Last Day of Honeymoon: Kutna Hora/Prague (6/2)

  On our last day, we booked a daytrip to Kutna Hora, a small silver mining town, one hour east of Prague. On our way, we noticed much flooding in the small villages and heard that the army had been called up, in case the river overflowed. In Kutna Hora, we stopped first at the famous Sedlec Ossuary or "Bone Church," which contains the bones of over 50,0000 people. Some, of course, are artfully arranged, like the chandelier made up of every bone of the human body and the Schwarzenberg coat of arms that has a skeletal raven pecking at a skull's eye. Typical honeymoon fare.

After the Bone Church, we visited the more conventional Gothic St. Barbara Cathedral, with its flying buttresses and renovated frescoes that showed the daily life of the mining town. Later, we visited the Italian court, which was once the central mint of Prague and the royal residence. There we saw authentic silver coins that dated back to the 13th century. After the tours, we were warned that we might have to stay in Kutna Hora overnight, due to the flooding which would only get worse (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/world/europe/10iht-flood10.html?emc=eta1&_r=0). Luckily, our driver found another route back to Prague, where we had a filling dinner at U Zizniveho jelena, a restaurant near our hotel. I had the venison kebobs with cream potatoes and Aleks had rump steak; we both had the beer cheese appetizer. Back at our hotel, we noticed that the staff had tied towels into swans forming a heart, which was a nice surprise and sweet ending to our honeymoon.

10th Day of Honeymoon: Prague (6/1)

Our second day in Prague, we headed over to the Prague Castle.  Early on we took pictures of the city, as we were elevated from walking up the interminable and slippery steps; and once we arrived, we were only able to take photos of St. Vitus church, since they were not allowing people inside. We did, however, go inside the Castle, where we first gazed upon Vladislav Hall, the coat of arms hall, St. Georges' Basilica, and walked down the Golden Lane. Once again, the rain was pouring, so it was difficult to take photos while carrying an umbrella.

After the castle and with the rain picking up, we caught the subway to the Museum of Communism, located next to a McDonald's and a casino. This museum was more simply laid out than the House of Terror, but it was also more informative, with its panels that included more than just politics, like space, sports, and shopping under communist rule. At the end, we refreshed our knowledge about the Velvet Revolution, which only occurred during 7 days, and upon leaving the museum, we ended up in Wenceslas Square, where mass demonstrations were held during the Revolution.
Following the museum, we lit out for dinner, and while the first place we found turned us away, presumably because they had an event, the second one took us and gave us some fine risotto and overcooked salmon. Advice: Avoid the fish in Eastern Europe. Still, the beer and wine were solid. After dinner, we walked down the national street and found our way to Cafe Louvre, where we had some nice dessert and the best cafe au lait I've had. With that, we scurried to find the nearest metro station in order to escape the rain.

9th Day of Honeymoon: Prague (5/31)

For our first (half) day in Prague, we arrived to our only 5-star hotel, the Hotel General, where our concierge Arrevik or "Viki," sat us down, gave us beer and wine, and informed us about how to get around the city and what to see. One of the helpful hints she gave us was a restaurant nearby, where we had dinner and I was able to drink my first unfiltered Czech beer.

Afterwards, we walked along the Vltava river towards the St. Charles Bridge, where we hoped to get photos before an imminent rainstorm.  On the way, we spotted the various styles of architecture, the swans and plastic penguins near the bank, and some weird sculptures of giant babies in the park. Once upon the Bridge, we noticed the quiet bums, who seemingly pray rather than ask you for charity, as well as the standard vendors and caricaturists. We also took note of the rising waters on the Vlatva

Once past the Bridge, we went to the Old Town Square to gaze at the astronomical clock and the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn. However, less famous or religious buildings nearby also had some interesting artwork on their facades. We stuck around the square to see the figures emerge from the clock on the hour, and I got some video of it below.

