Lazy Day

Today feels like it should be a lazy day. I really feel like sleeping all day today. Thank God I had a vacation day planned. It is one of those vacation days when you wake up, look outside, and feel like you picked the perfect day to take off.

Weekend Visitors

This weekend we had some visitors from the US. They had stopped by as the last leg of a 3 week European tour. I could tell that they were ready to go home, as I think it had been a long, very exhausting three weeks.

It was really nice to chat on the balcony about Richmond and reminisce about days gone by. I have to admit after some of the conversations about our old stomping grounds I do miss the place quite a bit. It's not that I don't enjoy Europe. In fact I really do.

Its just that I miss the times when things were easier, simpler. In reality though if I didn't challenge myself I know I would still be in that bored state that I remember myself in about a year ago.

I also enjoyed the weekend of English. Speaking with native speakers, from the US, is a really pleasant thing after weeks and weeks of English as a second language.

A Stroll Along the Charles Bridge

I really enjoying taking photographs at night. The long exposures and low light conditions usually make for compelling subject matter. There is so much challange and opportunity to be creative. This is one of my favorites from our last trip. Here you see the "Lesser" end of the Charles Bridge in Prauge. Up on the hill is St. Vitus Cathedral.

The Ride

We went for a nice bike ride yesterday. The sun was out, the grass was green, it was about 25 C. Perfect weather for a ride. We started out around 10:00 on what we thought would be a 1-2 hour ride. Four hours later we returned.

The weather was so nice. The countryside was amazing. That ride reminded me why we moved to Switzerland.

About halfway through the ride we stopped at a small roadside cafe for drinks and a break. We enjoyed the small town, watching people go by as we sat on their patio.

It was a perfect Sunday.

Old World Pierogi

I felt some old world inspiration yesterday. After my recent trip to Warsaw and my immersion in the Polish culture I felt it was time to rekindle my heritage and attempt to cook some pierogi.

I remember my grandmother's homemade pierogi. She used to make piles and piles of them, and when she was done she would fill the freezer with them. She probably could have feed the entire Polish army for 3 days with all of the pierogi she would make.

My favorites were always here plum (prune) pierogi. I loved those.

I remember in 7th grade I made my grandmother a stainless steel cookie cutter in shop class. I had to learn how to use a spot welder to make the darn thing. I was so proud of my creation. I presented it to my grandmother as a gift, I can't remember if it was Christmas or birthday but regardless I was pleased with my creation and hoped that she would use it with pride.

A few years later I was visiting her, and she was making pierogi and I noticed that there on the table was my pride and joy, the stainless steel cookie cutter. She was using it for a pierogi maker! At first I was offended. This was not it's purpose!

Reflecting back on it though, I am grateful and touched that this little stainless steel piece of junk, that surely would have just sat on a shelf collecting dust if not been useful because it was a gift of a grandchild was actually instead very useful. It had in a sense become an important part of a family tradition.

I would have to say my attempt last night was a success. I found a few recipes on the Internet and made potato and cheese, and prune pierogis. For my first attempt I was pleased. However, I wish I had that old cookie cutter, that would have been just perfect.

Art Nouveau, Mucha Style

I was not aware prior to my trip that Prague that the city had a very strong connection to the Art Nouveau period. I had always pictured Art Nouveau as something that must have been purely French. I was surprised to learn that Alfons Mucha of Czech heritage played a large part in defining the decorative arts of the period and thus much of his influence can be seen in and around Prague. The best example being the Municipal House.

We actually happened upon the Municipal House by accident. We had heard some things about the building in a short film shown at the Mucha museum but I was really glad I got to see the building, and several of its interior rooms on the tour. The highlight of the tour was the Mucha designed room under the dome just above the front entrance. I was a great room, with great character and something I'm glad I saw first hand because a picture just doesn't do it justice.

The tour itself was done in English, and it was very well done. The best part of the tour was the fact that although the rooms were museum quality there were no ropes or barriers. We were invited in many cases to really experience the rooms and go from wall to wall exploring the fixtures, tapestries, and furniture. In some of the rooms we were even invited to sit down and enjoy the view. A really change from most 'historic' tours. If you are headed to Prauge, this is one tour that should definitely be on your list.

Churches of Prague

I am always impressed with the churches of Europe. Every one seems to be a tourist attraction. These are not tourist attractions in the sense of the 'wonder spot' gravity defying house on the side of the interstate in the U.S. They are justifiable wonders in there own right and are worth exploring.

I think the religious buildings of Europe have such a deep history and background that they are inherent tourist attractions. Some of the larger well known cathedrals started construction in the 13 century. This makes them by default historical relics. In addition to their age, the buildings themselves often contain relics, whether it be a hand of a saint, or a tomb of a great king. There is just so much history in these buildings.


