Afterthoughts, Paris v's London

Paris

Have you ever thought how nice a city can be if evey single inhabitant, regardless of nationality, knows the word "merci" (thankyou). I found that Paris was wonderfull to travel in, with its multicultural mix, and a politeness that I was not expecting.

London...

I know it is a large city, but why is every one in such a hurry. Why do you get bruised walking through a train station. And why does no obne say please, or excuse me, or "sorry I just knocked you down". That and TV Liscences. I thought that Dim was joking. But there do exist TV liscence vans that prowel the neighbor hood scanning for unliscensed TV's. Would you believe you need a liscence for each TV in a home. I felt unclean when I found out.

advice to female travellers.. wash your hair with bottled water, unless you prefer the bottle brush look. the high amounts of disolved chalk/lime etc makes the water verry harsh on hair. I am begging to look like Ice man from top gun.

Arival In Greece

Have landed safely in salonika, and within two hours of arival was up to my arm pits in food. Wonderous, tastey, meat, and salad, and bread, and cheese. This country loves you with food. Had my fortune read in a cup of coffe by the matriach of the clan. Aparently I will learn of an engagement when I make a long distance Phone call... there was also some unclear details about a horse... mabee a horse race.

I Have been enjoying the local cuisine. one of the local delicacys is a kind of jam made from whole grapes. They are tremendously sweet, and drip with suggary treacle. so going to put on weight. We are not sure what to see firts, and are thinking about Island hoping our way to turkey. We were warned that the turks are barbarians (asumedly not just because they wear pants!), but i don't think that all greeks and turks get along so well.

The Temperature is scorchingly hot, and we are both begginging to look like black fellas. I hope that the weather down under is not too cold, or wet, or wet and cold, or frosty and cold, or sunny and cold.... MWHAAHAHAHA

Mud River- the Thames and London

A quick trip on the euro star and we are in London. Four hours later and I am on the Thames with MAtt Earle. The river is at least 5 times wider than the yarra, violent and muddy. The tides are viscous, churning the bottom mud up to the surface, and creating waves and slop. Makes it all quite difficult to enjoy a paddle. Matt rows out of Thames Rowing Club and is located in Putney next to a bunch of others, much like Princess bridge on the Yarra. The good news is that Sharron and Richard also Live in Putney, and have put us up for the duration of our Stay.

Love London. Seems that it is full of intenerant workers. Everyting is built for a continual stream of new faces, ones that will not be back again. Peole say that the service is bad because they don't have to keep happy people who are only going to be here 12 months. I have found all the waitress/waitors to be charming, although I have had a problem speaking english with them. So far we have viseted a horde of glorius sights including the British museum, and the Bunker. The bunker was exceptionaly good, with an excellent museum to Winston Churchill as well. This was the place that the brits fought back against Hitler from. Small and cramped, yet living with history. Many of the rooms lay preserved as they were 60 years agao, whilst others have been tirelessly reconstructed from photo and image.

Have made extensive use of rowing contacts in the city, and Matt is a legend. Caught up with Rob Steel as well. Matt ahs a new job with Bet fare, whilst Rob is stuck in the old accountancy sell your soul to the devil arangement. Had a beer with Dirt, and he is looking discustingly healthy. His wife will be giving birth in a few weeks, and his bowling average is up. Aparently he is now considered an all rounder. He is hopeing for a boy. He introduced us to some fine english pub traditions including the ram rod special(half local ale and half rams larger), and the wife beater(stella). Fortunately he is on probation with the baby so close to term, and we wound up rather early. Have been trying to catch up with Dave Bowyer, but he has been extremely busy with work and the two little ones. Hopefully they grant some holiday time to the work aholic so that he can enjoy the good weather.

the Weather here is outstanding. Over 30 degrees each day, and daylight right up till 10:00 at night. The press are very depressed about it, and gloomly predict yet more hot weather. The tube and bus are warm but bearable, yet the press turn it into a panic. I hate to think what would happen here if it reached 40. I gather I have the wrong impression of England, and have yet to see a cool day. I could easily spend alot of time here, with the excellent pubs, magnificient rowing facilities, and glorius weather.