After leaving the Old Town Square, we headed back to the riverbank, where we decided to purchase our 2nd river night cruise. (This turned out to be a wise idea since they cancelled later cruises due to the flooding.) From the boat, we got pics of Prague Castle, St. Charles Bridge, Parliament, St. Matthew's Church, and various other bridges. With the cruise over, we walked back over the St. Charles Bridge at night towards our hotel. />

8th Day of Honeymoon: Vienna (5/30)

  Vienna gave us a cold and rainy morning on our second day there, with temperatures in the low 50s. Nevertheless, we stubbornly headed out to a pre-paid walking tour of the city for 10 A.M. Our guide was friendly, but she told us that that day was Corpus Christi, a church-related holiday, which she cheekily referred to as "Happy Cadaver Day." What this meant was that nationalist youth groups marched while most of the shops were closed, although most museums and restaurants were open.
   On the tour, we learned about the city's architecture (Baroque, Neoclassical), its current corrupt politics, its generous welfare system, its national weight loss incentives, and its ridiculously low average salary (around $15,000). To our guide, this meant the city was wonderful; however, she did not shirk away from Vienna's history, particularly the post-WWI era, when Hitler lived there and experienced mass poverty, which he attributed to the Jewish elite. She also pointed out a Holocaust memorial that the city did not erect until the 21st century, sights around the Ringstrasse, and the Hofburg palace from a different angle. But after awhile, the rain and cold picked up, so Aleks and I dropped off from the tour.

   With the weather as awful as it was, we decided to view the National Historical Museum, where we were able to take photos of famous paintings by Brueghel the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens, and Caravaggio. This was one of the better ideas we had in Vienna. Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit the Freud Museum, the contemporary museum with the various Klimts, or the Schonbrunn Palace. With the increasingly cold weather, we headed back to the area near our hotel, where we got some surprisingly tasty pizza and beer, and then burrowed back to our warm hotel. At this point we were more than ready to leave cold, expensive Vienna for Prague.

7th Day: Vienna (5/29)

  We departed Budapest on our third day there and headed for the train station to take us into Vienna. Arriving at rush hour, we noticed first how clean Vienna was and later how expensive things were, considering that the dollar was well below the Euro. First familiar sight was the Vienna State Opera--which we unfortunately didn't go into.  We did learn that the architect of the building committed suicide, after learning that Franz Joseph likened it to a "train station."
 Without a map or plan, we made our way to the city centre, where we saw (and entered) the St. Stephen Church or Stephansdom, which has stood for 800 years, even though it was, of course, damaged, like many buildings on our Eastern European tour, from WWII bombings. Leaving the church, we braved our way through aggressive Korean tourists to Cafe Central, where Lenin, Trotsky, Freud, and other movers & shakers of the 20th century got caffeinated and made plans/schemes. Wandering again, we stumbled upon the Hofburg Palace, the seat of Austrian power for over 6 centuries. With only so much light in the day, though, we headed for the metro--one of the easiest to manage in our travels--to go north to see the famous Prater or ferris wheel used in the film "The Third Man." Lifted and rotating above the city, we got some nice panoramic photos of Vienna and saw parts of it that we would not be able to see later because of the rainy weather and our brief stay in Vienna.

6th Day: Budapest (5/28)

On our second day in Budapest, we headed out to the House of Terror, a museum that was housed in the former Nazi headquarters as well as the Hungarian Secret Police for the Soviets (a horrible irony). Here, again, I was able to take a few clandestine photos, including ones of Soviet paintings, walls of propaganda ads, and best of all, a carpet of the Soviet empire that resembled a map. By the end of the tour, we saw the interrogation rooms, the files they kept on citizens, and various monuments to those who died. Overall, there was a slight political bias to the museum--Nazism is the same as communism, all praise to the appeasing Catholic Church--but it was worth the visit in its detailing of that period of Hungary's history.

