DAY TWENTY NINE
Well alas faithful blog followers, our last full day in Europe has finally arrived.
Today has been the quietest day of our trip so far. We were up at 8am with our only aim being to pack our belongings and clean Betsy. A task that might not sound all that difficult, but we’ve been living in the vehicle for a month. Also we’ve had to make sure we leave Betsy in good nick since the rental company imposes a 150 Euro fine if they have to clean the van internally. That said after a hearty cooked breakfast in the van we
set about packing our clothing and gifts. Fortunately Kurt’s purchase of extra hand luggage greatly helped with fitting in all the extra bits and pieces. Bags packed we spent some time sweeping and cleaning, returning Betsy’s interior to the condition we found her in.
Our afternoon included a walk to a pedestrian shopping area and a very filling lunch at another Nordsee restaurant. Fortunately we have free wireless in our hotel room which has helped with planning and emails. A quite evening lies ahead before we face our return flight tomorrow pm. We won’t be posting tomorrow since the day will include returning Betsy to her owners and taking a taxi to the airport where we hope to use the business lounge for a quite day of reading and rest.
In reflection I think a month away is the perfect length of time one needs away from normal life before beginning to feel the desire to return home. Both Kurt and I are eager to board our flight tomorrow and be on our way back to normality. It always seems strange to me to feel this way since I enjoy travelling so much, but home is where the heart is as the saying goes. We’ve covered 4700km in pretty bad weather conditions, visited eight countries, seen some really wonderful sights and tasted the flavor of some interesting European cultures. Originally we had planned to travel from Germany through Poland and then down into Italy, but give the cold weather conditions in the north we changed the direction, our route being refined over and over again as we progressed. A real blessing for both of us was spending time with respective close friends at different points on the trip.
The greatest challenge has been spending so much time with one person in such limited space conditions. A camper van isn’t a very big area to cohabit, and the cold winter weather has kept us indoors a good portion of the time when not exploring. Kurt recons we’ve spent about 700 hours in each others company over the last month which is a lot by anyone’s standards. Somehow though we’ve managed to get on quite well with only the occasional fall out here and there. We’ve certainly seen aspects to each other we hadn’t seen before in the seven years we’ve know each other.
My greatest disappointment of the trip was missing out on seeing the ‘Eagles Nest’, but we’ve been very blessed to have seen all the other sights we had hoped to see and a few others which we stumbled across on the way. As a time of reflection the trip has been a success for both of us, giving us the opportunity to consider the year ahead and what we’d like to achieve both personally and professionally.
From my side thanks to all of you for following the blog over the last month. It has been great sharing the experience with you.
Kurt’s Note: I have already said on my facebook profile that this trip has been a life changing experience and I have gotten all I desired out of the trip to Europe – and more. I really appreciate the comments and short notes from you avid followers and look forward to seeing some of you when I return on Friday.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Day Twenty Eight
DAY TWENTY EIGHT
We woke at 5.45am this morning and planned to leave between 7 and 7.30am for Frankfurt. Michael left us this morning for work in a town not too far from Salzburg. We have had a super time with him and enjoyed his many jokes and strange photographic poses and will miss his company en route to Germany. We have been so busy in Salzburg that I had forgotten to load Lorraine with the route to our final venue in Frankfurt. I tried to connect Lorraine to the laptop but I think due to the cold weather and the fact that Betsy’s heating was off last night, Lorraine just wasn’t prepared to acknowledge the laptop. The nett result being that the laptop ran out of battery power and we were forced to check into the hotel again to connect to AC Power and then managed to get Lorraine up at around 7.45am. What a way to start our final voyage in our epic journey.
The blessings of the lord were on us again today since the entire route was without rain or snow and although it was cold outside, the trip was uneventful. We stopped for a coffee and breakfast at around 10.00am and then pressed onto Frankfurt. We arrived at the hotel were we are to stay for the next 2 days at 1.45pm and are nicely settled in our room. The shortage of campsites during the past week have been quite frustrating but the hotel room we are now occupying is nicely appointed and has wireless – FREE internet. There are 30 TV channels – 1 in English – CNN.
