Dancing House prague

Being one of the few main cities in Europe to escape being destroyed during the world wars, the city of Prague represents ten Centuries in the Architecture. It’s architecture reflects the long history of Europe through the medieval, baroque, gothic and art nouveau periods of architecture... a modern building that the designers wanted to call the “Aistaire and Rogers” building inspired by the famous dancing duo Fred Aistaire and Ginger Rogers. Its deconstructionist architecture and design raised a lot of controversy since it was built in 1995 but now that the emotions have cooled, the locals now call it “the dancing house” if they are on the side of those who now accept it's unique look or, “the drunk house” if your on the side of those who don’t.... hate it or love it it has now become an icon in the city and remember it could have been worse... it could have been built to honor disco instead of the elegance of ball room dancing.... we should also reflect on that even though Fred tends to get the glory for the famous dancing duo...Ginger did what he did backwards and in high heels....

making a list

For those of you who are feeling sorry for us not being at home for Christmas... we do miss you all, however, here are a few pictures of what we are experiencing.... besides the one thing I like about the season is how everyone takes the time to be a little nicer... (may be it is because you-know-who is keeping a list...[no not lord voldemort] ... or may be it is because Christmas is not a time, or a place or a date... but a state of being.....

Marry Styxmass

To all of our friends and Family...
we wish you all a very
Marry Styxmass ....

Whats in a name?

As the name Aja is not that common of a name in Canada...I have been searching around trying to find a little name tag or a mini licence plate on our travels .. But i have not been so lucky here either.... however if any of you are looking for anything like that for your friends with common names like Alois, Antonin, Arnold , Arnost, Artur, Bedrich, Borek, Boris, Bretislav, Bronislav, Cenek, Ctibor, Cyril, Dalibor, Dalimil etc... let me know I think I have found just the right place for you...

Snow train to Prague

Seeing the world from the railway is always great... you get to see the laundry hanging in the back yards, the wood piles, the old cars, the gardens and countless other things that you would never see going down streets in front of the houses... i think it gives a truer picture of how the people live... we are off to Prague traveling through what might be considered a winter wonderland.. except i have read too much about the war and the chill of the eastern front... so i keep flashing between the two worlds... one peaceful and festive the other war-filled and horror... but hey Prague is the home of Franz Kafka so between the two images i should be in great shape to understand his beliefs about his city and him..... "A belief is like a guillotine, just as heavy, just as light... (Kafka) "

Bears

Not far from where the last wild bear was killed in the early 1900's is the famous Cesky Krumlov Castle with its bear moat... The original Gothic fortification had a moat with water and a wooden drawbridge. Under the reign of Wilhelm von Rosenberg in 1707 the original wooden drawbridge gave way (literally) to a stone bridge with statues of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph to protect the castle. Although back then many believed the statues would be protection enough, others less devout were not so sure, so to shore up the divine protection four bears were put into the moat.. the bear moat has been pretty well kept in operation since then... with a major overhaul in 1999 it was brought up to modern humane standards (I guess that would be bearane standards)... as for the wild bears there is rumor that some bears might now be coming into the Czech republic from Slovakia... a good sign... except lets hope they are not gypsy bears.

Local Foods

The local markets have great looking foods... some of which looks back at you....The Czech food does not get much play in the international cuisine circles which describe Czech food as heavy. The Czech's defend their food by saying it needs to be heavy to be filling because of the long cold winters. It may be heavy but it is tasty with roast pig, duck, goose, sausages, sauerkraut, breads and dumplings. The local guide books say there are only three local vegetables cabbage, the tomato and cucumber, however, i do not think any of those are the secret to their beer making ingredients so they must have a few more local substances that form part of a mixture... unless Budweiser beer is made from tomatoes, cucumber and sauerkraut... you beer drinkers let me know...

