mattbell

After a couple of weeks in Eastern Europe, I'm departing by night train to Zurich.

Here's my super-quick review of everything:

Riga (Latvia) – There's not too much to see here monument-wise, but the city is bustling, and the country's story of standing up to the USSR is inspiring. The biggest surprise -- the prevailing fashion among women here involves dressing like either supermodels or backup dancers in a pop music video... and that's during the day. This doesn't correspond to backward gender roles; they have had a female prime minister. Also, despite the general mediocrity of the cuisine I experienced, they have the second-best supermarket I have ever seen – Stockmann's. This place has everything, including tropical fruit I last saw in Vietnam (for 1/20 the price).

Vilnius (Lithuania) – It's a lovable old town that's much more chill than Riga. There also isn't too much here of note, but the people are nice and it's a pleasant place to relax. There's a small and untouristy bohemian culture in an eastern suburb.

Warsaw (Poland) – This city was thoroughly devastated during World War II. Its enormous Jewish poulation was wiped out, and over 200,000 residents died during a failed uprising against the Nazis in 1944. It has since been rebuilt to a good deal of splendor, and is now a fairly interesting place to visit.

Krakow (Poland) – Krakow itself is a fascinating, though touristy, place with a compact old town. It boasts the best hostel I've ever stayed at (Greg and Tom's). Around Krakow are a lot of things of note, including Auschwitz and the Weilizca(sp?) Salt Mine.

Budapest (Hungary) – Budapest is quite large and there's a lot to see, but I didn't find the city overall to be particularly inspiring.

Prague (Czech Republic) – Prague has been the highlight of my Eastern Europe tour. It's full of beautiful buildings, it has impressive monments and museums, and it's rich with history. However, most importantly, it's continuing to grow and evolve. There's a huge music and arts scene here and a strong sense of national cultural pride. The residents want Prague to rival the great cities of Western Europe. Yes, beers are still $1.

Note that Prague is also jampacked with tourists, so do yourself a favor and don't go in midsummer.

The Sedlec Ossuary was built from the bones of 30,000 victims of the Black Plague. For an artist, the chance to work with the remains of 30,000 people doesn't come along very often. Generally, for it to be okay at all, the people have to die naturally, rapidly, and in very large numbers such that there isn't time for individual burial. In addition, enough time has to pass such that any personal link to the deceased is gone. In this case, the bones were kept in a church crypt for 500 years before a local sculptor had a go at them. The aim was to create a monument to the dead, and the massive skull piles do give you a sense for the effects of the Black Death..




( A couple of big photos and a flash comparison )

The other decorations are all mixtures of pretty, creepy, clever, tacky, and weird in differing amounts. One that scored high on both clever and tacky was the coat of arms of the family that paid for the project. I applaud the artist's clever use of vertebrae and the irony that the skull in the bottom right corner of the coat of arms is meant to represent the skull of a defeated Turkish invader, and it's made from the skull of a defeated Turkish invader. For once the map IS the territory! On the other hand, the whole thing is kind of wrong in a chapel mourning Black Death victims.



Speaking of wrong, toward the end of my visit, this guy showed up. He swears that this is the only sweater he had, and he only wore it because it was raining outside. It was way too funny to not document though: