The View Down the Vltava

Claire and St. Vitus Cathedral
Claire and St. Vitus Cathedral

Claire and Prague
Claire and Prague

Claire and the Vltava River and Prague Castle
Claire and the Vltava River and Prague Castle

Claire and the Vltava River and Prague Castle
Claire and the Vltava River and Prague Castle
Yet again.
In the Little Quarter
In the Little Quarter

Strahov Monastery
Strahov Monastery

Strahov Monastery
Strahov Monastery

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My travel journal

Quest for a Castle

July 24, 2009:

Somewhere around week 2, Ben discovered a brochure that listed various castles and sights around Plzen.  One of these immediately peaked our interest: The Ruined Castle of Radyne, which was a mere 10 km away.  In fact, we could see it from our dorm rooms, far in the distance, on a mountain.  Google map searching and examination of the public transportation system proved in vain - we could only get within two hours of the place and would still have to walk.  Not wanting to be lost in the Czech countryside or walk that far, we abandoned the plan.

After Ben left (sad day :-( ) the idea of going to a real medieval castle lingered in the back of my mind.  I mentioned it to a few other people and we all agreed that even if we had to split the cost of a taxi ride, we would go.  The end of IMAP drew near, and our plans for a mass excursion were thwarted by people's incredibly busy schedules.  My friend Michael was the only one who had a free Friday afternoon with me, and we talked to one of the IMAP staff members about bus schedules.  The bus could get us within 2.5 km of the castle, and so we went.

A word about buses in the Czech Republic.  With the exception of the Student Agency buses (which are amazing, wonderful, and if you are ever in Europe traveling around you MUST see if they are an option for you), for which you purchase tickets at a clearly marked office or kiosk in advance, buses are confusing.  We walked all around the bus station trying to figure out the stop for the bus going to Stary Plzenec (the town closest to the castle).  Once we found a probable stop, the bus came and we got on, only to be confronted by a bus driver who asked us questions impatiently in Czech.  I stared blankly, then said "Stary Plzenec?"  He told me it was 16 Kc, I gave him the money, he gave me a receipt, and we sat down.

The bus left us not at a station like we had expected, but at a bus stop in the middle of a very small Czech town with only a few paved roads.  We could see the castle waiting for us at the top of the mountain (which was covered in forest).  Google Maps had not been very specific about directions, but I had managed to discover that there was exactly one road leading to the castle - Radynska - and had written down some of the cross streets so we could at least orient ourselves.  We started walking uphill.  It was a very bright, warm, sunny day, with beautiful clouds in the sky that did much for aesthetic appeal but not much for blocking the sun.  About a quarter mile uphill, we encountered a signpost that said Radyne was not straight up this main road but down a side road to the right.  I am a big believer in signs, and so we went to the right, marveling at the charmingly beautiful Czech houses and gardens.  What appeared to be a dirt hiking trail led up the mountain but had a barrier across it. It would have been very simple to walk around the barrier, but as there were no further signs saying "Radyne," we hesitated.  To be lost in the middle of a Czech town is one thing.  To be lost in the middle of Czech woods when there is no one who can help you and a less chance of running into anyone helpful...we therefore decided to return to the main road, which we felt sure was Radynska, and go to the castle the way we were sure of.

Our decision was rewarded perhaps 10 mins later when we saw a street sign confirming that the road we were on was, in fact, Radynska.  That was the last sign we would see for over an hour.  There was no sidewalk or even a shoulder on the road, so we were reduced to walking single file along the country highway as cars sped past us, sometimes beeping if we weren't far enough on the side of the road.  We stopped briefly to admire the gorgeous countryside but always kept hiking, hoping that as long as the road was winding up the mountain that we were going the right way...

...finally, there was a split in the road and the sign pointing to the right said "Radyne."  We were so happy.  We ran to the sign, which I hugged.  Then we walked yet another kilometer, the most intensely uphill stretch yet, up a flight of ancient stone stairs (what IS it with Europe and this stair thing??) and agreed that the exhausting hike was worth it.

Above us loomed Radyne, a massive stone hulk that had one tall tower, an open courtyard, and what looked like the remnants of another tower.  Inside we paid 20 Kc for our tickets and pulled out our cameras.  There wasn't anything inside the courtyard, but the windows in the walls (which reached up at least 50 feet above us) were either rounded or arrowslits, with crumbling stone walls with plants growing in the cracks.  How much cooler does this get?

Radyne, as far as I know, was built in the 12th or 13th century by Charles IV or someone closely related to him and was discontinued either as a fort or a residence in 1529 when it was destroyed by fire.

We climbed a wooden staircase (very sturdy, clearly built for visitors) to begin our ascent of the tower and were horrified by the appearance of what looked like comic book characters and a badly decorated Halloween set.  Really eerie - definitely not historically accurate - music was playing.  There might have been stairs leading down into a dungeon-type scenario, but we wanted to get away from the bad Halloween room as soon as possible and did not explore further.  Instead, we headed for the extremely steep stairs that led up the tower.  More stairs.  Although I must say, after four weeks in Europe and a lot of walking and stairs, my legs look pretty fantastic (if I do say so myself!).  The different levels of the tower had displays of coats of arms on the walls and really cool stone window seats.  We of course stopped and took lots of pictures.  Finally, after about three more flights of stairs (I kid you not) we emerged onto the platform at the top of the tower and surveyed our domain.

The countryside spread out before us.  We could just barely make out St. Bartholomew's Cathedral in the middle of Plzen, far off in the distance.  Small Czech towns dotted the area around us, although there was unspoiled forest covering the mountain directly below.  The taking of many pictures and some videos commenced.  It was incredible.  We couldn't stop smiling and kept saying things like "Dude.  We're in a CASTLE!"  The only thing that would have made it better for me would have been if Ben was there.  As he wasn't, I devoted myself to taking lots of pictures and committing as many details to memory as possible to tell him - and all of you - about it.  There's a video on this site that I took at the top of the tower if you're interested.

We finally climbed down from the tower and explored the courtyard and the ruined tower, which was pretty neat to walk in and look straight up and see sky.  We then wandered the grounds, taking many happy pictures.

Finally, we realized it was probably time to be getting back to Plzen.  As we resignedly trudged toward the road, we noticed a sign for color coded hiking trails and noticed that the trees with yellow painted on them would lead us back to Stary Plzenec.  We decided to take the risk, and set off.  Our descent, needless to say, was much faster and more direct than our ascent.  We did detour off the path a little to take in a gorgeous view and some epic pictures (there is a video of this on the site).