Ceske Budejovice

Ceske Budejovice is the last smallish town we will explore the Czech Republic.. Our journeys have mostly been in the south Bohemian region also knows as budweis (its German name) and in case that sounds familiar to any of you it is also the name of a local beer which many of you might know in America as Budweiser beer. The square in this town is bigger than the squares in most cities and, as in most European cities, is set up with a winter market prior to Christmas... complete with an outdoor skating rink, a local market with all the local crafts, local foods and drinks along with an organ grinder with his monkey.... The square houses the local town hall and has four statues on the top which are said to personify the four citizen’s virtues: Fairness, Wisdom, Bravery and Caution... I think that the first three apply to the citizens and the last one was added by the town politicians who usually ran away when people came to try and use steel instead of gold to get the secret of the beer...

Making friends

"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles."
Tim Cahill

Aja found a like minded, avid reading, talented, new friend in Malaika the granddaughter of a friend of mine from the Yukon. The funny thing is that my Yukon friend Larry had just told his daughter Dawn that Aja and i were doing something very cool a week before we showed up in the Czech Republic... I like this quote about friends by Anais Nin ..."each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive...' exploring worlds is definitely what we are up to...

Some People Townshend

Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”... as we wander the world we have found so many trails left by such people... to name a few... A former principal of Maxwell international school near Victoria, Dr. Lee Johnson and his wife ... Tom Garoway a long time friend of James Norquay and Jim Willaby two people i knew and met at the same time... Randy and Oonagh who we met in Israel and invited us to come to Townshend and Dawn whose father i grew up with in the Yukon and three of her children along with Jan Shepphard who i also met in Israel... To have the time to reconnect and hear about the lives and travels of so many people who "did not stay at home" is to begin to understand why Aja and i came on this journey in the first place....

Gypsies / Roma

I have met some of the roma also know by the term gypsy in Hungary...they are an amazing musical, creative and artistic peoples... But i never had a chance to see one of their caravans until the Czech republic....and as you can see from the painting of Vincent van Gogh of a Gypsy Camp near Arles in 1888, their mode of transport has remained basically the same with the passing of time... the roma or gypsy's are a nomadic peoples and have been horribly persecuted since the 12 th century.. currently the Canadian government has slapped visa requirements on the Czech population (even though it is a EU country) because they thought that the Czech government was dumping the Roma into Canada... so of course the Czech government slapped visa requirements on Canadians... which makes it hard for Canadians to stay for extended periods of time in the Czech Republic... As Aja and I continue our nomadic travels I hope for a time when the world wakes up to the fact we are all citizens of one planet and forgets this tiresome tribalism...

Sculpture

A famous Czech artist was approached about doing a design with children for Townshend school, like she had done for a local town... she declined as her daughter had recently passed away and doing another sculpture of a child was too sensitive for her. The school invited her to come see Townshend anyway. After she came and observed the students and experienced the school vision and spirit, she decided to create a sculpture, for free, for what she saw as the spirit of the school..... i think she got it right on.

czech out the picts... http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/

Townsend School

While we were in Israel we met several Bahai's who were working at the Townshend international school and they invited us to come and visit them at the school. Townshend is a private international school inspired on the Baha'i vision of the oneness of the worlds peoples and religions. The school is named after the Irish scholar and former priest George Townshend. Aja and I have been helping with an arts festival, doing art workshops, giving aikido lessons and guest lecturing in classes. It is amazing to be in a school with such a wide variety of young people from so many nations and so many religions... it is great to see and feel the energy of such positive dynamic youth...Aja has made some good friends seen many positive role models... and on top off all the the view from the kitchen is amazing..

Snow At Last

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.

The first snow fall is always magic.... it brings out the delight of childhood memories... and even though a part of me now thinks things like... if it snows, will be hard to get around?... how will we get to the bus?.... will the trains be on time?....however, I still love the first snow fall... not so much the second or the third... but for now in this small Czech town I will have a bowl of hot vegetable soup and watch out the window as the flakes drift down ... moments like this are hard to forget... the beauty of nature is hard to beat....

