European Vacation

In my travels I've been privledged enough to see some beautiful cities in Europe and Prague can proudly take its place in that list. It's very easy to fall in love with the city for both its beauty and charm!

My train trip from Dresden to Prague was pretty uneventful, although the German Border Guard did seem to study my passport rather intensely for an extended period of time to the point where I began to worry (as passport photos go it's not the best, but it does look like me- maybe on one of my bad days, but me nevertheless!). The only negative aspect of arriving in Prague by train is the station. I've seen quite a few train stations in my time but this must be one of the dirtiest and seediest! It didn't help matters that I had arrived at 8.30pm and it was already dark. To make things even more interesting was the fact that I couldn't work out which exit I had to take as the signs (if there were any) are all in Czech- a language which I understand as well as Polish- zero!

Nevertheless, I did manage to find my way to the hostel although the advertised 10 minute walk took me about 30 minutes after I had walked around in a circle twice (had I walked around a third time I think the taxi driver who kept asking me whether I wanted a lift would have driven me for free!) and up a steep hill (one which I found out I didn't need to climb). Oh well, I figure it was a good opportunity to walk off the extra kilo's I've put on in my time here in Europe with all the beer!

The day after I arrived in Prague I did a day trip to a town called Kutna Hora which is about 1 hour outside of Prague. It's a beautiful little town with, yes you guessed it, another church. This however isn't just any old church. It's claim to fame is that the church is decorated with human bones. After the plague, the town was running out of room for all the bones so the Monks decided to stack them into four pyramids in this little church. As I have seen the Catacombes in Paris where the bones of a couple of million people are located, the bone pyramids made up of about 40 000 people didn't impress me that much, I must admit. What is impressive about the church is that some ingenious person decided that this was all rather too boring and so decided that what the church needed was a Chandelier made of human bones, and alas, that's what he made...

If that piece of furniture isn't bizarre enough, there is also a family coat of arms inside the church made of human bones- just what every good, noble family needs!

My second day in Prague, two of the girls I was hanging around with in Berlin came to Prague for the weekend. One of their flatmates was involved in a modern art exhibition being held in Prague so we ended up getting free accomodation for the weekend. The exhibition was being held in a building in the Prague Markets (similar to Paddies Markets in city but not undercover) and we could sleep above the exhibition space in one of the empty rooms. We had a mattress each and of course our sleeping bags and given that it was for free couldn't complain (although I wasn't a fan of the cold shower I must admit!) We ended up having a great weekend and managed to squeeze in quite a bit of sightseeing and partying. I did enjoy hanging around the different artists who were exhibiting their works although it was a little bit of a culture shock at first- they were certainly a lot more alternative than the industrial relations people I'm used to! If they weren't permanently stoned they certainly acted that way!

The old town of Prague is absolutely beautiful and reminded me a little of Florence due to the many cobblestone laneways and cafe's. As prices go it's also great going out in Prague as alcohol is much cheaper than in other parts of Europe (and cigarettes for that matter which answers the next question- yes I'm still smoking!). Unfortunately, we kept being told by locals to be careful where we go so as not to get ripped off as, according to them, there seems to be one menu for locals (in Czech) and one menu for tourists with the tourist menu being quite a lot dearer than the local menu. I can't say whether that is true and I'm willing to give the locals the benefit of the doubt that they don't try to rip you off though we did end up walking out of one cafe as the beer there was three times as much as we'd paid everywhere else (and yes, that menu was only in English!)

Unfortunately I can't upload any photos from Prague at the moment as this internet cafe won't let me so you'll have to wait until I get back (if I don't finish the blog now, I'll probably never get around to it!). All in all I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Prague and would recommend it as a destination to anyone, whether their interest is the culture, nightlife, shopping or architecture. The opportunity to walk from the castle, over Charles bridge to the old town is truly magical!

Well, now I'm up to date with my blog again. Currently I'm in Munich to spend a last couple of days with my Nan before I fly out to London on Tuesday. From there I fly to New York on Friday and in less than two weeks (!) I'll be back home and my 'little' trip through Europe will have come to an end! Not long now!

Unfortunately I don't have too much to write on Leipzig and Dresden, not because they weren't beautiful cities, but because I only spent one night each in both of them. After my lively time in Berlin I took the train to Leipzig which is only a couple of hours south.

Leipzig is one of the larger cities in the old East Germany and is often remembered fondly as the city of heroes. The reason for this is that the demonstrations which ultimately led to the fall of the Berlin Wall began in this city in the summer of 1989 and spread throughout the GDR. The old town of the city is quite beautiful but currently cluttered with one construction site after the other (as seems to be the story for most of the monuments in Europe!) For this reason I didn't take too many photos as I can report, scaffolding looks the same the world over!