Tonight we will go for a ride on the London eye. Aparently the locals are a bit touchie about it, and I should not refer to it as a feris wheel. It is a "flight" or just "the eye". We have drunk all the french champagne, and eaten all the swiss cheese. Have not warn out our welcome, but will be leaving on the early morning flight to greece anyway. Have enjoyed London imensely.

Paris

Paris

Unfortunately we were anable to catch the tour de France. So disappointed. But at least the hotel has the live and repeated broad castes. I do wish Kadel Evans would have a go!

We are staying at a wonderful un-airconditioned hotel in the centre of Paris. The Louve is only a 15 minute walk, and trhe subways are available if you get lasy. Again the temperature is scorching, but the fountains are not like Rome. The stink of Chlorine and still look murky with algae and dirt. So we soldier on trekking across another fantastic European city, and Paris is special.

d’Orsay.

First morning and we go straight to the Musée d’Orsay. This is where you will find all the works by Monet!.. although we did not catch up with his water lilys till the tate modern in London. The museum is a converted railway station, with a large barrel arched roof, oodles of space and some of the most famous artworks of all time. The mian hall is scatered with sculpture and tourists of course. We found a new love in Degare, and his balerinas, whilst Dim refreshed her love of Monet.

Pompidou

From the O'rsay to the The Centre Pompidou, the home of Modern art in Paris. It was one of the first building to be turned inside out, with its many ducts and service areas expressed on the outside of the building. It looks like a large mess of tubes and structures and is extremely large. The instalations were a bit overpowering for Dim, but I could not tare myself away. The artists seemed to be having a joke on the audience, requiring their participation to complete their works. They also have an amazing colection of live film, with countless thearterets and screens doting the upper levels. There is fun, shock, snd awe to be had. A complete Alfa lies in ruins in testiment to disaster alongside graphic shows of nudity and colour. Outstanding. Easily my favorite place in all of Paris. Dim was less than enthused, but did perk up when we checked out a few of the regular works including more than a few Picasos.

The Catacombs.

Like Rome there are catacombs in paris, but rather than being origonaly for worship and funery rituals, these carved out for the stone. The vast array of tunnels that lie below Paris are the reults of many centuries of mining for the very stone from which it is built. Over the years, more than a few cave ins have had devestaing effects on the housing above, and regular maintenace must be preformed. Parts are open to the public, including those whihc were used to stack the bones of the dead. During the great plagues, they dug up the cemetarriues, and deposited the bones below, many aranged in macabe paterns. All neatly stacked to the cieling listing the burial plots from which they were exumed. All very fascinating. Pitty about the 2 hour long que we had to wait in... Bloody tourists!

Louve The Louve! WOW! more than just a gallery, it contains some of the best archelogical remains to be found anywhere. From great winded bulls of persia, to the regular atractions of the Mona lisa and the venus de Milo. Yes we did see the big 3, but were more interested in the whole show. I am a geek, and I am sticking to it. Bring me Mummies and ancient mesopotania, Da vincis and Michelangelo. All so very much fun.

The Eilfel Tower.

Eifel was a genius. And his tower rocks as well. but the tourists realy love it as well. scads line the base waiting for the lift. We skirted the multitueds and took the stairs. Yes Dim is going to kill me before the holiday ends. In the shadow of the tower lie public parks which are doted with Parisians like ants on a green blanket. We stayed untill sunset. It was beautiful.

We would not be in france for the climax of Le Tour, but we marched the Champs-Elysees anyway. I must say that the Arc De Triumph Rocks, as does the far flung boulevards. Although they do not have good gelati.

All good things must come to an end, and so we take the euro star to London, hope that Dim's karma with this service does not become and issue.

Chocolate train to Bastille day

We set off from Rome with hopes of finding a mythical train of chocolate in Switzerland. How far could it be? couldn't be much of a drive. We are toughened travelers after all!.. How wrong I was. It seems that every workman in italy was recruited to impeed our journey. The tollway to the swiss border included 500 km of road work.... BUGGAR! setting a cracking average speed of a little under 50km and hour we struggled on into the night. Unfortunately our chocolate train was scheduled for a 9:30 am departure. We had little idea of how long the journey over St benards pass world take, so could not dare finding a hotel so far away.