Hluboka nad Vltavou

Hluboká nad Vltavou is a small town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It is mostly known for its amazing glass works and its Windsor style Castle. I would like to say we came because the castle was of strategic military, historic or cultural significance, however, we came because he castle was used in Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson's Shanghai Knights. Although the fact that it was the original royal castle of Premysl Otakar II from the second half of the 13th century is pretty cool too if your a local. Sure the history books say he led a cowardly retreat from the Battle of the Marchfeld, after having been defeated by Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph I... the locals are, however, a bit sensitive about that and describe his retreat as more of a strategic withdrawal..... they seem to know and care about their history back a few centuries more than we we tend to... But hey did I mention Jackie Chan was there

czech town Hosin

Our journeys in the Czech republic have been, for the most part, different than our visits to other European countries... we have focused on the smaller towns rather than the larger tourist cities...When you visit small towns like Hosin you are not exactly sure Where you are or Why you are there or even exactly When you are.. as time does not work like it does in the cities... there is a saying by Paul Theroux who said "tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going." for us traveling the small towns has been much like that.... what we have heard and read about eastern European countries is nothing like the feeling and experience of traveling the back roads and small towns where the people are delightful and real and don't often care about where they are going because, in their minds they are already there.... besides you know what they say about small towns... "when you don't know what your doing, someone else does."

Leaving Budapest

We have loved our time in Hungary... we have seen castles, visited world heritage sites, seen the culture, admired the traditional arts and crafts, tasted of its delights (you should never be hungry in hungary), met many beautiful people, traveled to little towns with the Bahai's, and made many new friends and still there is so much more to see and do...especially since we missed the packed Tom Jones concert... does this town know how to rock or what....proving this is a city worth coming to and returning to, as it always welcomes you back ...And what better way to describe this great city but In the immortal words of Tom Jones "She's a Lady" 1971 and "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" 1967... and ok he also said "Love is Fickle" ... but this is a great town...

Outdoor Winter Market

We passed back through Budapest from Israel and arrived just in time for the winter markets.... they set up cottage-style wooden stalls and an outdoor stage in some of the main squares of Budapest...we did not know they were happening but were lured there by the sounds of the performances and the smell of traditional honey cookies, mulled wine, cinnamon and fir. The Hungarian society for the folk arts guarantees all the decorations and products are hand-made and made from traditional materials from traditional techniques... We watched a few cultural dancing and singing programs and walked about in the cold until we gave over to trying some of the traditional Hungarian food and cakes, strudel and grilled sausages... we wanted to try the kurtos kalacs hollow cylinder-shaped pastry with different coatings but the line ups were too long... so we settled for enjoying langos and the atmosphere instead...

p.s. don't forget to check out the picts at http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/

The Indoor Market

We really enjoyed our several visits to the grand market to buy fruit, eggs and fresh bread. This large three-floor indoor market is a place where the clamor of tourists meets the daily life of the average resident. It is three floors of everything from the colorful Kalosca embroidery, ceramics, folk art and crafts to Hungarian strudel, fresh baking and fresh, locally grown vegetables and prepared meats; all the things that make Hungary unique. Originally this grand structure incorporated an indoor canal by which goods were delivered to the market's traders and today it is listed as one of the top 10 places to see in Budapest... but it is more than a place to see it is also a place to hear, smell and taste... not really for touch... because signs suggest that if you touch it and broke it, you bought it..

