Vienna

Vienna – wow what a city. We’re feeling a little jaded and like we’re getting ready to go home, but this is a fabulous city with so much to see. Had a great train ride from Poland, back through Czech to Vienna. Trains are so good – get to talk to people, lots of room to stand up and store gear, great comfort and you (usually!) can work out where you are supposed to get off! We did a reasonable amount in Vienna right at the start of the holiday and in our 5 days here at the end – out to Schonbrunn Palace (I think the Hapsburg equivalent of Versailles). Huge and impressive, but we enjoyed the gardens the most. Nice quiet spaces, lots of trees and flowers and every so often a folly of some description or other (eg a faux roman ruin). Also went to the Belvedere Place which has (they said) the best collection of Austrian art. David was keen to see the Klimt collection and it was fabulous. What else? The Hundertwasser Haus was great (D) or a letdown (M). This is the dude who designed the toilets at Kaikohe (?) but he was a big-time architect/artist in Vienna before he came to NZ. Very eclectic buildings, not unlike Gaudi (‘the straight line is godless’). LOTS of walking through the city looking at building after building with naked figures holding up doorways, lots of art deco stuff (probably better in Prague) and generally a very imperial-looking city. It’s funny how many people we’ve met who basically tour Europe by going to city after city after city. We’re getting a bit tired of all the noise and people and hassle and have probably most enjoyed the time in the small towns and countryside, although there’s no doubting there’s so much to see and do in places like Vienna and Prague. Kind of along that line, we managed a day trip up the Danube with the main visit being to Melk’s Benedictine Abbey. Pretty amazing place, with over the top baroque figures, paintings, architecture etc. It’s been really hot in Vienna as well, with temperatures of 30C and hot sunshine (although dry) most days. We have found it hard to sleep out of aircon, and with the window open some nights we’ve had a lot of noise from the location of our (relatively downtown) accommodation. We used airbnb to book a room being hosted by Gabriela, and it’s been great talking to her about travel and the city and so on. Airbnb is basically a home hosting service, although there are different types. Our room here has been a really spacious and light room with its own ensuite but Gabriela makes us breakfast and often stays to chat. Superb. Just writing this now from Vienna airport, where we now head back to Frankfurt with a wait of 8 hours and then a flight back to Swingers. We’ll post some summary ‘best ofs’ for the trip which we’ll sort in Frankfurt. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading the blog. Photos to come

Krakow

To come

Olomouc

This is supposedly Czech’s ‘best-kept tourist secret’. Two nights here and we’re done with our trip thru this great country. Town itself is a little disappointing, although its UNESCO-listed plague-column is pretty impressive. I think if we hadn’t seen so many other amazing town squares, churches etc we might have thought more of it. Anyways, there you go. One incredible sight was the 3-domed St Michael church. Plain on the outside, but over-the-top gothic (?) figures and decoration inside. The domes on the inside were just stunning. Nice place to finish with. Now it’s off to Poland (Kracow) for 4 days and then a finish in Vienna before flying home. Wah!

Teplice nad Metulj skaly

FABULOUS

A complete change of pace sees us leave the big smoke for a REALLY small place out in the wops. The attraction is an incredible set of karst-like rock formations with lots of walks. Cool, fresh air and a great place to stay. We happy! We have 3 days here and it’s just been fabulous. The rock formations are like nothing we’ve seen – very spectacular. First day was about a 15km walk from end to end with some fun moments where the track got tricky.

Walked thru canyons, marshland, round forested lakes and all of it surrounded by these huge rock towers at Ardspach skaly. Superb, although the first time on the whole trip when we’ve been out in reasonably consistent (although light) rain.

Second day we went to a different spot and it was just as good. Not too many people at this second place (Teplice skaly) and the sky decided it might go blue. Stunning! Could definitely have stayed longer here. More photos later.

Kutna Hora

Oh, and a day trip to Kutna Hora, with an incredible church (St Barbera) and an ossuary (also incredible in its own way).

