Finland seemed so amazing after leaving Russia that I didn't think I'd be as impressed with the rest of Scandanavia because that was a tough act to follow. But Stockholm has been equally, if not even more impressive. Of all the places I've been in Europe, this seems like the places I would find most livable... At least in the summer :) Beautiful, clean, and European. Events of the last couple days:
- woke up on the boat in the Baltic for breakfast, after which we found ourselves in Stockholm... and in rain
- toured the Old Town Hall where the annual Noble Banquet takes place. The most impressive room though was not where the Noble prizes are awarded, but the Gold Hall, a massive room covered floor to ceiling with 24 karot gold mosaic.
- went from there to Gamla Stan, an island which is the "Old Town". Given that everything is generally newer here, I wasn't expecting much. But after watching the most impressive changing of the gaurds I've seen yet, we had time to explore the island and were treated to narrow twisting alleys with shopd and restaurants as colorful and quaint as anywhere else I've been.
- the final stop was at Vassa museum, which is famous for housing a ship that sank 20 minutes into it's maiden voyage but recently recovered. It ia highly recommended, but I wasn't in the mood and craving some alone time so I wandered off to Skansen, Europes first open air museum. It was fantastic. I was caught off gaurd by the sheer size and only had time to see about half of it and double speed. It was full of Scandanavian animals, including reindeer, moose, bears, etc, and lots of Swedish, Finnish, and Norweigian buildings that have been transported here. Farmsteads, storehouses, churches, mills, etc, as well as some other cool things like live music, fair-food, and viking rune stones.
- last night was our fairwell supper and it was a good last chance to visit this those we had spent the last 10 days with, as well as meet a few of the newbies that would be taking the place of those disembarking here before the tour continues on to Norway and Denmark.
- today was seeing new friends off to the airport, then heading back to explore more of the areas we didn't have enough time at yesterday. Found a place that served moose burgers, so my tastebud's tour could check off another local delicacy.
Tommorrow John and I head to the airport to catch a flight to Bergen on the Norwegian coast, for a few days of training, boating, and cable-carring across Norways renowned fjords and then finishing up in Oslo. Exactly 1 week to go.
Heading out to grab a bite, then I'll see if I can finally get some pics up.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Russian Roundup
I'm sitting in the posh lobby of our hotel waiting for the bus, so I've got a few minutes to kill and figured Id do a quick brain dump of what happened in Russia.
- flew into Moscow last Thursday on my own and the transfer I had booked worked out well. The 1.5 hour drive to the airport was a bit awkward, but I'd picked up enough Russian words to initiate some conversation and the young driver knew enough English words that we could manage a bit of interaction. Cherades were still essential. I quite enjoyed the experience, although it would be exhausting to keep it up longer.
- met the tour group for dinner and spent the night choosing optional excursions and hunting for money exchanges to pay for it, before we headed to the bar for a few drinks and time to get to know each other.
- next morning we met our Moscow tour guide Galina, a big, rough woman who was every bit the picture of what you would expect for someone who has lived through some of the worst of the communism era here. We didn't get a lot of good detailed historical information from her as her stories tended to wander, but were treated to first hand accounts of what life was really like. She had participated in the rallies that led to Boris Yeltsin's presidency, feared the KGB, and lived through encounters with secret informers. It's easy to see why people in Russia didn't seem to smile much, although the young people seemed to be happy and full of hope so there is a good chance of a better future for the country, although the return of the old days remains a real possibility. Most interesting story she told was the introduction of Macdonald's and what that did for the psychology of the country. I guess when you've spent your whole life recieving your allowed rations, being able to go in to a place and have choices was a huge shock to the system. Apparently some even suffered heart attacks because it was so foreign to their world concept, they simply couldn't handle the shock.
- Galina took us on a tour of the Moscow metro, where each station was built and decorated like a palace. Quite a site. We also made stops at a milatary museum (including a display of the rifle from the sniper featured in "Enemy at the gates"). The read square, St. Basil's church, Lenin's tomb, and the Kremlin completed our Moscow sightseeing. Oh, and a night time tour of Moscow including a stop for a Vodka shot at Swan Lake. Moscow is far more beautiful at night, and I highly recommend a night tour if you are ever here.
- James Bond theme music gives a complelty different feeling to a bus ride in Moscow by the way. Actually makes your heart beat a little faster.