On into the night we drove, while menacing dark shapes loomed above. Illuminated by a full moon, these iceberg like silhouette passed us in the night. Siliently we slid along the alpine roads, crossing chasm and cliff, alone, not a car to be seen. Then as 4:00 am aproached a glimmer of light. we desceneded into switzerland as the rose glow of dawn crept over the mountains. Each minute bringing more shape and cliff and cresent, and hill top into view. It was an eerie descent, but beautiful to witness, the sights from which I will long remember.

We arrived in Montreux and procceed to snooze away the rest of the morning. (our cheapest acomodation so far). The upside to our early arrival was the all day parking next to the train station. HArd to get one once th etown wakes up. Montreux is situated on the oposite end of lake Leman to Geneva. The lake itself is stunning, complete with a mountainous backdrop, sail boats, and an impressive castle overlooking the water.

The swiss chocolate train travells from Montreux up a switchback track through the mountains to stop at a superb cheese factory, thence a castle and village in Gruyères. The trip started with choclate croisants and hot choclate to go. The cheese was extremely tastey, but had only limited selection available. They soak the cheese in vats of brine, before aging it up to 18 months. I do recomend the vintage. Unfortunately the audio tour is presented by a talking cow, who I wanted to brain to death within a few short minutes. Everything in Switzerland is far to cute to exist in the real world. If I ever see another smilling cow/red cross/ tourist trap again it will be too soon.!

Abig highlight was the local castle. we fixed some chees and ham sandwiches by and old crone that had to be the aunt of the hunch-back of Notre Damne. She was beautifuly attired, but had a disturbing limp, an enourmous hump between her sholdersm, and an eye that seemed to pop in and out of its own accord. Further up the delightfull village/tourist trap we found an outsanding gallery.

THE GIEGER GALLERY!

Can you believe that Gieger (the artist that created the graphic art for "Alien") is swiss!, and his home town is here! and that his montage of hideously alien, and gruesome work is on display alongside cute cow bells and flowers! We ditched the town and headed in imeadiately. not only did the museum have an outsanding display of gieger's own work and sculpture, it also had the works of art that he enjoys himself. A whole floor is devoted to works that he has collected by other artists. Outsanding! Next door to the museum is a Gieger bar. The bar is completely kitted out alien style. Every lightfitting, chair, barstool, couch is moulded and shaped to Gieger's whimsy. Outsanding!

We visted the castle, which also had some varied and interesting art pieces. One thing I can't stand about the swiss is their apalling cleanlyness and atention to detail. the castle was imaculate, with not a gram of dust to be visable. Antique furniture and floor boards polished and gleaming. it was horific! Dim may not have shared my horror.

THE MAIN EVENT!

When you hear chocolate factory tour, you know you are going to be disapointed. You know that somewhere along the line, they are going to say that you can only eat this, or that. ANd that its a limited induclgence..... WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! this tour had unlimeted eating. you could gorge yourdelf on fine treates. And we did! SO MUCH PAIN!!!!!!! just to try one of everything was a challenge in itself. i am not a particular fan of swiss choclate, and especialy its over swet flavour. But I had the principle of the matter to contenbd with. I was not leaving untill i physicaly exploded! SO MUCH PAIN!!! Dim made a brave attempt at shovelling it in, but pulled up pretty quick. Not so for me! More MORE MORE M O R E! I was in frenzy of heightened awareness. I could more like a bumble bee, I was king of the world. I COULD SEE THROUGH TIME!

SO MUCH PAIN!

after being engourged to such a state that a team of oopa loopas had to roll me out, we returned to the thearter to watch a display of chocolate making and history. The down side of this tour is that you did not get to see the real inards of the factory.... well I did say that there is always a disapointment with a choclate tour.

FROM CHOCLATE TO CHAMPAIGN

As our choclate buzz came crashing down into a fevered sweating coma, we descended the mountains in our choclate train, and set out to reach the lands of France, where those dirty dirty no good french men come from.

Another long driving session left us a few kilometers short of the champagne district, and the evening before bastille day. We stayed at a trusty F1 (cheap motel usualy based on freeway interchange) in Troyes. As we arrived the skies lit up with fire works in all directions. Its seemed that all the local comunities were giving it a good bash before the main event the next day.

