Praha (Prague) Aug 2, 2011

My brother-in-law is going to Prague for the first time later this month, to do a bit of work for his company. It's his first trip to Eastern Europe. This post is for him.



In August 2011, I had a travel layover in Prague. While the layover has mostly gone the way of the telegraph, the hatbox and the white cotton glove, it still exists, especially when you are trying to get from one out-of-the-way place to another out-of-the-way place. Trying to get to/from the US to Riga, Latvia, one often encounters a layover.

Since I was spending a long afternoon in Prague, my Latvian pal Marija (aka @Swiluma) who used to live in Prague, told me where to go eat in the city.

Knowing that I hadn't been in Prague in over a decade, she sent me on a bus from the airport to the Dejvická metro station (metro line A - green line). Then told me to go 4 stops until Můstek. This is what the stop looks like:




At the metro station, she told me to look for the exit mentioning Stavovské divadlo.

"This will directly lead you to the street, called Provaznická. Just after the exit slightly on right there is a pub Restaurace U Provaznice."

Alas, the Můstek station is HUGE to someone from Austin, Texas who doesn't take the subway very often. I got so very lost looking for the proper exit.* Once I gave up looking for the right exit and just left the station, I got even more lost.

Luckily, it was a beautiful day and I ended up walking around for hours and taking lots of pictures of people taking pictures in this very pretty area of Prague.







Walking around Prague that afternoon, I took pictures of the Prague tourist attractions, and noted that things seem to have cleaned up in a big way since I was there in 2001.**

At the racetrack

Kind of shocked to be spending Friday night at the racetrack, even if it's for a screening of ROAD WARRIOR.

Update: Pictures!

Alamo Drafthouse inflatable screen in the middle of the racetrack!

More about Asheville

Being that I've spent so much time in Asheville over the years, I tend to forget that other people don't have the same visual references that I do for the city. So here's a selection of scenes from (greater) Old Asheville and New Asheville.

To start us off, here's a photo of "Old Asheville vs. New Asheville"

When I got out of the truck to to take this picture, the woman who was leaving the house behind the trashed TV told me I was the third person to stop and take a picture. "Why do you all do that" she then asked me.

I told her that, for me, it was symbolic of the changes taking place in Asheville right now. She then told me about her mother, who had lived in the same spot for 26 years and whose rent was now going up. Don't forget that Gentrification has its drawbacks.

Old Asheville vs. New Asheville in one shot.

 I find it interesting that several times when I was in Asheville, people make remarks to me about "the tourists." I guess that means I'm nearly a local.

Old Time Asheville: 

I don't know when this was painted, but this is the sort of street-side  art that I've seen in Asheville since the 80's.

Pink Dogwood tree blooming on Easter Sunday, at the Pisgah View Ranch

Asheville, NC Has Gotten All Hipped-Up

Dogwood tree in Bloom, April 2012

For the last 200 or so years, my family has been living in the hills around Asheville, N.C. This means I've been going to Asheville ever since I was a baby. While there, I've visited my family, driven through downtown, then visited some more family.

In the late 80's, I started insisting that I be taken to the occasional interesting event in Asheville while I was there. Sometimes it was a poetry reading, sometimes a pottery exhibition. Usually the "interesting thing" turned out not to be so interesting after all, which is good because I usually needed to take one of my great-aunts to the grocery store while I was in town.

A few years ago, I figured out that something was afoot in Asheville. Back in Austin, I was wearing a T-shirt from the Early Girl Eatery which has the words "Asheville, NC" on the reverse side, when I was stopped by a couple of women. They wanted to know what Asheville was really like, because they were thinking about moving there.

Then the couple who used to live across the street from me in Austin up and moved to Asheville, saying that it was a lot like Austin was 30 years ago.

Over this past Easter weekend, I went to Asheville for the first time in a couple of years. Since I've been gone, the city has hit hipster critical mass.

Damn Girl! playing at the Altamont Brewing Company, West Asheville

In less than a week in Asheville--and without disturbing my family activities--I did a lot of things that I never thought I'd do in Asheville. I ate at a Korean BBQ Taco Truck. I went to a Brewery Co-op. I even bought a tiny hat that's the sort of hat that passes for high fashion in the Burningman-ish community.

Time Travel Weekend Party

In many ways this past weekend in Austin has felt like a stop on the time travel train.

I'm convinced that sometime in the future, time travel is a functional thing, much the way air travel is today. However, in this future, all time travel trips must be meticulously planned: your clothing, money and vocabulary must all be perfectly synced to the time you are visiting. (You wouldn't want the people in the past to know that you were a time traveler, as then everyone would want stock tips and investment advice and other such self-serving nonsense.)

An exception to this planning rule is that there are a few "free" stops on the time-travel train. These are places where it doesn't matter much what you do, say, or wear. There is nothing you can get wrong, because there are no right or wrong answers. One of these free stops on your time travel tour package is the annual rite of spring, known as Eeyore's Birthday in Austin, Texas.

The backstory behind the party indicates that the event grew out of an attempt by the English department at the nearby University of Texas at Austin to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday, and give the students a chance to blow off some steam before finals. It has turned into something much more than that.

So, when you see someone at Eeyore's birthday in an outfit that seems far better suited to hunting elk in 19th century Germany--what you've probably found is a time-traveler returning home from a 19th century elk-hunting trip. Same with the Viking priestess you saw at Eeyore's, or the person with the perfect 80s hair. They were all on their way to/from their time-travel destination--they just decided to pop into Eeyore's birthday because they know a good party when they see one.