European impressions from the summer of 2008

Michael and I went to Prague and Vienna towards the end of August. While on this trip, we also visited London and Bratislava briefly in transit. Needless to say, I have taken hundreds of photos and he has taken thousands. It will perhaps take months for him to sort through and edit the photos…

As we get older (and presumably wiser), we get different things out of vacation trips, largely because we are somewhat different people. For example, I pay attention to certain things more, and am much more mentally active –or the sightseeing could be rendered as active information processing and intellectually stimulating as opposed to passive information digesting. I do want to capture (if it’s not too late) my impressions and memories of the trip, before they fade away. Because I travel frequently between San Francisco and Shanghai, I naturally compare and contrast the United States and China constantly – even though neither San Francisco nor Shanghai could be considered representative of the countries, they surely come to mind when we talk about the United States or China. To sum up the impressions from this trip: “ Europe is the past; America is the present; China is the future.”

Now that statement might lead one to think that “past, present and future” is supposed to represent a gradient that goes from “bad” to “good”, when it really is not meant to pass severe judgment. In fact, as grown-up adults, when we think about our personal lives, we regard “past” with sweet nostalgia (perhaps even inaccurately) and our selective memory renders it even sweeter; we discuss “present” with urgency, vigor and convictions because it is all about the “now” and the “here”; and we talk about “future” with sometimes hope but often times uncertainty and even a bit trepidation. And that is exactly how I feel about Europe, America and China. I am not really singing praises for China really, because a “futuristic” China sounds threatening to many whereas a “nostalgic” Europe sounds beautiful….

And what a beautiful trip it was to Europe indeed….


London – it was my second time to London. The first time was in the winter, when Michael and I were both in graduate school. On that first trip, it was cold and damp and dark, and I was mostly clueless and blindly going from one tourist attraction to another, based on suggestions from tour books and friends. This time, we spent two half days there, and the weather was nice and pleasant. One gets the impression that London wants to be “permanently relevant”, and does it in an unassuming and peaceful way, and does not get frustrated if it gets underappreciated a little bit. Prague and Vienna are content or resigned to stay in the past without caring about their relevance today. Paris is unhappy to be regarded irrelevant, hates the rest of the world for doing so, but does not know what to do except for sulking (or does not want to do anything because it wants to only work part-time every week). Beijing and Shanghai, with their amazing youthful enthusiasm and boundless energy, are tirelessly working to be MOST relevant every day, as if there is no tomorrow, and as if there were a daily contest… one gets the sense that they pay too little attention to the past and think too little about the future that is beyond people’s lifetime today. New York still believes adamantly that it is the center of the world and nothing will change that.

But London, for all its past glory represented by the magnificent Westminster Abbey, House of Parliament and St. Paul’s Cathedral, seems to be really at ease with itself without resignation or frustration. The modern urban development has been happening and is still happening without destroying the historic grandeur of the city – something that other cities seem to be incapable of. It has maintained its relevance in socio-economic, geo-political and financial matters in the world, as well as its relevance as a historic tourist attraction. It has kept up with internationalization and globalization, without losing its cultural and national identity. Considering how small of a country it is in terms of land, population and resources, that is fairly remarkable.

We visited British Museum, House of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and walked through St. James Park, all of which are the signs of “old and beautiful” London. We go on London Eye to have a panoramic view of the city on this giant ferris wheel(!) and stayed in an ultra-modern hotel near Canary Wharf, where the skyscrapers of this financial district rival those of New York, all of which are signs of an “ultra-modern and constantly updating” London.


Samuel Johnson said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

*****

Prague – perhaps it was because I was inundated with enthusiastic reports on the incredible beauty of Prague, I was in the end somewhat underwhelmed by its beauty. That is not to say that it is not stunningly beautiful – how many cities in the world boast such serenely majestic medieval structures juxtaposed with neo-Renaissance architecture? As always, it was probably the psychology of eager anticipation. With an anticipation that Prague would take my breath away, I was holding my breath very tight!

