The Road to Budapest - Day 13

2/04/09
This morning I watched some of the G20 Summit being held in London before going for a walk around the village. It was cold, but the sun was shining brightly, so it was a beautiful day. Just after lunchtime, we took a short train ride to the base of one of the mountains. The funicular rail up the mountain was out of service, so we decided to walk up the mountain. The road was still covered in snow and made for a difficult hike, but it was worth it and it was fun to be trekking through snow. Once we reached our destination we sat for a while and enjoyed the atmosphere. A couple were nearby with their dog – a husky. It fitted in to the snowy environment, and you could tell it loved being in the snow – it was jumping around and running through the snow – having a great time. I decided it was time to build a snowman – I put my gloves and beanie on and walked through deep snow into the middle of a clearing and started building. I had so much fun and I was quite proud of my efforts – I took my camera with me and set it up on the snow and took a photo of me and my snow man! After that effort I joined the guys in a snow ball throwing competition. We had to leave eventually, so we stomped our way back down the mountain and back to our village.
We had dinner at our hotel that night and then sat in the lounge area for hours afterwards – drinking way too much wine, but having a great time.

The Road to Budapest - Day 12

1/04/09
We had a bit of time to explore the town again for the few hours before having to leave. I wandered around the market square for a little while to check out some the local decorative items – they were selling strange looking sticks of coloured wheat-like plants, which I later found out were for Palm Day. They also had a fresh produce market outside of the centre of town – they sold plump looking fruit and veggies, strange cheeses and meats. The ladies selling the goods wore scarves over their heads tied under their chins – it looked quite cute. I bought a few bits and pieces for our travel day ahead and then gave my remaining change to a busker in the park.
Our bus journey into the Tatra Mountains was quite long but the scenery was amazing once we got out of suburbia. We passed villages nestled in snowy valleys, with the large snow covered mountains of the Tatra’s soaring up in the background. One village that we stopped in to change bus was deep in snow. The roads had been ploughed and large mounds of snow bordered the roads and pathways. The next bus trip was a bit hairy – it was a small bus, totally full so our bags had to go in the aisle way. The road was narrow and windy with a snow border. The driver sped his way rounds the bends and sharp corners and it was actually better to not look at what was ahead! This bus took us the Poland/Slovakia border. Antonio took us along a pathway that had been cleared, even though we had to under a gate and past a sign with a big red cross on it – he said that this was the way they always went and wasn’t sure why they had blocked it off. We followed the cleared pathway for a while with our luggage until we got to the last 5 meters before the bridge – the snow hadn’t been cleared there! We could either turn around and go back and then follow the road around, or we just go through the snow for the last little bit – we decided to keep going!!! It was hilarious. Antonio went first to leave some foot holes for us to use – his is about 6 foot 4, so his legs are quite long ... I had to nearly do the splits to step into the holes he had created, until I just gave up (in fits of laughter) and just pushed through the deep snow carrying my bag at chest height to keep it dry! While we waited for the next bus to take us into the Tatras, a cat came running along the road meowing as it came – I think it just wanting some company (there isn’t much at the border, other than the now un-used control centre, a bar and a handful of other buildings/houses). It snuggled up to us meowing, it jumped onto my bag for a pat and then sat at the door to the bus after we boarded – it was so cute. We bit the cat farewell and then took the nice slow bus ride to the Tatras.
As we got closer to our hotel you could see the devastation to the countryside from the tornado-like storm in 2004, which destroyed a lot of the area. The trees were gone and only a few shoots were coming through. It looked quite sad compared to the scenery we had already seen along the way. I was a little disappointed when we reached our little town – it wasn’t snow covered like all the towns and villages we had just passed – bummer. The town was very cute though and they backdrop of our accommodation was amazing – two large snow covered mountain peaks – absolutely beautiful.
For dinner that night we went to a bar/restaurant in the village – it was very cool. It was filled with heavy wooden furniture and the lights were set into old wagon wheels hanging from the ceiling. The best thing about this place was the price of the food and drinks – extremely cheap! The meals and drinks for 4 people (salmon steaks, chicken dishes, goulash, many beers and many wines) – once converted to 37 Euro!!! If we had known how cheap everything was, I am sure we would have eaten and drunk a whole more than we did!

