Leave me in the meat case

UPDATE: Since writing this, I've been told by Czech and long-time expat friends that it's generally NOT okay to have dogs in grocery stores. I guess we just assumed that it was fine since she's allowed everywhere else, we carry her/have her ride in the cart, and there are no signs on the door of this particular chain banning dogs, which is usually the case for non-dog-friendly businesses. Apologies!


A POST BY JAYDA. WOOF.

Six years in the United States and I never once set foot in a grocery store. 3 months in this place and I'm freaking Lassie of the deli aisle.

Actually, it's not too bad when mom and dad pop into the supermarket and I'm with them; I usually get a treat out of the deal. I like the bread section because it smells nice. And little old ladies digging for the softest rohliks ooh and ah over me.

The dairy area is not my favorite because their are 147 different types of yogurt and it takes mom and dad forever to choose. And they spell it "yoghurt" here like the British, which looks like "yoga hurt," and that's just silly.

I stay in the cart so I don't pee on anything. Can you spot me between the ground beef, beer, bananas and drain cleaner? I wonder if I could pop a wheelie in this thing.

Sometimes mom and dad giggle at the Czech products. Pickled sausage and onions, anyone?

Mmmmmm... the meat case. What I wouldn't give to roll around that thing for a little while. I could go for a pork pillow and a brisket blanket right about now...

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RIP Lou Reed

Unless you live under a rock, you're aware that musician Lou Reed passed away in NY. It's a big deal here because he was close with former Czech President Vaclav Havel, and his music helped influence dissidents (like Havel) who spurred the fall of Communism. Read more in the Prague Post HERE.

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal

There's a lot of bootleg internet video of Reed's performances in the Czech Republic, so I had to sift through a bunch to find this gem from 2009. It's a concert to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution (nonviolent end to Communist rule). In it, Reed sings "Perfect Day" with soprano Renee Fleming, and you can see a close-up of former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (who is Czech) in the audience. A really moving performance.

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Over the hill

Thanks to experiencing a looong string of grey days, BW and I became accustomed to leaving our sunglasses at home. Thus, when we walked outside yesterday, we squinted like moles and shrank back toward the door. "I'd almost forgotten what a sunny sky looks like," BW said, slinking back into our flat in a Vampire-esque manner. A few minutes later, a layer of clothing less, and donning sunglasses, we set off for Prague's Petrin Hill, a destination we chose for the purpose of relishing Fall colors.

You can walk up the roughly 1,000 ft-high hill, but we hopped the Petrin Funicular, instead, along with dozens of Czech families with strollers, grandparents and dogs in tow.

Here's the funicular in the 1930s, and it doesn't look that different today.

From dpp.cz, the Prague Department of Public Transport

At the top there were row after row of rosebushes in every variety of red, pink and white imaginable. It was like Valentine's Day had exploded. What a treat to see them before Autumn laid them to rest for the Winter.

Walking onward, we came to Petrin's famous Lookout Tower, which was modeled after the Eiffel Tower and built in 1891. We split a monstrous klobasa in a beer garden in the tower's shadow and then decided against scaling it. There were also a couple of churches and a mirror maze in the vicinity.

Unfortunately, a lot of the Fall color we'd come to see was already on the ground, but the walk was lovely, nonetheless. Jayda lapped up the off-leash area we discovered further north along the hill.

And the views were stupidly spectacular. 

We said hello to the statue of Our Lady in Exile and the Strahov Monastery before heading back down to city life.

Want to see the inside of the Monastery's library? It was featured in an episode of The Bachelorette:

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Czelections: Nutty and purple

So Czechs have been without a proper government since June, when Parliament collapsed amid a corruption/sex scandal. Elections, which took place yesterday and today, happened a year ahead of schedule to deal with the mess. 

Unlike the USA, this country has both a President, who is the head of state, and a Prime Minister, who is head of Parliament. Traditionally, the President has limited powers, but when Parliament collapsed, current President Miloš Zeman defied protocol and appointed his good buddy to lead a technocratic "government of experts." However, that group resigned in August. 

And you thought American politics were nutty.

Zeman, who has been criticized for public drunkenness, recently gave a speech at a Phillip Morris factory and stated that cigarettes are harmless if you start smoking in adulthood

One thing I do appreciate about Czech politics is the breadth of parties, which seems to offer voters more choice.  Here's how the top 3 out of 8 main parties fared in today's election results:

• Social Democrats: 20.45%
• ANO 2011: 18.65%
• Communists: 14.91%

Apparently, the results are shocking, and none of the top 3 parties have enough clout to form a government alone; two will have to form a coalition. If you want to know more, read THIS from the BBC.

While following all of this hooplah has been engrossing, my favorite part of Czelections 2013 is the giant purple middle finger Czech artist David Cerny floated on the Vltava River all week; BW and I went to see it yesterday.

At 33 feet high, the sculpture is meant to flip the bird at the President and the Communist Party. Cerny told The New York Times, "This finger is aimed straight at castle politics. After 23 years [since the fall of Communism], I am horrified at the prospect of the Communists returning to power and of Mr. Zeman helping them to do so."

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Foodie Tour Part 5: Vienna and home

Renting a car for our road trip initially seemed surprisingly cheap, but with all of road tolls and gas spend on curvy, hilly routes, it ended up being equal to what train travel would have cost. However, without the car, we wouldn't have been able to visit a handful of Istrian villages or stop in Vienna on the way home.

