Day 2 & 3: Bratislava and Prague
Day 2 was spent driving the long haul to Prague. We stopped in Bratislava, Slovakia for lunch... then finally checked-in to our hotel in Prague where we had a few hours to sight-see (get lost). Oh, I should also mention, since I'm sure the trend of us getting lost now is really evident, that we were going to rent a TomTom navigation system for the car, but they don't work in Hungary, etc. Oh well. Lost, lost, lost.
Day 3, we had about 2 hours to do load-in and tech and then we did two lectures (DV + Dorsey), followed by three performances including Video Action, a dance and sound piece and then a sound piece. The students were incredibly quiet....seems that's also a pattern. There's a real challenge creating intermedia programs, we're told.. not too surprising. There's new media, digital media, but no intermedia. The lack of a common language or way of communicating between the various arts seems to be the largest problem.
A highlight was that we were able to find giant bottles of water! I'm not sure if I've commented on this yet, but no one drinks water here. Anywhere. You get made fun of and stick out like an American if you do. Water costs way more than coffee, beer, wine. Anyway, we found water and boy did we enjoy it! We then went out basically all night with three of Dorsey's old friends from his days in Prague. I think it was the best dinner I've had since being in Europe. More about his friends later... they totally rocked.
Somewhere between Pecs and Bratislava
This is rather random, but there's a puzzle called a Snake. Earlier in the week, Caitlyn's brother had solved it a zillion times and now, finally, on the drive to Bratislava, Caitlyn got it... now my turn... I've been trying for months now.
Along the road...
Oh, this is at the mall in Bratislava.. the entrance doors.
Border to Slovakia. I got questioned by the police you see here. I tried taking a photo but wasn't paying attention to him waving no to me. So then he had to come over and said "Espanol?", to which i said "un poco" thinking he wondered for some reason if I spoke Spanish. Anyway.. I then spoke German to him. which was odd on my part.. then he checked my passport and went to make a phonecall. The boys were in buying the pass for the autobahn during all this and were escorted back to the car by the police who wanted to question me further about various national affiliations, which was in itself interesting (certain countries are on a no-no list that suprised me)... once we agreed that I was really just from the U.S. he was happy and allowed me to take a photo of him and his car.
Finally in Bratislava
The national dish... dough covered in lots and lots of sheep cheese. On the way out of the restaurant, Sean got stopped by a couple from Manchester... they thought he was a US comedian they had seen on TV. Any thoughts on which one? They didn't know the name.
More of Bratislava
Prague. Prague is by far one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL places I have ever been. To say it's magical is an understatement. Sadly, photos can only say so much.
Oh... this photo. This is actually now Day 3. After our talk. The building we were in was CRAZY. The only way out was to go down into this dungeon where there were gas masks, etc..... keep going, going, going.. and eventually there was a door from which you could exit. So strange. Anyway, so it was the end of the day and this idiot was just blocking the only car exit out of the institue. We waited for about 10 min and then Dorsey got out to move the car himself, which had been left unlocked... the owner came and wasn't too pleased. Oh well. We were of course at this point about an hour late for our dinner appointment.. and then got lost trying to get to it :P
Day 3, we had about 2 hours to do load-in and tech and then we did two lectures (DV + Dorsey), followed by three performances including Video Action, a dance and sound piece and then a sound piece. The students were incredibly quiet....seems that's also a pattern. There's a real challenge creating intermedia programs, we're told.. not too surprising. There's new media, digital media, but no intermedia. The lack of a common language or way of communicating between the various arts seems to be the largest problem.
A highlight was that we were able to find giant bottles of water! I'm not sure if I've commented on this yet, but no one drinks water here. Anywhere. You get made fun of and stick out like an American if you do. Water costs way more than coffee, beer, wine. Anyway, we found water and boy did we enjoy it! We then went out basically all night with three of Dorsey's old friends from his days in Prague. I think it was the best dinner I've had since being in Europe. More about his friends later... they totally rocked.
Somewhere between Pecs and Bratislava
This is rather random, but there's a puzzle called a Snake. Earlier in the week, Caitlyn's brother had solved it a zillion times and now, finally, on the drive to Bratislava, Caitlyn got it... now my turn... I've been trying for months now.
Along the road...
Oh, this is at the mall in Bratislava.. the entrance doors.
Border to Slovakia. I got questioned by the police you see here. I tried taking a photo but wasn't paying attention to him waving no to me. So then he had to come over and said "Espanol?", to which i said "un poco" thinking he wondered for some reason if I spoke Spanish. Anyway.. I then spoke German to him. which was odd on my part.. then he checked my passport and went to make a phonecall. The boys were in buying the pass for the autobahn during all this and were escorted back to the car by the police who wanted to question me further about various national affiliations, which was in itself interesting (certain countries are on a no-no list that suprised me)... once we agreed that I was really just from the U.S. he was happy and allowed me to take a photo of him and his car.
Finally in Bratislava
The national dish... dough covered in lots and lots of sheep cheese. On the way out of the restaurant, Sean got stopped by a couple from Manchester... they thought he was a US comedian they had seen on TV. Any thoughts on which one? They didn't know the name.
More of Bratislava
Prague. Prague is by far one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL places I have ever been. To say it's magical is an understatement. Sadly, photos can only say so much.
Oh... this photo. This is actually now Day 3. After our talk. The building we were in was CRAZY. The only way out was to go down into this dungeon where there were gas masks, etc..... keep going, going, going.. and eventually there was a door from which you could exit. So strange. Anyway, so it was the end of the day and this idiot was just blocking the only car exit out of the institue. We waited for about 10 min and then Dorsey got out to move the car himself, which had been left unlocked... the owner came and wasn't too pleased. Oh well. We were of course at this point about an hour late for our dinner appointment.. and then got lost trying to get to it :P
posted by DOUBLE VISION | 2:47 AM
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