Liverpool - Rain clearing

Liverpool - Rain clearing
Originally uploaded by Goldilocks85

Liverpool - The Yellow Duckmarine

Liverpool - The Yellow Duckmarine
Originally uploaded by Goldilocks85

The bus/boat we went on in Liverpool

Getting to the end of part 2!

Prague

Arrived in Prague Wednesday afternoon to lots of warnings about pickpockets and about our ghastly hotel built during "the communism"... It scared mum and quite a few others a bit which was not good or fun.

Our hotel surely was ghastly. How a tour company could use a hotel like it was is totally beyond me. Particularly so close to the end of the tour! Anyway, the included dinner was as bad as the hotel, so that meant I didn't eat much, and meant I had no plans of getting up early for breakfast... Wafers from the supermarket in Vienna were going to do just fine!

Sightseeing tour the next day was not the best. Couldn't hear or understand the guide. So we saw lots of things with no real idea of what we were seeing!

After the tour was over we had the whole afternoon and evening to ourselves as we weren't doing any of the optional excursions.

We did a bit of garnet and amber jewellery shopping. All very beautiful. Lunch with a few other girls, quite nice. The others then headed off to their optional excursions and we headed off to just keep wandering and shopping. Sat for a few hours in the town square and had a drink and just absorbed. We are getting really good at it!!

We just wandered more and more and eventually had some dinner- traditional Czech - potato pancakes stuffed with 3 meat and vegies. It was really yummy!

Then we just trammed it back to the hotel and headed to bed.

We weren't particularly impressed with Prague. It didn't meet any of the expectations I had of it. It was WHAT I expected but not HOW I expected it to be.

Munich

We headed off from Prague early Friday morning. A couple of stops and then we were in Munich. My my, what a great place. We went to a pub as soon as we arrived, until it was time to go to the hotel. Checked into the hotel then made our way out for dinner. Our hotel was a nice walk out of the centre, but still central. Beautiful dinner. It was such a nice balmy evening. Warm!!!! The place really repaired the damage Berlin and Frankfurt did to me liking, or should I say, not liking, Germany. Early wake up Saturday morning for our trip to Frankfurt.

2 stops and the Romantic Road

Drove along the Romantic Road to Frankfurt. Lots of pituresque little villages. Stopped at one to go to the markets. They were craft markets! Not cheap, but beautiful stuff!!! Bought a few bits and pieces as I tend to do!!

Rothenburg was the bext stop. Beautiful village as well. Had lunch in a quaint little beer garden, did some sitting in the sun, and just had a really lovely couple of hours.

Almost back to Frankfurt now - well, Bad Homburg - where we are staying for the night - out from Frankfurt a bit, but can see the skyscrapers so we can't be too far out!

We can sleep in tomorrow! No early morning wake up calls! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Vienna continued...

I just checked and it didn't all send and I stupidly deleted it so will retype and try to remember everything.

So vienna - chemist, spoke english, supplied me with codeine less cold and flu tablets. Did a little bit of shopping, some post office stuff, general look around before heading back to the bus for the sightseeing tour. The tour took us around the outskirts of the city and from the bus could see quite a few funny things, one being the beach centre! It was just like a beach, right in the middle of a city!! After the tour we did a little bit more shopping/looking around in the centre before being bussed back to our classy hotel (classy - yeah right!). As we pulled up we spied a kebab shop and we thought that would make a great dinner. I was almost better and an early night would work wonders. So we ventured out a little bit later to hunt down the kebabs but the lady said "kebap no" so we figured she was serious. Instead grabbed pizza from the shop next door. Vegetarian and soooo tasty. Loaded with onions and vegetables including brocolli and zucchini. We bought beer and coke and chocolate from the supermarket, about 7 euro for heaps, including 500ml cans of coke! We were pretty impressed with our feast and figured that it didn't matter if we didn't eat it...

Had an alright sleep - at least it was sleep - something I was seriously lacking. Early start the next morning (shock horror) before getting dropped into the city centre while the silly buggers that signed up for heaps of optionals went for another palace visit! We found the markets - not too much there but the vegie, deli and kebab people setting up. Then some more wandering and shooping and looking, before stopping for morning tea, apple strudel and sacher torte - yummy!!!!!!!!!! Gradually wandered further and looked at more. Found the most gorgeous stationery shop - just all this stationery chucked in almost. I askd the little man if I could take a photo, meaning of the shop, but he smiled and nodded so vigorously that I had to take a photo of him!! He was pretty old and i'd safely say pretty proud!!!