I did however find a couple of interesting buildings which have been decorated with a lot of love and care- not necessarily the most artistic of pictures, but they certainly stand out in the otherwise concrete jungle that is Leipzig...

Again, my time in Dresden was very limited but certainly enjoyable. Dresden was almost destroyed at the end of WWII by the allied bombings. The carpet bombing which flattened most of the city has often been critised because of the fact that much of the destruction occured when Germany was almost defeated. Regardless of which side of the argument you agree, it is amazing to walk through the old town and see the entire area beautifully restored.

In fact, some of the restoration is actually quite recent. For example, the Church of Our Lady (pictured below) was only completed in 2004. The original church was left in complete ruins at the end of WWII. After the war, the Russians and the GDR Government left the ruins as a memory to the war. It was only after reunification that the decision was made to rebuild the church to how it was before the war.

As the photo might show, there are areas of the church which are darker than the rest. These darker blocks are from the original building, the rest of the blocks are new.

I would have liked to spend a little more time in Dresden as there is quite a lot I didn't get to see, or what I did see I saw in darkness (the problem with European Autum/Winter, it starts to get dark at about 3.30pm!). Then again, there's always next time! :-)

Throughout my travels across Europe, I hadn't found any city which, on a whole, left as much of an impression on me as London had. Granted, London isn't the most beautiful city I've seen, nor the cleanest, but one I fell in love with regardless. It was the buzz in the city that I enjoyed, along with the chaos and the sheer number of people from all corners of the globe. Nevertheless, London, for me at least, has found it's match in Berlin!

I found Berlin to be a truly amazing city not only for its history but also its culture, atmosphere, variety and of course the nightlife! It should be no wonder then that my blogging seemed to stop and I'm now having to play catch up!

The history of Berlin is shaped by a series of dramatic events as we all know and of which you are constantly reminded when there. It was in Berlin that Hitler came to power in 1933 and met his own death via suicide after forever tainting Germany's history and creating some of the most indescribeable horrors that the world has seen. At the end of World War II, Germany was defeated and Berlin in ruins. The dawn of the Cold War then saw Germany and Berlin divided into east and west. This division was reinforced in the most extreme way possible by the creation of the concrete border which not only encircled East Berlin, but also East Germany (GDR).

Given my interest in WWII and the Cold War, I enjoyed not only walking through the city, but also visiting the different museums and monuments relating to those periods (and it was a nice change from the art galleries and churches I seem to keep visiting in my travels!)

One of the most significant buildings in Berlin is the Reichstag which is the house of parliament. I braved the crowds and had a look at the dome of the Reichstag. The Reichstag itself is a building which, like many aspects of Belrin, has seen its fair share of controversy. It was set secretely alight by the Nazis in 1932 who blamed it on the Communists and used the fire to gain political advantage through the creation of fear which ultimately saw Hitler attaining full power. When the Russian's took over Berlin at the end of WWII, the total defeat of Germany and the end of the war in Europe could not have been more dramatically signified than when Russian soldiers hoisted the Russian flag on top of the Reichstag. After Germany was reunited, the Reichstag was renovated and the Parliament again returned to Berlin.

What draws the crowds to the Reichstag these days is the huge glass dome that was installed as part of the renovations. Regardless of whether it rain, hails or shines, you normally have to wait for about 1.5 hours to get inside (not much fun in the best weather, but unfortunately I managed to pick the coldest day I experienced in Berlin for this adventure!)

After the Dome was finished some people criticsed it as not fitting in with the rest of the building but I quite liked the dramatic difference between the building and the dome. You can walk up a series of ramps inside the dome to have an amazing view over Berlin and the Brandenburg Gate. Also, when inside the dome, the inverted pyramid made of glass and mirrors is also fascinating to look at...

Just near the Reichstag is the Brandenburg Gate. During the period of the Berlin wall, the wall stretched along just in front of the gate which meant that it was left standing in no man's land with neither east nor west Berliners being able to reach it. Now, it's impossible to get a picture of it without a large number of tourists also being in the shot. I thought it was rather amusing to find out that the statue on top of the gate also has quite an interesting history and hasn't always faced in the direction it does now. After the Berlin wall was built, the GDR Government had the statue turned around as it didn't want it to face into West Berlin. They also replaced the emblem on the pole held by the statue to a hammer and sickle in true Soviet style. After the fall of the wall the statue was then turned around again to its original position and the hammer and sickle were also replaced.

