So after our extremely short flirtation with Warsaw, we were on our way out of Poland on the seven o'clock train. This time it was more how we like it - sharing a compartment with only one other person. It was a very comfortable trip, and we snoozed and played cards and ate bread and cheese and read and looked out the window throughout Eastern Poland. Despite the undeniable picture-postcard beauty of Bavaustria, I think this area was my favourite train-scenery so far. We spent a long time travelling through thick pine forests (I saw a deer at the side of the track), then emerged into rolling farmland, dotted with cows chained to stakes. There were lots of storks, on high nests, and a number of hawks. All very idyllic and fertile. Eventually we reached Sestokai, just over the border in Lithuania, where we changed trains to a local, and sped towards Vilnius, arriving only nine hours or so after leaving Warsaw. Thanks to everyone speaking english, as usual, we found our hostel (getting there via trolley-bus), which turned out to be our own little studio apartment opening right onto the street, in a really good location. We spent the evening doing our usual wander around.
On Tuesday morning (21st) it took us a while to get organised, as we slept in a fair bit, and also there was a flat screen tv in our flat. We were waiting, as well, for the girl to come and collect our clothes, which she did without any evident distress, despite the smell. Freed, we went to visit the cathedral, which was ok, and then had some mexican food at a little place run by a very friendly mexican guy who had a chat to us. After lunch we walked off the burritos by climbing to the top of the hill to the upper castle, or what's left of it. They have reconstructed one tower, which contains a very small museum, and grants a wonderful 360 degree view of the city. Then we took the tiny funicular to the bottom of the other side of the hill, to go to the prehistory museum, which was pretty rad. We walked back around the hill to the old town, then stumbled across a Thai massage place, which gave Margot an idea. Which was to get a massage. So I went off by myself for an explore, after pilfering some of the ginger biscuits in the waiting room. I basically just saw lots of churches, but also the only remaining synagogue (there used to be 100), which was closed. There are some really cool churches, my favourite being a baroque one in an enclosed courtyard. It was totally run down and shut, but the whole space had a very cool dilapidated feel. Anyway I went and picked up a battered Margot, and we wandered around again for an hour or so before heading back to our little flat, to make dinner and drink beer. We'd finally found some Czech beer, after craving it since Prague.
Wednesday morning, changeable again. Clouds move really really fast in Europe for some reason. We got up fairly early and went to the bus station to sort out our transport for the next couple of cities, then hopped on a bus to Trakai, which we'd heard had a castle in the middle of a lake. We heard right, it was super-amazing! After lunching on some traditional Karaim food (they were a sect, some of which were brought from the Crimea in the Middle Ages to serve as guards for the local bigwig), which was basically a pastie, we walked through the cute painted wooden cottages to the water's edge. Picturesque, let me tell you. From the town, there is a wooden bridge across to a little island, and from the other side of that island another wooden bridge across to another little island, which is taken up almost entirely by a brick castle. The scene is set of with gently whispering reeds, and tourists pedalling around in stupid dolphin-shaped boats. The whole effect is quite photo-worthy. The castle is mostly reconstructed, having been destroyed a number of different times, but the foundations are original, and they've done a very good job with the rest. There was a random exhibition of porcelain, pipes and whatnot in the main part of the castle, but after you crossed the drawbridge into the keep and climbed rickety stairs into the upper floors, there was a very good little local history museum.
After exhausting the potential photographic opportunities offered by the castle, we headed to the other castle, which was much closer to its ruined state, being, in point of fact, just some ruins. However, it was very nice, and there were some people doing traditional type things inside. Pottery and so on. Anyway we had seen a fancy chocolate place on our way from the bus station, so we headed back there and each had two fancy chocolates for afternoon tea. And the fist unburnt coffee that I've tasted so far on this trip. Then back to the bus, and back to Vilnius, then made another huge dinner (I'm not good at judging amounts of uncooked pasta), accompanied by Zlaty Bazant, my favourite Slovakian beer.
Thursday dawned to pouring rain, which is no fun. We watched some cartoons for a bit, and cleaned up and repacked, as we had to change hostels. Thanks to the vagaries of pricing, we had to tramp for twenty minutes through the rain so that we could sleep in a six-bed dorm for the same price as our little studio apartment. It being horrible weather, we dumped our stuff and tried out the local contemporary art gallery, which turned out to be very good. Then for lunch we sat in a chain cafe and were ignored by the waitress. I gorged myself on herring, which wasn't the smartest thing ever. To walk it off, we went back to the bus station to sort out some more reservations, then back again to go to the internet cafe, where we discovered that pretty much everything is booked out in scandinavia, and it all costs two or three times as much as anywhere else. So that wasn't fun, but we made what bookings we could, though we'll have to be in large and sometimes seperate dorms. Then we had another walk around, then had dinner and more beer, and then did more walking around. I really like Vilnius, it's got a huge old town centre which all looks gorgeous, but doesn't feel as touristy as alot of other cities. It feels very much like a functioning city centre, populated more by locals than by tourists.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
North Pole-land
On Friday morning the 17th, we had an absolutely thrilling day of travel. Checking out of our hostel (in Krakow), we headed to the train station bright-eyed, ready to venture north. The main train station is a bit of a dump, and despite having the train timetable information printed on small yellow posters, they never display it on the boards until about 5 minutes before the train arrives, so you've no idea what's going on, especially when the train is late, as ours was. But it came, and we hopped on. The journey to Warsaw took about 5 hours, and we had a connecting train 10 minutes later. As our train was running 10 minutes late, you can imagine that I was keen to leap off and find our train as soon as we got there. However, such was not to be. It was all far too confusing - a warren of concrete tunnels lined with gaudy stalls. So, we had to wait for 2 hours for the next train, which we did with the help of a beer at a nearby cafe. When the train did arrive, it was chaos; hundreds of people pushing their way through the tiny corridor at the side of the carriage, fighting for seats. We ended up standing for the first 5 or ten minutes until it sorted itself out a bit and we crammed into a compartment with six other people.
After that the ride was perfectly pleasant - complete with helpful english-speaking Polish man - and we arrived in Torun, the birthplace of Nicholas Copernicus, without any more drama. After consulting a map, we decided to walk to our hotel, which didn't look far. More fool us. The bridge over the river is nearly two kilometres long, stretching for ages over wetland first. We made it, with beautiful views of the town as we crossed, comforted that there was a nice hotel room waiting for us. But, alas, apparently our booking had never occurred. Whether the fault was with the booking website or the hotel, I've no idea, but we convinced the receptionist to house us, insisting that we pay only the price we had been quoted on the hostel site. Having achieved that, we were satisfied, as the room was really very nice. It was late and we were tired, so we did not explore the town that evening.
