Munich - Dachau

Had our first day in Munich - and decided to spend it in a not so joyful way - at the Dachau concentration Camp Memorial. It was a guided tour, which takes you on the train and bus to Dachau (app. the town wants to change its name, however it would be too confusing for tourists and thats how they make their money). Dachau as a town is much bigger than I thought. they have a memorial route marked out from the train station (where the poor people had to get off the cattle cars) to the camp as this was the route the prisoners had to march in appalling conditions. Once there, there is no charge and it is huge. You walk a way before you meet the gate which has the words (in german) 'work free's' on them. Dachau was actually the first concentration camp set up by the Nazis back in 1933 - for political prisoners (think communists, leaders of the other political parties that opposed Hitler, even priests who spoke out against him) not acutally for jews. It wasnt until 1938 when our little dictator declared the Jewish solution (all this before the war began) that Jews started to arrive (plus gypsies, homosexuals, homeless, mentally disabled). the site held 37 barracks which was suppossed to house about 200 each, however in 1944, 45 they each held up to 2000, all squashed in on top of each other. When the site became a memorial site in 1964 (i think) the barracks had to be demolished due to structures fall apar, but what they did was reconstruct 2 barracks like the orgional ones so you get an idea of the conditions (with orgional toilets and sinks). they have left the concrete foundations of the other barracks so you get an idea of the size of the place the detainee prison for 'special prisoners' (think very bad - tortured by SS, starved, etc) is still in its orgional form (very spooky as they have photos of the prisoners that were recorded as being in each cell over the time in that cell - esp. with some having died in those cells). the rest of the area in admin is now a museum with lots of information and photos and even a whipping block with whip that was used as punishment with photos of it being used. I didnt know, but the Laufwaffte? (air force) used some of the prisoners in special experiments carried out in the medical block. these involved how cold water can be (think pilots shot down over the sea) before a pilot dies in it (hypothermia) and what clothing protects them the best. so the poor prisoners were put in this freezing ice bath with controlled temps and timed etc to see their reaction to the cold (plus photos). the other one was how high pilots can fly before they black out (think compression chamber) prisoners put in and timed at diff. altitudes to see what happens to them (they die). Also injecting prisoners with salt water to see how long a pilot could survive drinking salt water if shot down in the ocean. Quite horrific, what was worse was it was all meticoulously recorded and even filmed. Any way, after coping with all that we then walked to the perimeter fence where there was a grass area (shoot to kill if any one stepped on the grass),deep ditch, barbed wire rolls, watch towers and electric fence plus another ditch on other side. (only one person ever escaped). After that was the cremortorium ovens (it wasnt a death camp, mainly a labour camp) however they burnt bodies of dead prisoners (either tortured to death, shot, died from sickness or starvation) there. there were large beams above them, where the SS would hang people, and threw them straight into the ovens).There was a gas chamber which you walked through (only used on about 7 prisoners as an exxperiment to see if it worked) which was horrible. At the back of the camp there are now 4 chapels built, russian orthadox, (25,000 russian prisoners came here and most died) a catholic one, a protestant one and a Jewish one. the jewish one was so symbolic because all the stones and labour came from Israel, who constructed it with the help of Jewish survivors. You could see a video about the camp, with real footage taken by the Germans. Also the liberation of the camp by the Americans and what they found and saw.(bodies waiting to be cremated left in a pile outside the cremortoriam, bodies in cattle cars waiting to be taken away). they made the people of Dachau at the time come and look at these sights, and you can see footage of their reaction on the video (shocked and horrified - they didnt know - yeah right!). Any way - a very sobering day, with a very somber group leaving after 4 hours plus. I think they need to keep places like this so people dont forget (big sign there - 'never forget' in 5 languages). I have put all the photos together - please take time to look at them because everyone needs to know