Yet funnily enough, that's not the only thing that's been moved around in Berlin. At the other end of the avenue which ends at the Brandenburg Gate is a giant column with a golden victory angel on top of it. I'm not sure how high the column is but you can climb the stairs to the top and let me tell you from personal experience, I could feel everyone of the 268 steps it took! Originally the column was in a different location but Hitler didn't like that location so had the entire monument moved.

Right near the Brandenburg Gate is the Holocaust Memorial which consists of a large number of grey columns of different heights.

It's an interesting memorial not least because architecturally it's quite stricking to look at but also because if you didn't know that it served as a Holocaust memorial you'd have absolutely no idea what its purpose was.

Only a few hundred metres from the Holocaust memorial is the location of where Hitler's bunker was during WWII. You could easily miss the significance of the location as the only thing that lets you know what used to be there is a board on the footpath which has been erected in front of the apartment complex which now uses the site. (I`d love to know whether they highlight the history of the site when selling apartments- would that increase or decrease the price?)

Walking through the city I couldn't help but wonder what it must have looked like after the war, or even during the period of the Berlin Wall. While Berlin's history certainly is dramatic, it's good to see that it doesn't try to sweep it under the carpert but will confront it. For example, some buildings in the area of Berlin which used to be the old Jewish quarter have metal plates placed in front of the buildings. These plates state the names of the Jewish families who used to live in the apartments before they were deported to the concentration camps.

It is also interesting to see how some of the buildings have been recycled. For example, the building which used to function as the Gestapo headquarters during WWII (the Gestapo having been the much feared secret police of the Nazis) now houses a Government department similar to the taxation office- tax evasion in Germany is still treated very seriously!

As I walked around I also couldn't help trying to figure out whether I was in the old east or west Berlin. The actual path of the wall is marked by two rows of red bricks which trace their way through the city, so that was easy enough to look for. In different parts of the city they have left sections of the wall as a reminder. The largest section is called the East Side Gallery and stretches for about 1km. I must admit it was a rather surreal feeling to walk along the wall and think about what it must have been like to have been fenced in like that.

When you're away from the actual location of the wall the easiest thing to do is look at the traffic lights, or more specifically, the pedestrian crossings as the men were different in the east than they were in the west or what we're used to.

Although it has now been 17 years since the fall of the wall and the reunification of Germany, you still notice the division in the people not only in Berlin but all over Germany. I ended up spending much of my time in east Berlin basically because the people I had met all seemed to live there and I found the best bars there also! (Really, what other reason do I need?). When I spoke to the Berliners I had met, most of whom came from the GDR, it was interesting to find out that they hardly ever ventured into the western parts of the city and that many of them would not consider living there. Then again, I know of enough people who live in the inner west of Sydney who consider taking a packed lunch for any trip of the Bridge so maybe Berliners aren't that unique after all!

Due to the reunification and the fact that the GDR was not as advanced as West Germany, considerable amounts of money have had to be pumped both into East Berlin and East Germany. While this may not be the only reason for it, but the reality is that Berlin as a city is broke. This has led the mayor to declare that Berlin is 'arm, aber sexy' which means that it's poor but sexy. As could be expected, this has now been printed on anything from T-Shirts to placemats and I guess, in its own way, has led to money coming back into the purse- at least for the shopkeepers selling them by the dozens to the tourists!

I did get a chance to visit a family apartment in a suburb of East Berlin which is about a 15-20 minutes train ride from the centre of town. When I was there I got a better understanding of differences that still exist between the two areas when looking at the streets and the concrete rendering falling off, or having fallen off, large sections of the walls to expose the bricks underneath. Even now there are still buildings in the easter parts where you can see bullet marks from WWII.

During the GDR era shops often did not have enough stock to meet the demand. For example, the average waiting period for a Trabant which was the make of car produced in the GDR was 16 years! Going into a shop and simply buying what you wanted wasn't as easy as it seems as most of the time there simply wasn't enough (or any) stock. Secretaries often only worked half a day as there wasn't any paper on which to type on in the afternoon.

Yet lack of goods was not the only problem of the GDR probably just as big a problem, or possibly even worse, was the amount of secret surveillance that was carried out by the secret police, the Stasi. I did find a funny example of the Stasi gone mad, in my mind, in the Stasi museum. The Stasi had secret agents who would work in the Post Office. These agents were put in place to screen the mail that was being sent and received by GDR citizens. In the Museum, they have a stack of postcards on display which people had tried to send to the GDR. For whatever reason, these were considered inappropriate and never arrived. But, never missing an opportunity to make money, the stamps on these postcards would be cut out, sold back to a West German company who would remove the stamps and resell them. Recycling gone mad if you ask me!

