Český Krumlov

Everyone should put a visit to Český Krumlov on their bucket list. A pictoresque town in the south of Bohemia, the town is home to the second largest castle in the Czech Republic, second of course to Prague Castle. However, the castle here differs from it's bigger brother in interesting ways, and gives the town of Český Krumlov it's seemingly magical character. From afar, the castle appears to have insets with statues, and bezel edges of the blocks that build the castle walls create distinct shadows in their grooves. However, as you climb the hill and approach the castle, you can see that the walls are nothing more than flat concrete, and the images are merely painted on as if in the backdrop of a play. Indeed, the theme can be seen throughout the town, and as you walk the narrow streets, there are moments when you feel that you are actually part of that play, lost in a world totally removed from reality. When you are there, rent a raft, and float down the river and look up. It will be the best day of your life.

Mezinárodní Filmový Festival v Karlových Varech

Blogging from the Internet Station at the Thermal Hotel in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, host of the 46th Annual International Film Festival here. We've seen several films, including the gripping Belgian film Rundskop, in which a young cattle farmer is confronted with shady dealings with the underground hormone mafia, the unexpected murder of a policeman, and a confrontation with events from his past lead to a confluence of events with unfortunate and extreme consequences. As the director said before the beginning of this screen, if you want to feel like you've engaged in a bit of self-masochism once you've walked out of the theatre, stay for this movie... And surely, the movie was a bit torturous at times, both in its graphic nature and emotionally exhausting content. The ending, though, was a little too literal for my taste.

Budapest and Bratislava

I've just recently returned to Prague from a trip through Budapest and Bratislava, both of which are beautiful cities, although the former is significantly larger both physically and socioculturally than the latter. Statistics themselves suffice to prove the first point -- look them up if you care to -- but certainly the second requires explanation. Budapest is the capital city of Hungary, a nation of people that speak one of the most common non-Indo-European language in Europe (the other being Turkish). Slovak, however, spoken in Bratislava, is both a far less common language and is far more similar to other languages spoken throughout Europe. Furthermore, the Hungarians seem to make little to no effort to cater to Indo-European language speakers. What in Bratislava is displayed in Slovak, German, French, and English, is often exclisively in Hungarian in Budapest. It reminds me of a once-prominent and now waning attitude towards foreigners and immigrants in America: Welcome to America...now learn English! Budapest, though, is slightly less hostile than that -- it just swallows you whole, and you disappear into the abyss -- and, oddly, you feel almost welcome. But in Bratislava, even though it's much easier to understand, it feels like a much smaller mouth is nipping at your heels. Very interesting.

Chinese Restaurants in Prague

I've been in Prague now just a day -- but I have an odd craving for Chinese food... which surely has nothing to do with the ubiquity of čínské restaurace here (literally every 100m), or the uncanny ability of Chinese restaurant owners to place color-enhanced photographs of everything on the menu onto large placards outside their storefronts. Seriously though, I'm dying for some 麻婆豆腐、 鱼香茄子和酸辣汤。Bohužel, none of our organized dinners are are v čínských restauracích, only v českých, so it appears for the time behing I am limited to klobása...