EPERNAY

The next day we turned up at Epernay. For those cretins out there who do not know (myself included) Epernay is the center of the champagne district, and is the site of the big champagne houses including Moet and Chandon, and Mercier etc etc. We set out for a full day of tasting and festivities. We toured both Moet and Mercier, I do recomend anything of the 98 wintage!.. although I have been recently informed that the 96 vintage is what you should realy be gagging for. the cellars are simply amazing. The ground substance is solid chalk, is cool and wet to touch. The cellars keep themselves at a constant and humid temp of 12 degrees. As you can understand it only takes a plot of land in the region, a pick and shovel, and instantly you are a champagne barron.

We also made use of some local champagne tasting and loaded up our bages with buckets of champagne.. so heavy! thence we sprinted for paris and the sights of Bastille day.

GOODBYE MEGANE

It was a sad when we had to return the Megane. Long had it served us, having travelled a total of just under 9,000 kilometers. All without a scratch or speedingticket... ermm well we hope that there were no speeding tickets!

The renault courtesy bus was very helpfull. the driver gave us a run down on Paris, and explained where to get the best view of the fire works. his advice landed us at a park oposite the eifel tower overlooking the parksland all the way to the war monument, and firework source. One thing about bastille day that impressed me was that every frenchman uses his god given right to explode things. Small fireworks, roman candles, fire crackers, pin wheels were going off all around us, well before, and well after the show started. And that is with all the mean as piss armed forces strutting their stuff.

All roads lead to Rome

TIME FOR THE ROMAN TO STEP FORTH!

This living city of history! Equiped with local knowledge we soon found our pace.

ITALY WINS!

The final strike of the net sealing France's Fate was met with the sudden explosion of Rome. Cracks like gunshots, and car horns, and shouts, and random flashes, and more shots. I thought at first that Rome would burn to the ground. To no avail the city was still standing in the morning, and some Locals even bothered to go to work.

Again the weather was hot, but with the heat came the real discovery of what it is to be Roman. Rome is for the enjoyment, not the working. it is for drinking and eating, and most importantly Bathing. Each fountain in Rome is not just something to look at. The waters run fresh from the mountains, and are not recylced over and over. It is quite acceptable to drink from, splash around in, and even dive into the many fountains of cold, fresh exilerating water. This is a nessescary survival tactic given the heat of the roman summer. It is rare to travel long without comming across even a small fountain splashing away. I don't think the locals have ever heard of water restrictions.

What to describe, what to recite.

We crossed and recrossed the city on foot, travelling each morning and evening by Train. From plazza to ruin, to gallery, to forum, to coluseum, to island, to streetscape. Its all good.

My favorite was the Pathenon. It is a huge brick vaulted Dome, a grand place to worship the pathenon of gods, all of em. The single central orifice at the dome's apex sends a brilliant spotlight like ilumiantion to the walls, which in turn higlight the marble nad remaining bronze (another roman building that has suffered from looting)

Rome has no shortage of amazing buildings, Bromini and Bernini had their hand, as did post war ugly apartments, but beneath all is a continous history of ruble, foundations, and catacombs. There is nowhere in Rome you can dig without finding previous inhabitation. I have no idea how civic services could begin to function. The two main sewer lines built by the romans that run along the tiber, still function. Try getting an architectural drawing of that edifice.

We took time out to see the vatican and itswealth of treasurers. Finaly I have been so see the one thing in Europe I always wanted to visit. Micheloagngelo's Last judgement on the end wall of the Sistine Chapel. You can begin to see how a ope kept the poor artist slaving night and day on this work, all the time in fear of judgement day. the tortured figures, the skin of michelangelos own carcass being presented drooping from a big fleshy fist.

The appian way

A surprising highlight of Rome is the Appian Way. It is the single most important road in Rome. As straight as an arrow it heads South East an on to Bari. This was the path you took to go to the eastern empire. This was the path that the marching armies of Rome traversed. This was where you returned bearing slaves and lions, and plunders of War.

The origonal road is still navigable, and little wider than a bus. In places the megan could do little more than a couple of km's per hour as the coble stones were that worn. After traveling a little distance from the city centre, the countryside becomes visable, as do the many piles of masonary and rock. these are the remains of the many tombs and villas that lined the road. We stopped next to two large mounds built to the southern side of the road. Here were burried the sons of two waring families. To put the feud to rest, four brothers from each family met in a duel. Unfortunately for both familys, all 8 died, as did their line, and all that rtemains are the two burial mounds.