The next morning, though, we set off refreshed to see Torun. It was very, very hot, and we walked the streets of the mediaeval town sweating like knights in plate armour. In a street near the cathedral is the house where Copernicus was (probably) born, and there was a very boring museum in the attached building. The house itself was fascinating - a 14th century merchant's house, with huge dark beams on the ceilings, and disconcertingly few rooms. Heading back into the heat, we discovered the ruins of the Teutonic castle in one corner of the town, torn down after the townspeople somehow captured it and got rid of the knights, possibly not in the nicest possible way. It was quite a structure in its day, made of red brick, and there were interesting mannequins in the crypt, and poor displays of mediaeval fighting going on above ground. It was absolutely scorching in the uncovered ruins, though, so we headed to a big gothic building that was a palace and a granary, but I can't remember in which order. It housed an exhibition of oriental weaponry, which I thought was very cool, despite the lack of information in english. There was also an exhibition about Torun, which was incomprehensible.
After lunch, we walked north, just outside the border of the old town, to the outdoor Ethnographic Museum they have erected in a park. I like that sort of thing, and soon we were poking our noses into reconstructed farmhouses, mills, and smithies, imagining what life would have been like for the poor sods who occupied them. This was hot business, the sun didn't let up all day, and we had to force ourselves to see the last couple of things before retiring for a drink. We were pretty wiped out after walking around in the heat all day, so we went back to the hotel and had a bit of a nanna-nap until it cooled down, then wandered around looking at all the pretty lights, and had the old staple of pizza and pasta for dinner. We got back to our room just in time, before a storm wiped away the last of the heat, and flooded the street in front of the hotel, great sheets of water gusting sideways and lightning lighting the sky.
On Sunday we had to check out, despite the rain, but to Goretex, rain is as nothing, so we were able to wander around a bit more with no difficulty. We finally went into the old town hall in the main square, where there was an art deco exhibit that was mildly interesting, and various galleries of ho-hum paintings. Despite the Goretex, we welched on the long walk back to the station, and got ourselves driven there by the least emotional taxi driver in the world. The train back to Warsaw was just as full as the train to it, and this time we weren't lucky enough to get a seat, and had to stand in the tiny corridor the whole three hours. The two compartments near us were full of drunk people, one of whom thought that the corridor was outside, and lit up cigarette after cigarette, so all in all a good time was had by all. But we arrived eventually, and made our way to our hostel, housed in the old Department of Sugar Distribution (or something) building. Checking train times for the morrow, we quickly realised that there was only one train a day to Vilnius, our next stop, and that it left at 7am. So it was back to the station to buy the tickets, then basically straight to bed, and as it was fairly late, did not get a huge amount of sleep. But that story's for next time!
After that the ride was perfectly pleasant - complete with helpful english-speaking Polish man - and we arrived in Torun, the birthplace of Nicholas Copernicus, without any more drama. After consulting a map, we decided to walk to our hotel, which didn't look far. More fool us. The bridge over the river is nearly two kilometres long, stretching for ages over wetland first. We made it, with beautiful views of the town as we crossed, comforted that there was a nice hotel room waiting for us. But, alas, apparently our booking had never occurred. Whether the fault was with the booking website or the hotel, I've no idea, but we convinced the receptionist to house us, insisting that we pay only the price we had been quoted on the hostel site. Having achieved that, we were satisfied, as the room was really very nice. It was late and we were tired, so we did not explore the town that evening.
The next morning, though, we set off refreshed to see Torun. It was very, very hot, and we walked the streets of the mediaeval town sweating like knights in plate armour. In a street near the cathedral is the house where Copernicus was (probably) born, and there was a very boring museum in the attached building. The house itself was fascinating - a 14th century merchant's house, with huge dark beams on the ceilings, and disconcertingly few rooms. Heading back into the heat, we discovered the ruins of the Teutonic castle in one corner of the town, torn down after the townspeople somehow captured it and got rid of the knights, possibly not in the nicest possible way. It was quite a structure in its day, made of red brick, and there were interesting mannequins in the crypt, and poor displays of mediaeval fighting going on above ground. It was absolutely scorching in the uncovered ruins, though, so we headed to a big gothic building that was a palace and a granary, but I can't remember in which order. It housed an exhibition of oriental weaponry, which I thought was very cool, despite the lack of information in english. There was also an exhibition about Torun, which was incomprehensible.
After lunch, we walked north, just outside the border of the old town, to the outdoor Ethnographic Museum they have erected in a park. I like that sort of thing, and soon we were poking our noses into reconstructed farmhouses, mills, and smithies, imagining what life would have been like for the poor sods who occupied them. This was hot business, the sun didn't let up all day, and we had to force ourselves to see the last couple of things before retiring for a drink. We were pretty wiped out after walking around in the heat all day, so we went back to the hotel and had a bit of a nanna-nap until it cooled down, then wandered around looking at all the pretty lights, and had the old staple of pizza and pasta for dinner. We got back to our room just in time, before a storm wiped away the last of the heat, and flooded the street in front of the hotel, great sheets of water gusting sideways and lightning lighting the sky.
On Sunday we had to check out, despite the rain, but to Goretex, rain is as nothing, so we were able to wander around a bit more with no difficulty. We finally went into the old town hall in the main square, where there was an art deco exhibit that was mildly interesting, and various galleries of ho-hum paintings. Despite the Goretex, we welched on the long walk back to the station, and got ourselves driven there by the least emotional taxi driver in the world. The train back to Warsaw was just as full as the train to it, and this time we weren't lucky enough to get a seat, and had to stand in the tiny corridor the whole three hours. The two compartments near us were full of drunk people, one of whom thought that the corridor was outside, and lit up cigarette after cigarette, so all in all a good time was had by all. But we arrived eventually, and made our way to our hostel, housed in the old Department of Sugar Distribution (or something) building. Checking train times for the morrow, we quickly realised that there was only one train a day to Vilnius, our next stop, and that it left at 7am. So it was back to the station to buy the tickets, then basically straight to bed, and as it was fairly late, did not get a huge amount of sleep. But that story's for next time!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Krakow
On Tuesday the 14th, our first morning in Krakow, we did the obvious thing and wandered into the old town. The central square was the biggest in mediaeval Eastern Europe, and it's easy to see why - the centre of it is taken up by an arcaded covered market, and there is still enough room on every side to fit in any other town square we've seen. There is also a free-standing tower which is all that remains of the old town hall, and a very wee church. In the next corner from this cute little building is something a little more impressive - St. Mary's cathdral. It is a huge brick gothic church, with two asymmetrical towers, from the top of which, each hour (or day, I forget) some firemen play a tune on a trumpet, cutting off mid-bar in memory of a trumpeter who was shot trying to warn the city of invaders in the middle ages. It's the inside of the cathedral which is the most interesting, however. Like a cathedral would have been, it is completely painted inside, and the effect is astonishing. The vaulted ceiling is painted dark blue and covered with gold stars, and the walls and columns are coloured in bright patterns. It's definitely my favourite so far.
