Vienna

Saturday morning we left Budapest and headed west. We first stopped in Bratislava, Slovakia's capital city, for lunch and a walking tour past the Old Town Hall and St. Martin's Cathedral.
Vienna, the Austrian capital and former center of the Habsburg empire, is only about an hour away, but due to a Gay Pride parade that closed many streets (including the one in front of our hotel!) we took a "Tauck surprise" detour. This time it was to Seegrotte in the Austrian woods. This was originally a gypsum mine, but mining ended in the 1920s. Near the end of WWII, the Germans actually used people from the concentration camps to build parts for the new Heinkel jets down there!!! It also (purportedly) contains the largest underwater lake in Europe; the lakes we saw in the Salt Mine looked bigger. Here's the funny part: we knew we were going to the Salt Mine and were warned that it was a constant 52 degrees, so we went with our heavy coats and ski caps and gloves. But since we had no warning for this mine we were totally unprepared for the 40 degree temperature inside! (Did I mention it was 90+ outside??) We walked about 200 feet, saw a few tableaus and then went on a "It's a small world" Disney boat for a 3 minute ride! Then we ran out as fast as we could. We've really given this more space than it deserves; a definite "must miss". 

Then we drove to our hotel, the fantastic Hotel Bristol. Vienna was recently recognized as the safest big city in the world! It has a big city feel, lots of hustle and bustle and many street cars, but still features that "old world" architecture: the ornate buildings, the many large greenish-oxidized statues and monuments, even a 100+ year old Ferris wheel. They speak German in Austria, but apparently you can tell where someone is from by how it sounds. Sort of like Manhattan vs Chicago vs New Orleans. As an aside, the sensibility and emotional tension felt much different from when Wendy was here 38 years ago (more on that later). 

Sunday's touring started at the State Art museum. We saw hundreds of old masters (many of which we recognized) and learned a lot from our guide.

Up next was Schoennbrun was the summer home of the Hapsbourgs (gee...it's a whole 5 miles from the city center!). It's one of those "we built it because we could" huge, ornate palaces (much like Versailles with beautiful gardens and all).

Before the actual tour, we were treated to a strudel-making demo! The baker tossed the dough like a pizza and it was so thin you could read a newspaper through it! Here he is with his assistant.

Then lunch: The choice was fish or Wienerschnitzel. Perfect for us. Both were delicious, but the schnitzel was the size of Slovakia! Unfortunately they ran out of the big buns!

Finally, of course, to end the meal, apple strudel mit schlag! Yummy!!!!!

Then we toured the grounds where we learned, among other things, that Maria Theresa had 16 children...11 girls and 5 boys. The girls (most of whom were named Marie) were married off to the kings and royalties of Europe. One of them was Marie Antoinette!

We had a light dinner at a local cafe. Finally there was a dark beer on the menu! It had a real chocolate-malty taste.

Then we went to the ballet at the Staats Oper (State Opera House). The program was "Ballet Vienna - Vienna State Opera - Juwelen der Neuen Welt II, George Balanchine, John Neumeier, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe".  It was 20th century dance (though not "modern") to the music of  Bach, Stravinsky,Haydn, and Schubert. It was amazing, and seeing the variety of people and their outfits in the audience was also quite an experience.

Monday: a walking tour of the central area, Ringstrasse 1. The Hapsbourg palace, St. Augustin church, the building with the famed Lippazaner Stallions (the Spanish Horses); they don't perform on Monday, so we missed out.

Our guide explained how Austria was both victim and perpetrator during the war, and took great pains to explain that the Austrian people are not German even though they speak the same language. She said that the children are more exposed to the facts of the war and the holocaust now than when she was growing up. Even so the relationship between the Austrians and the Jews, beore, during, and since the war is complex.

Next we walked to the Juden Platz, an old Jewish part of town...NOT a ghetto in the sense of an imposed living area where people HAD to return to each night...this was more like the Jewish neighborhood in the 18th and 19th centuries. Now the square contains a holocaust memorial which was built through the efforts of Simon Weisanthal. It is an inside-out library, with the "books" carved on the outside...though there is a carved "door", there really is no inside. It is in memory of the 65,000 Austrian Jews killed in the war.

Then a short walk to view the outside (undergoing serious renovation) and a quick look-see of the inside of St. Stephen's church, the focal point of the city. This is a different St. Stephen than we saw in Budapest. This one is the first Christian martyr.

Then we had a little time to spare before our private tour of the Stadttempel synagogue, so we stopped for.....ta da: some apple strudel!!!!!! Sooooo good!! Just sat outside and watched all the tourists (btw: it was in the 90s again today).