I was thinking about how these European cathedrals compared to the historical churches and religious buildings in the US, and unfortunately they are just not on the same level. St. Johns church in Richmond for example, was just a plan clapboard building. Yes there is history in such a building with John Adam's famous speech being given there but there just isn't hte same visual experience going on.

If you compare St. Johns to something like the National Cathedral in in Washington DC you start to get buildings on the same scale, but the National Cathedral just doesn't have the same historical provenance.



I don't think in today's time I would every expect the same grandeur and ornamentation to be created in a new building. Economics alone wouldn't make it possible. It is just too expensive, and the only way these magnificent buildings could every be built was through the desire of a single man, with way too much money and labor on his hands. The local King.

I would have loved to have posted a few more pictures of some of the wonderful churches we visited in Prague but I will showcase three. In order of appearance I have posted St. Nicholas's interior including the incredible chandelier. The interior of St. Vitus Cathedral, and finally a view of the Church Our Lady Before Tyn from the old town square. As you can probably see my new lens that I received just before the trip is very nice. I'm really glad I made the investment.

Picture Time

I'm just now going through most of my pictures from our Warsaw trip. For the last 30 days I've been using the new Adobe lightroom to manage and adjust my photos. I have to admit that I really like the tool. It is fast, efficient, and does a great job. It isn't by any means perfect, but for what I need it is definitely better that just photoshop elements alone.

I have really been feeling creative lately. I have been taking a million pictures which is really a good thing. I also just received a new lens for my digital camera that I ordered from the US. I finally made the step into the Canon L series lenses. The L series lenses have a reputation of being the top of the line optics by Canon. All the reviews say wonderful things. I had a really tough time selecting which lens to start with.

In the end I looked at my portfolio and saw that I was shooting a lot of wide angle landscapes. A wide lens is great for the narrow streets of European cities as well as vast sweeping expansive landscapes. I ended up selecting a Canon 17mm-35mm F 2.8 USM L series.

I took it out for a couple of test shots tonight and from first looks the results are good. I can't wait to take it with on our trip to Prague this weekend. That will be awesome.

Second City

I have read in all of these travel books and almanacs that Chicago has a bigger or equal population of Poles as compared to the population of Warsaw, the Capital of Poland. I always found that to be a strange factoid. After having visited I was able to see first hand the interrelationships of the two cities.

While we were walking through the Polish history museum in Old town Warsaw I saw something strange. In the middle of the images of the ravages of war, and the rebuilding after world war II there were a few posters that stuck out. They were advertisements for an exhibition in a museum probably in the 1940's or 1950's. The title of the exhibit, "New Sky Scrapers of Chicago." Underneath the title the address of the museum was shown with a short description in Polish. The museum was of course in Warsaw.

The people walking the streets also looked familiar. I could imagine many of the guys as pork chop eating bears fans, or Chicago PD standing on a street corner directing traffic. This is hard to explain in words, but the people just had the same look and feel of many of the midwestern, Chicago people that I grew up with as family friends or direct relatives.

Later that same day we were wandering the side streets of the shopping district and my wife spotted a sign on the wall announcing the "State of Illinois Central European Office." What would the State of Illinois be doing in Warsaw? This I have to explore in further detail. After looking into the State of Illinois website I am surprised at the number of international trade offices that they maintain. Another sure sign of the close bound between Warsaw and Chicago.

Finally on Sunday evening as we took off about 8:30 pn we rose into the night sky and I saw something I had not seen in Europe before. The pattern of streets and the traffic looked very familiar. It was as If I had visited this place many times before. It was amazing how closely the street layouts looked just like the vast expanse of Chicago's near west and southside communities. Neat little rows of street lights and houses. The streets were straight and long, just like Chicago. A city planning feature that I have not seen in other European cities.

I wonder how much of this is related to the fact that 85% of the buildings in Warsaw were destroyed after WWII meaning that the government had to rebuild the entire city. A huge undertaking, but an obvious opportunity to improve, and better the city for its inhabitants.

My Cousins

I just got back from a weekend in Warsaw. I had a business meeting there late last week and decided to stay for the weekend to explore. When I left I had 4 culinary goals

• perogi


• stuffed cabbage


• kishka


• bobka

I'm glad to say that I achieved four of the five, only missing out on a good piece of bobka.

What was more strange were the people. It was like walking around in a bizzaro world. Everyone looked like they could have been my cousin. Even my wife commented on how some of the wait staff looked like my cousins. I guess the 'Polish" genes really were handed down through my family. There is no doubt about it.