Upon arriving back in Stary Plzenec, we realized that the place the bus dropped us off was probably NOT where to get the bus to go back.  Furthermore, another bus stop was not in evidence nearby.  I used all the Czech I knew to ask directions in a local shop - because, outside of the downtown area, no one spoke English.  "Kde je autobus do Plzen?" I asked.  Through much pointing we understood that it arrived in the square.  We went to the square and stopped in another shop.  I asked again, "Where is the bus to Plzen?  Is it here?"  The lady pointed and said (in Czech) "It's there."  However, having no assurances that the bus would come anytime soon and unable to find anything resembling a schedule, we called our friend Lila who was back at IMAP for the number of a cab company, who, thankfully, spoke excellent English.  We took a cab back to Plzen and greatly enjoyed sitting as much as possible for the rest of the evening. :-)

An Incredibly Soggy Yet Still Fun Trip to Praha

July 19, 2009:

This week, I went with Katrina, Lila, and Julia. On the metro into Praha, we decided (almost on a whim) to go to the Dvořák Museum and I am so glad we did. The museum is a beautiful house which we think he lived in. It is beautiful, although not very big. The first floor is centered around the ticket desk which doubles as the cash register for the gift shop. The rooms are all connected (sort of like on the first floor of my house) so you can walk around the first floor in a circle. The first floor is dedicated to Dvořák's life and the second floor to his compositions. In what looks like a living room, the first thing one sees is a desk with an open score...which is a fascimile of the New World Symphony.

Important documents that we saw on the first floor include his birth, marriage, and death certificates. We also saw the robes he wore when he graduated from Cambridge, some silver laurels and cups he received as various awards, and his viola. :-)

Important documents that we saw on the first floor include his birth, marriage, and death certificates. We also saw the robes he wore when he graduated from Cambridge, some silver laurels and cups he received as various awards, and his viola. :-)


We then went up a spiral staircase carpeted in red and exclaimed in awe at what we saw upon arriving on the second floor.

A very large square room held display cases along the walls, chairs arranged as if it were a concert salon, and a piano. A side room with more displays was barely visible from the main room around the corner. What was striking, however, was the fact that the walls and ceiling are entirely covered in frescoes. I don't believe there is a plain spot in the wall. The frescoes are brightly colored and depict scenes and themes from Greek mythology. It is modeled after the temple of the Muses. Central to the ceiling fresco is Apollo seated on Pegasus.
There is a scene painted in each corner of the room, one representing each branch of the arts, for four in total. The first represents Architecture and depicts Emperor Vespasianus looking up the plans for the Coliseum. He is seated on his throne while an elderly man holds the blueprints for the building with a crowd in the background.  Next is Painting, represented by Apelles painting a portrait of Alexander the Great. Alexander lounges in a chair, draped in a scarlet cloak with a large dog at his side.
Orpheus is painted surrouned by wild beasts that he has tamed by playing his lyre. He, of course, represents Music. He's mostly naked except for a rather tastefully draped red cloth.
Finally, Geometry is represented by a depiction of the death of Archimedes. Archimedes is portrayed as an old, bearded, shirtless man who clutches a diagram of a triangle as an armored soldier wields a spear, poised to deliver the fatal blow.  Three painted statues appear between the columns painted on the walls of the room, paying homage to the goddesses and god Athena, Artemis, and Hermes
Here's Artemis. Between and around these larger scenes and paintings are painted frolicing cherubs and beautifully detailed stonework.

This room is just absolutely gorgeous. The display cases in this room and the next contain manuscripts, letters, photographs, and other Dvořák related items. Here's a list of some of the most notable things I saw:

- a post mortem mold of Dvořák's right hand
- his writing materials
- a photo of the Joachim Quartet
- the first page of the manscripts to...
- the second movement of the New World Symphony
-the Cello Concerto
- the Violin Concerto
- The Violin Sonatina
- the third movement of the American Quartet.

All in all, I'm very glad we went. I can't believe I almost went to Praha without seeing it. I bought an artists sketch of the house/museum. An impulse buy, I freely admit, but something I will treasure forever. After our stop in the gift shop, we spent a few moments in the garden snapping pictures despite the rain. The garden was not terribly elaborate but was simple and elegant, with three statues and a small courtyard.

Living in Plzen

July 17, 2009:
After nearly three weeks here I suppose I can say I've "lived" in a foreign country, if only for a short time as opposed to just visiting. I'm a fan of this particular European experience because I get the experience of traveling a bit and seeing what it's like to live in a European city. I've written a lot about the travel and a little about the music but not very much about day-to-day life. I shall endeavor to do this now.

Plzen (please note that I am trying to use Czech spellings whenever possible, therefore, Pilsen is Plzen and Prague is Praha) has a very beautiful and historic downtown and more modern - well, plain and kind of ugly to be honest - apartment buildings making up the suburbs. I haven't lived in a dormitory since my freshman year of college and let me just say that Saylor Hall at B-W is a lot more luxurious than this. The room I live in is a triple during the school year, but I have it to myself. The size is one of the things it has going for it. There is a kitchen on every floor that is shared with two electric burners, a microwave, and a refrigerator but few pots, pans, utensils, or dishes.

A typical day here...I guess I'll take my schedule from this past Tuesday as an example.

I wake up around 7:30, 7:45 by the time I hit the snooze button a couple of times. (For those of you doing the time conversion, that's 1:30 am EST.) I do the Dounis Daily dozen, eat breakfast, which consists of two hardboiled eggs, some dry cereal, and maybe some orange juice, and get dressed. I take the talking elevator (it tells you what floor you are on in Czech) downstairs and walk a half block to the ram stop. The tram seems to run every 10 minutes or so. It looks like a cross between a trolley and a Metro car. Most of them are yellow, but a few are decorated, most notably the Gambrinus (a type of beer) one and my personal favorite, the Plzen Philharmonia. It has musical instruments on it. How can you not love public transportation that has musical instruments on it? One really little thing that is different from the US is that one needs to push a button to open the doors when boarding or exiting. It's easy to forget to do, but there are generally enough impatient locals who will reach around you and push the button if you neglect to and are just standing there like an idiot waiting for the door to open.

The dorm tram stop is called "U Druzby" (pronounced OO Drouz bee, but with tall vowels) and the downtown stop (which I cannot pronounce or spell) is four stops away. Inside the trams it's usually crowded enough that finding a seat is rare and and a smell of sweat and body odor is prevalent despite the open windows. Luckily the ride is only 10-20 minutes, depending on how long it takes the tram to get around the construction on the line. There is one place where only one line of track is completed so the trams have to take turns getting through them. From the downtown stop, across from the third largest synagogue in the world, it's a five minute walk to the Konzervator Plzen. The route there takes me past cafes, shops, a produce market, and a park with beautiful plants, fountains, and statues of famous people in Czech history including Bedrich Smetana.

Then there is a masterclass from 10 am to 12 pm. We have had several classes - Ivan Straus did a series of masterclasses on Dounis, Leos Cepisky of the Wohan Quartet, Jiri Fiser of the Prague Conservatory, and his son Jan Fiser who is the concertmaster of the Prague Philharmonic. Next week the concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic is coming for a class. I've never actually played in a class here and don't expect to because I would be incredibly embarrassed and quite frankly, my best isn't good enough here.

