|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:29:38 GMT
Bohemian Highlights (via Trafalgar Tours) – June 2010NOTE: This summary was originally posted in 2010 on Trafalgar's Forum (now closed). Prices and details shown herein may have changed since.In writing this summary, I will endeavour to cover sufficient detail to give readers a reasonable insight into this tour. In doing so, I would like to acknowledge some excellent tour tales written previously, especially that by Chech – recommended reading for anyone considering this trip. It may also be relevant to anyone considering Trafalgar tours such as Highlights of Eastern Europe, or Highlights of New Europe (Costsaver) as many aspects of the itinerary are similar. Apologies if this is too long – the detail is intended to assist those who wish to take this tour. This is a tour in which you will cover quite a bit of territory as you visit six countries (Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic and returning to Germany). To do this in 14 days, a steady pace is necessary and it’s all via coach. Each morning, you receive a wake-up call at around 6:30am and breakfast is at 7:00am before departing on the bus at around 7:30am. Every second morning you’ll be checking out of your hotel so luggage has to be placed outside your door at 7:00am. The term ‘Bohemia’ comes from the French, ‘bohémien’ or gypsy, many of whom were travellers or residents from central Europe. Strictly speaking, Bohemia mainly comprises today’s Czech Republic, but the surrounding countries will display many similarities and several contrasts. You’ll cross the flat plains of Bohemia, weave through the Carpathian mountain range and cross the great Transdanubian Basin. You’ll see beautiful old buildings, beautiful new buildings made to look old, and stark, grey buildings from the Soviet era. You’ll encounter both old and recent history. You’ll embrace the warmth of the people of Eastern Europe and be confronted by the stark, grim atrocities of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. The sky may be blue in one city, then eerily grey and misty in a mountain valley. Coach TravelYou spend quite some time aboard the coach as you travel between cities in Eastern Europe. Some of this travel is rather slow, particularly in Poland and Slovakia where the bus joins lines of cars and trucks on single lane roads with few opportunities to overtake. Despite this, the coach is comfortable and the Tour Director (TD) is regularly on the microphone, providing information about each country and city being visited. The time does pass nicely and you get time to even have a nap on some of the longer journeys. The longest day of travel is Day 3 when you travel from Berlin to Warsaw, and it’s really not too bad. Accommodation & FoodHotels were of high quality, being Hiltons or near equivalent on much of the tour. Apart from the final night, you stay two nights in each city. The hotel rooms are large, many containing two queen-sized (or even king-sized) beds, some with both. Television services are mainly in the local language but you usually can get a few English language channels, mainly cable news and finance. Be wary of the mini-bars as a couple of hotels use a system that automatically charges your room for anything removed from the refrigerator. Each hotel had a room safe. There are seven included dinners but these can be added to with a few optionals. All breakfasts are provided, comprising buffet, western food (eggs, cereal, cold meats, bread/toast, fruit, yoghurt, juice and tea/coffee). You will need to purchase lunches, but these are generally inexpensive and usually in a city area or at a lunch stop en-route between cities. Drinks (i.e. wine, beer) are provided at no extra cost with the included meals. There are opportunities to eat local food and your TD will explain what is worth trying. We enjoyed all the new food experiences we tried during this tour. For those less adventurous, you can get McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and pizzas. City ToursThe tour includes several city tours, plus some extras via optionals. These are all good, but be prepared for the narrow roads and high buildings in most cities and the corresponding difficulty in taking photographs from the opposite side of the bus you’re sitting on. You’ll also have difficulty in remembering the names of the many buildings and monuments unless you write a journal as I did each evening so I could later match them to the photos. Most members of our group just took in what they could, with the occasional snapshot where possible. In many instances, you will get opportunities to photograph sites during free time, but you may not necessarily be near some of those you passed on the city tour. Currency & ElectricityYou may be in six countries, but you’ll only need four currencies as follows: Germany – Euro (€) Poland – Zloty (Pln) Slovakia – Euro (€) Hungary – Forint (HuF) Austria – Euro (€) Czech Rep. – Krone (CzK) However, there’s no need to bring anything but Euro on this tour because you are unlikely to be spending large amounts of Zloty, Forint or Krone and there are currency exchange offices readily available to exchange from Euro (and your TD will tell you where to exchange and how much you’re likely to need). All these countries use the European plug and 220-230 volts AC. Clothing & WeatherDon’t be misled by the name ‘summer’. Poland, Austria and Czech Republic can be quite cool, even in the early summer months. Expect it to be a little warmer in Hungary. Of course, it will be warmest in July-August, but bring a jacket etc if you’re travelling in the April-June or Sept-Oct periods. Europe also tends to get a fair amount of rain and although we only had one day of steady downfalls, some tours report it happening nearly every day. Bring an umbrella and/or waterproof jacket with hood. Toilet stops
The long coach travel is broken up with suitable stops for toilets, or just getting off the bus to stretch. Many of these are at fuel stations or McDonalds restaurants. Be aware that almost everywhere in Eastern Europe, you will need to pay to use the toilets. I’ll guide you on the cost later and the odd tip on how to ‘spend a penny’ without spending a penny. And I’ll also guide you on which door to use in Poland where it’s not obvious which is the men’s and women’s. Tour Group MembersThe number of people will vary from group to group, as will the ages. Ours was a large group of 47 (Americans, Australians & Canadians) and the bus only seated 48. The average age of the group was probably around the mid 60’s, with the youngest in their 20s and oldest in their 80s. Everybody got on well. InternetAccess to internet services is available throughout the cities on this tour, usually at a cost. However, if you bring your own laptop computer with WiFi, access is not only more convenient, but also free if you emulate the ways (some sneaky) I sought out internet signals. I paid nothing and got about 12 day’s internet access. Spending and TippingYour largest expenditure will most likely be tour optionals, followed by some dinners, lunches and souvenirs etc. I will provide a guide as to what things cost on this tour. Tipping is similar to anywhere else in the world and 10% is a good guide for restaurant meals. Your largest tip will be for your TD (€4 per person per day) and then the bus driver (€2 per person per day). European laws prohibit drivers from working 14 days straight, so you’ll have to apportion the tip to different drivers. LanguageYou do not need to be familiar with any other language to enjoy this tour. I always try to learn at least six words for each country (yes, no, please, thank-you, hello, goodbye) and it gets me by. However, you will be ok without any of this as English is spoken in many places, especially the large cities. Where it isn’t, you can improvise with gestures and you’ll eventually manage. Just be patient and smile a lot. OptionalsThere are a number of optionals available with this tour and you are faced with the perennial problem of deciding which are affordable and worth doing. The optionals and their prices (in Euros, per person) were: Berlin - Night tour & dinner €52 Berlin - Reichstag tour, Hitler’s bunker & Berlin Wall €24 Warsaw – Chopin piano recital €42 Warsaw – Wilanow Palace €31 <note: cancelled due to floods> Krakow – Dinner and Polka music/dance €51 Krakow – Wieliczka salt mine tour €46 Budapest – St Stephen’s Basilica, Vajdahunyad Castle & Gundels €41 Budapest - Danube dinner cruise €54 Budapest – Parliament, St Andrews & lunch €65 Vienna – Schönbrunn Palace and Habsburg crypts €40 Vienna – Mozart/Strauss concert €46 Vienna – Dinner in a restaurant €57 Prague – Night walking tour & drinks €33 Prague – River cruise & lunch €45 The total for all these 14 optionals is €627 per person. Few people do all of these due to the cost – convert €1,254 per couple into your local currency and you’ll see why. We did eight of them and another was cancelled. Based on our own experiences and comments I sought on the remaining five, I will provide what I hope will be useful opinions for anyone who wishes to take these optional tours. Preliminary DayOur path to Berlin was a long trek in itself, flying out of Australia on a direct flight to Seoul, South Korea, staying overnight (for free) at the Hyatt Regency, and then resuming our flight to Frankfurt next day. We did a walking tour of Frankfurt on the Saturday morning before boarding a train at the Hauptbahnhof (main station) and heading toward Berlin. Frankfurt, Germany Frankfurt is more a commercial centre than a tourist destination, but it’s a nice city to walk around. The tour finishes here, so I’ll leave a description until later. As we neared Berlin, the blue sky gave way to a grey, overcast one but the threatening rain didn’t materialise. Arriving at Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 7pm, we had some difficulty with the unfamiliar Berlin rail system, which seemed to lack the simplicity of the Paris Metro. Swapping platforms at Friedrichstrar added to the problem as they built a number of shops between us and the platform we needed. It’s obviously easy for those who know the station, or anyone fluent in German, but we managed to find our way and eventually emerged from Stadtmitte station. The one-way train trip cost €2.10 each. Unfortunately, there was no Hilton Hotel to be seen and my map did not show its street: Mohenstraße (Mohenstrasse). Get used to the German letter eszett (ß) – it’s used in place of ‘ss’ and it’s most prominent on street signs. After several passers-by couldn’t determine where the street or the Hilton were, eventually one pointed us in the right direction and we reached the hotel. What an area this is! The Gendarmarkt district is trendy and very expensive. Opposite the Berlin Hilton is an area containing three impressive buildings: the identical French and German cathedrals (“Doms”), with the concert hall between them – all of which we would explore the next day. "Dom" area; Berlin As you enter the hotel through a revolving door containing plants, you encounter a magnificent ‘atrium’. Check-in was efficient and the staff spoke English. Our room was enormous with an extra huge bed, something we were to see many more times. This additional night here was expensive, but we could see why. At 8pm we walked out in search for a meal and chose a nearby Italian restaurant. Two pizzas (one would have been plenty), a bottle of water and a tip cost €28. Returning to the Hilton, we went to bed, sleeping soundly until 5:30am when the lingering effects of jetlag interrupted our slumber.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:30:04 GMT
Day 1 – Berlin, Sunday Weather: cloudy 17ºC After rising, we headed to the Frϋhstuck zimmer (breakfast room) on the first floor at 7am. The food is of a great range and quality. An ‘egg chef’ is placed in an alcove with her back to a bay window with the Deutsch Dom (cathedral) in the background and I couldn’t help thinking what a fantastic workplace this was on views alone. The big challenge on this tour is avoiding overindulging on the excellent food. TIP: Be aware that there’s a sign in the hotel’s reception area that alerts people that the Trafalgar Tour ‘meet and greet’ meeting will occur at 4:30pm. As tour members aren’t told about this beforehand, it’s important to check it out as some people may be out sightseeing and might miss it. After breakfast, we got an early start on our self-walking tour of Berlin. We knew we would pass a number of sights we would see on our tour but needed the walk. We headed west along Leipzigerstraße, past the Bundesrat (parliamentary upper house) and into Potsdamer Platz - a massive retail hub in an area flattened during WW2. Past the Sony Center, we walked along the southern edge of the Tiergarten, along Tiergarten Straße, eventually entering the Tiergarten. This is Berlin’s pretty ‘central park’, full of trees, grassed areas, paths and ponds. Through the other side, we walked along Spreeweg (along the Spree River) to Schloss Bellevue, the magnificent white mansion occupied by the German president. Then great views across to the federal Chancellery and the Reichstag (parliament) with its new glass/mirror dome that looks a little odd on such an old building. Reichstag Building; Berlin Next, a short walk to Brandenburger Tor (the Brandenburg Gate), probably the most famous German icon. I took a few photos, standing where Napoleon, John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton did in past eras. The gate was built in 1791 by King Frederick William II of Prussia as an emblem of peace. Atop the structure is the Quadriga of Victory – a statue of a chariot drawn by four horses. It looked in great shape, considering Napoleon removed it and took it back to Paris in 1806. The French returned it 8 years later and it has since had the occasional restoration. Brandenburg Gate The route back to the hotel took us down Unter den Linden (“under the linden”), a pretty avenue of linden trees originally connecting the city gate with the palace. A turn into Friedrichstraße and we arrived back at the Hilton. After several kilometres of walking, we were ready for lunch and chose Starbucks on the corner of Kronerstraße Friedrichstraße because it had free WiFi. Two salami bagels cost €5.90 and two mugs of Latte were €5.80. Using Skype, we used the netbook computer to show our kids what the streets in Berlin looked like. Upon leaving, we stopped at a chocolate shop adjacent to the Hilton, looked at the chocolate sculptures in the window and purchased some of their products for later consumption. After another walk down to Checkpoint Charlie, we looked at the site of the famous “Checkpoint C” for crossing between East and West Berlin. Now a bustling tourist and souvenir hub, we safeguarded our pockets and looked at the long row of billboards chronicling the history of the Berlin Wall. Tourists were getting photos of themselves between two actors in Soviet and American GI military uniforms, and buying souvenir plastic handcuffs and Russian caps. You can also buy little pieces of the ‘Berlin Wall’ if you’re prepared to ignore that they’re really just fragments of concrete from some construction site. We returned to the Hilton and assembled in the lounge area for our meeting with the tour group. Our Tour Director (TD) is Branko, a Croatian, who took the group around to a quiet bar area where we were seated and served a complimentary wine, beer or juice. Branko introduced himself and provided a basic summary of the tour. Each person then introduced themself. This was a large group of 47, comprising 20 from USA, 18 Australians and 9 Canadians. We were asked to decide whether we wished to purchase the first two optionals – next morning’s “Berlin’s Secret Past” bus tour, and the following night’s Welcome Dinner. We chose the bus tour but not the dinner as the latter seemed quite expensive and we would end up meeting everyone over the next two weeks anyway. Payment would be settled a later day. We introduced ourselves to a few couples before the group parted. For dinner, we walked around to a pub called Gaffel Haus for a fairly plain, but cheap meal (Weiner Schnitzel €14.50 each, glass of wine €5.80), then off to bed. Tomorrow would be the first of 12 consecutive days of 6:30am wake-up calls.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:30:14 GMT
