Czech Construction Sites (Death Traps)

This was the street that our hotel was on in Brno.  They were in the middle of completely ripping it up.  The most bizarre part was that the street was completely open to walk through.  They did have some fencing off but there were large gaps between the fences so they were completely ineffective.  For example in the picture below, the hole is blocked off but there is a four foot gap in between the fences so that anyone can go through.  In Prague too, they don't bother to block off construction sites.  We once walked by a newly built structure, the inside was wide open, i'm sure there were tons of squatters inside.  A little bit of light was shed on this odd bit of culture by one of the RA's who explained to us that in the Czech Republic people are not sue-crazy and there are hardly any lawsuits, very much unlike the culture I am used to in NYC where people sue for splinters and hangnails.  

Czech Condiments

Just like everything else in a restaurant (bread, water, etc), unless you go to a high end restaurant, you have to pay extra for everything.  This includes condiments.  Luckily most places have Heinz, the Czech brands are not that great.  A single packet can cost up to fifteen crowns, which is a little under a dollar!  The upside is that they have these nifty blister packages that you can see in the above picture.

Medieval Bar in Brno

While on our trip to Brno a few weeks ago we went to a medieval bar!  We intended to go for the mead, which they were out of, but we did have grog.  Grog is warm Czech rum with lemon.  The bar itself was really neat.  It was in an old romanesque basement so basically it was a really long stone arch.

There were authentic iron work grates over the air shafts.  Also, the brick leads me to believe that this is not the original stone work but that it was probably redone in the last fifty or so years (Very recent for Czech standards).

Some nights they have fire-breathing, the night that we were there they had a three way knight fight.  These three guys battled up and down the length of the bar in full armor.  There was one point where one knight ran from the other room and unleashed a mighty ax swing onto the back of one of the other knights, it was really loud.

There were little coats of arms all over the bar.

And animal skins.  I'm pretty sure this one was a wolf.  The benches were even covered with piles of furs instead of cushions.

Most of the lighting was from candles, it gave the bar a really great atmosphere and very warm lighting.

This is the second half of the bar.  It is all communal tables, next to us were some Swedes who kept to them selfs.

This is one of the private rooms in the front of the bar.  Check out the cascades of melted wax on the right wall.

Fascinating Font Caricatures

In desperate attempts to further procrastinate and push off writing a midterm essay, I came across these amazing font caricatures.  It took me a minute or looking before I made out that they were entirely made of font characters.  I wonder what fonts they used exactly, I'm not sure whether it is the font itself or the placement that makes it look so flowing and natural, almost like a Al Hirschfeld sketch.  The most intriguing aspect of these figures are the small details like the buttons, the shoes, and the hair, the fact that they could make the hair seem so natural and curly is what really impresses me.

Cool Czech Jobs

One of the coolest jobs to have in the Czech Republic would be a tow truck/crane game operator.  In Prague if your meter runs out then they call in the crane game.  They attach a boot to each wheel and then they lift it straight up out of the spot.  They have a whole bunch of levers that control different functions.  Once over the flatbed, they spin the car around until it faces forward and then lower it down onto the truck.  These operators must be amazing at carnival crane games.

Kofola (A Post on the Epic Soda Quest Front)

I thought that Kofola was just a generic Czech brand cola so I have not tried it yet, I was very wrong!  Its got a crazy complex flavor.  It has accents of cola, but seems more to be a herb infused soda.  At first there is a strong citrus burst.  This intense citrus explosion caramelizes into a slightly sour (but very pleasant) licorice flavor.  At this point there is a creamy fade out of flavor while hints of cumin, cinnamon (the combination of these last two remind me of a dark, incense infused tea shop), and sour apple surge to a crisp finish.  One of the best features of this soda is that you can taste the seltzer, meaning that it is not overly sweet or syrupy.  Great advances were made today on the Epic Soda Quest!

Autumn Festival

About two weeks ago there was an Autumn Festival down at the local square.  It was nice and quaint, there were lots of little stands that had local goods and food.  The main attraction were the stands above, burchak stands.  Burchak is young wine, it is made from young grapes and is the primary step in the wine making process so it is sweet and a bit bubbly.

There were candle stands.

Lots of homemade scarfs and sweaters.

Here are chimney cakes.  its dough wrapped onto a metal tube and then rolled through cinnamon sugar, or cinnamon and nuts. then coated with some butter and rolled over a fire to bake.  They are delicious and are starting to show up in NYC at street fairs.

This is a Honey Wine stand.  They served it hot and cold,  the hot honey wine was great on a cold day.

I have no idea what this was but it looked traditional.  First they made fresh, what seemed to be Czech tortillas.  They then spread a herb butter on and added lots of different herbs spices and spreads.  The smell was amazing.

I opted for some Czech kielbasa.  One of the local wineries had a huge wood burning grill that smelled like the perfect winter fire, it gave the kielbasa a great double smoked flavor.

Out of know where came a traditional Czech band and flag throwers.  The had traditional czech costumes too.  The flags were spun around their bodies and then they soared about fifty feet up into the air.  Czech festivals are fun!