Hellooooo. We are in Allmersbach at our cousin's house for the week. We are resting up and enjoying the slower pace of not being in the bus or the train. We were feeling a bit velocitized driving everyday and find ourselves having naps everyday and going to bed early in the evening.
Next Wed. we fly to Rome for our 16 day trip through southern Italy into Sicily and then a 2 day stay on the island across from Naples. There won't be any photos probably during the next week as we are taking it easy and enjoying the family time.
Love to all, J
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Romantic Road, Aug. 25
On our last day of our trip and heading to Frankfurt, we stopped at two towns. We drove The Romantic Road which is a 350 km road running north to south from Wurzburg to Fussen used to be a Roman road used for the transportation of goods. Along it are 27 medieval towns or villages each with its own special job but most have a castle or large church and many have an enclosed concrete wall which was for protecting the interior.
Today we stopped at two of them - Nordlingen and Rothenburg. Nordlingen is city that was hit by a crater many thousands of years ago and was filled with feetile land and so was created out of a hole. The symbol of this city is the pig because back in the middle ages the pig was food for the people but also a sign of good luck.
Once there was a knight who was up to no good and was asking the towns people for $ but he was always turned down. He decided to rob the town instead, so he had bribed a guardsman to leave the fortified wall open one evening so that he could get in.
Well, this pig was walking around in the town, minding his own business when he had noticed that the gate was opened. Along came a lovely young lady who noticed the pig was going in and out of the gate and she started to yell for the guards. The guards then closed the gate and figured that the pig helped save the town. Still to this day from 10 to 12 pm, every 1/2 hour a man calls out, in German, that everything is as it should be. Cute legend isn't it? Really the city was built in the 16th century and had a huge wall placed around it so that only the Protestants could live inside. Hence the massive church within is Lutheran.
Then we went to Rothenburg, one of our favourite places, and walked around for 3 hours. We visited the pension where we had stayed for 6 days three yrs ago and walked some of the small and quiet streets of the back town. We took some extra pictures because the last time we were there was in the winter.
We made it to our Frankfurt hotel around 6:00 and ate at 7 but, by the time you do all this, it's always so late and we are very tired. Now we need a holiday to rest up from the holiday.
Tomorrow we head off by train to stay with cousin Lili and Dieter. Looking forward to a rest.
Today we stopped at two of them - Nordlingen and Rothenburg. Nordlingen is city that was hit by a crater many thousands of years ago and was filled with feetile land and so was created out of a hole. The symbol of this city is the pig because back in the middle ages the pig was food for the people but also a sign of good luck.
Once there was a knight who was up to no good and was asking the towns people for $ but he was always turned down. He decided to rob the town instead, so he had bribed a guardsman to leave the fortified wall open one evening so that he could get in.
Well, this pig was walking around in the town, minding his own business when he had noticed that the gate was opened. Along came a lovely young lady who noticed the pig was going in and out of the gate and she started to yell for the guards. The guards then closed the gate and figured that the pig helped save the town. Still to this day from 10 to 12 pm, every 1/2 hour a man calls out, in German, that everything is as it should be. Cute legend isn't it? Really the city was built in the 16th century and had a huge wall placed around it so that only the Protestants could live inside. Hence the massive church within is Lutheran.
Then we went to Rothenburg, one of our favourite places, and walked around for 3 hours. We visited the pension where we had stayed for 6 days three yrs ago and walked some of the small and quiet streets of the back town. We took some extra pictures because the last time we were there was in the winter.
We made it to our Frankfurt hotel around 6:00 and ate at 7 but, by the time you do all this, it's always so late and we are very tired. Now we need a holiday to rest up from the holiday.
Tomorrow we head off by train to stay with cousin Lili and Dieter. Looking forward to a rest.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Munich, Aug. 24
We pulled into Munich at about 3 in the afternoon and because our hotel is so far outside the city, we got dropped off in the center and had just 2 1/2 hours to race around doing the two special things before our bus picked us up again.
G and I knew that we wanted to visit one of our favourite things in this city so we told anyone who wanted to follow, to come along. We headed off to The Hofbrauhuis for some great food, great beer and to buy G some more beerfest music. We had a lovely time being silly and then G, a new friend of ours, Cathy and I set out to find the leder hosen store so that I could buy my original German outfit this time. It was the fastest outfit that I have ever purchased. The lady was ripping things off me and then pushing stuff back on because I was in the middle of a storming hot flash and we only had 20 minutes to do it in. I apologized for soaking all of her new outfits and then we found success in 12 minutes. Now I know how a model feels.
After settling into the hotel, we walked 20 minutes to a Bavarian restaurant to have a late meal. 14 of us went together and, of course, got lost, but we can manage anything at this point.
I have to send a box home- too much stuff already.
G and I knew that we wanted to visit one of our favourite things in this city so we told anyone who wanted to follow, to come along. We headed off to The Hofbrauhuis for some great food, great beer and to buy G some more beerfest music. We had a lovely time being silly and then G, a new friend of ours, Cathy and I set out to find the leder hosen store so that I could buy my original German outfit this time. It was the fastest outfit that I have ever purchased. The lady was ripping things off me and then pushing stuff back on because I was in the middle of a storming hot flash and we only had 20 minutes to do it in. I apologized for soaking all of her new outfits and then we found success in 12 minutes. Now I know how a model feels.
After settling into the hotel, we walked 20 minutes to a Bavarian restaurant to have a late meal. 14 of us went together and, of course, got lost, but we can manage anything at this point.
I have to send a box home- too much stuff already.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Impressions of Post Communist Trip
Well, we are somewhat glad that it is coming to an end, glad that we decided to go with a tour instead of on our own and now know that once is enough.
They are all beautiful cities and country sides. All are filled with very hard working people who are just as we are in trying to grab onto and maintain a good quality of life.
Everyone, at least once in your life, should make this excursion into someplace that has a history so large pand affected and that is totally foreign to us. This part of the world, including Russia, Turkey etc. are so old that they contain a world of items so big and ornate that it is hard to imagine having been alive in that time or to still live amongst them today.
Indeed the architecture of the cities is high maintenance and so is in poor repair due to high cost and even less desire of the government to want to even start the projects. So when you walk through the streets, it is with disbelief that so much is crumbling and awful looking in its ignorance.
Real people live in these areas and I suppose they just ignore it - crumbled parts, smelly bits, graffiti and all.
The people are of two sorts: those who remember and then those who don't. The younger crowd - clearly the more happy of the population, move and live with a smile, ready to help if they can and want more out of life - just as our younger population in our own countries do. It is right and the way of those taking their place as a contributor to society. The older group - may they find more peace in their lives, still feel the confines of their communist past and are withdrawn, stoic and want nothing to do with tourists or anything other than what they know.
Their thinking is still pretty backwards and shortsighted. These countries, much as Spain was, had no necessity and were not even allowed, in fact, to learn another language - never mind English but not even the language of the country with which they have so much connection. Just in the last years since the end of communism were they allowed to learn a language of their choice and now they cannot graduate from university unless they test for two languages.
Still on the whole these people are stuck in a lack of self efficacy. An example: in the public toilets, where a lady or man sits all day to collect money for use of a human function, they will not accept anything other than the coin that they ask for. Not even a combination of coins that might add up to the correct amount, no, nothing, nit, nein, non, nay, ni. How stupid. They would just shake their head and yell at you.
Okay, I get it. They never had a say before and they have spent their whole life doing what they were told so now even branching out to something different or imaginative is hard for them. Even harder is for them to watch us demand a better way because we are so used to making our world work for us. Too, they seem to have found a way to deal with their world which is noisy, crowded and filled with us, the unwanted visitor, and manage to carry on with their day. I can't imagine living like that - but then I wasn't raised to feel so helpless, nor to accept such a state of helplessness.
They are all beautiful cities and country sides. All are filled with very hard working people who are just as we are in trying to grab onto and maintain a good quality of life.