Day 2 – Berlin, Monday Weather: cloudy 18ºC, afternoon storm So the pattern begins: wake-up call 6:30am, showered, dressed and into the breakfast room by 7:00am, and onto the bus at 7:30am. And keep an eye on the Trafalgar noticeboard at each hotel. I found it useful to take a photo of the notice as you have your camera with you most of the time and it avoids writing things down. The TD will always advise you of the times, but being able to check the notice on your digital camera avoids mistakes. Our optional tour is led by a local guide, Ita, who originally comes from Malaysia but has lived in Germany for many years. Today is Pfingstmontag (Whit Monday) - a public holiday in Germany, celebrated 50 days after Easter Sunday. Hence, the traffic is light. We headed straight to the Reichstag and after passing some fairly strict security, took the elevator up to the roof, where Ita explained some of the history of the Reichstag building, including the 1933 fire that served as a pretext for Hitler to consolidate power and showing us the turret where the Soviet flag was raised in 1945. The dome itself is glass and mirrors – an amazing structure that doesn’t match the century-old façade of the building. A spiral path took us up to the top of the dome where a mirrored cone descends down and into the plenary chamber where the elected officials assemble. Interestingly, the dome is open at the top and any rain is naturally deflected by the rising vortex of warm air (politicians’ hot air?) from the building. From the dome you can see distant ‘hills’ which are really mounds of rubble from buildings destroyed by WW2 bombing. Back on the bus, we passed the Brandenburg Gate, then parked at the corner of Cora-Berliner and Hannah-Arendtstraße, opposite the Holocaust memorial – or as it’s officially known, ‘Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas’ - Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The memorial comprises 2,711 concrete blocks of various heights and sizes, one for each page of the Talmud (Rabbi text of Jewish laws). The ‘haphazard’ arrangement of blocks represents disorder and confusion and that’s exactly the impression from the street view. But when I walked into the memorial I realised that all the blocks were aligned in very orderly rows and columns and my interpretation is that the memorial reflects the holocaust’s chaotic aspects from outside, whilst within, the Nazi regime conducted its grisly policies with great preparation, system and precision. Holocaust Memorial; Berlin Just around the corner is the site of the Fϋhrerbunker. This area was Hitler’s Chancellery and the bunker still sits there underground, albeit destroyed by Soviet explosions. It doesn’t appear on tourist maps and fittingly, it’s now a rather plain car park, with only one sign describing what lies beneath. You have to credit the Germans with doing what they can to treat Hitler with contempt. Building a memorial to murdered Jews only a stone’s throw away from where Hitler died was a nice touch. The bus then headed across the Spree River to the East Side Gallery where the only intact section of the Berlin Wall remains. The wall is painted by various artists, ranging from amateur to professional. We returned to the hotel, passing several embassies on the way. Here. we collected the remaining members of the group for our included City Tour, a small part of which covered some areas we had already passed. We drove past the Tiergarten, Berlin Cathedral, Humboldt University, Neue Wache (war memorial) and then parked at the Brandenburg Gate, near Hotel Adlon – made famous by Michael Jackson dangling his kid over the balcony. We purchased a curry-wurst sandwich (three small curried sausages in bread) for €3.50. It was 11:45am and we headed back to the hotel to end the trip. The bus constantly criss-crosses between what was East and West Berlin and while this would be of profound importance to Berliners who couldn’t do such a thing until recent times, the significance is somewhat lost on us foreigners, especially without a map of where the wall was. We returned for another lunch at Starbucks (ham+cheese baguette €3.50) and of course free WiFi so Mrs Oz could get her daily fix of talking to the kids again. At 22 and 20 years of age, they were doing fine, apart from the sudden and horrible imposition of housework. The afternoon had an included tour - a brief drive down to Checkpoint Charlie to visit the museum. Inside, there are many exhibits portraying attempts by East Berliners to cross to the west. It was hard to imagine the desperation and difficulties faced by split families and that this terrible chapter only disappeared a mere 21 years ago. Rather than wait for the bus, we walked the short distance back to the Hilton. The rest of the afternoon was free time so we walked to the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) for better photos. Parts of this building date back to the 1450s. Technically, this isn’t a cathedral at all because there’s never been a Bishopric in Berlin and this building even spent many years as a Protestant church. But hey, it sure looks like a cathedral so I’m not about raise pedantic points of order with a 500 year-old building. Berlin Cathedral Outside, the gypsies seeking money approach you with the question, “Do you speak English?” I responded with a puzzled look and a terse “Nein!” and it would have been splendid had Mrs Oz done something similar. I reminded her that replying with “No” somewhat defeated the purpose. At 5pm a sudden thunderstorm did a superb job of dispersing the poverty-stricken gypsies, causing them to use previously concealed mobile phones to make hasty calls. Rather than wait to see if their chauffers turned up next, we took shelter under a hoarding near the Lustgarten (‘Pleasure Garden’) that has quite a varied past. Once a garden attached to the palace, it was converted to a military parade ground by the King of Prussia, then back to a garden, and then Napoleon returned it to a parade ground. Hitler addressed mass rallies of a million people here and it later became a bomb-cratered dirt patch during WW2. On that history, the trees here must be feeling like they have a use-by-date. Returning to the hotel, we went to the nearby Maredos restaurant, preferring that to the optional dinner that would have cost €104 per couple. Two rump steaks, fries and two glasses of wine (+ tips) all up totalled €40 – nice and affordable. Then bed. Next morning would start early and there was a lot of travel ahead of us. Optionals: The “Berlin’s Secret Past” optional was certainly worth doing if you have an interest in the history of the Nazi/Cold War era and seeing the interior of the Reichstag building. To me, it was definitely worthwhile. The Berlin dinner was reportedly good, but you’d have to question whether it was value for money, given the price and you’ll get to know everyone as the tour proceeds anyway.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:30:29 GMT
Day 3 – Berlin-Poznań-Warsaw, Tuesday Weather: cloudy 23ºC, some drizzle Being the last morning in our hotel, we arose to a 6:15am ‘Guten morgen’ wake-up call and bags were left outside the door by 6:45am for collection by the porters and loading onto the bus. After breakfast and checkout, we boarded the coach and edged out of Berlin at 7:30am, quickly getting onto the motorway. By 9am we had reached the Polish border, just past Frankfurt (Oder). Just to confuse things, Germany has two Frankfurts, this one being located on the Oder River. The last time I recall a Frankfurt Odour, it was because I’d left one in the fridge for eight weeks. As we were to discover at every border crossing, the EU no longer conducts passport checks when you cross from one of its constituent countries to another. The border crossing also provided a suitable toilet break for some. Our TD advised us to exchange currency (say €30) here to get some Polish cash. I swapped €50 and got nearly 204PLN (zloty), not a good rate, but it’s not a lot of cash. However it lasted us for all four days in Poland. And why PLN as an abbreviation? Poland once used ‘old zlotys’ (PLZ) but high inflation led to a redenomination of the currency in 1995 where one New Zloty replaced 10,000 old zlotys. Poland should have extended the efficient German motorway concept all the way to Warsaw but for some reason they didn’t. Instead, we moved along a single lane road for some 200 km, slowing for endless road works and tardy vehicles that were hard to pass. Worse still was the 5km queue of stationary cars and trucks on the other side of the road, headed back to Germany and we were glad it wasn’t us. We were driving across the great Bohemian plain and it’s absolutely flat as far as the eye can see. I suspect that the locals don’t have the need for a Polish word for ‘hill’. That’s not to say it was uninteresting – some small towns have cemeteries ablaze with colour due to the flowers on every grave. The landscape is very green and interrupted here and there by fields of yellow flowers from mustard plants. The two main crops in Poland are cabbages and potatoes. There was plenty of water beside the road due to the massive floods that had hit Poland over the previous week, especially inundating the eastern part of the country where many homes were lost. We proceeded through Wielkopolska (‘Greater Poland’), the core of the early Polish heartland. At noon we entered the city of Poznań and parked near the old town square. This city was capital of Poland between 968 and 1038 and dates back to the 8th century. Sitting beside the Warta River, it has a population of half a million. Our TD took us into the old town square and I took a photo of the town hall – the most prominent building. I was aware that at noon two metal goats in the clock tower lock horns 12 times, but we had just missed the show and that’s why the TD didn’t mention anything. I kept quiet. Town Hall, Poznan; Poland The TD recommended a specialty – Zurek soup, so most of us wandered over to a restaurant, Gospoda Pod Koziolków for lunch. Only a few of us ordered Zurek staropolski z jajkiem, but it was quite nice. The soup is slightly sour, containing sausage, cabbage and a hard-boiled egg submerged inside. I recommend it; it’s quite tasty and filling – and cheap at 10 zloty a bowl. This was also a good place to use the toilet (free). TIP: The Men’s is marked by a triangle on the door; the Women’s with a circle. You might be thankful for this advice if you go there one day and need to ‘spend a zloty’. After lunch, we took a few photos around the town square, then walked into a bakery and bought a ‘neopolitan’ a custard-filled pastry and a small bottle of diet Coke (total cost: 6.39 PLN). Interestingly, cakes are priced on weight here. Leaving Poznań, we passed more flat, green terrain, encountering more newly-formed lakes of water beside the road, courtesy of the floods. At 4pm we rolled into Kutno and stopped at a McDonalds for a toilet break and snack/coffee. Before leaving the bus we received a quick lesson in Polish: Please is ‘pro-shere’ and thank-you is ‘jen-koo-yer’. I used these words with great confidence at the McDonalds counter but if the uncertain responses were any guide, I wasn’t fooling anyone. Coffees were 4.90 zloty each – quite cheap. The scheduled break was meant to be 45 minutes according to EU rules for bus drivers but it turned out to be much longer due to one of group getting stuck in the ladies’ toilet at the adjoining BP fuel station. Eventually someone fixed the sticking door and she was freed, to the applause of the rest of the group waiting on the bus. Internet junkies will be happy to know that McDonalds has free WiFi here, the signal even reaching the bus interior. TIPS (language): The Polish language is difficult because the written words aren’t pronounced quite the same way as they look. These basic words should get you by: Yes – Tak (Tock) No – Nie (Nye) Please - Prosze (pro-shere) Thank you - Dziekuje (Jen-koo-yer) Hello – Czesc (Chay sh ch) Goodbye - Do widzenia (Dough wud zen ya) The road continued as one-lane but it moved well. The open, flat fields were punctuated with apple orchards and the quality of the houses improved. The TD explained the entire tour itinerary and detailed each of the optional, giving us a form to list the ones we wanted. The bus seat rotation policy involved advancing two seats clockwise each day. As we entered Warsaw’s outer suburbs, the road opened out to three lanes and we eventually stopped at the Westin Hotel (Atrium). The revolving door had plants inside it - just like Berlin – and the interior was modern and spacious. Our TD arranged check-in (as he did at every hotel). The room was large with a king-sized bed and modern facilities. After 10 minutes, we headed down an amazing elevator (fast and inside a glass cone) to the ground floor for our included dinner. This comprised cream of spinach & smoked salmon soup, pork loin & vegetable terrine, strawberry mousse and coffee/tea. It was a very nice meal and a further opportunity to mix with others in our group. Returning to our room at 10pm, our bags had been delivered inside. It had been a long day in the bus and sleep was beckoning.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:30:46 GMT
Day 4 – Warsaw, Wednesday Weather: sunny, cloudy 16ºC The wake-up call was unusually scheduled for the later time of 7:30am today, but this was a one-off. We were awake earlier anyway and in the bathroom, blaming each other for turning the TV on so loud. As it turned out, that was our wakeup call: the TV switches on by itself, emitting a beeping alarm and on-screen display, telling us to press the ‘alarm off’ button on the remote. Problem #1: Finding where you left the remote control. Problem #2: There’s no such button. Problem #3: The wakeup tone gets louder and louder whilst you’re scrambling around, cursing the whole situation. By accident, I somehow managed to turn the damn thing off, but the distant sounds of the identical alarm in other rooms indicated that the same antics were being replicated throughout the hotel. I was so impressed with those ‘theme-park’ elevators that I pressed the up button just for the thrill ride to the top and back. It was even worth the disapproving look from Mrs Oz but I didn’t push my luck with a second joyride. After breakfast, we boarded the bus at 8:45am for our included city tour. Westin Hotel (Atrium), Warsaw (with elevator system in the atrium) Our local guide was Barbara and our first stop was Lazienki Park where the main feature is a large statue of Chopin. We were shown a park bench that has a button and loudspeaker and plays a small piano piece composed by Chopin. Several of these are located around Warsaw and I thought it would be cool to search for the one that plays the ‘Minute Waltz’ so I could time it. Frederic Chopin is revered in Poland and it’s a shame he died in France at only 39 (of either tuberculosis or cystic fibrosis). I mentioned to another couple that Chopin was fearful of being buried alive, so to remove any such risk, his Will required that his heart be removed; which must’ve gone some way to solving the problem. The ticker was brought to Warsaw where it resides in an urn in a church. The rest of Chopin remains in a Paris cemetery where presumably, the Great Maestro is now de-composing. Lazienki Park (& Chopin statue); Warsaw Next, the bus took us toward the Old Town, stopping within the precinct of the former Warsaw Ghetto. In 1940 the Nazis herded 400,000 Polish Jews into this small residential area and walled them in. Starvation and disease killed 100,000 people before the Nazis transported 250,000 to their deaths at Treblinka. In early 1943 the prisoners fought back in what was to become the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. However, their initial successes infuriated Hitler who ordered the annihilation of the ghetto. During April-May, Nazi troops systematically blew up and burned building after building until almost 60,000 Jews had been slaughtered. This horrific act is remembered via a memorial, with a sculpture of the ghetto uprising heroes on one side, and victims headed toward their deaths at Treblinka on the other. “How could this have been allowed to happen?” asked a member of our group. I replied with the Edmund Burke quote: “ The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. Memorial to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto It was then apparent that what we could see of Warsaw was relatively new; 90% of the city had been levelled by the Nazis and after the war the Poles had rebuilt it to look like the original, using the rubble as building materials. You’d have to agree that they did a fine job. Those lovely buildings that look centuries old have only just celebrated their 50th birthdays. In many instances, old paintings of the city provided the builders with the images they needed to recreate old Warsaw. The Stare Miasto (Old Town) contains most of these wonderful buildings and a town square that looks like it did centuries ago. We walked along Krakowskie Przedmieście, the main street that dates back to the 1400s and a couple of blocks from the Vistula River. Notable buildings here are several palaces, including the Presidential Palace, Holy Cross Church (inside is a pillar containing Chopin’s heart), St Anne’s Church and Visitationist Church (where Chopin used to play the church organ). We passed the Copernicus statue at Staszic Palace. The clergy boycotted its unveiling in 1830 because the church still refused to accept the Copernican concept that the sun, not the earth was centre of the solar system. The statue ought to have a smirk on his face. We walked past an exhibition dedicated to the Katyn massacre but it was all written in Polish. It’s difficult to navigate away from the main road without close attention to the map because many