A Venetian Holiday Day 2

After a delicious meal the evening before Dave and I awoke to perfect blue skies and lots of sunshine! Being in Venice was probably the most sun that either of us has seen all winter and it was magical! We decided to first take a trip up to the Jewish Ghetto and then work our way down to the Rialto Bridge, for what we would both agree later was a really great sightseeing day!

Waiting for the water bus to take us up to Cannaregio

Just a regular day on the gondola

Having made it up to the area called Cannaregio we walked over the bridge and into the Jewish Quarter. Cannaregio is a little more run down, shall we say, than the more touristy areas of Venice, but it is still beautiful. When you walk into the square it almost seems like you are no longer in Venice, but in some quaint little Italian town. Children were playing soccer in the square and old ladies and gentlemen were just sitting around talking to one another.

Walking into the Jewish Quarter

Gondola's have the right of way

Church were children and parents a like were running to catch morning mass

I had no idea that "person" was behind me, and when I turned around I had quite a fright!

Having worked through Cannaregio we went through the San Marco district on our way to the Rialto Bridge. Before we were there we stopped at a lovely little chocolate store were we both some spicy chocolates and a bottle of wine, which we would consume later on that evening in our hotel.

Just more boats

The Rialto bridge was less than packed, but I can not imagine what it would be like during the summer... probably pure hell. It was around noon when we finally made it there so we took a couple of quick pictures and then headed off to grab some lunch and have a spritz and typical Italian Cichetti's. 

Dave on the Rialto Bridge... so handsome

Spritz and food.. cheaper to eat standing up than sitting down. Something we learned fast while eating in Italy

My picture of Dave. Apparently I like getting the wall more than him.. sorry

After our spritz and lunch I walked Dave and I further into the area known as San Polo and into Santa Croce. The guide book had told us about a bridge called "Tit's Bridge". This is where all of the ladies of the night were instructed to show their "wares" instead of on the main square... hence the name tit's bridge. There was a big write up about it in the guide book so we were both expecting something a little more than just the sign... but alas, that was all we got and a bit of a let down as well.

Me at Tit's Bridge.

Posing as always

There was more exploring to be done the rest of the evening as well, but unfortunately I can not upload any more pictures, as it seems I have run out of space. The day was beautiful and magical and spending it with Dave made it all the more romantic.

Welcome to Venice- A Heather and Dave Adventure

"The most romantic city in the world."

Dave and I have been pyning at the chance to go to Venice since we moved to the Czech Republic in 2008. I had always heard so many great things about the city.... the canals, the gondola's, the romance and of course the light. Apparently, Venice has different light than anywhere else in the world. I thought that it was a bit hoaxy but, it's true.

We found a really good deal via Wizz Air, a low cost airliner from Hungary, and for the equivalent of $50 we had return tickets. Then I started searching for a hotel. I found one on hotels.com and for a reasonable price, and being 3 blocks from St. Mark's Square didn't hurt the hotel's reputation either! (www.hotelpaganelli.com)

It took around an hour and a half to make it to the city from the airport and since this isn't tourist season we got a prime spot on the #1 water bus for our adventure down the Grand Canal. I can't remember the last time we took so many pictures... but i think between both Dave and I we took over 1,200 photos. Not all of them were keepers, but here are some of the best provided by Dave!

Puppy dog riding a boat. He was loving every minute of it

Moving down the Grand Canal. We managed to get a prime spot at the front of the #1

San Marco Square was only 3 blocks from our hotel

We got off of the water bus and walked about 20 yards to the front of our hotel. We had decided to pay the extra 10-15 EUR a night so that we could stay in the main part of the hotel and have a room that looked over the court yard. Our room was small by US standards, a normal European room by everyone else's standards. It was clean and very nice and we had this adorable little balcony. We agreed that we needed to buy some wine and drink it on the our sweet little balcony before we left. We didn't however, it was way too cold!

Our hotel room. Grand Canal, but we had a court yard view.. still so beautiful though

Having looked all around our room (all 10 square meters of it) we set out for a short day of sightseeing. I had a whole day planned for us since I am the tour guide whenever we leave the Czech Republic and are not going to England or Scotland; somewhere Dave knows well... Germany is also on this list because of Dave and his love affair with the DHL corporate office. First stop was St.Mark's square where we did the basilica and walked around the square. Followed by a quick jaunt into the Campo di Santo Stefano and onto the Accademia (art gallery).

St. Mark's Square

Right before we went inside the Basilica... amazing!