- we also got an evening at the famous Moscow State Circus (hence the earliwr comment about the cat and monkey). A few of the acts were lame, but all in all it was a great show. Recommended.
- after 2 days in the capital, we had a 440 KM drive to Novgorod that took close to 10 hours. The roads here are not so good, but still on par with Saskatchewan, except for the traffic. It was cool seeing the country side though (quite poor). Novgorod was more of an overnight road stop than anything scenic.
- we had 2 days in St. Petersurg, which was far more beautiful than Moscow. Our tour guide Ana here was a hoot. Included a visit to the Hermitage, some free time to explore the city and a couple very impressive churches, as well as an evening canal cruise. Vodka was cheap, although some of our group ppaid for it the next day. Good fun though, I would definitely recommend a visit here. Most of our group much prefered it to Moscow, although I thought Moscow provided the better "EXPERIENCE"
Well, it's go time so I have to sign off. We are headed to the harbour to catch our overnight cruise ship to stockholm. 1 more full day there before the tour officially ends and then John and I will break off for Norway on our own. By the way, Finland is beautiful. I don't think I know anyone else who has comehere, which is a shame. I could easily see myself living here. Go Finland.
Sorry about the lack of pics... they will come in time :)
- flew into Moscow last Thursday on my own and the transfer I had booked worked out well. The 1.5 hour drive to the airport was a bit awkward, but I'd picked up enough Russian words to initiate some conversation and the young driver knew enough English words that we could manage a bit of interaction. Cherades were still essential. I quite enjoyed the experience, although it would be exhausting to keep it up longer.
- met the tour group for dinner and spent the night choosing optional excursions and hunting for money exchanges to pay for it, before we headed to the bar for a few drinks and time to get to know each other.
- next morning we met our Moscow tour guide Galina, a big, rough woman who was every bit the picture of what you would expect for someone who has lived through some of the worst of the communism era here. We didn't get a lot of good detailed historical information from her as her stories tended to wander, but were treated to first hand accounts of what life was really like. She had participated in the rallies that led to Boris Yeltsin's presidency, feared the KGB, and lived through encounters with secret informers. It's easy to see why people in Russia didn't seem to smile much, although the young people seemed to be happy and full of hope so there is a good chance of a better future for the country, although the return of the old days remains a real possibility. Most interesting story she told was the introduction of Macdonald's and what that did for the psychology of the country. I guess when you've spent your whole life recieving your allowed rations, being able to go in to a place and have choices was a huge shock to the system. Apparently some even suffered heart attacks because it was so foreign to their world concept, they simply couldn't handle the shock.
- Galina took us on a tour of the Moscow metro, where each station was built and decorated like a palace. Quite a site. We also made stops at a milatary museum (including a display of the rifle from the sniper featured in "Enemy at the gates"). The read square, St. Basil's church, Lenin's tomb, and the Kremlin completed our Moscow sightseeing. Oh, and a night time tour of Moscow including a stop for a Vodka shot at Swan Lake. Moscow is far more beautiful at night, and I highly recommend a night tour if you are ever here.
- James Bond theme music gives a complelty different feeling to a bus ride in Moscow by the way. Actually makes your heart beat a little faster.
- we also got an evening at the famous Moscow State Circus (hence the earliwr comment about the cat and monkey). A few of the acts were lame, but all in all it was a great show. Recommended.
- after 2 days in the capital, we had a 440 KM drive to Novgorod that took close to 10 hours. The roads here are not so good, but still on par with Saskatchewan, except for the traffic. It was cool seeing the country side though (quite poor). Novgorod was more of an overnight road stop than anything scenic.
- we had 2 days in St. Petersurg, which was far more beautiful than Moscow. Our tour guide Ana here was a hoot. Included a visit to the Hermitage, some free time to explore the city and a couple very impressive churches, as well as an evening canal cruise. Vodka was cheap, although some of our group ppaid for it the next day. Good fun though, I would definitely recommend a visit here. Most of our group much prefered it to Moscow, although I thought Moscow provided the better "EXPERIENCE"
Well, it's go time so I have to sign off. We are headed to the harbour to catch our overnight cruise ship to stockholm. 1 more full day there before the tour officially ends and then John and I will break off for Norway on our own. By the way, Finland is beautiful. I don't think I know anyone else who has comehere, which is a shame. I could easily see myself living here. Go Finland.