Statues

Statues in Hungary are many and varied in style, purpose and historical significance. Some tell stories, some remind you of stories and the odd one looks like it would appreciate you sitting down and reading it a good story... All part of the charm of Budapest... and of course remember this advice as you begin any enterprise... "Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been put up to a critic." well any that we have seen yet... tyrants, despots but no critics...

staring at the water

Rivers throughout history have been responsible for cities being built and even the odd country...They acted as highways, trade routes, sources of food, and supplied us with water for industry and agriculture. In fact Whitehorse where i was raised was created because the rapids would not let ships pass by... The Danube, which flows through Budapest is known to history as one of the long-standing frontiers of the Roman Empire and has played a major part in the creation of this city. And since the Hungarians are a practical people with sayings like "You can’t cross a river merely by standing and staring at the water" they took the time to build many beautiful bridges to cross over it... we of course did stand on the bridges and just watched the river because we, like Winnie the Pooh said "sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you might suddenly know everything that is to be known." Winnie the Pooh also said “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” we can learn a lot from rivers and small bears.

Leaving Israel

We say goodbye to Israel with a day at the beach on the Mediterranean sea in Tel Aviv ... as we leave Israel i am reminded of a quote by David Ben-Gurion one of the architects of the state of Israel.... "In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles." realists who believe in miracles is the best definition i have found to describe the people of this great land...thanks it has been real.... and I too believe this land still contains many miracles.

Black mud

We went to a spa and rolled around in the black gooy mud which you let bake onto your body in the sun.... it was near where the The Dead Sea Scrolls were found....but as interesting as the scrolls are the real find has been the mud and minerals found in the area used today for beauty products and cosmetics to preserve our youthful looks... the egyptians used it for balms to preserve their dead through mummification... ahh we all want to live forever.... well the egyptians did we just want to look young forever...

a dead sea swim

A swim... well a float in the dead sea...422 meters (1385 ft) below sea level... you just sit and you can lift your hands and feet out of the water.. a very strange sensation....a little different than actually walking on the water but just as fun.... i might have stayed on the swim team if we had to swim in water like this... strange to me though is that why, when it is almost impossible to sink into the water, would they have a life guard on duty...

Masada

We visited Masada and rode the cable car up to the ancient fortress built in about the year 35 by Herod the great. Masada today is one of the symbols for the survival of the Jewish nation... An uprising by zealots around the year 70 led to the destruction of Jerusalem and a group of 960 men, women and children escaped to Masada and held out there for three years... the Romans could not breach the walls so they moved a mountain next to the fortress to build a ramp... when it looked like the Romans were going to break through the zealots, rather than being taken by the Romans, set up a suicide pact selecting 10 men to kill everyone then themselves....so today the memory is part of an oath taken by Israeli soldiers "Masada shall not fall again." ...it kind of reminds me of the the official motto found on license plates from New Hampshire "Live Free or Die"... kind of makes me glad to live where the motto is just good old "beautiful B.C"....

Saying Goodbye to Haifa

As we sadly head out of Haifa we say goodbye to many new and old friends as well to an amazing area full of history and life.... one thing I have learned on my travels through the castles of Europe is that while kings and queens come and go leaving little but statues ... artists, musicians and inventors change the way the world works and sees itself... and poor, humble Prophets illuminate the spiritual life of the planet....., But i have also learned that you can never say goodbye...for example we met Martin and Tarra Kerr in a park in the south of England at the Jane Austen festival and out of the blue here in Israel we meet them again.... small world... As well i think maybe some of you might have met him as well for he was a finalist on Canadian Idol... him and his wife are amazing people... and if you don't know him... do get to know him....you will be happy you did... i know i am... martinkerrmusic.com

Adrian

It was a great bonus to find that my nephew Adrian arrived in Haifa to do a year of service working in the Baha'i gardens. Getting time to know him better was an extra bonus of our coming to visit the Bahai world Center... He too has to walk up the mountain every day, as he lives in the building marked with arrows at the bottom of the terraces leading up the mountain. However walking is a small price to pay for living in such a beautiful place... as well as a long distance runner he can probably use the exercise... as if mowing and hard work would not keep him in shape...