Everyone, at least once in your life, should make this excursion into someplace that has a history so large pand affected and that is totally foreign to us. This part of the world, including Russia, Turkey etc. are so old that they contain a world of items so big and ornate that it is hard to imagine having been alive in that time or to still live amongst them today.
Indeed the architecture of the cities is high maintenance and so is in poor repair due to high cost and even less desire of the government to want to even start the projects. So when you walk through the streets, it is with disbelief that so much is crumbling and awful looking in its ignorance.
Real people live in these areas and I suppose they just ignore it - crumbled parts, smelly bits, graffiti and all.
The people are of two sorts: those who remember and then those who don't. The younger crowd - clearly the more happy of the population, move and live with a smile, ready to help if they can and want more out of life - just as our younger population in our own countries do. It is right and the way of those taking their place as a contributor to society. The older group - may they find more peace in their lives, still feel the confines of their communist past and are withdrawn, stoic and want nothing to do with tourists or anything other than what they know.
Their thinking is still pretty backwards and shortsighted. These countries, much as Spain was, had no necessity and were not even allowed, in fact, to learn another language - never mind English but not even the language of the country with which they have so much connection. Just in the last years since the end of communism were they allowed to learn a language of their choice and now they cannot graduate from university unless they test for two languages.
Still on the whole these people are stuck in a lack of self efficacy. An example: in the public toilets, where a lady or man sits all day to collect money for use of a human function, they will not accept anything other than the coin that they ask for. Not even a combination of coins that might add up to the correct amount, no, nothing, nit, nein, non, nay, ni. How stupid. They would just shake their head and yell at you.
Okay, I get it. They never had a say before and they have spent their whole life doing what they were told so now even branching out to something different or imaginative is hard for them. Even harder is for them to watch us demand a better way because we are so used to making our world work for us. Too, they seem to have found a way to deal with their world which is noisy, crowded and filled with us, the unwanted visitor, and manage to carry on with their day. I can't imagine living like that - but then I wasn't raised to feel so helpless, nor to accept such a state of helplessness.
Prague history, Aug. 23
The legend of Prague, pronounced "Praha" (if you please), is that a princess had chosen a consort who was declared a teller of prophecy and she stated that Prague would one day "touch the stars" and be famous and great. World leader of drinking beer - 160 litres per year per person (their top saying is "God bless the woman who gives birth to a brewer.) and their biggest sport is ice hockey where they have 60 players in the NHL.
At that time in Europe (and I suppose today) it was true. In the 14th century (1348) under Roman Emperor Charles IV, it was the 2nd biggest city in Europe at 50 000, after Rome and even London only had 35 000. Charles was a very important man who influenced a lot and brought much to why this is such a large place. He founded the first university and built many sites that you can see in the city today, but after his death, the city became unimportant. Not until 1526 until the 17th century when Rudolph II became ruler did the city reclaim its fame. He loved all Sciences, Arts and Astrology (more so than his duties) and so many artists started to flow into the city.
And so the story continues: the Hapsburg's taking control, next the 30 years' war (where the protestant nobles wanted total power so they began to throw the Catholics out of the castle windows) then independent CZ and then WWII. Are you getting the picture? Sound familiar?
Of course, as you know, the story of the Jews here in CZ is no different than any other place. When the Communists were in control, they left a very definite mark on these people. They suggested that the people not attend church or follow any religion because, in the Comm government, Communism was their god. So, only 10% of the population are RC, 1% is Protestant and the rest of the population, amazing really, is Agnostic.
In 1989 (Hallelujah) the CZ began their own revolution and called it the "Velvet Rev" where no blood was shed but the decision to give up on Comm. was decided. Again in 1993, they decided to separate the entire state and became the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Again it was peaceful and so they called it "The Velvet Divorce."
You know, this place reminds us a bit of Winnipeg. There's a bit more than 1 million population and they are spread out all around a river that runs winding through the city with various bridges to connect the two sides. If you stand far away, you can see lots of trees but the difference is that once you hit the centre of the city, it's all concrete - cobblestone actually - dangerous stuff where you can't just assume to walk without looking but have to check with every footstep. Annoying really and so today, I took a great fall as we were walking to a church and I hit a cobble or something, couldn't really tell, but I ended up prone all over the stairway with a bruised finger, scraped chest and sore legs. Such is the life of a traveler - I'll live.
In the olden city there weren't any numbers on the important houses so they places emblems on the front facade somewhere and so the emblem you see in the pictures is from the snake house. Also today as we sat for a rest in the shade, we watched a bike copper remove a Mercedes from the street as the car didn't have a pass. Because of how crowded it is these cities, we thought we would show you the ingenious way to ditch a vehicle.
Prague is beautiful. When walking around here G and I feel a bit as if we are in Gulliver's travels and that we are part of the Lilliput Land from the Wizard of Oz. We are just tiny specks beside a building. We stopped to watch the people walk down a street beside the architecture, they were little ants compared to the giant bldgs. Sometimes it's hard to feel a breath of air and one smell will remain for a long time as it has nowhere to go and up is too high to escape from the top of each home or building.
At that time in Europe (and I suppose today) it was true. In the 14th century (1348) under Roman Emperor Charles IV, it was the 2nd biggest city in Europe at 50 000, after Rome and even London only had 35 000. Charles was a very important man who influenced a lot and brought much to why this is such a large place. He founded the first university and built many sites that you can see in the city today, but after his death, the city became unimportant. Not until 1526 until the 17th century when Rudolph II became ruler did the city reclaim its fame. He loved all Sciences, Arts and Astrology (more so than his duties) and so many artists started to flow into the city.
And so the story continues: the Hapsburg's taking control, next the 30 years' war (where the protestant nobles wanted total power so they began to throw the Catholics out of the castle windows) then independent CZ and then WWII. Are you getting the picture? Sound familiar?
Of course, as you know, the story of the Jews here in CZ is no different than any other place. When the Communists were in control, they left a very definite mark on these people. They suggested that the people not attend church or follow any religion because, in the Comm government, Communism was their god. So, only 10% of the population are RC, 1% is Protestant and the rest of the population, amazing really, is Agnostic.
In 1989 (Hallelujah) the CZ began their own revolution and called it the "Velvet Rev" where no blood was shed but the decision to give up on Comm. was decided. Again in 1993, they decided to separate the entire state and became the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Again it was peaceful and so they called it "The Velvet Divorce."
You know, this place reminds us a bit of Winnipeg. There's a bit more than 1 million population and they are spread out all around a river that runs winding through the city with various bridges to connect the two sides. If you stand far away, you can see lots of trees but the difference is that once you hit the centre of the city, it's all concrete - cobblestone actually - dangerous stuff where you can't just assume to walk without looking but have to check with every footstep. Annoying really and so today, I took a great fall as we were walking to a church and I hit a cobble or something, couldn't really tell, but I ended up prone all over the stairway with a bruised finger, scraped chest and sore legs. Such is the life of a traveler - I'll live.
In the olden city there weren't any numbers on the important houses so they places emblems on the front facade somewhere and so the emblem you see in the pictures is from the snake house. Also today as we sat for a rest in the shade, we watched a bike copper remove a Mercedes from the street as the car didn't have a pass. Because of how crowded it is these cities, we thought we would show you the ingenious way to ditch a vehicle.
Prague is beautiful. When walking around here G and I feel a bit as if we are in Gulliver's travels and that we are part of the Lilliput Land from the Wizard of Oz. We are just tiny specks beside a building. We stopped to watch the people walk down a street beside the architecture, they were little ants compared to the giant bldgs. Sometimes it's hard to feel a breath of air and one smell will remain for a long time as it has nowhere to go and up is too high to escape from the top of each home or building.
Wed. Heading to Prague
What a day- it reminds me of the time I was on my way to East Berlin before the wall fell.