Then we had a guide show us around the Stadttempel (City-Temple or City-Synagogue, also called the Seitenstettengasse Temple), which today is the main synagogue of Vienna. The synagogue was constructed in 1825 and 1826 and was fitted into a block of houses and hidden from plain view of the street, because of an edict issued by Emperor Joseph II that only Roman Catholic places of worship were allowed to be built with facades fronting directly on to public streets. Ironically, this edict saved the synagogue from total destruction during the Kristallnacht in November 1938, since the synagogue could not be destroyed without setting on fire the buildings to which it was attached. The Stadttempel was the only synagogue in the city to survive the war, as the Germans destroyed all of the other 93 synagogues in Vienna.

The tour was over at this point, so we went to the famous Cafe Demel for a light repast.....small open-faced sandwiches of egg salad, roast beef, and smoked salmon (und beer). Wendy had a mini pastry.

Then we took a one-stop ride on the subway (just to add it to our list), and a short walk to the Hotel Sacher for some Sacher tort!!! Yes....even we overdid it!

After a group dnner (nothing to write home about) we again had a private concert. This one was with members of the Vienna Residence Orchestra at the Palais Auersperg.   ( http://www.viennaconcerts.com/residenz.php ) There was a piano, a flute, a cello, a bass, and three violins, one of which was a Strad from 1700. For several songs there was either an operatic duo (male and female) or two ballet dancers! How they choreographed that on a stage about 12' x 10' with 7 musicians we can't imagine! We sat in the same room where, according to the host, the 6-year old Mozart entertained the court of Maria Theresa! It was a fantastic program: the first half was all of Mozart's greatest hits. The second was Strauss favorites, ending with, you guessed it, "The Beautiful Blue Danube" and "The Radetzky March" (and we clapped at all the right times!).

Now, it's on to our last stop: Prague!

love w&w...........

Prague Part I

So much to share it will take two posts!

Early Tuesday we left Vienna and took a ride through beautiful farm country and small towns to our final destination, Prague (Praha to the natives). 

After a quick lunch at our hotel, we set out on a walking tour of the "Old City" area. Prague has been a thriving city for over 1,100 years. It is the home to Franz Kafka and the Golem; two of the strangest characters of all time. One of the city's great charms is the architecture. There was never any thought to tearing down old buildings (as in our "urban renewal"), so entire blocks are a fascinating mixture of Romanesque, Baroque, Rococo, Renaissance, and modern architecture, often, a "new" building has been built right on the foundation of an older one! The buildings are also decorated (via color, statues, ornamentation) to be unique. Here are some examples.

There used to be 13 huge towers surroudng the city (part of the wall); now only two remain. We saw an astronomical clock which has been keeping the correct time (plus moon phases, month of the year, etc) for 600 years (with, one would assume, some adjustments for leap year, etc.). It puts on quite a show every hour from 9 am - 9 pm and must really be seen to be believed.

Later, on our way to a wonderful dinner at Kampa Park restaurant, we crossed the Charles Bridge. This iconic structure was built beginning in 1357.

Along the 650 foot bridge are 30 stautues, most with religious significance (and yes, those are Hebrew words surroundig the cross in the picture below).

Then, dinner overlooking the Moldau River at Kampa Park restaurant (more on that in the next post).

It was still light out when we walked back at 9:15, and there were a lot fewer tourists around.  The main street of this area is totally full of tourist stores, ranging from the cheapest t-shirts and bumper stickers to the most expensive crystal and garnet (both local products). In a sense, it reminded us of Venice; the old buildings with the capitalistic catering to the tourists. However, instead of the Venetian masks, many of Prague's stores sell marionettes. We thought this was just a gimmicky thing, but our guide told us today that these hand-made puppets were actually used over a hundred years ago for a very good reason. At that time German was declared the official language and it was forbidden to speak Czech. German was taught to the children in the schools. But the people did not want their language to die, so they used the puppets to teach the children old folk tales in Czech! This is also a reason why Prague was not bombed during the war; Hitler felt that this area was really part of Germany, so he did not want to destroy his "own" territory. This is also why there are only a few war memorials in this city.

Wednesday began with a tour of the Prague Castle and St. Vitus' Cathedral. According to Guiness, this is the biggest castle in the world! ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Castle and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral) It is a huge complex of buildings actually built over many centuries (and again, in many different architectural styles). It is currently used as the President's offices, so we were not able to go in. But we were able to tour the Cathedral. Its beginnings date from the 15th century, but much of the work was not completed until 1929 in honor of the 1,000th year of St. Vitus. Even today, there are many parts of the exterior that are not done, but they spend so much time and money on just maintaining the rest it is questionable whether it ever will be finished. We have visited a lot of churches, but this one has to be one of the most amazing. The structure is an immense Gothic stonework, and the walls have the most beautiful stained glass windows (one exception is a rare painted glass window done by Mucha - see below).

From this, you can only imagine what it looks like in person.