Prague

Praha (Prague to the uninitiated!) is a lovely city. Easy to find your way around, and great transport system. We were lucky because after much anguish we managed to get a hotel very close to the main Old Town square (main tourist area)near the tube and virtually next door to the main shopping mall. Dont know how we did it, but it was a positively splendid location for us. We met up with boat friends the first night we were there, and had a late drink and dinner at one of the many bars and rest. nearby. They had been here for a day already so could point us in the right direction for things! First main day there we did a tour of the castle up on the hill and our guide showed us all the main points up there. It is a huge area (not very castle like! has a church and lots of buildings in it). the church is where dear old king Wencesles is buried (he was actually stabbed by his brother who wanted to take over)(guide told us they had never heard of the song until a few years ago after the place was opened up after communism and tourists started coming in h oardes). We also got to see the changing of the guards as well. You can see it all in the photos. After that we did a hopon hopoff bus trip around - this was entertaining as you had a guide talking to you on a mike and he was hiliarious - very scathing about the communists (they took over all the richies houses and threw them out on the street)so got a general idea of the place.

that afternoon we had an escorted tour of the Jewish District (right near the square) which covered a few blocks of buildings and synagogs. this was fascinating cause this area was locked up at night with huge gates at the entrances for over 400 years long before Hiltler decided he didnt like them much. they couldnt lend money to christians, could only go to schools in the Jewish district, etc. app. they didnt do too badly in the holocaust because they were already in this ghetto, 40% died! this is not too badly in the local eyes! the sad part was those who got out early with passports etc were the only ones allowed to come back and claim their buildings after the war, because the ones sent to concentration camps etc were without identification after the war and couldnt prove who they were to claim back their property. The last photo is of the old Jewish cemetry in the sector and was the only place they were allowed to bury their dead for hundreds of years. Therefore they had to layer their dead on top of each other, they reackon there are 200,000 buried in this small area. That is why there is a wall around it (see the gravestones up high?) to keep all the bodies in. Shocking eh?

Of course, once again like Hungary, then the commumists took over till 1989. the difference between here and Budapest is they have a strongish economy and have embraced the tourist trade with all bells on. The ammenities for tourists are great, lots of information areas, clean toilets, cheerful shopkeepers etc plus lots of police presence to make you feel safe. not many beggars or homeless people as a result as well. the buildings are well looked after, and restored carefully. After the Jewish sector tour we ended up by the river and had a little river cruise under the Charles Bridge, which is the main tourist walk bridge, So after all that we once again met up with our friends off the boat and had more beers and food! forgot to mention this weeked there is a 10,000 strong beer festival in town, so lots of wandering groups of drunken men everywhere! even stronger police presence than before on Sat. when it started. On Sat. we wandered into the square to see the famous 'Astronomical Clock' chime. There were literally thousands of people crammed around this bell tower of a large cathedral in the square waiting for the hour! What a let down! these figures pop in and out, and skeletons rang bells for a few seconds and that was it! dave climbed to the top of the tower to take a picture of the view of the main square.

Then we had to push our way through to find our way to the Charles Bridge by the river. This meant winding our way through little cobblestone streets, to come out to another mass of bodies trying to get on to the bridge! (Sat morning not a good time me thinks!) We decided to climb up this tower (137 steps)that starts the bridge. I was very good you'll be pleased to hear - great view of the area) On the other side of the bridge in some out of the way street, we found -... wait for it .... John Lennon's Wall! created after he died! can you pick me out amongst all the messages???

anyway - we managed to get on the bus and get back to our hotel to escape those tourists (how dare they want to do what we wanted to do!) had a lazy afternoon actually went into the mall to look around -no buying. a nice end to a busy few days.

Very First Eurorail Trip!