Sorry about the lack of pics... they will come in time :)
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Hello from Helsinki
We are finally free from behind the Iron Curtain, and with that freedom comes such luxuries as Internet access, so I finally have a decent chance to post a real update again. Rather than try to cover the last week or so all at once, I'll leave Russia for a later time and just cover off the latest from Scandanavia:
- we drove to Helsinki yesterday. For some reason, I got randomly pulled out of line at the Russian border check. It only took a few extra minutes as they are extremely effecient at cavity searches owing to their KGB heritage (JK)
- had a quick bus tour, then back to the hotel for a dinner buffet that was by far our best meal since the contiki trip began. This hotel is also by far the best we've had.
- we had free time today for the first time on the trip, except for the odd hour or so. Not that that was bad, they just try to pack a lot into the Russian days because it's harder to do stuff on your own when everything is in cyrillic. I quite enjoyed the back-to-back 14 hour days, but having some downtime has been a nice treat as well. About 80% of the group took a day trip to Talin in Estonia because we were told there isn't much to do in Helsinki, but John and I met up with Aussie-Ben, his girlfriend Peta, and her sister Jody and went exploring in the salmonela fortress here. OK, that isn't what it's really called, but I can't really figure out the Finnish signs, especially since I now mentally try to read everything as though it was still cyrillic. Do a google search for the fortress in Helsinki and you'll find what the real name is. If there is more than 1, it's the one that is on Unesco's world heritage list.
- fortress was gorgeous, especially the 10 minute ferry ride through the calm baltic sea waters past many small rocky mountains. The highlight though was the "beach". It was a small section of sand maybe 30 yards across, but since it was totally unexpected, we all took off our shoes and dipped in our feet. It was so cold that it literally hurt, and no matter how much warning we had, each person yelped when they entered. Being stupid Canadians that we are though, John and I decided to show our Aussie friends what kind of cold temperatures we can really tolerate and shed our shirts for an impromptu swim to the dock 20 meters out. I almost chickened out when it looked like John froze up halfway there, but bit the bullet and followed suit. I have never swam so fast in my life and barely remember even feeling the water, except that my feet were screaming bloody murder at me. By far the coldest water I have ever swam in, but very invigorating.
- also got to try some reindeer meet... Ethan, sorry buddy, but Santa ain't coming this year because I just ate Rudolph. He was delicious. I think I'm going to try to find some Blitzen for supper.
- tonight is more freetime, so I think a bunch of us will be hitting the sauna because apparently that is what you do in Finland. Tommorrow morning is more free time so we'll likely hit the harbor markets and a couple churches, then we board a boat for an overnight cruise to Stockholm.
- One more random thought, and perhaps a teaser for Russia when I get to that write up: capitalism has it's problems, and I personally agree with some of the ideaology behind communism, though not as an imposed political system. There are many in Russia who still favor it's return even. But having done this trip, I can now conclisively say that anyone who still debates communism versus capitalsim has never driven across the Russian-Finish border. Wow. What a differene you can see in the quality of life that changes as quickly as you can drive over the line. Even from on the bus in a rural area, several people commented how they felt like a weight had just been lifted off their shoulders.
- we drove to Helsinki yesterday. For some reason, I got randomly pulled out of line at the Russian border check. It only took a few extra minutes as they are extremely effecient at cavity searches owing to their KGB heritage (JK)
- had a quick bus tour, then back to the hotel for a dinner buffet that was by far our best meal since the contiki trip began. This hotel is also by far the best we've had.
- we had free time today for the first time on the trip, except for the odd hour or so. Not that that was bad, they just try to pack a lot into the Russian days because it's harder to do stuff on your own when everything is in cyrillic. I quite enjoyed the back-to-back 14 hour days, but having some downtime has been a nice treat as well. About 80% of the group took a day trip to Talin in Estonia because we were told there isn't much to do in Helsinki, but John and I met up with Aussie-Ben, his girlfriend Peta, and her sister Jody and went exploring in the salmonela fortress here. OK, that isn't what it's really called, but I can't really figure out the Finnish signs, especially since I now mentally try to read everything as though it was still cyrillic. Do a google search for the fortress in Helsinki and you'll find what the real name is. If there is more than 1, it's the one that is on Unesco's world heritage list.
