Try finding a newspaper headline like this in America...

POLL: Czechs dislike Roma. Czechs also don't like Vietnamese, Albanians, Romanians and Ukranians

That was an actual headline on a newspaper today. Made me laugh. Roma is the correct term for Gypsies, just so you aren't confused.

Anyways, in new news, I come home May 12, and have to be back in Houghton May 19 to start work, so I'll probably go back up the 18th. So anyone that may be planning a suprise welcome home get together, know you have a limited window. And if no one was planning one, this is a hint to plan something :) (just kidding, I know there is already an elaborate party waiting for me)

Three weeks to go.....

....and my hard drive dies for good. Couldn't have stuck through it for another two and a half weeks, nope, dies as papers are needing to be written so I have no choice but to either buy a new one, or fight 40 other people for the 5 computers on campus only available from whenever admins get there in the morning until whenever they leave at night.

In good news, I should no longer have problems getting pics off my camera, so hopefully Vienna and Budapest will be up in the next few days.

Kutna Hora and the Jewels.....

So yesterday was a fun class trip to Kutna Hora, a medieval mining town about an hour from Prague. When it was founded, it sat upon the largest silver reserve in Europe, making it a very powerful town, the second most powerful town in Bohemia after Prague.

We started the trip off at the bone chapel, a church built on an old cemetary. To accomidate the building of the church, they dug up the bones, and used them as decoration for the church. It is a slightly creepy place.

Next we went to St. Barbara church, which was meant to challenge St. Vitus in Prague castle as the most majestic church in Bohemia (Kutna Hora was in constant competition with Prague as to who could be more elaborate and upper class). It is a very nice late-gothic cathedral, with many elements of archtecture that fall outside gothic style.

Finally, we got to crawl around hte silver mines. It is amusing to me, that girls on the program have yet to figure out that cute shoes should be left at home for the class trips, and were gonna wind up in dirty, cool places, so I got to hear some whining. But I loved the place. Copper mines in Houghton would be a lot more comfortable to work in, some shafts in the silver mines were accessible only to someone crawling on their stomach.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046301&l=09805&id=6603926 for pics

This morning, I stood in line for 4.5 hours to view the Crown Jewels of Bohemia. There are some big rocks on that crown. Why the long line? The crown is only displayed publically for a week every fifth anniversery of the founding of the Czech Republic. Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia, who comissioned the crown, requested it only be shown publically occassionally, and once every five years is actually frequent compared to what it was shown before WWI. Also on display of note, was a reliquary cross used for the coronation of Czech kings, that held a piece of Jesus's loincloth.

Unfortunately, no pics were allowed, so you'll just have to come in the next week and stand in line and see it for yourself.

Italy

Ok, got at least Italy off my camera. The pics should be here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046161&l=42174&id=6603926

If that doesn't work, leave me a comment, and I'll put them up like I normally do.

Anyways, Italy was fun. Roamed around Rome for a few hours when I got off the plane, seen the Vatican. Took a train to Anzio, got my hotel, had a nice dinner. Spahetti with mussels, and a whole fish. Went to bed full, got up the next day, and nearly walked the entire way to the cemetery (had I known how close I was when I turned around and walked back to the train, I actually would have walked the whole way, as it was, probably walked close to 5 miles). Cemetery was real nice, very peaceful and well kept.

Went back to my hotel, took a dip in the Mediterranean, much to the amusement of lots of Polish tourists, and I must say it was much warmer than the last time I decided to take a dip in a ody of water I wouldn't be around again for a while (the Arctic).

Went back to Rome early Sunday morning, happened upon Santa Maria Maggiore just in time for mass (I get lucky a lot), so I stuck around for that (its actually Vatican property, so I've been to church in the Vatican), seen the colosseum and ancient Rome, then went home.

My final verdict? Italy is crappy. Aside from the churches, the Vatican, the beach (And only the beach, no surrounding area at all) and the cemetery, it was rundown, graffiti and garbage everywhere, and not a nice place. Also the hardest place to get around without English (Kosovo included), although the people were friendly and willing to help. Gelatto ice cream was REAL good, though.

Perhaps the wierdest.....

Well, I think I hav ejust found the biggest oddity (coolest thing?) about living in Prague yet: there's a movie being filmed right outside my apartment. The past few days in which I thought someone was putting in a hotel and bar in the old building by me, they've really been setting up to shoot a scene.

Oh, and my camera and computer have decided not to be friends, so while I'm hoping this isn't the case, Vienna/Budapest and Italy (and maybe Kutna Hora, depending on how long the fued lasts) pics may be a while, if they get up before I get back......