street names are unpronounceable and hard to memorise. Old Town; Warsaw After the group split for free time and lunch, it was hard to decide on a café because the menus are in Polish and without English subtitles. It also seemed that English wasn’t a language many people spoke here. We wandered on; reaching an open area called Plac Pilsudskiego (Pilsudski Square) and took photos of the gardens and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier with its two guards. Interred here is not only the obvious, but also 38 urns containing soil from battlegrounds where Polish soldiers have fought. As we neared our hotel we found a small supermarket and decided to test our skills at interpreting what the labels were saying. We purchased bread rolls, sliced meat and drinks for lunch – 9 zloty, a pittance. However, given my time over, I’d have persevered with finding a café and committed to eating any mistakes I ordered. Back at the hotel, we rested from the walk and spent some time talking to the kids on the internet. Mrs Oz enquired about every little thing imaginable and endlessly told them how much she missed them. In contrast, I went on briefly to remind them to put the rubbish bins out. There’s a charge for the internet here, but not if you know how to get around it. We sat near the bar on the ground floor and I sent Mrs Oz over to ask the bartender for the password to get free WiFi. Bingo. It’s not what you know, but whether you have access to a formidable weapon – feminine charm. The optional tour to Wilanów Palace had been cancelled today due to flooding and a replacement tour to another building had been arranged. I’m not sure if many people went on this tour but it didn’t sound all that interesting. Later, nobody seemed to even comment on it, so maybe it wasn’t popular. However, if you go on this tour and want to see a baroque palace in Warsaw that’s genuinely old (300 years), Wilanów’s the place to go. Half our group left for the optional Chopin recital/concert at 5pm. The rest of us boarded the bus at 6:30 for the included Highlight Dinner at St Antonio’s restaurant. We were reunited with those who took the optional, it being walking distance for them. Our group was led to tables in an enclosed patio area. The meal comprised tomato soup; chicken fillet in creamy mushroom sauce with vegetables; and apple slice with cream/ice cream. We were told we could have two drinks with this, but all that happened was a token top-up for those alert enough to catch the attention of the waitress. Tea/coffee finished it off. The TD remarked what a lovely meal it was, although it seems that the exact same meal has been served for every tour group for years so there were no surprises. In fact, it was amusing to predict each course before it arrived. Nevertheless, the meal was indeed nice. We returned to the hotel and with an early morning departure ahead, went straight to sleep. Optionals: The attendees of the Chopin concert reported that they enjoyed it immensely. However, there’s a Mozart/Strauss concert later in Vienna so if you limited yourself to one, choose on the basis of the type of music you prefer. As the Wilanów Palace tour was cancelled I can’t offer any opinions there, other than to say that you’ll see a grander palace in Vienna. The photo hereunder is the tallest and most prominent building in Warsaw - the Stalinist era Palace of Culture & Science. It’s now an office complex and exhibition centre.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:31:15 GMT
Day 5 – Warsaw-Czestochowa-Auschwitz-Krakow, Thursday morning Weather: occasionally cloudy 17ºC We awoke before the 6:15am wake-up call which was a good move because I had vowed not to get ambushed by this device again. Once more, I fumbled with the TV remote and pressed buttons at random until the damn thing stopped. And while successful, I regret not being able to pass on the combination to future travellers. If all else fails, there’s always the wall socket. After another nice breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, boarded the bus at 7:30 and made our way along Aleja Jana Pawła II (that’s Pope John Paul II Avenue to most of us). Just for fun, I reported the news that a man had just deposited a billion zlotys in the National Bank of Warsaw – a new Pole vault record. Slowly, we moved through Warsaw’s rush hour traffic before easing onto the motorway. A toilet stop at 9:30am occurred at a fuel station adjoining a McDonalds where anyone who had too much juice/coffee over breakfast (or had an unreliable prostate) could make use of the facilities. Aiming the computer at McDonalds failed to pick up any WiFi signal. While we were driving, our TD collected payment for the optional tours, some of the trips having already happened. The lateness of this was due to problems with a new credit card machine. Everyone had already paid cash deposits toward their optionals (€200 in our case) because the TD needed to pay many admission fees in cash upfront. It was handy having a road map of Europe that the TD had given to each couple en-route between Berlin and Warsaw. It gave good detail of where we were headed and the distances. We drove deep into the Silesia region of south-west Poland. Silesia has been claimed by several powers over the centuries, having at times been part of Greater Moravia, Bohemia, Austria and Prussia. We don’t consider Prussia much these days, but it was an immense kingdom, comprising tracts of northern Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus. And fairly recent too: Prussia existed for a couple of centuries before it dissolved in 1918, morphing into more recognisable countries such as Germany and Poland. About 10:30am we arrived at the town of Czestochowa and our destination is the 14th century Jasna Góra Monastery that contains the portrait of the ‘Black Madonna’ – a national icon. As far as I could discern, Czestochowa is a Polish word meaning “Holy place that’s hard to pronounce”. The crowds are large and we discovered that all Polish Catholics are supposed to come here at least once in their lives as a pilgrimage. Just our luck – they all decided to do it on the day we dropped by. If you wish to arrive here without the crowds the best time to do so is about 1950. Jasna Góra Monastery; Czestochowa, Poland The church is full but if you keep to the left you can join an express lane and walk past the altar, then pass behind it before filing out on the right. As for the Black Madonna itself, I found it a bit underwhelming. The skin tones were supposedly darkened after a fire and the two scars on the cheek are said to have been inflicted by a swordsman who suddenly died by divine retribution. Hmmm, nasty. There’s a belief that it was painted on a tabletop by Saint Luke, but you can’t be too sure when a work is unsigned, there’s no lawyer to preserve the artist’s intellectual property rights, and most importantly, no reports of missing tables. Apparently, medieval attempts to destroy the painting proved unsuccessful and this miracle became part of its legend. Yeah? If they’d have wrapped it in a package marked ‘fragile’, my local post office would have wrecked it in a mere five minutes. Black Madonna; Jasna Góra; Poland A number of parishioners were on their knees, even ‘walking’ this way. I felt like saying, “Hey folks, it’s only a painting on a kitchen tabletop”, but thought better of it, lest the crowd felt hostile to foreign heathens spoiling the mood. Then the priests came in, genuflected at the altar and took their seats for a service. As we left I saw how crowded the building was with everyone craning their necks to see the action up-front. I made a quiet observation that every single person seemed to be seated behind a Pole. But seriously, the Black Madonna is a very Holy relic and a national symbol. Jasna Góra is Poland’s most popular shrine and seeing the dedicated crowds was an experience in itself. Outside, we looked for a place to eat an early lunch. The food was supposedly average at the main restaurant Dom Pielgrzyma (behind the statue of Pope John Paul’s parents). You can get hotdogs etc from the adjacent Claramontana café but the food didn’t look too inviting. We walked past here and turned left where another eatery by the same name was recommended by our TD. I had wanted to try a Polish national dish – Pierogi, a pasta parcel, similar to ravioli. Having previously read about the alternatives, I ordered Ruskie pierogi (the most popular, filled with potato & cheese) and Z Miesem pierogi (filled with savoury mincemeat) each costing a cheap 6.90 zloty. We were not disappointed; these are delicious. By 11:50am we reboarded the bus and headed south to Auschwitz. Because of the serious nature of this aspect of the trip, I’ll deal with it separately.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:31:31 GMT
Day 5 – Auschwitz, Thursday afternoonCaution: Some readers may find some aspects of this commentary distressing. How does a person prepare for a visit to Auschwitz? How does one write about it? Say it’s a moving experience and skim over the basics, or confront it with detail? I’ve pondered this question and decided that there really is no right or wrong way; it depends on the individual reader. If you are easily disturbed by hearing of the atrocities, it will be an emotional experience and as I will go into some detail, you may prefer not to read what I have written here. But if you are interested in history, even if it deals with aspects that are both ghastly and shameful, you will be absorbed by this place. But you cannot leave a tour of Auschwitz without sad feelings about an episode in history that should never have happened, and should never be repeated. If you are well researched on the holocaust, the visit is easier because you’ll be familiar with the horrors you will encounter. Our visit to the Warsaw Ghetto was also a useful preliminary to dealing with Auschwitz. Being aware that a decent perspective of this place is best gained with a visit to nearby Birkenau, I asked the TD if this were possible. He agreed, provided the bus access wasn’t impaired by the recent floods. As soon as I saw the barbed-wire fencing I knew we had arrived at Birkenau and the TD made an announcement to explain to the others that we were making a small diversion to see this. Auschwitz was really a complex of 48 camps, the two main ones being Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II – Birkenau. In 1939 the Nazis chose the town of Oświęcim as the site of its camps, renaming it Auschwitz. The isolation and rail access made it suitable for their needs. Auschwitz I was a Polish army barracks, easily converted to a concentration camp. The nearby village of Birkenau was destroyed and a larger camp built there. Seeing Birkenau gives a perspective of the size and scale of the operations. This site is enormous with 300 barracks (or the remains of them, as they mainly have only chimneys left) as far as you can see and unlike Auschwitz, tourists can wander about unattended. Birkenau Forget the term ‘labour camp’; this was predominantly a ‘Vernichtungslager’, an extermination factory, the largest that the Nazis operated. I stood at the main gate, somewhere near where the evil Maria Mandel stood, selecting for execution anyone who looked up at her as they filed past. I imagined the haunting sounds of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz who were forced to play music to pacify newcomers into believing something other than that they were headed directly into the gas chambers. How hard it must’ve been for them to avoid eye contact. A gentle breeze caused the grass to waft slightly; how peaceful this place was today, compared to the hell it must have been 65 years earlier. As this was an unscheduled stop, we didn’t stray too far from the main entrance. I walked down the section of rail track and surveyed the view from left to right. Nearby a bunker attracted several tourists and I joined them. Inside, the wooden structure was empty, with just bleak timber walls and supports. It was probably a temporary shelter to many frightened people who had been uprooted from their homes throughout Europe and thrown into the cauldron of the Third Reich. Back on the bus, we reached Auschwitz I in three minutes. Although Auschwitz I is smaller than Auschwitz II - Birkenau, more of it is intact due to the sudden advance of Soviet troops before the Nazis could destroy the evidence. Inside, we collected radio headsets and followed our guide, a young Polish guy, under the famous ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ sign. Like Birkenau, the camp is still surrounded with barbed wire fencing, once electrified, and without this; you’d almost think you were somewhere else. The green grass and trees, the blue sky and the buildings almost resemble a school camp with dormitories. But reading the various signs and listening to our quietly-spoken guide, the sinister past becomes an uncomfortable reality. Some of the cell blocks have been converted to museums but no photography is allowed inside. Behind a glassed area there were thousands of suitcases, each with the owner’s name painted thereon – indicating that each person had a false expectation that they would be reunited with their belongings upon leaving. Another case contains almost two tonnes of human hair, once earmarked to make various goods, but now greyed over the passage of time. A display of empty Zyklon-B cans is in another. A large glass container contains a grey powder that is first overlooked until you are told that it’s ash from the crematoria. And it really sinks in: the emotional impact finally catches up and meshes with the historical facts and you stare in disbelief at the artefacts of human misery. It brings a lump to your throat that just stays there. But the one thing that brought tears to the eyes of some women in our group was the display of personal belongings. There’s a display of pots and pans brought along in the belief they would be used when the families were resettled. Luggage cases (internet photo) Shoes (internet photo) Every comb, hairbrush and toothbrush belonged to some poor person whose life was so abruptly extinguished by a vile regime. And a little child’s shoe – probably one that brought happiness when it was first worn – sits alone with its pair missing and its owner tragically separated and lost in time. I remember looking at that shoe a very long time. Who stood in this footwear? What was the child like? How old would that person be now, 70? What would he or she have become had this terrible fate not intervened? A factory worker, teacher? Doctor, lawyer, inventor? Mother, father? Maybe a scientist whose great discoveries are yet to be made by someone else. These displays immensely personalised what we were seeing. Between cellblocks 10 and 11 is a brick wall where prisoners were hauled to and brutally shot, often immediately after a mock trial. Block 11 was known as the Death Block, a hell within a prison. Here, prisoners were tortured with starvation until they died after about 20 days. We inspected the 'sthebunkers' (standing cells) where four prisoners were held together for days in a cell the size of a small wardrobe, with no ability to sleep before being dragged out to work during daytime. There are rooms where Dr Josef Mengele performed his grotesque medical experiments on prisoners. This notorious cellblock was also the location of the early Zyklon-B tests to see how long it took for prisoners to die from poison gas. Execution wall. Cellblock 11 is on the right. Back along the row of cellblocks we see gallows where prisoners were hanged and left there for days as a warning to others that they must conform to the rules. At the end of the road is the Gestapo area where we see the gallows where the camp commander Rudolph Höss was hanged for murdering millions of people. Turning left, we arrived at the gas chamber and crematorium. Usually, prisoners were separated at the rail platform into those deemed suitable for work (fit men and women) and those earmarked for death (children, the elderly and the sick). After upsets caused by separating mothers from their children, the Nazis found it easier to simply allow the relieved mothers to stay with their offspring in the queue earmarked for execution, not that they had any idea of their joint fate. Usually, the condemned prisoners were taken to the gas chamber soon after arrival on the ramp. In an open paved area the prisoners were required to remove their clothing and enter the chamber, usually with the belief they were being de-loused. After squeezing in hundreds of people the doors were sealed and they were left there, sometimes for up to two hours for their body heat to increase the temperature to a point where the Zyklon-B granules could work best. As the wait endured you can imagine how the inconvenience became puzzlement, then concern, and finally fear. Then the Nazis poured their lethal pellets into the chamber from slots in the roof. Hydrogen Cyanide blocks the ability of cells to use oxygen and those nearest died immediately, suffering coma, seizures and cardiac arrest. Further away in the corners, a victim might have felt dizzy, weak, confused and with a shortness of breath. Then these poor people had time to panic, realising what was happening before the fumes engulfed them. After 20 minutes, the doors were opened and the chamber ventilated. Prisoners working in the crematoria (next room) removed the bodies, extracting any gold teeth before loading them straight into the furnaces. My photo shows this chilling building. Gas chamber & crematoria; Auschwitz Our guide then took us into the chamber, saying that there were to be no photos or talk. This was a place to reflect, and that’s exactly what we did. It’s very dark inside and you’re not in there long because there’s little to see. We shuffled through to the left side of the building where the ovens, trolleys and metal tracks have been rebuilt to look like they once did. It’s dark here too and for most people, just a brief look is adequate to get the general idea. But it still is hard to sink in that this atrocity could ever have been allowed to happen, or that 70,000 people died right here, a million more at Auschwitz II-Birkenau and the pattern repeated elsewhere. This isn’t a doubt that it happened, but the scale of it is hard to get your head around. Our guide had initially referred to the Nazis, then the Germans-Nazis. By the end of the tour he was simply referring to them as Germans. Feelings run very deep here and you can understand why. The guide answered a few questions as we walked to the main reception block and then bid farewell to us all. There’s a tiny bookshop nearby where I purchased a small publication. And then you realise that something is missing: this museum has no shop that sells the souvenirs or tourist paraphernalia you normally see. How totally appropriate – Auschwitz is here as a dedication to the millions of victims and for current and future generations to see and learn what happened. And with that, we left Auschwitz. The experience was both sad and enlightening, but I do recommend it. As the bus drove off I looked back on the receding reception building and was reminded of those famous words by George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:31:44 GMT