Ended up eating lunch in the same restaurant as the day before - the one with H and D on the toilet doors without a picture. Mum was quite the damsel in distress while waiting for someone to go in before her to work it out - then we worked out to use our book!! I shall never forget the German word for female!!!

After lunch we were bussed to the Czech Republic and through Moravia to Bohemia and on to Prague.

Krakow to Vienna

I can't remember what my last post said so I'll just assume I haven't said boo since Auschwitz.

Krakow STUNNING!! Our hotel was a fair way out,and by the time we arrived we really felt as though it had been a long week. Between the tour with all the early starts and late nights, and Auschwitz that afternoon, it had been a long week!! So after our dinner we went and sat at the bar til closing time. The young couple from our tour that keep to themselves were there - they were going out to inspect the Krakow bars, but realised it was just too far and too hard. So we joined them at the bar - they were great to talk to. Were joined a little later by another girl, so we all had a good night. It is really easy when booking drinks up to room - and easier to work it out the next day too! Early wake up Saturday, but we skipped breakfast to gain that extra 10 minutes in bed! (still ended up eating though, so not sure how that worked!!!) Sightseeing tour not much different to the others - saw the Jewish quarter, Wawel/Castle Hill, Cathedral. Mum and I both climbed the bell tower - skinny steep steps to see an 11 tonne bell then an even skinnier spiral case to get out! Proud of us both! Headed back to the market square - again, surrounded by restaurants, checked out the top of the town hall or another cathedral I think, where the little man sticks his head out and plays the trumpet to each the north, south, east and west every hour. Oh, on way there, the strangest, most contrasting sight! Old town square, old guys playing folk music, young teenagers skateboarding, and a little boy sitting there with the cutest fluffy dog in his arms. A sight to see!! We then had the afternoon to ourselves. I'd woken up coughing though, so we tried to stay in some warmth and out the wind as it was quite cold. Found a pharmacy to buy some cough medicine - really reduced to the simple stuff sometimes - "cough medicine" lady - "wet or dry" us - "wet" her "25 zlotys". Soooo, then we headed into clothes shops!! I came away with a few things, good prices and good fit and quality. Mum bought a top that says I LOVE SUN lol! Wishful thinking!!! Had lunch, that took hours! We'd been warned that service slow, and boy are they right. Good thing we are happy to sit and watch!! The waiter kept telling us, small problem, 30 minutes. We kept saying ok, but we did wonder if it was code for go away!! Bruschetta was slightly odd! Bread with tomato paste, cheese, salami... Seemed like pizza to us!! Headed back to hotel via taxi after that to get ready for our folk night, and so I could have a little nap. Polish night was good fun, except for me feeling really unwell by then. Polish tradition is to offer a shot ofvodka and a piece of bread to guests on arrival, dip, eat, shoot. Simple formula! Dinner was mushroom soup in bread bowls, which were just plain weird, then roast meat and salad, then a berry mousse thing that was more like a berry smoothie minus milk, with a dollop of cream and small scoop of icecream - would've been better had the berry stuff just been sauce on the icecream!! More vodka after dinner - the herbal stuff and the cherry stuff. Both nice, but I can see why the white stuff is nicer with the apple juice than the herbal stuff is.

Quite a sleepless night for both mum and I, which made for heaps of fun the next day! Next day was the drive through Slovakia to Hungary. I slept for a bit, but woke in time to see pretty scenery through the Tatra Mountains as we headed into Slovakia. At the border we all had a laugh as it became common knowledge across the bus that the hold up was the Indian couple on the tour who didn't have visas, and the Slovakian guard thought they needed one! They were the only ones though that didn't know they were the hold up!! The tour guide went to the guards to see what was going on and they told her to go away and leave them to work in privacy, so she hid at the bus with her back to them "I'll put my back to them" she goes!! So, after our delay we were finally allowed in... Stopped at the castle where the first Dracula movie was filmed to take photos. Stopped at mcdonalds for lunch. They took euros, but no one could work out how much they could spend so we all ended up with cheeseburger meals and 16 Slovakian crowns as change! Kept going past the areas where the gypsies live. Total squalor. Not long after the Czechoslovakian affair and the fall of communism the Slovakian government paid social security per child, but because the gypsies were popping out like 16 and not working, there was uproar, so it was set at a capped amount, regardless of the number of kids. Then there was uproar from the gypsies. I'm not sure where it is at now. Soon after we were at the Hungarian border. Slightly delayed there while they checked out what we possibly could have done in the 3 hours it took to cross the place!! The Hungarian guards and Slovak guards were rather friendly - one even smiled!! Stopped at the border servo for all of half an hour - loooooong time to spend at the border!!! But it was sunny so it was nice to sit in it!!! Quick drive to Budapest from there - to the classy Tulip Inn we were staying in! Had our included dinner - gah it was horrid - stroganoff on chips! Then we headed out for our Danube Cruise. That was really pretty and I took a heap of photos - but they've disappeared from my camera so hopefully they disappeared after I had the cd created... Fingers crossed. It was truly a lovely evening to spend on a boat cruising on the river.