- fortress was gorgeous, especially the 10 minute ferry ride through the calm baltic sea waters past many small rocky mountains. The highlight though was the "beach". It was a small section of sand maybe 30 yards across, but since it was totally unexpected, we all took off our shoes and dipped in our feet. It was so cold that it literally hurt, and no matter how much warning we had, each person yelped when they entered. Being stupid Canadians that we are though, John and I decided to show our Aussie friends what kind of cold temperatures we can really tolerate and shed our shirts for an impromptu swim to the dock 20 meters out. I almost chickened out when it looked like John froze up halfway there, but bit the bullet and followed suit. I have never swam so fast in my life and barely remember even feeling the water, except that my feet were screaming bloody murder at me. By far the coldest water I have ever swam in, but very invigorating.
- also got to try some reindeer meet... Ethan, sorry buddy, but Santa ain't coming this year because I just ate Rudolph. He was delicious. I think I'm going to try to find some Blitzen for supper.
- tonight is more freetime, so I think a bunch of us will be hitting the sauna because apparently that is what you do in Finland. Tommorrow morning is more free time so we'll likely hit the harbor markets and a couple churches, then we board a boat for an overnight cruise to Stockholm.
- One more random thought, and perhaps a teaser for Russia when I get to that write up: capitalism has it's problems, and I personally agree with some of the ideaology behind communism, though not as an imposed political system. There are many in Russia who still favor it's return even. But having done this trip, I can now conclisively say that anyone who still debates communism versus capitalsim has never driven across the Russian-Finish border. Wow. What a differene you can see in the quality of life that changes as quickly as you can drive over the line. Even from on the bus in a rural area, several people commented how they felt like a weight had just been lifted off their shoulders.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Meet Me in Moscow
No wi-fi here, so I'm paying by the minute in the lobby next door. I've got three minutes left, so here's the quickest update ever:
- the tour guide here is a 50-60 something Russian, who's lived through some very interesting history and shared some great stories and insights into what life in Russia has been like. Will definitely write more on that when able. To quote the famous Rasputin Song though... "oh those russians"
I have seen the following things in random order:
- the red square
- the kremlin
- st. basil's cathedral
- a putin look alike
- a bus parallel park
- a cat do a handstand
- a monkey do the can can
Having a great time
- the tour guide here is a 50-60 something Russian, who's lived through some very interesting history and shared some great stories and insights into what life in Russia has been like. Will definitely write more on that when able. To quote the famous Rasputin Song though... "oh those russians"
I have seen the following things in random order:
- the red square
- the kremlin
- st. basil's cathedral
- a putin look alike
- a bus parallel park
- a cat do a handstand
- a monkey do the can can
Having a great time
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Das-vee-dan-ya Donetsk
Strana strana. I'm butchering the spelling, but I'm told those two words mean "Strange Country". Syllable emphasis makes a big difference in Russian language, and strana can mean either "Strange" or "Country" depending on whether you emphasize the first syllable or the last. Apparently it doesn't matter which order you do it in either. Word order and sentence structure are fairly unimportant in this language. Say STRA-na stra-NA or stra-NA STRA-na, either way it means Ukraine, er, I mean "Strange Country". This leg of the trip has been very different than what we've encountered elsewhere. A few examples of why this country seems strange to me:
- we got off the plane via stairs to the tarmat, then boarded a bus and waited for several minutes. Then the bus started up, pulled a u-turn, and stopped. We all got off on the other side and walked into the airport building. It was literally less than 10 seconds, and I could have walked that distance 20 times while we waited. I'm not sure what the point of that was. Could be some kind of government job-creation program or something :)
- when you enter the country, they give you a form with 2 sections for "Arrival" and "Departure". Both sections are identical, and you fill them in with your personal information and ARRIVAL details, including for the "Departure" section. That seemed really odd to me. I would have thought they'd want to know when I was coming and when I was leaving, but instead they wanted to know when I was arriving twice. It made more sense once I went through passport control though. The guy verified they were the same, marked both sections with an official stamp, then cut it in half and gave me back the departure section. Apparently I have to have that to leave the country. I've been checking my pockets twice a day to make sure I haven't lost it.
- there are white lines on the roads here just like in Canada, but I'm still unsure whether they are lane markers to drive between, or guiding lines to show where the middle of your car should be. The locals don't seem to know which purpose they serve either. I've seen motorbikes turn lane dividers into another lane back home, but here it's common place for full size vehicles to do the same, even between 2 wide buses.
