STOCKHOLM SWEDEN

Stockholm, Sweden















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HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Yvonne and Deidre for Wednesday!!! Hope you both had a wonderful day!

AND...HAPPY BIRTHDAY SILVIA FOR TODAY!!!!!!! (I´ll send you pics of the Icebar as soon as we get there and we´ll have an ice cold vodka for you!!!)

And also....10th year anniversary of Princess Diana´s death...aww...
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1 Swedish Krona = 5.3 AUD

Day 179 - 182

Hiya´s!! We arrived in Stockholm no Tuesday to a slap in the wind cold chill and here we are reading to choof off to Helsinki already!

Our accomodation, that was prebooked, turned out to be pretty good and a lot cheaper than Copenhagen! Like 200 dollars cheaper!!! Crikey, Copenhagen certainly blew our budget! And it´s not that different to what we had in Prague that i bitterly complained about..but somehow, it´s nicer.

It´s not quite dormitory style but its a twin with the shower and toilet down the hall so it is dormitory..but more like a camp school! If anyone´s been to Pemberton Camp School, it´s like that. Nestled in amongst the forest..and has heaters burning..and a kitchen and it´s cosy. I think that´s the difference between the university style accomodation and the camp school style accomodation...it´s nested in the forest.

Anyway...we spend the few days we had here exploring Stockholm. Home of ABBA and Bjorn Borg! (He has his own undie line that seems to be in all the shops here!!) and of course, it´s also home of the Alfred Nobel, who discovered dynamite and started the Nobel Prize Ceremony here. We went to the Grand Hotel where all the countries meet for the awards too..an oh, so ritzy!

We did the Citysightseeing tour to get a feel of the place, and also a boat tour as well...and learned all about Stockholm, and how it is built on 14 islands..and it really does feel like that too...canals and water everywhere. Apparently out of the 800,000 residents here 200,000 of them own boats! So its boat heaven!!!

We also went to this place Skansen which has a heap of homes here from all different era´s of Swedish history...and that was SO fascinating. We spent so long here..and needed more days!! Has a yummy cinnomon scroll here too..finally found one after wanting one in Belem, Lisbon and not buying it because we bought the custard tarts 'Pasteis de Nata' instead! So i got my cinnomon scroll!

Anyway, that´s a place (Skansen) i´d recommend anyone seeing if they came to Stockholm! It had animals as well....there was this hilarious ELK there...who was making the most amazing faces at us..talk about knowing how to entertain the masses hahaha...gosh, reminded me of the elks i saw in Canada when i was there..they´d roam the streets. But this poor guy was caged.....and just lying there making faces!½

Greg´s IMPRESSED with our new camera...keeps raving about it, so he´s happy...and oh gosh, if you thought we were taking heaps of photos before...at about 2000 a month (yep, you read right) it´s now stepped up a notch...he´s taking MORE! Pity anyone who actually accepts an inviation to our place after we get back.......beware of film night! haha

It was so cool to be listening to ABBA....that´s one thing i really miss! Not having my ipod! What a stupid idea not to bring that...! But i was thinking...safety....pickpockets.....and another thing i regret is not taking Greg´s friends off of taking his laptop with us.....it would have been so GOOD to be able to have a light, small laptop to write on. But..oh well, we chose to be minimal..and what we have, we carry. ANd i guess we never need to worry about pickpockets..because we´ve got nothing to pick!

One thing we really noticed about Stockholm is the lack of direction here for tourists..when we got off the train station, no tourist information. And no maps either. For a really upfront country they don´t really make it easy for the tourist.

But one thing is, they speak excellent English and signs are in English as well. They made a telecommunications decision not to dub English (or any language)movies and to only have subtitles, as Belgium does too we noticed, so their English is very advanced. Good for us!

It´s expensive here as well...but we´ve been taking advantage of the reduced rate meals at Solna and have been having a healthy breakfast and dinner there. I tell you, Swedish, German, Denmark are really health conscience from what we can gather..lots of brown bread, vegetables, yoghurt, muesli..which of course, i LOVE!

ANyway...we´re in an internet cafe at the moment..and it´s 29 Swedish Crone per half an hour..and we´re off to the ICE HOTEL here...which is a hotel that has everything made of ice!! Cool hey..literally hehe

Will tell you about that once we arrive in Helsinki...which is a 16 hour (I thought it was 14 but it´s 16!) trip by ship..so tonight...we sleep on deck! (Kidding, we have a cabin)

So...see you in Finland!

xxx

BYE BYE BEAUTIFUL COPENHAGEN

Copenhagen, Denmark

Day 177 - 178

Hiya´s!

We´re still in Denmark...and have spent the last couple of days strolling around this beautiful energetic city!

Definitely a place to come to if you want your spirits lifted!!!

And awww....guess what we saw? Yeah, you guessed it...

The Little Mermaid bronze statue!




Isn´t she divine?














She´s a sculpture made by Edvard Erichsen which was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen´s fairytale, The Little Mermaid. The famous Danish brewer, Carl Jacobsen (Carlsberg beer) gave it to the city of Copenhagen as a gift....and it´s a beautiful little statue sitting in the Copenhagen (Kobenhavn) Harbour..

So gorgeous...

We went to the hippie city called Christiania as well...which is a community on an island of it´s own just off the Copenhagen harbour...it was originally a social experiment (and still is) where a group of hippies took over the warehouses on the island so they didn´t have to pay taxes and basically live there as squatters....it´s a weird place..graffiti everywhere..and stalls and music and just looks like a huge commune. On prime real estate!!!

As we were roaming we also came across an industrial design exhibition that Greg was entralled with..got lots of ideas there..we spend a couple of hours trying to drum up ideas for our own marketing business! haha

Also saw the palace...Amalienborg Palace....and waved to Crown Princess Mary...hehe

And later, joined in the free concert that was raging on the old fort. It was put on for Ecco Walk for Life which had thousands of people participating and walking around Copenhagen. There are so many concerts here!!! No need to spend heaps on concerts that´s for sure..............i guess that´s a financial positive...entertainment here is free! Even if all else is a financial drain.

AND Gosh it´s busy here in Copenhagen!!! It must have been the Jamborree over the weekend for the scouts as well...there were literally THOUSANDS of scouts and cubs everywhere!!!! They even stopped traffic for about half an hour while they marched down the streets...honestly, thousands of them...bless their cotton socks!

We managed to salvage our budget by eating relatively cheaply! We didnt get to the main train station today Rob...as we went to supermarket and bought bread rolls and chocolate and that was dinner!!!!! And...because we had to sample the ´national liquid´we sampled Calsberg pilsner Beer and Tuborg Pilsner Beer. And they were quite delightful too!!!!

Tourist season supposedly finished today..the summer season anyway..so we´re hoping accomodation and food will get a bit cheaper so we can continue our journey!

We´re off to Sweden tomorrow......

More places to go and things to see....

One thing, as travellers, we haven´t done is meet people for more than a night or so....it can get very lonely. I was feeling a bit homesick this morning..if you could call it homesickness.....or maybe it´s a sense of missing family and friends to talk with....anyway whatever it is...i really loved the emails that got returned after i sent out some in a bid to make contact with ´home´. Thanks guys...:-)

It´s almost been six months that we´ve been away..and have only had each other as our everthing. And it´s been so easy. We are obviously just meant to be to be able to sustain a relationship like this, 24/7. I know for sure i wouldn´t have been able to do this with anyone else in the world.

I feel quite blessed :)

On that note...it´s bed time!

See you in Sweden!

xxx

FAIRYTALES AND VIKINGS

This is the statue of Hans Christian Anderson that is situated in the Platz in Copenhagen!



Saturday 25th

Day 176

Copenhagen, Denmark - city of fairytales and vikings!

What a day! We´ve been to fairyland and back!!! As we were wondering along one of the main roads here..Hands Christian Anderson Straede we came across the museum of his namesake and of course we had to go in!

We were actually going to go on a walking tour and i´m glad we didn´t because it was so much better exploring for ourselves.....

He wrote the Ugly Duckling..Thumbelina, The Wild Swans (with the girl Elise in it!), The Little Match Girl and the Emporers New Clothes! And literally hundreds of others but these were a few that we were able to read and hear in story and animation while we were there in the museum. It was so much fun!

Apparently the Hans Christian Andersen fairytales are second in sales only to the Bible!!!

One of the things that i thought was really funny was his comment about being ugly! He said his colleagues used to always say he was ugly..so around 1847 when he did a self portrait he wrote ´His nose is as mighty as a cannon and his eyes like green peas!´ Later, he wrote The Ugly Duckling which was a reflection of his own life.`

And another thing that we read there about his life..was that he was a great friend of Charles Dickens! And in the timeline of his life it said in 1857 he óutstayed his welcome at Charles Dickens house!´

Interesting hey...love to know more about that story!