Then we took a tour of the Strahov Library ( http://www.strahovmonastery.cz/ ). And it was actually a tour thanks to Tauck (our tour company). All other mere tourists can only look inside from the doorway. OK, so big deal...it's a library. Well, this IS a big deal! The library building itself dates from the 1700s and has beautiful frescoes on the walls and ceilings. But the 30,000 volumes(and antique globes) are much older than that! The oldest is the Strahov Gospel (the library is part of a monastery) from 860. No typo there: 8-6-0!  The books are in 22 languages; the 22nd being represented by a solitary bible in an Eskimo-Lappland language!

After the visit to the library, Wendy went to Terezin (Theresienstadt) and Wayne continued to explore the city.

Terezin was an altogether different experience from Auschwitz.  A transit camp in a repurposed medieval fortress, Terezin also is well known as the Nazi’s showcase camp for a Red Cross visit in early 1944. In preparation for that visit, the camp was scrubbed and manicured (with the center square beautified) and prisoners not only gave a musical performance but were instructed to “be happy.”  It worked. Ironically, Terezin was named in honor of Maria Theresa, the Hapsbourg empress, who actually had promoted a new tolerance of all religious faiths, including the jews.

Because the camp was only meant to be a temporary stop, Nazi censorship of the prisoners was minimal so there was significant underground cultural activity—theatre, painting/drawing, poetry and other writing, and music.  Indeed, you may be familiar with the book I Never Saw Another Butterfly, a collection of children’s poems and drawings from Terezin. A friend had told me told me that he was more touched by Terezin than Auschwitz and I was not quite sure how to interpret that.  After having visited, I understand because Terezin put a much more human face on the Shoah. Auschwitz/Birkenau was raw and Terezin was refined, but nonetheless just as horrific.  There is a relatively new museum with galleries of the artwork, musical compositions, and poetry—as well as re-constituted living spaces (complete with clothing and luggage), and very moving memorials in several locations.  But what was most moving was the beginning of the exhibit—dedicated to the children of Terezin.  When I saw the name of a child (under her butterfly painting) with whom I share a birthday, I started to shudder.  In the next room were the names of children with their birth dates and dates of death (or departure from Terezin) listed; I could barely catch my breath.  These precious children were contemporaries of my parents.  Their crime was being born Jewish.

(The caption on the original picture reads

"A Bohemian paradise 300 miles south of Berlin in Czechoslovakia")

The design and storyline of the exhibit were so powerful, professional, and respectful.  The visit to Terezin, in juxtaposition with the visit to Auschwitz/Birkeau truly provided me with the additional emotional intelligence I was searching for on this journey. 

For more, see http://blockyourid.com/~gbpprorg/judicial-inc/Theirstein_Camp.htm. 

Meanwhile, back in Prague, first off for Wayne was lunch at an outdoor cafe: the traditional goulash with dumplings and a beer, Then a subway ride to get close to the Mucha Museum. Most of you have probably never heard of Alphonse Mucha (we know we hadn't), but you have all seen his work. This Czech born artist was a leader of the late 19th century Art Nouveau movement and created (among other works) the captivating Sarah Bernhardt posters. Here is one of the most famous ("La Samaritaine").

Dinner was at another famous restaurant, V Zatisi "V" in Czech means "in". A lot of restaurants are called "V something". (See the "Prague for Foodies" post for details.)

Thursday was our last official day on the tour (we are staying through Saturday).

We began with a tour of the Estates Theater. This theater was built in 1781 - 1783. In 1787, Mozart himself conducted the premiere of his opera Don Giovanni there. And we have tickets to see the very same opera there on Friday night! (Not sure if Mozart will be conducting or not.) Before we left, we were treated to some period music played by a 7-piece ensemble of the theater's musicians.

We’ve had some type of Jewish tour in each city; the tour in Prague was the most complete.  The Prague Jewish community is over one thousand years old –with the Golden Age occurring in the 16th and 17th centuries. Per the explanation given earlier, Prague was spared extensive bombing during WWII because Hitler considered Czechoslavakia to be part of Germany. Many of the old synagogues and Judaica were left unharmed because Hitler wanted to create a museum on the “extinct Jewish race.”  That  aspiration aside, there was a lot to see including, but not limited to: the Pinkas Synagogue (now serving as a Holocaust memorial to Czechoslavakia and Prague victims of the Shoah), the 13th century Old/New Synagogue (an orthodox synagogue that, with only a few exceptions, has been in use continuously since it was built; even all through WWII), The Spanish Synagogue (given the name because of the Moorish design; Reform Ashkenazi Jews worshipped here—it is now used as a concert venue; they were having a Gershwin concert Thursday evening), the Jewish Town Hall (complete with Hebrew letters on the clock), the Maisel synagogue (repurposed as the main building of the largest Jewish museum with many beautiful examples of Judaica), the chilling yet impressive Jewish cemetery where over 100,000 people are buried in 12 layers (from 1489-1737), and the Klausen Synagogue.  The buildings were remarkably well preserved and the visit was extraordinarily moving.