- they use the Cyrillic alphabet here, which makes reading the signs impossible for a monolingual like me. There's some weird symbols I can't type out here, but about half of them are actually the same as the Phoenetic alphabet we use. Except that those symbols don't always mean the same thing. For example "W" is "sh", "C" is "S", and "P" is "R". Mapket was the only sign I saw in 3 days that I could read. Oh, and MacDonalds, which is the universal word for "free bathroom".
- speaking of bathrooms, I'm told that most of them here are squatters, and have no TP or running water. My sisters and nephew encountered a few of those, but somehow I have yet to see one for myself. Been all fully-equipped porcelain thrones for me thus far.
- we had a Ukranian BBQ one day, which was DELICIOUS. Nothing all that unusual about a BBQ, but Laurie and Bruno invited some Ukranian friends over for it. Between their broken English and Laurie and Bruno's more broken Russian, communication involved a lot of cherades. A fun and entertaining experience we didn't get elsewhere. The "strange" part was that no one here has a BBQ, so a Ukranian "Sashlik" is done by building a big fire, letting it burn down to coals, then slow-cooking your meat (mostly pork) on it. Yummity-yum-yum-yum. As far as I can tell though, you can't buy firewood anywhere here. So if you want a sashlik, you go around the neighborhood scrounging for wood where-ever you can find it. Fortunately most houses and fences are in bad disrepair, so it's not hard to get enough for a meal. Nail in the board? No problem. Strange chemicals on it? That'll burn too, toss it on. Hey, a new flavour!
- Donetsk is quite poor and run down. Unemployment is well over 20%. A local tram driver makes about 40 greevna a day, which is about 6 dollars Canadian. A decent apartment will typically cost 1500 greevna a month. You can do the math. But there's also a lot of wealthy people here. You will see brand new condo buildings that would look fancy in Canada, right next to a run down house with only half a roof that someone is still living in, with nothing separating them but an industrial smokestack that may or may not still be in use.
- the highlight of our stay here, other than visiting family, was that we got to tour a local children's TB hospital yesterday. It was exactly what you'd expect a hospital in this country to look like, but the kids where a delight. They put on a "performance" for us, then showed us around. I'd love to describe more, but I've probably written enough already, so I'll wait until I can post some pictures and videos to go with it.
That's all for now. I'm off to Moscow where I'm meeting John and my new tour group for the next leg of the trip in about 4 hours. I arrive at an airport that the tour company won't pick me up from, so I've pre-arranged a private transfer for myself. Supposedly some guy will be there with a sign saying "Greg Ashby". Supposedly he won't work for the Russian mob, and supposedly he won't drive me to some forsaken part of the city and threaten to leave me there unless I pay him 1 million rubles. This is what I like to call the adventure part of my journey. If I survive, I'll try to keep posting something from each city I hit, and hopefully gets pics of Prague and Donetsk up soon too. If I don't, well, it's been nice knowing ya :)
Das-vee-dan-ya
Greg
- we got off the plane via stairs to the tarmat, then boarded a bus and waited for several minutes. Then the bus started up, pulled a u-turn, and stopped. We all got off on the other side and walked into the airport building. It was literally less than 10 seconds, and I could have walked that distance 20 times while we waited. I'm not sure what the point of that was. Could be some kind of government job-creation program or something :)
- when you enter the country, they give you a form with 2 sections for "Arrival" and "Departure". Both sections are identical, and you fill them in with your personal information and ARRIVAL details, including for the "Departure" section. That seemed really odd to me. I would have thought they'd want to know when I was coming and when I was leaving, but instead they wanted to know when I was arriving twice. It made more sense once I went through passport control though. The guy verified they were the same, marked both sections with an official stamp, then cut it in half and gave me back the departure section. Apparently I have to have that to leave the country. I've been checking my pockets twice a day to make sure I haven't lost it.
- there are white lines on the roads here just like in Canada, but I'm still unsure whether they are lane markers to drive between, or guiding lines to show where the middle of your car should be. The locals don't seem to know which purpose they serve either. I've seen motorbikes turn lane dividers into another lane back home, but here it's common place for full size vehicles to do the same, even between 2 wide buses.
