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| View of the City Center from the Diana Lookout |
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| View of the outer suburbs from the Diana Lookout |
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| View of the City Center from the Diana Lookout |
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| View of the City Center from the Diana Lookout |
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| View of the suburbs from the Diana Lookout |
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| View of the Mountains from Diana Lookout |
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| View of the forest from Diana Lookout |
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| View of the City Center from the Diana Lookout |
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| Me, a bit anxious and holding on to nice Russian women to keep from freaking out due to fear of heights. |
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| Diana Look out with daughter holding elderly mothers arm as they climb the small hill from the funicular |
What a wonderful day. It wasn't sunny but it was only about 40 degrees so that's great for the end of February and the snow is quickly melting which is good too so hopefully they'll have an early spring here.
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| Forest path near Diana Lookout with tiny fur tree just beginning to grow out of the snow covered earth (see bottom of picture) |
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| Stone structure on path from Diana Lookout |
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| Funicular from Diana Lookout to Grand Hotel Pupp |
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| Funicular from Diana Lookout to Grand Hotel Pupp |
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| Stone Cross on walking Path from Diana Lookout |
After a underwater massage, lymph-drainage and salt cave treatments I went for a walk and then decided to take the funicular up to the Diana Lookout. The funicular was closed for all of January and part of February so I figured it was a good day to take it up the mountain and then walk down. There was a very sweet older German couple with me and off we went up the mountain slow and steady and stopped in the middle for a few moments when we were side by side with the funicular coming down.
Once up at the look out I decided to take the elevator with the German couple to the top of the lookout and figured I would take a quick peek but with my fear of heights I figured I would last a few moments before having to head down. But fortunately when we got to the top there was a complete wooden balcony with high fully covered railings. I was able to stay close to the inside wall and just point the camera out and got some good shots of the city and the surrounding wooded trails. The German women has a fear of heights as well so we both stayed close to the inside and walked slowly around. There was just one other couple up there, an older Russian couple all bundled up. I took a picture of them with the city in the background and then they offered to take a picture of me so I agreed but held on to the women for dear life. She offered to have her husband take a picture of me alone but I graciously declined. She had no idea I was only able to stand there because I had a strong grip on her.
As I left the tower and headed toward the walking path I saw a women with her young daughter and elderly mother who was walking slowly with a cane and clearly, from the pained expression on her face, wondering why her daughter had forced her to come up this hill even if the majority of the distance was covered by a mechanical wonder. All I could think as I watched her move slowly up the tiny slope that lead to the tower entrance was if this was my mother she'd be saying to me over and over again "This is elder abuse!"
I then took a nice walk down hill and enjoyed the breeze and the still thick snow drifts. As I got closer to the bottom there was less and less snow and all the fall leaves that had fallen months ago where visible where the snow had melted. I figured by now that all the leaves would have turned to mush and mulch but I guess not. They were in pretty good condition, I guess the snow worked as a preservative.
I passed a obelisk, an old stone cross and a stone structure created in the middle of some trees.
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| Hotel Pavlov |
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov the famous Russian 1904 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or
Medicine (1849 – 1936) best known for his "conditioned reflex" (Pavlov’s
dogs) which of course was his examination of the rates of salivation's among
dog. When he ran a bell in subsequent time with food being presented to the dog
in consecutive sequences, the dog would initially salivate when the food was
presented came to Karlovy Vary in 1927. The dog later come to associate the
ringing of the bell with the presentation of the food and salivate upon the
ringing of the bell. What I didn't know was that they actually stuffed some of
his test dogs and have them displayed in a museum in Russia. They have a street
named after him here and the hotel Pavlov is perfectly located across from the
Park Colonnade.
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| Japanese Rock Garden , Thermal Hotel |
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| Japanese Rock Garden , Thermal Hotel |
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| Japanese Rock Garden , Thermal Hotel |
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| Japanese Rock Garden , Thermal Hotel |
Across from the main entrance of the Hotel Pavlov is the ugly
Communist Era Thermal Hotel which I’ve included in previous blog entries. But
today I took a little time to admire the sculptures in their attempt at a
Japanese rock garden including a Yin and Yang representation made from a small
canal swirl that leads to the river nearby.
I met a very sweet young Russian couple, only 21 years old
and on vacation in Prague and just visiting Karlovy Vary for the day. We
chatted briefly about their beautiful town (at least that’s what they say)
Kazan which is considered the third Capitol of Russia.
