Sunday, May 03, 2015

Prague 1

We caught the train Vienna to Prague, and saw snow on the way. I have a friend who lives in Prague. She's Slovakian, and married to a Turk. We met in the early-mid nineties at a Turkish-language school in Istanbul. She and I and another woman, all married to Turkish men, met and bonded big time. J had never met Princess, and M (the other woman) hadn't seen P since she (P) was 3, and we were in Montreal, visiting them.

Some photos:











Top to bottom

1. View from our window, Prague. You can see Prague Castle up the top in the distance.
2. On the train from Vienna. Snow.
3. First dinner, Prague. This was lard spread on bread, topped with chopped crackling. Rich.
4. View of Prague proper from the castle complex.
5. The church in the castle complex. Cannot remember its name. It was beautiful. 
6. The metronome clock. Every hour it does a show. Reminded me of the scene in Shrek 2 I think it was.
7. We went to a medieval-themed dinner with my friend and her son. This was the belly dancing with snake act. There were pirate fights, Hodor-like waiters (clothes-wise, not speech-wise), a band, ale and platters of meat. Also these belly dancers who worked with veils, swords and snakes. Top night. 

6 comments:

sarah toa said...

OMG!! Lard and crackling!

Melba said...

I know. Insane. Fucking insane.

Alex said...

For what is essentially just pig fat on bread, that actually looks kind of appealing to me.

Some part of me actually likes the idea of a waiter at a theme restaurant who's only allowed to communicate by saying "Hodor".

Has your Slovakian friend ever said anything about the Czechs? I once asked one of my Czech friends about why Czechoslovakia broke up. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "You'll have to ask the Slovakians; that was their idea."

Melba said...

It did look appealing Alex and it was strangely delicious, but very very rich and we couldn't finish it even though I did my best.

I would love to go to a restaurant like that, with waiters saying 'Hodor' after you gave your order. Fun.

No, she hasn't and we didn't talk politics in anything other than a general sense, and mostly about Turkish 'politika'. What if the Slovakians say it was the Czechs? What if both sides think the same thing? I wonder how often that might happen, like the biggest misunderstandings in the world.

Alex said...

Yes, I wonder about these things too (as you know).

So, what was the general assessment of things in Turkey?

Melba said...

The general assessment of Turkey was that the religionists are ruining the country. The wider assessment of Europe was that the conservatives are ruining everything there too.

Basically: fucked.