I don´t think he was ever married or had children himself..even though he spent his life writing stories about children. I guess what made him popular to children, and adults alike (children of all ages!) was the fact that his stories and fairytales always had a moral. Some skewiff if you look on the surface...but underneath they are sophisticated, multilayered and subtle.

And his fairytales and fables seemed to reflect his own life in a way, because after reading all about him in the museum dedicated to him we saw that he was born simply in Odense to a father who was a cobbler, and died when he was only young and his mother a washerwoman..He left home at 14 to go try out the theatre life in Copenhagen..

So he really was the poor boy in his fantasy stories that became rich, and soon mixing with the famous and kings and queens!

He died in 1875 with his last fairytale being, ´The Flea and the Professor

Later..we joined the tour that we booked at the hotel...the Viking Tour and headed off to Roskilde which is about 40 or so km´s away.



This is one of the reconstructed viking longboats!






We saw the five viking longboats that they found in the 1950´s and retrieved in 1962. We even dressed up as vikings......and got pics and all that stuff! So much fun!

Viking..means warrier of the sea.

And they certainly conquered a lot of places in Europe. We saw a film about it and when they said the pillaged the lands and traded..i thought what about the rapes. They didn´t mention that...and later a guide said they ´settled´in a lot of the lands they pillaged..............

A great experience!

The early 1800´s are so interesting! Napoleons Battle of Waterloo...when Goethe wrote Faust (that we saw in Prague), when Sir Walter Scott wrote Ivanhoe, when Beethoven composed his 5th Symphony......so many cultural firsts duing that time..especially the first 20 years! I´d really like to learn more about it..

So why are we so keen about history?

Well, there is a saying that goes like this, Ìf you keep one eye on the past you are blind in one eye. If you FORGET the past, you´re blind in both eyes!

I guess we don´t want to be blinded...

We had Franske Hotdogs which are the mainstay diet of Copenhagers i´m sure...! They´re buns with a hole in it..filled with mayo and ketchep and then have a sausage poked in it.................and hanging out.....................

And to go with that...we had an icecream.........in those wonderful waffle cones. Honestly i´ve never eaten so many icecreams in my life..i think i have a new addiction. But i figure with all this walking we´re doing...why not!

Why not indeed.........

It´s the tastes and flavours that colour our memories isn´t it?

There´s the gay pride still happening here in Copenhagen..and lots of music and the fireworks that go off at 11.30pm at the Tivoli that we´re going to venture back out to see...

And we have the Carlsberg beer to try...maybe tomorrow...

Cool place that´s for sure!

xxx

PS Great to hear the Dockers won! And the Eagles!!!

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

The canal here in Copenhagen! So pretty hey???






Friday 24th August!

Day 175 1 Danish krone = 4.3 AUD

Weøre in Copenhagen, Denmark, SCANDINAVIA..arrived today 2pm from Berlin!

This is the home of Hans Christian Anderson (Little Mermaid) and of Princess Mary and Prince Frederick!!! AND..the vikings..can´t forget them.

And of the GAY MARDI GRAS!

You should see it...like fantasy land here..gay dancing, music, lights..ooh everything is lit up and so wonderful! The TIVOLI looks magical....

What a place.

Oh yeah...itøs full of TALL people..is that a viking thing? I´ve never seen so many tall people in my life..or as many bikes either that matter. They´re everywhere!

We´re going to lose weight i tell ya.....it´s TOO EXPENSIVE TO EAT!! haha

Hotel is expensive, food is expensive, transport is expensive..

And we thought London was expensive..not compared to here.

So we´re going to make the most of it.

Hope all´s great...we´ll see if we can get on again, the internet in the hotel is free..but there´s a line up!

Okies...bye! We´re going back to the dancing.....................

BERLIN GERMANY (and THE WALL!)

How the Berlin Wall looks now!


Day 174 1.00 AUD = 0.6 EUR0

Berlin, Germany

We´ve just gotten back from dinner at a restaurant in East Berlin!!! (now of course there is no division, since 1990 when Germany was united)

Berlin, as i said, has a different feel to anywhere else.

And today we found out why.

It´s because the whole place is young, so to speak. It was pretty much bombed after the second world war and is now being rebuilt. And since Germany has become one, in 1990, it´s more united and huge change is taking place.

Everywhere you go has scaffolding and nets covering the buildings...noises of machines rebuilding and a sense of excitement about the change going on.

We decided to go on a walking tour. It lasted 3 hours and our guide was an Italian girl who had an incredible sense of clarity about what has been going on in Germany in relation to the rest of the world. We really enjoyed our time walking around Berlin with her....

And she filled in a lot of the gaps we had about Berlin. And the impact of Hitler.

I think that´s what i always associated with Berlin before. Hitler and how it was his headquarters but now i have a different impression altogether of both Berlin and Germany itself. The guilt of the German seems to be lifted..and yes, the general consensus is that they feel guilty as a whole for the atrocities that Hitler instigated.

This was evident last year apparently when the youth of Germany actually waved their flags at the World Cup. They´d been so repressed for so long by the US and Russia and were basically not allowed to wave flags (for fear of uprising and riots) so this was considered a ´new Germany´ for the citizens to be allowed to do this!

We walked to what is left of the Berlin Wall, which is not much. When the got rid of it they did a great job! The only bit left now is a section used to show the history of the Wall. Apparently there will be a museum built there so people can understand the whole story of it all.

Now it looks like a line of two strips of bricks on the road (yes its a road now). So weird seeing it, knowing there was a 43km wall going along that part.

On the East Berlin side there was (buildings being built now) a ´no man´s land´where there is a mile long flat terrain so that if anyone tried to cross, the´d be shot! The Wall on the West side was alongside the buildings.

What really surprised us was finding out the Berlin Wall, which came down in 1989, was a wall around West Berlin, built by the Russians, after 2.75 East Berliners crossed over into West Berlin for the better living conditions due to democratic society in the west.

The wall was built to prevent the East Berliners escaping to the West Berlin that was controlled by the US, British and French..and as a statement! So that was that. On August 13th 1961 a wall was built and half of the city closed off to the other.

But can you just imagine splitting a city in half and not allowing one half to enter the other. It would be like a line going down the middle of Perth and us not being able to visit Fremantle. Imagine. Not being allowed to visit your family?

I always thought the ´Berlin Wall`, built in 1961 to keep the East Germans from escaping to west Germany, surrounded the whole of Berlin..but it went around half of it! The West Side!!!!

And...West Berlin was inside East Germany. And so they completely surrounded by East Germany. No wonder they had trouble with their transportation etc. We were told for the first year that the wall went up, East Berlin had to have permission to use the trains to import or export any goods...and when Russia wanted to make it hard for them they stopped the use of the trains in and out of there.

But...West Berlin wasn´t to be fazed. For a year they used planes to drop off and bring out everything they needed until East Germany realised it was a silly thing...

There were so many stories associated with the East Berliners escapting to the West...one was a security guy who worked in a building that was close to the East side (the only building that was close to the wall on that side) who locked himself, his wife and his six year old son in a lift one night and stayed there till dark....then threw a hook and a rope over to the West side in oder to slide over like a flying fox....from one building to the other side where he had family waiting!

They did interviews with the 6 year old boy that went with them, years later, when he was a man, and he said he was scared to fly over on the rope but was bribed with getting a bike...so he got on and slid over!! Amazing!

There was another, a lecturer who lived in the West but worked in the East and wh o fell in love with a woman who lived in the East...He devised a plan to drive a hired sports car, that had a low enough hood to escape the barriers...to drive full boar ahead over through the Checkpoint Charlie with his girlfriend!

Another amazing thing about it was the fact that apparently the wall came down by accident....the East German leader of day was conducting an interview on tv after Gorbechev´s influence, and more or less said the wall could come down ´now´ so the people of the time took it as so, and headed off to the wall to leave!

And the 1200 guards that were protecting the wall, were some of the first to actually leave!

It made me realise Gorbachev was truly a frontrunner and was resposible for the breakdown of Communism, not just in Russia, but the world. I always knew he was a ´hero´ but to see the fruits of his influence here in Germany makes it very real.

It was a informative tour, and hearing ínside´ stories from the side of the guide made it more interesting, but we also went to the places and read the signs and read the pamphlets and grasped a good understanding of what went on here from others´perspectives. And what is still going on here in Germany.