After the masterclass I have an hour to kill before my lesson so I go to a Czech sandwich shop a couple blocks away. Everything there is really fresh, quite cheap, and very tasty. It's also totally in Czech. I decide which pre-made sandwich I want by peering closely at the sandwiches in the counter and picking one without cheese. I order by greeting the clerk in Czech ("Dobry den"), pointing at the sandwich I want and paying, saying thank you and good bye in Czech as well. I then take my food to the park where I sit by the fountain and eat. I'm quite fond of the sandwiches from this chop. They're on delicious bread - like a sub - that has some type of delicious garlic butter on it. There's lettuce, meat, and peppers which add some crunch and a little kick to the sandwich.

After my lunch in the park I spent the rest of the time reading the one book I brought with me (The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. I highly recommend it) or writing in my journal. Then I have a lesson at 1 pm. I have had four violin teachers in my time here, sometimes all in the same week! All are very different and I've learned so many useful things from all of them.

First, there is Stephen Shipps from the University of Michigan. He is a little on the conservative side, at least with me, but is very very insistent that I play in tune. He actually reminds me a bit of my eighth grade algebra teacher, Mr. Styron, both in appearance and in his dry sense of humor. He told me during my first lesson that he was going to be a bit conservative, and while it was frustrating for me sometimes to have someone be so so so insistent that I play something right, it was also really good. Sometimes I feel that my teachers all see me as a bright student and can tell that I'm working hard so they let things slide sometimes. Not Mr. Shipps. If I'm not playing in tune, he tells me right away and makes it perfectly clear that what I am playing is unacceptable and needs to be fixed, preferably yesterday. It might sound harsh, but I feel this is exactly what I need. I want my teachers to hold me to a very high standard and to not let me slack, even for a moment. If I want to be a professional violinist, I need to play my very best even when I'm not warmed up all the way or if I'm having a bad day. 

Next there is František Soucěk, the first violinist of the Zemlinsky Quartet. He is very warm and friendly with an open, easy manner and teaching style. He gave me some really great advice about fixing bad habits in my first lesson which is something like this: Until you learn how to hear and become really annoyed by your habits yourself, you won't fix them. I took the advice a little too much to heart, started noticing an overwhelming number of irritating things about my playing and spent a very frustrating couple of days before I started focusing on only one or two things at a time.

Perhaps the most unique and kinesthetic teacher I have ever had is Jírí Físer from the Prague Conservatory. He really makes sure that you know what the proper motion feels like, either by grabbing your bow and doing the motion while you stay passive or having you put your hand on his while he bows. This has been really effective for me. It has also produced a lot of "Well, why the hell do I do that?" moments for me. There's a picture of us below.

Finally, I also have occasional lessons with Mical Sedlácek, who is a junior faculty member here.

Before I came here I was really worried about the language barrier, but all of my Czech teachers speak very good English. Sometimes I find them easier to understand than some American teachers I've had. Since their English isn't as elaborate as a native speaker's, their explanations are often simpler and more direct.

After my lesson I go back to the dorm to check my email, update my blog, or read for a bit before my afternoon practice session. Then I go back into town for a concert and out to dinner with friends afterwards. Then I practice a bit more, hang out with people, and go to bed.

Being a foreigner for the first time has really opened my eyes and filled me with a great deal of respect and compassion for immigrants and visitors to the United States. I didn't realize just how much understanding I take for granted at home. Have you ever been in a public place in the States where you passed a small group of people chattering away in some foreign language? Maybe you ignored them, or were vaguely annoyed that they weren't smart enough to speakyour language. Well, here I am one of those people. The rest of the country isn't uneducated for speaking Czech, I am the idiot foreigner who can't read, write, or speak the country's official language. Ben and I got a newspaper on the way to Prague one day and couldn't read a single word except for the very few cognates. When I walk by people on the street I have no idea what they're saying. I can't read street signs, advertisements, or the "Start" menu on the dorm computer because it's all in Czech. For someone who is as attached to the written and spoken word as I am, it's incredibly frustrating.

At the grocery store yesterday, I was buying bananas and the cashier picked them up, looked for a label, and said something in Czech. I shook my head and told her that I didn't understand, also in Czech. Hey, if I can at least say that I don't understand Czech in Czech that counts for something, right? She handed the bananas to the lady behind me who ran off and came back with a bar code sticker. Apparently you're supposed to weigh your produce and get a sticker for it before you go to the checkout. Oops. I didn't even know how to say "I'm sorry" in Czech!

So, what else is different about the Czech Republic? The historic districts are older than the entire United States. They're also far more beautiful. The men on the streets are bolder and sometimes creepier than American men. People smoke a lot more. Things smell funny. The light switches look different. The electric sockets are different. Traffic laws protect drivers rather than pedestrians so if you're in the middle of the crosswalk when the light changes you have a good chance of dying. Beer is cheaper and easier to get than water.

So yes. I hope I have been able to give you some idea of what living here is like. 

Shopping, Smetana, My Favorite Place In Praha, a Mini Eiffel Tower, and Europe: The Stairmaster

July 14, 2009:
Ben went home after our second week, so my next trip to Praha was with some friends while Ben flew home. :-(The second adventure to Praha was just as exciting as the first, although not quite as scary since I actually knew where I was going. I went with four girls from IMAP - Lauren, Melissa, Heather, and Julia. Since I had the Rick Steves guidebook and a general sense of direction I became the unofficial guide. Our first stop was Wencelas Square, which I wrote about last week, but on the way out we walked through a gap in the stores and found ourselves in the Franciscan Garden. As gardens go, it isn't that spectacular, but the calm air of tranquility made it obvious that this is the perfect place for residents of Praha - or harried tourists, for that matter - to stroll along shady garden paths away from the noisy crowd and find a few moments of peace and quiet in the middle of the bustling city.
Our next stop was the busy Havelska Market, a few blocks away from the Old Town Square. It has all sorts of things for sale, from fruit and candy to scarves and boomerangs. We spent quite some time here as we all needed souvenirs and gifts for family back home. I found a beautiful blue cashmere and silk scarf for myself and some other things that I won't mention here because that would spoil the surprise! After dragging everyone away from the market we went back to U Dvou Kocek for lunch. This time there was an old man playing the accordion, which added to the ambience and we all thought was quite nice until we found out there was an extra 30 Kc per person automatically added to the bill since we were there while he was playing.
We wandered through the Old Town Square in time to see the Astronomical Clock strike one, which was just as exciting as it was last week. We then made our way to the Smetana Museum, which is directly to the left of the Charles Bridge and right on the water. Bedřich Smetana lived from 1824 to 1884 and was one of the first composers to establish a purely Czech musical tradition rather than just copying the heavily German-influenced international style. His best known works are the opera (in the Czech language) The Bartered Bride and the work Ma Vlast ("My Father Land") which contains the famous movement about the Moldau. (Musicians refer to these works rather crudely as the Battered Broad and the Moldy). The museum is very small but excellently designed. From the gift shop full of musical paraphenalia on the first floor, you go up a flight of stairs to the museum itself, which is one large room. There are four "rooms" within the room although there are no doors or even obvious doorways separating them. The walls are covered with both originals and copies of his letters and manuscripts as well as portraits of Bedřich Smetana himself and his family. The first room has a wood floor and a glass case containing his spectacles and his wife's garnet jewelry. The next section is an oval room with white walls and a blue ceiling and carpet. There are cushioned benches in fron tof the modern grand piano. I believe they hold concerts here. A large rectangular alcove off the side of the oval holds memorabilia and information about the choir he directed. Between the oval room and a large, square room on the far side of the museum is the piano Smetana himself owned. This part of the museum has several sturdy music stands placed throughout the room. Each has a laminated booklet, each of which is devoted to one of his famous works. A large podium with two steps leading up to it is in the corner of the room. You climb the podium and pick up the heavy wood baton, which is actually a laser pointer. You use it to point at the black boxes attached to the music stands to select a piece of music and then your selection plays. It's quite fun. Let me just say that standing on that podium, in the Smetana Museum and listneing to a recording of the Czech Philharmonic play Ma Vlast is a really, really cool experience.

