Further and Further East: Easter

Poland is one of the most predominantly Catholic countries in Europe, if not in the world. Because of this, the country is known for its Easter celebrations. One of the cities best known for such celebrations is Krakow. The week leading up to Easter is filled with events and traditions, including Easter markets, similar to the Easter and Christmas markets found in most European countries. One of the most charming traditions occurs on Easter Saturday. In the US, we associate Easter baskets with the Easter bunny, Cadbury eggs, and jelly beans. As we walked the streets of Krakow, we saw a very different type of Easter basket: children and adults alike carried simple baskets with the food that would be eaten at Easter Sunday's meal. The baskets included small portions that were taken to be blessed, and churches were filled throughout the day as people got their baskets blessed and attended mass.

We arrived in Krakow around 7 am after taking a night train from Prague. The train ride itself was amazing, and we woke up to a gentle knock by the train steward who told us our stop was coming up and he had coffee and croissants for us. After exiting the train station, we were greeted by a large plaza with historic buildings on one edge, and a giant, modern mall on another edge, which gave an apt first impression of a city that embraces its past while moving forward. When we arrived at our hostel, we were beyond impressed by its cleanliness, chicness, and friendliness. It was not long before Mike also made it to the hostel, and we ditched our bags and set out to explore the city. We began in the Jewish quarter. We walked by synagogues, over a bridge, and through the streets where Schindler's List was filmed. In Hero's Square, there are empty chairs lined up in perfect rows, which provides a haunting effect in a place where Jews were once forced to run in circles until the Nazis decided which people to kill. We also went to Schindler's factory, which is now encased in glass and has been made part of a museum. The day became less somber as we sat down to our first, but not last, meal of pierogies. We then visited Wallel Hill where we perused the castle, 14th century cathedral, and breathtaking views of the city and river. Afterwards, we wound our way through the park which extends down the middle of the city. We then happened upon Krakow's Easter market in what we soon realized was the major square of the town. We ate spinach, Russian style, and cabbage pierogies from the market that day and the next. We also ate delicious fried cheese made in the high mountains outside the city, drank beer that they put a strange but glorious syrup into, and shopped around the market that had Polish arts and crafts. On Easter Sunday, we returned to the market in the pouring rain to enjoy the same tasty treats. We also saw packed churches everywhere we went, and though the masses were said in Polish, it was easy to understand the intense smell of incense and the joy in the voices of singing churchgoers. Though many restaurants, shops, and museums were closed because of the Easter holiday, having the streets of Krakow almost to ourselves, coupled with the special Easter celebrations, created a unique and unforgettable experience.

On Easter night, we took a night train to Lviv, Ukraine. Instead of waking to a kind steward, we awoke to a harsh knock an hour earlier than we had anticipated because of the time difference between Poland and Ukraine. We looked out the train window to see our stop, but because we do not know Cyrillic, we had to trust that the steward was kicking us off the train at the right stop. As we exited the train station, we were met with more Cyrillic, and the challenge of navigating the public transportation system. The cost of a ticket for the tram is 1 Ukrainian Hryvnia, which converts to about 15 cents. We set out to find our hotel with directions that were in English, only to find that most of the street signs were in Cyrillic; however, once we figured out where we were, the city became very easy to navigate. We were greeted at our hotel by the sight of dozens of empty beer bottles all over the patio and the receptionist sleeping on the couch in the reception area. Although unconventional, we quickly learned that Monday is also part of the Easter holiday, and given the Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian propensity to drink, the hotel patrons and staff had taken complete advantage of the holiday. So, once again, we found ourselves in a city where many shops and restaurants were closed for the holiday, but this time around, we spent a great deal of time attempting to acquire train tickets to our next destination, Debrecen, Hungary. As if a language barrier is not difficult enough, the alphabet barrier proved highly frustrating. We did not actually get the whole situation sorted out until the next day, when we finally got tickets for a train that night. As for the rest of our time in Lviv, we hung out with a friendly American Peace Corps volunteer who had a friend visiting from Virginia and we toured the streets. Lviv is also very Catholic and has many beautiful churches and cathedrals. The town is beautiful, and has a breathtaking park. I feel so lucky to have gotten to see it in the prime of spring, with flowering trees and warm sunshine. Kids were playing on playgrounds, people were playing with dogs, and everyone was doing some people watching. We sat at sidewalk cafes and had some Ukrainian food and beer. I had some delicious borscht (beet soup) and more pierogies, though in Urkaine they are called varenyky. We visited the town square, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we also took a hike up to Lviv's High Castle. To get there, we walked up a steep hill, then about 250 stairs, and then climbed more stairs and ramps around a citadel-type structure with a flag on the top. Though I dispute the application of the term castle, it did lead us to amazing views, and made us realize we had only encountered a small, touristy fraction of Lviv and Ukraine. Overall, the initial obstacles and frustrations we had met with in the city were overshadowed by the city's beauty and simplicity, plus I am pretty excited about the Ukrainian stamp in my passport.