Certainly gave us a great understanding of what went on...and highlighted the realisation that it wasn´t long ago that the wall came down, and that Germany became unified instead of separatist country.

No wonder the ´feeling´was different here...

Saw the Brandenburg Gate as well...

And learned more about Hitler and how it all started..which was basically by using the power gained via the Fire Rule which happened by Parliament burning down and the firelaw allowing the country to become a State of Emergency...which allowed the person in power, Hitler, to arrest anyone that opposed him..

When he won the elections in 1933..he put his stamp on the place! He instigated a burning of books of all the learned men, and authors and scientists, including Hemmingway and also Albert Einstein. (Being a jew, Einstein left Germany around this time to go to America due to Hitler´s rule and hatred for the jews)

Basically he erradicated anyone that opposed him which is how he got power. He murdered 90 members of parliament by sending them to Sachsenhausen Concentration camp as political prisoners and then exterminating them.

We saw where Hitler committed suicide too. On 30th April 1945 after he declared his Reich a failure. In his bunker..50 feet below the Chancellory buildings he built called the Fuhrerbunker.

Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels then brought his entire family, including six young children, to live with Hitler in the bunker.

Just before midnight, he married Eva Braun in a brief civil ceremony and 2 hours later she swallowed poisen and he shot himself.

The next day Goebbels and his wife poisened their 6 children and were shot, by request, by a SS man. Their bodies were later burned and have been shown in the media as the macabe symbol of Hitler´s Reich.

That area, now has a huge block of flats there with only a sign to say hitler died there! It´s as underplayed as possible. They say they have proof it was Hitler´s remains they found when they were building these flats because his jaw matched forensic samples.

Interesting hey..

There´s so much more..but i have to get off the computer....the cafe is closing..will finish this later!!

xxx

PS I have really learned that the more i learn, the more i realise i need to learn!!

PRAGUE to DRESDEN

Day 172 - 173

Berlin, Germany

Here we are again, in Germany! Back to EUROS! Yay. Currency we understand!!!

SO COOL!

Our final day in Prague was pretty eventful. We went back to the Prague Castle and saw what we didn´t the previous day..had lunch there...climbed the tower which had 284 steps...and afterwards checked out the Andy Warhol exhibition and spent some time relaxing beside the tranquil river before having subway and sleeping our last night in the accomodation that was forgettable! (We decided later it was only cause it was noisy, toilet and shower was so far away and there was no tv, kettle and only a scrap of a towel that made it miserable! But otherwise...it was clean..and ok!).

But now we´re here in Berlin...in gorgeous accomodation..we don´t think it was all that bad..but really, it was pretty bad!

It´s good being back here in Germany..

But it´s different to when we were last here (Munich) because now we´re in Berlin, which is really the eastern side of Germany and it has a completely different feel to Munich. Not as many beer houses, vegetable stalls, internet cafes and the feel is different.

There´s a lot of building going on here and today we found out why!

I´ll tell you a bit more about that in my next blog because i think the whole explanation needs a blog of it´s own!

We arrived here on Monday after leaving Prague pretty early. We caught the 6.16am train and first of all headed to Dresden, 2 hours from Prague and 5 hours from Berlin, which is a beautiful city.

A lot of it got bombed in 1945 so there´s a lot of building going on there too..but it has a different feel to Berlin. It´s the Florence of Germany! The buildings, baroque in style, that are intact, are simply beautiful.

And the cultural side of Dresden is more evident too. We strolled along the beautiful River Elbe and just loved all the markets and the whole feel of the place...We regretted not staying here longer but our packs were in the lockers at the station and we had planned to get to Berlin that night so we headed out after spending a few hours looking around.

Arriving in Berlin was a bit strange at first..because we didn´t have accomodation and there were 3 main train stations to choose from to arrive at, so we hoped for the best and picked the central station.

This station, Hauptbahnhof, is massive. It only opened in 2006. It´s the largest and most modern train station in Europe we later found out! And of course, trying to navigate such a station is a nightmare. There were information points on each floor but not what we wanted.

After finding an english speaking info centre we finally found accomodation. It only cost 3 euro for them to book..and we trusted their judgement. It was CHEAP so we did wonder what we were getting into!!! 41 euro a night, shower incl including breakfast!

We navigated our way out of the train station and to our accomodation which took us 2 metro lines to get there.....

AND....it´s gorgeous. Very German. No English, but somehow we seem to get by these days with our gestures and the help of learning simple words of the language before we arrive.

Our room is dramatic. Red silk sheets...and our own balcony. Breakfast has been delicious. German bread is to die for. I love it. Very brown and nutty, yum.

So we´re happy.

And we´ve been shopping..................

We bought a kettle after me whingeing for so long about not being able to make my own coffee and tea....(only 9 euros) and we bought a new camera as our old one clapped out! No wonder. We´ve been taking 2000 pics a month!!!!!!

This camera is so cool. We should be able to download more pics as well. If we get time. It´s a little digital, optical 7.2 Samsung and has a wide angle lense and it´s half the price as the old one. Only 200 Euros. (We´re enjoying the fruits of selling shares..hope it gets us to America and we dont spend it all!! haha)

God knows, the shop we got it at is the biggest i´ve ever seen in my life..for electronics and electrics!!! SO tempting!

Floors upon floors and isles upon isles of camera´s, electrics..everything. Called Saturn. HUGE.

I tell ya..i was tempted to buy a little laptop to put our photos on and to write on and use as a wireless laptop at all the hotspots they have here in Europe..BUT..it was all set up in German and had a German Warranty....and was not that cheap really....so i daydreamed for about a minute and realised it was just nice having a new kettle.

BUT then......i had to buy cups..and coffee..and it goes on. And now..i also have to carry it all in my pack. But..it´s worth it, just to be able to have a cuppa when want. Just think, i´ve gone for almost 6 months without a kettle!

And Greg was happy to have a camera that works!! Now i don´t have to listen to him saying, ´BLoody camera!´haha..

Oh yeah, we also bought some new jeans!!!!!

First time we´ve shopped in SO LONG!!!! And what a place to do it. Germany has to have the best value for money of anywhere!

Now our shopping days are over......

And it´s back to travelling and looking like grovellers. But at least we have new jeans to do it in hehe

PRAGUE CASTLE & CLOCK!!!

Prague Castle from Charles Bridge...

cool hey?





And the whole castle area is SO BIG!!!


Day 171

Prague, Czech Republic

Hey! Guess what! We saw the apostles pop out of the clock in the main square here in Prague!! But, they didn't pop out in that circle i was talking about..they popped out of the little doors above the main clock..so COOL! I'd say there were about 1000 people gathered at exactly 2pm to watch the little skeleton pull the bell at the clock! haha...don't know why it didn't happen at 10pm the night we were there...(monkey must have been asleep hehe) but anyway...it was so good. The crowd cheered and clapped! Our hightlight for the day.............and it was free :-)

We spent the afternoon at the Prague Castle..the hightlight for me seeing King (saint) Wenceslas tomb..and some of his armour and to learn more about him..making him real and not just a fairy tale or subject of a song...

Apparently he was a noble pious king..

And some info that we learned was..

He was killed by his brother, died on September 20, 929, was in his early twenties and had ruled Bohemia for five years.

Today he is remembered as the patron saint of the Czech Republic and the Crown of Wenceslas is the symbol of Czech independence!

Remember the ditty...

Good King Wenceslas
Rode to town
Riding on a pony
Stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni!!

haha...well couldn't get that song our of our brain for a while.......

Except Greg corrected me..said it was this instead...

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gathering winter fuel

And the one i said...was YANKEE DOODLE went to town............

hehe

But! It's the same tune isn't it?

The other thing we realised yesterday was...Bohemia crystal was invented here!!! With the Czech Republic, of course, being that BOHEMIA is part of Czech Republic!

The things you don't think of..until you're in the place...

About the Castle. Pic above.

It's just massive. It was originally built, or started being built about a thousand years ago...and has been over the years progressively made into one of the largest castle estates in Europe.

We didn't see all the castle (includes palaces, cathedral, old brewery that is now a restaurant, art galleries etcetc!) so we're off again today!!!!! (Ticket, $A30 each lasts 2 days)

Last night we also went to a concert of Jesus Christ Superstar....which was great (tenor was crap tho..compared to Tim Rice, Roger Daltry and Jon English who have played this role over the years) but the soprano was good. It brought back memories for me as i saw Jesus Christ Superstar in London in 1977..so have had a continuing love for the music ever since.

They also sang songs from Hair, Evita, Cats and Les Mis which was good...great to hear some English music too.

Prague is so cultural!

I have never seen so many concerts being advertised in my life! Flyers everywhere..and concerts on every corner..