Day 5 – Auschwitz-Krakow, Thursday afternoonLeaving Auschwitz, we travelled through a number of back roads, reaching the outskirts of Krakow about 5pm. This was the capital of Poland in Medieval times until it lost to Warsaw 5-3 in the playoffs. There are quite a lot of the old buildings still here, this time due to having escaped the destruction of WW2. The Park Inn is closer to the town centre than Trafalgar’s previous hotel (Sympozjum) and is billed as within walking distance. Yes, but that must’ve been written by an ex-politician seconded to the hotel’s marketing department because it’s quite a long walk. The hotel is new, modern and clean, but a notch below the standard of what we had in Berlin and Warsaw. However, it was still very nice and apparently the best available that’s close and at reasonable cost. The double bed is really two singles pushed together, but I had visiting rights. Park Inn Hotel; Krakow Dinner for most of us is at our optional – a Polish Folklore theme restaurant, 15 minutes away by bus – or if you ask the hotel marketing department, two minutes by foot. Joining us was our local guide Agnes, who would take us on a city tour the following day. We arrived at Restauracja Czynna where we were greeted by some colourful musicians at the door and whilst standing outside we were offered bread dipped in salt and small glasses of straight vodka. Oh well, when in Poland, do as the Polish do. And it was quite nice. We’re inclined to just go with whatever’s offered, and we weren’t alone in this. Fanfare at the Polish restaurant upon arrival of the distinguished guests from The Principality of Trafalgar We were led to the upstairs private room which had a dance floor, later used to great effect by a troupe performing Polish songs, music and polka dancing. Dinner comprised sliced meats with pickles, vodka, lard on bread, vodka, pierogi, vodka, mushroom soup (served inside a small loaf of bread), vodka, pork schnitzel & veg., vodka, and apple pie to finish off. Oh yes, they gave us some vodka too. The mushroom soup was an instant hit, more for the presentation than its good flavour, and I made a point of saying I was so hungry that I have eaten most of my ‘bowl’. Looking over to the next table, our Canadian friend ‘Livewire’ had already gone further and downed the lot and I strained to see whether he'd eaten the spoon too. Mushroom soup in a bread 'bowl' Our TD had a particular inclination toward Old Krupnik Liqueur, a Polish beverage which he dubbed (‘honey vodka’) and he appeared to be dedicated to introducing it to all of us. Hey, if Poland’s main crops are to be supported, I’m all for avoiding cabbage and instead supporting the local potato farmers if they use it to make vodka like this. Afterward, I discovered that Krupnik is made from grain, not potatoes, so I suspect it’s not even vodka at all. And Polish troops used Krupnik as a medicinal disinfectant in the war. The good news: those soldiers must’ve had no infections. The bad news: they probably saw twice as many invading Germans than there were. Included drinks were unlimited beer, wine, a number of shots of vodka and Krupnik (which I eventually lost count of for some reason), and finally tea/coffee. The performers launched into some music and the two young couples danced a few polkas. We even had a guy on a ‘horse’ prancing about, which made me seriously question the merits of alternating red wine with vodka. An older Polka couple did all the singing in their native Polish language, none of which made any sense until about the fifth shot of Krupnik, whereupon I was speaking incomprehensible Slavic gibberish myself. Our group got immersed in the dancing and all up, we made a lot of noise. The merriment continued on the way back to the hotel and it was noted that a bottle or two of Krupnik had somehow found their way onto the bus. That TD is a sneaky guy, but handy to have around in a moment of need. Polka dancing at Restauracja Czynna; Krakow Sleep came quickly, although it would have been preferable if it had happened after I got into the bed. I blame certain beverages consumed over dinner. That Polish tea sure is dynamite! Optionals: The folklore dinner would seem a little pricey if it was only an evening meal, but you do get more than that. It’s a fun night and the local foods and polka group make it worthwhile. Given the entertainment and dance floor, it’s livelier than other dinners you’ll get on tour and it appealed to all ages. Given the sombre tone of the afternoon at Auschwitz, this optional provides a nice and happy way to conclude the day. And you get to see your TD and fellow tourists in a different light – and best of all, get to photograph the evidence for a wide range of future uses.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:31:55 GMT
Day 6 –Krakow, Friday Weather: warm, sunny 22ºC We awoke before our scheduled 6:45am wake-up call that eventually arrived at 7:05am. This happened to others in our group too so maybe that’s some sort of Krakow custom or a goof. It was probably the latter because it happened the next day too; but it could also be that local customs are merely consistent. It would have been more helpful if the message was along the lines of “you should’ve been up 20 minutes ago, loser”. We had a nice breakfast, which is standard practice now. With a clear recollection of the previous night’s festivities and the absence of a headache, it’s apparent that I may have exaggerated a little in last night’s tour summary. I made a mental note to take everything I’m saying with a grain of salt. So consistent with this, we were in the bus at 7:45 for our optional tour to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. This is an attraction on the UNESCO World Heritage List and I think this stands for Underground, Nobody Escapes Salty Conditions Ok? Salt is no longer mined here because as we all know, it’s found in supermarkets these days. But it’s tourism that now brings in the cash to this mine. Wieliczka and Krakow are located in a region called Lesser Poland but this only causes bad feelings when the people of Greater Poland and So-So Poland make a really big deal about it. Wieliczka Salt Mine We arrived after a 30 minute drive but had to wait another 30 minutes before getting inside the mine building. Agnes stayed outside and the tour was led by an employee who took us down the mine shaft in an elevator (nine to a cage, crammed in like sardines, with another cage above us). This is a great way to meet your fellow group members up close and as it was still early morning, everyone passed the personal hygiene test. If you’re a claustrophobic, this short trip is the only part that would worry you. At 65 metres down, we walked past sculptures and chandeliers made from rock salt. There’s even a gigantic chapel down here, accessed by a lot of steps until you’re 160 metres below ground. Underground chapel carved from salt; Wieliczka Salt Mine You’re supposed to pay 10 zloty for a permit to take photos in the chapel, but nobody does. Just stick your hands in your pockets, look at the ceiling and hum a tune to yourself whilst avoiding eye contact with the attendant sitting there. He knows you’re about to go shutter-happy the moment you’re past his aura of authority anyway. Here in the chapel are wall carvings of religious scenes and a large rock salt statue of Pope John Paul II. The tourist route down here is rated as 3km long but I doubt we walked that far. The mine actually extends to about 300km of tunnels and goes to a depth of over 300 metres. We finally emerged from the mine at 10:45am, somewhat behind schedule. So we returned to the hotel to collect those who didn’t do the optional, and I could honestly say to them that we were back from the salt mines. After a short break we drove to the Old Town centre where the bus parked outside Wawel Castle and we commenced our city tour. Walking along the perimeter, we scaled the steps and into a large square inside the castle walls. This courtyard displays Renaissance architecture of the internal building. Apart from a mass of people, including many schoolchildren, there’s not much here to look at and most of the time was spent queuing for toilets. And then we left, passing the cathedral with the stone dragon curled around its portal. “That’s no scary dragon” murmured several guys, each with the first hand experience of having a mother-in-law. Wawel Castle; Krakow Next, we walked past the religious school where a young Karol Józef Wojtyła studied Catholicism 101 for a career that ended up with him living in a nice apartment in Vatican City despite noisy crowds just outside his window. From here, it’s not far to the main town square which is huge. At one corner is the imposing St Mary’s church, a Gothic basilica that dates back to the 1200s. We enter and sit in the pews, listening to a commentary by Agnes on our earphones. No photography, but if you’re discreet and avoid using a flash, you can snap the magnificent Veit Stoss Altar - but check first to ensure that guard didn’t follow you from the salt mine. This altar is enormous (11 metres x 13 metres), the largest in Europe, and I couldn’t get it all into the illegal photos I took. The side panels are hinged and the altar is closed each night. Veit Stoss Altar; St Mary's Church, Krakow Outside, on the hour, a bugle player appears from a top window of the high tower of the basilica to play a short piece, re-enacting the warnings of the approaching Tatars. The music stops abruptly, mirroring the moment when the original bugler was hit in the throat by an arrow. We had three hours of free time and several of us followed Agnes to a store to buy some amber jewellery. The prices are better here in Krakow than they are in Warsaw. We had lunch, and then wandered around the square to buy a few items for people back home. At 3:45pm we assembled outside the Hard Rock Café adjacent to the church and took the bus back to the hotel. Our included dinner was at 7:30pm in the ground floor restaurant. It comprised vegetable (tomato) soup; salmon rice & vegetables; and apple/almond tart with cream. I was able to pick up some free hotel WiFi signal to check the basketball scores for one of the Americans in our group. Then sleep. Optionals: The Salt Mine excursion is quite interesting and hard to match with anything similar in the world that I’m aware of. As mentioned, if you’re claustrophobic, you only need endure the brief elevator ride because it’s quite spacious elsewhere. The mine is one of eight on the UNESCO World Heritage List that the tour sees, and 1.2 million people visit it each year. It was certainly worth doing.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:32:10 GMT
Day 7 Krakow-Slovakia-Budapest, Saturday Weather: cloudy, storm, then sunny 24ºC Rising just before our scheduled wake-up call that didn’t happen, and some 30 minutes before the actual one that did happen, we showered and went down for breakfast where most of our tour group were already dining. After six days on a tour, your group seems almost like a family but without all the bitching and fighting. We checked out of the hotel and the bus departed Krakow at 8am. It’s not far to the border which we reached at 9:30, stopping just inside at a Pafex fuel station for a break. Here’s the place to spend our last zlotys on drinks and confectionery because they’re not much use to you later unless your roll runs out in the smallest room. After 10 minutes we drove a further 300 metres to cross the border into Slovakia. Slovakia used to be part of Czechoslovakia but it split away at the end of 1992 when the Czechios and the Slovakios filed for a divorcio. This all went pretty well, considering - apart from the usual argument about who had to have custody of the kids. This region was part of Great Moravia, a kingdom that existed in the 9th century. They called this the Dark Ages, which was basically a period before electric lighting and The Beatles. In some of those years people weren’t very educated and this is known as the Dim Dark Ages. Not many traces of old Moravia are left, but they did bring us the Galgolitic alphabet (the predecessor of Cyrillic that’s used throughout the region, especially in the Slavic countries and Russia). Eventually, internal squabbles caused Great Moravia to implode into Bunfight Moravia and smarty-pants Bohemia finally managed to shake off those argumentative dudes. That’s why Trafalgar doesn’t conduct tours called Moravian Highlights these days (unless you can read the fine print, written in Cyrillic). At 10:30 we made another stop at what they call a ‘secret treasure’ which is Trafalgarspeak for ‘damn good photo opportunity’. This is the village Oravský Podzámok and the reason we’re here is Orava Castle, perched high on Castle Cliff, a rocky outcrop above the Orava River. It’s considered to be Slovakia’s best castle. The site dates back to prehistoric times, but the earliest parts of the castle itself were constructed in the 13th century and it served as a fortress against attacks by Mongols and Turks.. Alas, there’s no time to visit the castle and museum. Orava Castle, Slovakia Whilst filling our memory cards, our TD brought out two large trays of Polish donuts (jam inside and coated with icing sugar) that Agnes had bought for us. And to wash it down, he produced two bottles – vodka and (you guessed it), Krupnik. I subscribe to the theory that Krupnik was the TD’s personal interpretation of what a secret treasure is, but that’s another story. Strictly for medicinal purposes, we used the Krupnik to disinfect our insides and then returned to the bus. Slovakia is as green as Poland but the road is a single lane and dawdling along due to speed restrictions and plenty of buses and trucks ahead of us. I decided to start a petition to change the spelling of the country to ‘Slow-vakia’. At one stage we got stopped by the police, which was a surprise unless they have an offence for driving too much under the speed limit. Remembering National Lampoon’s Vacation movie, I privately worried about whether any in our group had left their dog tied to the back of the bus, but all was ok – they were just checking for driving permits and that nobody onboard bore a resemblance to the Griswolds. We’re well into the Tatra mountains now and the green hills and towns are picturesque. This geological region formed when the earth’s molten eruptions cooled, got snowed on, and gradually crystallised into expensive ski chalets. We passed the chalet town of Donovaly which must be a great winter wonderland when blanketed in white. Just after midday we stopped for lunch at a McDonalds in Banska Bystrica. This region is called the ‘Low Tatras’ and the highest point (and I’m not making this up) is called Ďumbier. I was going to say something funny about this but they already beat me to it. There’s no WiFi internet here and the only free thing we could purloin was a corner table with a power socket to charge the computer and