Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Part Two: Prague
After Italy (see previous entry) My parents flew to Prague for 5 days. My Mother said that Prague was a completely different world from Italy. It was darker, more moody and the buildings pointy & Jagged. It looks like a city out of an old gothic fairytale. Italy was bright and cheerful with cherubs. Prague had gargoyles.

Here are more photographs taken by my father.

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That's the hotel my parents stayed in.


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Prague had a lot of statues sitting on the buildings and faces carved in the architecture. There was artwork everywhere.

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A soldier standing guard in front of a castle. My father said he was stiff as a rod and stared straight ahead. It wouldn't respond to questions or even flinch.


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My Father's dream car. A rare vehicle to see outside of a showroom. (of course he had to take a picture) I'm posting it for my guy friends to see.


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This photo made me miss Germany so much, it reminded me of the town we lived in. Prague has a very German feel to it in certain areas.


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My father had a safe flight back to Iraq. He called my mother to let her know that he was okay. My Mother misses him so much right now and it was hard for them to separate again after this vacation together.

My father will be leaving Iraq and returning to the states for good (hopefully) in October.


******

One last thing. I have a question and I was hoping someone that reads this could help me out

This is my favorite pillow

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It's soft and conforms to the shape of your head. It feels like a big beanie bag and the outside is made of a satin-like material. I can't sleep without it.

The problem is... I have no idea what that symbol means. I assume it's Asian, but I can't find the translation on the internet. I always just figured it means something generic like "good luck" or "fortune". But I just realized it could mean something twisted like "War" or "Hate"

So the question is: Does anyone know the meaning behind the symbol on my pillow??

I take it with me on all my plane flights and had it for a long time... so I'm just really curious.
 
posted by Clarity25 at 2:46 PM |


11 Comments:


At August 22, 2006, Blogger Brandy 

Dont know what the symbol is but wouldn't it be funny if it was just an L?

I have two friends that lived in Prague, both were artists and absolutely loved it there. The one sent me all sorts of funny things that were happening in the art world there, like a marionette version of Yellow Submarine.
And also vodka is dirt cheap.

At August 22, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous 

I want to go to Prague so badly. I booked tickets when I was in London but had to cancel for the sake of my friend. (She had some sort of visa trouble.) But some day I will get there. Those are beautiful pics.

At August 22, 2006, Blogger Stacia 

Prague is very Eastern European looking. My Russian friend said it was her favorite place in all of Europe. I haven't gotten there yet (and I should because it's my heritage) but I will someday. Makes me miss Moscow.

At August 22, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous 

I have no idea what that symbol means, but maybe Brandy is right. Maybe it's just an upside down "L" hahaha...

But it DOES look like some kind of chinese symbol or something. Good luck with that.

Beautiful photographs! Prague looks so cool. I like how you had Italy in color and Prague in black and white. That is a nice contrast.

At August 23, 2006, Blogger Holden 

Looks like chinese, but it's not..maybe it's japanese.

At August 23, 2006, Blogger Sarcomical 

can't help with the pillow, but i must say prague looks fantastic.

don't some things just look more beautiful in black and white?

At August 23, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous 

Hey Clarity:
On first glance, the symbol on yr pillow looks like traditional (old)Chinese, or Kanji (Japanese).
Showed it to a few people who spoke Chinese/mandarin, and they agreed...
but in Katakana (Japanese) the symbol is a vowel!
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana for reference...maybe this helps!

At August 23, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous 

I asked a friend that knows Chinese and she just shook her head at that pillow. I think it will remain an unsolved mystery.

Great photographs! I want to go to Prague!

At August 24, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous 

Hi Clarity and Eric. Spectacular new pics with that new camera! Nice and very thoughtful gift. The letter on your pillow may be the Hebrew letter Dalet. That was the first thing that struck me when I saw it. I have seen jewelry with that type of lettering before and thought it beautiful. A nice link is:

http://www.inner.org/hebleter/dalet.htm

That shows the hebrew letter and its meaning which I thought was quite nice. It means door aparently and has some very nice symbology.

At August 24, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous 

Hi again Clarity and Eric. That was me who left the Dalet comment. I forgot to place my name in the name box. Every once in a blue moon I actually do mean to say hello and leave my name. With my best regards to the two of you, Olaf.

At August 25, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous 

Wow...I think I would like to go to Pargue...it looks like a place I would feel comfortable it! You dad takes great pics btw!



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