There is also a "New Cemetery" (in use since the late 1700s). The people were buried there moving from one side to the other. In one area there is a large swath with no graves. This represents the missing graves of the two generations of people wiped out during the war.

Our final stop on the tour was the farewell dinner. Once again, Tauck came through with an amazing treat. The dinner was held at Lobkowicz Palace. The Lobkowicz family has been nobles in this area for 700 years! We were given an introduction by the current head of the family William Lobkowicz ("Mr.", as all titles were abolished in 1918!), who was actually born and raised in Boston!

To read more of this incredible story, see http://www.lobkowicz.cz/en/.

We had a private audioguide tour of their "collections" which included paintings of most of the old family members, a room full of exquisite and one-of-a-kind china, a weapons room (guns, chain mail, swords), and other miscellaneous artifacts. But the most amazng was the Music Room, which contained (among other things), the original hand-written scores, of Beethoven's 3rd and 5th symphonies, with personal annotations by the composer! This was not just "obtained" somewhere along the way.....it was the 6th Prince Lobkowicz who actually commissioned these works! The Eroica is dedicated to him!

As if this weren't enough, the castle is on a high hill overlooking Prague. So we were afforded an outstanding view as we dined in one of the Palace's rooms.....but more on that in a later post.

All for now,

love, w&w

Prague Part II

The official tour is over but we are still in Prague!

First, three things we forgot to mention in the previous post:
1. They pretty much have two brands of beer here, Pilsener Urquell, the original Pilsener brewed in Pilzen, Czech, and Budweiser (Budvar), the original Budweiss beer, which tastes pretty much like Bud at home. In other words, flavored water. (Oh....they also have "erdbeer", but that's just the German word for strawberry!)
2. Most street intersections contain a "zebra", a black-and-white striped crosswalk. So unlike places such as Rome or Hanoi where you put your head down (No eye contact!) and walk across the street as the cars and motorbikes whiz by you on both sides, here, when a pedestrian is on the zebra the cars all stop! Amazing!!!
3. In the old town there are a lot of street musicians. But we're not talking about two guys with drumsticks banging on empty plastic pails (like in Chicago); here we have seen (singly or in groups up to 5) people playing flute, bass violin, accordian, violin, guitar, trombone, and bassoon (!). Quite a lovely sound.

Friday was an absolutely perfect day.  We actually slept late (well....til 7:30) and then a leisurely breakfast with some of the other Tauckies who stayed extra.

Then we walked to Wenceslaus Square. St. Wenceslaus is the patron saint of the country. This square was the site of the massive demonstrations in 1968 and the Velvet Revolution in 1989. So what better thing to do from there than to go to the Museum of Communism! We were anxious to see how this compared to the Communism exhibit at the National Museum of Bejing (see last year's trip post). The focus of this exhibit, unlike the one in China, was on how bad Communism was for Czechoslovakia! It started with a little history of the post-WWI period and then focused on the end of WWI and beyond. Much of it was told using photographs, materials (e.g., a Soviet-era classroom), and propagandistic posters of the era. There was a separate area showing how bad Communism still is in North Korea (photos of starving people, tortured people, etc.). The whole thing was very well done. This poster, an advertisement for the museum, pretty well sums up the Czechs' feelings.

Then we headed to the Jerusalem (aka Jubilee) Synagogue. This large, ornate synagogue (on Jerusalem Street!), was opened in 1906. It has a Moorish design, unlike the Gothic ones we saw earlier. It also has an organ and beautiful stained glass windows, which include the names of those who (apparently) donated the money for them. Best of all we could take pictures inside!

As a bonus, there are two excellent permanent photo exhibits upstairs in the former "women's" section. One is "A History of the Jewish Community of Prague from 1945 to the Present"; the other is "Jewish Monuments of Bohemia and their Restoration After 1989".

Then a stroll through the square back to the edge of the old Jewish ghetto to a fantastic lunch at Cantonnetta Fiorentina (OK, even though it was Italian it was highly recommended), which, until last year was called "Pravda" (Russian for "truth").  It was about 2:00, since we decided to do a late lunch and skip dinner becasue of the opera. Of course we ate outside. Wendy had a whole bronzini which was expertly filleted at our table. Wayne had linguine with baby clams in an olive oil - butter sauce. Both were divine. Dessert was a large caramel profiterole and a red fruit crostada slice. Bellisimo!

We walked back through the square one more time, did a little gift shopping, and then went to the hotel to get dressed.

Unlike the theater in Vienna, the attire at this theater was not quite as showy. Yes, there were many people dressed up (as were we), but many others had more casual dress. In fact, we saw a woman wearing shorts! (Not the same woman as in Vienna). Our perception was that this crowd was more made up of tourists than locals (e.g., one Japanese woman was wearing a kimono!).