camera. Here, Euros are back in business as the currency: cheeseburgers cost €2.10 and a diet Coke €1.35. You can also buy food. Just before 1pm we set off again with the weather warm, 22ºC and mainly blue sky. Due to what may be the effects of gravity, Slovakia lays on its side – it’s wider east-west than it is north-south so we’re quickly halfway from its southern border. However, our progress was greeted with heavy rain and lightning that lasted half an hour. At 2:15 we crossed the border into Hungary. The name comes from the two words Hun and Gary squashed together and spoken quickly. No, wait, that’s not right; it’s derived from the Onogurs, a Magyar tribal union, and some dude later added the H in front to reflect the Huns who lived there. He probably tried the same thing with Haustria but it didn’t really catch on with the Vienna folk who would have been hangry at the thought of it. This country lies atop a sea bed that disappeared a million years ago and the resultant soils provide a microclimate very conducive to crop growing. Like Slovakia, agriculture is a major industry, including wine (and specialising in Tokay which is quite okay). We stopped for a stretch break and bus refuelling at 3:10 at a Shell station. I must have been the only person who saw the humour in that being built above an antique sea-bed but it was still no excuse for sitting there giggling childishly to myself for 10 minutes. Over the fence there were some red poppies growing wild. They got even wilder after I picked a few to try to charm some of the ladies. It’s a further 20 minute drive into Budapest and from a bridge over the Danube we could see our hotel, the Ramada Plaza, on the left. Our driver, Pavel was straining with the luggage, having hurt his back, so a few of us guys removed the cases from the bus for him. Pavel jokingly offered to tip us; and we jokingly offered to not accept it. Upon checking in we passed a nice reception area and our room has a window with views of the Danube, just a hundred metres away. So much for the ‘Blue Danube’ – this river is decidedly brown and to see any blue in it, you’ll need a bright blue sky, a location out of the city and the immersion of a colony of very cold nudists. I suspect that Strauss workshopped the ‘Brown Danube’ concept with a focus group and the marketing gurus said “Johann, buddy, that’s just not gonna fly as a great waltz”. Danube River, as viewed from our hotel room Like Krakow, the double bed comprises two singles pushed together and as with all hotels so far, we have TV, a desk, mini-bar, safe and tea/coffee/hot water. We strolled around the hotel and exchanged some Euro for Hungarian forint at the cashier’s desk – the only place on our tour that required passport ID to swap currency (to avoid crime). At those exchange rates, it should have been me asking for the cashier’s passport ID. Donning bathrobes we headed to the hotel swimming pool level. There are three pools here at different temperatures plus a spa, the latter being more full of members of our tour group than water. After swimming (and me getting reprimanded for getting distracted by some of the bikini fabric on display), we showered and dressed for our optional Danube River cruise. This had been earmarked for the following evening, but swapped for some unknown reason that irritated some people; although it didn’t worry us one way or the other as our diaries indicated we were free on both nights. Hey, this is Hungary: if Zsa Zsa Gabor can cancel all her engagements but let all her marriages proceed, anything is possible here. The bus left at 8pm because this cruise operates after nightfall. Fortunately, it’s a clear evening and most of the group attended, along with our local guide, Andrea. Budapest comprises two main areas straddling the river: Buda on one side and Pest on the other. I quietly wondered whether the concept applied to other cities like Bangkok. Buda is on the wealthy, hilly side of the Danube, and the flatter Pest on the west. The Ramada Plaza is on the Buda side, near the tip of Margaret Island so our bus crossed the Danube to the eastern bank and parked where the cruise boats are moored. We boarded the Szent Laszló and sat at tables, each laid out for four. The food was a buffet, displayed on centre tables: beef casserole, paprika chicken, Hungarian pasta, cabbage rolls with sauerkraut, sliced meats & salads. I maintained my refusal to eat cabbage, as any sprints I that could later manifest in the men’s room would be disqualified from world records due to the following wind. Dessert comprised mini layered sponge cakes – all delicious. Drinks of beer and bottled wine are all included. Danube Cruise, Budapest But it was the view we had come for and it’s spectacular as long as you get a clear evening like we did. The impressive buildings of Budapest are illuminated at night and the Danube is the ideal place to see them from the back of the vessel. As anticipated, photographing buildings at night is at best difficult, and made worse when you’re on a moving boat. Few of us were having much luck as the photos were blurry due to low light requiring long exposures. However, after eventually changing the settings, mine came out perfectly. Here’s how I did it (without an SLR), but it’ll only work if your camera has the right features. Firstly, my compact digital camera was adjusted to the highest resolution – 14.7 megapixels, and then set with a ‘film speed’ of 3200 ISO. This is ideal for low-light situations and wins out when other cameras struggle. If you can’t reach 3200 ISO, try the highest speed possible and cross your fingers, leaving one free for the shutter button. Not only did I get sharp images, I even picked up the planet Venus hovering above Buda Castle. Buda Castle (and the planet Venus) After a nice dinner and spectacular views of Budapest from the river, we returned to the hotel at 11pm, quite satisfied. Optionals: The TD had described the Danube cruise as a ‘must’ and I think it was certainly worth doing, although it would easily be spoiled a bit if rain ruined the views. As you commit to this optional days earlier, you’re at the mercy of the heavens, unless of course the weather gets cancelled due to inclement sporting conditions. Unlike other meals on the tour, anyone with a big appetite could return for more food if they wished, or be more selective with what they put on their plate. TIPS (language): I’ve omitted some handy Slovakian words for the main reason that you whiz through there so quickly you’ll just have time to learn the word ‘goodbye’ before you have to use it. The Hungarian language is easier than Polish and these basic words should do (although you can get by without any of this): Yes – Igen (‘ee-gen’, with a hard G) No – Nem Please – Kérek/Kérem (‘care-ek’) Thank you – Köszönöm (‘kur-sur-nurm’) Hello –Szia (‘see-ah’) (also used for goodbye) Goodbye - Szia (‘see-ah’)
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:32:22 GMT
Day 8 Budapest, Sunday Weather: warm, cloudy & afternoon shower 25ºC What we think was a wake-up call came through at 6:45am and we would’ve been more certain if it hadn’t been spoken in fluent Hungarian. Breakfast is a busy affair at the Ramada Plaza and it’s hard to find a place to eat in this large room. After coughing a few times and mentioning out loud how bad this swine flu problem seemed to be, I was able to choose from several empty tables. The food is similar to others on the tour but with the addition of Hungarian sausage to the buffet. Rumours were circulating that our driver, Pavel had been taken to hospital but there he was again, ready to drive us around Budapest. I guess some people also thought I had swine flu so I can see how these irresponsible rumours get around. I asked Pavel how his back was and he replied that he was feeling better than yesterday. At 8am we set off for our included city tour were joined again by our local guide, Andrea, who gave a comprehensive commentary as we drove to Heroes’ Square, in time to see the finish of a military parade, complete with marching band. We continued on the city excursion by bus and while the commentary was excellent, it’s a disappointment from a photographic perspective. The streets are too narrow and the buildings are too tall for good photos and you can’t get images from the opposite side of the full bus when people are sitting there. I had to concede defeat and later purchased a Budapest book to get a pictorial record of what we had seen. Next, we headed across to Buda and up the hill to Fisherman’s Bastion, named after the defence of the area by local fishermen in the middle ages. How they did this is a mystery to me but I suspect they used something more than a twelve pound line and a number 8 hook – and the enemy was probably more than a mackerel with a bad attitude. This building is only a century old and the seven turrets are dedicated to the Magyar tribes that occupied Hungary. It’s fortunate that there wasn’t an eighth tribe because this would have possibly blown the construction budget many centuries later. The elevated position affords great views across the Danube to Pest. Fisherman's Bastion; Budapest We paused for a group photo under the statue of St Stephen and spent some free time looking around the area of Matthias Church. Correctly titled Church of Our Lady, we don’t get to enter the building but having gone to great lengths to research this for you (i.e. the book fell open at the right page when I opened a cabernet merlot), I can fill in some details here about ol’ Matthias. Matty became King of Hungary in 1458 at the age of just 14. I’m not sure how he did this but it probably had a lot more to do with being born into the right family than having plenty of Facebook friends. By the age of 12 Matty was already getting military training and even got engaged. At 18 he got married to Catherine of Poděbrady who was 13 at the time – the wedding gifts mainly comprising a selection of Lego. Then the rest of her siblings got married too: Greg Poděbrady to Marcia Poděbrady, Peter Poděbrady to Cindy Poděbrady ... and that’s the way they all became the Poděbrady Bunch ♫. Sorry, I digress ... back to Matty. (Come on, stop humming that TV show jingle; I know you’re doing it…). At age 15 he was elected King of Bohemia and turned out to be pretty darn good in military matters, having the advantage of practicing war strategies on whatever existed as a 15th century version of Nintendo. Becoming Hungary’s most popular king, he had two weddings at this church and is considered a national hero. Hungarian Parliament; viewed from Fisherman's Bastion; Buda Most shops are closed on Sundays and there’s not a lot here to buy anyway. But save your spending for the cheaper St Andrews later if you take that optional. The city tour led into our optional visit to the Parliament building after dropping off those who hadn’t chosen this optional. Inside this magnificent building (Gothic Revival) are the treasured ‘crown jewels’ – no flash photography allowed here, but most cameras should cope. I gotta tell you about all this before I forget. The collection comprises four items: the Crown of Saint Stephen; the sceptre, the orb and the mantle. The crown is more than 1000 years old, weighs 2kg and is too large for human heads (the kings used to wear leather padding with it during the coronation). There’s a gold cross that’s crooked (a result of an accident in the 1600s and the lawyers are probably still negotiating the repair bill). And get this: the crown is said to be a living entity. Well if you ask me, they should let the poor little guy out of the case more often for ‘walkies’. The crown jewels also have a long history of being stolen, misplaced, recovered and hidden. To stop the Soviets getting their mitts on them, they were handed over to the American Army for safekeeping and it’s a miracle that they ended up at Fort Knox instead of the local pawn shop to finance a few hands of poker. Hungarian Crown Jewels; Budapest We arrived in time to witness the changing of the guard, which curiously involved two guards (known as koronaőr) completely abandoning the crown jewels before their replacements arrived. I was about to offer to keep an eye on the treasures until a stern glance from the wife implied that I should not become a pest in Pest. From here, we went inside the upper house chamber and only took photos because everything else had been nailed down. Outside, Andrea pointed out where protestors were shot during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. Here’s my potted history of this conflict: It started off in 1953 when Stalin finally did something beneficial for the world that should have deserved the Nobel Peace Prize – he carked it. The next couple of years were a time of social unrest in the Eastern Bloc countries and Hungary had warmed to the USA’s recent nice-guy gestures. Faced with a decision between austere Soviet repression or a future filled with Western fast-food and daytime TV, the Hungarians were totally confused about which was worse. The Hungarian students started protesting and the communist government tried to haul the country back from the prospect of I Love Lucy repeats. Things got nasty and it all erupted on 23 October 1956 when a crowd of 20,000 assembled outside the parliament and someone cut a hole in the Hungarian flag, removing the communist coat of arms from it. By 6pm the crowd had gotten to 200,000, many armed with scissors but still peaceful until some of them tore down a bronze statue of Stalin. This really was the last straw for the communist government, which started using teargas and firing on the crowd from the building to our left. Soviet tanks moved in and fighting continued for days. On 4 November the Soviets captured Budapest and invaded Hungary, later executing the new prime minister, Imre Nagy as a lesson to others. Some 200,000 refugees escaped Hungary and those who stayed suffered prison or stricter controls by Moscow. And here we were, outside the Hungarian parliament building, the epicentre of another important episode in history. Next, we boarded the bus as our optional moved to the nearby town of Szentendre (or St Andrews) on the Pest side of the river. Here, you walk up a cobblestone lane lined with shops where prices are cheaper than elsewhere in Budapest (or ‘Budapesht’ as the locals pronounce it). At the top of the lane we entered the town square and down an alley into the rear courtyard of a restaurant. Here, we made our own gulyas (goulash) soup, some of our group merrily donning aprons and cutting up vegetables and meat that was thrown into a cast iron pot on an open fire to cook for a few hours. Then seated at the outside tables, we were served the soup (or more correctly, the soup prepared by the previous tour group). The soup is brought to your table in stainless steel bowls suspended over a flame to keep them hot – one for each diner. You then ladle it out into your ceramic bowl and it’s delicious. This was followed by sliced pork in salsa, rice & cabbage, then dessert. You pour your own wine from an unusual glass dispenser at the table. Town Square; St Andrews It began to rain as we browsed the retail opportunities. Here’s where you can shop, ladies, so try to not knock anyone down in the rush. The prices in the quaint little shops here are cheaper than Budapest and they have plenty of clothes, linen, embroidery, handkerchiefs, pillowcases, handwoven towels, toys, carved wooden boxes etc. Each shop has an individual character and you can spend hours here (tag along, guys, because you’re trapped in what’s basically an inescapable retail hostage situation and all you can do is meekly point to your watch and remind her that the bus will be leaving at some stage). Among the things Mrs Oz purchased were: a hand puppet 4300Huf (roughly $22) and a handkerchief 780Huf ($4). The forint takes a bit to get used to because the conversion was tricky: A$1= 194 Huf; US$1= 221 Huf; C$1= 214 Huf. After the men in our group eventually coaxed the wives out of the shops and hauled them onto the bus, we headed back to our hotel. Our TD announced that our driver Pavel was leaving the tour due to his bad back (although he would’ve been leaving soon anyway for days off). I handed Pavel an envelope with a tip and a ‘thank you’ note I wrote in his native Czech language, hoping I had got the words right. He smiled and nodded that it was written correctly (there’s always a risk of saying the wrong thing when you’re being a smart Alec and attempting an unfamiliar language, as I once found whilst speaking Mandarin in Shanghai). I only saw one other person tip Pavel so I hope others remembered to do so. In the evening, our included meal was at a restaurant in a downstairs dining room. The meal comprised a salad entrée, goose leg with 3 dumplings & red cabbage, dumplings in cinnamon for dessert, and one glass of wine. I fished around the wine glass with a spoon, looking for submerged dumplings, thinking they might be lurking in there as well. Three musicians bombarded us with something that was almost like music and tried to sell a CD without success. A better option would have been to buy the plastic case and put that in your CD player. I did though, admit to having a soft spot for those ‘musicians’ – it’s called the Danube. To be quite frank, the meal was fairly ordinary: the goose was predictably greasy, the dumplings plain, the wine rather inadequate, the three musicians too loud and the room way too hot. Apart from all this, things were absolutely superb. A member of our group later commented that the meal was forgettable. I disagreed, saying that a person cannot ever forget being goosed. The dinner wasn’t really so much a terrible experience, but more something that could be improved upon, especially since these experiences have been noted by other tour groups over several years. We ran through pouring rain back to the bus, then drove back to the hotel to sleep. Goose on the menu. Optionals: The Parliament/St Andrews optional is the most expensive on the tour, but it’s also the longest and includes lunch. It should also be noted that Sunday is quieter in Budapest with many shops closed so this tour fills in the day nicely. On balance, I think it was worth it, as long as I could say ‘nem’ a lot at the shops.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:32:34 GMT