We then took a slight detour to an antiques market which had an admission fee. Lauren and Heather went in, but the rest of us stayed outside and waited, wanting to save money before we made our way across the Charles Bridge. We then took the tram up the hill past the castle to the Strahov Monastery.

The monastery is a series of white buildings with the terra cotta roofs we are so familiar with by now. There are three areas one can visit at the monastery - the gallery (which we didn't see), the main church, and the library.
The church is stunning, like every other church I have seen since being in Europe. The ceiling is cream and has several paintings...like orderly islands of religious paintings in the vast sea of the ceiling. Ornamentation (there is nothing plain in any of these buildings) in gold twists elegantly between the paintings. The altar is what I believe is called a baroque altar and is a gorgeous work of art. The walls are a pale, delicate pink. Each pew is a masterwork in itself, since the sides of each are very intricately carved.

All right. Perhaps my favorite thing that I have seen on this entire trip. To put it bluntly, this library makes the Library of Congress look a little plain. You go to the ticket counter and buy your ticket and the rights to take photos inside, then climb the stairs to the gift shop which has some beautifully illuminated manuscripts on display. Another few steps takes you to a corridor full of wood cabinets with glass windows and doors that contain seashells, bones, fossils, and taxidermied animals.

Before I tell you what it looks like, let me attempt to describe what itfeels like.

It is a very particular combination of feelings. Firstly, if you have ever visited any monastery or a particularly old church, you are familiar with the sense of peace and profound silence and an air of reverent contemplation that is unique to these places. Take this feeling and now add the scholarly quiet of a university library. Not a public library - those are as much community center as a place for learning. A university library, however, has a certain focused quiet that comes from the presence, over years, of several thousand minds absorbing knowledge. Next, imagine the rather distinctive smell of old books that is so addicting to book lovers. Finally, add a certain weight to the air that is found only in places that are incredibly old and have their own histories.

With that feeling in mind, add the sense of incredible awe you feel when you see a place of such extreme majesty and beauty that you know you can't possibly take it all in.

Now, we're ready to take a look. Think of the most beautiful library you haev ever seen. Now double the beauty. Double it again. There. You are perhaps a fraction of the way to comprehending the gorgeousness that is the room known as the Philosophical hall. It is two stories tall, the second story reached by a staircase not in the room. There is a carved dark wood railing going around the second floor. There are floor to ceiling bookshelves (my personal dream for my own house...), all made of gleaming, dark reddish wood and ornamented (of course) with gold designs and patterns. The place is lit by lamps hanging from under the railing. All of this is lovely in itself, but I haven't yet told you about the ceiling. It is painted from a perspective so that it looks like an extension of the room, like the room just opens to the sky. Around the very edges of the ceiling is painted a vast gathering of people - perhaps ancient philosophers or religious figures all in front of an open ceilinged building of colums and an altar. Rising from the altar is a pillar of cloud, or smoke, or fire - or all three, perhaps, and in this pillar are angels and cherubs and a figure that I think is Mary holding the Cross. The rest of the ceiling is blue sky with clouds and angelic beings flying about. All this in one room, along with books taht are beautiful in the way only incredibly old, hand-bound books can be. Let me conclude by saying that this room surpasses the library from Beauty and the Beast on my list of all time favorite libraries. If you know how I feel about B&B, then you know how big of a statement that is.

We then took a slight detour to an antiques market which had an admission fee. Lauren and Heather went in, but the rest of us stayed outside and waited, wanting to save money before we made our way across the Charles Bridge. We then took the tram up the hill past the castle to the Strahov Monastery.

The monastery is a series of white buildings with the terra cotta roofs we are so familiar with by now. There are three areas one can visit at the monastery - the gallery (which we didn't see), the main church, and the library.
The church is stunning, like every other church I have seen since being in Europe. The ceiling is cream and has several paintings...like orderly islands of religious paintings in the vast sea of the ceiling. Ornamentation (there is nothing plain in any of these buildings) in gold twists elegantly between the paintings. The altar is what I believe is called a baroque altar and is a gorgeous work of art. The walls are a pale, delicate pink. Each pew is a masterwork in itself, since the sides of each are very intricately carved.

All right. Perhaps my favorite thing that I have seen on this entire trip. To put it bluntly, this library makes the Library of Congress look a little plain. You go to the ticket counter and buy your ticket and the rights to take photos inside, then climb the stairs to the gift shop which has some beautifully illuminated manuscripts on display. Another few steps takes you to a corridor full of wood cabinets with glass windows and doors that contain seashells, bones, fossils, and taxidermied animals.

Before I tell you what it looks like, let me attempt to describe what itfeels like.

It is a very particular combination of feelings. Firstly, if you have ever visited any monastery or a particularly old church, you are familiar with the sense of peace and profound silence and an air of reverent contemplation that is unique to these places. Take this feeling and now add the scholarly quiet of a university library. Not a public library - those are as much community center as a place for learning. A university library, however, has a certain focused quiet that comes from the presence, over years, of several thousand minds absorbing knowledge. Next, imagine the rather distinctive smell of old books that is so addicting to book lovers. Finally, add a certain weight to the air that is found only in places that are incredibly old and have their own histories.

With that feeling in mind, add the sense of incredible awe you feel when you see a place of such extreme majesty and beauty that you know you can't possibly take it all in.

Now, we're ready to take a look. Think of the most beautiful library you haev ever seen. Now double the beauty. Double it again. There. You are perhaps a fraction of the way to comprehending the gorgeousness that is the room known as the Philosophical hall. It is two stories tall, the second story reached by a staircase not in the room. There is a carved dark wood railing going around the second floor. There are floor to ceiling bookshelves (my personal dream for my own house...), all made of gleaming, dark reddish wood and ornamented (of course) with gold designs and patterns. The place is lit by lamps hanging from under the railing. All of this is lovely in itself, but I haven't yet told you about the ceiling. It is painted from a perspective so that it looks like an extension of the room, like the room just opens to the sky. Around the very edges of the ceiling is painted a vast gathering of people - perhaps ancient philosophers or religious figures all in front of an open ceilinged building of colums and an altar. Rising from the altar is a pillar of cloud, or smoke, or fire - or all three, perhaps, and in this pillar are angels and cherubs and a figure that I think is Mary holding the Cross. The rest of the ceiling is blue sky with clouds and angelic beings flying about. All this in one room, along with books taht are beautiful in the way only incredibly old, hand-bound books can be. Let me conclude by saying that this room surpasses the library from Beauty and the Beast on my list of all time favorite libraries. If you know how I feel about B&B, then you know how big of a statement that is.
At the end fo the hall is a lone book displayed in a glass case. I think it was a Bible, and the cover was red and covered in jewels. Above this case on the ceiling was a single illuminated painting of a dove, most likely representing the Holy Spirit.