- they use the Cyrillic alphabet here, which makes reading the signs impossible for a monolingual like me. There's some weird symbols I can't type out here, but about half of them are actually the same as the Phoenetic alphabet we use. Except that those symbols don't always mean the same thing. For example "W" is "sh", "C" is "S", and "P" is "R". Mapket was the only sign I saw in 3 days that I could read. Oh, and MacDonalds, which is the universal word for "free bathroom".
- speaking of bathrooms, I'm told that most of them here are squatters, and have no TP or running water. My sisters and nephew encountered a few of those, but somehow I have yet to see one for myself. Been all fully-equipped porcelain thrones for me thus far.
- we had a Ukranian BBQ one day, which was DELICIOUS. Nothing all that unusual about a BBQ, but Laurie and Bruno invited some Ukranian friends over for it. Between their broken English and Laurie and Bruno's more broken Russian, communication involved a lot of cherades. A fun and entertaining experience we didn't get elsewhere. The "strange" part was that no one here has a BBQ, so a Ukranian "Sashlik" is done by building a big fire, letting it burn down to coals, then slow-cooking your meat (mostly pork) on it. Yummity-yum-yum-yum. As far as I can tell though, you can't buy firewood anywhere here. So if you want a sashlik, you go around the neighborhood scrounging for wood where-ever you can find it. Fortunately most houses and fences are in bad disrepair, so it's not hard to get enough for a meal. Nail in the board? No problem. Strange chemicals on it? That'll burn too, toss it on. Hey, a new flavour!
- Donetsk is quite poor and run down. Unemployment is well over 20%. A local tram driver makes about 40 greevna a day, which is about 6 dollars Canadian. A decent apartment will typically cost 1500 greevna a month. You can do the math. But there's also a lot of wealthy people here. You will see brand new condo buildings that would look fancy in Canada, right next to a run down house with only half a roof that someone is still living in, with nothing separating them but an industrial smokestack that may or may not still be in use.
- the highlight of our stay here, other than visiting family, was that we got to tour a local children's TB hospital yesterday. It was exactly what you'd expect a hospital in this country to look like, but the kids where a delight. They put on a "performance" for us, then showed us around. I'd love to describe more, but I've probably written enough already, so I'll wait until I can post some pictures and videos to go with it.
That's all for now. I'm off to Moscow where I'm meeting John and my new tour group for the next leg of the trip in about 4 hours. I arrive at an airport that the tour company won't pick me up from, so I've pre-arranged a private transfer for myself. Supposedly some guy will be there with a sign saying "Greg Ashby". Supposedly he won't work for the Russian mob, and supposedly he won't drive me to some forsaken part of the city and threaten to leave me there unless I pay him 1 million rubles. This is what I like to call the adventure part of my journey. If I survive, I'll try to keep posting something from each city I hit, and hopefully gets pics of Prague and Donetsk up soon too. If I don't, well, it's been nice knowing ya :)
Das-vee-dan-ya
Greg
Friday, August 7, 2009
Pretty In Prague
Wow. I'd heard good things about Prague being a beautiful city and all, but it surpassed my expectations. Our hotel was in the "new town" area so my first impressions were mostly of that area. It's nice and all, but nothing to go ga-ga over. But around noon on the first day we walked in to the old town square and I had found the Prague I was expecting. Climbed the clock tower for an even better view and was convinced that Prague is indeed the most beautiful city I've seen. Rome was "grander", Jerusalem more "impressive", Venice and Florence more "quaint", Innsbruck more "scenic", but for sheer aesthetics, Prague takes the cake. As I understand it, Prague was the largest city that was relatively undamaged during WWII, so most of its old buildings were still intact and not rebuilt in the last 50 years. It definitely shows.
From the Old Town square, we had lunch then crossed the famous Charles Bridge, climbed another tower there, and went on to The 2nd Church of St. Nicolaus we've seen here (I believe there's a third, but I never saw it). That was the first time I've encountered a church that charged to enter. Since they all look the same anyway by now, we didn't bother. We then headed back along the river and stopped at the hotel in New Town for a break. I had already walked poor little Ethan and Carla to exhaustion (about 8 hours on foot), so they called it a day, but I had a couple hours of daylight left so I went on to Vysehard, having no real idea what it was (other than it use to be a castle) or whether I could get in. The long hike was worth it though, it turned out to be public park, so after circling to find a way up, entrance was free and the views were worth many times what I had paid. Well worth the trip down there if you are ever here.