Our first euro rail train trip to Prague today! Was feeling apprehensive at first – tho we knew where to go etc just not what to expect (the unwritten code about behaviour on these trains etc.) So ---- first up, caught the metro with our bags trailing behind to the big railway station whereby – low and behold – our train was right in front of us. We checked out the carriages and seats (we had paid extra for seat numbers) and clambered on board. The trains are high up off the platform (first prob) so Dave had to get up with one bag, then step down to haul mine up! And then find a place to put our big bags. Thankfully the overhead luggage racks are that big that they will take our size bags – however (2nd prob) how to get them up there! Once again the mighty muscles of my man came into play – and he almost threw them up there! So now we know! The reserved signs are for the seats reserved (like us) and the rest are a free for all! You saw students racing down the side of the train looking for carriages with seats in them, then racing on board before the others etc. discovered (3rd Prob) when a train comes into a station, the doors are timed to open and shut after say 3 mins. so that was the amount of time we had to get off at Vienna! think the replay of above with bags and then getting them down onto the platform in under 3 mins. plus others waiting!!!! The trains themselves aren’t too bad. We have 1st class cause we booked seats for a little extra, and you get food service. This trip is 8 hours including a changeover of trains in Vienna (had to go through the haul bags around thing again!) so long day. On arrival in Prague - bit of a performance in finding the metro station (was actually right there inside the lovely new train station we arrived at!) discovered this after a little diversion outside and after asking 3 people cause we couldnt find it). Of course there were flights of stairs to go down (no elevators so once again Dave hauling bags everywhere) anyway 2 lots of tubes later - voila! we have arrived!

Budapest again

The final night of our boat cruise was rather memorable. We had Hungarian dancers and musicians entertaining us, then a Hungarian type dinner with the boat then doing a slow night cruise up and down the Danube. We were treated to the fantastic lights of the different bridges and the buildings on both sides. Plus it was a warm evening so pleasant being up top and watching the lights.

Our exit from the boat was rather fast! Our hotel was about a 30 min walk down the side of the Danube, but too far to pull our bags, so Dave was off at 8am in a taxi with our bags to drop them off, then raced back to the boat again (walking) so we could go with the others by bus to the opp. Bank and spend the day doing the touristy things. We got the hop on hop off bus and were able to see and hear about much more of the city than before. It was rather hot though, 30 degrees, so exhausted by the time we finally got back to our hotel (45 min walk back!!). That was at 9pm that night so no wonder I was dead on my feet. Today was a couple of ‘first’ adventures for us both. We both had our first tube (metro) experience to get to the big train station to sort out our Euro rail tickets etc. Quite interesting getting tickets on the metro (Dave pointing to places on the map, how many stops? Etc) then brave the hordes and try and work out the right train (hey – Hungarian is not the easiest to read!). After we managed it the once and got off at the right stop it was fairly simple after that! The second ‘first’ was finding our way around the ‘international ticket’ section, whereby we stood waiting for ages and then noticed that everyone else had ticket numbers in their hands, and when the number was called out, then it was your turn! So then it was another long wait with our precious number in our hands. The good part was we encountered a lovely lady (who actually looked like a witch with bright red hair, pointy nose, glare etc) but ended up being so helpful. She sorted everything out for us for our first train trip to Prague and made it sound so easy; we were able to relax a bit. The rest of the day was at the St Peters Basilica (big cathedral) with an amazing dome in the middle.