You turn right and look through another doorway into the Theological Hall. This room of the library is smaller than the Philosophical Hall, only one story, but just as beautiful. The ceiling is arched and again there are floor to ceiling bookshelves. The cream colored ceiling has beautiful paintings surrounded by intricate vines and other swirly designs. Four large ancient globes are in a line on each side of the room (eight total) and smaller desks hold beautiful books open for display. I do not think there is a single thing in the room that is not beautiful.
At the end fo the hall is a lone book displayed in a glass case. I think it was a Bible, and the cover was red and covered in jewels. Above this case on the ceiling was a single illuminated painting of a dove, most likely representing the Holy Spirit.

You turn right and look through another doorway into the Theological Hall. This room of the library is smaller than the Philosophical Hall, only one story, but just as beautiful. The ceiling is arched and again there are floor to ceiling bookshelves. The cream colored ceiling has beautiful paintings surrounded by intricate vines and other swirly designs. Four large ancient globes are in a line on each side of the room (eight total) and smaller desks hold beautiful books open for display. I do not think there is a single thing in the room that is not beautiful.
The view from the top, however, was incredible and well worth the climb. We were up above the castle so we could see the castle complex with the Little Quarter below it, the Charles Bridge spanning the Vltava River and the entire city of Prague. We climbed all 299 stairs down and then found a faster way down Petrin Hill. However, faster also meant steeper. More stairs. Extremely steep stairs. I don't think I've ever seen so many stairs in my life. It took us nearly 45 mins to descend. We somehow found ourselves in the diplomatic area of the town and walked by the German and Italian embassies. We walked through St. Nicholas Square and started looking for a place to eat and ended up at a touristy cafe pizza bar where the service was incredibly rude and the decor was incredibly trippy. It was located downstairs below street level and basically resembled some fantasy cave. The walls looked like rock and had stalactites coming from the ceiling with shimmery colored glitter all over it. There were paintings of sort of surreal fantasy art on the walls and the whole thing was a little weird. Definitely not a place to do absinth. The waiter got so mad at the end when we requested to pay separately ("One table one check") and we ended up just splitting it among all of us.

Tension, Unexpected Perceptions, Surrealist Art, and the Green Fairy

July 13, 2009:
Okay. At long long last I will endeavor to fill you in on the goings-on of Week 2 here at IMAP. Right now, my cold is much improved even though my voice makes me sound either like a man or like a lifelong chain smoker. My legs, however, are reminding me that they are not very fond of this whole European trip walking thing and beg me to buy better walking shoes for our next trip. That is all to come in a later post though, since I'm already so far behind.

Firstly, improvisation classes are so much fun! They are for an hour in the evenings and we have learned three short fiddle tunes: two jigs and something called the Fox Hunter's Reel. We have also put together an arrangement of the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back." I still don't know the lyrics at all but it's really fun. Brad is a really cool guy and really knows his stuff. I wish I had these classes before our last Coniglio family gathering - I'm SO much better at learning by ear and following (admittedly basic) chord progressions. We'll be performing on the concert Tuesday night. Jeremy Kittel, the violist from the Turtle Island String Quartet (look these guys up if you don't know them - they're amazing), is arriving today and will be taking over the improv classes for this week. I believe he and Brad will be putting together a thing for the concert Tuesday night as well. That's bound to be amazing. I might splurge and buy a dvd of that one.

Last week was also the last week of my quartet. We had two coachings with Jiri Zigmund, who is an amazing violist and coach and also quite the character. As he explained it, music makes him very, very excited and sometimes this makes him act like he wants to kill the people he is coaching if they don't play properly. I am slightly proud of the fact that despite I was the second violinist in our quartet I was not told once to play louder. In fact, I was told to be quieter on a few occasions. The end of quartet was very anticlimatic...we weren't able to perform on a concert and Zigmund (or Ziggy as some people call him) gave us a very stern talking to about how to prepare music. He asked if we had listened to recordings (we had) and if we had practiced our parts before arriving here (we had) and then he shook his head and asked why we didn't play better.

Now, those of you taking the time out of your lives to read this know that I am an incredibly responsible person. Teachers have loved me since I started going to school, sometimes without me doing anything to deserve it and even when I despise their teaching and their classes. So, this is the first time in my life where I have been viewed as an unprepared, lazy student. For whatever reason, my violin playing does not reflect preparation. It gives the impression that I am an incredibly tense, incautious, and sloppy player. If you are denying this and thinking "But Claire plays beautifully," this is what I have been told my entire life. However four violin teachers and my chamber coach last week - FIVE incredibly talented and experienced professional musicians accustomed to a very high level of playing - pointed out several key flaws in the way I play violin. I won't bore you with the details, but I'll give you a couple examples. Firstly, I have my weight on the balls of my feet when I play rather than centered (as in Mountain pose in yoga). Secondly, I clench my teeth and clamp down on the violin with my neck. Thirdly, my bow has the unfortunate tendency of speeding up and creating an awkward accent when I am preparing to change bows. Fourth(ly?), my intonation is not what it should be. People have lost auditions before for playing three notes out of tune, as Mr. Shipps told me this morning. Let us just say that I play significantly more than three notes out of tune when I play a piece of music. 

All these revelations don't make me particularly upset; in fact, I am glad for the nitpicking because this is what needs to happen to get me to the next level of playing. If anything, I am a little puzzled and confused since, as I previously stated, I am used to teachers recognizing my better qualities and focusing on those. Then again, being an intelligent, responsible, and organized person doesn't necessarily translate into the ability to play the violin well. It's an entirely new sensation to not be at the top of anything. I'm actually at the bottom of the middle here in terms of ability. I'm not sure I care for it, and since quartet is over now the next two weeks are going to be devoted to some very, very careful practicing.

There are three concerts of student/faculty performances a week here and they are all amazing. Some of the concerts are at Masne Kramy, an art gallery perhaps a ten minute walk from the Konzervatory. The concerts are held in a very long narrow hall with white walls. There are two rows of slightly arched windows; the bottom for art and the top as actual windows. The ceiling is made of dark wood and is just flat across the top. The other concerts are held in the Muzeum, which is the local art gallery. It is, in a word, beautiful. The most notable performance this last week was a performance of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 in c minor. The violinists in the quartet were from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the cellist was from Northwestern University. The violist was a faculty member, Marjorie Bagley. How to describe this piece? It is hauntingly beautiful with an air of hopelessness about it with outbursts of anger and other strong emotions. They played it perfectly. Everything was in place. Everything was in tune. The spirit was there. I couldn't breathe for a full three seconds after they finished. It was just incredible.