The more we are here..the more we love it. There's a sense of lively culturalism here....everyone is so into it....a great place for art and music lovers.

But, we're off to Berlin tomorrow.....and i can't wait. From what we've experienced in Munich, Germany is a place that we feel very at home in..

So, Germany, here we come!

See you there!!

xx

PS Becherovka is Czech's National drink...and we've tried it, it's got a nutmeg flavour...and different to anything....sort of like a nutmeg laced vodka drink.

BLACK LIGHT THEATRE here in Prague

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Dockers Lost. Aww.
Does that mean there's no hope of them being in the final?
Thanks B&Y for the updates!! I so appreciate it!!!!
And sissy, so good to have our little online email conversation just then! :-)
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Day 170!!!

Hiya's..

Saturday 18th Aug

Here we are...looking for accomodation in Berlin..but i thought i'd pop into the blog and tell you the Black Light Theatre last night was brilliant!!!!

It was called Foust written by the famous Goethe and was typical Czech theatre apparently. There were marienettes and the theatre was old and had so much atmosphere. The whole play was silent..so we all, in our different languages, could understand it.

The theme was good vs evil..which seems pretty standard for this type of theatre. It was brilliant..we loved it. It looked so real too watching the actors being carried around on stage by the black cranes....

This must be where Black Light Theatre orignated i'd say. This theatre was built in the 14th century and plays have been put on there since!!!!!

So funny...to think Australia is only 200 years old..(well just over, seeing it was first settled by whites in 1788 and our bicentennial was in 1988!) and here we are in a place that is over 1000 years old! Prague was established in 880! In the NINTH CENTURY! And Australia was founded in the EIGHTEENTH CENTURY! 900 years later!!!!!!

Amazing hey..

Australia is SO YOUNG!!

And the more we're away..the more i realise we have such little history!!!!

Even though our young Australian history is SO fascinating...:-)

Okies, we're off to Prague Castle..to see what a castle from 889 looks like...the mind boggles at the age of some of these buildings........................

CZECH REPUBLIC - Prague!

This is the clock in Prague central plaza...pretty speccy hey?














Day 169

Prague, Czech Republic

MONEY: 1 AUD = 17 Republic Czech crown (koruna)

About: Czech Rep is in Central Europe with a heap of borders...ie Poland to the north, Germany northeast and west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east! It joined the European Union in 2004 but is still on probation so uses the Czech crown instead of the euro...bad for us because it means..more moneey to exchange!!!

We arrived here from Krakow yesterday..after a 7 hour train journey which was HORRIBLE!!! Hot, stuffy, long...and just stifling.

When we got here we headed for our prebooked accomodation which is crap. No shower and toilet, dormitory style....and pretty basic. You should see the towel! It looks moer like a t-towel. Barely covers anything!!!!

But..it's cheap - 20 AUD a night sp whose complaining..(me!) OH well, we want to stay travelling for a while! (Today we found out we sold our shares...so we have more money to travel...YAY!)

What have we done so far? What have we seen? What have we learned? Who have we met? Where have we been? What..where..who..why.

What?

We listened to the rain this morning so slept in...and kept listening :-)

From when we first arrived...we've mainly eaten, slept, kept our eyes open...

Ok really. What have we done?

Well, last night..After walking around the the gorgeous river and Prague Old Town, which is beautiful, old, cobblestoned and ornate...we went for dinner at one of the little Czech restaurants and were shocked by all the extra inbuilt costs....

Extra tax, extra for the bread they served, extra for napkins we used plus a price for a tip was included in the bill..then there was a handwritten bit of paper requiring a tip...no go. Not twice. So we complained. Tipping isn't part of our agenda..for now. I guess we'll have to comply in America...!!!!

OK enuff whinging...we were lucky to find this out on the first night. Today...we ASK what's included before we order!

So we've had sandwiches......icecream from the yummy parlour here with the straccialata icecream..dangerous...and fruit from the market.

Culturally..we've been to the Sex Machines Museum!!!!! And the stuff they had there was quite amazing...we took pics..quite hilarious.

They had old machines....that looked more like torture devices. And some were for women..but they definitely would have been designed by men thinking that's what would be a pleasure for women. I won't go into specifics but if you think of sharp points, ridges, glass, steel, leather...you'll be venturing along the right track!

We watched an old black and white movie that was the first porn movie ever taken. It was made for the king of the time (early 1900's) and had maids, butlers and the so called woman and master of the house indulging in all sorts of acts.

Think Reubensian women....hehe

SO FUNNY and so explicit...the eroticism of the day is more graphic than anything we've ever seen!!!! And i'm not going to start explaining here what we've seen..but in Germany...normal tellie has some risque stuff!

TOnight we're going to see some Black Light Theatre which is tradional Czech theatre..so that should counterbalance what we've seen so far! haha

Prague is beautiful...the architecture is classical. And colourful. And arty. The buildings are so pretty! And considering it spans a thousand of years....and has a lot of history attached to it..it's ecclectic..and i guess the name "golden city of spires" would be very suitable because it is.

The clock in centra plaza is so beautiful...and obviously a tourist focal point...because it was quite honestly packed when we went to look at what the people at the hostel were talking about...apparently on the hour..the 12 apostles pop out!

We didn't see them pop out (of the second circle below that you can see in the pic above)..but we will because we're here for a few days and we do tend to spend a fair bit of time in the central market squares of the places we go to..just to get a feel of the place.

Met some interesting people at our accomodation already...young european people have such worldly compassionate views....and we like talking with them..we learn so much from their opinions and their experiences. They travel so much, unlike our young people who do travel, intermittently....they travel all their lives..everywhere being so close of course.

That's what i love about Europe...it IS so close to other countries. I guess historically and politically it's a bit clastophobic and a cause for takeovers but in this peace time..it's great travelling about here!

No doubt we'll see more of Prague and the coutryside..just wanted to let you know where we were..

HOpe all are well!

Love from us xxx

SOME PICS!!

These are some pics Silvia uploaded for us from our phone!! (Thanks SO much!!!!!)

My birthday pic!! Taken on the boat as we cruised down the River Danube towards Melk!











Greg and I still cruising!!!














The dancers and musicians at the Mozard and Strauss concert. This was the Blue Danube Waltz...

So beautiful..

LAST DAY IN KRAKOW

Day 167

National Polish Day.

Today we decided to look around Krakow!! A good thing to do seeing we've been here for a week!!!

And in that week we've have had 3 apartments in this week! From the first one being a luxury one with a bath..to the second one having our own kitchen to the one now that has a shared kitchen! Going down in the world..but it got considerably cheaper as we did go down..Poland, we've found, is SO cheap.

Our budget is well under!!!

The market square here is amazing. The biggest in Europe and so exciting. SO much going on...and after seeing the palace....and hanging around in the market square..we realised it was RED BULL AIR SHOW DAY!!!!

So..........what did we do?

Hung off the best spot up in Wawel Hill! For 3 hours!!!!

Here's a pic of the planes. (Thanks Silvia for uploading these from our mobile!)









Pretty cool hey.


Krakow has an beautiful old feeling...and we really felt it today as we strolled..we entered the old town through the Florien Gate and then walked down the main street, filled with national flags and banners..and into the main square...where St Mary's church overlooked the whole square.

There were heaps of jewellery made from Amber, the Polish stone, and i was SO tempted!! The lamp shade made from the amber..was exquisite..oh, i wish i could take that home!!!! (our adage: buy what you carry haunts me!)

The horse drawn carriages were everywhere..and the restaurants (restaurcja) were so colourful and smelt so yummy. We ended up stopping at a place that looked like a beer hall of Germany..and had vodka and red bull!! OF course!! The 'national' drink being vodka!!!!!! ANd because we were at the Air show sponsered by Red Bull (which is produced in Salzburg Austria) it was all half the price!!!!

We had chicken and saurkraut!!!!! Yummy! We were tryinng to get rid of our Zloty! which is the polish money (as we got out our usual and haven't spent hardly anything as we've been eating SOUP!)

Anyway...it was a great day..and a great way to end our stay here in Krakow!

Off to Prague tomorrow!!!!

xxx

AUSCHWITZ

Day 166

We ran to the bus AGAIN! Gosh we must be getting fit!!!!! I strode behind Greg and thought, again, as we got to the bus that my foot is just doing SO WELL! I really do think the more exercise i do, the better!

Anyway, this time the bus was to Oswiecim which is where Auschwitz is. It took us 2 hours to get there..and all the way i was wondering if it was going to be as bad as Dachau which was very depressing.

