Masarykovo Nádraží

Train stations in the Czech Republic are relics of another era. It's beginning to change--Hlavní Nádraží, or Prague's Main Station, is being renovated by an Italian company, and it's first stage boasts a Burger King and plenty of coffee to go--but many other hubs, like Masarykovo, built 1845, where you can take a train east to one of the outlying villages, is like a collage of old and older. Little squalid Tabacconist windows advertise liquor and cigarettes, the men and woman inside watch tiny televisions, their hands yellow with smoke. A copper bust of Czechoslovakian founder Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk is pinned to a dark wall, where no one can see him, and the Vietnamese market bustles with bananas, pistachios and these overgrown grapefruits called Palmelos. You can buy a pastry for about 25 cents, and sit on a cold bench as the foggy winter light eases across dirty tiles, and watch as an old man drinks a beer at the station casino a few yards away. Wikipedia reports that the city would like to get rid of the place, and make a shopping mall instead, but right now it still services too many Prague commuters to close its doors.

New Year 2010

Czech youngsters traditionally hole up in a cottage somewhere in the mountains for New Years, and not wanting to be left out of the tradition, Michal, Katie and I joined Robert and David at David's mom's place near Klatovy. We played Horse Races and Bets, a Czech version of Monopoly, and watched the hillside light up at midnight, when all the pyrotechnics come out to play.

Žižkov is my neighborhood

Katie is visiting. We saw a blind hussite on his horse, and the TV tower, with David Černy's babies crawling up the sides.

The Czech Union of Chimney Climbers

Boxing day had us accompanying two official members of the Czech Union of Chimney Climbers (number of members:700) to Najdek, where a chimney of 70 meters awaited their ascent. Some of the rules for the club: only chimneys over 15 meters count, you can only climb one chimney per day (the purpose is for the beauty of the view not the quantity of chimneys), no alcohol while climbing, and you must log all your climbs on the official website, which lists all chimneys in the country, their height, gps location and a picture of each. Number of deaths in the chimney climbing club: 1.