Day 9 Budapest-Győr-Vienna, Monday Weather: cloudy, late rain, 20ºC Our indecipherable wakeup call came through at 7:15am. One of these days it’ll be a panic call in fluent Hungarian, telling people to evacuate the building and the English-speaking guests will reply with “Yes, thanks for waking me”, then proceed to shower and stroll downstairs for a leisurely breakfast. Luggage was placed outside the door at 7:45 and we went down to elbow our way past a few thousand people crowding for cornflakes in the dining room. Those taking the morning’s optional tour boarded the bus for an 8:30 departure. The others had more time to stay on so didn’t have to get their luggage out so early. Our new driver is George and our first destination is St Stephen’s Basilica. Officially Szent István-bazilika, the church is dedicated to Saint Stephen I, first king of Hungary (1001-1038). Steve was responsible for expansion of Hungarian rule and introducing Christianity to the region. After a few healing miracles at his tomb were reported, he was later upgraded to saint, the application form (in triplicate) having been endorsed by (I think) Pope Gregory VII. I always get mixed up with those pope guys – I never could remember whether Pope Innocent was pious, or Pope Pious was innocent. Anyway, Steve became a very popular saint and an important person to Hungarians – not to mention a sterling example for application form filler-inerers. The church has magnificent views inside. The ceiling murals are very high, but photograph well with a zoom and a high ISO speed. An example is as follows: Inside, there is an ornate glass case containing a holy relic that’s a bit unusual. On his deathbed, Steve held his crown up with his raised right hand. The locals not only interpreted this as an ‘incorruptible right arm’; they naturally decided to remove it from the body, cut it into a few pieces and display the bits as holy relics. Now, I don’t know how long their gruel was allowed to ferment back in those days, but that wouldn’t exactly be the first item on our ‘To Do’ list if a king died today. At the very least, we’d put it at number 3 after frantically searching for the will and forging our names onto the list of beneficiaries. Anyway, they buried King Stephen, who by this time was obviously armless (sorry). Not much remains of the arm nowadays, apart from the hand (known as the Holy Right) that sits in the case and is revered by millions. How someone could lose the other bits defies imagination but I guess it’d draw unwanted attention if an elbow turned up in the lost & found notices. Call me warped, but I couldn’t help thinking how fortunate it was that no other parts of ol’ Steve decided to rise while he was on his deathbed. You can squeeze off a photo here but the Holy Right happens to be Holy Wrong from a camera perspective – it’s poorly positioned high in the case and too far to see it clearly. Some ditherer from the town planning department might’ve been involved in this, but in my long experience of observing stuff-ups, you never can rule out the UN. Case containing the Holy Right hand. After leaving the basilica we walked to a small church which we entered and listened to organ music for awhile, although I’m not sure why. Then we left to go to the famous Gundel Restaurant in Budapest City Park. This is a famous posh restaurant and for morning tea we were served their signature dish: Gundel Palacsinta, which is a crepe filled with ground walnut, raisin & rum, topped with chocolate sauce and with a garnish of orange zest. Different and nice. Leaving Gundels at 11am, we walked to the bus that had by now collected those who hadn’t taken the optional tour - this being far preferable to leaving them behind in Budapest. Gundel Restaurant, Budapest The motorway headed west out of Budapest and being two lanes either way, we moved steadily, travelling parallel to the Slovakian border that was some distance to our right. As we cross the Transdanubian plain the green countryside is undulating, punctuated with the occasional town and windfarm. There are plenty of hills, proving my theory that the Nazis and Soviets weren’t able to loot everything. At 1pm we rolled into Győr, a city marking the halfway point between Budapest and Vienna and one which dates back to the 5th century BC. Győr has a proud history of being invaded by all types, including the Mongols, the Czechs, the French, the Ottomans, the Nazis, the Soviets and the McDonalds. Being so used to being invaded (and I am not kidding here), the locals burned their own city down before the Ottomans could arrive to do it. Wow, rolling out a charred welcome mat sure ranks darn high in the ‘nyah nyah na nyah nyah’ stakes. The Turks are still smarting from that and still call Győr ‘Yanik Kale’ ("burnt city") as a consequence. Napoleon once occupied the castle, but there’s no time for sightseeing here. We arrive at a McDonalds in the main street with the intention of getting rid of our remaining forint currency. A Tacoburger cost 250 HuF, a coffee 250 Huf and they had free WiFi here. There’s an overly officious old woman collecting money for the use of the downstairs toilet but you can get in for free if you produce your McDonalds receipt to show you’re a customer. Too bad if both of you need to go, but you could always retain your cardboard coffee cup (so order large instead of regular). I did discover that you can sneak past her when she’s attending to a small child who fell from the last step (although I swear I never pushed the kid), so keep this idea up your sleeve, be inventive and if all else fails, use a decoy. The main street has plenty of shops worth browsing if we had more time. At 2pm we set off in the bus. We crossed the border into Austria at 2:40pm, passing a deserted passport control point – now obsolete due to EU rules relaxing immigration/customs laws between member states. Half an hour later, we’re at the outskirts of Vienna, passing a huge industrial area. Check out the enormous Borealis plastics factory on the left – the building must be more than one kilometre long! Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Hungary any more. We cross the Danube Canal, an offshoot of the main river, and in the distance we can see the Alps and the Vienna Woods, the latter probably full of tales. Just after 3:30 we’ve reached the Vienna Hilton which is on the right, but accessed by turning left and going up a curved road bridge. Our TD arranged a quick check-in and we went to our very large room (10 metres x 4 metres, or 33’ x 13’). These Hilton rooms sure are big and I had to inspect it carefully to ensure there were no other families still in here. There were two queen-size beds, desk, coffee table & chairs, luggage bench, minibar and even a trouser press that I was immediately banned from testing out on my socks. A quick browse around the hotel revealed a spa tub, sauna and gym on the 7th floor where you can also get a steam iron if the trouser press is embargoed. Those of us taking the optional Mozart/Strauss concert had to be at the bus at 6:15pm because we had to eat before the show. If you’re staying behind, dinner is either in the hotel or at the nearby shopping centre (more on that later). The bus stopped in the Albertina area after taking in a few sights. Most of us followed the TD’s recommendation and walked to the Rosenberger restaurant, a few doors in from the corner and downstairs on Maysedergasse. Here, you pay by the plate size so the idea is to cram as much as you can onto a small plate rather than a small amount on a large plate. This explains why the guy before me walked past the cash register, leaving mashed potato stains on the ceiling. Weiner schnitzel plus vegetables and a glass of wine cost about €17. Yep, back to euros here. Hofburg Palace, Vienna – once home to the Habsburg dynasty After dinner we drove to the Palais Auersperg, a palace that was formerly the residence of the Auersperg family. They must have searched for ages to find a joint with the same name.as theirs. It’s now a function centre and home to the Vienna Residence Orchestra which performs in an oval-shaped room. The nine musicians were accompanied at various times by a ballet couple, a soprano and a baritone. After playing several Mozart pieces, there’s a short intermission with free champagne, then a few Strauss pieces and an entertaining moment involving some audience participation by a member of our group, and finishing traditionally with the Radetsky March. The show finished after 9:30pm and we headed back to the hotel on what were now wet roads. Optionals: The trip to St Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest was good, and the Gundel crepes were a nice touch. I could have skipped the little church with the organ music, but some people might like that sort of thing. All up, it was an optional that might appeal to some but not others, although I was happy enough with it. The Mozart/Strauss concert was very well done and those who had also gone to the Chopin recital in Warsaw suggested that Vienna was better. You have to buy dinner this night regardless, but there’s more choice if you’re doing the optional (although you have less time to eat because the concert will be starting). TIPS (language): As the Austrians speak German, the language is reasonably familiar to many people: Yes - Ja No – Nein Please – Bitte Thank you – Danke Hello – Guten Tag Goodbye – Auf Wiedersehen
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:32:49 GMT
Day 10 Vienna, Tuesday Weather: cold, cloudy, rain & wind 14ºC So much for the first day of summer; this is exactly the winter weather we left behind in the southern hemisphere. And like Budapest, the breakfast room is a very crowded place. Breakfast itself was standard fare, but I’d have to say that the scrambled eggs were possibly the best I’ve tasted on tour. This morning we are taking the optional ‘Vienna’s Fabulous Past’ and departure is 7:45am. The others not taking the optional got to sleep in and were collected by the bus later. First stop is the Habsburg palace of Schönbrunn, one of the finest in Europe, perhaps only outshone by Versailles. So here’s my summary of the Habsburg family history. Firstly, the Habsburgs and the McCoys were neighbours who lived in Kentucky and West Virginia and they hated each other’s guts. Then one day …. Pardon? Hatfield?... Really? Ok, sorry, got my dysfunctional families all mixed up here so I’ll start again. The Habsburgs were the dudes who ruled Europe for six centuries – yes, that’s better. Nobody knows exactly who handed Europe over to this lot but you can get a bit of an idea by working out who was sleeping with whom and joining up the dots. Schönbrunn Palace; Vienna Lacking imagination, the dynasty’s name came from Habsburg Castle in Switzerland so it could well be that it was the name of the real estate agent who sold it to them, having first secured the naming rights. Pretty soon, these people managed to breed a bit and spread themselves out beyond Switzerland. They eventually became Austrian big-shots such as Frederick III and his son Maximilian I, both of whom became Holy Roman Emperors. It wasn’t hard to do this in those days, given some slick political footwork and the occasional appearance on Oprah. Business was going well for the Hapsburg dudes so they continued their recipe for success – fighting the occasional war but mainly marrying the ugly, boring daughters of other monarchs. This worked fairly well for a few centuries until the family overdid the inbreeding, relatively speaking. This eventually showed up as genetic disorders such as protruding lower jaws and even mental impairment, the latter suggesting a little Habsburg found its way into gene pool of some current leaders in the Middle East. In 1740 Emperor Charles VI died without a male heir but he’d set up his daughter Maria Theresa as empress. This upset a few of the misogynist countries who reneged on their agreement with Chuck, and Prussia invaded Silesia just because they could. I’ll bet that when those folk in Győr heard about this they got the matches out again. Maria Theresa decided to fix everything in a typical Habsburg way: she married Francis I, the Holy Roman Emperor. Now, Maria Theresa must’ve thought her main duty to the empire was to multiply Habsburg chromosomes and she wouldn’t leave ol’ Frank alone, eventually producing 16 children from him (one of these was Marie-Antoinette who later became queen to Louis XVI and got shortened in Paris during the French Revolution). And poor Frank, worn out, white-haired and unable to stand anymore, died exhausted, but with a smile on his face at the ripe old age of 28. No, that’s not right; he survived to 56 but spent his last 29 years basically hiding behind the curtains whenever Maria Theresa walked through the palace with a suggestive smirk on her face. This is probably why Frank didn’t assume the tasks of Emperor, leaving Maria Theresa to run the place herself while he sought out new hiding places where she would never look. Unfortunately, some of these hiding places had women in them and Frank went about further exhausting himself in a slow, pathetic, downward spiral of immense pleasure. No wonder he suddenly died in his mid 50s. Our local guide, Trudy was great, taking us through each of the rooms of the palace and explaining their function to us as well as some of the history of the Habsburg dynasty which differed somewhat from the version I’ve just told you. The grandeur of this palace certainly justifies the visit. You cannot take photos in here and they arrest you for just thinking about it. Imagine the look of horror on the face of one woman on our bus when I later showed her the images in my camera of the palace interior. I had to admit that I’d taken shots from the book I purchased in the souvenir shop. I recommend you do the same if you want pictures to bring home and like to alarm or irritate your fellow tourists. Dining room; Schönbrunn Palace; Vienna Check out the painting of one of the Habsburgs – his foot appears to move, continually pointed your way as you walk past the frame. The palace has a large number of rooms with ornate furnishings and gold paint. In one of these rooms a child prodigy named Mozart performed for the empress and even hopped into her lap. After exiting, we looked at the side and rear gardens for awhile. In the distance at the rear of the palace is the world’s largest and most famous gloriette – an elevated pavilion that acted as a war monument. As the cold wind and rain limited further exploration, we took photos of the grand courtyard, then left. Gloriette; Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna Back at the bus before 11am we discovered the remainder of our group aboard so we could all join for the included city tour (the last part of our optional would occur later). The city sights were great but there’s so many of them that you could easily forget their names if you’re not concentrating. We stopped at St Stephen’s Cathedral, a huge building unfortunately surrounded with scaffolding (as is so often the case in Europe). Trudy took us through the streets on foot, pointing out interesting places such as Beethoven’s home (the locals prefer to claim Beethoven as an Austrian and label Hitler as a German), and an old apartment in a courtyard and some Roman ruins. It’s amazing how many ruins those Romans built throughout Europe, but I kept that thought to myself. Next, we walked by the Hofburg Palace, the twin museums (Kunsthistorisches & Naturhistorisches), and the Opera House, finishing up at Albertina. From here, we picked up the remaining part of our optional tour whilst those not participating dispersed for personal sightseeing and lunch. Naturhistorisches Museum; Vienna Trudy took us down a street to Neue Markt Square and into the Kaisergruft (Imperial Crypts of the Habsburg family). Here, 143 bodies of the royal family are interred in tombs ranging from the plain to the most elaborate, that being Empress Maria-Theresa. Many of these people designed their own tombs and some of the sarcophagi are quite elaborate – and huge. Trudy gave a great narrative on the lives of the more important Habsburg rulers. And with that, our optional tour ended and everyone headed off for lunch. Kaisergruft (Imperial Crypts) of the Habsburg family We found a nearby McDonalds, ostensibly for the free WiFi to communicate to family at home before they went to bed. Returning to the bus at 2:15pm we drove back to the hotel. There was no included dinner tonight but many of our group had elected an optional Imperial Dinner in a great restaurant for €114 per couple. However, we had decided to take a break from restaurant meals tonight. A couple of blocks away is the Stadion shopping centre and we spent some of the afternoon browsing the shops and buying a few articles. There are some restaurants here and others in our group reported that they were good. Instead, we purchased items from the supermarket (half a roast chicken, salads, bread rolls, drinks, cheeses and a bottle of wine – totalling a mere €18). We took this back to our hotel room and enjoyed it immensely. And a couple of glasses of wine contributed to a good sleep. Optionals: I do recommend the Schönbrunn Palace/Habsburg crypts tour and the feedback is that this was a better palace than elsewhere on tour. As for the restaurant optional, our opinion is that you can go to a nice restaurant anywhere, and if you’re on any sort of a budget, this one could be missed. There was some feedback that the meal was good, but not much was mentioned.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:32:56 GMT