As we mentioned in the previous post, this was a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. The music, libretto (super-titled in both Czech and English), and the men's costuming were all as they were in 1787, but the staging and women's costuming were definitely very modern. For those who may not be familiar with the story, here is a good synopsis of the opera: http://www.musicwithease.com/don-giovanni-synopsis.html

Basically, Don Giovanni is a womanizer (note his awesome pompadour in the picture; no wonder the ladies couldn't resist him!). He goes from affair to affair, accompanied by his servant Leporello (who, in our opinion, was the star of the show), leaving anger, tears, and bodies in his wake. Of course, at the end, as in all operas, he dies.

It was a wonderful performance made even more impressive by the fact that we were seeing it in the same place as it premiered 125 years ago.

Saturday, our real last day, was again....perfect. The weather forecast was sunny and upper 70s as we started out for a day at Petrin Hill, which rises 130m just on the other side of the river. To get there we first had to take the subway (which features one of the steepest, fastest escalators we have ever been on.....needed a Dramamine just for that!). Then a subway ride from the Nam. Republiky station to the Narodni Trida station. Then we hopped aboard the #22 street car and got off on Uvezd street. Then we rode the funicular to the top of the hill! Wow! (A note about the mass transit system: it is just like in Budapest: the honor system. You buy a ticket - good for 30 minutes of travel, for 90 minutes, or a full day - then you put it in a machine to stamp the time. But there are no gates or turnstiles! And no one ever checked our ticket! They just trust that you will be honest. Hmmm.....).

Petrin Hill is a huge park with rose gardens and other attractions. For example, the Monastery / Library mentioned in the previous post is there. This time we visited the lookout tower. We climbed the 299 stairs to the top of this 60 meter miniature version of the Eiffel Tower (it was built by the Eiffel Company), built in 1891. The top gave a tremendous view of the entire city. Then we walked down (could have taken the elevator either way, but what fun is that?)

Then we went into the Mirror Labyrinth, which was also built for the Prague Jubilee Exhibition in 1891. This features a pathway through a "maze" of odd-angled walls that are covered with mirrors. As soon as you walk in, you are reflected to eternity from all sides. It was almost impossible to know which way to walk without whamming into a mirror!

And even though we have been eating a lot, we haven't gotten any wider, only taller!

Next we walked to fnd St. Michael's Church, a wooden structure moved here from the Ukraine in the 1920s. Alas, the winding paths and poor signage did us in and we never got there. But we did end up at the park restaurant where we had planned to eat lunch. Alack, the main dining area was closed for a wedding! So we had to content ourselves with tuna and hard boiled egg on white bread, with appropriate beverages, while we sat outside and looked over the city. Not too shabby!

Then a walk down the hill, into town, over the Charles Bridge and back to our hotel to relax and prepare for our final dinner. We were hot and exhausted!!!!!!

Well....we had intended for this to be the last post of this trip, and to include the Prague food report, but we've been having so much fun and doing so much that we just didn't have the time. So there will be a final post (including tonight's dinner!) after we get home on Sunday. Or Monday.....depends how tired we are.

Until then,

love, w&w.

Prague for Foodies

OK.  We’re home; but before jet lag fully sets in, we want to finish out the trip blog—first with our meals in Prague… then with some closing thoughts.  First, the meals.  To paraphrase my uncle, if we “got the job done” in terms of eating in Budapest, we really hit it out of the ballpark in Prague.  (Of course, this is not to say that we didn’t eat well in the other cities.  We did.  We’ve only provided extra dining details for meals that were really memorable. )

As an aside, almost all of our restaurant picks were selected from the NY Times Travel city-specific blogs.  By googling “NYTimes best restaurants in Prague,” for instance, our search yielded approximately 50.  We narrowed the field and we’ll report on three here.  These three just happened to be recommended by our tour guide as well.  (The NYT blog has been invaluable to us since our Mumbai dining adventures two years ago.)

Our first evening in Prague we dined at Kampa Park--a trendy restaurant on the far side of the Charles Bridge in the picturesque  “Lesser Town” (Mala Strana).  Our seats were river-side so the view was great and the food was even better.

While we each started with Czech beverages (champagne and beer), the meal was not particularly Czech. Wendy’s first course was a velouté of crab with a caviar and crème fraiche garnish (we’re talking about an entire tin of red caviar here—self serve—and I assumed it would be a teaspoon!). 

Wayne’s starter was grilled sea scallops with capers, raisins, cauliflower, and beurre blanc—beautifully presented.  Wendy’s main was halibut poached in olive oil and served with black truffle garnish, crispy pancetta bacon, potato mash with French mustard and vegetable foam.  The dish was light, artfully presented, and very popular among other diners.  Wayne chose pepper steak with crispy potato pancake (a Czech specialty), and zucchini ribbons, nestled in a Cognac sauce.  Delectable. 