The great thing about visiting Prague is that I have a friend who’s been living there for a while, right in the center of the old town area. Through her we socialized with the “Czech intellectuals” – or shall I say “the Bohemians”, as after all, Prague is in the heart of Bohemia. When we landed at the airport, it was already past midnight. I never got to see what the airport was like in the daytime, because we left Prague by train for Vienna a few days later. All I remember is that the airport is a ridiculous civil engineering project. It is actually fairly small. Still, it took us a long time from getting off the plane to finally meeting my friend in the lobby – we took a bus, got into the building, went upstairs, only to go downstairs again, and perhaps another iteration of going up and down stairs again – without escalators, went through customs, and finally walked into the terminal. – It was as if the airport was designed to make tired passengers even more tired, or to taunt people for their desire for convenience or efficiency.

Now this first impression was to be repeated when we got back to my friend’s place. She’s living in the Jewish quarters of Prague, which is only 5 minutes by walking from the Old Town Square, where the big clock is, and where all the important events/gatherings have taken place in Prague. The building was built in late 19th century. Just to get into the building, one has to unlock 3 doors! And not only that, each door needs to be locked with the key from the inside after it’s been opened! That is using your key 6 times just to get into the building. No wonder Kafka was paranoid …One has to wonder: is it paranoia that has led to such ridiculous design? Or is it for sadistic pleasure of the architect? The elevator is one of those I saw in movies – situated right in the middle of the hallway, making such clunking noises when it’s going up and down. The apartment is extremely spacious, with a huge receiving area (one can imagine that in the old days the maid would ask the guest to wait while she announced the name of the guest to the master). The rooms all have large double-paneled windows without screens, indicating cold winters but relatively mild summers. The living room seems to suggest that perhaps over 100 years ago, a wealthy family would have a big banquet there, after which a lady would play the piano, and a few others dancing to the music. The toilet is at the opposite end of the apartment from the bathroom, which means every time one goes to the toilet, he/she will have to go across the entire apartment to the bathroom to wash his/her hands! And the bathroom is fairly small, which suggests a different era when perhaps servants and maids took care of getting their masters and mistresses ready for baths. There is simply not enough room for towels or clothes!

I would find out in the next few days that the Czechs do not derive any pleasure from food. The next day we set out for the old town square – a lot of people gathered under the big clock to watch when the little figurine on the clock would strike the hour. Prague is known for its cobble-stoned paved streets and squares, and I was wearing the same shoes that I wore to work and investor presentations, which are not pointy stiletto but certainly with some heels. I think I ruined them, as well as my feet after 2 days of walking on cobblestones. The buildings in the old town area, like the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge, are medieval in style. I guess most people love Prague better than Vienna because Prague’s architecture is more medieval and more simple whereas Vienna was more neo-Renaissance and more ornate. There is much more of a myth associated with anything older.


We walked across the river to see Prague Castle, which was a collection of palaces (well, medieval palaces were very austere and not that luxurious), churches and cathedrals. As we got an audio guide, we heard hundreds of stories that one immediately forgets the next minute – this prince once lived here, that princess lived a life of devotion and was canonized; so-and-so was tortured (people during medieval ages were very much into tortures) and became a saint; etc. Part of Prague Castle is this street where Franz Kafka lived. The continuous building lining up the street was also home to prison and torture chambers. The displays were full of torture devices – I still cringe at the memory of them.

The next day we decided to take a train to a nearby town Kutna Hora – which has a huge and beautiful cathedral. It used to have a silver mine, and the historic town centre is representative of a Bohemian town. One of the eerie tourist attractions is this crypt where bones of thousands (if not more) of people were stacked up by the monks to make pyramids or other “sculptures” – needless to say, it’s situated in the middle of a cemetery. Maybe death was not an unpleasant topic, if food in life has always been so bad…

We finished our 3rd day in Prague visiting the Jewish quarters, getting a good education of Jewish culture. We also went to the other side of the river to visit this ancient library, where really old books are kept. Think “In the name of the Rose’ with Sean Connery! When I was there, I could imagine the shabby-clothed monks reading those “forbidden” books and dying of the poison on those books! It is pretty amazing, however, to look at those big and disintegrating books, and imagine that they were once written and read by people half a millennia ago! We had the obligatory daily beer (the Czechs consume more beer on a per capita basis than anywhere else in the world) in the garden outside of the library – it was relaxing and fun – what a European way to pass some time on a beautiful early autumn afternoon…