Day 11 Vienna-Tabor-Prague, Wednesday, Weather: rain 11ºC Our weather luck had run out: this was the day the rains came as a constant downpour. We started with a ‘Guten morgen’ wake-up call at 7am but a look out the window caused me to observe that it looked more like we’d be ‘Getten Wetten’. We got our bags out the door at 7:30. It sure does help to get your cases organised the night before because it saves time next morning. The porters are pretty quick with roaming the halls and spiriting bags onto the bus so don’t loiter outside your room wearing your Trafalgar badge like I did or you might end up on a luggage trolley. Following breakfast, the bus departed at 8:15 into the wet, windy, cold morning. There’s not much to report on our drive out of Vienna. We eventually crossed the Czech border, passing a disused passport control area that I dubbed a ‘Czech Point’. The bus stopped near here for a toilet break and a small number used the facilities for a price. You can exchange money here into Czech Krone but our TD dissuaded us from doing so due to the awful exchange rate. We continued on and could see through persistent rain, fields of wheat and maize but photographs were futile through the rain-spattered windows. We’re in South Bohemia now and at 11:30am we reached the town of Tabor which is almost 600 years old, although the old girl doesn’t look a day more than 500. Tabor has great significance as the base of religious reformer Jan Huss and his followers, the Hussites (which was a far better name than ‘Hussies’). Huss was a Czech priest (1372-1415) and a follower of England’s John Wycliffe. Both men sought to reform the church, arguing that it had become extremely wealthy, had misused its money and wasn’t looking after the average person (we say the same things today but we direct it to the oil industry). Of course, this greatly upset the upper management of the church, including the chairman of the board of directors, Pope Alexander V. It seems these guys didn’t warm to whistleblowers like Huss, especially ones that wouldn’t keep their traps shut after nasty threats. So Alex finally spat the dummy and excommunicated Huss, a pastime that plenty of popes regularly did when anybody got up their nose. Zap, now you’re destined for purgatory because I said so! Maybe Alex was a bit peeved because he was technically an anti-pope, but he sure knew how to show who’s boss over this Huss fuss. And with one board resolution written in Latin, the deed was done, apart from one technicality of getting it countersigned by his boss upstairs. And Huss? He kept on preaching, getting plenty of support, even from the Bohemian government. The supporters even called the church a fraudulent mob of adulterers which must’ve been considered either gross insubordination, or revealing a state secret. Finally, the church consulted its law firm, Martin, Barton and Fargo, to see what their options were. Some new Harvard graduate found a tiny clause in fresh ink that gave the church the power to brand Huss as a heretic and a quick email to the marketing department confirmed that this was a damn good word. Blasphemy came a close second with 38% of the votes and apostasy came last because someone had swiped the church dictionary. Now, heresy was a serious crime back then because you could not change a whole system of beliefs unless you were into Tupperware. So with that, they burned poor Huss at the stake, not realising that the Protestant movement would react significantly and then flourish throughout Europe. See all the trouble you get from just one cancelled Czech? But enough history. Tabor was our lunch stop and we walked to the town square in the rain. Most people followed the TD into his favourite restaurant Dvarka U Zlatého Lva (look for the cream coloured building with the lion on it). We chose the Recykle Caffe Bar on the corner and others followed us, erroneously thinking I knew where I was going. Without local currency you’re limited in choices here, so you must first ask if they’ll take euros. We were able to get free WiFi here after I charmed the friendly waitress and got the code (although Mrs Oz shattered my delusions, saying that she would have given us the code regardless). The bill was only €4.50 for two lattes and cake. We walked back to the bus station and departed at 1pm. Town Square, Tabor; Czech Republic I knew that our arrival in Prague would be early so I asked the TD whether it would be possible to take a detour to Kutná Hora, just east of Prague, to see the Sedlec Ossuary, the ‘Church of Bones’. Alas, tour officials don’t seem too keen on departing from the set routine and I had probably already used up brownie points with Birkenau. We reached the outskirts of Prague at 2:15pm and arrived at the 5-star Prague Hilton. Unlike other hotels on the tour, everyone has to complete check-in forms here and hand them to a Mr B. Euro Krat at the front desk. Our room had a king-sized bed and views across the Vltava River. There’s nothing scheduled before dinner so there’s more than three hours to fill in, prompting me to moan and carp again about unnecessarily missing Sedlec. Braving the rain, we walked over to the small shopping centre adjacent to the Hilton and found something there we had never expected – nothing much of interest. However, when you walk through the other end you can cross a street to a Billa supermarket. Needing currency, we went to an ATM just near the adjoining station entrance and withdrew some Krone to buy a bottle of wine (66 CzK) to take back to our room. Wow, how international was this: an Australian drinking wine from Chile, in a Czech hotel, sitting on a German chair in front of a Japanese television. It almost made me drop my Chinese corkscrew. The included dinner was at 6pm in the hotel and with a set menu, everybody got the same meal (but then they reconsidered and brought servings out for each of us). Here’s what we had: cream of tomato soup; grilled chicken on mashed potato with green beans; apple strudel and tea/coffee. It was nice. For what I think was the first time on tour, an included meal excluded drinks. As a guide, one small beer cost 145 CzK (A$8) which was expensive and more than twice the cost of our entire bottle of wine. We stuck to water and so did nearly everyone else. Unfortunately, the banks were closed so nobody could get a loan to buy cocktails. Most of the group left at 7:15pm as they were taking the optional walking tour of Prague but we were glad we weren’t going as it was cold, wet and getting dark. We retired to our room, watched a little TV, drank our wine and had a nice sleep. Optionals: The feedback we heard wasn’t favourable. It was a poor night to do this walk in Prague due to the weather. Some people complained that they’d been told not to take umbrellas and had been soaked after leaving the pub where a drink was included (although others denied being told this). So if in doubt, take the brolly. The problem is that when you commit to this tour, you don’t know what the weather will be. It’s also probably not for people with walking difficulties, such as the elderly, people with walking frames and those who lost count of their Cabernet Sauvignons. Despite this, in better conditions this option might be quite ok. You choose. TIPS (language): These Czech words are a little tricky, but you won’t really need them. Yes – Ano No – Ne Please – Prosim Thank you – Dekuji Hello – Ahoj Goodbye – Na shledanou Cafe; Tabor; Czech Republic
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:33:11 GMT
Day 12 Prague, Thursday, Weather: rain easing 17ºC After a wake-up call at 7am, breakfast was the usual buffet, but crowded like Vienna. At 8:15 we’re off in the bus on our Prague city tour and it’s raining constantly. Fortunately, the Hilton provides free loan umbrellas. We drove straight up the hill to Prague Castle to visit St Vitus Cathedral – a grand structure inside the castle grounds, parts of which date back to 925 AD, with the main structure 1344. Prague Castle Our local guide is Jan and he was good at describing the buildings and providing historical data. However, we had little time to see much of the cathedral, other than the most important areas. Uppermost is the St Wenceslas Chapel which started out as a rotunda until the large cathedral was built around it. Yes, this is Wenceslas of Christmas carol fame, although to be accurate, he never was a king, only Duke of Bohemia. So next Christmas, you can become a grinch by sending away on a technicality, those pesky kids at your front door singing about a king that never was. Now here’s where the story gets interesting. Wenceslas had a younger brother named Boleslaus (or Boleslav) who also had designs on being Duke. Without any loopholes or even a reality show to vote his brother off, in 935 Boleslaus tried the most subtle way he could think of: getting three of his buddies to murder poor ol’ Wenceslas on his way to church. It’s a pity that it had to happen this way instead of the traditional method by which brothers settle disputes – by belting the sh*t out of each other, and the loser running off crying to his mother. Alas, happy endings don’t always occur and Boleslaus became the new Duke of Bohemia, unsurprisingly becoming known as ‘Boleslaus the Cruel’. This image problem must have been alarming enough for a makeover team to apply a bit of spin but ‘Boleslaus the Occasionally Nasty’ really didn’t catch on. Boleslaus seemed to greatly regret what he’d done, but not quite enough to surrender his Dukehood of course. And after the dust had paid settlement tax, Wenceslas was left to perform a few miracles from the grave to attain sainthood. Sadly, none of these miracles included Boleslaus being covered in honey and left on an ant nest, or being sat in the front row of a Barry Manilow concert. The chapel of Saint/Duke/Not King Wenceslaus is ornate with paintings covering the walls and fresh flowers on the tomb. However, it’s off-limits to both tour guides and mere mortals so you have to stand at the doorway and lean over the rope barrier to get photos. St Wenceslas Chapel; St Vitus Cathedral, Prague Castle We soon moved outside and made a few furtive attempts to take photos of the area outside the cathedral until the rain won the contest - although a nearby group of Japanese tourists managed to take one million snaps of the cathedral door. Walking back to the bus, you pass a couple of sentry houses and the two young guards do an excellent job of standing still and staring blankly like their counterparts at Buckingham Palace. It’s tempting to try to get a reaction out of them, if only for a slight curl of the lip. However, my best jokes were rendered ineffective through an inability to translate them into Czech. The bus took us to the Vltava River, parked, and we all crossed the bridge and walked to the Jewish Quarter, relieved that the rain had eased off for what would be the remainder of the day. We stopped at a corner and Jan described the Jewish migration to Prague. While he spoke, I noticed that the building behind him had outside ladder rungs leading up to the attic – a sure sign that this was Golem territory. In Jewish mythology, The Golem is basically a monster made of clay or mud that lives in an attic and comes out to attack people after a rabbi switches it on with Hebrew incantations. Right. I was going to share this personal research with the tour group but reconsidered, preferring not to spend the rest of the tour, lying on the back seat of the bus wearing a straitjacket. We then walked through the Jewish Quarter, past expensive shops and apartment buildings until finally arriving at the Old Town Square, just before 11am – and we soon discovered why this timing was important. Here, you get a free show – the hourly clock chimes, and everybody within range assembles in front of the clock tower to witness the extraordinary performance. First, I’ll need to explain the features, although the photo here will help. The astronomical clock (known as the Orloj) comprises three main parts: a calendar/zodiac dial at the bottom, a complex astronomical dial above it, and clockwork animations above and beside the dials. Way above, near the top of the tower is a conventional clock. Astronomy is my hobby so I was looking forward to seeing the Orloj for real. I’ll explain as best as I can, how to interpret the two dials because they look very complicated. Readers may wish to skip the next bit unless they plan to visit Prague and are interested in this stuff. Astronomical Clock; Old Town Square, Prague The lower dial is easiest as it’s fairly plain. The inner circle moves very gradually, indicating which zodiac sign we are currently in (as shown by the 12 inner yellow circles and the gold pointer). It’s showing the border between Gemini and Cancer, although I suspect that’s slightly out for when we were there. The upper dial looks very busy because it’s telling you a lot of things and I’ll try to summarise. Basically, this is a medieval planetarium, showing the solar system. The background represents a stationary earth in the central blue circle, the daytime (blue) sky above it, and the (black) night as a circle at the bottom. In between, you have grey/orange as dusk and dawn. The inner, lopsided ring has 12 zodiac signs on it and a golden star is sitting over the symbol for Gemini (the constellation sitting behind the sun when the photo was taken). You’ll note that the size of each of the segments differ, the largest being Gemini and Cancer to the left and below it. The smallest are Sagittarius and Capricorn opposite, near the bottom. This shows the northern hemisphere summer days are longer in June and shorter in the winter constellation months. The clock has two large hands, one with a golden star on it (representing the sun) and another with a dark ball (representing the moon). The clock is telling you the positions of the sun and moon in terms of rising and setting on the horizon (if you look closely, you’ll even see the moon’s phase). There are 24 numbers on the perimeter of the ring, representing 24 hours in a day (local time). The inner series of Roman numerals looks like a 12 hour clock, but it’s really showing sidereal time and the little star on one of the hands is showing us the position of the vernal equinox – I won’t explain these concepts here as it’d take too much space. Each hour, an extraordinary show commences here. There are eight figurines beside the dials and one of them - the skeleton (i.e. death) - begins to move, yanking a chain, followed by another one (i.e. vanity) that peers into a mirror. Bells chime, a golden rooster crows from a small window above and twelve apostles pass by another two windows. Finally, a trumpeter (a real person this time) appears from the balcony atop the tower and plays a short piece of music before taking a bow. And then the crowds below applaud the show. And this repeats itself each hour of the day, so if you missed it, it’ll be back. After the show finished, we had free time to sightsee as we were not taking today’s optional lunch cruise. We walked down to Charles Bridge and walked across and back. I didn’t see any pickpockets here but the place is renowned for them. The bridge is a lively place with a few souvenir/postcard sellers and plenty of tourists. Along both sides are many baroque statues of significant people, mainly religious. I recognised one as being John of Nepomuk so I took a photo. Statue of John of Nepomuk; Charles