First G and I had a lovely few hours in Vienna just walking around and we left the main thoroughfare, as usual, and went into a church that was built in 1616. It is one of my favourite churches in Europe. I believe it is way more beautiful than the one they insist you see which is on the ped walk and in the middle of the tourist area. Oh and by the way, the big one costs a bunch just to get in and mine costs, well, nothing, as it should be. We sat for about 20 mins and took no pictures - as it should be. I put some money into the collection box to help the church fund with their 3rd-world hunger project and then we left - paying also for a new rosary for me because I had given my large one to my Grandmother years ago after having it blessed by Pope John Paul II when he had visited Nova Scotia.
We mosied along the back roads and had a proper Austrian snack. We searched for a new pair of shorts and shirt for G as when you hand wash clothes every day, they become threadbare and ripped. Eventually we looked for a museum - what for?, to pee of course.
Our bus to Prague was something else. When first we got on today, we noticed that our side was leaning over and we had assumed that the two of us had put on so much weight -( there's a lot of sauces here you know. ) (actually, it's just G drinking too much beer - he does have to rate each one from each country.)
This problem came just after, the day before, we had lost our bus for a day because the air conditioning had failed. Well, when we went over the first bump in the road, G and I looked sideways at each other and we knew. We were in for it. The air compression valve for the shock system was a goner.
Our bus driver is something else, I'll tell you that, but that story is not for typing out here- more on that later when we get home. So when we were leaving Austria, we were stopped by the police. He had the driver get out, also our tour guide who was a bit frazzled by this time in the trip, and produce papers and stuff and he wanted us to empty all the luggage, about 86 bags so that he could even out the bus. I said to G, because I was on the window side of where things were getting heated, that the cop was doing a balance thingy with his hands and so out of the bus G goes as he was the only person who could speak German and who could get us out of a terrible and hot problem.
He went out and explained that it wasn't the bags or that our driver wasn't doing anything wrong but that he used to drive big vehicles and that there was a technical problem with the shock systems. G lay down under the bus, checked out the system and emerged assuring that there was nothing we could do until we got into the city. We still had an hour of driving to go.
The policeman was adorable and explained that he was worried for the passenger safety. Most of us were thankful as we were feeling a bit uncared for at about this point in the trip. He took the numbers etc. of our bus and assured the driver that he had better drive slowly and get it fixed as the cop was going to checks up on our progress.
When the bus was turned back on, something kind of righted itself and we were once again on the even as we started up the engine to drive on. We arrived late, (will explain later) and were totally rushed for the rest of the evening. This was our "welcome to the Czech Republic."
In the evening we went to a local pub by a monastery and had Prague black beer and watched a bit of entertainment.
Then we headed off to a 45 minute show which was in the fair grounds at the exhibition site and we watched a live show along with water works mixed with colored lights to "Tristan and Isolda." If you wanted to view where we were, you can check it out at www.krizikovafontana.cz.
For almost an hour we were totally captivated. We were told to sit in the middle and by the time we got there, the only seats left in the middle were the first two rows so we took a spot there. Even the middle seats way up in the audience were taken, so in the end, it turned out alright because all the acting and dancing was done right in front of us. It probably would have been better way up in the audience to see the water and colours mix for the show but worse for the rest, so I think we won out on that one.
We got to the hotel after midnight which was a late night for us, I fell into bed and slept like a log- even tho' the air conditioning (which if you remember, isn't really AC) wasn't working. We'll live, trust me.
First G and I had a lovely few hours in Vienna just walking around and we left the main thoroughfare, as usual, and went into a church that was built in 1616. It is one of my favourite churches in Europe. I believe it is way more beautiful than the one they insist you see which is on the ped walk and in the middle of the tourist area. Oh and by the way, the big one costs a bunch just to get in and mine costs, well, nothing, as it should be. We sat for about 20 mins and took no pictures - as it should be. I put some money into the collection box to help the church fund with their 3rd-world hunger project and then we left - paying also for a new rosary for me because I had given my large one to my Grandmother years ago after having it blessed by Pope John Paul II when he had visited Nova Scotia.
We mosied along the back roads and had a proper Austrian snack. We searched for a new pair of shorts and shirt for G as when you hand wash clothes every day, they become threadbare and ripped. Eventually we looked for a museum - what for?, to pee of course.
Our bus to Prague was something else. When first we got on today, we noticed that our side was leaning over and we had assumed that the two of us had put on so much weight -( there's a lot of sauces here you know. ) (actually, it's just G drinking too much beer - he does have to rate each one from each country.)
This problem came just after, the day before, we had lost our bus for a day because the air conditioning had failed. Well, when we went over the first bump in the road, G and I looked sideways at each other and we knew. We were in for it. The air compression valve for the shock system was a goner.
Our bus driver is something else, I'll tell you that, but that story is not for typing out here- more on that later when we get home. So when we were leaving Austria, we were stopped by the police. He had the driver get out, also our tour guide who was a bit frazzled by this time in the trip, and produce papers and stuff and he wanted us to empty all the luggage, about 86 bags so that he could even out the bus. I said to G, because I was on the window side of where things were getting heated, that the cop was doing a balance thingy with his hands and so out of the bus G goes as he was the only person who could speak German and who could get us out of a terrible and hot problem.
He went out and explained that it wasn't the bags or that our driver wasn't doing anything wrong but that he used to drive big vehicles and that there was a technical problem with the shock systems. G lay down under the bus, checked out the system and emerged assuring that there was nothing we could do until we got into the city. We still had an hour of driving to go.
The policeman was adorable and explained that he was worried for the passenger safety. Most of us were thankful as we were feeling a bit uncared for at about this point in the trip. He took the numbers etc. of our bus and assured the driver that he had better drive slowly and get it fixed as the cop was going to checks up on our progress.
When the bus was turned back on, something kind of righted itself and we were once again on the even as we started up the engine to drive on. We arrived late, (will explain later) and were totally rushed for the rest of the evening. This was our "welcome to the Czech Republic."
In the evening we went to a local pub by a monastery and had Prague black beer and watched a bit of entertainment.
Then we headed off to a 45 minute show which was in the fair grounds at the exhibition site and we watched a live show along with water works mixed with colored lights to "Tristan and Isolda." If you wanted to view where we were, you can check it out at www.krizikovafontana.cz.
For almost an hour we were totally captivated. We were told to sit in the middle and by the time we got there, the only seats left in the middle were the first two rows so we took a spot there. Even the middle seats way up in the audience were taken, so in the end, it turned out alright because all the acting and dancing was done right in front of us. It probably would have been better way up in the audience to see the water and colours mix for the show but worse for the rest, so I think we won out on that one.
We got to the hotel after midnight which was a late night for us, I fell into bed and slept like a log- even tho' the air conditioning (which if you remember, isn't really AC) wasn't working. We'll live, trust me.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Vienna, Aug. 21
We were in this city at 11:30 a short trip from Budapest. We were dropped off at the center of the city near the cathedral and G and I spent a couple of hours walking up and down the ped way. We stopped in at the information to get a better map and to find out how to get to our hotel because the bus was taking the crew on an included city tour of which I didn't want to go. I had been two times before and another time would be overdoing it for me. It's not one of my favourite places so I walked the 30 minutes along the Danube. G took the tour on his own with his new friends.
As we were sitting having a coffee and waiting for G's bus tour to start, we were served by a sweet young man who was from Budapest. Weird isn't it how we are so connected. He was kind and told us what to do in the city and how to get there that would be different for us. We joked back and forth about how he left all the pretty girls in Budapest and doesn't have one here. His mom says the same thing. We left telling him to remember to call his mother and tell that he loves her.
In the evening we took our waiters advice and went by tram to the east side of the city and spent the evening in a Austrian Disney World. It wasn't very busy and we wondered why. We wondered, that is, until we reached our destination of the Schwizer Haus which is a huge beer festival area just teaming with people. We had to wait 10 min for a place to sit but then we ordered two different meals and shared them. In this tents the meals came tok you on a plate that is too small carrying food that is too large. G had schnitzel and I, good grief, do you remember those big baseballs that I told you about from Dresden, well that's what showed up on my plate again smothered in sauerkraut. Both plates were great.