The Road to Budapest - Day 11

31/03/09
I had the day to myself today, to do as I please around the town of Krakow. The old town centre is bordered by parkland and pathways, and our hotel sat on the outside of this ring, so I thought it a good place to start. The town used to be the capital of Poland and used to be surrounded by a wall and fortresses, some of which are still visible. In the 12th Century the town was virtually destroyed by the Tartar invasion, so they were able to rebuild the town on basically a blank canvas. Hence, the town is very easily navigated – the streets are wide and they are set out in a grid around the central market square. On the outskirt of the Old Town is the Wawel Castle. I walked up and into the grounds of the castle and was in awe of some of the buildings that form the castle. It was also good to find out that a very important person used to reside in this town - Pope John Paul II used to be the Archbishop in Krakow. Needless to say, there is a statue of him on the grounds of the Castle and many souvenirs are dedicated to him. The other major star of the town is the Dragon ... the Castle is built upon the Wawel Hill, above the cave of the dragon. It is believed that many knights tried to kill the dragon, but it was the wit of ‘Krakus’ who finally succeeded by poisoning the food of the dragon. I love stories like these, it gives the town a bit of a twist to its history. The view from the castle was nice, it overlooks both the modern parts of the city on the other side of the river, and back over the Old Town centre towers and steeples.
I kept walking along the outskirts of the Old Town and then headed out to the Jewish Quarter. I viewed Isaac’s Synagogue, the High Synagogue and the Old Synagogue. None of which were very extravagant buildings, but the museums within are supposed to be very good – they were closed today though. The Old Jewish Cemetery was open, so I wandered inside the wall of the cemetery for a look around. Parts of the wall are actually made up of broken pieces of headstone, and the headstones all had little metal caps on them to help stop damage to the faces of them. There must have been some important people buried there, as there were five headstones under a tree that were fenced off and had boxes for the lighting of candles beneath them. Some Jewish men were standing in front of them praying and rocking back and forth. I felt kind of out of place, so I kept a distance away from that area until they were gone. Outside the entrance to the cemetery are some plaques, one of which was in English – it read: “Thou Shall Not kill; In Loving Memory of the Ferber Family; 88 Members Murdered by the Nazi’s Holocaust 1939 – 1945; May Their Souls be Eternally Blessed; Dedicated by the Survivors; Fred Ferber; Roman Ferber”. I found it quite touching, especially considering what I had seen the previous day at Auschwitz, and there must have been so many more dedication like that one, they were all in Jewish text though, so I couldn’t read them. Oskar Schindler’s Factory is in Krakow too, and they have recently turned it into a museum of the history of Krakow. Unfortunately it is a little way away from where I was and outside the bounds of my map. I passed the Temple on my way back to the Old Town, next to it is the Price of Wales Community Centre – The World Jewish Relief Krakow Jewish Community Centre. I was quite surprised to see that there; I am not sure how old it is because the building looks quite modern.
Back in the Old Town I walked to the market square and listed to the bugle player who plays a tune every hour from the top of the St Mary’s Basilica. The bugle continues to call every hour to commemorate the 13th century trumpeter, who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before the Mongol attack on the city. I stopped to listen to some Peruvian guys playing the pan flute; it was very beautiful, relaxing music – so I decided to buy one of their CD’s. While purchasing the CD one of the guys tried to ask me out, but alas – I was already busy that night and the following day (got out of that one). They have a shop dedicated to handmade Christmas decorations – most of them were very beautiful. I purchased a bauble – a red one with a scene of the Old Town on it and the name Krakow painted on the other side. I just hope I don’t break it in my future travels.
I met up with the group again for dinner, and later decided to see a movie - they were playing Gran Turino in English with Polish sub-titles. The movie was good and it was fun to see a movie in a foreign country.

