Bali Oct 2012

Well blob-out we were looking for and blob-out we got- with little intermissions of island exploration. What a wonderful relaxing time had. The weather was great – though very hot, the sea breezes and views were beautiful and the people as always friendly and helpful. I had a great time with my new camera and enjoyed taking photos – lots of flowers, crabs and boats! Will have to get used to changing lenses but…. Our accommodation was roomy and clean, a little run down but otherwise fine – not at all as the photos on the web depicted it. For the first couple of days we had the pool to ourselves in the afternoons when we had come back from our wanderings which was wonderful.

The daily timetable didn’t change much. A cruisey start, low slow breakfast by the sea with 2 pots of Balinese coffee, lovely sea and boat views and major decisions about the day made. You can see the big concrete water barriers erected to stop the sea eroding the entire coast after they had removed the coral reef years ago. Back to the room to read or look through photos and cool down and then off down the road poking our noses in the odd shop and checking out places for lunches and tea. Criteria was usually beach front and shade though the odd place won out with their garden, a traditional legong dance or black rice pudding. After lunch we returned to our hotel for either a swim or shower and recuperate ready for a night stroll to tea somewhere. Pretty stressful routine wouldn’t you say!

Mixed it up a little with 2 trips out – one to Ubud and the kecak dance at the local village near where we stayed whenever there.

The other to the coast north of us where snorkeling and diving were key attractions. We visited the King’s palace which was beautifully terraced and gardened and the Water palace – another beautiful place with fountains and huge fish in the ponds.

So we saw a bit more of the island. We also stopped at a traditional village which was pretty outstanding. An amazing bunch of bananas growing!

All in all a great restful holiday where the sea lulls you into relax mode and the days main events and decisions are we are we going to eat and when are we going to do it.

So back home now and reviewing photos and washing. Oh well 7 ½ weeks till NZ for Christmas – can’t wait!

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