They Are Watching

Karlovy Vary Spa, Czech Republic

Vienna City Center Skyline

Today is Friday the 13th, and a great date to post on this theme on 'the watchers.' Here is a fun fact, my mom was born on Friday the 13th, not in November, but in January. I actually never knew that until after she passed. Not sure why? But she never mentioned it. It was my dad that said something a few years ago with just a hint of a raised eyebrow as if to say 'well you know why she wouldn't want to talk about it.' Hmmm, actually I'm not in the least bit superstitious. I find the concept to be a complete waste of time. One of my girlfriends growing up had a habit of not wanting to walk on either side of a pole. So if for some reason we got out of the car and I was on one side of the parking meter with her on the other, she'd come around to my side and say 'bread and butter." Can someone please explain what exactly that corrects in the world of superstition?

So the watchers. We found statues everywhere we went in Europe, but one of the most curious places was on top of buildings? They appeared to be teetering on the edge of the roof, as though they might take one more step and come tumbling down? We saw them all throughout our trip. We saw them in every country we were in. We saw them on top of buildings, on the front of them, above the doorways, on the sides, between windows. They seem to be a very common architectural design.

Vienna

Austrian Parliament Building

I went in search of why exactly they would be so popular. The best answer I got was that during the Middle Ages as churches were being built statuary became a popular architectural design element. They used the buildings themselves as a canvas for a range of subjects from complex theological ideas to biblical tales to whimsical creatures. And I would say we saw all of this from the building in Rothenburg with the seven deadly sins in the facade, the castles of Bavaria, many of the buildings in the old center of Vienna, to the spa in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. They were simply everywhere.

The one in Rothenburg took over the entire front of the building called Baumeisterhaus or the Master-Builder's House. The facade includes the seven virtues (kindheartedness, motherliness, gentleness, temperance, courage, justice and wisdom - yes I had to look that up) as well as the seven deadly sins (gluttony, deception, falsehood, greed, lust, sloth and vanity - yes also looked this up). Gotta love a good medieval statue series to play out a few biblical stories. Particularly when it is now on the front of a restaurant to remind you of the sin of gluttony before you walk in the front door?

Baumeisterhaus

You can see the influence of Romans and Greeks in many of the statues, particularly in Vienna. Ah, Vienna. I believe it was my favorite city of the trip. It has such style, elegance and beauty. Dave and I absolutely fell in love with this city. I captured just a small sample of all the statues like this random blue Greek God (perhaps Hercules?) on a corner building, or like the Caryatid Pillars on a side entrance of the Austrian Parliament building. Vienna is a city of statues, and they were stunning.

The picture at the top of the post is one of the 12 statues representing the months of the year, which sit on top of the Mill Colonnade in central Karlovy Vary. You can read more background on the town in one of my previous posts. So why 12 statues representing months? I have no idea. None of the history to the town told me why the architect (Josef Zitek who also designed Prague's National Theater) decided to include them. Zitek was known for his Neo-Renaissance style; popular in the 19th Century throughout Europe for important public buildings like opera houses, theaters and palaces. Sometimes my study of history gives me the answers I'm looking for, and sometimes it doesn't. I don't think I really got a straight answer on all these watchers, but I did really love seeing and photographing them.

Behind the Lens :: Hidden Architecture

Church of St. Joseph

I just could not get enough of the architecture on our trip. The buildings are magnificent. Big or small they all have so much craftsmanship packed into their design. While we spent much of our day in Prague around the main town square of the old town, we managed to wander off down some side streets and stumble upon a few hidden treasures. 

A few posts back I showed you a picture of the amazing metal door of the Church of St. Joseph decorated with filigree. This is the front of that church. Just another church, down just another side road. 

Church of St. Joseph Skylight

It was hot while we were there. Really hot. Mid to high 90s and no A/C. 

But the second I pushed open the door to the church I felt a waft of cool air rush across my face that just drew me in. 

It was a small chapel. Nothing special, no ornate alter or huge crucifix hanging from the wall. Just a simple place to find some reprieve and quiet solitude. I sat in a pew and cooled off. Looking up all I could see was this beam of soft light coming in from the narrow sky light at the top of the dome. I was truly lost in my own space and time that I didn't notice the small face a few rows up intensely staring at me. I was a complete curiosity to the young girl. I guess just as much as this old church was to me. Funny how that happens sometimes when you are so intent on things going on in your own little world that you forget to notice the effect you have on the world around you.

My Obsession with Doors

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague Church of St. Joseph

I was really captured by all the architecture throughout our trip this last August. I keep taking random pictures of doors, statues and ceilings. Thankfully the hubby was pretty patient through most of it. But by the time we hit our last town, he was just starting to walk away. 

For me, it was just and endless smorgasbord of old world beauty to photograph. And I was happily snapping away lost in the moment. It seemed like every time we turned a corner there was a row of new doors, arches, columns and statues to explore. I forget just how new our country is until I visit some other place. Honestly, pretty much anywhere in Europe or Asia is much, much older than the US. And I fall in love with the detail, the tooling, the weathering of the ages and the patina left behind. I have an extensive collection of doors from around the world over on Pinterest. Yes, I am obsessed. If you want proof, just click the link. I can't help it. I love to wonder about the stories of who lived behind the doors. 