I also stumbled into some kind of Czech beer gardens there. They had an actual wood burning grill full of pork, chicken and Klobsa sausage, with corn on the cob to boot. Everything was in Czech but I couldn't pass up the experience and tried to order anyway. Unfortunately, I had simultaneously stumbled into the first place that didn't take Euros either. The Koruna still reigns supreme here, although many places will take the Euro. Apparently this was a locals only hang-out though, the lady there didn't seem to even understand what I was trying to pay with. I left hungry and itching for a European experience, so I hiked all the way back to the windy narrow streets of old town and had myself I nice meal of lamb and eggplant under the full moon.
Day 2 was set aside for Prague Castle, which meant another walk clear across town, and up a rather large hill. Highlights were the St. Vittus Cathedral, and a museum exhibit of "The Story of Prague Castle", complete with models of its development over the past 1100 years, 7000 year old pottery from the earliest settlers, and loads of history to read through. It's interesting how little seems to be known about Czech history. From what I can gather (you don't get to read all the museum information when you've got a hyper-active 8 year old with you), there wasn't a written Czech language until well into the crusader era when it was invented specifically to translate the Bible. So other than some scant archeological information, a few early "royals" mentioned in Roman writings, and some general statements about Slavic migrations in the 6th century and the formation of the Bohemian Kingdom, there's very little said about anything here prior to the 10th century CE. All the exhibits I've come across cover "pre-history to 918" with a pretty broad brush, then get into good ol' St. Wencelas. Even then, there's a lot of gaps and apparent guess work up until about 1500. From there the history gets pretty interesting though, including the Hussite Wars, the 30 years war (which I just saw an exhibit of one of the last battles involving the Swedes trying to fight across Charles Bridge... what the heck were they doing way down here???), and of course, WWII and the communist era. This trip is definitely re-igniting my interest in history. Of course, this is my travel blog, not Wikipedia, so I should stop digressing :)
After the Castle, the only major area of Prague I hadn't seen was Mala Strana, which is a huge forest area and highest point in Old Prague. To my surprise, Carla and Ethan decided to come with me for that part, so I marched them up and down that hill, as well as yet another tower at the top (a mini-Eifel tower from the looks of it). One of my favorite things to do in any city is to climb a tower and get a good look of the place, so Prague was a real treat for me (and there were many more we passed up even!). I've probably walked more in the last 2 days than I did in the first week (Salzburg excluded). Legs are fine, but my feet are throbbing and ready for a break, which we are about to get.
Tomorrow we start our travels to Ukraine. 6 hours on the train back to Munich, overnight near the airport, and then a late morning flight to Donetsk where Laurie and Bruno (my little sister and brother-in-law) will pick us up for a few days of visiting with them.
PS. Sorry, no pics tonight. I can't get online with my smart-phone here, so I'm using the free computer in the lobby. It has a real keyboard, hence the more verbose entry tonight. Sorry about that. I'm wordy. Will try to post some more pics when I next get a wifi connection.
From the Old Town square, we had lunch then crossed the famous Charles Bridge, climbed another tower there, and went on to The 2nd Church of St. Nicolaus we've seen here (I believe there's a third, but I never saw it). That was the first time I've encountered a church that charged to enter. Since they all look the same anyway by now, we didn't bother. We then headed back along the river and stopped at the hotel in New Town for a break. I had already walked poor little Ethan and Carla to exhaustion (about 8 hours on foot), so they called it a day, but I had a couple hours of daylight left so I went on to Vysehard, having no real idea what it was (other than it use to be a castle) or whether I could get in. The long hike was worth it though, it turned out to be public park, so after circling to find a way up, entrance was free and the views were worth many times what I had paid. Well worth the trip down there if you are ever here.
I also stumbled into some kind of Czech beer gardens there. They had an actual wood burning grill full of pork, chicken and Klobsa sausage, with corn on the cob to boot. Everything was in Czech but I couldn't pass up the experience and tried to order anyway. Unfortunately, I had simultaneously stumbled into the first place that didn't take Euros either. The Koruna still reigns supreme here, although many places will take the Euro. Apparently this was a locals only hang-out though, the lady there didn't seem to even understand what I was trying to pay with. I left hungry and itching for a European experience, so I hiked all the way back to the windy narrow streets of old town and had myself I nice meal of lamb and eggplant under the full moon.
