Day 10 Bamberg & Coburg
A rest day! We awoke at Bamberg and the idea was to have an easy day as we have two nights in Bamberg. Well the step count was 27,000 steps so it wasn't much of a rest day. We started by walking around Bamberg and below are a few snaps.
ABOVE: After walking for ages we sat down for a beer. The local speciality is a "smoked" beer where they semi burn the barley, it gives the beer a very distinctive flavour. As a lover of Kilkenny I quite liked the local brew.
ABOVE: Who doesn't love a big organ? And this was a whopper!
ABOVE: On the roof of this church was a depiction of Noah's Ark.
ABOVE: Just near the church was this building, not sure what it was but the flowers falling over the balcony was a nice touch.
We then discovered that the town of Coburg was a short train ride away. My passport says I was born at Coburg so we had to visit it. 25 minutes later we were there!
The train station is a bit nicer! No sky rail here.
ABOVE: A short walk from Coburg station was crossed this bridge. A much nicer sight than I've ever seen in Coburg.
ABOVE: Street art in Coburg.
ABOVE: The disused goods shed at Coburg, at least they didn't pull it down!
ABOVE: We got the train back to Bamberg and went for a twilight walk, I took the tripod and snapped a few long exposure pics.
Day 11 Bamberg - Berlin
I have come down with a dose of man cold/flu! Last night, after arriviong in Berlin, I couldn't even start the blog. Today I woke up feeling like crap so Kris has gone out to look around Berlin and I have stayed in bed and slept.
Yesterday we got the train from Bamberg, across Germany and arrived at Berling about 1:00pm. Berlin is the opposite of Bamberg. Almost all buildings seem to have been built after the war. Berlin was bombed heavily and what wasn't destroyed by bombing was finished off when the Russians entered the city at the conclusion of the war. We had a few beers at a huge bar next to the river and then went sightseeing.
ABOVE: The view from the bar were we had our first beer in Berlin.
One of the most famous structures in all of Europe, the Brandenbeg gate. It was here that Ronald Regan made his famous "tear down this wall" speech.
ABOVE: The Reichstag, Germany's parliament house. hitler and his goons set fire to it prior to the start of the war and blamed it on the communists, he used this as a cover to take total control of Germany. It lay in ruins for the duration of the war and was rebuilt in two stages after the war when it got its glass dome.
ABOVE: The Germans seem to be a no nonsense kind of people and they fully face up to their past. The official name of this is "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe" no beating around the bush! It consists of 2,710 columns, the area it covers is huge and it is pretty much smack bang in the middle of Berlin
ABOVE: Across from the Russian embassy is this memorial to Alex Navalny, the opposition leader murdered by Putin recently. As cars drove past the embassy they honked their horns in protest the the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
ABOVE, A train crosses the river Spree, the bright lights at the extreme right is where we had a few beers.
Day 12 Berlin
After a few lost days due to whatever I had I am now back on top of my game. As I write this we are on a train from Prague to Olomouc. We had originally planned to stay 2 nights in Prague but hotel prices for the Friday went from $150 to $700 due to some event taking place. But first of all I need to get caught up on Berlin to Prague.
The day after the photo above was taken I pretty much stayed in bed all day while Kris did go out and do a bit of exploring.
ABOVE LEFT: What remains of the Berlin wall from the east side, ABOVE RIGHT: From the wst side. photos by Kris.
ABOVE: Peering through small part of what's left of the Berlin wall to a memorial to those who lost their lives trying to cross it or simply got too close to it and got shot!
Day 13 Berlin to Prague
The trip from Berlin to Prague was on a Czech Republic train. We were in a compartment car that looked fairly new, I didn't know railways still built compartment cars. The amazing thing was that the scenary from Berlin to the border was dead boring but as soon as we crossed into Czech Republic the scenery became semi mountainous as we followed a river for miles with cliffs all around. We were soon in Prague, checked into our hotel and went for a walk. Two of the main tourist things in Prague is the pedestrian only bridge across the river which gives great views of the town and the town square with a famous astronomical clock. I wasn't prepared for how many tourists were in the general area, one of the reasons we were happy to travel in late Oct/early Nov was becuase we thought we would be missing the tourist hordes.