Hello gold leaf ceiling

Gondola, yes please... but without the 80EURO

Campo Santo Stefano

on the Accademia bridge

As the sun was setting we headed for the over side of Dorsoduro, the district where the art gallery is located, and we came across what looks like a giant pirate ship. We didn't stay in this area for long as we were both starving and super ready to eat something. Plus, I needed water!

Pirate ship

I found out about our dinner from a NY Times blogger called the Frugal Traveler. I am, myself becoming a Frugal woman, so it only seemed right that I take his advice... especially with all of the horror stories I had heard from other Czech friends who warned me Venice was really expensive (they were right by the way). The palace was called Al Portego and I can highly recommend this place if anyone is planning a trip to Venice anytime soon. The menu is only in Italian; I needed the waitress to translate basically everything for me because I am useless at any food vocabulary that isn't Czech. Once it was translated I decided to go for the squid which is cooked in its own ink. Dave decided on a pasta with a meat sauce... we were both incredibly satisfied with the food and the price. As is always the case when ever I go anywhere with Dave we had two German ladies sit down at our table and Dave decided he was going to speak to them. He's such a flirt!

Dinner night one- amazing red wine and of course... a table of old German ladies

Squid cooked in it's own ink. It was really good until half way through and then it became too much
 

Fashion... turn to the left

Fashion is fickle, but I love it anyway

I have finally finished both of my men and women's fashion previews for Spring 2011 and I have to say that I am quite excited about them both. I got to pick the trends and also the pictures to go with each one and with a little help from my editor to spiff up some sentences it was all finished and posted this morning. The women's has already been up for a little less than a week and I already have about 21 facebook likes! AND a couple of days ago I was the featured article of the week! I am really starting to like writing and while I don't know if it will ever amount to anything, I like to think that somewhere down the line this will come in handy and will lead me to my next career... whatever that ends up being!

Thanks for reading and enjoy!

http://prague.tv/articles/shopping/spring-2011-womens-fashion-preview

and for the men in my life

http://prague.tv/articles/shopping/spring-2011-mens-fashion-preview

Spotlighting my spotlight

"word of mouth is what guarantees your favorite store will never go out of business"- me

Welcome friends and family to my second published article. It's a work in progess until I get a tempo that I like and am able to really get substantial information back from designers (this one decided not to play along with emailing me back). I hope that I will at least have some of you stateside and in Europe end up interested in what I find on the streets of Prague

Lots of Love

http://prague.tv/articles/shopping/la-femme-mimi

My first writing gig

Valentine's Day Kitsch

Well, I did it. I completed my first article for Prague.tv and I have to admit that I think it turned out pretty well. It's a bittersweet moment though in all honesty. While I am beyond proud that I was given this opportunity to write about what I love (shopping, clothing, trends, etc) I have to admit that I wish mom was here to share in this joyous experience. It was, after all her, who got me hooked on the written word.

http://prague.tv/articles/shopping/prague-valentines-day-gift-ideas-2011

There are two sins in this world and the Czech Post is one of them

"Czech Post office, I hate you"- me

I have never been a huge supporter of the Czech Post office, and neither have my Czech compatriots. I find that my love for them, as a government organization, dissolved when in 2008, I had "new" items in my box after someone is Customs (celnice) decided to pillage my special delivery full of goodies from my mother. *My hatred for the Foreign Police however far out weighs anything that the Czech Post can throw at me... try waiting 8 months for your visa* There are those moments though that I think that the Czech Post, with all of their incompetence, could, one day actually pass the idiocy of the Foreign Police to take top reign as the most useless organization of the Czech Republic. Today was one of those days.

2 months ago my sister sent my Christmas present, a Martha Stewart cookbook, to my address in the Czech Republic assuming that a month would be sufficient time for my great book to travel a 1/4 of the way across the world to reach me. It wasn't like it was going to somewhere in the middle of Pakistan! After many flustered phone calls and emails Katie was finally able to track my package and after a long haul over Alabama, Georgia, the Atlanta Ocean, and Germany, my sweet little cook book made it to the Czech Republic.

As is general custom in this country, the "delivery" lady never rings you to inform you that she is downstairs with your package, she just leaves a nice little note stating that you must pick up your package (because she was unable to reach you), usually in the middle of no where Prague far away from your actual address and of course, you have to do it with in two weeks of receiving this letter or said package returns to the country of origin. Excellent! 