A rather unusual bone artwork in the ossuary. Not really to Mary's liking but not sinister as the bones were from people who had died through plague rather than anything horrid. The list of Jews killed in the synagogues had more impact emotionally. We’ve had such a great time here. There’s such a nice feel to this place, it’s busy but human, the weather is warm and generally fine and its light till late. People (I guess many of them are tourists though) are out and enjoying themselves in the bars and cafes or just hanging out in the squares. Lots of buskers and informal music going on. It’s been great.

Prague

What a fabulous, fabulous city! There are not enough superlatives to describe this place.

Amazing setting on the Vltava River, incredible architecture reflecting styles over the last thousand years or so, great food (Photo 4)and drink and lots of sights. We’ve had a ball.

We used airb’n’b to book a place very close to the old centre. Superb location, which means we have been able to walk to everything. Just a brief rundown of what impressed us: The old town square – really well preserved buildings and a real buzz with LOTS of tourists; an old, but still working, astronomical clocks (rated one of the least impressive sights in Prague!) which we thought was pretty cool(photo 1). The Charles Bridge over the river from the old town to the castle – one of the iconic sights of Prague and it doesn’t disappoint. (P 2 & 3 - statue on the bridge) There are amazing statues/sculptures on buildings everywhere - (P5-8)

The Jewish quarter with a number of old synagogues, burial ground, and amazing buildings, especially art nouveau-themed ones. Many of these buildings have amazing decorative details and statuary which reminds you of the wealth that created them. We don’t seem to do buildings like this any more. We were able to go into a number of synagogues, some of which had reminders of the anti-semitism that existed here in the 20th c. One – the Pinkarova synagogue – had its walls covered with the names of the nearly 200,000 Jews from Czech who were shipped off to the death camps. It’s been a chilling reminder of inhumanity. Other synagogues were museums. Everything is in good condition because Hitler’s favourite city was Prague. The Nazis explicitly kept the jewish quarter intact because they intended it to be a museum for a lost race of people. Yes. Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral also spectacular monuments.

One of the most amazing buildings was the Municipal House, an over-the-top confection of art nouveau pretending to be a concert hall. We bought tickets to a concert there and marveled at the sheer elegance and flamboyance of the decoration. Concert wasn’t too shabby either – some Mozart and Dvorak. What else? We’ve done a lot of walking – up Petrin hill for some great views of the city, along and around the river, some loops around the bridges. Mary has taken to the wrought ironwork everywhere - a sidelineof photos

more photos KV

Loket day

Best of all, a day trip to Loket, about ½ hr drive away. Apparently this was Goethe’s favourite town.

All very medieval. Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) recently played a concert here in front of the castle/river, which somehow seems very appropriate. Town square pretty as a picture. From Loket we walk about 15km back to Karlovy Vary along the Ohre river. Gentle walk along a forested track with some great rock formations along the way. Sat and had a drink and watched a number of rock climbers on the cliffs in the photo. Quite a number of canoes and rafts going down the river as well. LOTS of cyclists all dressed up in their bike pants etc. Nice day’s outing. And so now on to Prague. We’re looking forward to some great sights, great beer and Mary’s hoping to buy clothes and a backpack. Kind of feels like we’ve turned the corner and are heading for home, although a few weeks to go yet.