Day 2 was set aside for Prague Castle, which meant another walk clear across town, and up a rather large hill. Highlights were the St. Vittus Cathedral, and a museum exhibit of "The Story of Prague Castle", complete with models of its development over the past 1100 years, 7000 year old pottery from the earliest settlers, and loads of history to read through. It's interesting how little seems to be known about Czech history. From what I can gather (you don't get to read all the museum information when you've got a hyper-active 8 year old with you), there wasn't a written Czech language until well into the crusader era when it was invented specifically to translate the Bible. So other than some scant archeological information, a few early "royals" mentioned in Roman writings, and some general statements about Slavic migrations in the 6th century and the formation of the Bohemian Kingdom, there's very little said about anything here prior to the 10th century CE. All the exhibits I've come across cover "pre-history to 918" with a pretty broad brush, then get into good ol' St. Wencelas. Even then, there's a lot of gaps and apparent guess work up until about 1500. From there the history gets pretty interesting though, including the Hussite Wars, the 30 years war (which I just saw an exhibit of one of the last battles involving the Swedes trying to fight across Charles Bridge... what the heck were they doing way down here???), and of course, WWII and the communist era. This trip is definitely re-igniting my interest in history. Of course, this is my travel blog, not Wikipedia, so I should stop digressing :)
After the Castle, the only major area of Prague I hadn't seen was Mala Strana, which is a huge forest area and highest point in Old Prague. To my surprise, Carla and Ethan decided to come with me for that part, so I marched them up and down that hill, as well as yet another tower at the top (a mini-Eifel tower from the looks of it). One of my favorite things to do in any city is to climb a tower and get a good look of the place, so Prague was a real treat for me (and there were many more we passed up even!). I've probably walked more in the last 2 days than I did in the first week (Salzburg excluded). Legs are fine, but my feet are throbbing and ready for a break, which we are about to get.
Tomorrow we start our travels to Ukraine. 6 hours on the train back to Munich, overnight near the airport, and then a late morning flight to Donetsk where Laurie and Bruno (my little sister and brother-in-law) will pick us up for a few days of visiting with them.
PS. Sorry, no pics tonight. I can't get online with my smart-phone here, so I'm using the free computer in the lobby. It has a real keyboard, hence the more verbose entry tonight. Sorry about that. I'm wordy. Will try to post some more pics when I next get a wifi connection.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Views from Vienna
shonbrun palace
an example of the forested area here... this place is huge...
a view of the palace and Vienna from the south hill
The place where said view was from
An example of how manicured this place is... that's 2 rows of trees, shaved flat at one end and formed into a tunnel down the middle
A shot of the maze we got lost in. As fun as it was, I couldn't help but think it would have been even better if they would release the occasional wild boar to liven it up a bit :)
The Danube tower and Donau City. Nice modern area with a cool park... good spot to get away from the terrorists, er, tourists
Danube River from the "Sunken City", a little, long island in the middle of the river. Seemed like a nice place to hang out. We were at a stretch of restaurants, and all those lights on the other side is more... it was too dark to explore, but the maps show many kms of park and paths in all along the river.
St. Stephen's Cathedral in the Old City
The view from it's tower... sorry, but the rain and detail made the panorama's look poopy, so this is the best I've got
the last church we stumbled on today. I don't know what it is called... at this point, they are all starting to look the same to me! :)
One extra shot of it for my mom... she liken zee flowers.
an example of the forested area here... this place is huge...
a view of the palace and Vienna from the south hill
The place where said view was from
An example of how manicured this place is... that's 2 rows of trees, shaved flat at one end and formed into a tunnel down the middle
A shot of the maze we got lost in. As fun as it was, I couldn't help but think it would have been even better if they would release the occasional wild boar to liven it up a bit :)
The Danube tower and Donau City. Nice modern area with a cool park... good spot to get away from the terrorists, er, tourists
Danube River from the "Sunken City", a little, long island in the middle of the river. Seemed like a nice place to hang out. We were at a stretch of restaurants, and all those lights on the other side is more... it was too dark to explore, but the maps show many kms of park and paths in all along the river.
St. Stephen's Cathedral in the Old City
The view from it's tower... sorry, but the rain and detail made the panorama's look poopy, so this is the best I've got
the last church we stumbled on today. I don't know what it is called... at this point, they are all starting to look the same to me! :)
One extra shot of it for my mom... she liken zee flowers.
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