We have the day free tomorrow to clean the van – inside that is – or to do whatever we fancy. You may be asking, Betsy is a rental, why clean the inside, well if we don’t they will charge us 155 Euros. We have experienced first hand just how expensive it is to travel in Europe. That said and done, its going to be great to have the time tomorrow to pack our luggage and to give Betsy a nice clean out.
I plan to make a dinner of Ravioli and meat balls with tomato sauce – the last dinner in Betsy, followed perhaps by a movie.
We woke at 5.45am this morning and planned to leave between 7 and 7.30am for Frankfurt. Michael left us this morning for work in a town not too far from Salzburg. We have had a super time with him and enjoyed his many jokes and strange photographic poses and will miss his company en route to Germany. We have been so busy in Salzburg that I had forgotten to load Lorraine with the route to our final venue in Frankfurt. I tried to connect Lorraine to the laptop but I think due to the cold weather and the fact that Betsy’s heating was off last night, Lorraine just wasn’t prepared to acknowledge the laptop. The nett result being that the laptop ran out of battery power and we were forced to check into the hotel again to connect to AC Power and then managed to get Lorraine up at around 7.45am. What a way to start our final voyage in our epic journey.
The blessings of the lord were on us again today since the entire route was without rain or snow and although it was cold outside, the trip was uneventful. We stopped for a coffee and breakfast at around 10.00am and then pressed onto Frankfurt. We arrived at the hotel were we are to stay for the next 2 days at 1.45pm and are nicely settled in our room. The shortage of campsites during the past week have been quite frustrating but the hotel room we are now occupying is nicely appointed and has wireless – FREE internet. There are 30 TV channels – 1 in English – CNN.
We have the day free tomorrow to clean the van – inside that is – or to do whatever we fancy. You may be asking, Betsy is a rental, why clean the inside, well if we don’t they will charge us 155 Euros. We have experienced first hand just how expensive it is to travel in Europe. That said and done, its going to be great to have the time tomorrow to pack our luggage and to give Betsy a nice clean out.
I plan to make a dinner of Ravioli and meat balls with tomato sauce – the last dinner in Betsy, followed perhaps by a movie.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Day Twenty Seven
DAY TWENTY SEVEN
Well hello there. Don’t panic this is not Kurt or Glenn writing todays blog… Seems they are both too tired after a very long and exciting day in Salzburg. So let me introduce myself … taraaa … my name is Michael and for those who don’t know, I have known Kurt for over 30 years ;-)
Waking up after a long night, after watching the 3 hours of “The Sound of Music” movie yesterday, Kurt made his way to Betsy and whipped up a top breakfast that included Frankfurters, Mushrooms and different spreads. Thereafter we made our way to the Europark shopping center located about 10 minutes from the hotel where Kurt and Glenn “raided” Saturn (a common electronics store here in Austria, I believe the equivalent is Incredible Connection back in SA) and bought a couple of things they needed. Having had a big breakfast we decided to skip lunch and continue straight to the “Sound of Music” meeting point in town at 13:50.
After walking around a bit we finally found the bus stop and took the “Linie 2” bus to town. The driver was very unfriendly and let us out too early, so we had to chase to get to the meeting point in time, which we however did. There were three other people in the bus. One lady from Australia, one lady from Canada and a gentleman from Texas. The tour guide was a very talkative and very musical British lady. We started from the Mirabellplatz and made our way in the afternoon traffic to the first site Leopold’s Crown Palace (which now hosts the Max Reinhardt Seminar) where most of the porch scenes and the capsizing boat were shot. Apparently the youngest von Trap actor could not swim - Gretal. The Gazebo in which the song “You are 16 going on 17…” was shot, stood next to the Palace was moved to Hellbrunn Palace due to overeager tourists wanting to be Liesl or Rolf…
After that we made it to the lake district (Salzkammergut) and took the scenic route via Lake Fuschel (we drove past the headquarters of Red Bull), Lake Wolfgang (Mozart was named after the lake and not the other way around), Lake Topilitz (Where allegedly some of the 3rd Reich’s treasures were thrown into at the end of World War 2) and Lake Mondsee. On the drive our tour guide, who was very musical, made us sing most of the songs from the film, and I must say that Kurt knew the lyrics to all the songs ;-). In the little village of Mondsee we had time to explore the church where Maria and Captain von Trapp were married at the end of the movie. We used the spare free time to visit a local bakery and had a good Austrian coffee with Apfelstrudel – Apple Strudle.