Up until Lviv, our travels had taken us further and further east. With Easter over, we headed south to Satu Mare, Romania, where we stayed with a friend I met on my first trip to Romania. Tomorrow we are going to see Romania's largest waterfall and a cemetery famed for being the only merry cemetery. I am intrigued to discover what makes the cemetery so merry!

Prague Spring

As we wandered the winding streets of Prague, it was impossible to avoid the sense of history, the majesty of the buildings, and the allure of spires sprinkled across the skyline. Prague tries to embrace and capitalize on all of these aspects: the Bohemian origins, twice the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, the story of not one but two defenestrations by the Hussites, the reign of the infamous Hapsburgs, and the Communist takeover and subsequent effects and revolutions. In 1968, under the Czech leader Alexander Dubcek, many of the facets of Communism were removed despite the negative and threatening reaction of Moscow. This political move ushered in decades of usually peacefully resolutions and movement away from Communism. It also helped to create the political temperment that has helped Prague establish itself as one of the wealthiest cities in Eastern Europe and as a tourist destination. The precipitating event to all this came to be known as the Prague Spring.

Now, I have found myself in Prague during spring, and it is gorgeous. The weather, which we anticipated to be cold and rainy, has been warm and sunny. The gardens on the hill around Prague castle were in full bloom, and every flowering tree and plant was breathtaking, especially with the castles and Prague skyline as the backdrop. Upon our arrival, reception made some recommendations for authentic Czech food and gave us some very useful advice: "Here, beer is cheaper than water, and so I recommend you just drink beer." She was not joking: she was seriously telling us to drink beer over water, and beer was seriously cheaper than water. Obviously, we went with her advice, and most of our outings and sightseeing involved regular beer breaks, which we regarded as cultural immersion time.

Though Prague is large, we walked almost everywhere, because all of the historical and notable places are within close range of one another. We stayed next to the Charles Bridge, which gave us conventient access to both the castle and old town areas. We went on a free tour of the city (though the guide frequently reminded us that tips were accepted). The tour covered the old town buildings, the Jewish section of the city, St. Wenceslas Square, some historic musical and theater buidings, and some churches and statues. One of the most remarkable statues was the Franz Kafka statue. There is also museum devoted to Kafka's life and work that we went to on our last day in the city. Seeing what an influence he was artistically and philosophically make me regret not having read his works. Another notable place on our trip was a rather small church in Stare Mesto that had an interesting legend. According to the legend, a statue of the Virgin Mary was adorned with a beautiful necklace. One night, a thief hid in the church until all the priests had left. He climbed up to the statue, reached out for the necklace, and much to his surprise and chagrin, the statue grabbed the man's arm and held him aloft until the next morning when the priests returned and summoned the executioner with his axe. The thief assumed they would cut off the statue's arm, but he was wrong. The thief's arm was cut off and he was sent to jail. Whether the story is true or not, an old, blackened, shriveled, severed arm remains hanging in the church as a warning to theives.