As we approached it struck me that the town is very beautiful. Picturesque. I guess you don't expect the Auschwitz area to look like that. This is the town they chose for Auschwitz because it was established and it was out of the city.

We got off the bus and walked up to the main building. There are two areas to Auschwitz. The Oswiecim which is KL Auschwitz 1 and Birkenau which is KL Auschwitz 11 which is the second camp known as part of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

We took the tour. It was for 3 hours.

And it was 3 hours of total repression. First of all we saw a film which outlined allt he atrocities that Hitler masterminded for Auschwitz. It showed personal stories..and i guess in a way it got everyone into the mood. The mood of total darkness.

The bus to the first camp we saw, Birchanau, which was 3km away from Oswiecim, felt like it must have been when the people came to the camps. Hot, cramped, repressed, fearful and like entering the unknown.

The political prisoners, the gypsies, the homosexuals, the soviet prisoners..and the Jews that came here must have really wondered what they were entering.

And to think..when the jews started coming, they were immediately put into the gas chambers...and cremated by their own people (who were later gassed as well).

The fear must have been horrendous.

This camp was in operation for 5 years during the war, from 1940 to 1945. IT was originally established for political prisoners and ended up becoming a death camp.

I couldn't believe how BIG the place was~! Birchanau was the second area to be built and it was just massive. The grounds were large and there were so many buildings...Men, women and children came and were gassed.

Rudolf Hoss was the commandant in charge. He was later hanged there for the war crimes he committed. We saw the noose.

ANd the one thing he did as a small compensation..is to allow the Polish Government to know what he thought (he wrote 'reminiscences' and in the trial outlined the terrible atrocities he performed)..and this helped them piece together what really went on.

Without the information he brought forward, and the 200 photographs a worker there (an SS worker) took, technical drawings that escaped destruction when the SS tried to destroy all evidence, artwork from prisoners and from the first hand experiences from the people who escaped or who were saved when the regime ended there would be lack of knowledge about what really went on.

Hitler was never truly found. They believe he was bombed in his headquarters..but now one really knows.

The pure crimes of morality that he committed were obscene.

And they were massive.

When we went back by bus to the main camp we saw evidence of what life must have been like for the people here. Who were eventually murdered. Some straight away, some after only 15 days of living there..and some after 2 years. Some were gassed, some starved to death and some died from torture and medical experiments. (which were prolific because the doctor, Mengler, like to conduct experiements which ultimately left the prisoners and children dead, for his research).

There were up to 1.5 million jews that were murdered at these premises. And thousands of others.

The evidence we saw were rooms full of photos on the walls..some that looked like they had been crying (apparently Germans got their photos taken and other prisoners did..until they stopped as there were too many)...

Rooms of hair..because they stripped the prisoners, cut their hair ready for a shower which in the end was where they were gassed...the hair was really spooky...there was so much of it. They kept it all..ready to recycle...and make into materials..

THere were shoes...thousands of pairs (they found 43,000 pairs after the war) of all sizes..children's...women, men...it was horrible.

And so many sets of shaving gear, toothbrushes...and there were suitcases just packed into rooms...that had glass in front so tourists could see. There were names on them..and the ages. Some only young....1 and 2 years old.

It just went on and on..the rooms..the pictures..the stories..the overpowering sense of loss..the devestation Hitler caused..the sense of sadness.

Huge sadness.

I cried. Others cried.

IT was an experience that had no real cause for lesson.

What could the lesson be...

That we have apathy for those who died..in the hands of a brutal murderer?

Some of the prisoners were tricked into coming to Auschwitz...when the Nazi's decided they wanted to exterminate ALL the jews in Europe..ie the Greeks and others, they were conned by the nazis to go to a better place (ie Auschwitz) and they paid for land...and took their best things with them, hoping for a better life, only to either die on the way there, from starvation as it took up to 10 days to get there...or they got there and were killed anyway..and robbed of their possessions. And even gold fillings from their teeth after they'd died.

Just a very sad loss of life of so many people.

IT was meloncholic and depressing, just as i thought it would be..but you know..i realised that it is still going on.

Look at Macabe in Zimbabwe?

Dictators..and politicans...ruling in the name of religion.

Why does it happen? Human nature and the cruelty?

Will it ever stop?

We arrived back late. With all of that weighing on our mind. We don't regret going..because it is part of history..and perhaps, upon reflection, the lesson to learn is..

Be aware. Never be ignorant. Keep your eyes and ears open.

And always keep learning.

And use the knowledge and wisdom for good somehow.

That's all we can do.

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WARSAW

Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw. This pic really doesn't do it justice!!!!












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Grrrr i just wrote the whole blog up for WARSAW..and it all got deleted! This computer is driving me crazy. Gmail isn't working either. All my emails are getting returned.

Not going to risk writing a heap to have it deleted so i'm writing a quicky, then off to bed!!!

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Day 165

WARSAW

Left apartment 7.30am after eating SOUP for breakfast.

Caught train from Krakow, took 3 hours. Spent an incredible day in Warsaw! Went on a tour with Olga for 4 hours. Learned all about incredible history including uprisals, demolition by Nazis in WW2 and Soviet takeover in 50's to the birth of the Solidarity movement to the wonderful age of democracy now.

Captivated by wonderful Palace of Culture and Science. Tallest building in Poland built in the Social Realism style. A gift from Stalin in 50's that was paid for by the Polish!

Learned a LOT of history here. The city has been rebuilt 3 times. It was 85% destroyed in WW2. *#*&&^ Nazi's!

Saw 3 real live bears in the city 'bear zoo', who sleep all winter and alert the city when it's Spring by waking up!

Vodka Factory (Poland's national drink!)

Admired and listened to Olga's story about Controversial monument called, "Four sleeping soldiers" (2 Russian, 2 polish soldiers that look asleep!) Controversial because it was given by the Russians in 50's due to their friendship and liason to be rid of the Germans but now Poland and Russia is at loggerheads due to the long Soviet power and influence here!

Saw where Roman Polanski's The Pianist was filmed.

Chopins monument in park with willows. NB Watch out for pianist, Rafal Blechacz who won 2005 Chopin recitals.















Visited Palace on the Water in beautiful Tazienki Park.

Stopped in Old Town and Praga District. (one district not destroyed in WW2)

Devoured Icecream at Golden Terraces Shopping Centre.

Left feeling the Polish in Warsaw are a resilient persevering bunch!

And glad it is summer now..with warm temperatures (hot in fact!) cause in winter it apparently gets to something like 30 below zero! Celcius!! WHOA!! Frozen streets...arrghh..horrible. I wear five layers when it starts getting to 15..above!

Arrived back home 11pm.

ATE SOUP!

SOUP!

Days 163 - 164

Krakow, Poland

Went back to Galleria and bought VEGES. HEAPS.

Made soup! Enjoying playing house in our apartment!

Then realised we had to change apartments so now we're busy trying to eat all the soup before we leave!!!!

Walked heaps. RAN to keep up with Greg! Gosh he's getting so fit he is striding when he's in a hurry..and i'm running along behind.

Realised my foot is made for running. How cool. 18 months ago i was told i'd never run again! (after 1st op). 12 months ago i was told i'd definately never run again. (after 2nd op).

Now lookatme......kimmeeeeeeeee hehehe (all thanks to these ortho shoes i have!)











So! Consequently, we're having a cracking time, as the Irish would say, in Krakow or Cracow as the signs say!

KRAKOW POLAND

The shopping Centre in Krakow! (Krakowska Galleria)


Day 163 1 zloty (PLN) = 2.3 AUD

Here we are! In Poland!!!

Took us 7 hours to get here and 3 passport control checks and 3 train ticket checks (leaving Austria, at Czech Republic border and arriving in Poland!)

Poland. A country surrounded by 7 others..amazing eh?

At first i thought it'd be really poor country..but now we've been here a bit longer, i realise it's quite upmarket. Greg came here in 2001 (To Gdansk where the shipping yards are and where the creation of Solidarity took place!) and he said it was COLD when he came...way below zero. Frozen in fact!

So for both of us..this is something quite different..it´s warm and not as oppressive as we both thought it would be!

Well, the main shopping centre is anyway! The Krakowska Galleria. It's like stepping into Paris! The other buildings surrounding it are pretty shabby and grey tho..and one thing i noticed is the bright red colours (red and white are the Polish flag colours) the women wear..and shiny...and also, people are carrying bunches of flowers around...hmm. And there are a lot of fruit and veg shops..ohlala.

Also, it's very quiet in the streets. It's like people are too scared to talk. People walk along very quietly. I remember i felt this in Antwerp (Belgium) as well. Seems civilised. I wonder if, here, people stay quiet out of habit..maybe it's been drummed into them not to speak for fear of recrimination or judgement.