Seeking something a little less devout, we headed to Collegius Maius, the original college of the University, with a museum holding great treasures including some of the instruments Copernicus, who was a student of the university, used when developing his heliocentric theory. He didn't develop them while at this university, but it was amazing to see the actual instruments he used. After being led at breakneck pace through thousands of other items in the museum, we headed to Wawel Castle. It holds a very imposing position on what appears to be the only hill in Krakow. It became very very run down under the Hapsburgs, and was in fact used as the army barracks, but they've done a great job restoring it, and we went through the old State Rooms. I can't tell you much about them, as there was no useful information provided at all, but I can tell you that some of them had a sort of wallpaper made out of leather. So that was pretty gross. After the castle we headed back to the hostel for dinner, sticking our noses into a couple of other churches on the way.
The next morning we got up nice and early, were picked up in a van/minibus, and driven to Auschwitz by a very angry Polish man. The weather was scorching hot, which probably made the impact of the camp stronger, as we were able to picture prisoners standing or working in the heat, and how weakening that would have been. On the other hand the bright sunlight seemed almost incongruous with the dark history of the place, but I think despite the huge crowds, everyone was very sombre. We were led through some of the buildings in which prisoners lived, and shown punishment cells and execution places, as well as the poor conditions in the living quarters. There were extremely disturbing displays of personal items, the pile of shoes of children sent straight to the gas chambers being probably the hardest to see, as well as actual hair taken from the bodies of victims before cremation. We also went to Birkenau, which had the remains of hundreds of horrible wooden barns, where prisoners were made to sleep packed together in horrible conditions, and the platform and tracks were people were unloaded and sorted into people who were made to work, and people who were sent straight to the gas chambers to be murdered.
So not the most cheerful start to the day. But it's something which I think we had to do, while here. The holocaust may not have much to do with me personally, but it is a huge event in our cultural history, and therefore a part of my history. So I'm glad we went.
Afterwards we were a bit exhausted and dehydrated, so we went back to the hostel for a bit of a nap, before heading out again. We had dinner at a cafe on the small town square (right near the big one), including some traditional polish dumplings, which were delicious. After dinner we went to a nearby bar for a drink. At about a quarter past nine, an absolutely beautiful thunderstorm swept overhead, which was wonderful for us visually, but not so great for the organisers of the animation festival taking place in the square. However, the rain was light, and the festival started on time at 21:30, with us in the audience. We watched a few of the films, which weren't too bad, and then home to bed.
Thursday morning promised another hot day, which was duly delivered. We made use of the internet in the hostel to Skype parents, then went back into the old town to go to a gallery the name of which I can't remember. It contains a very famous painting but Leonardo da Vinci which I'd never heard of, called "Lady with Ermine", which Margot was hanging out for. I have to admit I myself was more impressed with the armoury, a gallery of weapons containing a lot of very impressive swords.
Escaping back into the heat, we decided cleverly to do a touristic walk of the old Jewish quarter, including the old synagogue which has some surviving bits of city walls attached to it. There is a lovely square near it with Jewish restaurants and so on, and an old Jewish cemetery, which was shut. The main square in this part of town (Kazimierz, originally a different city) has some very cool little bars around it, so we sat in one and had some vodkas. After a while we moved on to the bar we'd gone to the night before, then went home to make ourselves a late dinner. After dinner we went out for a walk around the nightlife, and watched some more animation in the small square. All in all not a bad day.
Seeking something a little less devout, we headed to Collegius Maius, the original college of the University, with a museum holding great treasures including some of the instruments Copernicus, who was a student of the university, used when developing his heliocentric theory. He didn't develop them while at this university, but it was amazing to see the actual instruments he used. After being led at breakneck pace through thousands of other items in the museum, we headed to Wawel Castle. It holds a very imposing position on what appears to be the only hill in Krakow. It became very very run down under the Hapsburgs, and was in fact used as the army barracks, but they've done a great job restoring it, and we went through the old State Rooms. I can't tell you much about them, as there was no useful information provided at all, but I can tell you that some of them had a sort of wallpaper made out of leather. So that was pretty gross. After the castle we headed back to the hostel for dinner, sticking our noses into a couple of other churches on the way.
The next morning we got up nice and early, were picked up in a van/minibus, and driven to Auschwitz by a very angry Polish man. The weather was scorching hot, which probably made the impact of the camp stronger, as we were able to picture prisoners standing or working in the heat, and how weakening that would have been. On the other hand the bright sunlight seemed almost incongruous with the dark history of the place, but I think despite the huge crowds, everyone was very sombre. We were led through some of the buildings in which prisoners lived, and shown punishment cells and execution places, as well as the poor conditions in the living quarters. There were extremely disturbing displays of personal items, the pile of shoes of children sent straight to the gas chambers being probably the hardest to see, as well as actual hair taken from the bodies of victims before cremation. We also went to Birkenau, which had the remains of hundreds of horrible wooden barns, where prisoners were made to sleep packed together in horrible conditions, and the platform and tracks were people were unloaded and sorted into people who were made to work, and people who were sent straight to the gas chambers to be murdered.
So not the most cheerful start to the day. But it's something which I think we had to do, while here. The holocaust may not have much to do with me personally, but it is a huge event in our cultural history, and therefore a part of my history. So I'm glad we went.
Afterwards we were a bit exhausted and dehydrated, so we went back to the hostel for a bit of a nap, before heading out again. We had dinner at a cafe on the small town square (right near the big one), including some traditional polish dumplings, which were delicious. After dinner we went to a nearby bar for a drink. At about a quarter past nine, an absolutely beautiful thunderstorm swept overhead, which was wonderful for us visually, but not so great for the organisers of the animation festival taking place in the square. However, the rain was light, and the festival started on time at 21:30, with us in the audience. We watched a few of the films, which weren't too bad, and then home to bed.
Thursday morning promised another hot day, which was duly delivered. We made use of the internet in the hostel to Skype parents, then went back into the old town to go to a gallery the name of which I can't remember. It contains a very famous painting but Leonardo da Vinci which I'd never heard of, called "Lady with Ermine", which Margot was hanging out for. I have to admit I myself was more impressed with the armoury, a gallery of weapons containing a lot of very impressive swords.
Escaping back into the heat, we decided cleverly to do a touristic walk of the old Jewish quarter, including the old synagogue which has some surviving bits of city walls attached to it. There is a lovely square near it with Jewish restaurants and so on, and an old Jewish cemetery, which was shut. The main square in this part of town (Kazimierz, originally a different city) has some very cool little bars around it, so we sat in one and had some vodkas. After a while we moved on to the bar we'd gone to the night before, then went home to make ourselves a late dinner. After dinner we went out for a walk around the nightlife, and watched some more animation in the small square. All in all not a bad day.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Cesky Krumlov, and beyond!
