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Ahoj from Praha!
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Seth Familian
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Jul 08, 2001 07:37 PDT
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Hey there!
I write to you from wonderful Prague, where tourists seem to have taken
over the entire city, but beautiful bridges and towering baroque palaces
still outshine even the gaudiest dayglow and Invicta backpacks. My time
here, while brief (only two and a half days), has still nonetheless been
absolutely amazing, and I've somehow managed to soak up a ton of the
local culture (much of which is basted with and fried in grease or
served in frothy half-pint mugs), even amidst the hordes of those
"Godawful Americans." Ah tourists...
Last night was especially fantastic, since I went to a little jazz club
where I ended up meeting a crazy group of people from all over the
map--Israel, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic--and after a few beers,
a few of them started playing the tables like bongo drums. Being
equally obsessed with the "alternative bongo" (I've been known to play a
mean steering wheel, a hidden talent which has both amused and immensely
scared those in the passenger seat of my car), I joined in the mix and
pounded the table in syncopated rhythm until my hands were literally
numb and black and blue. But all that pain was worth it, since the
whole bar got into our little jam session! The coolest twist came when
a supposedly reknown czech jazz vocalist started singing scat lines on
top of our beats, which really sounded amazing.
The night got even crazier from there, as my newfound rhythmic friends
and I headed out to yet another bar and lived it up Prague style (i.e.
until the harsh morning sunlight beamed through bar windows and we
realized how truly late (or early!) it really was), but the rest of that
story is best saved for another time. Just know that we all had a
blast, and had a typical (or not so) Prague evening on the town...
While my time in Prague has really been wonderful (this city has a truly
magical feel, especially in the early evening when the whole river glows
with the light of the nearly unbroken line of buildings just at its
edge), I'm off to Budapest tonight, where I'll be for a few days, and
then Vienna after that before heading back to Paris. I can't wait to
see the rest of Eastern Europe, and I'll be sure to keep you all posted
on what other crazy adventures I find myself in!
take care,
Seth
p.s. I hope you've enjoyed the photo gallery I sent out, and thank you
to those who wrote back with their thoughts. A number of you voiced
significant concern that there were no people in my pictures, but alas,
that's the fate of a landscape photographer... Actually, it just so
happens that there have been NO people whatsoever in ANY of these cities
and countries I've visited, so my photos are really just truthful
depicitions of the barren, empty wasteland that is all of Europe. Ha!
Just kidding. But seriously, though, I choose to photograph landscapes
because I like to find the "texture" of cities and countrysides, the
hidden or overlooked beauty--large or small--that really shines and
makes a place truly special, unique, and aesthetically fascinating (yes,
I just said aesthetically fascinating. I guess I'm still in
section-mode). Having said that, I still welcome all of your comments
and criticisms, since they really are useful and interesting!
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