 After the museum, we decided to take a hop on/hop off bus tour that started at the Budapest Opera house. We drove up Andrassy Ut, then crossed the river to the Buda side, where we snapped some panoramic shots of the city from the Castle District and drove around the famous sights, like the funicular and the fortress. Hopping off permanently from the bus tour, we walked through the city and caught the metro to the Szechenyi Baths, which is north near the parks. We got there around 4 and hung around until 6, when the clouds came out.
  Fresh from the baths, which were welcome after walking so much for 5 days, we took in the park and went south towards Hero's Square, where I was able to get better photos of the statues. Heading back to our hotel, we stopped at a pub and then set out for dinner at the Kaltenberg, which served traditional Hungarian fare as well as its own brew. With dinner out of the way, we stopped at the "No-Name" bar near our hotel before calling it a night.

5th Day of Honeymoon: Budapest (5/27)

We awoke early to catch a 6AM flight to Budapest via Berlin, and on the way to the airport, Aleks found time to catch up on her Polish with an elderly cab driver, who told her Budapest was the "Paris of the East." It was near 10:30 when we arrived in Budapest, and while we weren't overjoyed at our accommodations, we did like the view of the city. At first, we saw a beautiful central train station (not the one we'd take when we left), and later we caught sight of the Danube as the weather got cloudy.

Deciding to take advantage of one of the few rainless days there, we walked to Margaret Island, where we rented a golf cart to see the Island's sights for about 30 minutes. We drove and took pictures of several ruins, the water tower, St. Michael's church, and, of course, the park itself, where a few people were playing soccer before the storm.

Heading back to town, we snapped some photos of St. Stephens Basilica. Luckily, though, I spotted and posed for a cardboard cut out of a traditional Hungarian peasant enjoying goulash, right before we walked to the restaurant Belvarosi Lugas Etterem for dinner, where I got some real goulash and Aleks got chicken paprikash.
After dinner, we stopped briefly at Cafe Gerbeaud, a famous coffeehouse/confectionary for Hungarian intellectuals since the 19th century. We ordered some expensive espresso and cafe au lait before they closed and before we headed out to the Danube to take a night cruise. Here we got some great photos of the city as it was lit up. Highlights included Buda castle, the Parliament, and the Chain Bridge. I also took some video at times.

Aleks and I agreed this cruise and view of the city was the best part of our honeymoon.

4th Day of Honeymoon: Krakow (5/26)

On our last day in Krakow, we headed out to Wawel Castle, the #1 attraction of the city. After seeing some great panoramic views of the Vistula river, where there was a Mother's Day celebration, we ventured inside the castle to take specific tours of the state rooms, the armoury, the cathedral, and the Dragon's Den. With the first three rooms, we were not allowed to take pictures, but I pulled off some clandestine shots. (The Polish museum guards were ever vigilant, as if they wanted all visitors to buy postcards/souvenirs.) With the Dragon's Den, we descended a lengthy spiral staircase into a wet underground cave, only to emerge to see a statue of a dragon that breathed fire every 15 minutes.

After the castle, it was back to the Rynek for some Tyskie beer. Later, we hit the tram to the Kazimierz district again to see the Jewish cemetery there. However, it was closed, although we did have a nice, cheap dinner of bigos and potato soup before running across Ariel (Spielberg's favorite restaurant while shooting Schindler's List). We also saw our Tokyo train companion walking by and we greeted him and continued on.

     On our trip back, we were accosted by a tram policeman, who wanted to fine us for not punching our ticket. He escorted us back to our hotel, where he demanded 240 zlotys or almost $80. We got away with paying only 110 zlotys since we didn't have the exact amount, and he didn't want to go into our hotel for change. Thus ended our Polish vacation, and from there on out, we made sure to time stamp our tram tickets.