After all that i've learned about the Nazi regime and the Russian takeover here in Poland..i just wouldn't be surprised if this is left over from then. It hasn't been that long since Poland has become a country out of fear.

Nevertheless, whatever the reason...the streets seem silent. Reminds me of robots walking around. OK. Not quite that bad but it did cross my mind! We must be such a rowdy bunch in Aus for me to notice such a contrast!

The train trip here to Krakow from Vienna was pretty crap...it squeaked and rattled all the way here. But after 7 hours (slow train!) we finally made it! Talk about being starving hungry once we arrived! Thank god for train stations...! (Honestly the train stations in Europe are like another city..all decked out with lots of cafe's and fruit marts and newsagents etc) It's great!

And our apartment is FANTASTIC!!!

So cheap. And clean. And big. We have our own kitchen and bathroom and it's half the price as the hotel we ended up in in Vienna..so we're very happy! Probably stay a day or two longer just to catch our breath and do some of our own cooking.

Today we went looking for a vege peeler....to build up our kitchen goods! hahaha

That's one thing...we dont have to buy much. Everything is here...as far as kitchen stuff goes..except the vege peeler!!!! (the last apartment in Vienna didn't have one either so i wonder what they use!)

So tonight..i'm going to cook up so many veges i think we'll probably burst. The one i made in Vienna lasted us two days...and we called it Goulash soup in honour of Hungary's "goulash soup"! (That isnt really typical hungarian..its just a tourist thing they cottoned onto!)

Might make this other dish as well...one i found in a Polish book from the tourist office. (where i am now!) It has flour, eggs and water mixed to make a dough and filled with cabbage....then blanched in water and shallow fried. It's called a pierogil. Sounds good eh.

Some of the other Polish foods in the book which look really good are kielbassa (sausage), Golabki (cabbage rolls), and a vegetable soup that has boiled eggs, dumplings and mushrooms. I'm getting hungry just looking at the pics!

Here's the doughy one below...apparently, according to the book, you can have cabbage or meat or make it a sweet one using dried fruit. Lots of room for variation. My type of recipe!


















Anyway, it's exciting thinking of doing our own cooking for a few days!

I'm in the Tourist office at the moment..so better go.

Hope you don't mind my grammatical and spellos in here...sometimes i'm in here so fast..that i don't have time to even think and i just have to splatt out the words and don't have time to edit...Mind you, every country has it's own spelling anyway, so somewhere in the world it has to be right!!! Ie Restaurant in Italian is ristorante..in Spanish it's Restaurante...in English it's Restaurant..and in Polish it's restaurancje!!!!!! Funny eh.

So sorry about the spelling at times...!!!!!

It's the bane of my life, not being able to edit!

I know i'm 'the teacher' as Andy reminds me...and I should be able to spell the words....like 'definitely'!!! But, I tell ya..'definately' looks so right!!!!!! I've probably been spelling it wrong for years! And i'm so pedantic usually about spelling...as my wonderful work colleagues can attest to...Caza Bob..and Suzie..hehe

Okies...enuff!

Going, going, gone.

PS Still trying to sell Telstra shares! Geepers.

PPS GO DOCKERS!!!!!! What legends they are.................................

BYE BYE AUSTRIA

Wine growing in Wachau region, Vienna, Austria Isn't it beautiful?



Day 162

Aww...we're leaving Austria tomorrow....

Such a beautiful place..and we loved having our apartment so we could cook up a storm (had a huge vege soup for 2 days) and loved everything about it.

For my birthday we went to the Wachau Region which was so lovely..and cruised on the blue Danube...ended up at Melk for lunch and looked through the Benedictine Abbey..got a bit waylaid on the way home when the freeway got shut due to an accident and we literally stopped for an hour and a half! Which meant we didn't have time to get back to our hotel in Vienna and get changed for the concert..aww.

The Mozart and Strauss concert was brilliant..so comical too..a real act. The musicians were modern and exciting!

It wasn't just the standard (sometimes boring) classical music..it was everything..an act with singers, musicians, dancers and plays and it was just great!!! The musicians played mostly Strauss and Mozart..but also Beethoven and Hayden as well.

The Blue Danube (Strauss) was my favourite...with the couple dancing the waltz...So beautiful...The whole concert was great...although it was hot..and at the same time it was thundering! There was lots of humour in the night as well..

It was so funny after when the people that were going to dinner got herded up ready to go..all the muscians and dancers were dressed in their normal gear and scambled to get outside like the rest of us!! I wonder if that's what Mozart and Strauss did in their day as well??? Weird to think hey...

The dinner after the concert was not so good! It ended up being really late...and we were tired...and in our clothes we'd been in since very early...in a place we didnt know because they led us from the concert to this remote restaurant (it was a dinner concert ticket) and so at midnight..we were eating dinner!

Then we had to get home.

And because we"d purchased a train, bus, ferry ticket all in one for 72 hours, we wanted to use that instead of using taxis (have only caught TWO taxis in our whole trip, once in Cape Town and once in Dublin!!)and so it became quite taxing. So to speak.

Catching trains at 1am in Vienna is not that much fun......there are some whacko's out and about that's for sure. But unlike when we arrived, because we knew better by now, we didn't have to pass the red light district to get to the hotel. We caught the metro train...then a tram. So it was better! (Looking on the positive side!)


It was LATE! By the time we got to bed...

Really late..later than i thought. Was about 2ish...geepers..and we had to get up early to go to Krakow in the morning!!!

But we knew we could sleep on the train so that was ok.

Still, it was great having my birthday in Vienna. Greg had his in Paris. I think the both of us will always remember them!

Was so weird though...cos i got a heap of birthday messages at about 6 - 7pm (Our time. Euro time) which meant it was about midnight in Perth......and i thought that didn't seem right! Something really happened with the mobile that day.....i also got messages that id already got...strange.

Was good tho..cos i ended up getting messages on my phone from everyone all day!! haha

So....off to Crakow...

BIRTHDAY IN VIENNA!!!

Day 161

Whooohhoooo!!!!

What a day!

Thanks for all your messages....theyve made my day!

Not sure if i can get on the net today´, to tell you all about it, as were busy all day..and tomorrow were off to Poland..so im making a space for it..to fill in later.

Love you guys...

xxxx

PS Vienna is such a cool place...yesterday we strolled around..looked at the museums (and there are heaps to choose from!!!) and ate sachertorte..and last night went to this beautiful garden restaurant and we had braterworst and saurkrat and Viener Snitzel and salat!!!! And we shared them both..typical Austrian food..and yummy! xx

Bratislava, SLOVAKIA

Day 159

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Beijing Olymics are on their countdown for 2008 Olympics - which starts at 8.08am on 08-08-08!!!! (Whats the Chinese lucky number????!!!)
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Bratislava, Slovakia

((((NB Slovakia was once part of Czech Republic..when SLovakia got sick of the Hungarian Domination after WW1..and became Czechoslovakia, then it separtated again, to become Czech Republic and SLovakia when the Hitler was about to take over Czech Rep just before the war...because SLovakia was fascist and had the leader that was pro Hitler) then it got taken over by the Russians and became communist..until the nineties when it finally became democratic! Ok, enuff of the history lesson!))))))

This morning we headed off to Bratislava in Slovakia. Its so COOL being able to visit countries that are so close. Vienna is a great base for doing that thats for sure...

This time, i was prepared. After going to Budapest and enduiring the 3 hour trip in a cramped bus, i took my front pack loaded up with a book, an apple, raincoat, and two bottles of water!! (got stuck in Budapest not being able to buy water as we only had Euros and no florin left after wed used all the money we exchanged at the border to buy lunch!).

And off we went...

Didnt read the book, didnt need to change money as Bratislava uses Euro as well as their own currency..and didnt need the raincoat until the end (it poured when we got back ´home´to Vienna!)

Bratislava is only about 60 miles from Vienna..but it still took about an hour and a half to get there, by the time we got picked up from the train station..and then herded onto another bus...and then counted and settled in...

But that was ok..there was heaps to see on the way. Still had to take our passports and got them stamped....(which we love cos we like to see all the stamps..little things amuse little minds!)...

Bratislava’s location is on the banks of the River Danube and was at the crossroads of ancient trading routes right at the heart of Europe in ancient times.

It became a meeting point of various cultures. It was the home of the Celts, the Romans, and the Slavs ...

The reign of Saint Maria Theresa is regarded as an important golden era in the city’s history.

