Berlin to Amsterdam

There are a lot of wind farms in Europe, especially noticable in Germany. On our way to Amsterdam at one of our rest stops, we saw a wind turbine being transported. These things are huge when you see them close-up. Just one blade takes a whole truck (quite a long one at that).





We had a brief walking tour of Amsterdam before the group split and got dinner while some others went off to a show (an X rated show as you would expect in Amsterdam).










Following that Eleni took us for a walk around the red-light district. A very interesting experience!

Berlin

First thing today was a group coach tour with our local guide Wilfred. He was a great guide and we drove around lots of different parts of the city, from residental to central city and showed us both East and West and the differences between the two. We stopped at the East Side Gallery, a long strip of the wall that remains and had been painted/graffitied and looks very cool. Across the road was the Grand Chapiteau of Cirque du Soleil.










Next stop was the Brandenburg Gate. Nearby we saw a memorial with lots of rectangular blocks commemorating the people who died in the Holocaust.




We were hoping to stop at the flash new Hauptbahnhof (central train station) but there were so many people outside that we would certainly have lost someone. Further along we could see the Reichstag, Siegessäule Monument, Potzdamer Platz and one of the Zoo's fancy gates to name a few. We finished at Checkpoint Charlie where some of the group went through the museum. Grace pretended to be our tour leader and organised tickets at group rates so we could come back later.

Some others got back on the coach and went to the Zoo. They weather was amazing so a day at the Zoo seemed like a great idea. Having been to the Singapore zoo not that long ago, this wasn't that amazing, but it was good to see the Bears, several Polar Bears, 2 Panda Bears, White Wolves and lots of big cats.



















































Near the Zoo is the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-kirche which has become an icon of Berlin. It was damaged by the war and is a fascinating building.










We then headed off to AlexanderPlatz to go up the TV tower. It was a shame that on such a beautiful clear day our view was ruined by filthy windows. It was a good view though, and in particular we noticed that when you looked up and down the old border between east and west you could see a distinct change.

















We caught the U-Bahn back to Checkpoint Charlie and went through the museum. It was very interesting, describing the wall and showing how people tried to escape to their family on the other side. Some would hide in cars or furniture. There was even a human catapult attempt to get over the wall! We were planning on going up the spiral ramp to the top of the dome of the Reichstag but were too tired so headed home.

Praha to Berlin

The hotel staff here are crazy. We never got asked for our room number or any proof that we were actually staying at the hotel when going for breakfast. Then, when we were loaded up with bags on our way to checkout we walked past the restaurant and got asked for our room number by the restaurant attendant. "Do we look like we're about to eat breakfast???

On our way to Germany we stopped at Terezin Small Fortress. This was a war fortress but was mostly used as a prison camp. Like Mauthausen, this was a terrible place where people were over-worked, under-nourished and generally treated like crap! We all went into a cell which was known as a Jew's cell. 60 Jews would be put in this room with no windows and only a small hole for ventilation. It was starting to feel cramped with 35 of us so I hate to think what it would be like with 60. Another cell which actually had beds, looked like it could sleep about 50 people. They said it used to house 400-600 people.


We stopped outside Dresden for lunch at a Tesco. There was an asian/kebab takeaway place out front so we tried that. Unfortunately they didn't speak English (or Mandarin) so we were stuck! Luckily there was a German man buying his lunch too, so he managed to translate for us.

Finally to Berlin where we stayed at a hotel not far from Tegel airport. We had a group dinner at the hotel restaurant next door which was an very cool ex-boiler house.

Praha

Some of the other in our group tried to buy bus/train tickets at the shops in the hotel. The staff were very unhelfpul, saying that they couldn't sell them the tickets. They did sell the tickets but couldn't. After some questioning they discovered that they do sell the tickets but had run out. Lucky for us we didn't have to go through that.

We waited outside for the bus intending to buy tickets on board, as long as the driver understood us. It was quite cold which was unusual since we had been having great weather. Andrew was wearing jandals, shorts and a singlet but was braving the cold, staring at the clouds trying to scare them away. We managed to buy tickets on the bus and then got the metro into the city.

Four of us only made it down one road before we were into shops looking for jerseys to wear. If only we'd checked the weather before leaving our rooms, we'd have been better prepared.





Wrapped in our new clothes, we walked to the astronomical clock where we started a walking tour.







Our guide took us over the famous Charles Bridge and up to Prague castle.








The Eiffel tower lookalike.








We saw the changing of the guard ceremony outside the castle. There were heaps of people but we got the idea.






We walked through the castle, looked inside the cathedral and finished on the other side of the castle.








From there we had a fantastic view over Prague and could see a sculpture in the distance which was a wall of skulls.




Down the steps and along a bit we found a nice cafe for lunch and then saw this wonderful piece of "art":









We checked out the markets which sold all sorts of food and crafts, including some amazing paintings and prints. We wanted to see a black light show (a show done in bright colours under black lights giving cool effects) but we got stuck trying to buy tickets at the theatre. When we said we wanted tickets for tonight we were told we couldn't have any. We asked why, but couldn't understand the answer. Another ticket agent said that they could sell tickets but when we told them the theatre didn't want to sell them to us, suddenly they decided that they wouldn't sell them to us either.

We had another look at the markets, Charles bridge and further around the streets then had a Bratwurst for dinner and headed home.





Traditional Czech: An old Skoda ready to take a tourist on a sightseeing tour!!

Budapest to Praha

Today was another bus day as we drove from Budapest to Prague, not much to report, except that we stopped at a supermarket near Bratislava for lunch.

On arrival in Prague, we checked into the Top Hotel Praha which was an interesting hotel as it used to be ex-communist housing. But it was a huge hotel with several wings and bars as well as a casino. It was obvious that we were staying in the "cheaper" wing of the hotel as we walked to the bus through the posher part of the hotel. We caught a local bus to Chodov metro station (also a large shopping centre) and then metroed into the city.



Once in the city, Eleni took us on a speedy orientation tour around the city, where we saw the astronomical clock as it struck on the hour and the Charles Bridge. By this time we were all starving, so we headed on to dinner where we had a choice of two options for the main course - goulash and some other thing which we can't remember what its called but had cream and jam in it - weird! But they both tasted good.

Budapest

Budapest! After our great city tour yesterday, we felt reasonably familiar with the city and had a long list of things we wanted to see and do!

Firstly we went to the Art Gallery, just after opening time, to see the "Picasso In Love" exhibition and the Rembrandt exhibition. There were so many more things to see but there's only so much art one can handle in one day.



Following that we went for a walk down the main street Andrássy út which had lots of old and interesting buildings. We stopped at a cafe in Liszt square for lunch.
Here's a photo of us with our Giraffe (of beer). The waiter didn't do a very good job - look at the head on that thing!







Next was the Terror Museum. This was rather intense but very very good.






We wanted to go on a tour of the Opera House which looks impressive from the outside and we imagine it is amazing on the inside. It is modelled on the Vienna Opera House.


Inside and outside of St Stephens Basilica.











For something a little different we went to the Synagogue. We couldn't go in but got a good look at the outside.

We were considering visiting the Parliament Building which you can do tours through, but ran out of time.

After this we meandered back to the square for dinner, then back to the hotel.