Our train to Cesky Krumlov was nice at first, then we changed at Ceske Budejovice to a tiny shuttle train packed to the gills with backpackers. That was ok - we were quickly there, and made our way down the hill towards the town. Not having a map, and the directions to the hostel assuming we had arrived at the bus station, we were quickly lost. Luckily, we discovered some people speaking english (not, as we found out soon enough, a very uncommon thing), and they helped direct us. Margot was very keen to get there and check in, but my mind was exploding as we walked through the town, and I was trying to photograph everything at once. Cesky Krumlov is more awesome than any town has a right to be. It is obscenely pretty, and it is not fair that I don't live there. Not that anyone else does either - every building that isn't a shop is a hotel or pension. Our hostel was very nice and quirky, in a 250 year old building that used to be a bakery. The managers there were a couple of Australians, who'd gone travelling a couple of years ago and never gone home again. It had a very nice relaxed atmosphere. However, we just dumped our bags and went out to explore the town. I think I took about three or four hundred photos in Cesky Krumlov. We had dinner at a restaurant with tables right down at the water level of the dangerously swollen and terrifically fast-flowing Vlatava. The dinner was fantastic - a feast of potato related bohemian things, as well as smoked meat and rabbit (chicken for Margot). After dinner we had a hot spiced mead. Delicious. Then a walk around the town in the dark, including up to the castle (the second biggest in CZ, after Prague), where we discovered that they keep bears in the moat.
In the morning we had breakfast at a nice cafe, which was seemingly full of Australians, then went up to the Castle and did a tour with about 15 thousand other people. You can't learn much in a group that size, but the tourguide was lovely. The castle is just amazing - built as a continuation of a cliff above the Vlatava, started in the 14th century and added to and changed over the years. The few days we were there I just never got over it. After the tour we went back to the hostel for some lunch, then went out to go on a trail ride, which was one of the activities suggested in the guidebook. I was looking forward to it, and it was kind of fun, but very boring as we never went above a walk, although I held my horse back a couple of times then made her trot to catch up. After the ride we went back into town and wandered around in awe for a while, then had dinner at the Two Mary's, the same place as the night before, only I had the pheasant rather than the rabbit this time. Awesome. Then we spent the evening wandering around town, including going for another stickybeak at the bears. I could walk around this town forever. It has been so beautifully restored, and every building is newly rendered and painted, making it feel much as it must have done in its heyday (only with way more hotels and tourists).
On Sunday morning (only yesterday!) we had one last long explore, walking around the other side of the old town, and seeing some lovely parts we hadn't previously, as well as getting different views of the castle and the cathedral. There is a huge mansion for sale on a hillside on the other side of the town from the castle, and we both agreed that that is the house we will buy. We said our goodbyes, hoping we'd be back, then almost didn't leave when our taxi inexplicably didn't show up. Eventually the manager of the hostel called a different company, so we just made it to our train back to Prague. We arrived latish, checked into the hostel that we'd accidentally gone to the first time we'd arrived in Prague, then spent a quiet evening with some takeaway chinese food and a cutthroat game of Gin played with our Mucha cards.
After an uncomfortable sleep (they really don't know how to do pillows in hostels), we awoke early this morning, packed, and went to the train station to head east. Waving goodbye to Prague, we spent the next 8 hours on the train, broken only by a stop in a frankly horrible train station in Katowice, where we had to change trains. The train for the remainder of the journey had no WC, so at the end of the two hour leg, we were in no position to have no local money, no idea how to get anywhere, and to be late to check in to our hostel. However, it worked itself out, with the help of a man working behind a hostel-booking desk, and we found our way here. So here we are. We have seen only as much of Krakow as we could see from the rickety old tram. Our hostel is lovely - a private room with a balcony overlooking a park, lots of space, nice kitchen, and most importantly free internet, which is why I have spent the evening getting this blog up to date rather that wandering around outside.
In the morning we had breakfast at a nice cafe, which was seemingly full of Australians, then went up to the Castle and did a tour with about 15 thousand other people. You can't learn much in a group that size, but the tourguide was lovely. The castle is just amazing - built as a continuation of a cliff above the Vlatava, started in the 14th century and added to and changed over the years. The few days we were there I just never got over it. After the tour we went back to the hostel for some lunch, then went out to go on a trail ride, which was one of the activities suggested in the guidebook. I was looking forward to it, and it was kind of fun, but very boring as we never went above a walk, although I held my horse back a couple of times then made her trot to catch up. After the ride we went back into town and wandered around in awe for a while, then had dinner at the Two Mary's, the same place as the night before, only I had the pheasant rather than the rabbit this time. Awesome. Then we spent the evening wandering around town, including going for another stickybeak at the bears. I could walk around this town forever. It has been so beautifully restored, and every building is newly rendered and painted, making it feel much as it must have done in its heyday (only with way more hotels and tourists).
On Sunday morning (only yesterday!) we had one last long explore, walking around the other side of the old town, and seeing some lovely parts we hadn't previously, as well as getting different views of the castle and the cathedral. There is a huge mansion for sale on a hillside on the other side of the town from the castle, and we both agreed that that is the house we will buy. We said our goodbyes, hoping we'd be back, then almost didn't leave when our taxi inexplicably didn't show up. Eventually the manager of the hostel called a different company, so we just made it to our train back to Prague. We arrived latish, checked into the hostel that we'd accidentally gone to the first time we'd arrived in Prague, then spent a quiet evening with some takeaway chinese food and a cutthroat game of Gin played with our Mucha cards.
After an uncomfortable sleep (they really don't know how to do pillows in hostels), we awoke early this morning, packed, and went to the train station to head east. Waving goodbye to Prague, we spent the next 8 hours on the train, broken only by a stop in a frankly horrible train station in Katowice, where we had to change trains. The train for the remainder of the journey had no WC, so at the end of the two hour leg, we were in no position to have no local money, no idea how to get anywhere, and to be late to check in to our hostel. However, it worked itself out, with the help of a man working behind a hostel-booking desk, and we found our way here. So here we are. We have seen only as much of Krakow as we could see from the rickety old tram. Our hostel is lovely - a private room with a balcony overlooking a park, lots of space, nice kitchen, and most importantly free internet, which is why I have spent the evening getting this blog up to date rather that wandering around outside.
Prague
Arriving in Prague, we were met by a very rushed Raph. He had planned dinner and a tour for us, and we were running late. To make matters worse, I stuffed up the hostel reservations, taking us to the hostel that we actually only had one night in at a later date, Margot's time was chewed up negotiating with the owner - at this point we thought he had it wrong, so were pretty annoyed. Boy was my face red when we realised what I'd done, a bit later in the evening. After a very rushed but nice dinner, we joined the tour, which consisted of being driven around the town in a van, while a woman in the front seat delivered a relentless speech about the sights, none of which we took in. The tour ended with a trip to a very bizarre "singing fountain", which seemed to go on forever. All very incongruously awesome.
