23. – 25.10.2009

Thanks to my friend Dita and after five years of living in the USA I finally went to see New York.

As I had just two days to see the city my visiting was intense and overwhelming. The city sucks you in and there is no way how to escape from it. My first feel of the city was right out of the train from Penn Station. As I entered the station suddenly crowd of people surrounded me and that feeling never left me. I called Dita to rescue me. I couldn’t even describe her where I was. There were people everywhere.

I was trying not to loose Dita as we were walking toward the subway. The city was lit by millions lights, by millions people, and by millions cars or I should say taxis. It was nice to sit down in Czech and Slovak Restaurant Koliba in Astoria and eat some Czech food. Then we went by taxi to Dita’s home. I was surprised that we went by taxi because in Boston it’s quite expensive but not in NY.

New York is crazy crazy crazy! I would never say that I love NYC or that NYC is beautiful. NYC is everything else but beautiful. Maybe just Chrysler building and Brooklyn bridge are beautiful and parks. :)

I would say that NYC is cool, crazy, loud, crowded, cosmopolitan for sure, colorful and dirty. And tense. NYC is nice at night and when is sunny. 

NYC is everything you can imagine and everything you cannot! You just have to go there and see it, live it.

Dita took me through all the major sightseeing places.

You can see it in my album New York City.

My sister gave a birth to her second son on October 12th at 10:42 am,

6lbs 7oz, 18 1/2 inches (2.9 kg, 47 cm), and she named him Martin as my brother and his son!

We made fun that if I ever have a son I should name him also Martin! :D

Congratulations and a lot of love!

xoxo 

Marty and Matty 

5 years ago I was walking with my friend Polly in this beautiful area in Wellesley, Mass

and we took pictures of this tree lit up by the late sun .

Last Sunday I found it again.

I was trying to come at the same time of the day so I can catch the nice light.

I came two weeks earlier then five years ago and to my surprise the leaves were already gone, even from the ground. 

So much has changed since my last visit.

5 years ago Polly and I just came to the U.S. and had been living here for few months not knowing what is ahead of us.

I was dating this handsome man just for couple of months.

5 years later I am living with that man and calling him my husband.

And my friend Polly is happily married in Australia with a beautiful daughter.

I was sitting on the bench with my thoughts.

 I closed my eyes and listened the wind in the branches. So pieceful. I was glad that I found the place again.

Just across where I was sitting was a beautiful tree which still had colorful leaves.  

I walked around and took some more pictures. There are  in my album Trees.

Usually when people ask me where I come from I say the Czech Republic and they would say Prague. Prague (Czech Praha) became very popular after the collapse of Communist government back in 1989 and a lot of tourist are visiting from all over the world. So for those who doesn’t know, Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic.

 I looooove Prague. I went to High School plus lived there for six years. I knew that Prague is beautiful but I fully realized it when I started travel and was coparing her with other big cities.  I miss her sooo much!

Prague is no like other city.  I love Rome, London, Washington D.C., San Francisco, but non of these cities are as picturesque and magic as Prague is. You can let yourself get lost in her narrow historical streets, close your eyes and relax in many parks, or walk on Charles River Bridge long after midnight when there is just you and last street musician.

Prague isn’t big (1.2 million people) but that’s her beauty. She also wasn’t damaged by second world war, historical buildings are preserved well and most modern buildings are situated in harmony with the old ones .

Instead of me I’ll let my photos talk and I borrowed words of Czech writer whose description of Prague is so beautiful:

“Prague is such a goddess of love, able to give to everyone, without loosing the reputation of being beautiful, charming and honorable, faithful, as becomes an immortal goddess. You will find her in all her guises, the Romanesque and Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque, and Rococo, Classicist and Empire, Art Nouveau and contemporary. Here too she is the goddess of gardens and bridges and towers, of which there are so many that nobody has ever counted them exactly. She is a beauty for all seasons.”

Arnošt Lustig

more photos in my album Prague.

27.5.2009

After visiting my parents we went towards to Prague and stopped half way in Kutná Hora which is part of UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The origins of Kutna Hora are linked with the settlement of the first Cistercian Monastery in Bohemia in 1142. In the 13th century Kutna Hora gained importance because of discovering silver which started silver mines and minting of Prague Groschen. From the 13th to 16th centuries the city competed with Prague economically, culturally and politically.

Kutna Hora has two major sightseeing. Cathedral of St. Barbara and Sedlec Ossuary.

Saint Barbara Cathedral construction began in 1388 and by 1420 work on the building was interrupted for more than 60 years during the Hussite Wars. Construction, however, depended on the prosperity of the town's silver mines, which became much less productive. So, in 1588, the incomplete structure was enclosed by a provisional wall until 1884 and the roof was unfinished until the 19th century. The Cathedral is named after Saint Barbara who is the patron of miners. Originally three aisled Cathedral was changed to massive 5 aisled Cathedral.

Cemetary Chapel with Ossuary in Sedlec. The chapel was built at the end of the 14th century and its current appearance is the result of Baroque reconstruction carried out by Santini-Aichl in the early 18th century.

Its foundation is bounded with the story of abbot Heidenreich, who went to Jerusalem in 13th Century. From there he brought a bit of saint soil. During the ceremony he scaterred the soil on the local cemetery which turned to a place full of miracles. Sedlec then was sought by many pilgrims and christians from Poland, Bavaria and Belgium, who wanted to be burried there. Being burried in Sedlec ment being closer to the ressurection, so it is normal that many people were concerned in being burried there. Thirty thousands victims of black death and many hussites were added to the local corpses.

Unique skeletal decorations of the interior are probably the work of woodcarver František Rint in the 19th century. According to estimates, bones of approximately 40,000 people were used to decorate the chapel, creating this unique ossuary – a reminder of the transience of human life and the inevitability of death.

More photos in my photo album Kutna Hora.

Next Prague.