Third Day: Krakow (5/25)

  On the third day, we "rose again in accordance with the Scriptures" to our first sunny day in Poland. At 7 A.M., we walked back to the Rynek and took pictures of the St. Mary's Church and visited the Cloth Hall, where we bought a few souvenirs, including a much-needed scarf for myself. Later, we trekked to the university district before returning to our hotel for a day trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mines.
  After a brief drive out of the city, we stood in line among Russian, French, and Italian tourists to see the Salt Mine, which was built in the 13th century and continues to produce table salt today. Still, we weren't there to look at salt production or lick the walls--which you can do. Instead, we took in the sculptures, like the King Kazimierz and the cathedral, which were carved out of salt by the miners. Our tour guide spoke to us through a mic, which we heard thru headsets, and by the end, he curtly dismissed us and left us stranded to find a lift and our way back thru town.
  Later that afternoon, we returned to Krakow. Finally learning how to use the tram, it was back to the Rynek, where we took in some Polish beer (Okocim) before our dinner. We ate at Pod Aniolami or "Under the Angels" and feasted on exquisite duck and boar dishes. "Smalec," the traditional Polish dish of bacon-infused lard, was also used for spread. Lard-o'-licious.
  With dinner out of the way, we hit the Kazimierz district to see an ironic bar called Propaganda. Here we saw Soviet-era posters with old communist slogans and tried the local "tatanka" cocktail: Zubrowka vodka (bison grass), lime, and apple juice. On the trip back to the hotel, we took some more photos of the Rynek at night and stopped into a vodka bar, where we tried "wisniowka" and overheard a local drunk warn someone (and to us indirectly) that Vienna was not worth visiting.

Second Day: Krakow (5/24)

On the second day, we headed to the train station to ride south for Krakow. After figuring out where our departure was (and that we had to pay to use the toilets in certain public places), we squeezed on the train to Budapest. The ride on the rails was uneventful, aside from meeting one compartment companion: a nice middle-aged man from Tokyo, who spoke English and was also visiting Krakow. Two days later, we would run into him again by chance in the Kazimierz district.


After checking into the nicer Chopin hotel, we headed out to the main square or Rynek Glowny and saw Saint Mary's Cathedral. We later ate at the Babci Maliny or "Raspberry Grandmother" where we ate pierogies family style. After that, we called it a night and passed out at 6 PM, as the jet lag set in.

First Day of Honeymoon: Warsaw 5/23/13

After enduring a 15-hour flight, complete with screaming babies on the Lufthansa trip, Aleks and I touched down into an unusually cold and overcast Warsaw. We checked in for one night into the Best Western on the eastern bank (or Praga district) and began a walking/driving tour with our jocose Polish tour guide and a crew composed of an Englishwoman from Stratford upon Avon, a Belgian, and a Swede.

 Our first stop was the Royal Baths Park along the Royal Route, and we saw the Chopin Memorial, the Royal Baths Palace, and a few peacocks. Next we drove on a tour bus around the city and saw memorials to the Warsaw Uprising. We later stopped to look at the New Town and then Warsaw's Old Town, parts of which weren't destroyed by bombing in WWII or was recently rebuilt. Here we saw the Royal Palace, the Barbican fortification wall, an odd piece of graffiti of Madame Curie, a church with the old Polish armor dress, and the Katyn memorial.

Swamp Tour and Abita Springs/Spring Break

First Spring Break trip consisted of jumping on the Honey Island Swamp Tour, outside of Slidell, LA. On a pleasant 70-degree Wednesday in late March, we floated around the marsh as our tour guide pointed out gators, snakes, and turtles. Later, we saw some fishing cabins, most of which were wrecked by Katrina. In short, a good day spent seeing wildlife and floating houses.

In the afternoon, we drove over to Abita Springs in order to partake of some Abita beer brands. 2 pints later we moseyed over to the biggest gazebo I've ever seen. We refrained from waltzing and drove back home.