The next morning we very embarassedly moved to the correct hostel, which was in a very central location off Wenceslas Platz. While M napped, I went to reconnoitre the town with Raph. We poked our noses in a lot of churches, took lots of photos, and saw quite a lot or the old city. Eventually we met up with Margot again and walked across the Charles Bridge, at which point it started to rain. Undaunted, we bravely found a pub and retired for a couple of beers - even Margot drinks the beer in Prague! Afterwards M and I went back to the hostel for dinner, before heading out to Raph's old haunt on the other side of the river to meet up with him and some of his old AIESEC buddies for some drinks.
On Tuesday morning we were pretty lazy, and got going quite late. Again we met the Raphscallion, and this time went up to Prague Castle. We convinced him to actually pay to go inside, which he'd never done, and I have to say it was pretty awesome. Very mediaeval feeling, unlike the lovely 18th and 19th century palaces I was starting to think were all that was left. There was a huge stone hall which used to be used for indoor jousting contests, and we also saw the windows out of which some heretics were thrown. My favourite bit was St. George's Basilica, parts of which date back to the 9th century. Golden Lane was a bit odd - tiny tiny houses built originally for soldiers, then used by goldsmiths in the 16th century, but now restored or rebuilt, and painted by an animator. They look like a fake disneyland street, and are now trinket shops. On our way down M and I stopped to look at a restaurant, and Raph went on to meet Michela. However after making it across the bridge, Michela and her friend went off to rest, so Raph and we went to get dinner, eventually finding one at a cute little underground place called the Fat Mouse, where Raph had taken Westgarth while he was here. After dinner we retired to Raph and Michela's small hotel room and enjoyed great company and conversation until past 1am.
The next morning we slept in, of course, then went to the main square and looked at the Mucha museum. Alfons Mucha was a Czech graphic artist, whose images are iconic of the Art Nouveau style - look him up, it's all floaty beauties surrounded by blossoms, and that sort of thing. We bought a pack of cards with alot of his images on them. Heading back outside to the square, we met Raph again, and walked across the river to take the funicular up to the top of the hill with the mini Eiffel Tower on it. I've already forgotten the name. We wandered around the gardens up there, and looked at the view, and found lots of ourselves in the very cute little mirror maze, set up in a little fake castle, presumably at the same world fair for which the tower and the funicular were built. We took the long way down again, and went to a brewery, the name of which I can't remember, to try some local delicacies. We had some very nice beer - again Margot found one she liked - and I finally tried pivny syr, which was as strong as Raph had promised me - it's basically cheese and pepper and chilli and stuff all mixed up with a little beer. Pungent. We spent the evening walking around the old town.
On Thursday we met Raph again (you can see a pattern emerging here), and we went to the supermarket and stocked up for a picnic. The beer here is amazing. You can get a half litre bottle of very excellent beer for 10 crowns, which is about 75 cents or something like that. We took our stash and walked along the river to Vysehrad - the smaller castle, or what's left of it. There is a nice park on top of the hill there, and there were lots of wedding photos going on all around us as we sat on the grass and feasted on meat, cheese, bread and beer. It was a wonderful lazy afternoon. Afterwards we parted, and M and I returned to the hostel. After a rest, we headed out again, through a sudden torrential rainstorm, to the restaurant we'd espied the other day, on the hill under the castle. Courtesy of Bill, I had some money to take us out to a birthday dinner, so we'd chosen this restaurant, with tables on a terrace overlooking Prague, set in the site of King Wenceslas' old vineyard. Thanks to the rain, their was a terrific rainbow, and the sun came out again and we had a brilliant view, and it was all very romantic. Prague really is a beautiful city.
On Friday morning, after checking out, I determined to climb the tower of the old town hall. And boy was it worth 100 crowns. Not only was there an elevator the whole way, but the view from the top was unparalleled, granting a total 360 degree panorama of Prague, from a point at its centre. Also it was built in the early 15th century, and I'm a major sucker for old stuff. After descending, we met Raph again - for the final time! - and went for a coffee, before saying farewell to him and to Michela, and making our way to the Hlavni Nadrazi for our train to Cesky Krumlov.
The next morning we very embarassedly moved to the correct hostel, which was in a very central location off Wenceslas Platz. While M napped, I went to reconnoitre the town with Raph. We poked our noses in a lot of churches, took lots of photos, and saw quite a lot or the old city. Eventually we met up with Margot again and walked across the Charles Bridge, at which point it started to rain. Undaunted, we bravely found a pub and retired for a couple of beers - even Margot drinks the beer in Prague! Afterwards M and I went back to the hostel for dinner, before heading out to Raph's old haunt on the other side of the river to meet up with him and some of his old AIESEC buddies for some drinks.
On Tuesday morning we were pretty lazy, and got going quite late. Again we met the Raphscallion, and this time went up to Prague Castle. We convinced him to actually pay to go inside, which he'd never done, and I have to say it was pretty awesome. Very mediaeval feeling, unlike the lovely 18th and 19th century palaces I was starting to think were all that was left. There was a huge stone hall which used to be used for indoor jousting contests, and we also saw the windows out of which some heretics were thrown. My favourite bit was St. George's Basilica, parts of which date back to the 9th century. Golden Lane was a bit odd - tiny tiny houses built originally for soldiers, then used by goldsmiths in the 16th century, but now restored or rebuilt, and painted by an animator. They look like a fake disneyland street, and are now trinket shops. On our way down M and I stopped to look at a restaurant, and Raph went on to meet Michela. However after making it across the bridge, Michela and her friend went off to rest, so Raph and we went to get dinner, eventually finding one at a cute little underground place called the Fat Mouse, where Raph had taken Westgarth while he was here. After dinner we retired to Raph and Michela's small hotel room and enjoyed great company and conversation until past 1am.
The next morning we slept in, of course, then went to the main square and looked at the Mucha museum. Alfons Mucha was a Czech graphic artist, whose images are iconic of the Art Nouveau style - look him up, it's all floaty beauties surrounded by blossoms, and that sort of thing. We bought a pack of cards with alot of his images on them. Heading back outside to the square, we met Raph again, and walked across the river to take the funicular up to the top of the hill with the mini Eiffel Tower on it. I've already forgotten the name. We wandered around the gardens up there, and looked at the view, and found lots of ourselves in the very cute little mirror maze, set up in a little fake castle, presumably at the same world fair for which the tower and the funicular were built. We took the long way down again, and went to a brewery, the name of which I can't remember, to try some local delicacies. We had some very nice beer - again Margot found one she liked - and I finally tried pivny syr, which was as strong as Raph had promised me - it's basically cheese and pepper and chilli and stuff all mixed up with a little beer. Pungent. We spent the evening walking around the old town.