She was crowned Queen of Hungary in St. Martin’s cathedral in Pressburg..just like the 10 other kings and 8 royal partners over the course of 300 years when Pressburg (or now Bratislava as it is now called) was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Was Funny, cos our tour guide said that Hungary still claims Maria Theresa as their saint..even though Bratislava (then Pressburg) has now become Slovakia!!!

Bratislava is one of the youngest capitals in Europe...and as i said, it used to be called Pressburg or Pozsony. It was actually one of the most important cities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during that period!

And it had a mixing pot of various nations and nationalities who lived together in peace and harmony.

The tour guide we had said that her grandparents were german and hungarian on one side..and italian and hungarian on the other side.

And they say that a true *Pressburgian* speaks four languages...Slovak, German, Hungarian and Mishmash. Even as recently as the 1980s you might have heard how older Pressburgians in the street would say a couple of words in German, a couple in Hungarian and a couple in Slovak all in the space of one sentence. Hence the mismash!

Also on the cafe bars and public buildings there were always three languages written so everone could understand!

That was until Hitler came along and ruined everything!!! After the war, 3 million Germans were sent home from SLovakia..leaving the country completely lost in culture and in skilled people so the country went downhill.

Our tour guide said her grandparents were allowed to stay because it was what they called a mixed marriage. Hungarian and German.

Imagine how the germans felt when they all had to leave??? Due to the Russians kicking them out! Their families were here for hundreds of years. Since the 13th and 14th centuries. And in one foul swoop, they had to leave and go back to Germany, all because of Hitler. Geepers. I really felt for them. Apprently there were 40% Germans living in Bratslava!!! Imagine 40% oe people leaving?? No wonder the economy suffered.

And apparently 43 of 47,000 jews died in Bratislava during WW2 due to a man who was pro Hitler and who was a priest, prime minister and president! He sold the names of all the jews to Hitler..and then Hitler killed them all.

When you think of it, Hitler ruined the name of all Germans. Throughout the world. Even today some people have a bad taste about Germans, associating it with Hitler....but when you go to Germany you realise how wonderful the people really are. We certainly found that out in Munich when we were there. And probably will when we go to Berlin as well. A city that i always associated with the war movies myself!

Anyway..thats the history of Bratislava.

Our experience there was quite wonderful. We had lunch at this gorgeous restaurant..and met this wonderful Swiss couple (from Lausanne where we stayed) who embarrassed us at the end by paying our bill!! ANd we heartily protested..but they insisted!! So generous! The man, who we didnt even know the name of...said he loved practising his english..and wanted to contribute to our travelling!!!

How nice was that!!!!???

Later, after discussing it between ourselves...Greg and i decided he was probably a rich swiss banker.......

Later..at the end of the day, we caught this fantastic catamaran back to Vienna..which landed us in the harbour..and of course....we didnt know where we were ..and how wed get back to westbanhof...

So we did what we do well.

We walked..along to Danube..until we found where we were....the only thing was..by this time..it was thundering and lightening..and clapping down with rain...

But it was kinda nice walking along in the rain...because it had been so hot and humid during the day..

Now to enjoy Vienna for another couple of days..

And of course...

Have my birthday here..my 45th! OUCH.

It will be a memorable day tho...birthday in Vienna...aww how romantic :-)

Ill tell you all about it after!!!!

Crikey..im getting OLD.

xxxx

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

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DOCKERS are champions!!!!! 124 to Eagles 97!!!))))) What heros!!!!! hehehe
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Chain Bridge, Budapest


Day 158

Budapest, Hungary

Weve been in Vienna for 3 days now..

We ended up getting to see Freuds House which was as revealing as i thought it would be! Certainly learned a lot of history and info about him and his also psychoanalst daughter Anna...was great!

We saw the Palace, cathedrals (of course, they feature in every European city!!!) Parliament House..and all those things...

And have just generally enjoyed this casual, relaxed town. There seems to be an acceptance of gays and everyone really...

Talking about that...we had two jewish gays sharing our apartment.....was funny really. Scullcapped lovers. Ok...enough said. Our apartment consists of 3 rooms with a shared kitchen..and its really cosy. We love it...but unfortunately, it was booked out so weve had to book into another place for 3 more nights...

Anyway, back to Budapest..and ive got to be quick because after travelling 3 hours there and having the day there..and travelling 3 hours back..and it being 8.30pm now and next to me i have someone with a grumblinlg tummy!!!!!! (And scowling face!) haha

Budapest was interesting.

We went in a little mini bus with 2 other couples, a Romanian couple who live in Israel, and a couple from Lisboa, Portugal and a girl from Hong Kong. Eclectic bunch again. And fun.

We also had a driver who went 150km an hour there and back!!! NO KIDDING! We all wore seatbelts! And the guy next to me was gripping the front seat when the driver was skidding behind the vehicles in front. We didnt tip him.

We had to show our passports (and get them stamped) at the Austrian Hungarian border..and wait for an hour in the line up (another good reason to make it a long day...before we finally got there.

Now the most interesting thing about it, is that it used to be called Buda and Pest. Two separate cities!!! Buda is the old part of the city. And Pest is the new part. In 1849 a bridge called the Chain Bridge which is quite a spectacular chain bridge joined the old Buda to the new Pest and together the cities united and became Budapest. It is now the most famous bridge in Hungary and represents its freedom.

Apparently the Nazis blew it up during the WW2 war to stop the Russians and they had to rebuild it later!

We learned that the Russians occupied Hungary until 1989 when the last soldiers left. After this the society became more democratic with the socialist democrats being in power now. Very much better than the communist takeover we were told. And now they can have freedom of speech. Wasnt that long ago hey..that they were still controlled by communism.

Learn something new everyday huh?

Another thing too...was the Turkish influence. Apparently when the Turks took over, centuries before..they bowled over all the buildings..and never really rebuilt any..so theres only a bit of a Turkish influence. More history. Interesting to us, but could be a bit boring to you, unless you love history! (which we are more and more and more.........................).

There were so many coffee houses in Budapest as well...which sell the famous goulash, which Greg and i tried in the way of a soup! With paprika...very nice, but not exactly what we thought the traditional goulash was! (meat stew) And we were told Goulash is really a beef and potato and paprika stew so us feeling ripped off by being served a soup was justified!

Went into St Stevens Byzantine Cathedral and...saw his HAND. It was actually encased in a shrine......i dunno, i just cant work out the reverence towards a hand..but i hope im not being sacriligious or anything but i guess him being a saint made it a godly hand? Or the hand of God? Or Gods right hand man...or maybe, as Greg says, it puts a whole new meaning to talk to the hand...?

In Instanbul they had John the Baptists hand encased there too...

Anyway enough of that..! Handy as it was.....hehe

Oh yeah..and this is HUGE.

When you enter Budapest.....and go into the old part...Buda.....there is a MASSIVE WALL surrounding the whole old town. Its amazing. We had to actually go up to the wall, and climb up stairs to get into the town!!! Greg says theres probably a roman fort underneath it!!!! As there has been in every other old city that was formerly part of the Roman Empire!!!!!

But that was awesome. Ive never seen such a wall. Completely surrounded it..and the palace. And it was about 15m high. Amazing really.

We bought our customery post card, and took our million pics! Gosh i hope we know whats what when we get home, weve been taking about 2000 pics a month!!!

We thought of an idea!

Inviting you guys to come and see our pics...

But then we thought youd be there for a year looking at them all..and you know what its like when people go on holiday and want to show you their pics..and youre thinking...ok but lets just get to the drinking and eating part of the night! haha

Thats an idea. Well bribe you with drink and food so we can carry on about our pics.

No, we wont put you through that!

Time to go, were famished.

Ciao xo

VIENNA AUSTRIA

Day 156

Vienna Austria

After weaving our way through the red light district (no kidding..there were so many prostitues and sex shops on our way) to find our prebooked accomodation we finally got settled in our little apartment here in Vienna! We arrived at almost midnight after enjoying our day in Salzburg.

And its gorgeous here...! We have a kitchen which were sharing with 2 other rooms...and a big room with our own table...and weve settled in for a week.

This is the home of Strauss and where Mozart spent a lot of his time composing and performing. Its a cultural marketplace!!! We love it!!!

And somehow its so relaxed. People are elegant somehow. And move in an unhurried way. Even as we sit here in the Internet cafe were listening to Mozart...how much better can we get!?

The pubs are colourful and furnished in baroque. There are heaps of museums and art gallerys here.

And..there is Sigmund Freuds house to visit. He lived most of his life here in Vienna, from a child. And his house is open to the public and shows some of his research and background. When we were studying we learned all about this nuerologist and psychiatrist..and ´father of pychoanalysis´ and his theories on respression, sexual desire, the unconscious mind dreams and transference so itll be interesting to see his house.

