It's funny, in Bavaria all of the houses are neat and white, with red roofs. As soon as you hit the Czech Republic, the houses become CRAZY.
Bohemia is not as pretty as I would have expected... the scenery was nice, but we were definitely happy to get in to Prague just around dinnertime. We checked in to our first real European hotel, Barcelo Praha, and got dressed for our first evening excursion - a "Czech Dinner" complete with folk dancing, singers, talented musicians, traditional food, and bottomless wine and beer.
Dancer... part of a VERY talented and entertaining troupe.
Brother mackin' on a dancer... this will become a recurring theme...
The ol' wine bong... obviously husband is very impressed and very drunk here.
Obviously this was a blast. The service was excellent and the food was simple and delicious (having been prepared for the worst, since EVERYBODY said that Czech food was not great). Not good for vegetarians, though - EVERYTHING had ham in it. There was a singer with a great stage presence that got everybody into the spirit, and this came off as one of our favorite nights. You can also, in the last picture, see some of the people we travelled with - a couple from Missouri who loved theater, and a gentleman from Cuba by way of Florida who was interested in what happens to countries when Communism is over with.
The next morning we drove into Prague and went on a walking tour of the "Old Town" - this is the most touristy, but also oldest part of the city. it is intact and pretty well preserved, especially for being over 1,000 years old.
Graffiti has a way go to here...
Cleaning up the Buildings...
These cars crack me up!
What a view!
Our tour guide was petite and blonde, and held a large yellow umbrella even though the sky was clear and it was HOT. She had a lot of good information about the Jewish Quarter and the older buildings, and even though at one point we almost were run down by a tram, the tour was interesting.
Mounted police with a Castle in the background...
Charles Bridge, built in 1357
View of the Little Quarter
Pigeon on the head!
It's crazy how the beggars prostrated themselves here!
Steampunk art!
After our tour was over, we stopping in the square for a very delicious Italian lunch. Italian food is very big here (and everywhere that we went) - you forget how close things are in this area, since the cultures are so different. Food was great and the bathroom was CLEAN and nice (even though it was in a scary cave basement). After lunch we went to my favorite building the whole trip - The Astronomical Clock.
Built in 1410...
It is BEAUTIFUL and the oldest one still working of it's kind.
Pit stop on the slippery stone spiral staircase...
Going up...
BEAUTIFUL!
Notice that there is nothing stopping you from falling off.
It's not Disneyland...
We split up and wandered back through Prague...
This sign is ridiculously elaborate.
The Jewish Quarter
In the Jewish Quarter we went to the Holocaust Museum and Old Cemetery, both of which do not allow pictures inside. It was very awkward at first, because the lady who took tickets did not speak English and was kind of behind a curtain so you couldn't see her face. Add to that the conversion from dollars to Euro, and Euro to Koruna, and wondering if maybe Husband could get a Student Discount, made for some confusing moments, and she (unlike most of the people we met) was NOT friendly. The lady inside the museum pointed to my Mary Medallion and said something I couldn't understand, so at first I wondered if she wanted me to take it off, since I was entering a Synagogue. It turns out she was just complimenting me, but we had another issue when we got to the cemetery and there was a big sign telling you to cover your head, but no yarmulke or scarves were available to do so with. SO basically I felt like a horrible heathen the whole time, but the museum was very interesting. It is quite small, and the centerpiece of the exhibit were a series of drawings made by children in concentration camps.
The old cemetery was interesting too... It was in use from the 1400s to the late 1700s. The city had limited space, so when the area was full the Jewish people removed all the markers and filled the area in with more dirt, building it up so the bodies could be stacked on top of each other. The Markers were then replaced, so thousands of them are all crammed together. It's a stunning sight. there are an estimated 12 layers of bodies in the cemetery. I was bummed, though, because Kafka's grave isn't in the cemetery proper but outside of town in a newer one that was built after it became legal for Jews to be buried outside of their designated section. That cemetery is half empty because the generation it was built for were shipped off to concentration camps.
Oh, you know, just chilling in a cafe in Prague. (P.S. This is where we discovered that European Fanta is AWESOME.) Also, I made several observations... I was definitely the third fattest person in Prague, and most people are very young and look like supermodels. They also dress like supermodels. Also, Europe is very dog-friendly, and the dogs behave less like pets and more like magical familiars that follow mental commands of their owners. At this particular cafe a tiny dog was hanging out for a while on Husband's feet. His owner came to pick up her child and the dog followed her out into a busy street, pausing for cars without being told, and casually walked over to the car and got in, again without being told. Crazy.
