Picturesque Prague

Overlooking the vineyards and Prague from Castle Hill

We had a wonderful experience in Prague. Because it was not bombed during WWII, it is one of the most well-preserved cities in Europe. We saw too many places and beautiful buildings to name! There are examples of all the architectural styles right through history. Almost every office building, business, and store is housed in a fantastic, ancient structure with ornate moldings, exterior fresco paintings, high ceilings, and beautiful colors. After a few days, we almost got used to it and stopped saying “Look at this building. And look at that building! And the one over there, too!”

In addition to architectural “eye candy”, we also had amazing food. My first meal in Prague was a lemon pepper salmon over roasted mixed vegetables. It was almost unbeatable in taste! Everything else, the Argentinian beefsteak, the duck over oranges, the butterfish with capers, the pasta platters, it all had to compete with the memory of that salmon. We ate lightly at other meals to try to balance the crème brulees, chocolate tortes, and cheesecakes we consumed for dessert.

Out to dinner with some very bright people!

We enjoyed the company of several of Jeff's colleagues from the conference as well. As a whole, they were a very well-educated, international group of engineers. I was able to finally put faces with names of long-time associates of my husband. We also met and made friends with many new individuals, such as a Brazilian PhD student studying in Germany, a professor from South Korea, a Frenchman teaching in Atlanta, an Australian government scientist from Melbourne, and a large contingent of Swedish scholars and students. Jeff is very good at networking and setting up collaborations, so I view any of these locations as potential travel destinations for the future!

What exactly is "American"?

I have to remark on an oddity here in Europe. We have encountered a number of items that are referred to as "American...". So, for example, there is American hotdog sauce in the grocery store. Now, I'm an American, but I'm not sure what "hotdog sauce" is. It turned out to be something like a combination of ketchup and relish. Not a bad idea in itself, but not exactly "American". Then there is the "American kitchen". This means basically an open kitchen, where the floorplan is designed for flow into the main living space. Certainly something we have and enjoy in American, but not so exclusively that I feel it must be designated as "American".

And then there were the "American potatoes" I was served this evening with my Argentinian beef. I felt silly asking the Czech waiter what "American potatoes" were. Are they mashed? No. Are they steak fries? No. Is it whole, baked in the skin? No. In the end, I was served fat wedges that had been fried. It was close enough to fries that I requested some ketchup to enjoy them. But the funny thing is that they do have fries (called pommes frites through most of Europe); this restaurant served those with other menu items, so I'm curious what the difference is.

But all this makes me think about the things in American which we have named for other nationalities. French fries. Dutch oven. Belgian waffles. Swedish massage. Canadian bacon. White Russian. French braid. Polish sausage. German measles. The list goes on and on. It makes one wonder, how many of these things would be recognized by citizens of the very country for which they are named? Judging from my experience with "American" items in Europe, not very many!

Pursuing Prague

Good morning from Prague, Czech Republic! It's known in Europe as Praha (with a flipped "r"), so I'm not sure how we English speakers came up with Prague. But nevertheless, it's a very exciting city. Jeff is here for a professional conference and will be presenting a technical paper on Thursday. I'm just along for the ride!

We took the direct train from Berlin yesterday and had a lovely trip. We didn't have seat reservations, so it's a bit like Southwest Airlines where everyone sort of crams on and tries to grab a good place. Except you don't check your bags on the train, you carry them with you. So the crush of passengers was also struggling with large suitcases while trying to jockey for seats. We ended up sitting in the dining car and enjoying a long brunch/lunch for the first two hours until the Dresden station where a lot of people got off and we found a great row for the rest of the journey.

After the conference registration and reception last night (Sunday evening), we enjoyed a fantastic dinner and returned to our comfortable hotel. Now it's Monday morning and I'm off for my first day of exploration. I will mention that our Internet connection is extremely slow here, so I may not be able to upload photos until we return to Berlin. But I think the wait will be worth it, as every scene of the city is so picturesque one doesn't really need photography skills to capture beautiful images.