The atmoshphere is plesant along the way. For the first time we can see fields of grass. The sounds of the city are gone and silence envades. In many ways it is a sunny graveyard of what has past. Still i can imagine the prowd warriors on chariot parading past, and the merchants and slaves hounding their donkey carts along the rutted stones. How plesant it would have been to have a villa outside the city, to avoid the stench and crowds.

We have enjoyed our stay in Rome as we have enjoyed good advice and friendships found. But we have booked tickets for a chocolate train in Switzerland and must depart.

Two if by sea - the pompei excursion

Otherwise known as has anyone seen my mobile phone??

Sea Voyage

Our stay in Dubrovnik was cut a little short due to the ferry timetable to Bari, but we waved goodbye to this fair port and set off on this tiny ship.

The long crossing of the Tyranian sea (about 8 hours) went smoothly. Smooth enough to do some sketching. But My efforts to hide from the passangers was to no avial. In short order i was put to work sketching a long line of Italian beautys who all yelled "Belisimo" against the wind. I have never been very capable in portrature, but I did go through a purple patch. It is sad to say that all my greatest work went to the lovely ladies of the cruise..... Ah well. Still plenty of charcoal left in the pencil.

Trani.

Our late arival in Bari left us little choice in bedding options. Our Italian guide had very little to say about the Sout east of Italy. Faced with alot of bad options, we picked out the sea side city of Trani. This side of Italy is a little poor in comparison to the north and the outskirts of the city were rather drab. But we did find the ugly "coach motel" and visited the town center. The old part of town was beautiful, as was the gelati. A little over a Euro bought you the grand slam of iced confection. The south of Italy easily has the best and cheapest gelati in the world.

POMPEI!

Pompei was our next destination, with prehaps Herculaneum on the side..... until we discovered that DIM HAD LEFT HER MOBILE BEHIND!!! BUGGAR!

well, we were just entering Pompei under the guidance of the loudest most self important tourguide on sight, so stuck around for the show, kicking ourselves about the phone. Pompeiis very large, with hectares of ruins, with some noteably large structures to gawk at. the big disapointment is that it has been looted back to the bare rock. All the marble, with few exceptions has been removed over the ceturies, and the brick replacments do not have the same grandure, yet the ruins are an eye opening experience of what a Roman city was like. Although i stress here that it was roman occupied and modified, and was origonaly founded by the local inhabitants, who did not see the need for importnat services like sewerage. Mario our tour guide gave us excellent guidance through the forums, the shcools, the ampitheaters, the baths, and most importantly the brothels. Amusing to see that the Brothel has been one of the few building to have been fully restored, including the wonderfuly humerous erotic paintings.

Trani and back again.

a quick phonecall to the hotel in Trani located the phone, and off we set on the second leg of our 500km roundtrip to Trani from Trani. On arival the crusty italian grandmother presented us with the charger... BUT NOT THE PHONE!!!!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

nuff said, out of this hell hole that we are doomed to inhabit, and off North this time.

Sulmona

Another long drive, down the best of the italian freeways sent us Northalong the coast and then west into the mountains, until we located Sulmona.

Sulmona is located in the mountains to the east of rome. (halway across the girth of the boot). Situated in the midst of their national parks and the base of the ski fields. The weather was gorgeous and hot, and the city was charming and pretty. We stopped off and admired the impressive 13th Century aqueduct, that still brings ice cold water to the city square. (see insert picture of Dim standing in front of the "Fontana del Vechio".. Fountain of the old one) Salmona is the birth place of Ovid (the famous roman poet.) and also the location of the most famous sugar coated almond factory in the enire world. (note it is not open on a sunday... buggar). We were amzed at the shopfront displays of coloured almonds, made into flower arangements reslmbling lillies, and sunflowers, and roses etc etc. Again we found many samples of Gelati were to our liking

We spent the day driving south and north in a big loop through the national parks and many hill top villages that finished in Pescara. We passed deep aquamarine lakes, populated by tourists in paddle boats, as well as dense forests and river valleys. The views were spectacular, as were the small villages that lean outwards from their mountain pearch. The tourcherous twisty roads took us many hours to negotiate, but in the end, all lead to Rome.

