Tale of Two Cities
Mary Katherine and Marc finally took a well-needed vacation (thanks to our parents support) at the end of November, visiting Prague and Bolzano in the Dolomites in northern Italy. Two of our friends’ decided to get married in Prague, MK had been before and Marc had heard of Prague’s Gothic beauty and attractions (i.e. beer), so it seemed a good idea to head for Europe. The trip couldn’t have been timed better, with the rising value of the dollar against the Euro and the pre-holiday celebrations. The Dolomites of Italy had been on their mind since their 2006 trip to Torino for the winter Olympics, and were a high priority as being one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Lots of cool environmental ideas came from the trip, as our green lenses are always on. There were a lot of things we learned from our European neighbors.
The Wedding
Our friends, Barbara and Shane, had decided to have their wedding in Prague after visiting early in their dating, and realizing what a magical place it was. Low and behold, after some good planning, communication and salesmanship, they were able to pull close to 70 friends and family to Prague. It was quite a crowd that made partying there all the more fun. We ran into each other on the streets, got ideas on places to go and shared stories after stories, etc. Drinking alone is not advised. The event was brilliant all around. Of course, MK and Marc started thinking about how one can run green events, like weddings, while critiquing the Prague event (See below). However, we avoided saying anything during any of the events, like “have you thought about mitigating your carbon footprint ….. ” as we thought it may be bad manners.
Barbara contacted the Prague Tourism office, which was extremely helpful in legal particulars surrounding the wedding, like English speaking ministers. But most of the leg-work was done by the couple, finding hotels, churches, caterers, musicians, etc. MK and Marc joked that the mayor of Prague was going to appear with the key to the city, given the huge economic punch the event provided. Granted the city is large, but 70 folks was a serious boost to the town center. The wedding likely cost less in Prague than in the US, even when including the airfares. Generally prices were slightly less, though downtown was expensive compared to rural regions of eastern Europe. Average Czech salary is $10K per year and the exchange rate was around 19 Crowns to the $1.
The wedding was held at St. Nicholas Church on St. Winceslas Square the center of Old Town. The square holds the famous cuckoo clock, and gilded and ornate buildings from many architectural periods line coble stoned streets and whined away from the center. It was a beautiful cathedral, and the English service was well choreographed in its simplicity. The reception was held at the jazz club, and the rehearsal dinner at the best micro-brewery, U Flecku, where we were served endless mugs of brilliant stout, traditional meat dishes and dumplings. Yes, meat, potatoes and bread are center to Czech food, but vegetarian meals were available. It seemed that much of the food was locally prepared or grown. After a typical meal, one felt the need to dawn armor and defend the parapet or head out to the potato fields! Sadly, Marc caught pneumonia before his trip and was limited in the full scope of his partying capacity.
Other features of Prague are the river, its beautiful bridges and the spectacular Prague castle, across the river from Old Town Square on a hill overlooking the city. Its nighttime lights reflected in the river and created a regal feel to the evenings. Prague also sports excellent micro-breweries, music scene and an alternative, arts culture astounding in its sophistication. There was a real sense of individuality, where clothing designs had a hip, hand made feel. Marc and MK found a couple a very cool, used clothing stores, some hip boutiques and local vegetarian and vegan restaurants, like Country Life and FX Café. These were great places to people watch. Our favorite “pivovars” were: U-Flecku, At the Little Bear and New Town Brewery, all of which had excellent food (sans the smoke). Our second favorite was Strahov Monastery at top Hradcany Hill across the river, overlooking the City. We ran into one of the monks in his PJ’s looking for the brewery, it was a hoot. The walk, to and from, will help work off the beer and you can duck into any one of the bars on the way back for a pee-break.
We had hit Europe during the famous town square craft festivals, where most large towns had vendors (they seemed exhausted) inhabiting kiosks, and selling lots of interesting hand made goods as well as local food. Birch bark ornaments, crystal, lace and the coiled bracelet cinnamon pastries were a must. Prague sported numerous glass and jewelry galleries (the area was a center for gold and silver smything in the middle ages and the reason it became so wealthy), as well as the second largest toy museum in the world, marionette theaters, a sex machine and torture museums (thank God not sharing the same building)! There was a lot to do for a wide variety of ages, and singing into the early morning echoed from the streets.
Walking and public transportation are wonderful, and we used the tram, metro and train system to get around, using roller luggage on cobbled streets, which created an annoying echo that let everyone know the tourists were coming. The city was ripe for pedicabbing, though taxis seemed embedded and horse carriages were available in the town square for about $100–what is their carbon footprint? We were surprised at how few bikes there were, but regulations, the cobbles and tram rails may have made biking somewhat difficult. Uniquely, the city requires helmets, lights and mudflaps. The hills above Mala Strana are a great place to exercise and catch a view. We used the metro and bus to return to the airport, which took about an hour from Old Town Center. We used the train to get to Munich and then transferred to a train to Bolzano, which took only 10 hours. The return trip was longer, requiring 4 trains and a trip through small towns of eastern Bavaria (Wald Bahn, “Wild Way”), a natural park and the Sudetenland in the snow covered mountains between the two countries.
Flying out of Prague we flew over Antwerp and saw a massive wind farm and an offshore installation. We also flew over Greenland and Hudson Bay and got our first view of icebergs, ice sheets and pack ice and the stark beauty of glaciated landscapes., wondering how well the planet was faring given record warming trends, loss of ice thickness as well as cover and reflectivity.