For the next course, Wayne had “chocolate cube with crème brulee” (the translation truly does detract from the dish); Wendy had chocolate lava cake—though the menu described it in a much more exciting manner—“chocolate fondant with beetroot sorbet, dark bread ice cream and toffee espuma.”    

You can never get too much foam in a meal which is why I closed it out with a cappuccino. Extra foam!  That said, we have decided we will curtail the foam in future trips—we can get that in Chicago! Good thing we had a long walk back to the hotel—back across the Charles Bridge and another 20 minutes.  But, the meal was lovely and worth every calorie (and Czech Crown).

The following evening, we treated ourselves to dinner at V Zatisi - another highly-rated restaurant.  This one is more eclectic—featuring both Indian and traditional Czech cuisine.  It was set back from the main square down a cobble-stoned street (oh, wait a minute, they’re all cobble-stoned in Prague).  The room was contemporary chic.  While you might think the combination of Indian and Czech flavors in one menu wouldn’t work, it did and the meal was fantastic.  Nothing like having naan as one of the many bread options—gotta love it.  Anyway, we both decided to sample from both menus.  Wayne started with Tiger Tandoori shrimp (which was perfectly flavored) and Wendy had a sampler plate of several small Indian bites—including a delicately-sized bowl of delicious curried tomato lentil soup. 

The Indian option was a creative and welcome alternative to the usual smoked salmon appetizer (though that has been quite yummy).  We went Czech with our mains—Wendy had roast duck with two types of cabbage and fresh herb dumplings...

Wayne had pork belly glazed with honey, barley risotto, and horse-radish flavored apple sauce. 

For dessert:  Wendy had tandoori pineapple with pistachio gelato and Wayne had four flavors of sorbet.  Let’s just say steer away from tandoori pineapple, doesn’t work.  

For our last dinner in Prague, we decided to go traditional.  We chose The Blue Duckling (or in Czech in case you were wondering:  “Restaurant U Modré Kachnicky.” ) This place, also in the Mala Strana district, has been in business over 150 years and has been frequented by many political and pop celebrities, so we had to try it.

The menu was translated into 5 languages, but we didn’t feel like this was a “tourist” restaurant.  And the experience did not disappoint.  The décor was classic (and, in some respects, kitchy) Czech—with more duck-themed décor that we ever thought possible in one restaurant (four floors). As one would expect, the specialty was duck—with eight duck entrees to choose among.  Here goes:  (1) Roast duck with walnut stuffing, red and white cabbage, potato dumpling,  (2) Roast duck with plum brandy sauce and potato pancakes, (3) Roast duck marinated with honey and apple brandy served with baked mashed potatoes (4) Roast duck with bacon brussel sprouts and garlic potato pancake, (5) confit duck roulade with liver and raw potato dumplings, (6) Flambeed duck breast spiked with dried apricots, red wine, and green pepper sauce with almond potato croquettes, (7) Duck breast roasted in ginger, marjoram, and bacon served with mashed potatoes, and (8) wild duck breasts spiked with Prague ham and cranberry sauce with raw potato dumplings.  So, we had….. duck!  Wendy had duck choice (2)...

and Wayne had duck choice (3). 

We steered clear of duck for the appetizer and dessert courses—but enjoyed our choices.  Wayne had a classic Czech wild mushroom/potato soup.  Wendy had roast asparagus.  For dessert, Wayne had the last piece of apple strudel he will probably have for six months as he is starting to resemble one and Wendy had fresh strawberries in puff pastry.  It was a wonderful meal to close out our trip (and to precede the all clear liquid diet that will probably be necessary for the next two weeks).

In closing, we would like to dedicate this trip to Wendy's dad who was absolutely captivated by Holocaust books, movies, and most everything related to WWII (he served in the Army of Occupation).  We booked the trip in February. Dad died in early April. I know he was definitely with both of us as we navigated our way through Central Europe—in all its splendor and historical depravity. When we booked the trip, we had no idea how powerful it would be.

We will be processing this voyage for some time.  We have been in 5 countries, used 4 different currencies, seen some amazing things, eaten lots of great food (countless pierogis and strudels!), and really learned a lot about the history of this region, the saga of our ancestors, and the specifics about our family.  Once again, thank you for joining us.

as always,

love, w&w.

Hong Kong: Are We In China Yet?

June 1, 2011

Nihao,

In a word: No. You may remember that Hong Kong was ceded from the British to the Chinese on July 1, 1997. But you probably don't realize that the agreement stipulated that Hong Kong is officially a "Special Administrative Region". That means it has its own government, a capitalistic economy, its own laws, no "One Child" policy, etc. For example, you don't need a visa to visit HK but you do need one for China. And, unlike what happened in many other countries when a new landlord took over (e.g., Viet Nam), it still has its original English street names (such as Chatham, Carnarvon, and Prince Edward), and children are still required to begin studying English when they enter kindergarten (although that is probably more for practical reasons than any lingering allegiance to Her Majesty). All of the street signs and other public info are in both English and Chinese. A little more background that we've learned: There are 7 million inhabitants, and the 200,000 Filipinos comprise the largest minority (can you spell "homogenous"?). We really should say "Filipinas" since most of them are here as domestics (nannies and housekeepers). Geographically, HK is comprised of the mainland peninsula of Kowloon and 200+ islands (the largest of which is Hong Kong Island).