Although we didn't have time to properly tour the Austrian capital, we did have a couple of hours to fritter away on its incredible 1.5 km-long outdoor Naschmarkt food market, which I really wanted BW to see. If he tells you that we could have spent more time there had I not gotten us ridiculously lost in Vienna, tell him ER says that's preposterous.

The market didn't disappoint with its piles of goodies from every shade of the color spectrum. I think I drooled on myself more than once.

Any fruit you can think of was dried and sold at this stand

So not amused 

You can pickle just about anything and stuff it with cheese

A fleamarket was next door; we didn't spend long there

Fruits and veg as far as the eye can see; I felt healthy just standing by it

One of the dozens of outdoor food market cafes

In summary, it was a super trip. Would we do the car rental thing again? Probably not, unless it was absolutely necessary. It's nicer to chill and let someone else manhandle the transport. 

Would I write 5 separate posts about 1 trip next time? Hopefully not; sorry if this felt like a vacation slide show! 

Would we visit a place based on the whims of our stomachs again? Absolutely :)

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Foodie Tour Part 4: Medieval Hill Towns

Our last night in Rovinj was spent drinking wine straight from the bottle on a rocky outcrop where a martyr floated ashore in a sarcophagus circa 800 A.D. As the sky faded from aqua to inky black and the waves pulsed rhythmically below us, we watched fishermen sink flashlights to illuminate the sea and draw out their final day's catch of sardines and squid. It was beautiful to witness people doing what they've done for thousands of years on the water.

As difficult as it was to leave the sea, we headed into the Istrian interior the next day to explore Medieval towns renowned for their vineyards, olive groves and hills riddled with truffles.

The first stop: 2,000-year-old Motovun, the birthplace of race car driver Mario Andretti and home of an international film festival.

It prettily sits atop a hill

Two of its 531 residents

We saw the four corners of Istria from a walkway installed in the 1200s 

The view wasn't too bad. We spotted a woman truffle-hunting with her three truffle-sniffing dogs

Our favorite Motovun moment was spying a nondescript little cafe setup on a far edge of the village's walkway and settling down there for glasses of wine made from grapes grown 500 meters away. 

Cheers!

The second stop: Groznajn, the only Croatian settlement to still have an ethnic Italian majority and the seat of the International Cultural Centre of Young Musicians

A truly multi-functional building: Former city hall, jail and grainery on the left

Jayda bought us some truffle-black olive spread for a souvenir

Empty streets; it was reeeeeeally quiet there

The third stop: Modern Istrian regional center Buje, where the first traces of life date back to prehistoric times

We found a creepy, crumbly old cemetery

"December 1852"

I so wanted to steal an orange from the tree but decided against it

Fish soup! The kind restaurateur took J in the kitchen and fed her the soup scraps :)

BW had carbonara and raved about it for the next hour or so

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Foodie Tour Part 3: Rovinj again

Yeah, yeah - the last post was about Rovinj, but I had to post more pictures because there's just too much eye candy to keep trapped in our hard disc.

We visited the city on the tail-end of tourist season; a lot of shops and restaurants had already closed. In fact, the campground we booked (but never used due to rain) was the only one that took guests past Sept. 30. Could we swim in the sea? No. Was the nightlight amazing? Nope. But we got what we came for - tremendously good food, tranquility, history and the chance to dip our toes into an unfamiliar culture.

Fun facts about Rovinj/Istria:

= The Plague wiped out many of Rovinj's inhabitants in the Middle Ages

= It's an international destination for nudists; there are establishments and beaches that cater to them

= For almost 500 years, Istria was a part of Venice, which is just across the Adriatic

= All Roman emperors have owned olive groves in Istria

= The largest truffle in the world was found in Istria (19.5cm long, 12.4 cm wide and 13.5 cm tall)

Stare-down with a seagull

Just another apartment

I thought "cistern" meant "toilet." I googled "cisterna" and it's a flattened membrane disc in the nervous system. It's also a city in Italy

Getting J to stand still for a picture is like herding cats

We ate a picnic lunch of wine and Burek (phyllo and meat pastry), and this was our view

Yet more winding streets. The center is car-free

Spooky but lovely

Best. Pizza. Ever. We'll never eat Dominoes or Little Caesars again 

Goodnight, Rovinj!

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Foodie Tour Part 2: Rovinj, Croatia

The plans we had to camp in Croatia dissolved in the scads of rain that ended up falling incessantly. We hightailed it through Slovenia under ominous grey clouds to get to Rovinj before dark and find accommodation that would keep us dry.

Picturesque even in gloomy environs

Thankfully, we spotted an adorable family-owned pension tucked into a side street. Two other couples staying at the pension, Americans and Poles, were drinking wine on the balcony and invited us to dinner with them. We nodded like bobbleheads after having eaten Czech rohliks (breadsticks) and Nutella in the car all day. It ended up being a raucously fun night and we got to indulge in truffle pasta:

The next morning, which brought some sun, we wrapped ourselves in Croatian culture:

Peppers at the Rovinj markets

The city still functions as an active fishing port, though the biggest trade is tourism 

Ancient buildings dip right into the water

St. Euphemia's Church sits atop the city, named after a martyred young woman who floated ashore in a sarcophagus in the 6th century

Navigating the winding streets

Kids outside a school

Where St. Euphemia washed ashore

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