Prague Journal

Thursday, June 16, 2005.

I went to VŠE to meet with Ondrej, a doctoral student/instructor who is helping me write a case about a telecommunications company in Brno. Since the company is a large public company, there has been a lot written about it, although most of it is in Czech. Ondra has translated several interviews by the woman CEO, and I have put together part of a first draft. My hope is to send a preliminary draft to her to spark her interest in talking with us.
Today is sunny and quite warm, so walking across the Charles Bridge today was quite different than yesterday. Today, as expected, there are hoards of people. It’s best to walk across the bridge in the early morning or late at night to avoid the crowds, but I still enjoy walking across the bridge during the day when the weather is so nice and various musical groups serenade the tourists.
I stopped at a fruit stand on the way home, and Rick and I grabbed a light snack before heading out for this evening’s concert. The Wallenstein Garden was a different place today than yesterday. The weather was clear, the wooden benches were dry and the concert was well attended. The first group was Mitzvah, a Russian piano-violin-clarinet-bass ensemble which was truly wonderful. The second was the Vienna Klezmer Band, which played some familiar Yiddish tunes and used more folk instruments.
We had intended to go to Cream and Dream for ice cream again, but opted to go directly home instead and watch part of the “Good Soldier Švejk” DVD that Marty and Harriet had lent us. Based on the beloved and often-filmed novel, this Czech satire is set in World War I and follows the bumbling soldier Švejk (played masterfully by Rudolf Hrusinsky) as his attempts to follow orders and impress his superiors invariably lead to catastrophe. The film is true to Jaroslav Hašek’s book, with the set and acting top drawer and properly droll.

posted by JWinn @ 10:33 PM