Back in Canada

Sad not to be in Europe anymore. Glad that I don`t have to experience another squatting toilet for a very, very long time.

Blip 17: Frankfurt

On my way home to Canada, I had a layover in Frankfurt. Their airport was really cool. It was like being in the future. Everything was super shiny and clean; even the janitor had a segway with brooms and stuff attached to it. I took a nap in one of the recliners you see in the picture. Immediately after, I won the seat-lottery. I sat about as far away as you could get from the wailing baby that seems to be a fixture on every long haul flight I've ever been on.

Blip16: The Girls of 402D and the Case of the Stinky Cheese

My European roommates made this cheese recipe the other day, and while I'm sure it was really tasty, the smell was pretty strange.

Maybe it's an acquired taste, but the smell kind of reminded me of gasoline mixed with sweat mixed with yogurt. It's long gone now, but sometimes I think I still can catch a whiff of it here and there. It's like the smell is permanently seared into my memory.

Blip15: Defenestration

(n): The act of chucking someone out of a window with the intention of causing bodily harm.

Writing my Cultural History paper right now. My topic is Comenius, but maybe I should have chosen defenestration. The Czech Republic is actually credited as the birthplace of this particular kind of punishment. Although, I'm pretty sure people have been getting shoved out of windows for centuries. The famous "Defenestration of Prague" started the Thirty Years War, so maybe that's why the CR gets the credit.
 

Blip14: Strike

Got to the philharmonic the other day, and had to argue with the Czech ticket ladies into giving us our student discounts, only to have them stop mid-argument and tell us flatly the concert had been canceled. Thinking that this was just a bluff to get rid of us, we stuck around defiantly.

Turns out, the concert was indeed canceled. The orchestra decided to go on strike about an hour before.

Blip14: Procrastinating

just Googled "Are bees really going extinct?" and "What do those random white spots on your fingernails really mean?", and watched a YouTube video about Naked Mole Rats.

I should probably get back to work.

Blip13: Smetana's "Vltava"

When Julie and I were in Vienna, we got ourselves 5 EUR tickets to the symphony. Mind you, they were crappy standing-room tickets that we had to wrestle with other tourists for.

This was by far my favorite song of the night. I didn't know the name of it though, on account of running out of enough euros to buy a concert program.

I have been searching for it for weeks now. Turns out, this is a very famous Czech song. The Czech name is "My Country," and the English name is "Vltava," which is the river that runs through Prague.

I just found out that this is the song that they've played for the last 400 years to open the Prague Spring Classical festival, which starts this coming Wednesday.

Bedrich Smetana - Ma Vlast Vltava

Found at: - FilesTube