On the way back to Salzburg Kurt again whole heartedly sang further songs that our tour guide made us sing. The last site we visited was the Mirabell palace where the von Trapp family sang the “Do-Re-Mi…” song on the steps to the Pegasus fountain. After the tour we decided to stroll over the river Salzach, where we took stunning night pictures of the cathedral and the fortress. We were all glad to get into the bus again which took us to the starting point of today’s journey.
The Sound of Music tour revealed that the actual true story of the Von Trapp family on which the Sound of Music musical is based, differed in several aspects from the Hollywood version. In particular, the distances that the family were meant to have travelled on foot at the end of the movie to escape from Salzburg to Switzerland would have been around 300 kms and therefore quite impossible. The family Von Trapp did in fact escape the day before the borders were closed by train to Italy.
Feeling a bit hungry we had quite a ball trying to find the running sushi place which was advertised in one building, but they had obviously moved to another building grmph!*#*! We were however rewarded with a delicious variety of sushi, beef, vegetables, chicken that moved past us on a running conveyer belt. I am glad no one was wearing a tie…
Editors Note: I have never seen Glenn eat so much in the trip to Europe thus far. He so enjoyed grabbing the delicacies that passed before our eyes. I myself am so done with hoofing it everywhere and am looking forward to being reunited with Jessica Jeep and the lux way of life in Durban.
Well hello there. Don’t panic this is not Kurt or Glenn writing todays blog… Seems they are both too tired after a very long and exciting day in Salzburg. So let me introduce myself … taraaa … my name is Michael and for those who don’t know, I have known Kurt for over 30 years ;-)
Waking up after a long night, after watching the 3 hours of “The Sound of Music” movie yesterday, Kurt made his way to Betsy and whipped up a top breakfast that included Frankfurters, Mushrooms and different spreads. Thereafter we made our way to the Europark shopping center located about 10 minutes from the hotel where Kurt and Glenn “raided” Saturn (a common electronics store here in Austria, I believe the equivalent is Incredible Connection back in SA) and bought a couple of things they needed. Having had a big breakfast we decided to skip lunch and continue straight to the “Sound of Music” meeting point in town at 13:50.
After walking around a bit we finally found the bus stop and took the “Linie 2” bus to town. The driver was very unfriendly and let us out too early, so we had to chase to get to the meeting point in time, which we however did. There were three other people in the bus. One lady from Australia, one lady from Canada and a gentleman from Texas. The tour guide was a very talkative and very musical British lady. We started from the Mirabellplatz and made our way in the afternoon traffic to the first site Leopold’s Crown Palace (which now hosts the Max Reinhardt Seminar) where most of the porch scenes and the capsizing boat were shot. Apparently the youngest von Trap actor could not swim - Gretal. The Gazebo in which the song “You are 16 going on 17…” was shot, stood next to the Palace was moved to Hellbrunn Palace due to overeager tourists wanting to be Liesl or Rolf…
After that we made it to the lake district (Salzkammergut) and took the scenic route via Lake Fuschel (we drove past the headquarters of Red Bull), Lake Wolfgang (Mozart was named after the lake and not the other way around), Lake Topilitz (Where allegedly some of the 3rd Reich’s treasures were thrown into at the end of World War 2) and Lake Mondsee. On the drive our tour guide, who was very musical, made us sing most of the songs from the film, and I must say that Kurt knew the lyrics to all the songs ;-). In the little village of Mondsee we had time to explore the church where Maria and Captain von Trapp were married at the end of the movie. We used the spare free time to visit a local bakery and had a good Austrian coffee with Apfelstrudel – Apple Strudle.
On the way back to Salzburg Kurt again whole heartedly sang further songs that our tour guide made us sing. The last site we visited was the Mirabell palace where the von Trapp family sang the “Do-Re-Mi…” song on the steps to the Pegasus fountain. After the tour we decided to stroll over the river Salzach, where we took stunning night pictures of the cathedral and the fortress. We were all glad to get into the bus again which took us to the starting point of today’s journey.