Celebration in the Ozarks

On a humid December Sunday evening, Aleks and I visited the Celebration in the Ozarks at City Park in Metarie, LA. Forking over $12 (Aleks treated), we were surrounded by toddlers and their caregivers. Initially, we had hoped for a romantic walk under well-lit trees; instead, we found Storyland Village, an amusement park of recreated fairy tales, some of which were, I admit, amusing. Still, we had to dodge around the young 'uns to get to the more "adult" section. Highlights included a giant T-Rex, a Cajun Christmas story w/audio-visual accompaniment, Mr. Bingle (a local figure), and the hanging moss juxtaposed with the Christmas lights. Lowlights included the laser show (not pictured). Final verdict: either return with kids someday or sneak in by ourselves.

Do Y'Know What It Means When It Snows in New Orleans?

'Twas the 11th of December and a phone call awoke me. It was my friend J. Mellis, calling to surprise me about what was outside. But I paid no heed and slept on. 30 minutes later I awoke and turned my blinds to see snow falling. Great Heavens!

Aleks and I laughed at the weather report the night before which hinted that there might be snow, but this morning only Aleks laughed as she dressed quickly to frolic in the snow. It was her first time to wake up to snow. I was slightly dazed, yet I rushed to get my camera and was met with some freezing weather outside.

I'm glad we took these pictures because 20 minutes later the snowfall turned to rain. As Aleks said, "Now it's just gonna be all wet and yucky." In other words, typical New Orleans weather. Still, we were entertained the rest of that morning by watching news reports with pictures of palm trees and streetcars topped with snow.

8/29-9/5 Vacation Extended b/c of Hurricane Gustav

With the impending doom of Hurricane Gustav, titled the "mother of all storms" by our "chocolate-city" mayor Ray Nagin, Aleks and I evacuated New Orleans for the second time in 3 years. This time we drove to my parents' place in Madison, MS, and on Saturday and Sunday, we waited for the storm--by the pool. It was harrowing. The water in the pool was placid but chilly, yet we endured. And the hot sun bore down, yet we tanned.



All in all, not a bad way to spend an evacuation.

8/23 Carmel and Monterey

On Saturday, we drove down to the Carmel and Monterey area. We started out doing the 17-mile drive along the Carmel coast, where we saw Pebble Beach and the Lone Cypress. Next, we headed to downtown Carmel where we had lunch at Merlot and walked around Ocean Avenue. Before leaving for Monterey, we stopped in briefly at the Carmel Mission to take a few photographs but had to leave quickly because there were back-to-back weddings going on in the basilica.

On the way back home, we stopped off in Monterey and walked around Cannery Row, where we got coffee and rested up at the park near the marina. We thought about going to Santa Cruz, but decided against it since we had reached our limit for sightseeing for the day.

8/22 Sailing to Angel Island

On Friday, the Hajduczeks and I drove to Emeryville Marina to prepare the Olenka (Aleks' nickname) for sail to Angel Island. After some nautical education and some batting down of the hatches, we set sail and arrived at Angel Island around noon. (I even steered at one point.)



When we arrived at Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the West for Asian immigrants, we had lunch as a herd of deer grazed behind us. We also saw a gang of SegWay drivers cruising the docks. Best of all, we had fantastic views of Tiburon and Sausalito, which resembled the Greek isles, or so I thought. On the return trip the waves hit harder and we convinced Captain Hajduczek to turn on the motor. Back on land in the early evening, the sea-battered crew hit the nearest Trader Vic's for Mai-Tais and hot rum.

8/21 SF3 Grace Cathedral, Stones Exile Pics, Mall

By Thursday morning, we were tired and slept in for a bit, but we woke up to check out Grace Cathedral before checking out of the Grant Hotel. Before noon, we walked into some art galleries down Geary Street and saw photos of the Rolling Stones when they were recording "Exile on Main Street." We also saw some paintings by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Picasso, and Dali woodcuts of Dante's Divine Comedy. We refrained from buying any of them.