And what better place to spend my birthday...on the river Danube...against the backdrop of the Austrian Alps...listening to one of Mozarts concerts....eating Viennese food...Oohhhh....

So thats it. Weve made this our new home! And have already stocked the pantry (on top of our big table in our room) with our fresh veges and fruit from the supermarket! And have put our clothes in the wardrobe!

And crikey, its almost 9pm and here we are....on our computers...and starving! So were off to cook our veges...

Nighty nights...xxxx

SALZBURG, AUSTRIA - Sound of Music!

Day 155

Salzburg, Austria (home of Red Bull!)

This is the place where the Sound of Music was made..and the home of Mozart!

We left Munich pretty early, on the train, and headed back to Austria. This time to Salzburg for the day..on the way to Vienna.

We met some interesting people on the train on the way to Salzburg too. A German teacher from the US and an English couple who were both from England (and teachers too!). We learned a lot, because as we all know, teachers love to talk!!!!!

And i didnt get a word in edegways. Obviously been out of teaching too long. But as they say. We have 2 ears for listening and one mouth for talking. So thats what Greg and I did. Listened...to their stories. About being robbed in Brussels (now we know why they kept telling us on the loud speaker to watch for pick pockets on the train in Brussels!) And also about what to do in Salzburg.

We took the German teachers ideas about tours and where to go to see Mozarts house and headed for the tourist centre and booked a Sound of Music tour.

And ohhh...the hills came alive with the Sound of Music!!!!! We saw all the spots where the Von Trapp family lived...(true story - Von Trapp family were very well known here in Austria) and where Maria lived in the Abbey and where they got married in the chapel..and where Leisel had her first kiss in the gazebo..

Heard lots of stories..and why the Austrians havent heard of The Sound of Music (because there were issues with it being in English and the lack of copyright of their German Edition meant that the English could use the story themselves)...

Anyway, the positive outweight the negative...and we enjoyed the nostalgia of it all!

And while we toured the Austrian Alps we listened to the music. IT was a a wonderful 4 hours! We also had apple struedel, an Austrian delight......Yummo!

And..we went up the alps..and slid down on a snow toboggan..that was a surprise...it was so steep..and exhilarating!! But..we had so much fun! I reckon i could skydive no worries!!!! hahahaha

After we got back we headed to Mozarts house, where he was born and lived for 26 years and we listened to the Magic Flute music...



Mozarts Home for 26 years!











So gorgeous. Lovely day.

Thought a lot of Mum...she would have absolutely love it.

FAIRYTAIL CASTLE GERMAN ALPS

Day 154 (FIVE MONTHS AWAY TODAY!!!!!)


Neuschwanstein Castle (said: new swan on stone castle)

Today was the day we decided to go and realise our fairtales!

We went to Neuschwanstein Castle which is Ludwig´s fairytail castle and also the castle that was the inspiration behind Walt Disneys Sleeping Beauty...and also the castle that featured in Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang!

And what a story surrounding this castle. Ludwig 11 was quite the character. He was apparently gay and died of a mysterious death (they found him floating in the river when he was only 35!)

But anyway...about the castle!

Its about 2 and a half hours from Munich (the train ride was beautiful as we approached the Bavarian or German Alps though!) and ohhhh when you see the castle you become quite breathless.

And just when i was thinking nothing could impress me anymore. Well this did. Its SO GORGEOUS! See the picture above??? Nestled against the German Alps?

Isnt it just amazing.

Its the most wonderful castle ive ever seen thats for sure and weve seen a few lately!!!

It took about half an hour to climb up to it..sloping upwards all the time...but once we got up and inside it was just INCREDIBLE.

Gawd....Ludwig knew how to design and decorate a place thats for sure. It was just so pretty and artistic and not just something youd get blown away just because of its grandeur but its something that is actually BEAUTIFUL.

The highlight and hence the name of the castle, was also the beautiful swans in the castle. He had swan drawings, replicas, and swans everywhere..even on the chandaliers! And they were tasteful and mirroed their gracefulness and elegance.

I could have stayed forwever looking at the designs in the castle. And the paintings, and the floors and decorated ceilings. And Greg was impressed by the doors (he LOVES doors!!!!)....gosh...it had everything!

There were only 18 rooms out of a planned 100 that were finished. And they were pretty much devoted to his love of Richard Wagner. The muscian. He even build a singers hall and a cave just so he could watch Wagner and other muscians come and perform for him.

Apparently he was such recluse that he planned to watch from his cave! ANd the cave was something else..it really was a cave in a castle!

This castle was a real highlight of being in Munich i tell ya...it was such an effortto get there (five hours of train travel and 10kms of walking) but it was so worth it..the lakes were so beautiful, the valleys, the waterfalls and valleys...

A fairytale castle in a fairytale setting for sure...

And Mum, you are right, since Switzerland, weve been in the land of the fairytales! The scenery in Switzerland, Austria and Germany are just so .. magical.

This area, because its full of swans on the most glassy and mirrory lakes, is apparently also the very place where Tschaikovskz was inspired to write The SWAN LAKE too.

Sooooo beautiful......

Its a fitting way to end our last night in Munich, Bavaria.

Were sort of looping in and out of Germany and Austria for the next couple of weeks and depending on what the weather is like tomorrow, we´ll be in either one or the other of the countries...

Europe is SO COOL the way you can get around hey? !!

Gosh! Travelling is FUN!

DACHAU - THE RESULT OF HITLERS POWER

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Day 153

DACHAU

Dachau is the gruesome result of Hitlers rise to power. Its a building which is a concentration and extermination camp. It was the first built concentration camp and is about 15kms west of Munich. And just to clarify, as our guide also did, Hitler was Austrian. He was not German.

We caught a bus to Dachau with a small group and it ended up being a long sobering day. Ive read the history books, watched the documentaries, and grown up knowing about the callous acts of Hitler but it was going to Dachau that really cemented my view about how inhumane he really was.

Our guide for the day turned out to be a young woman who had Russian parents and grew up in Israel. She is jewish.

Her first hand view may have certain bias but going to Dachau, seeing the camp, reading the stories and realising the evidence made this place more than a death camp. It was a memorial for all those who were sent here under the pretence of being ´protected´. Hitler called it a Protection Camp. People were sent there during the years of building up his so called Workers Pary, the Nationist Socialist Party. Or in reality, simply, the Nazi Party.

If a person opposed the party`s beliefs they were sent there.

The first prisoners were political opponents of the Nazi regime. Thez were the communists, social democrats, trade unionists and occasionally members of conservative and liberal political parties.

The first Jewish prisoners were also sent to the Dachau concentration camp because of their political opposition.

In the following years new groups were deported to Dachau: these included homosexuals, gypsies, members of the Jehovah's Witness, and priests. There are pictures at the camp to reflect all these groups.

In the wake of the so-called Reichskristallnacht ("The Night of Broken Glass"), more than 10,000 Jews were sent to the Dachau concentration camp.

The amazing thig is, this camp was built before the onset of WW2. It was constructed in 1933 in readiness. Hitler had a plan laid out. This was the beginning of a terror system in Dachau that cannot be compared with any other state persecution and penal system.

From 1938 onwards, the Nazi movement became directed against other European countries and this was reflected in the prisoner groups within the camp. Austrian prisoners were deported to Dachau. Prisoners from the Sudeten German areas followed. In 1939 came the Czech prisoners.

And after the start of the war more prisoners from Poland, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France etc.

The German prisoners eventually were less and less. The largest national group was formed by the Polish prisoners, followed by prisoners from the Soviet Union.

Originally the prisoners were used for slave labour, building roads etc and later it became a death camp.

Overall, more than 200,000 prisoners from more than 30 states were imprisoned in Dachau.

In the movie we watched it said there were 30,000 recorded deaths at Dachau.

And besides the 30,000 recorded dead, thousands of prisoners who were not registered lost their life at the Dachau concentration camp.

They died of starvation, disease, exhaustion, degradation, from blows, and by torture; they were shot, hung, and killed by injections.

The medical experiments were horrendous. A doctor called Rauchen did medical experiments on the prisoners..including altitude experiments and malaria tests. They died after these experiments.

We also saw the gas chambers which were not in use at Dachau as they already had so manz dzing there. It was a model for other places like Auschwitz.

IN all, it was a quite depressing day, but it was an experience we were glad to have because we realised how real it all was, how horrific mankind can truly be, and how atrocities have happened and do happen, that are not in our control.

We left there wondering if we should go to Auschwitz as planned....

We´ll deal with that once in Poland.

It is truly real life at its worst.

And i guess, we are so lucky we were not part of it.