and the ‘House of Terrors’. Now this was a very interesting place, esp. if you didn’t know anything about Hungarian history during the war, and after with the Russians. This was a rather ordinary house on a busy street where firstly the Germans set up headquarters towards the end of the war, and then the Russians used it afterwards as their headquarters. The torture chambers and prisoner cells down below are downright frightening (they have turned this place into a museum to depict the horrors carried out by both nasties). The sad thing was most of the nasty stuff was actually carried out by local Hungarians onto themselves. I.e. the German Hungarian supporters formed a ‘special squad’ to get rid of traitors ( Hungarian against Germany) the Russians carried on by getting a local communist group to form another ‘special squad’ to kill the first squad members and then go on to torture and kill some more locals! The cells were left in their entirety, some with small holes with doors (solitary confinement) the torture room with electric prods, pliers, whips etc and then came the hanging room! (this was accompanied by a video clip on the tv on the wall from the man who helped do the hanging explaining in great detail how they did it.) the sad part was this museum was supposed to represent the Hungarian Jews that were sent to death camps towards the end of the war, as well as the others (and there were hundreds of thousands) that suffered at the hands of the Russians (sent off to ‘work camps’ in Siberia etc. Of the exhibition area (3 floors and the notorious basement) only one half of a room was for the Jewish remembrance. Shows how much they really cared I think. The rest of it though, was an eye-opener into what life was like up until the 1990’s, which was when the communist rule stopped. So …….. Great way to spend the afternoon! so rry not photos allowed! The last day in Budapest was our blob day, which we needed after all the frantic trips on the boat etc we lazed in, went for a walk to Margaret Is. (an island in the middle of the Danube nearby, and you get to it by bridge. It’s their recreational area, so think a lovely leafy park with boats going past both sides). We got caught out here by a ferocious thunderstorm! Lots of thunder and lightning – very close- and tremendously heavy rain. Think Pacific islands (30 degrees, 96 % humidity) etc in the middle of Hungary - rather unexpected. Last night was a lovely meal down below in a basement under the road! Yes it sounds strange, but it was close by the hotel, in the local area and we kept noticing locals going down these steps through a thick door, so decided to see what it was. A quite big restaurant with leather walls and dark lighting etc. so we ended up having a cheap meal (local prices not tourist) and lovely beer too. Nice way to end our stay in Budapest.

Budapest - arrival and first day

After all the excitement and buzz of Vienna (yes - it is still up there with the to do again list!) we travelled down the delightful Danube until we hit Budapest. (Hungary for you plebians!) First sight in the sunshine was - oh so much bigger that I thought! (nearly 2 million people) and then you get to pick out these buidlings with the wow! factor and the buzz kicks in again. we went on a city tour with the boat (it stayed docked overnight right by the main Chain Bridge between the Buda and Pest sides) just to mention a few main sights on the quick tour

this is the House of Parliament! (gothic style!) puts our Beehive to shame! was damaged in WW2 but put it back together - sits at Danubes water edge) and the castle on of the hill on opp bank (Buda side)

this is the Castle on the Buda side and the Chain Bridge which links the two sides. there are 4 bridges and the nasty Germans blew then up on the day the Russians took over the town to stop them coming over! rebuilt of course here are some random photos of the city. Old buidlings and statues (lots of Atilla the Hun - do you know that the Hun in Hungary comes from this nasty piece of goods when he was in charge of this city many moons ago - thought I saw some suspiciously scary types that must've been his ancestors!) the sad part about this place was that Hungary allied with Germany during the war (I didnt know that!) so when the Russians ran them out the russians werent very nice to the locals or their buildings. so after the war they became Eastern Bloc country (think cold war) with nasty Stalinist ideas and brutality. (I felt for the poor Jews, one minute they had to cope with German lets kill you all policies, then oh what a relief! along comes the Russians who under Stalin had just as bad 'lets get rid of the Jews out of our country' ideas.) Anyway it was still a communist country until 1990's and you can tell from the upkeep of the buildings and infrastructure (very little done under communist rule). slowly they are restoring their heritage sites, and hopefully will move onto the others (go off the main roads around the main city area and you see damaged decaying brick work etc) even the white lines and pedestrian crossings on the roads are worn off! our guide told us they were a very poor country now (even tho they joined the European Union 2007 I think) with average wage about 20,000 NZ a year. the prices however are comparable to ours (whats our average wage in NZ people?) so the locals are struggling. You can see the rich areas (lovely old houses on the elite part of Buda hills) and the run down eastern bloc type apartments built in 1960's with nothing done to them since (rusty windows etc) anyway here are some photos of the city - pick out the building with bullet holes in it left over from the hungarian uprising in 1956/7? which the Russians quelled rather brutality.

