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Secession
Yep, the first post of August.
At the end of June, on one of those early outrageously hot days, with the sun blazing down and the pavement steaming the heat back up, I met a distant relative at the train station. He is obsessed with the genealogy of one branch of my family and, like most genealogists, his obsession borders on the fanatic.
It was so hot I could barely think. He wanted to take me somewhere where we could sit and talk. We found the "Secession" Restaurant at the Brno main station. Inside there was no sun, but the semi-shade was offset by hot light
bulbs that seemed to melt tones of white and banana-cream-pie-yellow from
ornate but funky glass chandeliers. Maybe, he told me, you would like a Viennese coffee? (Yes, a hot drink was just what I needed.)
Recalling my Mom's visit in January, he said, "Never live in the North." Like many Czech men of a certain age, he preferred to keep his shirt open in certain summer situations, exposing a bit of gut and chest hair. Being at a restaurant table, he deemed it an appropriate situation, though it seemed a bit too public for me. I represented the uptight and kept my shirt resolutely buttoned though untucked. The North didn't seem so bad to me, given the situation.
"Why? What's wrong with the Norht?"
"It would be horrible to live in a cold climate all the time. Why did they come when it was so cold? The summer is best. You can really live in a nice warm place like this. And the women!" Groan. The coffees arrived in clear glasses and I watched the cream melt, slowly but helplessly, into the coffee. Later, there was a small reminder of the cream: a few faint white streaks winding along the sides of the cup like tracks at the edge of a tar pit. The remains of something consumed by the heat.
After a July of humid and still days of too-hotness, today was refreshingly cool and cloudy. I am no less puzzled about what makes so many people want to live in central Europe, but that doesn't make me forget the hot realities of summer here. I'm sure that there's more to look forward to.
Tags: Brno, summer, heat
At the end of June, on one of those early outrageously hot days, with the sun blazing down and the pavement steaming the heat back up, I met a distant relative at the train station. He is obsessed with the genealogy of one branch of my family and, like most genealogists, his obsession borders on the fanatic.
It was so hot I could barely think. He wanted to take me somewhere where we could sit and talk. We found the "Secession" Restaurant at the Brno main station. Inside there was no sun, but the semi-shade was offset by hot lightbulbs that seemed to melt tones of white and banana-cream-pie-yellow from
ornate but funky glass chandeliers. Maybe, he told me, you would like a Viennese coffee? (Yes, a hot drink was just what I needed.)
Recalling my Mom's visit in January, he said, "Never live in the North." Like many Czech men of a certain age, he preferred to keep his shirt open in certain summer situations, exposing a bit of gut and chest hair. Being at a restaurant table, he deemed it an appropriate situation, though it seemed a bit too public for me. I represented the uptight and kept my shirt resolutely buttoned though untucked. The North didn't seem so bad to me, given the situation.
"Why? What's wrong with the Norht?"
"It would be horrible to live in a cold climate all the time. Why did they come when it was so cold? The summer is best. You can really live in a nice warm place like this. And the women!" Groan. The coffees arrived in clear glasses and I watched the cream melt, slowly but helplessly, into the coffee. Later, there was a small reminder of the cream: a few faint white streaks winding along the sides of the cup like tracks at the edge of a tar pit. The remains of something consumed by the heat.
After a July of humid and still days of too-hotness, today was refreshingly cool and cloudy. I am no less puzzled about what makes so many people want to live in central Europe, but that doesn't make me forget the hot realities of summer here. I'm sure that there's more to look forward to.
Tags: Brno, summer, heat
Posted 01 August 2006 at 20:31.
A graduate student in music and anthropology writing a dissertation about music in Moravia, the eastern third of the Czech Republic. At some point, the Czech Republic's "second city" (that would be Brno) captured my attention, and I've since been blogging about events, arts, music, and other stuff—basically whatever interests me in and around the cityscape. I'm not living in Brno now, but I keep up with the cultural pulse from afar as best I can.
Comments:
I'm so touched that you linked to my blog! I have such a fond memory of that iced coffee in Times Square. While taking the last few sips of that very drink I lingered on the sidewalk just outside of the Swatch Store and took some photographs of The Naked Cowboy who was 'performing' on the traffic median nearby.
4:13 PM, August 03, 2006
Thanks for the story! I love knowing what's "behind the camera." :-)
5:18 PM, August 07, 2006
Oh my god, the Distant Relative strikes again. I didn't realize he was fond of displaying his gut (like, as you note, so many Czech males of a certain age and plumpness) or of the "women in hot weather" topic.
You are never going to escape him.
7:06 AM, August 11, 2006
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