Most Holy

The most Sacred place in the world for the Bahai's is here at Bahji, the resting place of Baha'u'llah. With the amazing gardens and natural beauty along with the spiritual significance every one whether Baha'i or Visitor, or Wedding party coming to take their pictures all find some beauty and pleasure and deep satisfaction in this special place.

a kind heart

Although there are many easy ways up mt Carmel we took the hard way. Every day we climbed up the steps as Aja developed a relationship with the various scruffy cats and creatures on the mountain and figured they needed the bits of food and loving that we gave them.... so each day we got our exercise, (not taking buses or taxi's up or down the mountain) and moved snails and slugs off the path into gardens, fed and patted cats. In Bahjí, aja had to make her stop to give bits of apple to a community of ants... she was very sad about leaving the scruffy cats on mt Carmel... especially since in the pictures you can see that one of them learned how to give a high five... i know breanne's dog can do that but don't think brittany's dog can do it yet... and I just know Zoe is smarter than any cat...

the Ark

Baha'u'llah said that God would sail his ark on Mt. Carmel... but as a big boat to hold two of each animal would have to be really really big for all of today's creatures and would not hold too many people ... so instead the Bahai's have built the things needed for the development and creation of a united world community with buildings for understanding the law, teaching, study, an archives, and a library.... this ark may not float on water but to me the idea holds a lot of water..

Santa

Walking down the streets in the hot weather that Israel calls its winter I was surprised to walk by this shop selling Christmas trees, decorations and ornaments... In Jerusalem and Bethlehem people were so focused on Jesus and His life and prophecies and although there were were many Christian crosses, nativity scenes, and a host of other memorbelia for sale I did not see signs of Santa or Christmas trees there... To see this store in Haifa reminded me a little of what it must be like back home with everyone preparing for Christmas.

Fire insurance

To walk in Akka is to walk on history... a prison fortress built on top of a crusader castle, built on top of a Phoenician city.... The key stop for the Romans the Crusaders, Asian and European traders and the development of the modern state of Israel. In the picture you can still see a cannon ball stuck in the wall from the time Napolean tried and failed to take the city...

Hosea had said that 'Akká was 'a door of hope'. Ezekiel had referred to it as 'the gate that looketh toward the east' to which 'the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east'

By the time Baha’u’llah was banished here from the east it was a rundown prison at the edge of the Ottoman empire... it was in such a poor state that it was said that a bird attempting to fly over it would drop dead...

Muhammad said that anyone drinking and washing from the water in Akka would be so protected that “God hath forbidden the fire of hell to touch him and his body on the Day of Resurrection.” I am glad that I stopped washed my hands and had a snack and a cup of tea at the house of Abbud in Akka...Dante should have taken the time to come here as it could have saved him from walking through the many levels hell...... anyway it is always nice to have some extra fire insurance....ha ha

Wolves in Israel

It is hard to be in Israel and not be reminded of scripture... to walk where scripture was revealed or read about past and future events prophesied in scripture to take place in this Holy land....

So I opened the Bible on my I-pod and searched for Mount Carmel... The first quote I found was where Isaiah said: "the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose... and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the splendor of our God." and that the Law would go forth from there...

Of course Isaiah also said that “the wolf and the lamb will drink from the same stream... and the lion and the calf pasture in the same meadow” so while Aja and I saw the desert blossoming and many things dedicated to the Glory of God... and while we also saw lambs and calfs.. we kept our eyes open for lions and wolves .... because Isaiah did not say anything about them sitting nicely with humans... and i would not want one of them sneaking up on us.. Leah would not be impressed if aja got eaten by a lion.. luckily we did not see any...

Then I got to thinking that I am a member of the Tagish-Tlingit Wolf clan and felt kind of bad as I realized that as a wolf I had been enjoying the gyro’s with roasted lamb and pita bread served with humus and tasty veggies, olives and chili peppers.... After that we left the mt. Carmel area and I did not have a chance to drink with any lambs...but I promise next time I am in Israel I will stick to the Chicken gyro’s...and take a long cool drink out of a stream with the lambs...