The Sound of Music tour revealed that the actual true story of the Von Trapp family on which the Sound of Music musical is based, differed in several aspects from the Hollywood version. In particular, the distances that the family were meant to have travelled on foot at the end of the movie to escape from Salzburg to Switzerland would have been around 300 kms and therefore quite impossible. The family Von Trapp did in fact escape the day before the borders were closed by train to Italy.
Feeling a bit hungry we had quite a ball trying to find the running sushi place which was advertised in one building, but they had obviously moved to another building grmph!*#*! We were however rewarded with a delicious variety of sushi, beef, vegetables, chicken that moved past us on a running conveyer belt. I am glad no one was wearing a tie…
Editors Note: I have never seen Glenn eat so much in the trip to Europe thus far. He so enjoyed grabbing the delicacies that passed before our eyes. I myself am so done with hoofing it everywhere and am looking forward to being reunited with Jessica Jeep and the lux way of life in Durban.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Day Twenty Six
DAY TWENTY SIX
After watching two comedies last night Kurt and I started our day off in a some what better mood. The scenery surrounding our mountainous camp site also brightened things up somewhat. The Alps are without doubt one of the most beautiful natural features I’ve seen. Perhaps the only down side to such beauty is that it compels you to return again and see it in another season.
We made an early departure from our campsite following our 5minute showers and a quick breakfast. Driving out of the snow covered mountains that border the Bergtesgarden region we headed to the train station in Salzberg, a trip of about one hour. The roads in the city were mercifully quiet being Sunday and we were able to park near to the terminal. Michael arrived at 8:53am to join us for the day’s exploration.
We found a parking lot for Betsy near the old city (which cost R170 for half the day) and investigated the possibility of going on a tour tomorrow to see the sights from the movie ‘Sound of Music’. A visit to a coffee shop followed to enjoy Austrian cake and cappuccino before wondering towards the impressive fortress that dominates the city.
Salzberg Castle began as a Roman fort on the prominent hill above the river valley but grew into the fortress it is today over the medieval period where successive Cardinals (who ruled the city) added to the size and strength of the fortifications. It was never taken by force and only once surrendered to Napoleon. We took the funicular up the side of the hill to the castles lower fortifications. From here we explored the length and breadth of the structure over the next three hours, visiting the royal apartments and climbing up to the top of one of the towers to be rewarded with magnificent views over the city. Salzberg is without doubt the most impressive fortress I’ve seen in all my travels thus far.
Making our way down from the Castle we looked for a restaurant for our noon day feast. We decided on Nordsee, a fish food restaurant with some excellent dishes. Stomachs full we headed on to the Etap hotel where we’d booked to stay for two nights as all camp sites around Salzberg are closed in winter.
A quite afternoon has followed catching up on various odds and ends. Given we’ve booked our Sound of Music tour tomorrow, Michael decided the sensible thing to do was buy the movie (on sale at the castle for R320) and watch it tonight..
After watching two comedies last night Kurt and I started our day off in a some what better mood. The scenery surrounding our mountainous camp site also brightened things up somewhat. The Alps are without doubt one of the most beautiful natural features I’ve seen. Perhaps the only down side to such beauty is that it compels you to return again and see it in another season.
We made an early departure from our campsite following our 5minute showers and a quick breakfast. Driving out of the snow covered mountains that border the Bergtesgarden region we headed to the train station in Salzberg, a trip of about one hour. The roads in the city were mercifully quiet being Sunday and we were able to park near to the terminal. Michael arrived at 8:53am to join us for the day’s exploration.
We found a parking lot for Betsy near the old city (which cost R170 for half the day) and investigated the possibility of going on a tour tomorrow to see the sights from the movie ‘Sound of Music’. A visit to a coffee shop followed to enjoy Austrian cake and cappuccino before wondering towards the impressive fortress that dominates the city.
Salzberg Castle began as a Roman fort on the prominent hill above the river valley but grew into the fortress it is today over the medieval period where successive Cardinals (who ruled the city) added to the size and strength of the fortifications. It was never taken by force and only once surrendered to Napoleon. We took the funicular up the side of the hill to the castles lower fortifications. From here we explored the length and breadth of the structure over the next three hours, visiting the royal apartments and climbing up to the top of one of the towers to be rewarded with magnificent views over the city. Salzberg is without doubt the most impressive fortress I’ve seen in all my travels thus far.
