Alfonso dismissed it as anti-Enlightenment flim-flam. Though I had to agree, the ossuary–located about an hour south of Prague in a suburb of Kutna Hora called Sedlec–was also intriguing. A chandelier made of (at least) one of every bone in the human body is something to see in my book. Here is how it came […]
Bohemia is the homeland of the subject of my book, and though she herself was never here (despite being quite the world traveler), her grandparents, when they immigrated, took much of their culture—dress, food, attitude–with them and passed it down to Agnes. I did not find kolache ((koh-LAH-chee, literally “cake,” usually filled with poppy seeds […]
He was a man so cranky he seemed a character in a story by Dickens. This man–let’s call him Ebenezer–spit a response to my innocent inquiry, “Please sir, where is the real cricket playing tiny violin?” No matter, we found said cricket–and the flea in golden horseshoes, and the whole herd of camels in the […]
Like Ali is an Alps Slut, I am an Art Nouveau Slut, which means I spent our short time in Prague (Praha) with my head craned upward and mouth dangling open in rapture. The city looks as though it was designed by Alfons Mucha, in part because it was. The streets are clusters of buildings […]
“Can I ask you a terribly rude question?” the woman with the kind smile, beaming eyes and slight limp said. She had pretended to be looking for the “ladies,” to broach this I later realized, and so I had a moment to decide I liked her, so I said yes. “The man you are with—are […]
Was a time when visits precipitated calling cards, a hand fan pressed to the lips spoke: You may kiss me, and there was a taxidermist in every hamlet, no matter how small. I’m speaking of course of the Victorian era. Besides well-mannered guests, the well-appointed Victorian parlour would likely be stuffed with all manner of […]
click on image to expand The story goes that the German-born physicist Albert Einstein worked out his theory of relativity while employed as a clerk at the Berne patent office. We visited this Medieval town–the capital of Switzerland–this weekend with Alfonso’s cousin Antonio (of terrifying Angel fame) and his girlfriend Mimi. The town’s best known […]
{getting hitched!}