Though the Czech Republic was not as modern as other parts of Europe, its people and potential seemed great. Cigarette smoking was rampant and made Prague significantly less enjoyable, particularly to Marc’s compromised lungs. There was also a feeling of a Mafioso culture seemed to be developing and a slight seediness that tourist cities have. The influence of post Soviet era crime and corruption seemed to be waxing. One had this heavy feeling that the years of oppression and war was lingering, leaving one with the hope that the rest of the world would leave them alone, as the country has much to be proud of and should be left to develop at its own way and away from geopolitical manipulations.
The Dolomites
Taking the train to Italy from Prague we passed through into Germany and immediately noticed the number of solar PV and hot water panels and saw several large-scale, rotational PV fields. Lots of barns and businesses had commercial scale PV units. We changed trains in Munich and headed south over the pass into Austria, passing beautiful castles, alpine valleys and snow covered Alps, stopping in Innsbruck before heading south again over the Brenner pass at about 4000ft. Our Bolzano hotel had a very large solar hot water system and we passed a pumping hydro-electric plant several Kms north of town.
Watching the news in Prague we new the southern alps had received a major dumping of snow. Looking out the train windows we saw mounds of snow lining the tracks and hills. We had made a good choice, rather than going to eastern Slovakia or southern Poland mountains, which we had considered. We found that the Sudtirol area had received a two decade record of snow close to 30 cm early in the season, making the sunny days a warm wintry delight. The train line paralleled a major highway that wound its way through the mountains, along with the secondary roads and tiered villages, we were amazed at the level of safety engineered into these transportation systems. How much work over the years had been placed on building this infrastructure?!
The Dolomites are a unique geologic feature, essentially an ancient coral reef that uplifted to nearly 3000 meters, eroded, was glacially carved and created one of the world’s most dramatic landscapes. Bolzano sits at around 200 meters in the southwest corner of the Dolomites northwest of Venice and is a largest city in the Sudtirol region. It has excellent train and bus service and a beautiful, old town square within walking distance of the train and bus stations. Val de Siusi and Val Gardena were the destinations and took about an hour by bus to get to. Siusi is the largest, high alpine valley in the Alps and is ideal for its infrastructure for winter and summer sports and spectacular views of the Dolomites.
Our hotel room had a great view of the mountains. Castles lined the valley and the entrances of each side valley. This area was primarily German but was given to the Italians after WWI. Most folks speak German, but Italian was also spoken as well as Laden, an ancient language derived from Roman Latin and protected by law in the area. Each village had three names. The region’s beauty and ancient history conjure images of Tolkien, and indeed the ancient Laden fairy tales of people living under the mountains have influenced many authors. See these websites for more information:
http://calitreview.com/604
http://www.ilregnodeifanes.it/inglese/essay4.htm
MK and Marc’s favorite part of the trip, besides the food, beverages and spectacular views, was the Utzi Museum in Bolzano. Utzi was murdered back in around the 3rd millennium BC, immediately covered by drying snow and his body discovered in a melting glacier (can you believe that?) at the top of a mountain about 50 kilometers northwest of the Dolomites. His artifacts of survival gear make REI aficionados look pathetic, as he had to learn to hand craft and repair his gear from all natural materials. Extensive scientific investigation has been able to determine a great deal about this man’s life and livelihood, his origins and environment. His life was not easy and death sad, but a great gift to us all. One of the exhibits on Paleolithic life showed a rock that was the base structure for a community that lived in the Val Siusi. We cross country skied right by it! In one view from the mountain gazing down the valley 600 ft. we could see 5,000 years of human history, and 100’s of millions of geologic history.
Green Tours and Vacations
Given MK and Marc’s global touring and event planning experience, it would made sense to offer advise/services on how to create “completely green European tours,” like Barbara and Shane’s Wedding. For the most part, Europe and its hotel and tourism infrastructure are already hands down one of the best places to conduct green events, particularly if folks want to make the commitment to going overseas. The biggest issue is our carbon footprint, specifically traveling there on planes. This of course can be mitigated through a dozen organizations, from methane capture to tree planting. But once there, travel by public transportation is a breeze even for large parties. With many of the European countries approaching 20% of their energy from renewable sources, this makes green travel and living by far easier than any place except maybe Japan. Biodiesel is available, but to find sustainable bus or car transport is more challenging, though the compact size and diesel engines tend to get higher mpg, high biodiesel blend stations are limited.
All the hotels we visited had signs asking folks to turn off the lights, reduce water consumption and towel washing in several languages, though few had low flow shower heads, LED or compact florescent lights. This may because the electricity is 220 and manufacturers have not focused on this market yet. Our Bolzano Hotel had a massive hotwater solar panel right outside our window, and showers were definitely warmer in the evening than in the morning. Generally, recycling was found everywhere and waste was minimized in many ways, including food. Localism is already a strong movement in Europe so finding local vendors and particularly caterers who use local foods is not a problem. Veganism and vegetarianism is on the rise and many gourmet options exist.
Prague and nearly any medium size town in Italy make ideal places to hold weddings, retreats or events that have a feeling class, uniqueness and a connection to history. The 12th Century chapel in Tuscany next to where we stayed on our first trip to Italy markets itself on the internet to couples from around the world, so global sophistication is not lacking. There is so much to do and for the most part everything can be done within short distances, though “spoke” trips to larger attractions can be added to itineraries.
Opportunities abound to link with local green organizations and to participate in “give back to the community” projects, essential to make any tour more special and should be apart of any sustainable event. Accommodations exist for nearly any size party and generally costs can be kept to a minimum. Or one can go way upscale, depending on your budget. Greening high end facilities may be a task, but some may be on Eastern Europe and rural western Europe offer incredible deals with some surprisingly exceptional infrastructure.
Green tours to Europe can be a fun way to experience and to give.