Making our way down from the Castle we looked for a restaurant for our noon day feast. We decided on Nordsee, a fish food restaurant with some excellent dishes. Stomachs full we headed on to the Etap hotel where we’d booked to stay for two nights as all camp sites around Salzberg are closed in winter.
A quite afternoon has followed catching up on various odds and ends. Given we’ve booked our Sound of Music tour tomorrow, Michael decided the sensible thing to do was buy the movie (on sale at the castle for R320) and watch it tonight..
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Day Twenty Five
DAY TWENTY FIVE
We woke at around 7 and after a shower, checked out of the A & O hostel and made our way to Michaels house in the south of Vienna. Michael, Verena and Caroline went out of their way to make us the best breakfast yet. We had Breads, Eggs, Bacon, Ham, Cheese, Spreads, Yoghurt, Espresso etc. We had a super visit with the family and after breakfast and a chat, we left for Salzburg via Styria. The weather as per our usual road trip was snowing but the roads were clear of snow and the temperature was around +2 degrees. We drove for around 2 hours until we reached the town of Styria – reportedly the oldest town in Austria. We expected to see some Castles, Ruins …. Anything older than McDonalds. We received our first of several disappointing blows of the day. We couldn’t find a single old building to photograph, let alone visit. We continued on our way to Bergtesgarden and Hitler’s Lair – the Eagle’s Nest.
We arrived at the town of Bergtesgarden and Glenn went into the information centre to get all the details on our visit to this historic site. Glenn stumbled back to car with the devastating news that the road to the site was closed until May and doesn’t open in winter. This has to be without doubt the most distressing day of the entire trip. Glenn has with immediate effect started a “bucket list” with the first item now being that he has to return to the area in summer to see the Eagles Nest. We were both severely disgruntled and decided to grocery shopping to ease the wounds – how scary is that…. We did find a couple of postcards to take home that can show that we were within a few miles of the eagles nest but turned away by the bureaucrats’ that guard this historic site and to make matters worse, we couldn’t even see the mountains due to extremely low cloud conditions and the persistent rain. We bought the required commodities as well as some Chocolate to wipe away the tears of the tragedy. Now for those of you that feel that I am being somewhat melodramatic need to fully understand the circumstances.
Glenn and I had three must see sites planned for the trip – Castle Neuschwanstien, Auschwitz and the Eagles Nest. Now perhaps 2 out of 3 may sound good to the average Blog of the Year follower, but to an avid History Channel watcher – like Glenn and I are, it has been a day of severe disappointments. Michael is arriving at 9.00am tomorrow for a two night stay with us to explore Bergtesgarden (CROSS THIS OFF….) and to see Salzburg. Well that leaves Salzburg so I decided that instead of camping in Bergtesgarden we would go to the alternate site. It is located in a beautiful part of Austria which we cannot see amidst mountains but on arrival, we found the second most basic campsite yet after the parking lot where we slept for the first 2 nights. Glenn and I are allowed one shower each with a hot water token that will give us 5 minutes of hot water each. I have subsequently contacted Verena who is trying to find another site near Salzburg that doesn’t have prisoner of war camping standards in place so that we can enjoy the remaining 3 nights planned for the Salzburg region. We hope Verena will be successful in redeeming the tail end of our trip.
PS: Glenn would also point out that the Eagles’ Nest was going to be the final highlight of the trip. He is now so disgruntled he doesn’t me to cook dinner and has gone to bed early. I do plan however to insist we watch a comedy later tonight – courtesy of Q.b
We woke at around 7 and after a shower, checked out of the A & O hostel and made our way to Michaels house in the south of Vienna. Michael, Verena and Caroline went out of their way to make us the best breakfast yet. We had Breads, Eggs, Bacon, Ham, Cheese, Spreads, Yoghurt, Espresso etc. We had a super visit with the family and after breakfast and a chat, we left for Salzburg via Styria. The weather as per our usual road trip was snowing but the roads were clear of snow and the temperature was around +2 degrees. We drove for around 2 hours until we reached the town of Styria – reportedly the oldest town in Austria. We expected to see some Castles, Ruins …. Anything older than McDonalds. We received our first of several disappointing blows of the day. We couldn’t find a single old building to photograph, let alone visit. We continued on our way to Bergtesgarden and Hitler’s Lair – the Eagle’s Nest.
