Tuesday, August 4, 2009

'Empty Nest Expat' Among the Best Expat Blogs according to Tripbase

Yea! All bloggers need is a little positive reinforcement that people are reading and appreciating what they're writing to keep at it. I was astonished when I got an email that said my blog made the list of best expat blogs as chosen by Tripbase, a top travel website.

What is Tripbase and what is their mission? They use over 3,000 blogs and travel websites plus 22 million individual reviews to help travelers create a matching vacation destination to their wants. LA Times calls it "the Match.com of Travel."

I've taken a look at many of the other blogs that made the list - wow, I feel honored to be in such company.

Here's their press release about top expat blogs.

And here's their selections in other categories.

What a great place to find exciting new blogs to read. The amount of winnowing and reading the editors had to do to come up with this list is substantial. And hasn't the Internet made you appreciate the work of editors more than ever? Show me the cream! I have only so much time! I'd like to thank whichever one of my readers suggested me for this too. It made me day!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Pavel's Prague, Part III: Tonino Lamborghini

Pavel entering Tonino Lamborghini,
his favorite cafe

Pavel Pisan, an accomplished ballet dancer with the Prague National Ballet, has been taking us, that's you and me gentle blog reader, to his three favorite cafes in Prague, saving the best for last. We had first visited Cafe Emporio, and then the Grand Orient Cafe. Did you enjoy them?

Tonino Lamborghini is Pavel's very favorite cafe. I was surprised the first time I went with him because it didn't seem very Czech to me with it's ultramodern vibe and sleek styling - more Italian, like it's name. The exotic appeals to people all over the world, doesn't it?

The cafe has originally been called Pasta Caffe, and changed it's name to Tonino Lamborghini, when it became part of the very successful Ambiente restaurant group.

Pavel loves coming here because "of the excellent service. The first time I came in here, I felt it was the right place. The staff helped me. They knew when to talk to me, and when to leave me alone. Besides, it has the best espresso in town, simply THE BEST. In eight years of coming here, I've had bad service only once. I think that's a good record." He also appreciated the excellent venilation, "even the smoking section air seems healthy."

Pavel's two favorite entrees here are "al pesto di basilico and con pollo e limone all Ambiente." And don't forget dessert. The "tiramisu is great!"

Tonino Lamborghini
is known for it's pasta

The cafe doesn't hurry you.
You're free to enjoy your time here
with reading material already supplied.

That porch is also the smoking section.

Pavel Pisan,
always with a smile of pure sunshine

I didn't take as many pictures here because I was too busy enjoying Pavel. He told me about the legendary beauty of his mother and his favorite opera stars. Our conversation was over the tiniest cups of esspresso accompanied by the tiniest little yummy cookies that came with it. I loved the "just right" serving sizing for walking away guilt free.

Pavel adores American opera diva Jesse Norman, " a goddess!" He waxed rhapsodic about Czech mezzo soprano Yvona Skarova. "99% of the time she was singing, I was in the audience. The first time she sent me a stage present with her calling card I screamed." He also enthused about Jiri Solzenko, an operatic bass singer with "perfect technique and amazing acting. He's perfect in both comedies and tragedies." What a compliment it must be to hear the appreciation of a fellow artist who has these same acting gifts. When I saw Pavel dance, he played Paris in Romeo and Juliet. You wouldn't believe how evil he could make his face look!

"It doesn't matter where you are in Prague," Pavel said, "Prague makes you happy." He continued, "I'm not a big fan of walking. I don't need it. But when I walk across the bridge by the National Theatre or across the Charles Bridge, the views are just gorgeous."

Thank you Pavel for sharing your favorite spots in Prague. Prague makes me happy too!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Pavel's Prague, Part II: Grand Cafe Orient

Recently I asked my friend, ballet dancer Pavel Pisan, to show me his three extraordinary cafes in Prague. I knew that Pavel would know some really divine places and he did not disappoint. It's such a pleasure, I think, to show off and get to share your own culture. Do you know what you would show off where you live, gentle blog reader? What would you want a visitor to go away raving about?

We started our cafe tour at Cafe Emporio on Jindrisska. The second place Pavel took me to was so architecturally interesting. The cafe is housed in the House of the Black Madonna. Could a building name be more mysterious? More alluring? The House of the Black Madonna was designed by Josef Gocar, the Czech cubist architect whose work I fell in love with at Legio Bank.