On Thursday we met Raph again (you can see a pattern emerging here), and we went to the supermarket and stocked up for a picnic. The beer here is amazing. You can get a half litre bottle of very excellent beer for 10 crowns, which is about 75 cents or something like that. We took our stash and walked along the river to Vysehrad - the smaller castle, or what's left of it. There is a nice park on top of the hill there, and there were lots of wedding photos going on all around us as we sat on the grass and feasted on meat, cheese, bread and beer. It was a wonderful lazy afternoon. Afterwards we parted, and M and I returned to the hostel. After a rest, we headed out again, through a sudden torrential rainstorm, to the restaurant we'd espied the other day, on the hill under the castle. Courtesy of Bill, I had some money to take us out to a birthday dinner, so we'd chosen this restaurant, with tables on a terrace overlooking Prague, set in the site of King Wenceslas' old vineyard. Thanks to the rain, their was a terrific rainbow, and the sun came out again and we had a brilliant view, and it was all very romantic. Prague really is a beautiful city.
On Friday morning, after checking out, I determined to climb the tower of the old town hall. And boy was it worth 100 crowns. Not only was there an elevator the whole way, but the view from the top was unparalleled, granting a total 360 degree panorama of Prague, from a point at its centre. Also it was built in the early 15th century, and I'm a major sucker for old stuff. After descending, we met Raph again - for the final time! - and went for a coffee, before saying farewell to him and to Michela, and making our way to the Hlavni Nadrazi for our train to Cesky Krumlov.
Vienna
I am going to have to put my brains over a rack for this one, it has been a long time since my last confession.
Our arrival in Vienna was marked by a sudden rainstorm, conveniently. We made our way to the hostel, which was in disarray. It is student accommodation during the uni year, and this was the first day of hostel operations for the summer. The key system was stupid - one key per room. So if you left the room you had to give the key to reception in case your roommates wanted it. Very inefficient. Never mind, we had lovely roommates, and made ourselves a dinner of a can of goulash -type stuff that we'd been carrying around since Budapest. Spent most of the evening doing laundry.
Thursday morning, though, Vienna began for properly. After a healthy bowl of muesli we walked into the centre of town along Mariahilferstrasse. Vienna is a very wealthy looking city, lots of expensive shops and cars, and well-dressed people. In the centre of town is St Stephens, a huge gothic cathedral that is dirtier than the mind of a heathen. They do seem to be making an effort to clean it, though, and it will look amazing once they're done. Further into the town we came on the Jesuit church, the name of which escapes me, with a much less exciting exterior. The interior, though, was far and away the most lavish I have ever seen - and I've seen a lot of churches in the last month. The columns were a red and green swirly stone, and were not straight but spiralled. There was not an inch of bare stone. There was gold and marble and lavish paintings over every inch. This is a rich order of monks. Past this church, on the outside of the old city walls (which no longer exist at all), was the MAK museum, a very enjoyable museum about functional design, in which each room is curated by a different artist. It was full of beautiful articles of furniture, as well as a bunch of other stuff. After this we went to a slightly less light-hearted museum at Judenplatz. This commemorated the history of the Jewish community in Mediaeval Vienna, and had an amazing archeological dig of the foundations of the old synagogue, destroyed in 1421, entombed within it.
I had had enough of museums for the day, but Margot went into the Hofburg museum, which she told me later was wonderful. I spent the time visiting a few more churches, my favourite of which was St. Michael's, and wandered around the city a bit. I found a house where Beethoven had lived and written some of his famous music, and scouted out the Rathausplatz where it seemed there was a film festival. I then waited for M on the grass in the park behind the Hofburg. When she was done, we walked around a bit more, went back to the hostel for some pasta, and then headed to Rathausplatz to watch a film of a concert of Strauss, Haydn, and another guy. Of course it rained on us, but we were prepared, and had a wonderful time.
The next morning we tried to leave early, but somehow got started late. We went straight out to Schonbrunn Palace, which was absolutely amazing, despite the lacklustre audioguide. It was strange to walk through these opulent apartments where an actual emperor had lived and worked only less than a hundred years ago. And we stood in the room where Mozart had given his first performance, at the age of six, to the empress. Very cool. The grounds of the palace are also beautiful, and include some hilarious fake roman ruins. After drinking our fill, we went back into the city on the U, and went to search for tickets to see the Spanish Riding School, eventually finding them after some false starts. I'm afraid to say we stooped to McDonald's as we were desperately hungry by this point, but it's not as cheap over here, despite tasting the same, i.e. terrible. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Albertina museum - it is supposed to hold photography and graphic art, but for some reason holds a collection of modern art. It did however have a very nice royal apartment which we looked through a couple of times. We spent the evening, after another home-cooked meal, wandering along the extremely dodgy looking canal, and through some very nice parts of the old town.
On Saturday morning we went to the Spanish Riding school, something I've always wanted to see. Unfortunately the proper show was on holiday, so there was just a display of some young stallions, some foals, and some carriage driving. A bit disappointing really but cheap at the price, and it's still nice to say I've been there. After that we negotiated the wasteland that is Sudbahnhof to buy our ticket for the next day, then made our way to the Belvedere. This is a palace built buy a prince and then bought by Maria Theresa for use as an art gallery. It contains some very famous artworks, inlcuding Jacques Louis-David's Napoleon, and a collection of Gustave Klimt, the most famous of course being "The Kiss", images of which are to be found plastering tote bags and coffee mugs in every second shop in Vienna. After exhausting the gallery's possibilities, I went on a mission to find a swiss army knife, which was successful. Now we won't have to cut salami and cheese with only our teeth! We spent the evening, I'm afraid to say, watching movies, in english. It was great.
In the morning, we took a last look around Vienna, and checked out the oldest church in the city, Ruprechtskirche, parts of which date back to 720. The majority of it is still 11th century, so very very old. Then, alas, our time in beautiful, expensive Vienna was at an end, and we had to board the train for Prague.
Our arrival in Vienna was marked by a sudden rainstorm, conveniently. We made our way to the hostel, which was in disarray. It is student accommodation during the uni year, and this was the first day of hostel operations for the summer. The key system was stupid - one key per room. So if you left the room you had to give the key to reception in case your roommates wanted it. Very inefficient. Never mind, we had lovely roommates, and made ourselves a dinner of a can of goulash -type stuff that we'd been carrying around since Budapest. Spent most of the evening doing laundry.