ABOVE: The astronomical clock in the main square.
ABOVE & BELOW: Views of Prague from the pedestrian bridge across the river
ABOVE: After crossing the river we sat down for our first beer in Prague. BELOW: The view from where we were drinking. I've never seen such a frequent tram service, they seemed like they were coming by every 30 seconds.
ABOVE: First meal in Prague, I had Goulash, below and Kris had Confit of duck. The dumplings were potatoes baked into bread. Kris had two types of saurerkraut. I made her sleep on the balcony! LOL.
Day 14 Prague to Olomouc
We had planned to spend two nights in Prague. There must have been some big event on the Friday as hotel prices increased astronomically, ours went from $150/night to $700/night so we decided to keep heading east. Maybe some day we'll be able to spend a few days there. I awoke at 3am and had a text from my friend Belinda who is taking our dog Lola for walks. The text was from Lola and said "hope you're feeling better dad" with a photo of a very happy Lola, it actually lifted my spirits so a BIG shout out to Belinda!
According to the Lonely Planet guidebook Olomuc, in eastern Czeczia is a hidden gem so we got to Prague's station. The fares were cheap enough that it wasn't worth burning a day of Eurail pass so we went to the ticket office to buy a ticket, only to be told that another company runs the train we wanted. ABOVE: Before heading off to the main station we went to the suburban station that was just across the road from our hotel for a coffee. Award for cutest train so far goes to this little champ! BELOW: As we drank our coffee outside the station we noticed this cute little meteorological station on the footpath which would last about 2 minutes on a street in Melbourne before being smashed to pieces. There seems to be a societal order to Czechia, I wonder if it's a hangover from being beaten down by decades of authoritarian communist rule?
We finally found the ticket office of "Leo Express" and got a ticket. There was a young woman sitting next to me who must be studying to be a doctor, her ipad had study notes with very detailed drawings of the human anatomy and she was doing her homework. We arrived at Olomuc BELOW.
The hotel was quite close to the station but the check in office was only attended until noon so we had to figure out how to make a phone call in Czechia and get the passcodes to get inside. It reminded us of some wild gooses chases when we used to use AirBnB. We walked the 1.6K into the old/main town past pretty brutalist Soviet era blocks of flats, which whilst not inspiring, it must be said were very well kept. Actually Czechia is a much cleaner place that I expected, you rarely even see a cigarette butt on the ground.
ABOVE & BELOW: A few tram pics around Olomouc. I needed some new pants and a T shirt so we found a H&M, $65
Day 15 Olomouc (Czechia ) - Krakow (Poland)
WARNING: For the non gunzels reading this, today was a pretty train heavy day. But the end post will make it all worthwhile!
Olomouc was a nice enough place but I don't agree with Lonely planet that it is a hidden gem but it was fairly free of toursits, apart from us of course! We didn't really have dinner, we had a few beers at a restaurant in the late afternoon and ordered a cheese platter that turned out to be more than enough food for us. We woke early and went to the station to catch our train to Krakow.
ABOVE: The railway station at Olomouc. What can we say about it? Functional, Brutalistic, Soviet Era. It was clean and the trains were on time, can't ask much more than that of a railway station.
The Czech's seem like a nice enough people but they have no clue when it comes to platform numberings: BELOW: This is platform 2 at Olomouc, on platform 2 you will find track 3 and track 1. To the left of the photo was platform 1 on which was track 5, on the right was platform 3 which contained tracks 4 and 6!
ABOVE: Our train arriving Olomouc. It must be said that the trains in Czechia were uniformly spotless, even the locos were clean. BELOW: The last station in Czechia is Bohumin. Think Albury or Serviceton. The locos change to Polish locos and the Polish crew get on and it's goodbye to Czechia! Our new conductor was drop dead gorgeous with a mini skirt tighter than you would ever see at St Kilda and she was wearing high heels.