Anyone who has lived abroad or in the Czech Republic will tell you to ALWAYS expect the worse when going to any Post office. You won't get chipper people or customer service. You will however be met with glares, people who repeat, "I don't understand"- in Czech, and people who LOVE to take 15 minutes to type in three words into their computer.  As always, I left my house expecting to have to deal with some sort of problem knowing I would probably have to come out to the middle of no where a second or third time because NOTHING is ever done right the first time here. (Unfortunately, you get used to it after a while and it seems normal). Before leaving the house I grabbed my paper needed to collect my package, a bunch of ID's and credit cards (in case they decided that I needed to pay tax on my package) and started off on my 20 minute hike through the Prague 10 district.

There is something reassuring to be said about entering a communist panel building that is now home to the Post Office for Prague 10. For starters, you know what type of people to expect in the building and you know what type of interior your are in for. For the amount of times that I have gone to countless government institutions these two things hold true- communist building usually means grumpy people and the worst interiors you will ever see in your life (this also counts for hospitals as well).I was fully prepared for problems, as so often is the case any time you have to go somewhere that the Czech Government controls. I handed my slip of paper to the lady behind the glass counter and waited patiently for my package. After looking for 5 minutes she came back, package in hand, and asked for my passport. I of course, didn't have it on me so handed her no less than 5 different forms of identification. She refused to give me my package saying that the forms of I.D. I had presented were not, "good enough" and advised me to get my passport and come back. I asked for my slip of paper and she refused to give it to me.. sighting that she "lost" it. The next thing I knew two other Czech woman got involved telling the woman behind the glass counter that my paper was next to her, that she knew it, and to stop being stupid just because I was a foreigner. After rolling her eyes and seeing that more people were about to get involved, she reluctantly handed over my paper. I thanked the nice Czech woman and went back home to collect my passport.


Finally, four hours later, I was back at the post office where a very nice, younger Czech girl served me and was so polite that I almost forgot where I was. My package, after two months of running around America and Europe was finally received. Thank you Katie for all of your hard work to make sure that my package got to me for Christmas.... I love my Martha Stewart cook book!

Write Write Write and then Write some more

"A good gig for me"

Well, some exciting news from me. I got an internship two weeks ago and have begun working for a website in Prague called Prague.tv . I will be their fashion and shopping writer for Prague! The gig in unpaid but I am excited to put some of my writing skills to good use and to be able to do two things that I really love (shopping and writing) and melding them into something that people will "hopefully" read. My first article should be published sometime next week and I promise I will send those interested in it a copy. Will keep you all updated about all of the future articles!

Happy Christmas from England!

Happy Christmas

So, because I think New Year's apparently comes before Christmas, I am just now doing my England story. We left Prague three days before Christmas and I think I can honestly say that the hour and a half delay was the least of our worries. Earlier in the week we were watching the news and checking BBC every few hours to make sure that Bristol airport was still accepting flights.

We arrived late in the evening, landing in what looked like Prague, and settled in for the long car ride back to Dave's parents house next to the ocean. We arrived to his mom happily greeting us at the door at an "early" midnight. She was so sweet to make me a cheese sandwich and then quickly retired to bed. Not that I can blame her as I was really wanting the same thing!

The next day Dave, his father, and myself took a little tour around the area where they lived. We visited an area called Brixham and then went over to a very cute town called Dartmouth, that reminded me of the cute little chic towns that you see up and down the east coast of the United States. We had a really delicious vegetable soup there and then headed home.

Another shot of Brixham Harbour

A real pirate ship! And no, not like the ones used off Somalia... that would be the "boat" next to the pirate ship

Brixham harbour. It was freeze your face off cold when the wind hit you, which is to say, constantly

Going over on the "pontoon" boat for cars to Dartmouth!

Over the next couple of days Dave and I toured a couple more areas of towns close by. On Christmas Eve we got to see/meet Dave's Grandparents and his brother, Ian. Christmas Day started with lots of food in the morning  and some champagne, followed by opening presents in a made dash. We all went for a walk, except for Hazel, who was busy preparing things for the big dinner. I think she was happy to have us all out of the house for a couple of hours so that she could make everything in peace. At 6pm sharp we all sat down for dinner and enjoyed a truly remarkable feast! 

Christmas dinner- crowns and crackers included

Boxing day we went on another walk through the paths along the ocean front and went to a small manor which was once owned by a noble man in the area. Later it served as a nice smuggling inn for pirates that would come into this harbour.

View from Dave's rents path way

A manor turned pub and bed and breakfast. Excellent beer

Dave and I on one of our walks

Day after Christmas walk- Dave's Grandpa, Dave, me, and Dave's Grandma, They were so much fun

On our last day, before heading off to Prague, we visited Plymouth, England. I was beyond excited about this trip as this is the wonderful city that started America as we know it. Many people love to use the "city upon a hill" reference which was actually sermonized by a man named John Winthrop on these steps. Many politicians love to use the sermon as a reminder  of their own political agendas, it was Winthrop however, that wanted to remind his fellow citizens that they must be the utmost Christians and work, hunger, and thirst together as a common group. I found this place absolutely magical.