Then again another extreme example of recycling are the remains of a train station in Berlin. The Anhalter Bahnhof as it's called, was left largely untouched by WWII and from the pictures looked quite beautiful. Nevertheless, in the 1950's, someone needed bricks and made an offer on those in the train station. The price must have been right because they blew it up to reuse the bricks and now the only thing left is the front!

Well, I'd like to say that Berlin was simply about the history of the city and museums but I'd be lying. There certainly was quite a lot of partying also! (Made for a nice change from the rest of my Europe trip! :-)). Whatever it is that your after, chances are you'll find it in Berlin. Dad and I managed to see Cabaret (as made famous by Liza Minelli) one night he was there and a musical cabaret-style show another. I also went to see some live music which was also great. And then of course there were the bars and the clubs and what fun they were. I did go to one amazing party which was being held in an abandoned villa. It seems like this house holds parties every couple of months. All they've done is installed a couple of bars, hooked up some lights and thrown in some old chairs and pretty much nothing else. The wallpaper hangs off the walls and the paint has faded to almost nothing but it was an awesome venue and great party (And yes, it was perfectly legal).

Then again, this isn't so out of the ordinary for Berlin. There is also a large squatting culture in Berlin where artists simply move into abandoned or empty buildings and set up shop. Some of these buildings will then hold art exhibitions or dance parties. It seems that the Government will either turn a blind eye and let them live there, or they will require them to pay some marginal amount of rent. If the building is needed, or it is being torn down, the squatters will either try to make the arrangement more legal to remain there, or they simply move on to another one!

Well, all in all I had a great time in Berlin and yes, there are more stories but none which I'll share at this point in time! ;-)

Well, I know I've been slack with updating my blog but there was just too much fun to be had in Berlin!! But I'll get to Berlin in my next blog (which won't be too long away, promise!)I didn't realise that I hadn't updated the blog for my stay in Warsaw which by now seems like a lifetime ago!

My trip from Krakow to Warsaw certainly was a lot more confusing and stressful than I thought it would be (then again, who was I kidding given the fact that I don't speak the language!) It started off innocently enough with me arriving at the train station in Krakow, wanting to buy a ticket. As I can't read Polish, I just picked one counter from a selection. I was greeted by a rather stern looking woman who spoke not a word of English. I said hello in Polish with, I admit, a little bit of pride for being able to pronounce it(pronounced jen-doo-bri, or at least that's the way I pronounce it!). I then asked for one ticket to Warsaw with the aid of hand signals. This was met by a confused look and her reply of "Warszawa?". I replied yes by furiously nodding my head and smilling. She wrote down the price of 81.00 zloty at which time I proceeded to give her my money, she muttered something which sounded as if she was coughing up a furball while simultaneously drowning. I looked at her confused and then thought that maybe I needed to give her the correct money which I proceeded to do. This again was met with the same reply only this time louder (why is it that when you don't speak the language and don't understand, they simply increase the volume? Nothing like making someone feel all the more intimidated!). She also proceeded to point somewhere in the vague direction of the platform. I then remembered that when I had taken the train from the airport I had to pay onboard so I made the comment "train?" to which she simply kept pointing to the platform, getting all the more annoyed with my lack of Polish.

So, I proceeded to board the train with the understanding that it was the custom to purchase the tickets on the train. After having finally found a seat on the crowded train I was then kicked out by a family who had reserved the seats. At this stage I was getting a little concerned about the fact that they had reserved a seat (or they simply bullied me into moving being the foreigner I am, either scenario is likely!) and I didn't even have a ticket yet. I could see myself getting arrested for fare evasion and being thrown out of the country (a little exaggerated maybe, but you never know!).

When the ticket conducter finally came around and didn't throw me off the train or give me a huge fine I was quite relieved. Yet, I'm still not sure whether it was all above board. See, when I had checked on the internet the previous night, it also said I had to pay 81.00 zloty, just like the lady at the train station. The conductor on the otherhand only charged me 50.00 zloty. After I spoke to people in the hostel, I realised that I was the only one who had been charged less by purchasing the ticket on the train.

Regardless of all the drama on the train, I had arrived but unfortunately realised that I should have visited Warsaw before visiting Krakow. I had fallen in love with Krakow but couldn't share the same feelings for Warsaw. Instead, I found Warsaw cold and lacking a certain atmosphere.

