Thursday 28th May, 2009

We left Montreal one week ago today, but it feels like yesterday. At the same time, we have been here long enough that it does feel like home, knowing our neighborhood haunts and feeling very comfortable with the lay of the land.

We knew that there was to be a Roma (gypsy) Parade in the Old Town Square at noon, and had originally planned on ensuring to be at the Square for it. Soon after leaving the apartment, our original plans for the day was altered. One should always be flexible. We came across a small group of young Roma dancers, getting ready for the event. Hera started to shoot, as did others around us. Slowly more and more Roma groups appeared, and we kepted watching them dance to the music, as others prepared for the parade.

Before we knew it, the parade commenced, and we followed them along their route as they danced and made their way along the picturesque streets winding their way to the Old Town Square. Arriving at the Square, the lenth of the parade formed a semi-circle around the square, and a much larger group of tourists joined in the fun.

I am still not sure why they are called "Roma," although I do know that our common name "gypsy" is derogatory, and inaccurate, derived from the mistaken medieval belief that the Roma came from Egypt. The in fact come from several low caste North Indians, who made their way towards Europe. Nomadic skilled horsemen and artisans, they were both sought after and suspected by Medieval Europe. With the coming of communism, their way of life forever altered, as they were more or less forced to settle, completely disrupting their traditional way of life. Not unlike how our own Amerindian culture was altered by our mistaken belief that we should "civilize them" to "our" way of life.

Numbering 12 million, the Roma nation is larger than the Czeck republic, Hungarians or the Duch. In many ways, the Roma today now suffer the same problems that our Amerindians suffer from today. Poor employment opportunities as well as addictions, and like our Ameridians, local leaders are trying to revive the great spirit of the Roma nation, and this parade is in effect a celebration of the vibrancy of the Roma culture.

With the parade over, we walked up a side street and came across the Estates Theatre, where Mozart personally directed many of his works here, and where his Don Giovanni premiered. Mozart felt much more appreciated here than he did in his native Austria.



We picked up some sausages, as a light drizzle fell briefly, and meandered and then made our way up a street full of Art Nouveau buildings, and came across the Jerusalem Synagogue build in a Art Nouveau-Moorish style, as well as the Muncha Museum that we plan on visiting another day.



We did make it to at least one of our objectives today. We walked over to the train station to try and buy a train schedule. We can access the train schedule on-line, but our WiFi internet connection is so shoddy, and seems to fail at the most inopportune time, that having a train schedule in hand would be much more secure. However, even though I had it written in Czeck, the man at the information kiosk barely understood us, and directed us towards the ticket booths. But at several ticket booths, they directed us back towards the Information booth.

Frustrated, we left, and hope to have better luck when we try and actually buy a ticket to some of the nearby sights we plan on visiting. Fortunately, rain is predicted for the next few days, so we plan on staying in town for now, but sooner or later we will have to take the plunge and see what happens... and how we will manage to return...?

Closer to home, we walked into a shopping complex that has a statue called "Wencelas riding an upside down horse" by David Cerny, and spied a lovely cafe that we will one day have to try. While the Czecks are known for their beer, and we do enjoy their beer, they do also have an important wine region in Moravia, so we decided to buy two different bottles and give them a try.

But a nice cold beer sounded much more refreshing once we were back home, only to have the clouds open up, and the rain fall. Just in time.... Warm and dry, with a cold beer, as it pours outside.

As for supper, Hera braised some beef, then stewed it with some red wine we bought a few days ago, along with onions, carrots, green peppers, mushrooms, crushed tomatoes, garlic and some of our now famous paprika. Delicious!

Cheers,

Hera & Anthony