Walking along the coast in Plymouth, England. I know you can barely see it in the distance but the flag that is horizontal is a nice explanation of how windy it was! We were almost knocked over on several occasions.

History nerds, like myself, will appreciate this. That spot is where the pilgrims sailed to America.  You can't see it in the picture but there is both an American and British flag on top of the flag poles.

Oh yes, Mayflower 1620! This was probably the coolest thing I saw in England!

My over all trip to England was one of great pleasure. IT was so much fun being able to spend time with Dave's family and spend such a special occasion with them. I look forward to many more adventures with his family in the future.

A New Year in Prague

The original plan before snow swept across most of Europe, was to visit Tara and Koen in Budapest for a little R&R and some much needed drinking in ruin bars to celebrate the coming year. Dave and I love Budapest, and my lovely cousin and her finance have always been so hospitable whenever we have come down! Unfortunately, because of the snow and blizzard like conditions we decided that it might be better to hold off on our trip until a more suitable time presented itself and so, we stayed in Prague

Last year, as some of you may recall from my blog, Dave and I took our lives into our own hands and decided to have a go at the city center. We were warned, we didn't listen, but this year we did.... NO CITY CENTER! Instead, our good friends at Osteria da Clara invited us to a private party to celebrate with approximately 20 people. Food was provided (lovely seafood as a matter of fact), lots of wine, and lots of company!

Dave and I enjoying dinner in front of seafood risotto. I loved it!

Drinking some presecco right before midnight!

As the night went on, and more drinks were consumed, the fun turned a little more interesting. Mostly this involved dancing on tables, drinking more wine and dancing in the middle of the restaurant. I am an excellent dancer when I have been drinking. Ask any of my college friends and they can tell you... most of my best rides to the hospital involved drinking and dancing... sigh. I was never made to be a ballerina... or have coordination.

The start of 2011- Anna and Dave

Anna and myself. She is from Poland and has been trying to teach me Polish words so that when I go to the Grzywa camp I can ask people things.

Anna, Dave and myself.

Kisses at midnight

Dave with Glenn, the chef. He's the owner of the restaurant that he also shares with Anna.

Dave breaking out his best dance moves.

 

 

 

 

The Christmas lead up

"Love is a gypsy's child."

For Mom's 2 year anniversary I decided that I wanted to do something different. Last year we went for a nice meal but I spent most of it down in the dumps. I figured this was not the way I should spend my life and well, celebrating her's as well. 

 When I was still living in Los Angeles I would constantly look up how much tickets were for the opera and how could I talk someone into going with me... alas, I never actually bought the tickets and so, I never went. This year, however, I decided that I only get one shot at most of the things I have always wanted to do and what would Ellen say.... so... for the equivalent of $15 I bought Dave and I opera tickets for Bizet's Carmen! It was really a magnificent evening! We had champagne and sat at the top and watched the performers. I have to admit that I got a little choked up in the beginning... it was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed and being able to celebrate my mom's life being really living mine made me appreciate the opera even more!

At the opera. We had top balcony seats and it ended up to be an amazing night!

Before I left for England I made it a point to buy a Christmas tree and to put presents under it. Sure, it was a little small (2 feet to be exact and fake), but it was mine, and it was fantastic!

My Christmas tree along with goodies. The Gingerbread tree near the corner of the picture was actually made by one of my students!

A time honored tradition that Dave and I both have is to walk around the Prague Christmas markets in the day and then again in the evening to "catch" the Christmas spirit. We took off one saturday afternoon to visit the Old Town Square and see what wares we could acquire for friends and family, unfortunately, I didn't find much. About a week later Dave took me out for a really lovely steak meal at a very nice restaurant in Prague. After consuming enough calories for 3 people we strolled back over the bridge into Old Town to see it at night, take some photos, and drink Svarek (hot wine).

Old Town Square markets. Some how I always manage to get a bird in this picture, regardless of how many times I have been down here.

In front of the Christmas tree from the "Giant" mountains of the Czech republic

One of the many picturesque streets of Mala Strana.

Right before the river. My favorite street

Statues with moon light on Charles Bridge

Klobasa and Svarek (sausages and hot wine)

All lovely in the evening

Dave and i. I wish we had a better camera for night shots

My favorite photo which Dave took during our night adventure