Gardens in Diversity

I wondered why such conscientious thought and care was put into creating the diversity of the Baha’i gardens. But as i walked through each garden and was continually delighted by the many different kinds of flowers... I began to notice that around me were people from many different countries... It struck me that just as the diversity of the flowers increased the charm of each of the gardens, the diversity of people attracted and coming to the gardens reflected the same beauty through their diversity...
As I sat on one of the many benches to meditate on this... and of course to relax in the warmth and from walking up so many stairs... I remembered something my father always quoted from the Baha'i writings “when the various peoples of the world with their different shades of thought, temperament and character, are brought together the beauty and glory of human perfection will be revealed and made manifest”.... Yes even traveling around the world it is important to take time and stop and smell the roses...and think of the people we care about

the not so grave yard

Only once before in my life have I had the experience of being somewhere where i knew as many dead people as i did the living.... The first time was when i visited the grave yard in Carcross in the Yukon....so many of the hero's and role models associated with my childhood and youth are buried there..... and here at the Bahai graveyard by the lower cave of Elijah there are also buried many people that I have met and admired as a youth... I think i must be getting old to know so many people that have died and passed on to the next world... "how many people are dead or buried in those grave yards?" you ask.... and i answer "all of them...."

Tourists

We are in Haifa Israel staying at the base of Mount Carmel a favorite place of Elijah, Israel's eccentric prophet, who on Mount Carmel made his stand against the prophets of Baal... It is the location of the Baha’i world center and the second holiest place in the Baha'i world... This mountain has been mentioned in prophesy and praised in the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran ....In this sacred land after visiting the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Bahai' most sacred and holy places we are no longer sightseers, visitors or tourists .... In this holy land we have become pilgrims...

Golden Arch

This sign about whether or not walking through a metal detector is considered work shows how much work... i mean debate...goes into the meaning of work.... i am going to have these guys work on my job description...i think i may be working too hard or not getting paid for work i am actually doing that i did not know i was doing... and yes there are golden arches... as the for candy that you have to work for... kinder eggs they are actually designed differently so as not to be as much work to open.... but even though they are easier i am not sure if you would be able eat them on the sabbath day..... for news of the work protests in Jerusalem and other places see this bbc news article sent to me by francis....

BBC NEWS | Middle East | 'Sabbath' protest targets Intel

Golden opportunity

This is the Golden gate in Jerusalem.... when Christ returns someone figured that of the 5 gates into the old city of Jerusalem He would most likely enter the city by this gate.... so it was quickly bricked and cemented up and a grave yard placed on the wall outside .... the theory being that when the Father returned in the Glory of the Lord he would not walk across sacred ground and would be stopped by the 5 meters of solid bricked up gate..... as the rest of the prophesies suggest he would return sometime in the 1840's so it looks like bricking up the gate and building the cemetery might have slowed Him down a bit...

It is the Sabbath again today so most things are closed until 530... the Jewish day starts at sunset on friday and goes to sunset on saturday... then after sunset the city comes to life.... I guess with everything closed we could always go and take more pictures today....

the Riot

Aja and I tried hard to get pictures of the Hasidic Jews as they, being ultra-orthodox, had the most traditional outfits.... we did not have much luck, then on the Sabbath day (saturday) as we were walking back to our hotel we noticed a whole group of them.... so we rushed ahead to take their pictures.... little did we know that they were in the midst of trying to shut down a Jewish parking lot that was open on the sabbath... to them it is forbidden to work on the sabbath.... there was a wall of police trying to hold them all back... little did we know that taking pictures was also considered work... when they saw us taking pictures there was a lot of shouting and the wall surged forward and a few broke through the police line yelling in Hebrew... it took a few seconds for us to realize they were shouting at us.....aja later compared it to a scene from the wizard of oz where Dorothy and toto were surrounded by the flying monkeys... so boys and girls if your thinking of leaving Kansas be sure to read your travel manuals about upsetting the locals...