Leaving Vienna

just thought I'd share this with you. In the afternoon we left Vienna and were treated to a cocktail called ... the Blue Danube! had to have one! yes after one I did manage to waltz around the deck a tad! we were up on the top deck to watch the scenery and there were some low bridges to go under - check it out.

Vienna - wait there's more!

Ok - you are thinking ....... what could be more? well ...... we ended up changing todays tour we were going to a beautiful castle to ..... watching the horses go through a rehersal at the Spanish Riding School. as you know I got rather gooey about the horses so pleaded (or turned on the ol' Brenda charm) with our tour director and he managed to squeeze us into the horsey tour! we were warned it wasnt just a practise session - but hey it was free for us so who cares. we started by going upstairs at their spectacular palacey type building and got a talk about the history of the horses, the school, the building , how they train them etc. the main thrust was that these horses jump and kick naturally so they just refine the natural abilities. in saying that there are 6 stud lines all carefully computerised, and only one 4 year old from each line each year gets chosen to go to Vienna for training. this is after 4 years racing round paddocks in the alps lots of freedom, grass , fresh air etc and then if you are the right colour, height, nose, lip, mane etc you have won the lottery and get stabled for 90% of your day, fed on oats, (only stallions are chosen by the way - not castrated or anythingso mares not allowed to upset the hormones of the boys!) and learn how to prance, dance, kick etc properly until you are 25 years old then back to the farm for retirement! then they tell you that they have a 'holiday' each year and go back to the stud for stud duties for a few months. oh yay! anyway we got to sit in the prime seats down the front (there are two tiers looking down on the oval full of people) which meant that the horses were about 3 metres away when they came past us. I was in heaven! no photos were allowed (tho Dave nearly had an all out fisty cuff with this obnoxious guy off our bus (sad to say Australian) who just kept on taking photos after being asked not to by the loud speaker three times!) so these photos are all we got before we knew about the photo ban. Enjoy!

forgot to mention they only did a practise - with training the horses how to do their tricky moves. an older horse was ridden along side a young horse (young rider alongside an older rider etc) so the young horse gets to see what it is supposed to do and also the correct music for that move is played so the horses can tell when to change to what by the music as well as the dressage movements of the rider. clever eh?

Vienna! oh wow!

We arrived in Vienna late at night and opened up the windows (not literally!) and the first thing i saw was this beaufiful old church that everyone tells me is modern??? what? cant figure it out - anyway it was right on the Danube. I would like to say - I LOVE VIENNA! right up there with Berlin. everywhere you look beautiful old houses, churches, opera house, museums etc and many momuments in the middle of roads and parks. We had a morning tour around the old sights in the bus with commentry (lots of ohhh -- ahhh ---wow!) from moi. then we walked around the old part within the ring road (no cars allowed only horse carriages).

amazing history and then suddenly .... white Lippizaner horses clip clopping through this courtyard we were walking through. Everyone races over, takes lots of snaps and then gone! where were we? app. right at the side of the Spanish Riding School, and they were on their way to a practice! I was over the top with excitement.

The rest of the tour was a blur - (more old stuff) and we ended up at the ancient St Stephens church in the heart of the old part. We spent the afternoon - guess where???? no not a bar - wrong! - an art gallery (Albertino) to peruse Monet and Picasso exibition. Dave too - looked suitably serious and contemplating as we went around. then onto the Klimt exhibition (google ' The Kiss' you non arty people!) sketches mainly. Felt like I was really doing what you should do in Vienna!