Head out today for another 2 hours of free time in the center and then head for Prague. This is going to be my favourite place I think.
As we were sitting having a coffee and waiting for G's bus tour to start, we were served by a sweet young man who was from Budapest. Weird isn't it how we are so connected. He was kind and told us what to do in the city and how to get there that would be different for us. We joked back and forth about how he left all the pretty girls in Budapest and doesn't have one here. His mom says the same thing. We left telling him to remember to call his mother and tell that he loves her.
In the evening we took our waiters advice and went by tram to the east side of the city and spent the evening in a Austrian Disney World. It wasn't very busy and we wondered why. We wondered, that is, until we reached our destination of the Schwizer Haus which is a huge beer festival area just teaming with people. We had to wait 10 min for a place to sit but then we ordered two different meals and shared them. In this tents the meals came tok you on a plate that is too small carrying food that is too large. G had schnitzel and I, good grief, do you remember those big baseballs that I told you about from Dresden, well that's what showed up on my plate again smothered in sauerkraut. Both plates were great.
Head out today for another 2 hours of free time in the center and then head for Prague. This is going to be my favourite place I think.
Most Amazing Evening
After our day in Budapest, we went back to our hotel to rest up a bit. After all, we had been out and walking for 6 hours. G had a nap for an hour and I did the blog stuff.
Later at around 6:00 we left again without any purses or stuff to carry because it was too hot. Also we try to spend a part of our day not taking pictures so that we can just live in the moment like real people so no pictures of our evening. Sorry. We later found out that the temps for today were 38 and 45 with humidity. We were also looking quite normal in so little clothes, no hats and bags that we almost looked Hungarian. (that's a stretch, I know but go with it) We walked towards the tunnel just before the bridge and went through it to end up on the Buda bank. Because today is a huge celebration, there were more than the normal amounts of huts and artisans lining the road up the bank but, usually it costs 7€ to enter. I went up to ask the fellow and he told me that at 7 everything was free.
So G and I started walking along the bank and began to work our way up to the castle and the huts. We got lost, of course, but after some returns, I call them returns cause you usually have to go back to somewhere you've already been, we finally found the top platform up on the castle where all the huts started. We got a Hungarian beer and walked around enjoying the culture. We were really two of four English people there as our tour mates chose to go for a Hungarian meal and music.
Finally after walking around we decided that we had to go down the hill to eat. G always sends me to ask the questions because he says that "pretty" gets more responses than "old and a man" but really I think it's just that I use so much body language that everyone understands me. So I went to ask the police how to get down the hill to the bank and he says to me "I speak German." Well then I had to haul G over and talk to him. Funny thing was that he really didn't speak German and told us to go a certain way and, knowing better what we wanted, we ignored him totally and did our own thing - as usual. We found the perfect way down and started our trek heading downwards towards the bank again, because real people have to eat. I kept asking people all the way down, actually there were 200 000 people on our bank alone and so I talked to about 1/2 of them I swear.
They told me after some acting lessons that there would be fireworks to end the St. Stephan's day festivities at 9. So we hurried into a pub to have some good ole goulash soup, famous here, and a some more Hungarian beer, also famous here. Well, when we asked for both the waiter looked at us as if we were stupid, and I'm sure we did look like it but still, he responds "This is Belgium restaurant!" And so goes our life story,,, but what an interesting story. We had soup and beer, Belgian style, and with the first crack of noise, we, or rather I - leaving G to pay the bill, ran out into the street - really I had to swipe David some beer coasters first.
Now after all that preamble comes the main part of my text. We saw the absolute best fire work show in our lives. All three bridges were closed and each of the two outer bridges had a show and in the middle the show was set off on a barge in the river.
The entire show was coordinated and synchronized where each set was done at the exact same time, burst at exactly the same time and because we were in the middle area and had a set on either side of us, our peripheral sights made it feel as if the works were wrapping around us.
Every so often they would throw up sets of red, white and green circles or works - the colours of their flag. The blasts were so big and there was no wind that things hung in the sky forever and because we were right down low on the Buda bank, we felt so small underneath falling stars.
There was a momentous blast that burst into a star and then let out long fingers of strings which then let out little bursts of trailing fingers and these fingers burned and fell for a long time. It was like watching my spider plants grow and move in time-lapsed photography. Then another set of 1000 pure white dots were sent up which then burst into pinpricks of popcorn and hung there as if we could reach them to eat.
30 minutes of pure delight and it could only ever be bested by showing the same show but only done with music. I don't need pictures to remember this evening because only the birth of my two kids are more burned into my memory.
Wow, what an evening.
Later at around 6:00 we left again without any purses or stuff to carry because it was too hot. Also we try to spend a part of our day not taking pictures so that we can just live in the moment like real people so no pictures of our evening. Sorry. We later found out that the temps for today were 38 and 45 with humidity. We were also looking quite normal in so little clothes, no hats and bags that we almost looked Hungarian. (that's a stretch, I know but go with it) We walked towards the tunnel just before the bridge and went through it to end up on the Buda bank. Because today is a huge celebration, there were more than the normal amounts of huts and artisans lining the road up the bank but, usually it costs 7€ to enter. I went up to ask the fellow and he told me that at 7 everything was free.
So G and I started walking along the bank and began to work our way up to the castle and the huts. We got lost, of course, but after some returns, I call them returns cause you usually have to go back to somewhere you've already been, we finally found the top platform up on the castle where all the huts started. We got a Hungarian beer and walked around enjoying the culture. We were really two of four English people there as our tour mates chose to go for a Hungarian meal and music.
Finally after walking around we decided that we had to go down the hill to eat. G always sends me to ask the questions because he says that "pretty" gets more responses than "old and a man" but really I think it's just that I use so much body language that everyone understands me. So I went to ask the police how to get down the hill to the bank and he says to me "I speak German." Well then I had to haul G over and talk to him. Funny thing was that he really didn't speak German and told us to go a certain way and, knowing better what we wanted, we ignored him totally and did our own thing - as usual. We found the perfect way down and started our trek heading downwards towards the bank again, because real people have to eat. I kept asking people all the way down, actually there were 200 000 people on our bank alone and so I talked to about 1/2 of them I swear.
They told me after some acting lessons that there would be fireworks to end the St. Stephan's day festivities at 9. So we hurried into a pub to have some good ole goulash soup, famous here, and a some more Hungarian beer, also famous here. Well, when we asked for both the waiter looked at us as if we were stupid, and I'm sure we did look like it but still, he responds "This is Belgium restaurant!" And so goes our life story,,, but what an interesting story. We had soup and beer, Belgian style, and with the first crack of noise, we, or rather I - leaving G to pay the bill, ran out into the street - really I had to swipe David some beer coasters first.
Now after all that preamble comes the main part of my text. We saw the absolute best fire work show in our lives. All three bridges were closed and each of the two outer bridges had a show and in the middle the show was set off on a barge in the river.
The entire show was coordinated and synchronized where each set was done at the exact same time, burst at exactly the same time and because we were in the middle area and had a set on either side of us, our peripheral sights made it feel as if the works were wrapping around us.
Every so often they would throw up sets of red, white and green circles or works - the colours of their flag. The blasts were so big and there was no wind that things hung in the sky forever and because we were right down low on the Buda bank, we felt so small underneath falling stars.
There was a momentous blast that burst into a star and then let out long fingers of strings which then let out little bursts of trailing fingers and these fingers burned and fell for a long time. It was like watching my spider plants grow and move in time-lapsed photography. Then another set of 1000 pure white dots were sent up which then burst into pinpricks of popcorn and hung there as if we could reach them to eat.