The Road to Budapest - Day 10

30/03/09
Another early morning and another day of travelling. We got picked up in a van and were driven through awesome country side, along winding roads and then out onto the open highway. We stopped once we were in Poland to change over currency again, and then stopped again later for lunch at a roadside restaurant. We then carried on and made it to Auschwitz by early afternoon where we had a guide to take us around the site. The day was overcast and occasionally raining, which set a sombre mood for the emotional day. They have turned the buildings there into Museums and have many photos taken during the time they held people there, and they also have personal items and other remnants on display. The guide we had was very good and explained the events with passion and emotion. I am going to explain some of the things I saw at Auschwitz, so some may not want to keep reading, but I found it quite emotional and would like to share the experience.
I have seen many documentaries on Auschwitz and what occurred during the time of the Nazis, but to actually be there, where it happened and to see the photos and belongings of those who passed through the gates made it quite real and emotional. They had maps showing the distances the Jews travelled in horrific conditions on board the trains, and then photos of them finally stepping off the trains into the grounds of Auschwitz I or Auschwitz II- Birkenau and then being separated from their family. The mind games that they being put through was hard to handle. They were constantly being told that they were being prepared for re-location to start a new life elsewhere; like being told to label their suitcase to make it easier to find later (they have some of the suitcases on display), or being told to remember the number above the hook they put their clothes on, so they can find them quickly later. Instead, they were either subject to immediate death, or a slow long death from fatigue, starvation and dehydration.
They have photos on display of people after they had cut off their hair – the women looked like men, and the children looked terrified. A room was dedicated the children, and was filled with infant clothing and booties, with photos of them huddled together looking scared. They changed the process from just taking photos to imprinting each person with a tattoo number, as the faces of the people changed so rapidly from poor conditions. They have rooms full of shoes, suitcases, brushes, glasses, kitchen utensils and other such items. A room was even filled with hair that was to be bundled into sacks and sent away to become the lining in gloves and other clothing that the SS would later be wearing. One of the rooms detailed the medical experiments that were conducted – one example was the experiments on twins. We viewed some of the sleeping rooms – showing a room with thin blankets on the floor and a photo taken at the time with people lying side by side on the floor. Other rooms had bunks, and the rooms where the prisoners who helped the guards lived had stretcher beds, robes and a desk. We were then shown a room where they sent some people (I think it was like a punishment room) – after a full day of working on their feet, they were sent to a room about 1 metre square where they had to crawl through a small opening to get into the room. They would put four people in this room; they had to stand for the entire night; there was no light; there was only a very small hole for ventilation and there was nowhere for waste to go.
We then went to one of the gas chambers where the pretend shower pipes were still on the ceiling, and you could see the hole where they dropped the gas tins down from. Next we walked through one of the crematoriums.
After Auschwitz we took a short drive to Auschwitz II - Birkenau. Birkenau was the largest of the Nazi’s concentration/extermination camps and some of the buildings on display remain untouched, so we can view them as they were. The walk from one end of the camp to the other was so long, it was hard to see the end. There is a memorial at the end of the train line which has remembrance plates in many languages, as the devastating act on humanity has touched so many lives across many cultures. We walked along the train line, where could mainly just see the chimneys of the wooden building that once stood there. After they shut Birkenau down (Auschwitz I was the camp that stayed open until the end of the war) they removed a lot of the wooden buildings with the view of building another camp elsewhere in Europe. We stopped in the middle of the train line where two paths lead away from the train line out past where the buildings stood. There is a photo on display there where a group of elderly men are being lined up and are having their details recorded. The guide asked us where the photo was taken; we looked and we were standing where the men were once standing – it was a very strange feeling.
We continued down the train track and then visited some of the wooden buildings that have been kept for viewing. The first building was for showering and the use of toilets. They were allowed to shower and use the toilets twice a day – once before work and once after – and for only a few minutes. The toilet was along concrete bench with two rows of holes cut out of it, so they would have been touching the person behind them and had no privacy. The next building we visited was a sleeping room. It was full of wooden bunk beds pushed together – they had to sleep in the same clothes they worked in, and had to make their beds every day. I left Birkenau feeling numb.
The drive continued on to Krakow, which is where we are going to spend the next two nights.
That night we went for a walk through the centre of town and then had dinner at a cute little restaurant. They served great food and I had another traditional food – cabbage roll with rice and meat inside, covered in a tomato based sauce, with spinach and pickled beetroot on the side. Afterwards we went to a small bar that had great music playing and served scrumptious hot wine.

The Road to Budapest - Day 9

29/03/09
It was an early departure again this morning as we headed for Teplice – it took 3 trains and nearly the whole day to get there, but it was worth it. Teplice is a small village nestled at the base of a popular rock climbing spot. It has been snowing here, so the ground is still quite well covered in snow - the snow up in the mountains is quite deep. We walked along a track through the snow and stopped to have a snowball fight and just have fun stomping around in the deep snow – I was glad to have brought my snow boots with me (some of the snow was over a foot deep). We followed the route leading us along a narrow pathway between large boulders and large rock formations – this area of the path is known as the ‘fridge’. There were ice crystals hanging off rocks and parts of the rocks were totally covered in a layer of ice. Some of the path was quite slippery as the stairs were covered in hardened snow and were quite icy. It was funny trying to negotiate the slippery stairs on the way down – Antonio just slid down on his bottom – it was hilarious!! Gail was a bit freaked out and she was scared that she would fall over the side and land in a pile of snow that she would disappear into! Eventually we all got back down – all in one piece and no bruises. We climbed 300 steps up a series of ladders to get a mountain top view over the valley – it was very pretty.