By lunchtime, we got some massive burritos at Tacqueria Cancun, then hung out at SOMA and the Yerba Buena Gardens. Still, we were so sore from walking that we went to the Westfield Shopping Centre and laid around until 2, until we finally went to the City Beer Store before catching the BART back to Martinez.

8/20 SF2 Trolley, Lombard, City Lights, Castro, Haight Ashbury

On Wednesday, we woke up early and walked down to Market to catch the cable car in order to reach the hills of Lombard Street, the crookedest street in America. Once there, we noticed that the cars going down it could only go 5 miles per hour.



After we left Lombard, we walked down to N. Beach to visit City Lights Bookstore, the one that Lawrence Ferlinghetti opened and was known as a Beat hangout. We also walked down Jack Kerouac alley and saw some literary plaques, like the Steinbeck one in the pic. In addition, we spied some hanging underwear above our heads.

We then walked down again to Market to catch the MUNI, the public streetcar, in order to get to the Castro District, which is at the end of Market Street in the Southwest end of SF. Once there, we took in the stores (costume stores, leather stores, hardware stores) and noticed how clean everything was. So many professionals, so few queens. However, we were amused to know that there was a "Gay Cleaning" store along with a Beaver Street in the Castro. We had lunch at Thai House Express and then headed north over towards the Haight Ashbury while we checked out the Victorian houses in that neighborhood.

In the Haight we dropped into an anarchist bookstore and then we shopped at various thrift stores around the Haight before stopping for a beer and using the facilities. Near the afternoon, we were tired from all the walking and caught a bus back to the hotel, where we rested before heading out to dinner in North Beach at the Steps of Rome, a nice Italian restaurant.

We had our post-dinner cocktails at Vesuvio's, another Beat hangout, and then headed out to the Ha-Ra club, another bar, although less charming than every other site we saw in SF. Eventually, by 10:00, we ventured to Bourbon and Branch, a posh speakeasy also known as the Anti-Saloon League, where we ordered expensive whiskey sours and Old-Fashioneds for an hour.

Near the end of the evening, we stopped in a nearby Mexican restaurant to have salsa, and I then jumped up to work my magic at Karaoke to sing "Suspicious Minds." Aleks and the surrounding Asians and Mexicans were clearly jealous of my moves. We were then kicked out at midnight.

8/19 San Francisco Day 1: Chinatown, N. Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate, Alcatraz

On Tuesday morning, Aleks and I rode the BART from Martinez into the city. But before that happened, we saw next to the BART station an Iraq War memorial, where protesters have set up crosses for every dead soldier so far. So check that out on your commute!



We arrived in the city and checked into the Grant Hotel at 11. The quaint hotel, run by some quiet Asians, gave us a room that had a window view of a brick wall, and it was situated next to a Nude Male Revue. However, it was very close to Chinatown, where we walked around and had Dim Sum at 4 Seas Restaurant. Later, we walked up to N. Beach and Washington Park and saw the church where Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe got married.

Around 1, we walked further up to the tourist trap Fisherman's Wharf, where we stopped by to play early 20th century arcade games at the Musee Mechanique. Best of all, two young hippie wannabes gave us 2 free tickets (totaling $44) to ride the Red & White tour boat. (We later repaid these benevolent hippies by buying them beer once on board). The tour ride was windy, but nice because it allowed us to see the city from the water along with the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

When we arrived back on land, we walked over to Pier 39 to see the lazy seals that barked continuously and pushed each other off their docks.



By 4:00, we were tired from walking and rested at Melt, a wine bar in North Beach before we headed back to the hotel and prepared for dinner. We had dinner at the Foreign Cinema in the Mission District, the dirtiest bum-ridden neighborhood I saw in SF, and it reminded me of the East Village or downtown New Orleans, post-Mardi Gras. Still, the food at the restaurant was terrific: gazpacho, calamari, chicken, and free cocktails--all while watching a vulgar French film.