Random end-of-trip thoughts
My trip is totally ending for real~! I'm coming home on a plane tomorrow. Well to NYC at least... staying with my friend Heather for one night and then taking the bus back to Boston the next day. Both sad & excited.
Yesterday I spent time hanging out in some museums including the always favorite Mucha Museum, so gorgeous. I met a new friend in my dorm from Canada (Natalie) and we went to see an English movie in the evening called "9." Tim Burton had a hand in it so I was expecting great things, but it was only okay. I really like the physical animation and the coolness of the characters' appearance.. they consisted of little mechanical doll figure things with brass and zippers and buttons. And I like the whole theme of religion vs. science - the main antagonist is a Pope-like figure who is blind to science and goes to great lengths to stop the truth from coming to light. Of course science wins in the end and oppressive religion relents. I like when movies and books for children try to put that message forth, since let's face it, historically organized religion has done nothing but terrorize scientists, burn libraries filled with centuries of knowledge in the name of God and scream heresy every time a new theory is a presented that doesn't follow a literal interpretation of their own twisted bible. Anyway, the movie had good intentions but it lacked a real passion and the characters/plot were really 2 dimensional. Oh well.
Today was Czech pastries and tea in the morning, then palaces and gardens all day, and some shopping with Old Town square live music in the evening. One of the nicest places I went was called the Loreta - it's a Czech shrine or maybe you could call it a temple. It has been the site of pilgrimages for several centuries since it contains within its walls a holy statue called Our Lady of Loreta who supposedly works miracles. The statue is housed in a replica of the Virgin Mary's conception house (weird) and it just seemed garish and uninteresting to me. But upstairs they had a treasury filled with diamond and pearl encrusted Pope stuff like the robe thing they wear and the Pope hats and the weird thing they carry which looks like a big starburst on a stand with a hole in the center. Don't know what that's even supposed to be for, but it's very pontiff-y. Also, in the main chapel were creepy full skeletons, clothed and wearing wax death masks... making an appearance alongside the body-less cherub heads and other unsettling decor. I decided that I really like the long-necked Jesus and Mary paintings and statues. They look so odd, like dinosaurs or the loch-ness monster. And the ones with the rolling eyes are the best/creepiest. There was even a long-necked Jesus on the ceiling of a chapel in Moscow that had really tiny T-Rex arms in the painting - it was hilarious, but of course we got in trouble for giggling and were shushed by an angry Russian lady. I think the chapels and churches and shrines interest me far more than they would if I actually believed in the religious part. Was is most enthralling is the sheer audacity that these religious leaders must have had to amass all this awesome wealth in one place while their people were starving or being persecuted or dying in the streets. Its just amazing to me (and totally depressing) that these places are covered in gold, paintings and statues everywhere... I mean they were commissioning art and ordering silk from Asia and diamonds and jewels while the people they were supposedly there to help were just withering away. It is disgusting to me and so of course it fascinates me. And the creepiness is another attraction.
So Czech people are way nicer than Russian people in general. Most don't scowl when you try to speak English to them. And everyone knows *some* English. Unlike Russia where everyone just rolls their eyes when you say "Hello" and then they kind of stare at you until you say something they understand. Otherwise they just ignore you until you go away.
I like the traffic lights in this part of the world, because the green light starts to blink before it turns yellow. No more running yellow lights! You have a warning even before yellow and definitely plenty of time before red. Very cool idea. I'm really going to miss all the people I met on my trip and didn't have time to get to know better or did get to know halfway and now wish I lived near them so I could continue to have them in my life. I'm staying at the best hostel in the world called Miss Sophie's and if anyone ever goes to Prague you must stay here! Okay, no more until I arrive home. Wish me luck on the never-ending flight followed by the never-ending series of buses to get to NH...
Yesterday I spent time hanging out in some museums including the always favorite Mucha Museum, so gorgeous. I met a new friend in my dorm from Canada (Natalie) and we went to see an English movie in the evening called "9." Tim Burton had a hand in it so I was expecting great things, but it was only okay. I really like the physical animation and the coolness of the characters' appearance.. they consisted of little mechanical doll figure things with brass and zippers and buttons. And I like the whole theme of religion vs. science - the main antagonist is a Pope-like figure who is blind to science and goes to great lengths to stop the truth from coming to light. Of course science wins in the end and oppressive religion relents. I like when movies and books for children try to put that message forth, since let's face it, historically organized religion has done nothing but terrorize scientists, burn libraries filled with centuries of knowledge in the name of God and scream heresy every time a new theory is a presented that doesn't follow a literal interpretation of their own twisted bible. Anyway, the movie had good intentions but it lacked a real passion and the characters/plot were really 2 dimensional. Oh well.
Today was Czech pastries and tea in the morning, then palaces and gardens all day, and some shopping with Old Town square live music in the evening. One of the nicest places I went was called the Loreta - it's a Czech shrine or maybe you could call it a temple. It has been the site of pilgrimages for several centuries since it contains within its walls a holy statue called Our Lady of Loreta who supposedly works miracles. The statue is housed in a replica of the Virgin Mary's conception house (weird) and it just seemed garish and uninteresting to me. But upstairs they had a treasury filled with diamond and pearl encrusted Pope stuff like the robe thing they wear and the Pope hats and the weird thing they carry which looks like a big starburst on a stand with a hole in the center. Don't know what that's even supposed to be for, but it's very pontiff-y. Also, in the main chapel were creepy full skeletons, clothed and wearing wax death masks... making an appearance alongside the body-less cherub heads and other unsettling decor. I decided that I really like the long-necked Jesus and Mary paintings and statues. They look so odd, like dinosaurs or the loch-ness monster. And the ones with the rolling eyes are the best/creepiest. There was even a long-necked Jesus on the ceiling of a chapel in Moscow that had really tiny T-Rex arms in the painting - it was hilarious, but of course we got in trouble for giggling and were shushed by an angry Russian lady. I think the chapels and churches and shrines interest me far more than they would if I actually believed in the religious part. Was is most enthralling is the sheer audacity that these religious leaders must have had to amass all this awesome wealth in one place while their people were starving or being persecuted or dying in the streets. Its just amazing to me (and totally depressing) that these places are covered in gold, paintings and statues everywhere... I mean they were commissioning art and ordering silk from Asia and diamonds and jewels while the people they were supposedly there to help were just withering away. It is disgusting to me and so of course it fascinates me. And the creepiness is another attraction.
So Czech people are way nicer than Russian people in general. Most don't scowl when you try to speak English to them. And everyone knows *some* English. Unlike Russia where everyone just rolls their eyes when you say "Hello" and then they kind of stare at you until you say something they understand. Otherwise they just ignore you until you go away.
I like the traffic lights in this part of the world, because the green light starts to blink before it turns yellow. No more running yellow lights! You have a warning even before yellow and definitely plenty of time before red. Very cool idea. I'm really going to miss all the people I met on my trip and didn't have time to get to know better or did get to know halfway and now wish I lived near them so I could continue to have them in my life. I'm staying at the best hostel in the world called Miss Sophie's and if anyone ever goes to Prague you must stay here! Okay, no more until I arrive home. Wish me luck on the never-ending flight followed by the never-ending series of buses to get to NH...