Week 10: Cubism & The Cold War

Monday, October 30th

After classes, I wanted to go to the Cubist cafe in the Cubist House of the Black Madonna, but I accidentally went to the Cubist restaurant -- silly me. I got tea at the restaurant, but still wanted to go to the cafe because they're known for serving foods in cubes. I got apple strudel with vanilla ice cream and the ice cream was cube shaped! 

Tea

Cube ice cream

After I finished studying at the cafe, I went for a run to the Metronome, a large, functioning metronome that's where the largest statue of Stalin used to be. 

Pictures From My Run


Tuesday, October 31st

I had intended to spend Tuesday visiting the Memorial for the Victims of Communism, Museum of Communism, KGB Museum, and Cold War Museum because we had an API activity the next night to a cold war bunker. I went to the Memorial for the Victims of Communism, which is a really fascinating series of sculptures, and then remembered it was Halloween and decided to go to the Botanical Gardens' Halloween event in search of some holiday spirit.

I like the fall vibes in this pic

Memorial close up

Memorial far away

Don't remember why I took this, but I like it

The event was definitely for kids, but the Botanical Gardens were nice and I appreciated the pumpkins and spooky music. I tried burcak, which is fresh, partially fermented wine, but it still felt like there was  something about that American Halloween magic that was missing. 

The hunt for Halloween spirit continues.

Pictures From the Botanical Gardens




After the Botanical Gardens, and in the never-ending quest for Halloween spirit, Sadie and I went to Artic Bakery to get Halloween treats. I got a cinnamon roll that I was excited about, but it turned out to have cream cheese frosting which isn't my favorite. I was momentarily in the Halloween spirit, but cream cheese frosting is the equivalent of the house that hands out apples during Trick or Treat, so I snapped out of it pretty quick.

The hunt for Halloween spirit continues.

Halloween cinnamon roll

We went to an American burger pub for dinner because, if we weren't going to get in the Halloween spirit, gosh darn we were at least going to get in the American spirit. They weren't playing spooky music, but there were pumpkin table decorations.

Happily, the hunt for American spirit was successful.

Sadly, the hunt for Halloween spirit marches on.


Sadie, Aislinn, and I watched Coraline in hopes that the spooky movie would help us to finally acquire the long sought-after Halloween spirit, but at this point I was distracted with studying for my midterm the next day.

My very last ditch effort was joining Julianna, Katelyn, and Ella to watch the new American Horror Story episode, but, I'm sorry to say, this season isn't scary and it's solely Kim Kardashian's fault.

After a long hunt, I've realized that maybe the real Halloween spirit was the friends we made along the way...

...and capitalism. 

While writing this, I realized what I really miss about Halloween is America's manufactured magic and you can bet that I won't be taking the November 1st candy sales for granted ever again. 

Wednesday, November 1st

During Interpretation of European Fairytales, we had a field trip to Vysehrad, a park and historic fort that contains a lot of ties to Czech folklore (which you can learn about here).

Approaching the fort walls

One of the Vysehrad gates

View towards the city center

View away from the city center

Devil's Column

Church inside the park

In Sociology of Food, we took our midterm and then made chlebicky, a traditional Czech sort of open-faced sandwich. We had a lot of extra supplies and I got to take a baguette home.

Making chlebicky

Baguette transport

That night, Katelyn and I went to a cold war bunker (turned night club, turned museum) as one of our API activities. Bunkers were built throughout the city during the cold war to protect civilians from atomic bombs and nuclear fallout. There were 678 shelters (could be 768, I see contradictory reports) that were intended to hold 300,000 people (max capacity was later halved); five of the shelters are still maintained today. If you want to read more, you can do so here.

I'm in awe of how extensive these shelters are. We saw 1/4 of 1 of 678 shelters and it's hard to imagine how vast the network is. My favorite thing about the tour was how our guide kept referring to the Imperialists and then looking at Katelyn and I regretfully because we, as Americans, are the Imperialists the Soviet Union warned civilians about. I also loved seeing the communist era furniture because it was exactly the same as what's in my dorm room.

Bunker door (I think it's 4 tons?)

Bunker hallway turned museum

Pictures From the Bunker

















Thursday, November 2nd

Our art history field trip was to Villa Bílek, the house of Czech artist Frantisek Bilek. He designed the house himself and wanted it to resemble life in the countryside. The house is curved to reflect the mark a scythe leaves when cutting down corn stalks and there are a variety of references to nature throughout the house, including lady bugs carved into the doors.

Villa Bílek

Lady bug doorknob

Another fall vibe picture

I worked out after class and then went to Rusalka, an opera based off of The Little Mermaid, with my Interpretations of European Fairytales class. 

The opera was okay. They provided captions, which I really appreciated, but I didn't have a great view from my seat so it was hard to stay engaged. I left after the second act because I had to pick up my luggage at the dorm before meeting for our midnight bus to Krakow, and it felt like a good place to leave because the opera doesn't have a happy ending, but the second act did.