As I mentioned before, I had four lessons last week. It was pretty intense. My head is full of lots of different ideas and my body is trying to learn so many new tricks at once that it is utterly confused. I have to pick and choose which habits I'm going to work on in a practice session in order to get anything done. Thanks to Burton and his Technique of Selective Inattention! :-)

Saturday was Ben's last day here and his 22nd birthday! We tried to visit a ruined castle outside the city limits but after finding out we could only take the tram halfway there and would then be faced with a 90 minute walk we decided against it. Instead, we went to the Muzeum and saw an exhibit of Salvador Dali's work. My favorite was the series of small paintings he did on Dante's Divine Comedy. His depictions of Hell were, as one would expect, incredibly surreal and not a little disturbing. To the contrary, the softer edges of his paintings of Paradise were quite beautiful. I never thought I would see his work in Plzen, of all places!

After the Muzeum we went to Husa for dinner and I ordered a strawberry daquiri and bought Ben a drink called the Hurricane - (a) because it was his birthday and (b) because it's pretty cool to be able to order alcohol without getting carded. I'm pretty sure that once I turn 21 I will be carded for at least the next 10 years in the States. After we ate, Ben decided to try absinthe. If you are unfamiliar with absinthe, please read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe As you can see, absinthe is called "The Green Fairy." It only became legal in the States two or three years ago, so it is a popular drink to try when travelers come to Europe. It is also legal in higher proofs here than in the US. I believe it's about 70 proof here. Ben, you can correct me if I am wrong. So, because it was his birthday and his last night in the Czech Republic, he ordered a shot of absinthe. It arrived in a shot glass, a cool green liquor, with a bowl of sugar and a box of matches. Green - one of Ben's favorite colors. Matches - well, we all know Ben has a fondness for fire. Drinking absinthe is accomplished by dipping a spoonful of sugar into the alcohol, lighting the spoon until the sugar carmelizes, and then mixing it in with the drink. You then drink it and wait to feel the effects. Ben said it was the strongest drink he's ever had and couldn't feel his legs (although he could still walk, luckily) back to the tram. Compared to some absinthe stories I've heard, I think Ben managed it pretty well although he might tell you differently. ;-)

A House Without A Foundation and Michael Jackson

July 7, 2009:
I had a lesson with Jiri Fiser of the Prague Conservatory and it was one of the best lessons on tension I've ever had in my life. It was very very detailed. Unfortunately, it ended with him saying something like this: "If playing the violin is like a house, then you have a house but the foundation shakes a lot." I know this. I've tried to persuade teachers to help me fix this for years. But I keep getting handed more and more music to learn without people truly insisting that I fix my tension problems. I've had FIVE teachers now in the last two months comment on them. Five. I hope in the next three weeks I can really truly fix it. I'm pretty frustrated right now...

Anyway, this week Dounis classes are over but we now have improvisation classes in the evenings with Bradley Phillips. It's pretty great. I'm better at learning by ear than I thought I would be, and picked up the "Fox Hunter's Reel" more quickly than expected. Tonight we started learning "I Want You Back" from the Jackson Five. So, here's something you wouldn't expect Claire Allen to do - learn a song BY EAR, and improvise/play a rocking bass line to Michael Jackson.

There's a possiblity we might be getting the Mendelssohn Octet together...

I'll leave you with a happy little image from this evening. Picture the streets of Plzen, with trees, cobblestones, and gorgeous buildings. It's cloudy, with light rain, and is twilight. A young couple hurries laughing through the rain with their arms around each other, happy despite the rain to be together in Europe. This was me and Ben earlier tonight. :-)

My First Trip To Praha

July 6, 2009:

Ben and I went to Praha yesterday (Sunday) on our day off. Figuring out how to get there was a bit unorganized but we managed it - we had to find the Plzen bus station, which is in the shadiest part of town and we didn't get there early enough to get tickets for the 8 am bus so we had to get tickets for the 10 am bus. We were lucky enough to run into Ondrej, the cellist from our quartet, who was also on the 10 am bus. Since he lives in Praha we were very happy to be traveling with him. The hour long bus ride took us to Zlicin, which is about a 25 minute metro ride from down town. It is the last stop on the B Line. For 100 Kc (about $5) we got an all-day metro pass that let us use the trams and the trains as much as we wanted.

I'll take a moment to describe the Praha metro. It is wonderful, clean, attractive, fast, and very easy to use. We had Ondrej to guide us and very explicit instructions from Rick (more on him in a second) but we could have figured it out for ourselves. As someone who has experienced most of the major public transportation systems in the United States - Chicago's L, Boston's T, Cleveland's RTA, NYC's fabled subway system, and of course the DC metro - I have to say that Praha's might be my favorite. The only edges it has over Dc are the cheaper prices and the above ground trams.

A word about Rick - I purchased Rick Steves' guide to Prague before I came here and it was invaluable. We referred to it so much during our trip to Praha that I started calling him by first name. "Rick says not to bother with this part of the tour." "Rick suggests eating here." "Let's see what Rick has to say..." So, when I mention Rick, that's what I mean.

Back to our narrative. We exited the metro at the Mustek stop, which took us right to Wencelas Square (Vaclavske Namesti in Czech). Praha is divided into five sections - New Town, Old Town, Jewish Quarter, Castle Quarter, and Little Quarter. Wencelas Square is the heart of the New Town - which, as one might expect, is the more modern part of the city. It reminds me of New York City somewhat, but cleaner, better air, shorter buildings, and no English. I was rather dismayed to see Starbucks and McDonalds. Apparently they are taking over the world...
Anyway. Vaclavske Namesti is actually more of a rectangle than a square - albeit a very large rectangle that leads to an imposing statue of King Wencelas himself in front of the beautiful National Museum. It's the same concept as the Mall leading to the Capitol in DC. Ondrej left us there to go to his apartment and we made our way down the square and into the Old Town. We then wandered the twisty, beautiful, and somewhat crowded streets until we finally found our way to the Old Town Square. It was so crowded but completely amazing. The first major sight we saw was the Astronomical Clock which is on the side of the Old Town Hall. The clock is so complex that I couldn't even tell all the different kinds of time it was telling. We had the good fortune to arrive in the square just before the top of the hour so we got to witness what happens when the clock strikes the hour. The skeleton representing Death tips his hourglass and statues of the saints go past the windows above the clock. We then made our way around the rest of the square. I was in a constant state of awe and wonder for most of the day. The square was filled with people and there was a small jazz combo consisting of drums, clarinet, banjo, and a singer playing in the center of the square. They were actually quite good! All the buildings on the square are so incredibly beautiful. I don't even have words to describe it. You'll have to wait until I can put up pictures. We took Rick's suggestion for lunch and went to a place outside the square, away from the major touristy areas. It's called "Plzenska Restaurace u Dvou Kocek," or "By the Two Cats."I had their signature dish, Two Cats Goulash with Bacon and Potato Dumplings. It was the best meal I've eaten since getting here. I had never had goulash before in my life and didn't really know what it was. It turns out to be a savory beef stew with the meat so tender it melts in the mouth. The dumplings weren't dumplings in the way Americans think of them - they were pieces of soft, chewy bread about the size of my palm and were used to mop up the goulash broth. We also had delicious apple strudel for dessert.

After being fortified by food we wandered through the Havelska Market and several tourist souvenir shops on our way to the Charles Bridge (Karluv Most in Czech), which was the most crowded area we had encountered yet. The sheer grandeur of the bridge and the castle on the hill on the other side of the river took my breath away. The bridge spread before us, a sea of tourists, street vendors, and majestic statues depicting famous saints, historic figures, and scenes from the life of Jesus. At the center of the bridge are two statues facing each other - one of Jesus on the cross and Mary holding her Son's body in her arms, a Pieta.

Once we crossed the bridge, we found oruselves in the Little Quarter and ducked into a tourist shop so I could buy Ben his birthday present - a t-shirt with the picture of a chess piece that said "Czech-mate." A reference to chess + a bad pun = perfect for Ben. ;-) We then hopped on the tram for a ride up the hill to the castle. We got off the tram a stop early in order to walk through the Royal gardens up to the castle. The gardens were lovely, cool, shady, and relatively uncrowded - a relief after the hot, crowded bridge. There were also some breathtaking views of the city across the river. We made our way to the castle, bought our tickets and audioguides, walked through the archway to the main grounds of the castle...and stopped, frozen in awe as St. Vitus Cathedral loomed over us.

This is, without a doubt, the most impressive church I have ever seen in my life. Barely having recovered from seeing the exterior, we walked inside and were hit with another wave of awe. The cavernous vaulted roof stretched up above us for - I don't know how many stories.

The sides of the church are filled with smaller chapels that hold relics of saints, the remains and effigies of Czech rulers and archbishops. All have incredibly gorgeous stained glass windows and decorated walls. I could spend hours trying describing every detail of the cathedral but I couldn't even take them in when I was there, let alone come up with words for it. I'll endeavor to cover some of the highlights. The gigantic rosewindow above the front door is one of the most amazing stained glass windows I have seen - a creation of sheer majestic beauty. No organ in any concert hall I have been in comes anywhere close to the St. Vitus organ. The massive pipes are heavily ornamented and, given the size of the place, must resonate for hours after the organist stops playing. The tomb of St. John, a martyr who was tortured to death for his faith and had his body thrown from the bridge into the river, is a marvelous creation of marble and silver behind the main altar of the church. The most significant chapel in the church is the Chapel of St. Wencelas. It holds the remains of St. Wencelas, has wallpaper encrusted with jewels, and has a vault containing the crown jewels (which I didn't get to see). The Czechs believe that St. Wencelas is the true ruler of their country and that all subsequent rulers only borrow their power from him.

After the cathedral, we went to the Old Royal Palace, which almost seemed plain compared to the cathedral. There was a big hall where royal audiences, dances, jousts, and other things were held. We also saw the throne room where the King used to meet with his advisors. Going out a side door to a balcony revealed an amazing, amazing, wonderful view of the city from the castle. There are pictures which have not been uploaded yet. :-( Updates to come after Ben goes home and sends me his pictures.

We then went to the Basilica of St. George - that is, St. George of St. George and the Dragon. It was one of the oldest buildings we saw and had a definite aura of age in it. We then went to the Golden Lane, which is an ADORABLE shopping street. There are small houses on one side that now have shops in them. The author Franz Kafka used to live on this street - in fact, you can buy Kafka books in the house where he wrote them. If I were a Kafka fan and did not have to carry a lot of things home, then I would definitely have bought one. As it was, I did buy a christmas ornament from the castle. My family has a tradition where we buy Christmas ornaments when we travel so that when we decorate our tree in December we can remember all the trips we've taken. :-) I also bought lots of postcards to decorate my apartment with come fall.

After this, our feet were very very very tired after walking across the city, up stairs and hills...so we took the tram and then the train back to the bus station and made our way home. So ends the saga of our trip to Praha.

St. Bartholomew's Tower, Plzen, and Concerts

July 6, 2009:

How does one even begin to describe the quality of playing I heard at the concert Friday night? To say it was perfect is too simple. It was...everything music should be and more. Neither of those phrases captures the absolute captivating quality of the music, the total state of shock I was in as these incredible musicians played. I was mesmerized by the musicality and the sheer technical perfection and ease. My concept of playing the violin as compared to these people is so primitive...it's like comparing a stick scratching in the dirt with an elegant calligraphy pen and parchment. A pianist working toward her doctorate played an incredible Beethoven sonata, and then Josef Spacek, another student here, played the Bach Chaconne and Ysaye Third Sonata. He just graduated from Curtis and won an international violin competition. Oh. My. God. I don't have words. If I could play the violin that well my life might be pretty close to being fulfilled.

Okay, let's talk more about Plzen. Ben and I had lunch at the Cross Cafe, which we speculate is some sort of European chain - sort of like their version of Starbucks, but in Czech, much cheaper, and with alcohol. It was raining while we ate lunch but it stopped just in time for our trip to the top of St. Bartholomew Cathedral. As I've mentioned already, this is the church in Plzen and the tower is the best place to get a view of the city. Climbing the tower is accomplished by climbing a series of rather intimidating and scary-looking stairs.

A winding spiral staircase takes you from the street level to a tiny gift shop where you buy your ticket - 20 Kc or $1. A series of straight but increasingly narrow and steep stairs takes you up to the next level where the bells are housed. Even narrower, smaller, and steeper stairs take you past the mechanism for the tower clock and up to the top. You emerge into the upper square room gasping for breath and thanking St. Bartholomew you are alive, with burning leg muscles..and then you step onto the screened in balcony and forget all of this at the site of Plzen spread before you. "Welcome to Europe," as Ben said. In the distance we could see our dormitory and the surrounding buildings - modern, unassuming, bland buildings - but downtown Plzen was directly below and around us in a glory of old world Europe. The view was simply breathtaking. The roofs are mainly tiled and terra cottacolored and the baroque/gothic architecture are gorgeous.

As beautiful as Plzen is, though, it doesn't hold a candle to Praha (what the Czechs call their capital), where we went yesterday...

Dounis, Intonation, Frustration, and Pilsner

July 3, 2009:
We had our second Dounis masterlass this morning, all on left hand stuff. Mr. Straus explained how unless you have ridiculously small hands you have no excuse not to make any stretch on the violin as long as you are set up properly. He then demonstrated all these really intense stretching exercises. At the end he gave us a preview of what Dounis bow technique is like. He was showing how to bounce the bow on the string using only the pinky and kept his hand so still he was able to balance a film canister on it while he did it. Then he proceeded to play the string crossy part of the Mendelssohn concerto cadenza (violinists, you know what I'm talking about) with the bow backwards. Then he did it just holding on to the screw of the bow. "See? I'm not doing anything and the bow is bouncing!" I'm pretty sure my jaw spent most of the masterclass on the floor and my eyes would have popped out if they opened any wider. This guy is 70 and has this incredible technique. It's just amazing. Everything is so easy for him. I've started practicing the Dounis Daily Dozen and I think I understand the left hand stuff much easier than the right hand. I might need more lessons on right hand before I can really understand it. It's a really great way to get your body and your mind warmed up, since all these Dounis exercises require quite a bit of thought to accomplish correctly.