The Mountains ended abruptly as we rejoined the freeway and headed eastward. A large fertile river plain spreads from their base pushing the mountains to the edge of vision. But we are still reasonably high in altitude, and many clouds sit atop the neighboring mounts and resemble fluffy crowns. This must have been the wheat bowl of the early city of Rome.

anyway.. ONTO ROME!!!!!!!! and the final of the world cup. I hope those dirty frenchies don't win!

Balkan invasion

It was a long late night drive from budapest by the time we reached Split in Croatia. Along the way we were able to gaze across the Hungarian sea. They call it a sea, but would the little land lubbers Know. It is 73km from end to end, and the water temperature gets up to 23 in the summer. (Freezes in winter). Pretty as a postcard as the sun set, casting a red haze, you could almost hear the hiss as its gleaming disk slipped behind the mountains.

Split

After some late night haggling at the local cassino, we found some accomidation in an apartment close to the centre of town. Dawn brought us a new day and a new country and a new city.

The town is a port on the mediterainean. the architecture is little changed from its Roman origins. the origonal Roman palace was altered in the 17th century to include castle walls, and then again in the 18th century to withstand cannon. Littel now remains of the outside wall, but much still remains of the Roman palace, whichj has been incorperated into the merchant's house. The entire facade facing the water is mostly 1000 year old roman remains, and the basmnents are quite well preserved, and a bit of a tourist trap. Apart from the interesting roman remains.. blah blah blah.. we were bored.. time to push on to the main event. Dubrovnik

Did I mention that Split is the home town of the craotian brothers who came second to gin and tompkins. Aparently the rowing clubhouse brags of its trophy collection, rivaling even that of the local tenis club which bosts Goran inavisich as a member.I was quite impressed to see that the brothers got a write up in the Local tourist mag.. and they only got silver!

Along the way to Dubrovnik we passed some unusual stalls. They were all selling watermellons and colourful bottles of olive oil. The mellons themselves were being kept cool from the scorchinh heat via water from agricultural pipes. Each stack of mellons had a fountain splashing over the top.
water mellons being kept cool by a flow of cold water. The road was norrow and windy, and the 200km trip took us a long time. lucky I was driving, as dim would be foaming at the mouth by now, yelling at the locals and telling em to git off thier flaming tractors and let her through.

Dubrovnik

OOOHHH! WOW!
very spectacular. As we entered a large luxury liner was leaving the port. The city itself before our eyes, and what a site. Mountainous, emerald blue waters and lost of trees and foliage. The rest of Croatia was struggling to find a tree. The hills looking rocky and barren, although not quite to the same extent as Oman.

Again we have had tremendous luck with our choice of lodging. We are sharing an apartment with three other couples ontop of a hill overlooking a cove to the west of the old city. The area seems more like that of the french riveara, with well dressed famous people all about... well aparently they are famous croatian celebretys?? But our accomdation is cheap and so is the food, now that we can cook for ourselves again.

The Old City

Again we took to our favorite form of transport. Hecates horse, our berkies getting a thorough workout again. The view across the mediterainean was splendid. Our destinatio, the old city. Aparently the best, most complete, example of a walled city in Europe. it was spectacular.

The complete circuit of wall is about 2km, and cost about $12 AUD to take the trip. The wall itself is 25m high in places and affords some spectacular views. Over the side you can glimpse tourists living it up on the rocks and narrow beach. much like a colourful seal colony. We were suprised to find a complete waterpolo court mored to thge right of the port's mouth. I doubt there are many swimming pools in this country.

Inside the city the streets are worn smooth. Polished limestone underfoot, and archaic architecture topped with a teracotta mantle. The city fountain still provides water, and many hotels and business still make their business form the city centre. Rather than being an archelogical museum, it is a thriving city, with even the origonal city fountain is still in use as a water supply. A gate in the southern wall puts you in a bar that clings to rocks just below the outer wall and above the waves of the sea below. Its narrow existance an excuse to reval in the mediteranean sun, with a cool breaze to boot. A sterling discovery which we have put to good use.



Tommorro we will catch a ferrry from here to Bari in Italy. Shame realy, we could easily spend extra time here. That will put us in the land of the IT's durimg the final of the world cup. I find myself baracking for them, but only because they are playing the dirty dirty dirty frenchmen.

plan in comming weeks: Bari, pompei, Rome and lodgingings with friends, and then onto france and Le tour!

will post the oDO reading later soon

R U Hungry?