Thursday morning, though, Vienna began for properly. After a healthy bowl of muesli we walked into the centre of town along Mariahilferstrasse. Vienna is a very wealthy looking city, lots of expensive shops and cars, and well-dressed people. In the centre of town is St Stephens, a huge gothic cathedral that is dirtier than the mind of a heathen. They do seem to be making an effort to clean it, though, and it will look amazing once they're done. Further into the town we came on the Jesuit church, the name of which escapes me, with a much less exciting exterior. The interior, though, was far and away the most lavish I have ever seen - and I've seen a lot of churches in the last month. The columns were a red and green swirly stone, and were not straight but spiralled. There was not an inch of bare stone. There was gold and marble and lavish paintings over every inch. This is a rich order of monks. Past this church, on the outside of the old city walls (which no longer exist at all), was the MAK museum, a very enjoyable museum about functional design, in which each room is curated by a different artist. It was full of beautiful articles of furniture, as well as a bunch of other stuff. After this we went to a slightly less light-hearted museum at Judenplatz. This commemorated the history of the Jewish community in Mediaeval Vienna, and had an amazing archeological dig of the foundations of the old synagogue, destroyed in 1421, entombed within it.
I had had enough of museums for the day, but Margot went into the Hofburg museum, which she told me later was wonderful. I spent the time visiting a few more churches, my favourite of which was St. Michael's, and wandered around the city a bit. I found a house where Beethoven had lived and written some of his famous music, and scouted out the Rathausplatz where it seemed there was a film festival. I then waited for M on the grass in the park behind the Hofburg. When she was done, we walked around a bit more, went back to the hostel for some pasta, and then headed to Rathausplatz to watch a film of a concert of Strauss, Haydn, and another guy. Of course it rained on us, but we were prepared, and had a wonderful time.
The next morning we tried to leave early, but somehow got started late. We went straight out to Schonbrunn Palace, which was absolutely amazing, despite the lacklustre audioguide. It was strange to walk through these opulent apartments where an actual emperor had lived and worked only less than a hundred years ago. And we stood in the room where Mozart had given his first performance, at the age of six, to the empress. Very cool. The grounds of the palace are also beautiful, and include some hilarious fake roman ruins. After drinking our fill, we went back into the city on the U, and went to search for tickets to see the Spanish Riding School, eventually finding them after some false starts. I'm afraid to say we stooped to McDonald's as we were desperately hungry by this point, but it's not as cheap over here, despite tasting the same, i.e. terrible. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Albertina museum - it is supposed to hold photography and graphic art, but for some reason holds a collection of modern art. It did however have a very nice royal apartment which we looked through a couple of times. We spent the evening, after another home-cooked meal, wandering along the extremely dodgy looking canal, and through some very nice parts of the old town.
On Saturday morning we went to the Spanish Riding school, something I've always wanted to see. Unfortunately the proper show was on holiday, so there was just a display of some young stallions, some foals, and some carriage driving. A bit disappointing really but cheap at the price, and it's still nice to say I've been there. After that we negotiated the wasteland that is Sudbahnhof to buy our ticket for the next day, then made our way to the Belvedere. This is a palace built buy a prince and then bought by Maria Theresa for use as an art gallery. It contains some very famous artworks, inlcuding Jacques Louis-David's Napoleon, and a collection of Gustave Klimt, the most famous of course being "The Kiss", images of which are to be found plastering tote bags and coffee mugs in every second shop in Vienna. After exhausting the gallery's possibilities, I went on a mission to find a swiss army knife, which was successful. Now we won't have to cut salami and cheese with only our teeth! We spent the evening, I'm afraid to say, watching movies, in english. It was great.
In the morning, we took a last look around Vienna, and checked out the oldest church in the city, Ruprechtskirche, parts of which date back to 720. The majority of it is still 11th century, so very very old. Then, alas, our time in beautiful, expensive Vienna was at an end, and we had to board the train for Prague.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Munich
The train from Bratislava travels through what I have named Bavaustria, and just as the makers of the Sound of Music - which I have never seen - knew, it is really really gorgeous. It makes you feel like you,re in a postcard. Best train journey yet, I think. On arrival we negotiated the S-bahn, unnecessarily, to get to our hostel, then went to meet Alli, Gerard, Brendan and Carl who we had timed our visit with. It was a bit surreal walking along the street in Munich going to get a beer. We went to one of the beer gardens for dinner- a hugely overpriced way of getting genuine Bavarian food and beer - in litres, mind you - but very atmospheric. After soaking it up, Carl and a local fried of his took us out to a very cheesy local bar, where we had a couple of drinks and listened to an inordinate amount of Michael Jackson, as everyone is being forced to do at the moment.
The following day, Sunday, was my birthday! Happy birthday to me. In the morning we all met up again and wandered around Munich, we saw a square I can't remember the name of where Hitler had done a lot of rallies, and book burnings. It was a very strange feeling standing where the Nazi party had gotten started. Leaving that behind, we went to a huge design and modern art museum, which was pretty cool. Then we went to another of the major beer gardens for lunch. This one is in a park, and had a great open atmosphere. I had litre steins of weissbeer, as usual, and a huge plate of ribs. To make my Bavarian experience complete, I was presented with my birthday present - a very swish pair of genuine lederhosen. They are very nice - soft leather and skilled embroidery. Expect to see them at the next Bavarian-themed party that occurs.
After lunch we went to Schloss something or other, the summer palace of the Bavarian monarchy. It's a lovely place, with wings from either side of it spreading in a great circle and containing houses for the king's pet nobles to stay in, at beck and call. The gardens are beautiful as well, and we saw the most amazing hunting lodge - Small and simple, but the rooms where decorated in an incredibly over the top rococco style, with mirrors, gold and silver everywhere. There was also a dutch style kitchen, with the walls and floor covered in hand-painted tiles. We all agreed that being the king of the Bavaria would be ok.
After the palace we walked to an english language cinema to see what was on, and decided to see transformers, thoguh Brendan and Carl bowed out. Before the movie, though, we went to get some dinner at a really cool little underground jazz bar - or it used to be a jazz bar, I'm not sure. Anyway there was good food and unusually good service. After dinner we rushed back up to the cinema, and were as disappointed as Brendan and Carl may have told us we would be. I don't know what Michael Day was thinking, or if he was thinking at all, but seriously. The world would be a better place if this movie had never been made. Terrible.
On Monday morning Margot and I went into the old town of Munich, which isn't really original, as Munich has been a city on the grow for a long time. And it was also bombed quite alot. It's a big shopping district now, basically, although with lots of churches and so on. We climbed to the top of Frauenkirche, which gave a great view - and Margot liked it because the top was enclosed with windows rather than just a railing. Descending again, we went to see the glockenspiel clock on the Neu Rathaus, which is ironically the older Rathaus, as the older one was destroyed in WW2 and rebuilt. We joined a 'free' walking tour (you pay in tips) for a little while, and saw a few interesting things, including an awesome rococco chapel built by these two wealthy brothers who got sick of waiting for a committee to agree to anything about the church they wanted to build. Also our tour guide told us that the Old Rathaus in the town square was were Kristalnacht was declared, which again gave that eerie feeling. Hearing about these things takes on a different shade when you are standing where they happened.