At the end of our trip, my husband and I were going through our photos and Dave said "our pictures are so different from each other." He has a tendency to want to pull back and get the full landscape shot, where I want to get up close and study the character of a building. I do just love the detail. The nicks and stories of who was there before me. 

I am still trying to get all our photos uploaded over on Pinterest. Combined we have a pretty nice collection of our whirlwind trek through central Europe. But I will spare you all reading the blog of the massive amount of pictures we took. If you want more doors, just click over to Pinterest.

Slovakia :: Street Art

Cumil: The Watcher

Bratislava was a surprise for me. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had heard for years how Slovakia had been depressed by Soviet control. My husband is Slovak, and visited when he was young while it was still communist. And he had painted a rather bleak view of the place.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a rather wonderful revitalization of an old world city. The split from Soviet Rule was in 1989 and called the Velvet Revolution (so named due to its peaceful separation). Four years later Czechoslovakia split again into separate countries, also known as the Velvet Divorce: where Slovakia and the Czech Republic went their separate ways. 

In the years that followed, Prague was an up and coming tourist destination and Western influence flooded into the country. Not so for Slovakia, still considered an off-the-beaten track destination. While we were in Vienna our hotel concierge gave us a quizzical look when we told him we were heading for Bratislava next. His reply was, "it'll be quick, you can see it all inside of 2 hours." I disagree, and wish we had more time while we were there. It was charming and still had its authentic character in much of the old town, the people and the shops we visited. One of the things I loved were all the quirky statues about town. There seems to have been a revival in the old town (called Korzo) to shed the greyness of the Communist era by repainting buildings and enlivening the old town with interesting sculptures.

Papparazzi

Schoner Naci

Cumil is one of the bronze statues in a series called 'Men at Work.' He is known by several names like the plumber or the watcher. The locals say that he is a symbol of a good man who is spending his time watching people and the life of Korzo. Others have more mischievous things to say about him like that he is looking up the women's skirts.

There are several other statues in the series called the Papparazzi and Schoner Naci. This last statue is the only one with a Bratislava legend. He is said to be a man named Ignac Lamar, son of a shoemaker. He was known as a gentleman wearing a black suit with tails and a top hat. He was smooth with the ladies greeting them with "I kiss your hand" in German, Hungarian and Slovak.

The thing that strikes me most about this quirky statue series is that it is a celebration of the common people who represent the country. Usually the statues are of the dictators, the scholars, the famous composers or memorials of some horror. But here in Bratislava it is the celebration of the people. And that in my book makes it unique and down right fun. I was taken with the response I saw on Lonely Planet from a local called Peter who took the time to translate and explain the meaning behind these statues. His final words were "Thank you for visiting our country." I found Bratislava to be a very friendly place to visit and worth the diversion off the beaten track.

Karlovy Vary :: The Original Spa Town

Karlovy Vary

Tepla River

I'm not sure where to start with blogging about our recent trip. I have piles of pictures and quite a few stories.

These posts are not likely to be in any sort of order, and I suspect they will not be your typical (obligatory) travel post. You all know me by now, and assume you'd be disappointed if I didn't give you a crazy side story or random musing careful observation about the places we visited. So I'll take my time and work my way through all the notes I took on the trip.

Mill Colonnade (Hubby just walking away)

Let's begin, shall we, at the end of our trip. We finished up our road trip extravaganza in a very old world, spa town called Karlovy Vary, a town known by the Germans as Karlsbad. 

The town is just over the Czech-German border in the Northwestern part of the Czech Republic in an area called Bohemia. The town was built up around a natural thermal hot springs where the Ohre and Tepla rivers come together. 

It is old, very old; founded in 1370 by the King of Bohemia and is everything Calastoga, CA hopes to be when it grows up. We used to go to Calastoga all the time when we lived in California. I loved it. We would rent a little cottage, get a massage, have a nice dinner and swim in the pool heated by the hot springs. 

But here is the thing, Calastoga will likely never hold the charm of this wonderful old world gem. Karlovy Vary is built as an original walking city like so much of the old towns we visited through Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The streets are cobble stone, and cars have a very hard time navigating most places (if they are allowed). And that makes for a wonderful, leisurely place to stroll along the water, stop into shops, sample some street cafe food (or better a glass of something local). Most of California is designed to get into your car and drive off to the next destination, and you just don't get the same feel for a place unless you're elbow to elbow with the locals.

Griffin Statue

The hot springs are the main attraction and have several long colonnades built up around the springs. There is the old structure, the new one (or Mill Colonnade) and even a park colonnade that was built in the 1800s and has a Victorian feel. I spent hours walking around snapping pictures of all these Corinthian columns, to the point where you can see my husband just walking away. 