Let's talk about intonation. Non-musicians, you'll probably find this really boring and I won't be offended at all if you skip to the next paragraph. I'll give a mini-explanation though, in case you want to read. Okay. Playing in tune on a stringed instrument is one of the hardest things in the world to do. There are no frets on our fingerboard and there is exactly ONE spot on the fingerboard about half a millimeter wide to play each note. If the same note comes back often in a passage, you have to hit exactly the same spot every time. I sort of generally play in tune. Which is to say, my fingers mostly go in the right places and the notes I play are recognizable as being "in tune." However, real, professional intonation is a whole different ballgame and that's what one of my teachers is working on with me. After that lesson on Monday I thought "Okay, so I'll play it slow a few times and it'll get better. No problem." I've been working on it, and it's getting better. A different teacher yesterday pointed out some stuff too and mentioned that in order for me to really truly change my bad habits I have to learn to hear them for myself and they need to annoy me. And the masterclasses have been talking about the angle at which the finger makes contact with the string. Generally speaking, the angles of all your fingers should match in order for the intonation to be consistent. Well. A combination of all those things made its way into my practice room today and I am exceedingly annoyed with the inconsistent angles my fingers make on the fingerboard - not only that, but I'm listening differently and really can't believe I let myself get away with such sloppy intonation for so long.

I'm pretty frustrated with myself for letting my habits persist this long. It's nice because no one here knows my past so they don't let me get off easy or make excuses. It's simply "I'm sorry. It's wrong. Play it like this." And I fix it. And it sounds better. I know I'm not a bad student but sometimes I wonder if I have just been messing up for so many years since all these habits should really have been broken years ago. I just don't understand.

Anyway, back to the happy travel writing which is what all of you read this for instead of musician-angst. Last night we had a faculty recital in an art gallery in downtown Plzen. Plzen is a city of 167,000 people. The suburbs are apartment buildings with very Soviet/communist architecture and houses, but the city center has architecture dating earlier than the United States. From the downtown tram stop it's a 2 minute walk to the Konzervatory where classes are. A central park runs several blocks through the city with fountains, flowers, benches, and statues of famous people such as the composer Bedrich Smetana. There are gelato places everywhere (curse my dairy allergies!) and lots of cafes, restaurants, and bars. The bar/music club seems to be a popular venue here. Last night five of us ate at the oldest pub in Plzen which I unfortunately do not remember the name of (and couldn't even spell if I did). We were in luck since Ondrej, the cellist in my quartet, was with us and is a native Czech speaker. It made things go much smoother at the restaurant. I ordered my second Pilsner of the trip and made it through about half of it. I don't think I'll ever grow to enjoy the taste of beer, but ordering one seems like the most natural thing to do here. It's cheaper than water, anyway. There are a lot of differences between Czech restaurants and American restaurants - the first one being the water. In the USA you practically are drowned with water, which is free, and you have constant refills. Here water is expensive and you just get one bottle of it. The second big difference is the timing. Good service here is never rushed, which means you need to take extra time for your meal. Luckily, we've discovered good sandwich places that are super fast when we're in a hurry. The very center of Plzen (by the way, forgive me if I'm repeating myself from earlier posts...this is all stream-of-consciousness and I don't remember what I've written and what I haven't) is a massive town square and in the middle of the square is St. Bartholomew's Cathedral. I still haven't climbed the tower but I plan to very soon.

I think this is a good place to stop for now. I'll wait a few days to write again so I have something more significant (like a trip to Prague, maybe :-) ) to write about.

Settled In?

July 2, 2009:
Hi everyone!
It's hard to believe that I've only been here a few days as I am already in something resembling a routine. My quartet has been rehearsing every day. I am the only girl in the quartet - Ondrej (pronounced something like Andre...since he's so tall I mentally call him Andre the Giant) is our cellist, Ben (who most of you know or know of, since he's my boyfriend!) is our violist, and Alex is our first violinist. Alex is actually from my hometown so we bonded over our mutual love for the "George Bush Center for Intelligence" sign. We're playing Dvorak's American Quartet which is slowly taking shape. We need to contact our second coach to schedule coachings...:-/ Things are very much a do-it-yourself organization here. There is a bulletin board with a lot of information and you are responsible for checking it and making sure you are where you need to be on time as well as deciphering the teachers' handwriting and codes. For example "D96" means my quartet since we're playing Dvorak's Op. 96. It's pretty confusing.

I've gotten really used to taking the tram downtown. The tram stops right outside our dorm and it is a 15-30 min ride into town, depending on how long it takes to get around the construction. It's generally around 20 mins and not too bad. If I lean out my window (carefully) I can see downtown and it's pretty cool. I also found some great sandwich places near the Konzervatory ( I cannot for the life of me bear to call it "the Con") where I can get lunch for only 49 Kc. The currency here is the corona, or the crown, abbreviated Kc. One United States dollar is equivalent to approximately 20 Kc. There are coins for 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 Kc and paper money for units of 100, 200, 500, and 1000 Kc (at least as far as I have seen.) Now that I'm more or less adjusted to the time difference the conversion is much easier for me to make. Things are pretty cheap here if you know where to look...my sandwich, therefore, was about $2.50. And the dorm, well...it was built during the communist era but I'm more used to it now so that's all good.

The Konzervatory is also pretty basic in structure. The paint tends to rub off the walls which I didn't realize until after I leaned my violin case on it and got it covered in dry paint. Gag. I hope it comes off. I've had two more violin lessons since I last wrote...one with Michal Sedlacek who is an assistant teacher and who took me to task on my Beethoven sonata. The other one was just an hour or so ago, with Frantisek Soucek, the first violinist of the Zemlinsky quartet. He is amazing. He found all my bad habits in the course of the lesson. I suppose I'm happy that I've gotten to a point in my playing where I'm hearing the same things from just about every teacher I go to - my intonation needs a lot more careful attention, my bow tends to speed up before I make bow changes, I take bow pressure off when I shift and when I change strings, both hands tend to be far too tight and grab too much...I've had these problems for so long and I really wish I'd had the self-discipline or one of my home teachers had the insistence to force me to fix them. We'll see how far I get in my four weeks here. I learn fast. One thing that has not changed is that I am a good student - show me the right way to learn something and I'll fix it quickly and apply it to other similar passages.

Tonight is the first concert of the festival - starting next week we will have four concerts a week as students get things up to scratch. I think faculty are playing tonight.

One thing is for certain though - I have never been around so many absolutely fantastic players in my life. I'm not even sure I belong here and I definitely understand why I have been called unpolished and behind for so many years.

So that's the news from Plzen today. I am off to make a sandwich and practice (of course!).

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An Unexpected Beautiful View
We found this gorgeous site when we were hiking down to Stary Plzenec from the Castle Radyne.
Castle Radyne
This was taken on top of the tower of Castle Radyne.

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