Josef Gocar's House of the Black Madonna,
in Old Town Prague
at the corner of Celetna and Ovocny Trh

It was the first example
of Cubist architecture in Prague.


While Josef Gocar is appreciated today,
the authorities were worried back in 1911
that he would design something
that didn't fit into the neighborhood.

He incorporated this Black Madonna
from the baroque buildings that were on this site
into his design, honoring rather than
repudiating, what came before.

The Czechs know how to take any functional object
and increase the pleasure it gives
just by the way it's presented.

Here is a scrollwork detail
from the outside lamp.


The House of the Black Madonna
houses not only the cafe that was our destination,
but the Museum of Czech Cubism
and a display of Czech cubist art
curated by the Czech Museum of Fine Arts.
Alas, I haven't seen those two parts yet.
I simply must come back.

We had come to see the Grand Cafe Orient,
the only surviving Cubist interior in the world.

Won't you join us inside?

The view out the cafe windows
of the surrounding art deco and baroque
buildings along the old coronation route
that is Celetna Street.

Notice there are no supporting pillars in the room,
Gocar's innovation was building with
a reinforced concrete skeleton
eliminating the need for ceiling supports.

The renovation of this space
was all based on photographs of the
original cafe.

Czechs consider Gocar
their greatest architect
from the 20th century.

Me too.

If you saw Prague,
you'd know that what
an incredible accomplishment that is.
The competition was steep.

Everywhere else in the world,
Cubism was expressed in painting and sculpture
(think Picasso).

It was only in Czechoslovakia,
where artists of the period
expressed Cubism in other mediums too:
architecture, furniture, and decorative arts.

Cotton bolls decorate

this cubist vase.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay to have
a cup of coffee here because the secondhand smoke
was so overpowering it felt toxic just to be in the room.

Czechs smoke like factory chimneys.
Candles aren't enough.

After Cafe Emporio,
the feeling from the cafe inhabitants here
was low energy.

Pavel was disappointed that a site
of such national significance
could be so indifferent to the customer experience
and sort of take it for granted.

He said,
"maybe it's best to come in the summertime,
it's fun to sit out on the balcony
and watch the people below."
I was grateful to just have seen it!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Pavel's Prague, Part I: Cafe Emporio

The number of inspiring cafes in Prague is literally overwhelming. I would love to see them all because they are as different in personality as people are. Some you come back to again and again because slipping into the booth is like being embraced with a familiar hug by someone who cares for you.

I love everything about the European coffee experience: from the strength of it's flavor and smell, the exquisitely foamed and expertly presented cappuccino, to the comfort of settling down with a friend in an interesting spot to enjoy caffeine and each other's company.

I have found wonderful places through friends. Among my favorites are the Cafe Imperial, the Cafe Louvre, Cafe Tobruk on St. Peter's Square, and 7th heaven around the corner from the Cafe Savoy (try the warm goat cheese toasts). I asked a friend with impeccable taste, Pavel Pisan, the ballet dancer, to show me his favorite cafe spots in Prague.

One of my very favorite things about Prague is that high culture is everywhere. I love high culture and believe that I know it fairly well. It's a whole higher level of appreciation and awareness though when you are a creator of it.

Pavel had previously shared with me tickets to see "Romeo and Juliet." I may know the story and the music. Pavel knows each of the characters, their moves, their presentation, how one should inhabit each personality. It's a level of knowledge I love listening too and learning from because it's beyond my aficionado status. I learn from Pavel every time I'm with him. And it's not just ballet. It's Czech culture, opera, and acting. I could go on and on.

Me and Pavel at Cafe Emporio that day

When my American girlfriends and I first met Pavel, we were a bit awestruck by his beauty. But then one of my cheeky friends nicknamed him 'David' reducing us to a fit of giggles and starting endless rounds of teasing this wonderful man who spreads sunshine wherever he goes. Pavel's smile is electric. His exuberance is part of his entrance. It grabs your attention and never lets go. Everyone looks up when Pavel enters a room because his joyful spirit emanates outward and lifts the mood of everyone present.

Pavel loves to use cafes for a moment of solitary relaxation - to enjoy the paper or a great meal. To think and people watch over a cup of espresso. He had three favorite cafes he thought I should see.

