PRAGUE

Still on the trail of Josef Sudek

Many of Josef Sudek's beautiful photographs were made in St.Vitus Cathedral. So of course I needed to make a pilgrimage there. St.Vitus Cathedral is part of the Prague Castle complex. The foundation for St.Vitus was laid in 1344. It was finally completed in 1929. It is an incredible building. 

I set out for the castle at about 10AM. It took me a few hours to get there, not because it is far away from the hotel, but because I made quite a few stops on the way, for coffee and czech bread, to gaze lustfully at crystal chandeliers, and just to drink in the beautiful day. 

When I arrived at the outside of Prague Castle, there was a huge line up to get into the 'first courtyard.' I started chatting with an older lady from Boston. Neither of us was actually sure if we were in the line to buy tickets. When we got to the front of the line (which actually moved quite quickly), it turned out we were going through security. We passed security, and then walked into the 'second courtyard.' There was ANOTHER enormous line to buy tickets. It turns out you can wander around the palace grounds for free, but if you want to go into any of the buildings you need tickets. My new friend said that she was finished. The walk up the hill to the palace had given her enough of an idea. She turned around and left. 

I got into line and waited. If Josef Sudek could carry all of his camera equipment up that hill with one arm, then I could stand in a line for 20 minutes. After buying my tickets, I got into ANOTHER line to go into the cathedral. I am so glad I did. St.Vitus cathedral is stunning. There are different styles of stained glass and sculptures throughout the cathedral, representing the centuries of decoration. 

PRAGUE!!

Prague

For a very very long time I have wanted to visit Prague. It is full of wonderful art and wonderful architecture. It is also the city of one of my absolute favourite artists, Josef Sudek. I first saw his work in my first year at Ryerson University. I fell in love with his work, and I just knew that the man who made such gentle, quiet photographs must be a gentle, lovely human being. And I was right. He was.

I travel much how I live my life; with lots of enthusiasm, but often not enough information (because of the bursts of enthusiasm), with lots of detours, both inadvertent, and because of random curiosity. I mention this because that is how the search for traces of Josef Sudek went today. 

I had read in one of my guide books that there is a Josef Sudek museum in Prague, housed in the building where he spent the last 20 years of his life. I set out this morning to find said museum. I went in the right direction, then wandered up a hill and some steep steps. I stopped and asked a waiter in a coffee shop. He didn't know who Josef Sudek was (gasp!!!! I told him he needed to look him up!), but he knew where the street I was looking for was. I found the street and started climbing yet another hill. (Did I mention that it was very cold and rainy). I finally stopped in the doorway of the Swedish embassy and tried to figure out the maps in the guide book, and the sodden paper map from my hotel. I looked up, and saw that I was indeed on the correct street. I had gone uphill when I should have gone downhill. 

When I finally found the right address, I was so happy! I burst into the little museum, and started gushing about how much I love Josef Sudek. The receptionist informed me that none of his work was on display. But this was his house? Yes, but none of his belongings were on display. The receptionist kindly suggested that I go to his atelier. He repeated the directions a few times until it was clear that I knew I had to go right instead of left when I reached the tram tracks. 

I excitedly followed the tram tracks until I saw it!! A sign on an apartment building that had the name Josef Sudek. It wasn't open until 12:00, so I had to kill some time before I could enter. When I did, it was magical. Josef Sudek lived and worked in the little studio for years. After he took up residence elsewhere, he continued to work out of the atelier. Some of his most beautiful photographs were taken from inside the atelier, and in the little garden. 

The original atelier burned down years ago, but it was restored, and miraculously, some of his furniture survived. When I entered the little museum, I spotted a room behind the reception. I could see an old wooden desk. I asked the bemused young man if that was Sudek's desk. He said yes, and allowed me to go in, even though it is actually now an office for the museum. I almost cried as I lovingly rubbed my hands over the desk. And then the receptionist showed me Sudek's tripod leaning against a wall. For anyone who has a hero, an idol, you can imagine how emotional I was, to actually touch the desk where Sudek piled his prints and negatives and papers. 

This is actually one of Sudek's bottles, sitting on his windowsill.

Some views from the Charles Bridge:

Random Favourites

View from the Museum Kampa

View from the Museum Kampa

St.Francis Church

Walkway in the Little Quarter

Present Day

Present Day

A very smart friend (Janeen) suggested that I leap forward in my blog to the present. It is her opinion that I am in danger of getting stuck trying to catch up. Considering that my last blog post was in September, she may be right.

At the present moment, I am sitting in the Turkish Airlines business class lounge at Ataturk airport in Istanbul. I am on my way back to Canada. Yes, business class, yes, Istanbul. I have not won the lottery, nor have my financial circumstances changed radically. Over the last few years, I have been seduced by business class, first by an upgrade, then by a promotion. This time I actually handed over the credit card and closed my eyes.

Besides flying business class (if I ever get on the plane, it has been delayed by 2/12 hours), I am doing something else different this time. I'm an official flight volunteer. For the next 15 or so hours, I am the owner of two beautiful golden retrievers. When I arrive in Canada, I will hand them over to the Canadian Golden Retriever Adoption Service. As I have already fallen in love with them, that is going to be tough.  It's a good thing I'm going to say with my sister and her (my) three cats, so I won't be tempted to abscond with them.

As always, the end of the school year, and the beginning of summer vacation is an emotional mash-up. There are so many different types of goodbyes - people I will probably never see again, people I will see in a few months. I am relieved not to be in the classroom for a few months, but sad about not seeing some very special children ever again. I am so sad and worried about leaving my cats for months, but excited to be spending an extended time with my sisters.

So - Istanbul! Those of you who have followed my blog in the past know that I visited Istanbul in 2014, and fell in love with it. I had the opportunity to come here to teach and jumped at it. I am happy to report that after 10 months, I am still madly in love with this city. Turkish people are kind and generous, and Istanbul is like an incredible, historic, gorgeous onion. Every layer you peel back, you are further astonished.

Okay, I'm supposed to go to my gate now. Yay! Next stop Toronto.

Ziwah White Rhino Sanctuary, Uganda

Rhinos!

During Idi Amin's reign of terror, and in the decades of bloody civil war afterwards, the wildlife of Uganda was decimated. In 1983 the last wild rhino in Uganda died. In 1997 the Rhino Fund Uganda was formed, and out of this was created Ziwah Rhino Sanctuary. 7,000 hectares of privately owned land was leased to the Rhino Fund for 30 years. In 2005/2006, 6 rhinos from zoos in different parts of the world were introduced. Since then, the number of white rhinos in the sanctuary has increased to 19. 

Apparently Donna the Rhino was a bit of a wild woman. The rangers didn't even she had conceived until well into her pregnancy, and they don't know which rhino was the father.

When we arrived at Ziwah Rhino Sanctuary, we set up camp within a fenced-off area. The fence was really to protect us from wandering rhinos. Then we set off on our trek. We were split into two groups, each led by an experienced ranger. 

We walked for quite a long time in the blazing sun (thank God I was wearing my Tilley hat!), until we spotted them - a mother and son grazing quietly. 

I was a little perturbed with the guide because I felt like he was rushing us along. Until  I realized he was rushing us towards an entire group of rhinos. 

But he still kept moving us along. I finally realized that he was trying to position us in FRONT of the enormous vegetarian eating machines. But we had to keep backing up, because they walking towards us.