ABOVE: After detaching the Czechian loco, a Polish loco with a few extra carriages attached to our train, I'm not sure if the signalbox on the right was still in use. In a few minutes we would be in Poland.
ABOVE: The main train station at Krakow. Underneath this station is a shopping centre bigger than Southland. It had every concieveable store!
ABOVE: My first meal in Poland was this "sour" soup in a bread bowl. It wasn't sour at all, it was yummy. Apparently it is a traditional Polish dish.
ABOVE: The main town square in Krakow is massive, this is just a small part of it. We went back to our hotel for a little relax and then went back out to the town square for a beer before deciding to try Vietnamese in Poland for dinner. It was pretty good apart from when I dropped my glass of beer onto the floor, it shattered and silenced the entire restaurant, but at least no one yelled out "TAXI"
BELOW: In Australia, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia is a bit abstract, but it's not abstract here. Poland borders Ukraine and has accepted more refugees (over 6 million) from the invasion than any other country. (In Australia we turn feral over a couple of dozen boats) The refugees were singing to raise awareness, not that is really neccesary here as no country in the world does not want another war as much as Poland. And no country in the world has as much compassion for being invaded as Poland,
Day 16. Auschwitz-Birkenau
When I was very young, maybe 7 or 8 years old, I would sit on my dad's knee and watch the BBC series The World at War. Dad fought in that war and gave me additional insights into what I was watching. The most harrowing episode was about the extermination of the Jews, called by some, The Final solution. Mum wasn't sure I should be watching it but dad seemed determined that I watch it. A scene that lives with me to this day showed a little boy, about the same age as I was, clutching a teddy. The little boy was dead. Then we saw scenes after the liberation of Auschwitz where bulldozers were pushing piles of naked bodies into huge pits. I was doing confirmation classes at this time where we were taught that prayer was our answer to everything and I asked mum, why didn't the kids pray to god, cos god would have saved them. Mum had tears in her eyes but she did not offer a reply to my question. I think that was the moment I stopped believing in a god and became an atheist.
My best mate at Primary school was John Kosinski who was Polish, I went to his house often. His grandmother lived at his house. She was a concentration camp survivor. She had a number tattooed on her wrist that she jokingly called her lucky tattslotto numbers. I don't know which camp she was at but to survive any concentration camp was a miracle.
It is a fair question to ask, why would anyone want to visit a scene of mass murder? Why visit Auschwitz/Birkenau? I visit to not forget, to do whatever is in my power to make sure it never happens again. When anyone denigrates a fellow human being, that I raise my voice. That I make sure that hatred and bigotry and racism is called out and snuffed out. That I don't let that job fall to someone else.
"With the way we act, each of us decides what kind of society we live in"
We caught the train to Oswiecim, the town near the "camp". The Germans re-named the town Auschwitz. We had not booked a tour so walked to the camp and walked around. Travel tip. Make sure you book a guided tour, which you have to do months in advance.
ABOVE: The view of the tracks leading into Birkenau from outside the camp. I've always thought that the entrance resembled some sort of mocking, Luna Park type entrance, it was hideous.
ABOVE: What I did not expect was how massive the complex was. An extant barracks is seen on the right, the numerous chimneys seen were all that was left of most of the barracks and they seemed to extend forever.
ABOVE: The trains would pull up here and the prisoners would be unloaded onto the ground on the right. There the nazi "doctors" would examine the new arrivals. Fit people would be sent to the barracks to work. Unfit people, most women and all children would be sent straight to the gas chambers, a few would be selected for medical experiments.
The wagon on the left was a typical wagon used to transport prisoners. The box on top housed a guard.
ABOVE: I am standing on the steps that led down to this area (that the nazis blew up as the Russians advanced) where prisioners were made to strip naked, they would then be herded out the back and to the left to a gas chamber. Just to the right was a smelter. After gassing any gold teeth would be removed. The incinerators were in the above gound rubble that can be seen in the distance.
ABOVE The women's barracks. BELOW: Toilets in the women's barracks.