Partway through the tour we bowed out and joined Alli and Gerard, with whom we made our way to the beer garden next to the Chinese tower in the English garden, where we spent most of the rest of the afternoon. This would have had the best atmosphere of all of them, had it not been for the rowdytourist groups, who we were laughing about until they did a round of "Aussie aussie aussie, oi oi oi", and we hid our faces in our steins in embarrassment. It was a nice place to spend the afternoon though, and afterwards we wandered through the cardens, which are huge, and then through the city to a cheap italian place for some dinner. I was a bit the worse for wear though, as I'd gotten quite sunburnt, and sunburn combined with beer does not lead to feelings of happiness. Nevertheless, we went back to Alli and Gerard's room for a bit, then home to bed.
On Tuesday we went to the Residenz - the main palace of the Bavarian monarchy, right in the heart of town. It is absolutely ridiculously huge, and unfortunately is almost a complete reconstruction, as the original was bombed heavily in the 40s. We wandered through the treasure collection, which contained some amazing pieces, as well as lots of boring religious icons and whatnot. Each piece had comprehensive commentary in the audioguide, so we had to skip alot as it got a bit tedious. We walked through the palace aparments as well, which of course are reconstructions, so not as cool as they might be. There are bits and pieces that are original though, and they have done an incredible job of reconstructing the rest. It must cost an absolute fortune. Afterwards we walked through the old town, shared an overpriced dish at a street cafe at which people kept sitting down and ordering pizza only to be told there wasn't any. Take the sign down, people, seriously. After lunch we went to the Neu Pinakothek to try and see some art, but against all prior experience and expectation, this is the one gallery in Europe which is closed on Tuesdays rather than Mondays. After being chatted up by an old lady on the tram, we spent the rest of the day basically relaxing, and had dinner at the train station. Strange, I know, but we'd seen a place serving Thai food and we were having major cravings. Objectively the foodthere wasn't that great, but it hit the spot.
Next stop, Vienna.
The following day, Sunday, was my birthday! Happy birthday to me. In the morning we all met up again and wandered around Munich, we saw a square I can't remember the name of where Hitler had done a lot of rallies, and book burnings. It was a very strange feeling standing where the Nazi party had gotten started. Leaving that behind, we went to a huge design and modern art museum, which was pretty cool. Then we went to another of the major beer gardens for lunch. This one is in a park, and had a great open atmosphere. I had litre steins of weissbeer, as usual, and a huge plate of ribs. To make my Bavarian experience complete, I was presented with my birthday present - a very swish pair of genuine lederhosen. They are very nice - soft leather and skilled embroidery. Expect to see them at the next Bavarian-themed party that occurs.
After lunch we went to Schloss something or other, the summer palace of the Bavarian monarchy. It's a lovely place, with wings from either side of it spreading in a great circle and containing houses for the king's pet nobles to stay in, at beck and call. The gardens are beautiful as well, and we saw the most amazing hunting lodge - Small and simple, but the rooms where decorated in an incredibly over the top rococco style, with mirrors, gold and silver everywhere. There was also a dutch style kitchen, with the walls and floor covered in hand-painted tiles. We all agreed that being the king of the Bavaria would be ok.
After the palace we walked to an english language cinema to see what was on, and decided to see transformers, thoguh Brendan and Carl bowed out. Before the movie, though, we went to get some dinner at a really cool little underground jazz bar - or it used to be a jazz bar, I'm not sure. Anyway there was good food and unusually good service. After dinner we rushed back up to the cinema, and were as disappointed as Brendan and Carl may have told us we would be. I don't know what Michael Day was thinking, or if he was thinking at all, but seriously. The world would be a better place if this movie had never been made. Terrible.
On Monday morning Margot and I went into the old town of Munich, which isn't really original, as Munich has been a city on the grow for a long time. And it was also bombed quite alot. It's a big shopping district now, basically, although with lots of churches and so on. We climbed to the top of Frauenkirche, which gave a great view - and Margot liked it because the top was enclosed with windows rather than just a railing. Descending again, we went to see the glockenspiel clock on the Neu Rathaus, which is ironically the older Rathaus, as the older one was destroyed in WW2 and rebuilt. We joined a 'free' walking tour (you pay in tips) for a little while, and saw a few interesting things, including an awesome rococco chapel built by these two wealthy brothers who got sick of waiting for a committee to agree to anything about the church they wanted to build. Also our tour guide told us that the Old Rathaus in the town square was were Kristalnacht was declared, which again gave that eerie feeling. Hearing about these things takes on a different shade when you are standing where they happened.
Partway through the tour we bowed out and joined Alli and Gerard, with whom we made our way to the beer garden next to the Chinese tower in the English garden, where we spent most of the rest of the afternoon. This would have had the best atmosphere of all of them, had it not been for the rowdytourist groups, who we were laughing about until they did a round of "Aussie aussie aussie, oi oi oi", and we hid our faces in our steins in embarrassment. It was a nice place to spend the afternoon though, and afterwards we wandered through the cardens, which are huge, and then through the city to a cheap italian place for some dinner. I was a bit the worse for wear though, as I'd gotten quite sunburnt, and sunburn combined with beer does not lead to feelings of happiness. Nevertheless, we went back to Alli and Gerard's room for a bit, then home to bed.
On Tuesday we went to the Residenz - the main palace of the Bavarian monarchy, right in the heart of town. It is absolutely ridiculously huge, and unfortunately is almost a complete reconstruction, as the original was bombed heavily in the 40s. We wandered through the treasure collection, which contained some amazing pieces, as well as lots of boring religious icons and whatnot. Each piece had comprehensive commentary in the audioguide, so we had to skip alot as it got a bit tedious. We walked through the palace aparments as well, which of course are reconstructions, so not as cool as they might be. There are bits and pieces that are original though, and they have done an incredible job of reconstructing the rest. It must cost an absolute fortune. Afterwards we walked through the old town, shared an overpriced dish at a street cafe at which people kept sitting down and ordering pizza only to be told there wasn't any. Take the sign down, people, seriously. After lunch we went to the Neu Pinakothek to try and see some art, but against all prior experience and expectation, this is the one gallery in Europe which is closed on Tuesdays rather than Mondays. After being chatted up by an old lady on the tram, we spent the rest of the day basically relaxing, and had dinner at the train station. Strange, I know, but we'd seen a place serving Thai food and we were having major cravings. Objectively the foodthere wasn't that great, but it hit the spot.
Next stop, Vienna.
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