Leaving Poland

Ok! I admit it.. I am a geek! but hot damn.. the Polish Aeronautical Museum rocks! They have the only surviving Polish fighter from 1939. Dim did get a little bored.. erm well... it was fun and allot less depressing than Auschwitz which we by passed on our way outta town. By the way Polish highways suck big time.

ODO on leaving Poland
4212km
Hay stacks

The Polish country side is dominated by farming, but seems to be on a small scale. Of interest were the methods employed in hay making. No square bales are produced at all, instead they stack the hay by hand, forking it into piles as high as a man. Beneath the hay lies a wooden frame. The characteristic cloumns can be seen everywhere. The hay was done in a similar way in Slovakia as well, but they use a tent shape rather than the column. Ok, you city slickers are obviously not excited, but the simple country bumkins might!

We left the pretty lands of Poland and drove south at a furious rate.. ermm well as fast as the narrow congested roads would take us. Destination Budapest Hungry.

On the way we passed through Slovakia, very beautiful rolling countryside .. erm.... anyway onto Hungry.

BUDAPEST

Budapest is actually two citys facing each other on the mighty Danube river. Buda has the mountainous east bank, impressive castle, fernicular railway, citadel etc etc. Whilst Pest has the flat west bank, with many pedestrian malls and pretty facades. Much in the style of Prauge. I would say that the city is actually more beautiful than Prague. The Hungarians are not afraid to have the odd ugly building to give some context to the pretty ones. First stop Statue Park!

Statue Park

Here lie the remains of the many communist era statues. They even have pidded music and radio from communist the era days. Heart felt songs of national praise about building tractors and tanks. So tempting to buy a cd to share the experience. Dim and I had a ball running and playing with the bronxe monoliths. Now into town.

Chain bridge

Of the many bridges spanning the wide river, the chain bridge is the most scenic. Rebuilt after being sunk in world war two, it comes complete with large stone lions. Certainly an excellent back drop for having a beer. Whilst crossing the bridge we met a wonderful man from Transylvania. He should have done all the marketing for the area, we wish we had time to visit his mountain home, but alas, we will peservere till another world tour is forth coming.

The city is a little expensive and well engineered to eat up all your tourist dollars. No shortage of eateries, booze halls and museums. We spent a whole day just walking around gaulking at the sights. From the impressive statues of Hero Square to the spiral minarets in the castle district. We must have walked a good 20kms.

The House of Terror

Budapest has survived fire, flood, pestilence, half a dozen wars and still stands. But its populace have suffered mightly. Of the 10 million Hungarians that populate this country, 10 percent live in Budapest. 700,000 perished in the second world war and another 700,000 disapeared or surcomed during the communist era. They were brutaly opressed by their own home grown version of the Natzis. Many were quick to change their uniform and continue the job for the Russians. The House of Terror was built on the local of the dreaded organisation that terrorised Hungarians till 1991.

Built with extensive use of multimedia, it is a museum of the horrors and a history of anguish. Ominous strains of music fill the rooms and dramatic lighting and videos call to you. The entrance hall is filled with the impressive visage of a Soviet tank. Its treads imersed in a dank pool, its liquid seeping over the edges to drain into the basement of the building. The liquid is a slick oil that leaves the edges gleaming wet. Illuminmation comes from the names of the victims streching to the ceiling three stories above.

The rooms cry out to you with the voices of the families and victims, with videos and telephones. A recreation of the cells in the basement left us feeling more than a little woozey. Engraved pannels dictating the number of lives lost here, the people transported to the gulags. The residents uprising in 56, and the viscous put down two weeks later. (same time as the Melbourne olympics). the Museum was both dreadful and fantastic, we spent far more time there than expected.

Other sites

Many of the museums and art galleries are free, and we took time to see the collection oposite heroes square. The statues in the square of heroes were spectacular as well. It includes 6 works by my favorite spanish mannerist: El Greco. We skimmed the rest of the collection, but kept comming back to gaze at the stunning dramatic sky skapes, and sinuous figures.