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| Becher Villa (picture not taken by me) |
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| Staircase with Stained Glass Window in Becher Villa |
Yesterday I had stopped by the Galerie umění Karlovy Vary (art
museum) in the Becher Villa. It’s the only other museum and the place where I
had built my snow kitty sculptures on their high stone walls. I found out from
a poster outside the villa that they had an art workshop which was schedule for
5:00pm tonight. It was only $4.00 US and it was focusing on textile art. It
sounded fun and interesting and for such a small entrance fee it was definitely
worth it. I made reservation yesterday and showed up at 4:30pm so I could spend
a half hour going through the small gallery upstairs where there is an exhibit “International
2012 project from the KünstlerGilde Esslingen in Regensburg, Germany presents
the small selection of paintings, photographs, objects, installations of almost
30 artists reflecting the manifestations of power in all its forms.” Here are
just a few examples of the works presented.
Hansjürgen Gartner’s painting “Rating 2012” which oddly has
a large picture of American actor, Ben Stiller from the poster for “Along Came
Polly.” A red striped flag is painted over part of the picture of him.
Ingo Glass’ two sculptures “Hommage and Twins” created in
2011. I presume it is a reaction to the Twin Towers tragedies.
Jan Mestan’s “Pigments and Beeswax on Wood” (two works.)
Reinhild Gerum’s “Iron Sheet Copper Wire.” I really love
this piece and the wire sculpture inside is so fascinating in person, the
picture doesn’t do the work justice.
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| Gisela G. "Collage 2009" |
The museum is housed in this incredible 1914 Villa which was
built by and was the home of Gustav Becher a prominent businessman of the
family who created the Becherovka Liqueur company here in Karlovy Vary until
his death in 1921. It was used for many purposes over the years including the “House
of Pioneers and Youth” (a Communist leisure center for children and youth) from
1951-1987 when it was abandoned after Communist rule ended. It wasn’t until
years later in 2011, after an extensive renovation that it was reopened as the
current museum a multipurpose center for young artists with a focus on
educational activities, exhibitions, art, representation and accommodation.
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| Villa in Karlovy Vary's Westend Neighborhood |
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| Gathered around the materials table |
The neighborhood where the museum is I've been referring in my blogs to as the "Villa District" but it turns out it has a real name the "Westend" which yes, is inspired by London's famous neighborhood of the same name and which was known as "residential area of rich men, noblemen and legislators consisting of palaces, parks, theaters, etc. The area was developed into what is seen today staring with major construction projects begun in the 1970's above Zamecky vrch (Castle Hill.) Residential buildings were designed to increase the "aesthetic effect" of the spa town. The area bears the name "Westend" from 1895, i.e., the western par of town. It was also called this to emphasize the importance of the society who lived here. And in keeping with a main aspect of spa towns which is characterized by a special relationship with the environment, these detached residential homes had incorporated intricate landscaping and garden features that included architectural objects like pavilions arbors bowers, various terraces, stairways ,etc. It's a small area but well worth walking along multiple times as there is always some new artistic element on one of the gorgeous villas that was missed the time before.
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| Choosing the right materials for the perfect creation |
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| Me working on my craft |
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| Mira and other teacher with teenage artist |
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| Mira watching an artist work |
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| One of my fellow students fun disco rooster and chicken creations |
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| Mira, Yerka, Merka and other teacher in pink |
They have bi-monthly workshops for adults and last
night they had one of the artists from the current “Power” exhibit do a
lecture. But tonight’s works shop was all about a substance called “Powertex”
which is a highly versatile product that makes most porous surfaces hard and
weather resistant and gives form and structure to cloth, paper, wood, gauze,
concrete, plush toys, cardboard and more. They opened the workshop with a
lecture with a PowerPoint presentation on the material and how to use it (of course
in Czech but they had a handout in English ready for me when I arrived.) We
then went into the workshop room where
plastic sheets had been placed over the tables and a side table with lots of
odds and ends of fabrics, string, wire, beads, etc. where displayed and ready
for us to choose what we liked and create our own masterpiece. I obviously had
to make something small since I was going to be packing it in my suitcase. I
had picked up a beautiful stone near the Crucifix that is on the hill above the
Grand Hotel Pupp today when I was heading on my walk and decided to use that in
my creation. It turned out in the end, with the use of some gauze, the special putty
they mixed for us and the Powertext paint, my stone, some tiny pearls, a redish
ceramic bead and a metal heart, to be an abstract work resembling loosely to be
a heart. I look forward to hanging this somewhere when I get home and be
reminded of my lovely evening doing arts and crafts in a gorgeous villa in
Karlovy Vary with about 15 other would be artists.
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| A very bad picture of my creation |
The staff were incredible in particular an adorable 32 year
old young man named Mira (short for a name in Russian I can't remember.) He is a talented
painter (he was kind enough after I finished my work to show me pictures of his
paintings that he had online.) We had such a nice chat about art, life in
Karlovy Vary, the aversion many Czech people have to Russian visitors, the
state of religion here in Karlovy Vary and various other interesting topics
including butterflies and how his 82 year old grandmother lives with him and the fact that it traditional for Czech families to keep their elderly at home with them. The two young ladies who organized tonight’s
presentation were very sweet and helpful and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves.