Bridge, Prague Nepomuk was a Christian martyr and a beloved Czech saint, and here’s my version of his story. John (or Jan) was born in the 1340s in the town of Nepomuk, near Pilsen. John studied Canon Law and became right-hand vicar to the Archbishop of Prague. This was at a strange time because the Catholic Church had split back in 1309 so we had a pope in Rome and another one in Avignon, France. These days, we call the Avignon dudes anti-popes so we know who’s who. Now, King Wenceslaus of Bohemia (not the Duke we previously talked about) was cheering for the Avignon anti-pope at the same time as the Archbishop had his money on the Vatican pope. That was never a great idea to begin with, but it got worse. A vacancy arose for the job of new abbot at Kladruby Monastery, further south. This was a perfect opportunity for the king to stack things his way by getting a guy in who saw things his way, especially when dealing with pesky nobles. The trouble was, the Archbishop appointed another guy and left it to his deputy John to handle the interview process, check references, set up the pension plan, and hand over the keys to the abbey. John, displaying incredible loyalty to his boss, but also incredible disloyalty to the king, rubber-stamped the deal. The king was furious and took it out on John, although some people believe that this flimsy excuse wasn’t the real basis for the upset. The theory goes that the queen had told Vicar John things in the confessional and he had refused to blab when the king demanded to know what she’d said. That sure sounds like a juicier plot for a telemovie, so I’ll go with that version. And John? The poor guy got tortured and taken to Charles Bridge where he was tossed over the side to drown in the Vltava River. Moral of the story: never trust your immediate boss or the big boss; they’re a heap of trouble. There’s a plaque on Charles Bridge at the point where poor John went over. Charles Bridge; Prague We returned to the bridge tower and at noon, stopped for lunch at the nearby “Czech Mediterranean Restaurant” where we ordered a three-course meal (salad, goulash & apple strudel) – 195 Krone each plus beers at 60 Krone each. It was quite ok and we were attracted by the photos of the meals at the front before you go in. Then back over Charles Bridge and along the main road to St Nicholas Church. It’s 70 Krone to get in here and I took photos of some artwork and the interior of the magnificent dome. Rather than later rejoining the bus, with a map, we walked down toward another bridge, then back to the town square and on to the Palladium shopping complex, with plenty of stores inside. You can sneak some free WiFi signal by sitting near the Starbucks here. Back at the Hilton, we returned the umbrella we borrowed. There was an included dinner in the hotel tonight in the Czechouse Restaurant. The set menu comprised: Caesar salad, pork fillet medallions with mashed potato & veg., cheesecake and coffee. It was a nice meal. We rode an elevator to the top and took some photos of the gigantic atrium, then returned to our room to pack cases for our departure the next morning. The good news was that the weather was clearing. Optionals: The lunch cruise sounded ok but the €90 per couple put us off a bit and we were happy with the views we got walking around and a lunch that cost the equivalent of €22. However, others commented that it was a nice optional to take and the rain had stopped for photos. Had we not overspent on optionals before this, it might’ve been on the agenda.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:33:23 GMT
Day 13 Prague-Nuremburg-Frankfurt, Friday, Weather: sunny, 23ºC-28ºC We awoke with a 6:15am wake-up call to find a bright, sunny day; too bad it wasn’t like this the past two days. After breakfast, our bus departed at 7:30 with a fair bit of ground to cover today. And being our last day on the bus, I obliged with my last morning quip about how one of the locals got totally lost – obviously a blank Czech. Traffic was heavy until we got onto the motorway and so it is farewell to Prague, a beautiful city and one we would like to explore at greater length on a future visit. Farewell to Prague About 9am we had travelled 90km, arriving at Pilsen (Plzeň in Czech), best known for its Pilsener beer. But this city is more than that, with some history over its 700 years. Once the third largest town in Bohemia, this is where the conservative Catholics took a stand against those Hussites. Being located on the trade route between Prague and Nuremburg, Pilsen grew in importance. Some 150 years ago Škoda commenced operations, eventually manufacturing trains, buses and trams, pausing to forcibly manufacture tanks for the Nazis during WW2. And then there’s beer. The Pilsener Brewery can be traced back to the late 1830s and that’s where we’re headed. Now, I’d love to be telling you about the beer we tried there and the generous sample six-packs and how drunk we all got, but I can’t because none of this happened. At this time of the morning this is only a rest break and toilet stop. You can pose for photos at the outside giant chess set (hey, check out what the pawns look like!) or at a table inside the building, but there’s not a lot here to do. At 10:15 we stopped again for another break at a McDonalds, just inside the German border. A coffee costs 35 Krone here, and there are two fuel stations either side where you can spend your last Czech currency on sweets and drinks. After 30 minutes we left, crossing an extensive border checkpoint that like others is all but abandoned now with European integration. And after eleven days, we have finally returned to Germany. The motorway is wide and quick, cutting its way through the green Bavarian countryside. At noon we arrived at the outskirts of Nuremburg, a city that’s a thousand years old. Like Pilsen, the trade routes were important to this city and it flourished in the 1400s and 1500s. But things suddenly changed in 1618 when the Thirty Years War started. How they knew this war would last 30 years is a puzzle to me but I’d give those guys jobs at the weather bureau’s forecasting department without hesitation. The Thirty Years War was devastating, being three times worse than the Ten Years War, but only half as bad as the Sixty Years War. The war started off like most of them do – guys fighting over women, land or religion and if you’ve seen some of the portraits of those Habsburg chicks, you’ll understand why you can exclude the first category. I can’t say who was behind all this but their initials are: Catholics and Protestants, and the main boxing arena was – surprise, surprise - Germany. But things really kicked off with The Bohemian Revolt, so we can today blame those revolting Bohemians. But what started as Bohemian Christians V Bohemian Christians developed into a wide scale conflict due to that special little trait of Europeans hating their European neighbours’ guts. This was made worse by the Habsburgs hating the Bourbons, although I’d have to say I particularly like the latter, as long as you add Coke. Now, countries didn’t have any euros to pay their armies in those days, so the rule was that soldiers could keep any loot they could pilfer. That’s why they plundered whole towns and often burned down whatever was left so their enemies couldn’t benefit. Poor old Nuremburg got caught up in the mess and it went bankrupt as a result. After recovering, it got messed up again by WW2 and is famous for hosting the post-war trials of the Nazis. Passing the old fortifications, the bus parked and we walked up to the main town square where we separated for sightseeing. For lunch we purchased bread rolls with little sausages inside for €2.25 each. There are plenty of shops all around here as we walked up the main street, briefly looking inside the church. Back in the main square, we found a small supermarket near the church and with the help of a couple of locals, selected a couple of beers to try. If you need a toilet, try the McDonalds there. You need to buy something to get a receipt that contains the code for the toilet door, but if you’re resourceful, just sneak a look over someone’s shoulder to see the code on theirs. Better still, wait and just follow inside any paying customer. Schöner Brunnen ('beautiful fountain'); Nuremburg. It's 600 years old. So it’s back onto the bus at 2pm and we’re continuing along the motorway. After 3pm we stopped near Würzburg, the halfway point to Frankfurt and with only another 120km to go. There’s not much here as it’s only a toilet break and we’re on a hill overlooking the town. The toilet fee is half a euro but you can present your receipt at the shop there to use it as credit. That way, I got a free postcard of the city that I didn’t really want. The view of the town is good from the lookout point here. To the left, the large building on the hill is the Fortress Marienberg, a medieval castle. Back on the bus, the trip is now monotonous, but the TD put a movie on – My Life in Ruins – which got a few laughs about the difficulties suffered by a tour guide. Würzburg, Germany (with Fortress Marienberg in the distance) At 5pm we rolled into Frankfurt and walked to the old town square. As we had looked around here two weeks earlier, we just browsed the shops during some free time. Reassembling, our group walked around the corner to our restaurant ‘Steinernes Haus’ for our final tour meal, the (included) Farewell Dinner. The beer and wine were included and our meal comprised: cream of chicken soup, turkey chunks in a sauce with boiled potatoes, and a dessert of ice cream and topping. It was all quite edible, but very plain and several people commented as such. The only thing with the slightest German connection was the chicken soup that tasted like a can of Heinz. It was also too hot and uncomfortable inside and our TD actually sat in the beer garden with little to eat or drink as he was unwell. But apart from a little disappointment with the meal, the staff were courteous and we all made a lot of noise that eventually seemed to drive out a small group of Japanese tourists who ate their food, took their photos and left so they could hear each other. At 7:40 we reboarded the bus and headed to the Sheraton Offenbach hotel, which is closer to the airport. On the way, I took the microphone and said a few things in verse, summarising our tour and thanking our TD – getting some polite laughs in what I had hoped were the funny segments. I tipped our driver, George (once more only one of two to do so and hoping others remembered). Inside, I handed an envelope with a tip to our TD who was still unwell. I never saw anyone else tip him so again, I hope everyone did. The hotel was fairly standard, but quite nice. There’s free internet in the reception area (both WiFi and computers to use). The room was great, with a king sized bed. We turned in at 10:45, tired. Our tour would end with checkout next day.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 3:34:06 GMT
Day 14 Frankfurt Departure, SaturdayWe awoke and went to the breakfast room and sat with some members of our group, although many were missing. That’s what often happens on tour group departure days – some leave early, some sleep in for a later departure and some stay on. We said a few goodbyes to whoever we could and were disappointed not to be able to do so with every one of our friends we’d spent the past two weeks with. Most were taking the transfer to the airport but we left in a taxi €20 (including tip) to the station, Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. Ahead was a rail trip to Paris where we would spend a day and night before heading down to the French Mediterranean for a week at the beach before returning to Paris and a flight to Seoul, South Korea for a stopover on the way home. And with that, our wonderful Bohemian Highlights tour ended.
Addendum: It has been several years since we went on this tour and its itinerary has changed from time to time. Currently, Trafalgar starts the tour in Frankfurt instead of Berlin. They also experimented at one stage with taking passengers by train between Berlin and Warsaw, which avoided the long, tedious coach trip in slow traffic (it's back to road-only these days). Trafalgar operates a Highlights of Eastern Europe tour that visits most of the same cities, but in the opposite direction. That tour adds Croatia and Slovenia, as well as southern Austria and southern Hungary. There are alternatives to Trafalgar such as Globus (Bohemian Dream & The Best of Eastern Europe) so these might be worth considering. For different perspectives of this tour, I recommend reading the excellent travel tales written by: Chech (2009): travel-forum.freeforums.net/thread/248/bohemian-highlights-june-2009LKD (2011): travel-forum.freeforums.net/thread/181/bohemian-highlights-sep-oct-2011
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Jan 15, 2015 12:45:01 GMT
Thanks for posting Oz. I’ll read this one after I’ve read Chech’s tour tale. Also, thanks for pointing out the cost saver tour. I didn’t find that one while searching for tours. I’ll check it out and compare it to the first class tour.
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Jan 15, 2015 12:49:15 GMT
I actually just did a search for the “Highlights of New Europe” tour and couldn’t find it. I guess Trafalgar doesn’t offer it anymore.
|
|
|
Post by californian on Jan 15, 2015 20:43:49 GMT
Tiffany, I got an email advertising this tour, I have made no inquires, the itinerary looks good and the price Ithink unbeatable, I wonder if anybody is familiar with TourRadar? As a loyal Trafalgar client never looked much at others, but this site has incredible offers. www.tourradar.com/t/64888(Classic Rhapsody from Prague to Split)
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 21:09:14 GMT
There's an enormous amount of detail in mine, Tiffany, so only bother with what you think is relevant to you. I sort of got carried away a bit on that travel tale. Trafalgar sells several tours to eastern Europe, such as: - Bohemian Highlights
- Highlights of Bohemia (costsaver)
- Highlights of Eastern Europe
- Imperial Europe
But don't ignore the Globus tours:- Bohemian Dream
- The Best of Eastern Europe
- Imperial Splendors
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Jan 15, 2015 21:12:04 GMT
.... I wonder if anybody is familiar with TourRadar? As a loyal Trafalgar client never looked much at others, but this site has incredible offers. www.tourradar.com/t/64888(Classic Rhapsody from Prague to Split) That tour looks great, Californian. It actually goes to Kutna Hora; I didn't think any tours went there.
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Jan 16, 2015 12:59:49 GMT
Thanks Californian and Oz. I’ll check out the other tours noted below. I’ve never done a Globus tour, but I’m not opposed to doing one, if the price and itinerary is right. I looked at Trafalgar’s other tours, but the Highlights of Eastern Europe tour is the one that really appeals to me.
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Apr 20, 2015 12:07:08 GMT
I’m finally getting around to reading this tour tale. My friend and I are going on the Eastern Europe tour in Sept/Oct 2016, and meeting some friends from Australian and the US while on the tour. I thought I’d give this a quick read to see what the tour is like, even though it’s a different tour.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Apr 22, 2015 2:56:17 GMT
... I thought I’d give this a quick read to see what the tour is like, even though it’s a different tour. Good luck with that Tiffany. I'm not renowned for writing short travel tales .... .... so a 'quick read' is quite ambitious.
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Apr 22, 2015 11:43:58 GMT
... I thought I’d give this a quick read to see what the tour is like, even though it’s a different tour. Good luck with that Tiffany. I'm not renowned for writing short travel tales .... .... so a 'quick read' is quite ambitious. I’m reading a day a day, so I’ll eventually get through it, although not as quick as I expected! There’s no new tale to read right now, so I have time to read this one.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Apr 22, 2015 21:14:32 GMT
Yes, there were a few people posting travel tales recently so there was plenty to read. I'm paying a price for the time I spent on my France/Benelux tale - catching up on work matters has made it hard to participate here as much as usual. I'll try to do better on my next trip by writing it all whilst I'm travelling, then being ready to post it when I return. We are about to depart on a different travel adventure to what you normally have read on forums like this one, details of which I'll describe soon on the countdown thread.
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Apr 23, 2015 11:42:11 GMT
I’m looking forward to reading about your new adventure Oz!
|
|
|
Post by californian on Apr 23, 2015 14:58:40 GMT
I do too, where are you taking us this time, Oz?
|
|
|
Post by chech on Apr 23, 2015 18:34:43 GMT
We should start a pool....LOL My money is swimming with the sharks off Borneo.
|
|