Budapest sightseeing tour the next morning was the worst yet. The lady told us far too many unimportant facts and figures, walked off without us, spoke too softly and on and on and on! There was a bit of political drama on the bus and one guy took off.. But he's been a pain since he first caught up with the tour, so it was good that he did go! It was a 35 degree day and lovely and humid. So we wandered around the area of Buda near Fisherman's Bastion, took our pictures, bought some souvenirs. After our bus returned us to the Pest side, we were planning on heading to some baths - lidos - open air Turkish Baths and Pools. We didn't though cos of my coughing,so we just ate lunch in the city, did some shopping, wandered around and soaked up the atmosphere. It was nice to feel the heat and need to drink lots of water! Hopefully sweated some germs out! Our evening was spent at a restaurant at the top of Buda, high up in the forest, traditional gypsy night with traditional Hungarian food. Yummy goulash soup (purchased the recipe on a cool apron!) and not so yummy main meal and dessert - dessert was cheese strudel and apple strudel. Dancing, drinks, home just as a fantastic electrical storm started! Nice night.

Next day was a semi sleep in as we didn't need to leave until 8! Only a few hours drive to the Austrian-Hungarian border... Waved through by border control, and then an hour later we were in Vienna. 11.30 we arived. NICE!! It was raining though - but they said it rains 80percent of the year in hmmm, either Vienna or Austria. We found another chemist - 4 cities and 4 pharmacists! The pharmacist in Vienna did her Masters in Australia so spoke excellent English and very quickly told me what to take and when, and gave me cold and flu tablets without codeine, so that was excellent, and a big relief

Curious Poland

Well, not really curious but I can't think of the word to describe it.

There are shrines everywhere... 95% of the population is Roman Catholic. Shrines absolutely everywhere. And so well kept.

The cemeteries all have headstones with crosses - see above... But more fascinating - they are the brightest cemeteries going. They must all be visited often - fresh flowers all over.

The little trucks that the workers drive - they are the cute little trucks from movies!!! And the workers - the overalls they wear are the ones from the movies as we'll!!!

Auschwitz-Birkenau

It was just like every single documentary and movie has shown it... But 10million times worse.

I can't begin to describe it.

Warsaw

Well, the drive to Warsaw from Berlin was as long as flying Bangkok to London. It was sooooooo long!!!

Stopped for lunch in Poznan, saw the billy goats buck heads 12 times at midday. These little wooden electronic ones that come out of the town hall clock tower once a day.

Arrived in Warsaw shortly before 7. Well, wasn't the hotel a treat? A very plush novotel. We scored a room on the 28th floor. Fantastic view on a clear day I'm sure, because even with all the clouds we had it wasn't a bad view! Could see the Vistula River and lots of cars and buildings! Out the other side from the windows of the "Wellness Centre" aka gym (don't worry, we didn't use it, only went in it looking for the pool!!) one could see the main roundabout with tram lines running through it - and I mean for real trams, not from a tennis court... Crazy!!!

Soooo, hotel nice. Dinner provided both nights in Warsaw, and it was set menu te first night - we were very pleasantly surprised to be served vegetables - what a treat!! I sampled the polish vodka specialty - polish vodka with apple juice. Delicious! Went down very very easily!!

Woke up feeling like crap the next day... So did our included sightseeing tour then we went back to the hotel so I could sleep the feveroff. Trust me, worse places to be sick on holidays!! Sightseeing tour was good - the Old Town in Warsaw is absolutely amazing. All rebuilt after the war as Warsaw so utterly demolished. Even the Royal Palace was rebuilt which is crazy really, seeing as their was no longer a royal family anyway!!! The park/memorial for Chopin was gorgeous and would be even more so on a sunny and warm summer's day. 1000 (i think) red rosebushes - red for love not communism. Stunning.

That's about it for Thursday - a sick afternoon in bed isn't interesting or fun!!! Feeling much better today though, which is good cos I didn't want to be unwell today.

We're on bus to Krakow with two stops - the first to see the Black Madonna at the Jasna Gora Monastery. The tour wasn't particularly good as the priest was quite rushed and the place was packed, but seen it all the same.

Now we are half an hour away from Auschwitz. Will not be fun I am sure, but something one does have to do.

o