30 minutes of pure delight and it could only ever be bested by showing the same show but only done with music. I don't need pictures to remember this evening because only the birth of my two kids are more burned into my memory.
Wow, what an evening.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Budapest - Aug 19 & 20
We went through the Tatra Mountains which meant that we drove through Slovakia and then into Hungary. Slovakia has a beautiful rolling land similar to driving through the white mountains in Eastern US. Nothing too unusual happened unless you call G demanding that our bus driver slow down and pull back off the tails of the vehicles in front of us.
First of all, which I didn't know and don't mind saying so, is that Budapest is actually two separate city parts. Buda, where our hotel is, is on one side of the Danube River and Pest is on the other. They are connected by 9 bridges.
The Hungarians, a very reserved and proud people who voted the end of communism only in 1989. They were the first country to open their borders to the west. There are only 10 million people in all of Hungary and now only 2 million in Budapest and is only 202 sq kilometers in size. There is a natural hot spring running through the city and so they have a huge baths' park for public use- at a cost, but the city got part of it's name from Buda- which means water.
As we rolled into the city we noticed that there were beautiful and huge buildings that resemble castles and royal palaces. We took an evening cruise along the Danube and found it lovely to see all the lights on the bridges and all those beautiful bldgs lit up. Of course they played the Blue Danube Waltz and G and I danced to it on deck.
The history of Hungary is just as convoluted as every other place we have been but they seem to have had the $&@/ kicked out of them by more nations, kings and governments than any other place.
1st the Romans - probably where the crazy language came from, then the Huns, then there was a short 133 day dictatorship by a communist leader, then a right-wing Governor took over and signed treaties with the Germans, the Turks who built the castle and palaces, then the Nazi's and then, as if things couldn't get any worse, after WWII the Soviets took over. It was at that time that 200 000 people left Hungary for the Free World fearing that things would never get better.
For our little Rose, the lady who took care of G's father, life did get better.
We landed here in the middle of St. Stephan's celebration - where the life of H's first king is a big thing and deserves a party. No stores open - which really ticked off the shoppers on our bus. We did a lot of walking - or jostling, in the midst of 100 000 people jammed onto the two banks and small streets of the city. For a break, we had to keep sitting in one of the cafes or restaurants and have ice cream or wine. We had to plead with the cops to get back across the long bridge that had been open only for people today but at 3, it was closed again to everything. I whined and pleaded to just quickly get over cause our hotel was just at the end of the bridge. This wonderful Hungarian women saw me and then asked what was wrong and after telling her, she immediately went to the cops and convinced them to let me go. See, whining still works.
It is 38 here today- our first hot day since we left home and the two of us have had lots of showers and water. With no air conditioning, well, air conditioning in some places is just a grate in the wall that sucks air in and pushes warmer air out - it's hard to stay cool.
We head out to Austria tomorrow and then to Prague.
First of all, which I didn't know and don't mind saying so, is that Budapest is actually two separate city parts. Buda, where our hotel is, is on one side of the Danube River and Pest is on the other. They are connected by 9 bridges.
The Hungarians, a very reserved and proud people who voted the end of communism only in 1989. They were the first country to open their borders to the west. There are only 10 million people in all of Hungary and now only 2 million in Budapest and is only 202 sq kilometers in size. There is a natural hot spring running through the city and so they have a huge baths' park for public use- at a cost, but the city got part of it's name from Buda- which means water.
As we rolled into the city we noticed that there were beautiful and huge buildings that resemble castles and royal palaces. We took an evening cruise along the Danube and found it lovely to see all the lights on the bridges and all those beautiful bldgs lit up. Of course they played the Blue Danube Waltz and G and I danced to it on deck.
The history of Hungary is just as convoluted as every other place we have been but they seem to have had the $&@/ kicked out of them by more nations, kings and governments than any other place.
1st the Romans - probably where the crazy language came from, then the Huns, then there was a short 133 day dictatorship by a communist leader, then a right-wing Governor took over and signed treaties with the Germans, the Turks who built the castle and palaces, then the Nazi's and then, as if things couldn't get any worse, after WWII the Soviets took over. It was at that time that 200 000 people left Hungary for the Free World fearing that things would never get better.
For our little Rose, the lady who took care of G's father, life did get better.
We landed here in the middle of St. Stephan's celebration - where the life of H's first king is a big thing and deserves a party. No stores open - which really ticked off the shoppers on our bus. We did a lot of walking - or jostling, in the midst of 100 000 people jammed onto the two banks and small streets of the city. For a break, we had to keep sitting in one of the cafes or restaurants and have ice cream or wine. We had to plead with the cops to get back across the long bridge that had been open only for people today but at 3, it was closed again to everything. I whined and pleaded to just quickly get over cause our hotel was just at the end of the bridge. This wonderful Hungarian women saw me and then asked what was wrong and after telling her, she immediately went to the cops and convinced them to let me go. See, whining still works.
It is 38 here today- our first hot day since we left home and the two of us have had lots of showers and water. With no air conditioning, well, air conditioning in some places is just a grate in the wall that sucks air in and pushes warmer air out - it's hard to stay cool.
We head out to Austria tomorrow and then to Prague.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Day in Krakow, Sat. Aug.
Went on a city tour this am and learned a lot about the city. This place has 800 000 population and 200 000 of them are students. It's pretty amazing though to have so many people as students until you know that here in 1364 was the first university established in Europe. It used to be the capital but now it is Warsaw. Personally, I think it was a good move to change it to Warsaw. This place sees approx. 7 to 9 million people as tourists during the Apr. to Oct. season. We can sure feel the difference here in Europe since our last trip which we took in the winter.
The city is certainly a slower moving place than Warsaw - which makes sense since it is less populated but also because nothing is new or being reno'd like other 'after communist' places.
As tourists we want to see two things - the different, outstanding and interesting things of a place and then we want to spend some time with the regular people who live their lives in the day to day things away from the tourists.
We spent 2 1/2 hrs in a bus and walking tour where we 1st went to the area where "Shindler's List" was filmed. It's not the original Jewish ghetto because that area has since been fixed up and painted. Instead we actually saw the actual Jewish quarter where only 200 people of Jewish descent live.
As we left the actual Jewish area we saw a large concrete square where about 50 giant, iron chairs have been placed and spread out and attached for ever to the ground. These are to remind and to symbolize how the Jews were placed, lined up and then transported onto the trains to the various camps. It's amazing really, no one walks onto this area and it stands strong and naked in silence.
The main interest in Krakow is the old town which was an old medieval walled-in area and had within its walls a fortress castle with a large cathedral and many open squares and small town cobbled streets to house the people. Of course during the war, the entire city was taken by the Nazis. The main huge square, largest in Europe in a medieval square, was called Hitler's square. It is huge and today has hundreds of Polish kiosks, all under a quaint tent tops and are selling original hand-made Polish items. To us it felt as if we were back home at a Folklorama. We ate so many different perogies because in this their original birthplace, perogies that is, they put all sorts of things inside them and cook them in many different ways and serve them with many different sauces.
We met lots of nice people including other tourists that we just strike up a conversation with as we sit and ponder over the areas. As we walked back the 6 km to our hotel, we got to see the real life and ate at a Polish restaurant where we met a small family with two children and I just had to make googley faces at them. It's just one of the things I do when met with people whose languages can't be understood. So if we want water, I pretend to swim. If we want the toilets.. oh, never mind, you get the picture.
The polish language again is a bit ridiculous. You'll see about throwing letters up into the air as "wyjscie" means Exit and "wjazd" is Enter.
As we leave Poland, we wonder why it never dawned on us that we would be spending our trip seeing, listening to and learning about wars and man's inhumanity to man. Their history is rife with sadness and hardships and for many of these countries, they have had only and still less than 10, 20 or 30 years of freedom. Do we in the happier parts of the world know what we have?
The city is certainly a slower moving place than Warsaw - which makes sense since it is less populated but also because nothing is new or being reno'd like other 'after communist' places.