Because we didn't do an organised tour we missed going to the original Auschwitz 1 camp.
We came away with heavy hearts and a determination to never just stand by when some idiot tells a sexist or racist joke beacuse that silence is how hate breeds and festers. I can't stop thinking about the people that were murdered, Mums, Dads, Aunties, Uncles, Sisters, Brothers. Who knows what these people would have go on to do? They were real people, 1 1/2 million people just like you and me. Murdered because they were not "like" what the Germans thought were good specimens.
Day 17 Krakow (Poland) - Trencin (Slovakia)
We ate dinner last night in the town square at Krakow. It was freezing, so we decided that today was the day to buy coats and what better place to buy a coat than in Poland as it heads into winter? The coat I bought is so warm I sweat in it when outside it is 3C.
Today was a lot of train travel. Originally I though we could do Krakow to Vienna in one day but the timetable said it was too long plus we wouldn't get to stay a night in Slovakia so we decided to stay in a smaller town named Trencin. The journey involved going back into Czechia and then south into Slovakia so 3 countries in about 6 hours!
ABOVE: While walking around Krakow station we saw lots of shops selling pavlovas, they must be a thing here as I've never seen them outside of Australia.
ABOVE: For some reason I never seem to take pics out of the train window but Kris is smarter than me and has been taking them. This view from today is pretty typical, lots of autumn colours in the forest. Yes it's getting cold but it is a beautiful time of the year to be in Europe.
ABOVE: We had to change trains here at Bohumin (Czechia), we had 45 minutes here and managed to find a bar very close to the station for a quick beer!
ABOVE & BELOW: A couple of shots at Bohumin (Czech Republic)
We finally arrived at Trencin, the sun is setting here at about 5pm so it was our first nightime arrival into a new city. We checked into our Penzion and then walked into the old town, totally oblivious to the 2C in our new coats! We found a brew pub which served decent beer but the meal was amazing, I had the best cream of mushroom soup I've ever had then had pork with the yummiest roast potatoes. It was served with some peppers and I took a big bite of one that instantly numbed my lips and cause me to start burping uncontrolably, but hey, it seems to have cured my sinuses! BELOW: Kris enjoys a beer in front of the wood fire at the brew pub where we had dinner.
Day 18 Trencin (Slovakia) - Vienna (Austria)
We awoke in our lovely little Pezione in Trencin. The hosts couldn't have been nicer, the place was superb and included in the price was a cooked breakfast which was yummo! After breakfast we had an hour or so to fill in before our train so we walked back into the old town.
ABOVE: The walk into Trencin may have been along a busy road but who can resist a proper riot of autumn colours?
BELOW: A view from the old town, it was zero C and foggy but our newly purchased Polish winter coats did their job!
ABOVE: Our train arriving Trencin
ABOVE: We got off the train at Trnava to wait for our train to Vienna. If you are a Monty Python fan you will recall the "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" concert when John Cleese walked through the crowd like a hot dog seller but instead of selling hot dogs he was selling Albatross "Albatross, get your Albatross here" So I had a good laugh when I saw this absurdly named bistro at Trnava.
ABOVE: Our train to Vienna arring at Trnava.
After checking into our hotel we went for a walk, Vienna has an extensive tram system so I had to get a photo for my tram lover mates.
ABOVE: Our walk took us through the amazing grounds of Schloss (palace) Belvedere built in tghe 1700s. There is an upper and lower palace, both are art museums now.
ABOVE: We went from high Baroque to high kitsch in a heartbeat, after we got into Vienna proper we saw this Aussie themed pub so we had to give it a go. It had no Aussie beers on tap and nothing on the menu resembled anything you'd get at an Aussie pub, no veal parmagiana, no steak dianne, no ham steak and pineapple. The staff were friendly but we had one beer and left.
ABOVE & BELOW: two views from an art gallery where we are planning to go to tomorrow as they have a Monet and Picasso exhibit.
ABOVE: While walking back to our hotel we came across something you don't see everyday, a violin/cello factory/shop.