We tried the dishes and restaurants recommended by the tour book and my friend. It would be an understatement to say that we are disappointed in the food. There is practically nothing to eat there, except for bread, cheese, beef gulash (just a beef stew), potatoes, and boiled beef. No wonder beer is considered not only a beverage, but also a source of nutrition! While there were numerous concerts designed for tourists in churches, we decided to join the locals and went to a piano recital at Rudolfinum – the major concert hall in Prague. Music is such a big thing. We also went to this local pub which has a mill over a river – with people chatting vigorously and smoking like chimneys. As an ignorant tourist, I finally have to come to the conclusion – this is Bohemia, and people want to be left alone to complain freely but do nothing about what they complain about. They want to be left to live not just like Bohemians, but as Bohemians. Who cares about material comfort or possessions, when you can have history, architecture and music and talk about them over Czech beer all day and all night with other like-minded Bohemians? Given the choices of eating a great meal and reading Kafka, while pseudo-intellectuals like myself would not hesitate to choose the great meal (after spending 2 days in Prague away from California I was starving), the real Czech intellectuals would absolutely choose reading and discussing Kafka.

After visiting Prague, I realized that I was not nearly as cerebral as I thought I was – compared to the martyrs and saints who despite torture stayed with their conviction and the writers and musicians who produced masterpieces despite living in mental or physical agony and material deprivation, I concede that I am mere human, with too many trivial and mundane human needs that my intellectual interests can never transcend fully.

*****

Vienna – this is a city of grandeur. A city where Maria Teresa, Franz Josef and Sisi seem to be still alive at these palaces, churches, cathedrals. The Hapsburgs ruled from Vienna their Holy Roman Empire, which was neither Holy nor Roman, as it turned out. The magnificent Hofburg Palace and Schonbrunn Palace definitely suggest Versaille and Fontainbleau. Even Belvedere – a palace of a mere prince – was grandiose and decadent. No wonder the common people eventually decided that “enough was enough”. It was fun to visit the Royal Treasury and to imagine those robes and crowns on ancient kings. I was amazed to see how all the silver and china have been nicely kept – there must have been millions of pieces of china and silver. I still consider the holder for the boiled egg about the most ridiculous and useless invention in the history of kitchenware.


We did succumb to the tourist temptation and went to two concerts at Stephensdom and Karlskirch, respectively. Stephensdom is a beautiful gothic cathedral, where we listened to a collection of pieces including Ava Maria. Karlskirch has this beautiful fresco on the ceiling, where we listened to Mozart’s Requiem. What’s interesting is that major royal events did not happen in those two famous churches. In fact, Franz Josef and Sisi were married in a rather small and unassuming church next to Hofburg palace. All the royal families’ bodies were kept in the crypt of one church, their hearts in another, and their internal organs in yet another! - How complicated and strange! The last Hapsburg just died in 2007 – he was the son of the last Emperor. The coffins of Franz Josef, Sisi and their only Son Rudolf were side by side. The film trilogy starring Romy Schneider from the 1950s have indeed immortalized Sisi – the empress that was well-known for her striking beauty, slender figure (she weighed herself every day, tried to eat little and perhaps was a pioneer in calorie-restricted diet), and ankle-length hair. Franz Josef loved and adored his “angel Sisi”, and was thrilled to have married her. But Sisi was ambivalent and perhaps did not return Franz Josef’s lifelong affection equally. A princess from Bavaria, she hated leaving her family at the age of 16 and conforming to Viennese court rules. In her later years, she rarely stayed in Vienna, travelled constantly and was restless and unhappy, and eventually was assassinated by an Italian anarchist in Geneva.