As tourists we want to see two things - the different, outstanding and interesting things of a place and then we want to spend some time with the regular people who live their lives in the day to day things away from the tourists.
We spent 2 1/2 hrs in a bus and walking tour where we 1st went to the area where "Shindler's List" was filmed. It's not the original Jewish ghetto because that area has since been fixed up and painted. Instead we actually saw the actual Jewish quarter where only 200 people of Jewish descent live.
As we left the actual Jewish area we saw a large concrete square where about 50 giant, iron chairs have been placed and spread out and attached for ever to the ground. These are to remind and to symbolize how the Jews were placed, lined up and then transported onto the trains to the various camps. It's amazing really, no one walks onto this area and it stands strong and naked in silence.
The main interest in Krakow is the old town which was an old medieval walled-in area and had within its walls a fortress castle with a large cathedral and many open squares and small town cobbled streets to house the people. Of course during the war, the entire city was taken by the Nazis. The main huge square, largest in Europe in a medieval square, was called Hitler's square. It is huge and today has hundreds of Polish kiosks, all under a quaint tent tops and are selling original hand-made Polish items. To us it felt as if we were back home at a Folklorama. We ate so many different perogies because in this their original birthplace, perogies that is, they put all sorts of things inside them and cook them in many different ways and serve them with many different sauces.
We met lots of nice people including other tourists that we just strike up a conversation with as we sit and ponder over the areas. As we walked back the 6 km to our hotel, we got to see the real life and ate at a Polish restaurant where we met a small family with two children and I just had to make googley faces at them. It's just one of the things I do when met with people whose languages can't be understood. So if we want water, I pretend to swim. If we want the toilets.. oh, never mind, you get the picture.
The polish language again is a bit ridiculous. You'll see about throwing letters up into the air as "wyjscie" means Exit and "wjazd" is Enter.
As we leave Poland, we wonder why it never dawned on us that we would be spending our trip seeing, listening to and learning about wars and man's inhumanity to man. Their history is rife with sadness and hardships and for many of these countries, they have had only and still less than 10, 20 or 30 years of freedom. Do we in the happier parts of the world know what we have?
Still on the way to Krakow - Auschwitz
Okay, this is not too happy of a subject but the people who live in the town where this camp is and those who remember this time of life, want the story told and want people to learn and remember it.
We walked as a small group so that the tour guides voice could be kept low and respectful. This camp is the previous soldiers barracks of the Polish army and so when you are there, you will see brick barracks and wide streets with a compound taken care of as if little old cleaning ladies had love for their land. The only thing that looks out of place is the barbed wire fencing attached to large concrete pillars and the absence of gates to get out. Things to you, at first glance, appear to resemble a prison that any one of us would see out in the country
somewhere.
There were two Auschwitz camps - no. 1 and 2. Number 2 was almost totally destroyed just after the war by the Nazis themselves in order to try and destroy any evidence of wrong doings or any people left to tell the story. We were at No. 1.
Just so you know, the commanding officer lived (with his wife and 5 children) in one of 3 of the only barracks or mansions to be outside the gate, and later after the war when he was accused of his crimes against humanity, he was brought back to the same camp and hanged. Also something else that we didn't know was that Bayer, the drug company at that time, was paying the Nazi commanders to test and use the drugs from Bayer on the prisoners.
We walked through all the barracks where first they showed us how people were stacked into the rooms and forced to sleep on hay, or in punishment, forced through a small hole at floor level into a small boxed-in-area, the size of a telephone booth, to stand together with no food or air for sometimes up to 12 days. Many people died during this time and for no other reasons than that they didn't rise at the proper time to work.
We watched photo after photo of how people who came off the trains into the compound and then got separated into two groups. One group, women, children and the elderly, were told to leave their 1 suitcase and proceed into the area where they could shower and would be moved to another place. This is where they were collected and gassed -later to be burned or buried into mass graves. The other group, the healthy looking ones, we're kept for working.
We were told to walk slowly and softly because you would never know what we were walking on as many of he mass graves were just placed all throughout the compound and then covered up again.
In each of the camps there was one barrack that was called "Kanada 1 and Kanada 2."
Why call it Kanada? Europe believed that at that time Kanada was the best and most affluent place to live in the world. So barracks full of items that would later be used for aiding the German public was seen as a windfall. This belief was one of the main reasons why people came in droves to move into Canada for a better life.
The number 2 barracks at another camp was burned just before liberation to hide the crimes but the number 1 barracks was saved. In each of these barracks were put the belongings of all the suitcases. These belongings would then eventually be sent to Germany to be used for the people. We saw room after room of shoes - so many shoes. We saw room after room of suitcases - so many suitcases, each with the prisoner's name, age, place of birth and religion on the front. We saw rooms filled with men and women's brushes, combs and mirrors. We saw rooms filled with spectacles, clothes and body braces, therapeutic shoes and prosthetics. All this left us dumbfounded and speechless but the worst was, and I'll never forget it, the rooms full of real human hair, either shaven, ripped off or scalped from the prisoners and then sewn together and sent for use in knitting, wigs or other functions. You could tell very easily the age of the people from whom the hair had come. The soft looking, gentle
colours were from children, the grey and streaked were from the elderly and the browns, blacks and rarely a blonde were from the young women and men.
We saw the gas chambers, held in the underground areas of the barracks, where we walked along the close corridors and got to peek into the eye hole of each area. It was dark, tight and up to 200 people were placed at once into the little prison cells the size of a small bedroom. We then viewed the chambers where all the bodies were cremated.
Two things I shall remember for ever: one is the hair and the other is the shooting wall that is still up against the compound wall in the area between the the gas chambers and the prison barracks. The people were walked out, told to turn around and put their hands up in the air and touch the wall and then they were shot, usually in the head.
It was here that, after everyone had left the compound and just G and I were there still at the wall, I picked up a small pebble and added it into a small hole that seemed to have been a hole created from too many bullets hitting in the same spot. It was about head level.
As a group, we didn't talk at all. Some people left, lots cried but most of us solemnly walked through the bldgs and entered the bus quietly.
We walked as a small group so that the tour guides voice could be kept low and respectful. This camp is the previous soldiers barracks of the Polish army and so when you are there, you will see brick barracks and wide streets with a compound taken care of as if little old cleaning ladies had love for their land. The only thing that looks out of place is the barbed wire fencing attached to large concrete pillars and the absence of gates to get out. Things to you, at first glance, appear to resemble a prison that any one of us would see out in the country
somewhere.
There were two Auschwitz camps - no. 1 and 2. Number 2 was almost totally destroyed just after the war by the Nazis themselves in order to try and destroy any evidence of wrong doings or any people left to tell the story. We were at No. 1.
Just so you know, the commanding officer lived (with his wife and 5 children) in one of 3 of the only barracks or mansions to be outside the gate, and later after the war when he was accused of his crimes against humanity, he was brought back to the same camp and hanged. Also something else that we didn't know was that Bayer, the drug company at that time, was paying the Nazi commanders to test and use the drugs from Bayer on the prisoners.
We walked through all the barracks where first they showed us how people were stacked into the rooms and forced to sleep on hay, or in punishment, forced through a small hole at floor level into a small boxed-in-area, the size of a telephone booth, to stand together with no food or air for sometimes up to 12 days. Many people died during this time and for no other reasons than that they didn't rise at the proper time to work.
We watched photo after photo of how people who came off the trains into the compound and then got separated into two groups. One group, women, children and the elderly, were told to leave their 1 suitcase and proceed into the area where they could shower and would be moved to another place. This is where they were collected and gassed -later to be burned or buried into mass graves. The other group, the healthy looking ones, we're kept for working.
We were told to walk slowly and softly because you would never know what we were walking on as many of he mass graves were just placed all throughout the compound and then covered up again.
In each of the camps there was one barrack that was called "Kanada 1 and Kanada 2."