OK, so it’s one day before we leave KV. Been a great place to hang out. We’ve seen a dozen movies (some of them good), enjoyed the festival atmosphere of the place, and had a few cool trips out of town. The whole spa town thing has been interesting. The ‘waters’ here are meant to cure a range of things. You can buy a special cup, or just use your own at one of the fountains. Not unpleasant taste, quite smooth and a little sulphery. Apparently 500 cups of the stuff will cure poverty, or so it was said in the 18th c. (we imagined the cure to involve death at some point!). Films: best was Searching for Sugar Man, a music docu that was fabulous; we saw Helen Mirren and the director introducing (the world premiere of?) their movie ‘The Door’ set in Hungary (also excellent). A Polish movie (“Beyond the Hills”) was very good, as was “Beasts of the Southern Wild”. A 2.5 hour epic on Brian Eno was also interesting. Last movie seen was Barbara, a German film which was good too. Strange behavior #1: people clapping at the end of the movie. People, there’s no one there! Strange behavior #2: the dude who comes on after the movie is introduced and lays the mike stand and microphone horizontally on the floor. Same guy each time, only happens in one theatre, and is now such a ritual he gets an ovation as he walks on and off. Nice, but strange. Saw a number of other Cannes winners etc, some pretty good but many spoiled by being far too long (2.5 hours was not unusual) and grindingly slow camera work. We came out of many of these films saying there’s a good movie in there somewhere but it needed much tighter editing (of course, this says as much about us as anything else!). Anyways, sore bums and necks resulted… …which made it great to take a break every so often. We visited the Moser glassworks (superb) and watched a real factory in operation. Not often you get to see real people doing their work. This was a real treat. Another trip up the funicular to the Diana watchtower, then a ‘constitutional’ walk through beech and oak forest back down to the town via a Russian Orthodox Church with gold onion domes (St Peter & St Paul). Lovely. more photos to come but blog processing not happening!

Cesky Budejovice to Karlovy Vary

Easy trip here, we meet Mikhail, who has rented us his apartment for 10 days. Main event is the Czech Film Festival, although KV is a pretty cool place all on its own. However, nice to stay put for a while, and get used to a place and, maybe, take a bit of a break from all the history (although there’s plenty of that here too). Apartment is huge, with a washing machine and a fridge (cold drinks and clean clothes being pretty much key ingredients for successful travel!). Nice to make coffee the way we like it etc. In short, home for a while…

Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) is where the uber-rich and famous used to hang out (pre-WW1 was the heyday but they still do). Bulk (and sometimes bulky) Russians the main group here. Basically a German spa town that changed hands after the war. Lot of very posh apartments/buildings, walkways and monuments lining both sides of a small river for a couple of km. The festival itself is quite a buzz.

Helen Mirren is one of the star attractions this time and there’s a ton of music, parties etc all going on. Quite a scene. The beautiful people are all over the place like a rash, so we feel like we fit right in! We will, in our own small way, make a contribution to goings on. We’ve already downed a bottle of the local liqueur (Becherovka – not awful). I’ve not yet been approached for my signature, but I’m keeping a pen handy. Mary will be giving make-up and deportment tips to any interested women (I’ll take care of the gentlemen), so we are expecting to be busy. In between our red carpet appearances we also hope to watch a stack of movies, catch a good number of bands and hang out with the stars, something which we haven’t done for a while (OK, never, but hey). There’s a decent amount of other stuff to look at and do, so will keep you posted.

Hluboka nad Vltavou

Second trip is out to a fabulous castle, modeled on Windsor Castle – Hluboka nad Vltavou – which was pretty cool. Took a boat trip out of the city along the Vltava River. Slow but scenic. Negotiated a 7m lock, which was all very exciting.

River itself tame as anything, it was the wildlife inside the boat that kept us amused – a gaggle of pre-schoolers who couldn’t sit still and two harassed teachers trying to keep the lid on. What made it even more interesting was the complete contrast in behavior management styles (one v. permissive, the other a nazi!) which meant for a degree of chaos. Sigh of relief when they left half way thru the trip. School groups, from pre-school to senior high school, often accompany us on our adventures, which means we don’t get too lonely (ha!). Jetty photo has kindy aged students and some high school aged ones.

Castle itself fabulous – big, impressive, nice gardens, great views, and quiet. There was amazing wrought iron work on a stair case and around balconies and this very unique door handle with a pigeon pecking a head. This was the Schwarzenberg family castle – they were German Czechs who helped defeat the Turks – the family crest has a crow pecking out an eye – so there you go. Back home along the river, pizza and risotto for tea and a quiet wine and movie back in our room. A good day.