Our hotel left a little to be desired, even by European standards. The food was weak, and most of our included meals took place here. There was also a very funny incident with a maintenance worker who did not speak English, and a strange thing on the wall that looked like it came from a car shop in the 1980s. It turned out to be a hair dryer that he was fixing... Overall, though, Prague was a great city. While it wasn't my favorite overall stop on the trip, it had some of my favorite excursions and the coolest buildings.
Our journey started with a tasty breakfast (I discovered I LOVE beans and toast for breakfast... was I meant to live in the UK or what?) and loading up onto the "coach" for our introductory speeches. Our group was comprised of people from all over the world, and we made some friends while enjoying the beautiful scenery.
Adorable Bavarian Village...
Janos!
Brother enjoys the Bavarian Scenery
We took a lamentably short rest stop in Nuremberg, famous for the Nazi trials that occurred there, but also for the fortifications and castle that were built there in the 11th century. You could really tell from the architecture that this place was OLD.
Medieval carvings...
Part of the castle...
I am going to say right now, I see how Europeans are so much thinner than Americans - walking up so many hills is one thing, but cobblestone is quite another. My sandals were not meant for climbing a small mountain, so I was pretty tired by the time we made it up to the castle.
View from the Castle
Husband and I on the castle steps...
After a few visits to some small shops and a stop at McDonalds for a free toilet, we watched the famous Glockenspiel strike noon and we met back up with our coach to start the next leg of the trip!
Bronze 3-D Map...
Glockenspiel
More time in Nuremberg would have been great I'm sure! It really set the stage for our trip, but it looked like such an interesting little city that I was sad to leave so soon.
I figured it was about time that I blogged my adventures on my first overseas trip! It's been a few weeks now, and it still doesn't quite feel like I have seen as many things as I have, but I will do my best to capture the vibe of what went on during our family vacation to Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic...
Our first bit of the trip was driving to Toronto... the highlights of which were reading the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on Kindle, seeing pine trees that looked exactly like "The King is Dead" cover album, eating at a "Texan" barbecue, staying in a swank hotel, and getting on the plane from hell. The ride was LONG and unbelievably, there were no individual fans on the planes! The heat and very crowded conditions had me nearly panicking, but I managed to get a few hours's sleep because my wonderful husband kept fanning me with the emergency exit card while he watched Harry Potter.
After that terrible experience, we landed in Munich, changed our currency, and met our tour guide Janos for the first time. He got us to the shuttle to the h'otel (Husband liked his accent, and quickly developed a bit of a man crush.) When we got to our hotel, we grabbed some food from the hotel restaurant and had the cutest waitress ever. She actually thought Dad was funny, probably because of the language barrier.
After a tasty (if expensive - still getting the exchange rates down!) lunch, Husband and I took a walk around while the others napped.
Beauty and the Beast Moment...
Garden snails EVERYWHERE!
First steps on the cobblestones of Munich!
After meeting up with our tour group, we all walked down to the village of Oberding for a delicious meal at a local Biergarten...
A pretty church...
REAL German Shepherds...
German beer is GOOOOD...
Mom's Spaetzle
The Family
We walked back to the hotel and crashed, knowing that tomorrow we would start our adventure.
Once the buzz of the new year wears off, it's really difficult to keep up motivation to be active and enthusiastic when the days are short and dark, the weather is cold and gloomy, and most of the large projects that I started last year are finished, but new projects seem like insurmountable obstacles. It's mid-winter in Michigan, and it ain't pretty.
To summarize my life for the past few weeks:
We had a mouse in our house, which is fine... I am not a scream and gather-your-skirts kinda gal... but it makes me worried. Is our house secretly filthy? Or is it just old and a bit creaky, with plenty of room to get in for an enterprising rodent or two? Either way, Mr. Mouse was beat up pretty bad by Cat and Dog, and we haven't seen him since... hopefully he learned his lesson.
Alternately watching Supernatural and playing Zelda leads to some weird, not particularly restful dreams.
A vampire bat.
Dog is much better to have around the house when he gets his morning walk, or "reads the doggy news." We are working on "heel" right now... it's a process, but for once I am grateful that I have such a food-motivated beast.
Playing Guitar Hero with my parents is surprisingly fun.
Huggems Day Festivities
I am becoming more wonderful thanks to Pinterest and free printables. Also, I need more ink. But most of my food in my cupboards is repackaged and has cute labels on it! Also, I have a fabulous new yarn wreath and am having a contest with myself to see how many friendship bracelets I can make in the mornings by the end of the year. So far I have two, but it's a pretty recent contest. Also, I am growing scallions in my windowsill thanks to a pinned tip, and I feel like a pioneer, even though I am just putting grocery-bought scallion ends in some water and aqua beads in the windowsill of my modern, heated home.