The Road to Budapest - Day 8

28/03/09
I took the time to sleep in after our big night, and ventured out a bit before lunch time. The Easter Fare opened today, so I enjoyed a walk through the markets and tried a local food – some type of sugar coated donuty thing – it was nice and crispy. They have heaps of painted eggs for sale – I would have loved to have bought a few, but they would just get broken in my bag. I ended up buying one that was pretty with the word ‘Praha’ (Czech for Prague) encased in a hard plastic – I hope I don’t break it. I stopped to watch a marathon for a little while and then headed back towards the Jewish Quarter. I passed the Spanish Synagogue, the Old and New Jewish Synagogues, the Jewish Cemetery and then headed to a part of the river I hadn’t yet seen. On my way back I stopped in to a few shops that sold Bohemian Crystal (Antonio had warned us not to shop in the stores closer to the tourist areas and to go to these genuine warehouses/outlets just out of the centre of town) and bought myself a moon shaped pendant.
At night I met up with Gail and Sean and went to the Easter Fare. We watched some of the school aged kids perform traditional songs and dances, and then went for a lovely walk around town – taking in the night time ambience. We walked along a bridge and were able to take some fantastic photos of the Palace and Old Town that looking totally incredible at night. It was nice and relaxing to walk along the river, enjoying the scenery and then walking back over the Charles Bridge before calling it a night.

The Road to Budapest - Day 7

27/03/09
This morning we met up with Antonio again who had been able to cancel his bank cards and phone, and make a few other arrangements the day before. I met Diane – my tour leader from the Umbrian Experience (the last leg of my Italy tours last year). It was so strange seeing her again in a totally different country! The Intrepid bosses and leaders are having meetings and training days at the moment in Prague, so that is why she is here – it was great to catch up with her again.
We started the orientation walk again in the main square – the square is surrounded by incredible buildings – the Tyn Church, Astronomical Clock, other beautiful buildings and then a huge statue in the centre. The Easter Fare is being set up in the square so it is a little hard to see all the buildings at once, but it still looked stunning. We then walked to the Powder Tower and then down the main shopping street/mall. At the end of the mall we came to another square with a wide road that leads up to the National Museum. This was the street in which the protests/demonstrations of Czech people asking for a new government were held in 1989. We walked down to the Jewish Quarter and then along the river to the Charles Bridge. Just before the bridge is a university, outside of that is a monument to Jan – the young man she burned himself alive in protest against communism.
We walked over the bridge, past the St Nicholaus Church and up the grounds of the Palace. The view from up on the hill is breathtaking – you can see the many spires of the city jutting up along the horizon and you can see the many colours of the buildings surrounding the city. We were at the palace just in time to see the ceremony of the Changing of the Guards. (Later in my trip I watched Barrack Obama (US President) make a speech to the people of Prague in the same square, and I was quite excited to know that I had been standing in that same spot a few days earlier!) We then went to the exquisite St Vitus’s Cathedral and then down the Golden Lane towards the river.
Gail & I stopped for lunch, yet another sausage, then went to the Communist Museum. The sign for the Museum was quite funny / ironic in so many ways: the sign said: “Museum of Communism is here! 1st Floor next to Casino”. Right next to the sign is a McDonalds bin stating – “I’m loving it”. The museum was quite interesting, a little confusing and contained a lot of information – a lot of reading. It was described the rise of communism, the power of Stalin (and others) and it also contained footage of the protests of 1989. We then went back to the apartment for a rest before hitting the town tonight – we are having a big Friday night out in Prague!
For dinner we went to a restaurant that serves potato in many ways – you chose the size (250g, 500g or 1kg of potatoes) and then how you would like them cooked! We shared a few dishes – potato with bacon and apple; and potato with mushroom, bacon, onion and cheese. After dinner we had a few cocktails at the Orange Bar (a place the locals go) before going to Electro nightclub to dance the night away into the wee hours of the morning. I am finding it difficult to handle the smoking in Europe since it has been banned in Australia. They can still smoke everywhere - including restaurants and cafes, so each time we go out for dinner and drinks I leave with my skin, hair and clothes stinking of stale smoke. I don’t know how I didn’t really notice it before the ban in Oz, but I really don’t like it now.