When you walk through Warsaw, you have to remember that after the second World War, 85 percent of the city was destroyed! The old town square as seen in the photo below, was reconstructed after the war based on the previous photos.

Given that fact, it is amazing to walk through the city and see these old beautiful buildings and realise that in reality, most of them aren't actually that old. The near total destruction of Warsaw was caused by four main reasons being the Nazi invasion, the retaliation by the Nazi in response to the Warsaw uprising, their further retaliation and liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto and the final street fighting before the Russian's arrived.

There are two main memorials to both uprisings. The photo below is of the memorial to the hereos of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. This uprising was fought by Jews who had been interned in the ghetto prior to its final liquidation. The memorial is situated in the middle of the suburb where the Warsaw ghetto stood and it is amazing to look around the memorial and see lots of apartment buildings which had been built after the war.

Unfortunately, as the photo might show behind the memorial, in addition to some beautifully restored buildings, Poland and especially Warsaw is also littered with rather dreary looking concrete apartment complexes. I was speaking to someone from Poland who explained that the reason why many of these buildings are so bland is the fact that due to the large scale destruction and the severe housing shortage, accomodation had to be created quickly and thus they've stayed.

The picture below is of the memorial to the Warsaw uprising. This was fought by Poles who lived outside the ghetto and also crushed by the Nazis. The sad thing is that the Russian's who were very close to Warsaw at the time and who could have aided the Poles to defeat the Nazis, for political reasons chose not to and thus the Nazis retaliated against the Polish fighters and not only killed them but destroyed so much of the city.

It is maybe this fact of history, and the Russian involvement after the war that cause most Poles, or at least residents of Warsaw, to consider the building below an eyesore! I don't consider it an ugly building as such, just a kind of building that you expect to be built in the Stalin era when it was!

All in all, I'm glad I went to Warsaw because of its history, though it wasn't a city I could really warm to! Berlin however is a totally different story but one I will have to save for another day (soon to come I promise!). It's rather too early in the morning to get into it now and I'm going to bed! So, I hope this blog has made sense, if not, it is not because of alcohol (yes, I have had some soberish days on my travels!) but rather lack of sleep!

Well I'm officially another year older. As birthday's go, it wasn't my most festive one given that I was alone in Krakow and had a cold, but neverhteless I aged another year and had a nice day regardless. To those that remembered my birthday thanks for the best wishes, to those that didn't, don't worry! No really, no hard feelings I know you'll make it up to me next year! (And to those whose birthdays I've forgotten or possibly will forget, oops,sorry!)

Krakow is a beautiful city and it's very easy to fall in love with it. On Saturday morning, I took a tour to visit a Salt Mine which is near the city. I took a tour, just like I had done to Auschwitz, as I didn't really want to try and make my own way there given my lack of Polish skills, who knows where I would have ended up! The mini bus picked me up from the hostel which was handy, at first I thought I was the first stop, it turned out that I was the only one actually taking the tour on that day so I had the entire bus to myself, it felt a little strange!

The Salt Mine is the oldest in the world though they stopped mining for salt ten years ago. To begin with you have to climb down about 300 or so stairs to reach the first level which is about 60 metres underground. The Mine is basically just a tourist attraction now and it's amazing to walk through the mine and see all the statues that, in most cases, ordinary miners have created.

The entire mine is about 2 kms by 10 kms and includes about 300 kms of passages. The tour itself only visits a small section of mine but includes some spectacular areas, including a small chapel and a huge underground church which is often called a cathedral. As the photo below shows its quite impressive, especially when you consider that the statues and wall decorations were done by three men. There is even a picture of the Last Supper made entirely from salt.

I was pleasantly surprised when I walked around Krakow as I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It's absolutely gorgeous and there is a nice mix of history and present day. The main sqaure is very popular both during the day and night. While there also seems to be a lot of great nightlife in the old town, including bars and pubs it doesn't appear sleazy or dangerous and I had no apprehension of walking around by myself (I didn't actually check out any of the places as I've been suffering with a cold for most of the week, but everyone seemed to rave about them). Krakow must also be a shoppers paradise as there were a stack of shops ranging from small boutiques to well known outlets.

Not far from the old town is the castle which is also quite beautiful.

I don't think I can actually say a bad word about Krakow as I think it's a fantastic city! I would definately recommend anyone to visit it if they ever got the chance and if I ever get the chance again, I'll certainly come back for another visit! I did also want to upload a couple of photos which I took of the main sqare at night but unfortunately this PC doesn't allow me to upload photos from my camera so I'll include them in my next blog when I'll write about Warsaw.