I think this week I would like to get organized for spring cleaning. I am looking forward to spring, being outside, and hopefully getting the garden in over spring break. I am sick of being cooped up, and REALLY want to open the windows. Except it's 30 degrees outside.
All the babies and children in my life make me happy. Also, I accidentally convinced my 5-year-old nephew that he witnessed a stabbing when I took him to see a play a few weeks ago, and he definitely told everyone he knows about it. I still haven't met miss Josie, and she is getting so old now! But I had a lot of fun visiting with friends Hali and Aaron and their adorable daughter Soffi a few nights ago, and hopefully we can keep our Sunday dinners a semi-regular occurring.
Husband and Nephew
I am going to be the kind of person who always brings a little gift, who has kind words to say, who is silent when need be, who sees the good in everything, who throws amazing get-togethers, who wants to do fun things. It's going to happen. Because Spring is coming!
The first day that it was still light out when I got out of work!
A survivalist friend of mine spent a couple of months in the Upper Peninsula woods living in a tent. When he came back to civilization I was naturally curious as to how all of that time was spent - no phone, no internet, no TV... He told me that he spent most of his time revolving around the obtaining, preparation, and eating of food. Hunting, making baskets and pots, cooking... it takes up a lot of time, and I am sure that is how our ancestors lived every day of their lives. Now I am not someone who villifies our modern conveniences (which would be silly since I am writing this on a blog right now), but I do think that even in this day and age, what and how we choose to eat says a lot about us. For the past couple of years, food has stayed on my mind in one way or the other. I do all of the shopping and cooking for our family, and so what goes into our mouths is completely in my domain. I dabbled in vegetarianism a few years ago (as so many of my generation did). I have researched into organic foods and thought about becoming a locavore (not easy in a place with 4 months of snow). I started using my local farmer's market and growing some herbs and veggies on my city lot.
I won't profess to be an expert. There's a lot of stuff out there about food, and there are little grains of truth in everything. I like what the bible has to say about food: "It is not what goes in to a man's mouth, but what comes out of his mouth that makes him holy." This tells us to not be too caught up in what we eat, because it is all temporary and meant to fuel more important things. But God did give us taste buds and a sense of taste, so it must be a good thing to get pleasure out of eating. I like the French philosophies about eating - French cooking is known to be rich and decadent, but they eat small portions and savor each bite. I love how Spanish culture thinks of food as a social event, something to be shared with family and friends. I admire Asian culture, and the way that Buddhism affects thought about food - careful and moderate eating of quality foods. I agree with vegans and vegetarians about the abhorrent conditions of the American Agro-Industrail complex. Perhaps the people I fall in line with most when thinking about food are the new wave farmers - animals have the right to live good full lives, produce should be fresh and local, people should know where thier food comes from. Eating is by nature killing, but it doesn't have to be torture.
Ideally, Husband and I would have our own small-scale farm. I have dreams and plans for that, but it's a long way away, and I jut have to live vicariously through Jenna and Cold Antler Farm, among others. For now, here are the various ways I have combined all of these beliefs and more into what seems to be working for us. You could call it the Modern-American-Socially-Conscious-Busy-Lifestyle-on-a-Budget Diet.
First off, if you go out to eat more than once a week, stop. Even McDonalds is a lot more expensive than the most expensive burgers at the store (I love Morningstar Farm's Spicy Black Bean Burgers - about $3 for four of them, and that's pretty pricey.) Because we have a relatively comfortable budget, we treat ourselves to a date night or lunch out once a week. We eat at restaurants that are not chains unless friends suggest them. This is a great way to get to know your community better and keep your money in the area, too! Find out if restaurants source local foods... many do, and maybe more will if they get enough people asking. I try to look at eating out as a treat done with others - I get what I want to eat, within reason. When you do go out, get water instead of soda. OR go out specifically for soda (I like diet soda and refuse to give it up.) I try to never keep it in the house, though, so I have to go for a walk or bike ride to get it.
Plan ahead dinner-wise - especially when you're starting to eat more perishable goods like fruits and veggies, don't pick them up on a whim or get overexcited. I did that all last year, and our compost bin bulged with all of the excess fruits and veggies that were not eaten by good intentions. See if there is a place that lets you buy things individually instead of packaged - Kroger allows you to bag your own spinach, so I can get a couple of cups of it instead of the huge bag for $4 that most stores carry. Shop local and farmer's markets when you can - but I know that some of the big-city markets can be REALLY expensive because they are so trendy. Maybe try some Asian or Latino markets? Again, learn your community... shopping at locally owned stores is good for everyone involved...