OK. Now about our experience so far (note: we've been here since Saturday so there is a lot to relate! Also, our tour didn't actually start until Tuesday night, so the first 3 days we were on our own.): We arrived at the Shangri-La in Kowloon hotel about 6pm. We immediately noticed that the carpet in the elevator had a center medallion that said "Saturday" in English and Cantonese (or Mandarin...not sure which). We then went out to walk around the neighborhood. It looks an awful lot like many areas of Manhattan! It has the same "international" feel to it. Two big differences are: they drive on the wrong side of the street and there are many banners and lighted signs which hang across the streets. Yes....it also looks a lot like every "Chinatown" in every city we've seen. We had a light dinner in the hotel casual restaurant (steamed cod for Wendy and boiled chicken and rice (just like Gramma used to make!) for Wayne).  Our hotel overlooks Victoria Harbor (with HK Island across the water), so the next morning we got up early (and the elevator carpet did indeed say "Sunday"!) and walked on the Promenade along the waterfront. Part of this is HK's "Walk of the Stars", an homage to their movie industry, so there are hand prints in the cement and a big statue of Bruce Lee. We saw the sun come up and people doing tai chi. After breakfast we went down into the subway station, but did not take the train. Each station has a network of air-conditioned underground passages that lead off to many streets in that area. An excellent idea as by this time (9 am) it was already in the 90s with a humidity reading of about 175% (or so it felt). We walked about 3/4 of a mile to the next station and came out and were right at Kowloon Garden, a major park in the center of the city (but only about 2 blocks by 2 blocks big). There was an aviary and many ponds with fish and turtles, beautiful trees and flowers. Then we went back into the subway and actually rode the train. The MRT is very efficient (trains arrive about every 3 minutes!), extremely clean (no graffiti) and very quiet. It is easy to buy tickets from the machine: you press the name of the stop where you are going on the map and it tells you how much the ticket is! Our first ride was to a station 6 stops away and it cost about $1US each! Each train is made up of many cars, but there are no doors between them....so it is one huge tube with people walking through at ease (and of course "Mind the gap" when boarding or exiting). Since it was Sunday we thought it would be fairly empty, but no....we were stuffed in with a multitude of people. We got out and walked a block to the Wong Tai Sin Temple; lots of incense burning, chanting, and an 8 foot statue of each of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. Right across the street was a mall, so we went in to get something to drink (HOT! DRY! THIRSTY!). Had a quick lunch at a Japanese eatery: we split another bowl of boiled chicken and rice! Plus cold beverages. Then back to the hotel on the subway. We were so enervated from the heat and had a little jet lag, so we napped for 2 hours.

If you have been reading this far you are probably perplexed why we haven't included a full-court press culinary description.  Well, here it is.  We chose two (off-tour) dinners in Hong Kong both written up in the NYTimes travel blog--Felix and Cuisine Cuisine. Restaurant Felix was first.  It is a chi chi fusion retaurant on the 28th floor of the Peninsula Hotel (the grande dame of hotels in HK).  The room is extraordinarily sophisticated and high tech and overlooks Victoria Harbor (and each night there is a laser light show from the tall buildings on both sides so we watched that as we ate).  The place was full of foodies with everyone snapping photos of every course and we were no exception.  Wayne started off with pan-fried scallops, green apple chutney and salad with Japanese pickled plum dressing.  It was exquisite and he proclaimed the "best scallops I have ever eaten."

I chose a crab and lemon confit with citrus-cardamon jell, braised endive and crunchy endive which was certainly the best (and only) crab and lemon confit I had ever eaten.  Very light and delectable. 

Our next course was a small cup of soup-- only notable because, apparently, there had been some error in the kitchen and they didn't want us to wait too long.  Piece de resistance came with the main dishes.  Wayne chose roasted chicken breast with spinach-stuffed chicken leg, black olive sauce and green mashed potatoes and I chose the challon duck breast, with szechuan pepper-teriyai sauce, green vegetables and spinach coulis. These dishes were inventive and fantastic. 

As previous readers know, there was never a dessert I didn't like.  I chose a caramelized mango and lemon cream sandwich with pistachio ice cream and mango coulis. 

It was among the top five desserts ever.  Oh my goodness.  Suffice it to say I did not do a good job of sharing.