After that we went up the Church bell tower of St Stephens - mainly for the view of the city - (100 metres - a guess) went up by this terribly unsafe jiggling lift with leather lined walls. Well of course you walk out onto wire netting - I took one look below, freaked! and clung onto the inside railing all the way around and up! I decided I am not good at looking down from a height between my feet. Dave's saying, look over there you can see .... and I'm going no.o.o.oh! Needless to say after 5 minutes I was down outa there. so those of you who had a bet of when I would freak out properly first - this was it! In the evening all of the boat (and it's sister Ship) went to this Viennese Classical Evening - this involved dressing up to the nines (not me - didnt have anything for that) and go to this lovely palace, up carpeted stairs with marble arches, frescoes on ceiling, carriage (see photo) in the lobby and into this magestic, elegant ball room! check the photos out! I sat through the hour plus concert just pinching myself that I was really in Vienna, in this kind of room and listening to Mozart, Strauss,(brilliant 10 piece orchestra) opera (soprano and tenor) with the highlight being a ballet with two people to the music of the 'Blue Danube'. who ever choreographed it was extremeley clever, cause it was a little stage, well-known and loved music, and amazing (standing ovation at end of concert!) went back to ship feeling very cultured and satisfied. this is what Vienna should be like.

Melik Abby

Still in Austria, chugging down the Danube - and today we got all spiritual and visited the Melik Abby. it sits high on a hill (surprise!) above Melik town - a benidictine monastry since the 1200's and founded by monks who followed dear old ST Benedict. this abby is absolutely gorgeous! it has been continously going since that time, as a working monastry and school. it has 900 pupils (mixed) going to it as day pupils - high school, as well as 30 monks living there. In the 1990's it had 20 million Euro restoration work done on it - and all I can say is wow! i wish i couldve gone to school there! they rely on lots of tourists to visit to help pay for the upkeep and it is a world heritage site. one arm of the abby is a museum of their artifacts, see slide show then a library established around 1300 with manuscripts and books that are still being used for research by religiousy types , but app. hold many early scientifc books as well. you couldnt take photos in there for obvious reasons. the church is covered in gold leaf, and literally shimmers as you walk into it. (all in baroque style - see Im getting good at these big arty farty words!) mUst be very uplifting for the congregation! anyway just beautiful.

Salzburg

this was the day I was finally waiting for! a visit to the place of Sound of Music! I wanted to see all the spots and locations of the movie and visit all the magestic sights you get to see during the songs etc. so the day dawned - rainy, freezing, windy, and down right bloody cold! I nearly cried! for a start - these were those awe-inspiring Austrian Alps in the movie!

see what I mean! ok - in saying that we did visit some of the important locations (im sorry but i'm a great sound of music fan - so you have to bear with me! dave did) the rotunda where they danced around (going on sixteen! song)Its been relocated to a summer palace's gardens. can you see what is happening behind the rotunda while I practise my leaps from seat to seat? (use your imagination!)it is the rest of our bus singing the song! i kid you not. we had the soundtrack played to us on the bus and the words to the song given out and were asked to sing it at the rotunda! and they all did! (except me and dave of course - we were being silly taking photos round the back! naughty children that we were)

then we went to the gardens where they all danced around singing do re me! as you can tell it was freezing and I wasnt dancing (recognise any parts?)

believe it or not this was where Maria danced and swished in the fountain during 'Confidence in me' i swished too! however the fountain was rather high up.

Do you remember that graveyard the von Trapps hid in to get away from the Nazis and nearly got caught? well we found the one that was used (well they remade it in the studio, but still ..)

Lastly this was the abby! you cant get in it (full of nuns that dont communicate with outside world!)

So I guess you could say I was sort of happy! one of the main tourist things about the city was that Mozart was born there and lived there until he got married and moved to Vienna. we toured the old town in the rain - quite gorgeous the ball in the photo on the side of the old town hall on the clock tower and tells the phase of the moon at that time! neat eh! every town hall should have one

We went up a cable car to the imposing castle up on the hill right in the middle of Salzburg - the city is built around in in a circle below. Spectacular views, even in the rain - and it even hailed on us coming down!

Just to prove how cold it was this was the temp. outside the bus on the way back to the boat (2hr bus ride - took that long to thaw out! )

so disappointing but the positives were I got to see what I wanted to see! through the rain of course! wouldnt have minded the alps in all their glory but i guess it wasnt to be!