We visited quite a few museums, as well as the Secession building. Gustav Klimt’s frieze on Beethoven’s 9th Symphony perhaps is representative of the secessionist movement. There were so many different artistic movements in Vienna that I can barely remember their names – I did try. To sum up my impression of the art from that era (late 19th century to early 20th century) in Vienna, I have to say that I am not fond of it. It seems that it was a most unhappy and turbulent time. Too many people committed suicide – that is all I can remember! Today’s Vienna is clearly very much into hosting modern art exhibitions, and John Currin’s paintings, including the famous one “Thanksgiving Dinner” were part of this “Bad Paintings Good Art’ exhibition. If any art requires the spectator to think in order to appreciate, I feel that it is too pretentious. – For the artist to say that he only is trying to project what he sees, or how he feels without caring about the audience or the spectators is downright disingenuous. I always feel as if I were a character from Hans Christian Andersen’s story “The Emperor’s New Clothes” when I go to modern art exhibitions. I feel that I have to look and think harder in case I am missing something others can see in this “art”, when in fact I can see nothing inspiring or pleasing in it. Modern art or contemporary art often is a farce - I just don’t know when I will finally decide that I have given it enough benefit of doubt.

(not a farce)

Food was as bad in Vienna as it was in Prague – with the exception of apple strudel….we watched an apple strudel show at Schonbrunn Palace, and presumably one can e-mail or call the number if you have trouble making your apple strudel based on the recipe!

*****

Bratislava – this city is so sad and sorry, that I wonder, why did the Slovakians bother to break away from the Czech Republic? If it was for the sake of making a point, it’s too bad that after making this point they cannot just crawl back and say, “we had some fun breaking away, but we would like to be together again”.

There is absolutely no sign that this city aims to do anything. While every tour book seems to suggest that everything that’s sad about this city should be blamed on its temporary communist rule, I realize that it really cannot blame the temporary communist rule for its sad and sorry state. There is something intrinsic in the national identity that makes it NOT want to do much. It is that lack of energy and initiative that seems to have been there for centuries that has contributed to its current state. They are renovating the Brastislava castle, but it will not be finished until 2011! You can build a castle twice as big somewhere else in the world in that timeframe!!!

The telling sign happened the minute we got into the train station of Bratislava from Vienna. It was run-down and chaotic. Since Slovakia has its own crowns (believe it or not, each of the 4 cities requires a different currency, with British pounds in London, Czech crowns in Prague, Euros in Vienna and Slovakian crows in Bratislava!), we had to get some money. We went to the currency exchange window, and as we walked to it, it suddenly closed with a “back in 10 minutes” sign. In that case, we knocked on the window, as we had all our Euros in hand to change money already. A man angrily opened the window and pointed to that sign and closed it without a word.


We visited the historic town area, which I could tell resembles Prague or at least Kutna Hora to some extent – it’s got that central European charm. There is a town square, with old buildings and churches around it. The palace museum, which was once a king’s palace and now a museum, had practically no visitors except for us. The bathrooms at this palace museum were the best I have seen in the world – it’s as if no one had ever been there. Once I was finished with the bathroom, the attendant was waiting outside – I guess this is the way they do things: the bathrooms must be clean at all times for foreign visitors. In fact, it was the same thing for the airport. While flights within the EU are considered “domestic” and were all leaving from the floor where it’s extremely crowded and the bathrooms were dirty, flights out of the EU (eg. to London) were leaving from the “international” terminal. And sure enough, the bathrooms were spotlessly clean, with duty-free shopping and a bar that’s essentially empty and much more expensive than the “domestic floor”.

I am finishing writing up my impressions of the European trip from a hotel in Shanghai. Outside of my window is the skyline of Shanghai, which whispers New York. After I flew in yesterday, I had dinner with two friends who are working in China in the pharmaceutical industry. The food in China is always so good and so creative and so various (the range of tastes and flavors are just simply mind-boggling) that I sometimes think that China ought to be known first and foremost for its cuisine than for anything else that the western world is talking about. Unfortunately, the Chinese restaurants in the US are doing a big disservice to the Chinese cuisine.

My friends were dressed immaculate as usual, and were so vivacious that they talked most of the time. They talked about the expat life, what it’s like to work in China after being in the States for over a decade, what it’s like to be highly-paid professional women in China (they are often taken as secretaries of their male colleagues), etc. There were no discussions on Dvorak, Kafka, or the Russia-Georgia conflict… I realized that I was firmly back to the real world again. More of that delicious duck soup please.

(Photos in this post copyright 2008 by Michael Lin, all rights reserved)