Monday we took another early walk on the Promenade in the other direction. We commented on how quiet it was, and how little traffic, only to discover it was a Public Holiday in honor of the Dragon Boat Race! We also noticed on our many walks that there are no dogs or cats roaming around (and very few dogs on leashes either), and certainly no other animals (as we saw in India). No homeless people either. So while it certainly has the flavor of New York, it is still very much different from there or Hanoi or Delhi. (And, hardly anyone wears a hat or sunglasses!) After breakfast we took the subway to the area where there is: the Flower Market street, the Bird market Street (hundreds of birds of all sizes and colors in beautiful cages, and bags of live worms and grasshoppers to feed them!),

then the Ladies Market street, and the Pet Market Street (rabbits, turtles, other reptiles, etc.). We stumbled on another of those indoor food markets where they have 3 floors of live fish, freshly butchered meats, roasted chickens and geese (and "pick your own" live ones!), and stall after stall with rows of beautiful and exotic fruits and vegetables.

Then it was time for another light lunch. We opted for the Hotel's main floor sitting area and ordered dim sum. There were 8 pieces of delicious scallop, shrimp, pork and chicken "pot stickers"...and this was an order for 1 person!

Then we took the subway over to HK island. Aside from a narrow strip of land right on the water, the island is very mountainous. So we went on what is, according to Guiness, the world's longest escalator.  In actuality it is a series of escalators (at least 15 of them) that goes for almost 1/2 mile up to the top of one of the hills! It is elevated over the busier streets, and breaks at each smaller street along the way and then starts again on the other side!

It runs in a "down" direction only from 9 - 10 am each day so people can use it to get to work. Then it runs "up" from 10:20 until midnight. At the top, we took a circuitous route down the adjoining stairs...even going down it was hard work (and of course, it was tres hot!). Near the bottom we came across another market street with (again) fish, meats, flowers, and veggies.

Back on the subway to change for dinner.

Monday night dinner took us to "Cuisine, Cuisine" for an amazing Michelin-starred contemporary/traditional Cantonese feast.  This restaurant was situated at tree-top level of Kowloon Park and was decorated primarily green.  The room was stunning and quickly filled up; we were the only Caucasians there--generally a good sign that the food is superb and it did not disappoint.  The menu was probably 12 pages long--with seasonal options, set options, specialties, and food offerings by category. Since it was only the two of us, we needed to limit ourselves.  With the maitre’d's guidance, we chose an appetizer, two main dishes, fried vermicelli, and a dessert.  A word or two about Cantonese cuisine in HK so far.  The food is more delicate than the Chinese food we've known and loved at home.  No corn starch anywhere to be seen and each dish is pretty much limited to one or two key ingredients.  Presentation is everything.  We started with an appetizer of fried "duck fish" per our waiter's suggestion.  It was very lightly dusted--almost like a very upscale Cantonese fish'n'chips without the chips.  This was followed by barbequed  pork slices---not that different from BBQ pork we've had in the states. 

The next course was a seasonal specialty--spec prawns displayed on a tempura lotus blossom chip perched on a cucumber slice.  This was amazing and was accompanied by vermicelli wit barbeque pork and shrimp.  We closed out this luscious meal with fresh fruit (we are yearning for chocolate already). All in all, the food was ethereal and sublime!

Tuesday we went back to HK Island and walked around Victoria Park. But it was so hot and humid we soon had to head back to the hotel! Rested in the afternoon and then (FINALLY!) had the tour's welcoming dinner: 12 courses --including, but not limited to spring rolls, shrimp and vegetable dim sum, scallop sweet and sour soup, Peking duck in pancakes, sirloin with vegetables, vermicelli,  Peking duck in lettuce cups, and fresh fruit. The food was fantastic (particularly for a banquet meal) and we are coming to understand why travelers to China take a break every now and then for Italian, French, or other cuisines.

Wednesday: our first actual touring day. Of course we were on the tour bus, and so rode one of the many tunnels under Victoria Harbor back into HK Island. We switched to a double-decker open-air bus and got a guided tour through one of the world's most important financial districts. Learned that Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world where the government does NOT issue the money. It is made and distributed by the three largest HK banks (70%. 15%, 15%)! Then we boarded the funicular to ascend the 1,400 feet to the top of Mount Victoria (gee! She must have been popular!). This one-car vehicle is almost identical to the one we rode to the top of Corcovado in Rio two years ago. The views from the top were incredible, and we were fortunate that there were no clouds to block it (which is a common occurrence). Then back down via bus to the dock where we took a ferry back across to Kowloon. The trip used to take about 12 minutes, but due to the aggressive program of landfill and building on both sides of the harbor, it now only takes 8! We walked a few blocks to the Jade Garden restaurant where the group feasted on..............DIM SUM!!!!!  We plan to have a small room service dinner tonight...probably not dim sum. Early tomorrow we fly to Shanghai....which, they tell us, is in China!

love,
wendy and wayne