We decided to meet at Cafe Emporio
at Jindrisska 3 in Prague 1.

It's just off the intersection of
Vaclavska Namesti and Jindrisska.

Is there a better sight than a friends' big smile
through the window?

Behind the white leather banquette seating
was this intriguing wall of
chocolate color and eggshells

And an ultra-hip mural that predated the bar

Other cafe goers under the
metal strip chandelier
hanging from the second floor

Up on the second floor -
a view of the mod chair seating and wall.

Pavel says, "The eggshell wall has been refreshed. It used to have feathers amidst the eggshells. I was sensitive to the dust because I'm allergic. They redid the wall which is great because it keeps people excited to come."

A larger view of the mural
on the second floor

Pavel continued, "When I came here in 1995, this wasn't a cafe but the mosaic was here. They kept it. It's originally from the '60s." Does anyone know who the artist is? I would love to know more about it.

Later, I came back to this place when I was walking home with my flatmate from going to see a movie at Kino Svetozor. It's this wonderful art house cinema palace with movies from all over the world, a bar with tables to meet your friends before the movie, and a convenient location on Jindrisska just on the other side of Vaclavska Namesti from Cafe Emporio. I literally thought life can not get any more perfect than to go to an art cinema house in the middle of Prague, and walk on cobblestones four blocks to our apartment, with a contented nightcap at this magnificent spot on the way home. Life in Prague is so fabulous.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Beach Life, Where You Might Least Expect It

Hanging out at the Beach
with Prague Castle in the background


Wow, a sandy beach in Smichov on the river Vltava? Who knew? I had no idea! The New York Times has a report all about it (click on my title to read it).

Has anyone been there? Would you feel comfortable swimming in the Vltava? Can't say that I would. But I'd love the incongruity of enjoying the beach with Prague Castle in the background.

Monday, July 20, 2009

A Taste of Vietnam Emerges in Prague

The best Vietnamese food in Prague is at my friend Nhan's house. But the New York Times has a suggestion of where you might want to go if he's not cooking that night. Click on my title to read the review.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Futurista Builds Upon the Past

After falling in love with Josef Gocar's Rondo-Cubism architectural style at the LegioBank building, I was eager to learn more about the wonderful design history of Czechoslovakia. Very near to where I lived in Prague was an ultra-hip design shop that showcased the best of Czech decorative arts and design from mid-century in addition to the current generation. The shop is called Futurista and is near Old Town Square.

A Czech cubist tea set

Can't you picture it in a
Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers
elegant NY penthouse?

These cubist tea set designs were created by
Pavel Janek
who worked with Josef Gocar
to create Rondo-Cubism

I was delighted to learn that
one of his other well-known designs

is Palace Adria
a gorgeous building near Mustek
where you can go and sit on the balcony
and enjoy the promenade of Prague people below.

Vlatislav Hofman designed
the cubist vases
housed in this ultra-hip
cubist breakfront.

Hofmann also designed
over 300 sets theatre sets.


One way Futurista exceeded my expectations
was the well-founded patriotic pride
of the young staff in their decorative heritage.

Lucie knew her country's artists
and loved sharing the beauty they created.

A cubist chair

What flowers would you arrange
in these vases to do them justice?

For me, if it was autumn,
dried bittersweet and sumac.

How it must delight Czechs
to have a design movement
that is all theirs.

In addition to his own Czech design heritage,
Miracek was crazy about Delft design
in the Netherlands.

The building that houses Futurista
is ancient

and has undergone countless remodelings
through the centuries.

If you go,
enjoy the glass bottom in the first floor

looking down to the gothic basement
where all the furniture is kept.

See the bottom of the window well
in the picture above?

That used to be the door jamb
for the first floor

back in medieval times.

David loved talking about
the modernist furniture
for sale in the basement.

I didn't understand the point
of this cheesy Communist poster
but David said native Czechs love to buy it
because ugly baby
and Dad with excessive sideburns

are very familiar to them as a
humorous memory of those times.

Mod meets art deco

An art deco breakfront

A way-cool white leather
executive table
and chairs

More modernist office furniture

I love this modernist plant stand.
I just need a super cool modernist
Prague apartment to go with it.

David said this sort of plastic office desk
with side fold-out drawers is so familiar to Czechs
they hate it and never want to see it again.

To a foreigner like me,
it's just one more fabulously cool
modernist experiment.