Geneva

Geneva is a nice city, but thats about as far as it goes. Nice to live, but lacking in the tourism areas. Of course, it has the traditional Old Town, but since most of the city didn't get going until the 1600's, its not quite as spectactular as other cities. Of note is the famous Protestant wall, a wall 150m long dedicated to Protestant history (Geneva was a safe haven for Protestant reformers while they were being persecuted), the famous waterfountain in the lake, and the mountainous surroundings. It is, however, a town that I would probably be most interested in living in should I ever live in Europe. Modern and efficient, cost of living for non-tourists isn't bad, and VERy international. Seriously, try finding a Swiss restaurant in Geneva. Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Lebanese, Syrian, American, lots of French, German (all operated by someone of that nationality), but not many Swiss restaurants to be found.

Oh, and Swiss chocolate is delicious, but a bit pricey starting at $95/kg (about 2.2lbs). And of course, I got the obligatory genuine Swiss Army knife (even the original Swiss Army model).

1) Public Transportation boat across Lake Geneva

2) Swiss are smart - when they name a road after someone, they put what that person did to get a road named after them on the sign

3) Victoria Concert Hall

4) Protestant Wall

5) Russian Orthodox church, circa late 19th century (Geneva is a very diverse city for religion)

6) St. Pierre Cathedral, served as a Protestant church during the reformation until it was handed back over to the Catholic diocese

7) View of Lake geneva and the new part of the city from St. Pierre's tower

8) Yummy Swiss Chocolate

9) UN Headquarters Europe

10) Swiss vineyard

11) View of Lake Geneva from the Jura Mountains

12) Mountains

13) St Cergue

14) Mountain hiking

Mont St Michel

Quite possibly my new favorite vacation location. Beautiful scenery, awesome castle town, sweet tides, great seafood, lamb, cheese and cider. Also a fierce rivalry between Brittany and Normandy about who the castle belongs to (currently Normandy, as the river that divides the two regions currently runs to the ocean on the west side of the Mont, although it has changed sides many times over the past few hundred years), whats not to love?

1) Storm over Mont St Michel

2) Approaching Mont St Michel, still a few miles out

3) Casting a shadow over the salt flats

4) Downtown

5) Sun setting on the abbey

6) Night view from the draw bridge

7) Castle at night

8) High tide

9) Another night shot

10) Sunset shot of a guard tower

11) Another part of town

12) View from my hotel room

13) Inside the abbey

14) Crypt supporting the church

15) Statue of St Michel on top of the abbey

Oh

If anyone has a desire to see the high resolution pics, just let me know, I realize the quality is getting crappy from how I have to shrink them down to make them fit.

Paris

Paris is a lot less exciting to me, but here are a few pics of my favorite parts of the city. I was basically in town for one day, Easter Sunday, before heading off to Mont St Michel. Pics of Mont St Michel and Geneva are still coming, as are Vienna, Budapest, Cesky Krumlov and the two things worth taking pics of in Bratislava (a cable stay bridge and a pre-Roman fortress)

1) Yummy market

2) View off the top of the Eiffel Tower

3) Looking straight up the Tower: The Tower is built at its base to exert no more pressure per square inch than a 150lb lady in heels.

4) Looking straight down the Tower

5) Notre Dame

6) Easter Mass in Notre Dame (I stopped taking pics as mass started, unlike the idiots that were bugging me all night to move so they could get better pics and using me as a tripod)

7) Arc de Triumph

8) Obelisk, in Concorde Place

9) Goofy thumb statue, no real importance, its just an awesome pic with the reflection off rain covered marble

10) Eiffel Tower at night, once an hour it sparkels wth flashy lights

11) Non-sparking Eiffel Tower for comparison

12) Grande Arche, a modern Arc de Triumph, it houses gov't offices

Normandy WWII Sites

1) Pegasus Bridge, British airborne objective, paratroopers held off armoured divisions
2) Sword Beach, British Commonwealth landings
3) Canadian Memorial, guys look like flying squirrels
4) Center of Canadian landings, memorial
5) Juno Beach, Canadians
6) Gold Beach, British
7) German shore guns at Longues sur Mer
8) German bunker at Longues sur Mer
9) Omaha Beach as seen from the bluffs, US landings
10 & 11) American Cemetary at Omaha Beach
12) Omaha Beach from the waterline at approximately low tide, the same distance a soldier would have had to run encumbered by gear while getting shot at
13) Omaha beach at Vierville sur Mer, some of the heaviest fighting
14) Pointe du Hoc cliffs, Army Rangers scaled these on the morning of the landings
15) Pointe du Hoc is preserved as it was after WWII, with bomb craters and flame thrower scorching still visible
16) German, French and British dead who were not repatriated, usually were just buried in municipal cemetaries. This cemetray had dead from all three countries.
17) Utah Beach, US landings
18) Utah Beach memorial to all lost US troops
19) Airborne memorial near St. Marie Eglise
20) La Fierre bridge, 82nd Airborne obective to take and hold the night before the landings to prevent reinforcements