Find a balance that works for your particular eating habits. For me, I have found a pretty good balance with eating a small healthy breakfast, healthy lunch, reasonable snacks (tortilla chips and yogurt, hummus and pita - I am a snacker, so just cutting out chips and cheeses for snacks is making a big difference.), and a normal dinner that uses maybe more veggies then I am used to. I have a couple of family recipes that I have started throwing frozen broccoli into (LOVE it, lasts so much longer than fresh. I always use frozen veggies as stand by sides and only buy fresh when I know exactly what I am going to do with them, and they last for a couple of months and are CHEAP.) I have some really good recipes that are tasty and relatively healthy.
Find recipes you love. If you can find something you love, you can sneak it in to the husband without him even noticing, and then you don't have to worry about having a big "we need to get healthy" conversation.
Go meatless. We have started to go meatless for 2 meals a week, partly for social and ecological reasons, but also because it's a LOT cheaper. We eat seafood another meal of the week, chicken for two meals, and beef or pork for one meal (eating out the other). I love Quorn products (We now regularly use the "ground beef" in tacos... can't tell the difference in flavor and the texture is more pleasant than beef!) Beans are so tasty and good for you, and I am loving the veggie stir fries and pastas that are out there.
Wait for sales. Buy enough meat for 1 or 2 months, then spend the day packaging and marinating it. It makes the evening meal so much easier because you only have to pull it out, and it marinates while it thaws.
Be frugal. Eat when you are hungry. Stop before you are full. We are lucky to live in a country where there will ALWAYS be more food. When you get the urge to munch during the day, drink some water. When you get the urge to munch at night, brush your teeth. Learn your body, learn your eating habits.
That's all I know so far. But it seems to be working for me. Now to get on that exercise train... :)
Yes, just a normal 2 PM at the McFarland Household.
Okay, so work has actually taken over life again, but with the first month of 2012 down, I can say that some things have seen real progress! I have lost 6 pounds and am feeling a little bit healthier and more balanced. I have found a way to make Pinterest a daily part of my life, and am finding it helpful in many ways: Collecting lovely and beautiful things from all over the internet, getting inspired with DIY projects, and lesson planning for Eureka Club.
Nate moved out at the beginning of this month, and we are getting used to having the house to ourselves again. He was a good housemate, but it was the right time to make this change, and it seems like he is doing well at his new house too! The cleaning is much easier to get done.
I made the best pulled pork panini EVER a few days ago, and have tried out several great new recipes. I made Steelhead for the first time (a tasty and slightly cheaper alternative to Salmon). I have had a few (read: quite a few) backslides when it comes to eating healthier... I am a stress eater, and I am usually stressed when I am working. BUT the most important things is to dust yourself off and start back up again the next day, and as long as I keep chipping away at it, it will get down to where it needs to be.
This winter has been CRAZY warm. I won't say I haven't been enjoying the sunny 45 degree weather in January, but is is freaking me out a little bit. Also, I was expecting more snow days since I work for a school district... we've only had one so far this year!
The basement is all organized and mostly painted. I don't know if I have any before pictures, but I am quite happy with the results so far - it's bright and cheerful, and will be a great play space for children when we have some. For now it's a functional craft and exercise space, AND a good place for me to watch Smallville free of embarrassment! :)
I read Bossypants while I was being held captive at Barnes and Noble for three and a half hours, and found it to be decent. Much like the infamous Sarah Palin sketches or the wonderful 30 Rock, I find anything Tina Fey touches to be infinitely overrated, but at the same time still quite funny. Is Fey the first actor to become famous for doing an impersonation of a political figure? Hardly. Was there anything particularly groundbreaking or unique about her portrayal of Palin? Not really. Was is funny? Yeah, definitely. 30 Rock is much like a modern Mary Tyler Moore that suffered a bit from a bumpy first season and occasional bouts of preachiness, but overall it's hilarious and the writing is original. Does it deserve every single award ever? Probably not. Is Bossypants, "Achingly Funny," "Inciting beverages to come out of nasal passages," or "The greatest thing you will ever read?" Not by a long shot. In fact, Mindy Kaling's book was similar in tone but much more lovable and accessible in my opinion. But overall it was a decently funny book that I don't regret having read.
This week I am looking forward to getting back on track with my meal planning. I am stoked to meet miss Josanna Mullen, who was born last Saturday. I plan to become more organized with work, and to keep chipping away at lesson planning and classroom prep. I also want to make this wreath for my front door:
.JPG)