After saying bye to Mira and his colleagues I walked with a
young man, Yerka and his mom, Menka who he had convinced to come to the
workshop with him when his friends back out. He said she was resistant to the
idea but she actually made a wonderful dancing doll with a frilly dress and
took such care when putting it together. As we walked to the center of town (first stopping at where my snow kitties had been and collecting the tiny stones I'd used for the eyes in noses - I collect small stones from all the places I travel so these will be a fun reminder) together
he told me all about life in Karlovy Vary as his English was superb and he
would translate what his mother would say about life in Communist Czech. He said
that the night they invaded in 1968 the Czech people were clearly upset but on
the radio they were all told to just stay calm and go to work the next day like
nothing had happened. Yerka said that last week they were replaying the tapes
from that night on the radio and how incredible it was for him to hear them
telling everyone to just comply with the Russians and not to put up a fight and
that the Czech Army would not be called to defend the nation (because of the
potential loss of life and because the government new that they weren’t strong
enough to fight back.) Yerka wasn’t born yet when it happened but he was 6
years old when it ended in 1989 and he remembers going to school the next week
after the Velvet Revolution and not having to call his teachers by “comrade”
anymore which described to me with a big smile on his face. I asked if he remembered
being happy and he said “everyone was so happy.” It was such a fascinating conversation
and when I asked his mom what was best for her, Yerka, replied that she didn’t
have to make the kids clothes anymore and that was a good thing because she had
to work full-time and take care of the house and on top of that had to make all
their clothes to the specific requirements of the government. He also explained
how on that day in 1968 after the invasion and having to comply with the no
fighting back policy the locals would do things to annoy the Russians like
change the street signs so they would get lost.
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| Relief that hangs over Spring #2 of King Charles IV discovering the first termal spring when his dog fell into the water. |
It’s fascinating to hear directly from people who lived
through it what it was like and how life is different now and Yerka said that
the Czech Republic is coming along but are much farther behind many EU
countries who never were under Communist rule.
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| Metropol building taken from walk down from Diana Lookout |
The topic of Russia had come up during my conversation with
Mira as well who expressed his and what seems to be many Czech people’s
concerns about having so many Russian guests here. There is still a lot of
animosity toward the Russian people and I suppose with the history it will be
many, many decades before it will truly subside and that is understandable.
Mira was also telling me in relation to life in the Czech Republic that in some
ways it’s become so much more Westernized that it is unfortunate because people
spend so much time out shopping and working and away from their families where
as when everything was regulated (not that he wants that of course) but it
forced people to stay home and be with their families. I explained how when I
was growing up there were Blue Laws and Sundays were meant for family and there
was no going to shopping malls or movies which really is a good thing at least
when it comes to truly having a day to rest.
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| "Disks of Newton" by František Kupka |
So I parted with Yerka and his mom and went to my hotel
while they headed to their car. It really was a great experience and I am
continually meeting wonderful Czech people and enjoying incredible
conversations. And one last note on that, I met the Director of the Museum who
was working late installing a new children’s exhibit that opens tomorrow, a
very distinguished man in his 50’s who ended up chatting with me for a while
about art and František Kupka (September 23, 1871 – June 24, 1957) (also known
as Frank Kupka or François Kupka)who was a Czech painter and graphic artist and
who the Director compared to one of my favorite artists Wassily Kandinsky.
Kupka was a pioneer and co-founder of the early phases of the abstract art
movement and Orphic cubism (Orphism - a term coined by the French poet
Guillaume Apollinaire in 1912, was an offshoot of Cubism that focused on pure
abstraction and bright colors). Kupka's abstract works arose from a base of
realism, but later evolved into pure abstract art.
So I learned a lot about art and Czech life tonight as well!
Once up at the look out I decided to take the elevator with the German couple to the top of the lookout and figured I would take a quick peek but with my fear of heights I figured I would last a few moments before having to head down. But fortunately when we got to the top there was a complete wooden balcony with high fully covered railings. I was able to stay close to the inside wall and just point the camera out and got some good shots of the city and the surrounding wooded trails. The German women has a fear of heights as well so we both stayed close to the inside and walked slowly around. There was just one other couple up there, an older Russian couple all bundled up. I took a picture of them with the city in the background and then they offered to take a picture of me so I agreed but held on to the women for dear life. She offered to have her husband take a picture of me alone but I graciously declined. She had no idea I was only able to stand there because I had a strong grip on her.