In the main building is the geyser and a row of 'taps' for people to sample the mineral water. Or as they say "drinking cures," which there are various ones depending on which source and temperature of the water you choose. Prolonged use of the cure is not recommended, and suggested that you speak with the spa doctor. Yeah, I wasn't so interested in water that needed a doctor's approval.

Karlovy Vary Cups

The ceiling over the geyser has a 'look out' to the sky above. I wonder if the geyser gushed if it would just come right out the top of the ceiling? They enclosed a room around the main geyser. It was a hot August day when we were there (at least 95 degrees) and it felt like about 115 inside. Holy cats! I just wanted someone to open a window ... please. Everyone else seemed preoccupied with taking a sip of the mineral water in these funny little tea-pot like cups. I wasn't buying. They look like some random tschotske from my grandmother's cupboard sitting next to the porcelain thimble collection. I just couldn't see bringing one of these babies home with me. But everyone else had one. We saw all kinds of people strolling around town slowing sipping on these cups as they sat on park benches or popped into one of the shops. 

We didn't see any American tourists (that we were aware of), not even British. This was an off the beaten track kind of place. Which I loved. Most of the tourists were German, Russian and local Czechs up for a few days from Prague. I felt like I really got away from all that I know back home. That is what travel means to me. Pure bliss.

Playing Hooky with the Bead Girl

Bead Girl's picture of a door at Clinton Castle

Native American Pin

Last Friday my daughter had an optional field trip. Their school does an annual trip to view a surgery. This year was a bypass, in previous years it's been open heart. She was dreading it, and the school allows for kids who just can't take it to opt out. 

Seems a strange field trip, but the district here feels like it encourages those kids that can see themselves in the sciences, or those that might go into medicine. But for those of us that can't take the sight of our own blood (that would be me) ... the kids can opt out.

Bead Girl's picture of museum sky light

And so, the Bead Girl and I played hooky last Friday. I took the day off to run around NYC with her. We managed to get in quite a bit of the city including a trip down to Battery Park for a peek at the Statue of Liberty and a look around Clinton Castle (the battery itself). 

Native American Water Jug

Then afterwards we walked across the green there to the National Museum of the American Indian, which had free admission. I love this type of exhibit. I have seen many in multiple countries. But I will tell you that only one rivals this exhibit and that is the one in Vancouver, BC at The Museum of Anthropology. If you are ever in the area it is a must see.

The National Museum here in NYC was amazing, and completely unexpected. They had exhibits from Indian culture from all over the Americans and down into Central and South America. While not as large as the exhibit in BC, it is packed with beautiful things to see. 

Chibi polymer figures by Bead Girl

From there, we headed uptown to check out other landmarks she had never seen. I know we live close to NY, but we really don't bring the girls into the city much. And even then we usually have an engagement to meet up with someone so we don't sightsee. This trip was to tick off a few places she'd always wanted to see. We stopped into the Empire State building and then on to the Chrysler building. Not to mention Grand Central Station and the Graybar building next door. 

Cake, carrot and peas in polymer by Bead Girl

Our last stop was a store that she'd been talking about for months called Kinokuniya which is a bookstore full of all things Japanese. She's very in to anime whether it is drawing, painting or creating the little figures. She's practiced this miniature polymer art over past year. So she wanted to explore the store for new ideas. We spent 2+ hours there. Yes, 2+ hours. I can honestly say I was more than ready to leave when she said she thought she was 'done.' It was a fantastic day. And I loved every minute of spending a little one-on-one time with daughter. 

Look Up New York

Gorgeous building awning @ 5th Ave and 34th Street

Awning at 5th Ave and 40th Street

I've been having fun this past week playing with Instagram. I've had an account for, I don't know, 2 years? Probably. But have not posted a single picture. Yep. Not one. 

Then for some reason this week I decided I needed to get in there. Can't tell you exactly why, but this seems to be the week that I burst on to the scene of Instagram. Yeah, I'm a big trend setter. 

Doorway on just another side street in NYC

So why now? I stumbled across some Instagram photos that really caught my eye, and I realized that there are a lot of things that I see each day that I've grown used to and, to me, seem mundane. But may not to other people. So why not share? 

I walk to work each morning, and try to switch it up with varying routes. I duck down a street to see if I can discover some new hidden bit of architecture to admire. There are so many amazing buildings in NY that just go unnoticed. At least to the average tourism guide. 

Lord & Talyor window box

So much of the cool stuff is 'up.'  Literally. As a typical NY'er hustling off to work, your focus tends to be straight ahead, down to avoid stepping is some random piece-o-crap or up at the light to see if you need to run to cross at the next corner. That sums up walking to work.

I've decided to snap pics on the way to work. I'm still figuring out Instagram. Yes I know I'm late to the party, but I'm a quick study. It seems to be less connected than other social media, so I'm sticking to posting photos snapped on my iPhone. I guess that will limit my gallery to 'on the go' types of pics. Thus the current tour of the streets of NYC. Love to link up with you all who are already on Instagram. I've been trying to click around to find you all, but click here and link up with me! I'd love that.