Futurista has started a web page. So far it only has one page to it, and it's in Czech, so I've linked in my title to the only store in North America that is devoted to mid-century Czech furniture and design. It's in New York City, of course; it's called the Prague Kolektiv.

Gallery Crawling in Prague? Get Out the G.P.S.

Dox Museum of Contemporary Arts

There's a nice article in the New York Times today celebrating the growth of great art in Prague. It's a bit of work to find all of the good galleries since they are not all in one district. DOX, the brand new, very exciting contemporary art museum, was the first reason I had to go to Holesovice, a nice Prague neighborhood where lots of natives live. I would so love to see David Cerny's political artwork, Entropa, currently on display there.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

I needed some cash in my new neighborhood

When I first moved into my Prague neighborhood, I needed to run to an ATM to pay my security deposit. "No problem," said my flatmate, "my bank is nearby." Based on my experience of ATMs in America, I wasn't expecting much. I actually wasn't expecting anything at all.

Local bank branches in America are usually housed in small brick buildings of 5,000-15,000 square feet and are forgettable in appearance. Cities usually deplore them because these branches use up prime corners of real estate and don't bring in any sales tax. Plus, have you noticed how many corners they take up? It's a lot. It's a rare bank building in America that evokes any emotion upon entering.

Not so in Prague. Join me in the pleasure of discovering the beautiful architecture of the Legio Bank Building (now CSOB) at 24 Na Porici in Prague. Before the Internet and TV ad campaigns, formidable architecture probably equaled branding. Cities were more glorious for it! Now that brick-and-mortar banks have to compete with Internet banks, maybe they could go back to imposing architecture to differentiate themselves and give us some reason to go in there...but I digress. I came back to this bank again and again for the sheer pleasure of it.

LegioBank's version of Prague Paving,
the stone of choice for
Prague sidewalks,
was my first signal this would be
no ordinary branch.
It was no ordinary sidewalk.
Notice the repetition of circles
and half circles throughout the project.

The bank was designed by
Czech architect Josef Gocar in 1921-1923
in the style of Rondo (Round) Cubism
which expressed Czech nationalism
at the time.

It featured a frieze designed by Czech sculptor
Otto Guttfreund, depicting scenes from
Czechoslovak history unknown to present-day Americans,
when the Czech foreign legion fought in Siberia
during the First World War.

Later, Otto died before his time
by drowning in the Vltava River.

There is a pathos sometimes to Eastern European
political art unknown in American art.
Could you picture the soldier in the gas mask
on an American bank?
Me neither.
Regardless, I loved it because
it made me stop and contemplate the soldier's fate
each time I went there.

Stunning iron railing detail
again repeating the circle theme.

Oh, the pleasure of opening these
massive front doors!

Enjoy with me the superb detail
on the floors and the ceilings.

Funny, he didn't repeat the circle theme
on the floor, maybe circular tiles
didn't exist?

More exquisite woodworking
Internal doors.

The circular iron scrollwork guarding the elevator
is done in the colors of the Czech national flag:
red, blue and white.

Photos aren't allowed of the lobby
with it's pretty fountain and beautiful
architectural detail. It is a bank after all
and has to worry about security.

I will say it was several moments of just standing and
looking at it with my mouth agape before I could go ahead
and pursue my bank business.
It's that pretty.

You'll have to settle for the lobby foyer, above.
Down the hall is the vault and the trust department.
Even the vault has beautiful scrollwork!

Align Center
What do these shut gates leading upstairs
say to you? Open and explore?
Me too!
Let's go!

Oh, and in case you needed MORE BEAUTY
as you walked up the stairs
the architect provided it on the
stairwell ceiling.

And in marble on the walls.

Wow. I wonder what this room was used for.
The parquet floors are so beautiful.
I can imagine the Board of Directors meeting here.
Or an amazing cocktail party
Or the waiting room lobby for the bank execs.

This room and dome were on the second floor of
a building with about five or six floors.

Beautiful wall painting detail.

Imagine, this dome made it from the 1920s
without being ruined.
Small miracles.
Another beautiful design detail it would be hard
to imagine in America.
An American developer would want to rent
all the square footage
or let the atrium light benefit every floor
by removing the inner windows and walls.

Orco, a real estate company,
is developing the offices for rent.
You could hang out with the soldier.
That office window is available.
 
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