Over the next few days, we saw too many people wearing Czech Me Out shirts, learned that sitting inside a smoky bar (all of which are smoky) makes your clothes smell too terrible to wear, ate Bohemian and potato dumplings ( knedliky), found a delcious bagel place, and ate traditional cuisine at some of the Easter markets. Czech food is heavy in nature and usually incorporates a cream of some sort, meat, potatoes, and bread. They also had the most genius idea: fried toast. We discovered this upon ordering beer cheese and toast. The beer cheese was unique, a little stinky, and unforgettably delicious. The toast was the real treat. It wasn't merely toasted; it was crispy, greasy, and beyond grilled. I think fried bread should be a staple on any menu. One of the other amazing dishes we sampled was garlic soup (cesnekova). The broth is garlicy to the point of perfection, and crouton-type-breadcrumbs are dropped into the soup right before it is served, so the bread is still a little crunchy, and therefore amazing. On a visit to a monastery, we saw the monastic library collection and also visited the monastic brewery, which had a seasonal Easter beer, so we had some cultural immersion time at the monastery. We also found an amazing microbrewery called Pivovarsky Dum (pivo is Czech for beer) that served traditional beer in addition to banana, sour cherry, nettle, and coffee brews. We went there twice and banana was by far my favorite. After spending too much time at Pivovarsky Dum, we also learned that the Prague metro is amazingly efficient and was probably the reason we made our train on time.

In many ways, visiting Prague in spring has accompanied a sort of spring awakening in my traveling mentality. After becoming a little jaded in my travels, it was nice to go to a place where no one tried to buy me, where prices were set on a menu instead of being inflated based on my passport, and where I was not considered scantily clad while wearing a short-sleeve shirt. So, we have now moved on to Krakow, Poland, where we have met up with Mike and are currently holed up, with some friendly American students studying abroad in France and some very rowdy Spaniards, inside a rather posh hostel on a rainy Easter Sunday.

Kate Jacobs' The Friday Night Knitting Club

I have not posted a book review in awhile. One of the reasons for this is because every now and then I stumble upon a book that is so unappealing that it takes me a long time to read, and this was one of those books. It is almost as if I procrastinated and would do things other than read because I disliked the book so much. Reading Friday Night Knitting Club felt like a chore on two accounts. The first: it was loaned to me, randomly, by a coworker's mother, who frequently asked about my reading progress. The second: wading through Jacobs' sentence fragments was a consistent frustration. I admit, I cried at the end. Yes, even I can be moved despite shoddy punctuation placement. However, the plot that pulled at my heartstrings did not make up for the rest of the book's faults.

The first fault that impeded my reading pleasure was simply the sentence fragments. For example, "really open" (274) is not a sentence. Yet in the book, r was capitalized, and a period followed open. While I can make certain exceptions for dialogue, I encounter comprehension problems when I am faced with an onslaught of non-dialogue fragments, pronouns with no antecedents, and an infestation of comma splices. Most writing conventions and grammar rules are there for a reason, and that reason is to make writing accessible to the reader. The second fault involved the predominance of cliches. The novel included every stereotypical plot line one can imagine: scorned lover, betrayed best friend, elderly patron, unexpected pregnancy, mixed-race child issues, cheating and adultery, [WARNING: spoiler alert] a surprise death by cancer that brings everyone together. Knitting is the theme that connects all the plot lines, but the final product was like a loose, patchwork sweater that your grandmother made and that you are forced to wear.

Though the novel successfully borders on the inspirational, it does so in the most predictable of ways. I may as well have read a daily calendar of Deepak Chopra quotes. I can only assume that its inspirational qualities are what warranted a sequel to the book: Knit Two. (If the name had been Saturday Night Knitting Club, I might have been slightly amused.) I just hope no one loans me the sequel to read, and if someone does, I hope I can work up the gumption to just say no.

RECOMMENDED: No

NEXT READ: Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall

REREAD: Our Town

Jacobs, Kate. The Friday Night Knitting Club. New York: Penguin, 2007.