Why call it Kanada? Europe believed that at that time Kanada was the best and most affluent place to live in the world. So barracks full of items that would later be used for aiding the German public was seen as a windfall. This belief was one of the main reasons why people came in droves to move into Canada for a better life.
The number 2 barracks at another camp was burned just before liberation to hide the crimes but the number 1 barracks was saved. In each of these barracks were put the belongings of all the suitcases. These belongings would then eventually be sent to Germany to be used for the people. We saw room after room of shoes - so many shoes. We saw room after room of suitcases - so many suitcases, each with the prisoner's name, age, place of birth and religion on the front. We saw rooms filled with men and women's brushes, combs and mirrors. We saw rooms filled with spectacles, clothes and body braces, therapeutic shoes and prosthetics. All this left us dumbfounded and speechless but the worst was, and I'll never forget it, the rooms full of real human hair, either shaven, ripped off or scalped from the prisoners and then sewn together and sent for use in knitting, wigs or other functions. You could tell very easily the age of the people from whom the hair had come. The soft looking, gentle
colours were from children, the grey and streaked were from the elderly and the browns, blacks and rarely a blonde were from the young women and men.
We saw the gas chambers, held in the underground areas of the barracks, where we walked along the close corridors and got to peek into the eye hole of each area. It was dark, tight and up to 200 people were placed at once into the little prison cells the size of a small bedroom. We then viewed the chambers where all the bodies were cremated.
Two things I shall remember for ever: one is the hair and the other is the shooting wall that is still up against the compound wall in the area between the the gas chambers and the prison barracks. The people were walked out, told to turn around and put their hands up in the air and touch the wall and then they were shot, usually in the head.
It was here that, after everyone had left the compound and just G and I were there still at the wall, I picked up a small pebble and added it into a small hole that seemed to have been a hole created from too many bullets hitting in the same spot. It was about head level.
As a group, we didn't talk at all. Some people left, lots cried but most of us solemnly walked through the bldgs and entered the bus quietly.
Trip to Krakow, Aug. 17
We were on the road at 7:15 this morning. Only because we have so much to do and the roads in Poland are still under the new reconstruction after communism. We are headed to Krakow but will first make two stops: one to Jasna Gora and then to Auschwitz.
The roads were terrible and because of the changes in signage, our bus driver got lost several times. First was Jasna Gora.
There are three main pilgrimage trips and places in Europe to go for a Catholic. One is in Lourdes, France, the other is in Spain, which we drove past 3 years ago, and the third is in Poland called Jasna Gora. It is a huge monastery that used to be a military fortress in the 17th century. It is now the largest sanctuary in Poland and has 100 Monks and many Fathers who go from 6 am to 8 pm non- stop everyday blessing people who arrive for forgiveness and for miracles.
More than this though, it is the home of the famous "Black Madonna" who hangs in the chapel and is covered and uncovered 4 times a day. (This item is a large, framed picture of Holy Mary and The Baby Jesus. The Turkish carved her out of a special wood and since then, she has been getting darker and darker. Over the centuries, many people and countries have created an overlay item that would make her and the baby decorated in an outfit of gold or jewels or threads and beads.) Like the Pope and The Queen, it is tradition to receive people at these times, (uncovered at 6, covered at 12, uncovered at 1:30, covered for the night at 6), so too can she only be viewed. In 1655, the Swedish tried to attacked Poland and take the monastery but, the people say that Mary stopped the takeover and then in 1656 the Pope declared her The Queen of Poland.
Some 3 1/2 million people visit her each year. In the very far past, 50 bandits came into the monastery and tried to destroy the Madonna and ended up running their saber blade along the right side of her cheek. Today the original marks still remain and any copies of her also have these marks.
During the war, the Nazi army took over the monastery and, miraculously, they destroyed nothing and neither did they steal any of the jewels or riches safe guarded there. Well, we know that Hitler was superstitious, but Europe saw it as a miracle because the whole of Krakow also escaped any bombings or destruction.
Poland is a very religious country and today we saw how people from all over the world make this Pilgrimage to walk the floors, go to mass (as there is one each hour) and to view the holy items in the halls of the castle. There are billions of dollars in treasures there.
We had a monk as our guide Father Roman- who was very funny but very old and he had me walk behind him the whole tour so that he kept hitting my elbow whenever I had to kneel to show respect or make the sign of the cross. There were thousands of people there on this day and it was hard to not believe that the people's belief is alive and well.
The roads were terrible and because of the changes in signage, our bus driver got lost several times. First was Jasna Gora.
There are three main pilgrimage trips and places in Europe to go for a Catholic. One is in Lourdes, France, the other is in Spain, which we drove past 3 years ago, and the third is in Poland called Jasna Gora. It is a huge monastery that used to be a military fortress in the 17th century. It is now the largest sanctuary in Poland and has 100 Monks and many Fathers who go from 6 am to 8 pm non- stop everyday blessing people who arrive for forgiveness and for miracles.
More than this though, it is the home of the famous "Black Madonna" who hangs in the chapel and is covered and uncovered 4 times a day. (This item is a large, framed picture of Holy Mary and The Baby Jesus. The Turkish carved her out of a special wood and since then, she has been getting darker and darker. Over the centuries, many people and countries have created an overlay item that would make her and the baby decorated in an outfit of gold or jewels or threads and beads.) Like the Pope and The Queen, it is tradition to receive people at these times, (uncovered at 6, covered at 12, uncovered at 1:30, covered for the night at 6), so too can she only be viewed. In 1655, the Swedish tried to attacked Poland and take the monastery but, the people say that Mary stopped the takeover and then in 1656 the Pope declared her The Queen of Poland.
Some 3 1/2 million people visit her each year. In the very far past, 50 bandits came into the monastery and tried to destroy the Madonna and ended up running their saber blade along the right side of her cheek. Today the original marks still remain and any copies of her also have these marks.
During the war, the Nazi army took over the monastery and, miraculously, they destroyed nothing and neither did they steal any of the jewels or riches safe guarded there. Well, we know that Hitler was superstitious, but Europe saw it as a miracle because the whole of Krakow also escaped any bombings or destruction.
Poland is a very religious country and today we saw how people from all over the world make this Pilgrimage to walk the floors, go to mass (as there is one each hour) and to view the holy items in the halls of the castle. There are billions of dollars in treasures there.
We had a monk as our guide Father Roman- who was very funny but very old and he had me walk behind him the whole tour so that he kept hitting my elbow whenever I had to kneel to show respect or make the sign of the cross. There were thousands of people there on this day and it was hard to not believe that the people's belief is alive and well.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Day in Warsaw
A big day for Gerhard seeing as his parents had such a close tie to Poland as Germany had been taken and given back and had been tossed back and forth between the two countries for a long time.
We took our orientation bus ride in the morning, watched a sad film of how Poland had lost its freedom and then spent the remainder of the day walking all over the city to visit the places that we wanted to learn more about.
We walked for about 8 hours, stopping to eat perogies, a Polish delicacy, and then again to eat kulbassa. Of course we had to get lost about 10 times and I had to approach many people to ask about what part of the world we were in. Something sad was noticed today. We were not at all well received by the older group of Poles, who didn't want us to talk to them, and who looked at us - because we look so much like tourists - with disdain. We continued on, totally understanding why they would be hesitant and withdrawn, to search for the younger group of society who didn't have the history to hold them back.
We continued on and found a restaurant to stop at and met a wonderful young woman who has graduated with her economics degree and is now serving food. We gave her our card, of course, so that she can stay at our house while she could search her Canadian family roots -which are probably not in Winnipeg. Wow, we gave her one of our Cdn. pins and you would have thought we gave her a grand prize.
We loved the old city, but as usual, we set out to see the real part of Warsaw and were happy to find it growing, improving and very happy.