Budapest is easily one of the higlights of the tour. Well worth a second visit. Even better than prague. Next our trip south begins, onward to the lands of those Croatians.
Current ODO reading:
4810 km

Moria and Beyond (aka invasion Poland)

Invasion Poland.

Damn! No autobahns to speak of. The new roads are being constructed. Dim almost lost it on the drive in. We got caught in quite a few traffic snarles. After a much longer trip than we expected, we arrived in Krakow.

Lands of Middle Earth

I think they may have misplaced the location of middle Earth. I do think that Tolkien's world would be better spent in Poland than New Zealand. The fields are lush and green. Much grass and quite a few poppy fields. The weather started off at fine and 30, but by Sunday we had spent several days under the umbrellas (the ones that I said were a stupid thing to pack). I should listen to my wife more often! But onto the Mines of Moria.

The Mines of Moria

A short trip from town we found the local salt mine. Work has been progressing here for 6 centuries. A large number of caverns and tunnels still remain to be explored. The total length of tunnel exceeds 300 km and the local forests were denuded to supply timber to support the mining. We treked through a short section prepared for tourists. It was stunnng. We traveld 2km, 800 steps and 135m in depth. The walls were polished smooth, black and ice cold to touch. Every inch was of grey salt, the segments of grey salt having already been mined. Caverns that streched 8 stories still remain and are filled with strong beams and supports. We passed uderground salt lakes and vaults and the remains of diggings and sculpture.

The miners were a religous lot and have carved over 30 chapels in the mines. We visited 3. The most impressive having crystal chanderliers (made from large salt crystals) and walls carved in intricate detail. Everything in the entire chapel was carved from salt and took the work of three brothers to complete, one after the other (I think they had large age gaps in that family). Other statues and decoration cover the entire mine. At times it felt like we were in a dwarven tomb.

Krakow

Krakow is an old city, once ringed by a walls and at its apex an impressive castle that has been the ruling seat of Poland for centuries. The wall of the city has been demolished and replaced with a belt of green that circum navigates the old city. Our apartment was a mere 10 minutes walk from the city center. As has been our normal modus operandi, we took to foot and traversed the city. I was amazed at the number of flowers out on the sidewalk. Fushias seem to be most popular.

The Castle

The trip to the castle was most excellent. We were not able to vist all its displays, but did manage to sneak past the many brides having photos taken to glimpse its wares. The most impressive being its display of treasure, arms and armour. I never realised how big a two handed sword is. The German examples were a good 5 feet in length. There were countless swords, dirks, foils, rapiers, cutlass, muskets, arburtsers, dueling pistols, guns, cannons, mortars, plate mail, scale mail, hunting spears, pikes, maces, morning stars etc etc. I was most interested to find some fine examples of tournment armour and lances, as used in jousting.

We also visted the innards of the castle and found them to be similar to the Palazzio Vecchio in Florence. A legend surrounding the first king and his dragon infuses much of the architecture and local legend. The church has some large bones hanging from its door, reputably from the dragon itself. We descended below the castle to vist the "dragon's lair" ourselves. Again we were plunged into an eiry darkness, half expecting Gollum to spring out.

The town square is impressive and is the largest in Europe. It was here that John Paul II appeared to packed crowds during the 80's. The Catholic church being a large thorn in the side of communism. It was the celebration of Polands centenary since baptism (against the will of the communists) that brought about a bloody uprising. I am realy murdering history here, I think it would be simpler to say they are all very very catholic.

We got lucky on our arival in Krakow and have been staying in a large apartment with many rooms and polished floor boards. The most exciting device being the washing machine. Nickys clothes will finally be clean again. It has been really cheap to stay here and we have been taking our time to enjoy the city. But tomorrow we will be heading south. Hopefully there will be enough time to visit the Polish aeronautical museum or Auscwitz.

Beer!

We have been blessed for choice here in Poland. But the best beer so far has got to be the Czech "Budweiser". I know that the Americans also have a crap beer named Budweiser, but it does not come from the town of Budweiser, and they have been having a ding dong legal battle over the name for years. An honourable mention goes to "Dog in the Fog" which has an extraodinary mix of malts. I would say that it tastes similar to peppermint at first taste. The local beers are also good, but we are not even halfway through sampling the local generic produce. I do love the final product's packaging which consist of neat bottles one pint in size.