We continued to get lost, talk to people and then find our way to our part of the city where our hotel was. At one point, we did end up in the president's old residence, safeguarded by the police, and headed upstairs to find a bathroom. You know it costs a lot to go in this part of the world and so when we can sneak one in, we feel as if we've hit the jackpot.
Everyone kept asking us if they could help us and so, in the end, we went for free - a day to celebrate!!
We feel as if we have a good handle on how this city breathes. We visited enough places now to know that in a few years, maybe ten, when all the reno's are done and the younger ones grow older, things will become peaceful. Oh for the life and mind of youth.
We took our orientation bus ride in the morning, watched a sad film of how Poland had lost its freedom and then spent the remainder of the day walking all over the city to visit the places that we wanted to learn more about.
We walked for about 8 hours, stopping to eat perogies, a Polish delicacy, and then again to eat kulbassa. Of course we had to get lost about 10 times and I had to approach many people to ask about what part of the world we were in. Something sad was noticed today. We were not at all well received by the older group of Poles, who didn't want us to talk to them, and who looked at us - because we look so much like tourists - with disdain. We continued on, totally understanding why they would be hesitant and withdrawn, to search for the younger group of society who didn't have the history to hold them back.
We continued on and found a restaurant to stop at and met a wonderful young woman who has graduated with her economics degree and is now serving food. We gave her our card, of course, so that she can stay at our house while she could search her Canadian family roots -which are probably not in Winnipeg. Wow, we gave her one of our Cdn. pins and you would have thought we gave her a grand prize.
We loved the old city, but as usual, we set out to see the real part of Warsaw and were happy to find it growing, improving and very happy.
We continued to get lost, talk to people and then find our way to our part of the city where our hotel was. At one point, we did end up in the president's old residence, safeguarded by the police, and headed upstairs to find a bathroom. You know it costs a lot to go in this part of the world and so when we can sneak one in, we feel as if we've hit the jackpot.
Everyone kept asking us if they could help us and so, in the end, we went for free - a day to celebrate!!
We feel as if we have a good handle on how this city breathes. We visited enough places now to know that in a few years, maybe ten, when all the reno's are done and the younger ones grow older, things will become peaceful. Oh for the life and mind of youth.
Info on Warsaw
First of all let me tell you that Warsaw is doing all they can to create and rebuild a beautiful city and it's not ugly at all. There are 100 000 students studying here and all costs, like Spain, are free to students. It is one of the fastest developing cities in the continent. After today, we would agree.
The most Poles, of course, live here in Poland and then the most Polish people that you can find on Earth after here is in Chicago at 3 million.
First in the 17th century, Mustache 1, so the Poles called him - The King, fought off the Turks and kept them from claiming Poland.
In 1791 there was the first ever constitution signed in Europe and then four yrs later there was no more Poland. They were attacked and their country was taken from them. This is old history so I will stay with the newer stuff for most people except David N. who loves History and probably knows more than I.
The troubles of Poland have never ended it seems and we can go back, for us normal people, not you David N. until 1920 in Aug when Mustache 2, so the Poles call him, stopped the Russians from claiming Poland again. Still today, L. Walenska, who was the president of Poland for a while but is now, the Leader of Solidarity, still fights for the freedom of Poland.
85 % of people are Catholic, 7% Russian Orthodox. Today , as is normal for the two of us as we travel, a very strange occurrence has been noted that the head of the Russian Orthodox church, in his first official visit since the war, came, and so there was a flurry of police presence and special escort of cars as they paraded, or sped, through the city.
The Poland flag is white and red but the Warsaw flag is white and yellow and so all of their busses are white and yellow.
The biggest problem of course happens around the 2nd world war. 80% of the people of Warsaw died during this time and most, sadly, were Jews. It's very hard to keep track of how many or whom were killed but it didn't seem to matter. In 1940, the Soviets gathered and killed all pre war planners, Jewish or not, and killed them using bullets from the Germans' guns so that it would look like the Germans had done it.
Such a convoluted story and hard to put right. In the end, or so these Polish people believe " In the beginning" - the town, after 85% of it had been destroyed and flattened, had been rebuilt by the Polish people who volunteered and took 11 years to rebuild what the German Nazi and Russians had destroyed. No money exchanged hands- all volunteer, and the town that we had visited previously, Posnan , gave all their old and extra bricks to help rebuild the buildings so that they would be more original.
You know how I had said that the two goats were the sign of stubbornness for the Polish people to carry on in the stupidity and difficulties of life? Well, the Poles have a new sign. It's the nouveau art piece of a palm tree in a center square that grows (not really because it is fake )and continues to thrive throughout the winter even though a palm tree shouldn't be able to survive in the winter. It sprung up one night here in the city and started everyone talking. They figure it's more of a will to survive thing than the stubborn goats and so now it's what they have chosen as their symbol of thriving and surviving Poland.
The most Poles, of course, live here in Poland and then the most Polish people that you can find on Earth after here is in Chicago at 3 million.
First in the 17th century, Mustache 1, so the Poles called him - The King, fought off the Turks and kept them from claiming Poland.
In 1791 there was the first ever constitution signed in Europe and then four yrs later there was no more Poland. They were attacked and their country was taken from them. This is old history so I will stay with the newer stuff for most people except David N. who loves History and probably knows more than I.
The troubles of Poland have never ended it seems and we can go back, for us normal people, not you David N. until 1920 in Aug when Mustache 2, so the Poles call him, stopped the Russians from claiming Poland again. Still today, L. Walenska, who was the president of Poland for a while but is now, the Leader of Solidarity, still fights for the freedom of Poland.
85 % of people are Catholic, 7% Russian Orthodox. Today , as is normal for the two of us as we travel, a very strange occurrence has been noted that the head of the Russian Orthodox church, in his first official visit since the war, came, and so there was a flurry of police presence and special escort of cars as they paraded, or sped, through the city.
The Poland flag is white and red but the Warsaw flag is white and yellow and so all of their busses are white and yellow.
The biggest problem of course happens around the 2nd world war. 80% of the people of Warsaw died during this time and most, sadly, were Jews. It's very hard to keep track of how many or whom were killed but it didn't seem to matter. In 1940, the Soviets gathered and killed all pre war planners, Jewish or not, and killed them using bullets from the Germans' guns so that it would look like the Germans had done it.
Such a convoluted story and hard to put right. In the end, or so these Polish people believe " In the beginning" - the town, after 85% of it had been destroyed and flattened, had been rebuilt by the Polish people who volunteered and took 11 years to rebuild what the German Nazi and Russians had destroyed. No money exchanged hands- all volunteer, and the town that we had visited previously, Posnan , gave all their old and extra bricks to help rebuild the buildings so that they would be more original.
You know how I had said that the two goats were the sign of stubbornness for the Polish people to carry on in the stupidity and difficulties of life? Well, the Poles have a new sign. It's the nouveau art piece of a palm tree in a center square that grows (not really because it is fake )and continues to thrive throughout the winter even though a palm tree shouldn't be able to survive in the winter. It sprung up one night here in the city and started everyone talking. They figure it's more of a will to survive thing than the stubborn goats and so now it's what they have chosen as their symbol of thriving and surviving Poland.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Cities need to address graffiti
There is something that just drives us crazy as we travel around Europe. Coming from a city that doesn't allow graffiti to stay on property and are always quick to get a crew out right away to get rid of it, it's something that we have a hard time ignoring here. Every city has this problem. There really is too much of it to deal with but perhaps if they had started right away in the beginning, then there would be less of it. They aren't just tagging old and unused bldgs, but new reno'd and lived-in ones as well. It's embarrassing for the cities to have this all over the place and it makes most cities look like slums.
The area where we stayed in Hamburg, Leipzig and Dresden - it was all covered and we felt as if we were in the slums. Will they ever get it to stop? Nope - too many out of work young people and teens to catch.
The area where we stayed in Hamburg, Leipzig and Dresden - it was all covered and we felt as if we were in the slums. Will they ever get it to stop? Nope - too many out of work young people and teens to catch.
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