We arrived at the town of Bergtesgarden and Glenn went into the information centre to get all the details on our visit to this historic site. Glenn stumbled back to car with the devastating news that the road to the site was closed until May and doesn’t open in winter. This has to be without doubt the most distressing day of the entire trip. Glenn has with immediate effect started a “bucket list” with the first item now being that he has to return to the area in summer to see the Eagles Nest. We were both severely disgruntled and decided to grocery shopping to ease the wounds – how scary is that…. We did find a couple of postcards to take home that can show that we were within a few miles of the eagles nest but turned away by the bureaucrats’ that guard this historic site and to make matters worse, we couldn’t even see the mountains due to extremely low cloud conditions and the persistent rain. We bought the required commodities as well as some Chocolate to wipe away the tears of the tragedy. Now for those of you that feel that I am being somewhat melodramatic need to fully understand the circumstances.
Glenn and I had three must see sites planned for the trip – Castle Neuschwanstien, Auschwitz and the Eagles Nest. Now perhaps 2 out of 3 may sound good to the average Blog of the Year follower, but to an avid History Channel watcher – like Glenn and I are, it has been a day of severe disappointments. Michael is arriving at 9.00am tomorrow for a two night stay with us to explore Bergtesgarden (CROSS THIS OFF….) and to see Salzburg. Well that leaves Salzburg so I decided that instead of camping in Bergtesgarden we would go to the alternate site. It is located in a beautiful part of Austria which we cannot see amidst mountains but on arrival, we found the second most basic campsite yet after the parking lot where we slept for the first 2 nights. Glenn and I are allowed one shower each with a hot water token that will give us 5 minutes of hot water each. I have subsequently contacted Verena who is trying to find another site near Salzburg that doesn’t have prisoner of war camping standards in place so that we can enjoy the remaining 3 nights planned for the Salzburg region. We hope Verena will be successful in redeeming the tail end of our trip.
PS: Glenn would also point out that the Eagles’ Nest was going to be the final highlight of the trip. He is now so disgruntled he doesn’t me to cook dinner and has gone to bed early. I do plan however to insist we watch a comedy later tonight – courtesy of Q.b
Friday, February 5, 2010
Day Twenty Four
DAY TWENTY FOUR
The day started for us bright and early at 6:30am. Admittedly Kurt had been up from 5:30am with the excuse that he had to get our last load of washing for the trip underway. Given the lack of washing and or drying machines in most of the eastern European camp sites, we’d build up quite a back log of laundry. For both of us staying at the A&O Hostel has been a real treat with all the creature comforts available here. Beyond the laundry the private toilet and shower make life much more comfortable than usual.. it’s quite amazing how quickly one adjusts to deprivations in personal comfort levels – only to be surprised when you experience nearly normal living conditions again. There’s no doubt for both Kurt and I that besides driving our own vehicles again, our respective en suit bathrooms back home will be the most appreciated luxury we return to.
Our morning showers attended to we breakfasted on the hostels 4 Euro buffet before suiting up for our second day about the city. Yesterday we took in the big tourist sites in the centre of Vienna and were looking forward to what lay ahead of us with our very own local guide Michael. We met Michael on one of the main subway interchanges and made our way to Vienna’s open air market which runs down a pedestrian road for approximately one kilometer. It’s a bright and busy affair with road side stalls selling fish of every description (including octopus and shellfish), meat and poultry, cheeses, pastries, stuffed olives, sweet meats, fruit, vegetables, dried fruit and flowers, including tulips from Holland. We stopped at a sea food restaurant to sample fried prawns before buying more chocolate and some liqueur for home.
Back onto the subway we went to see the exterior of an impressive Roman styled church called the Kalskiche. From here we walked to the best known hotel in Vienna (and probably the most expensive) called the Hotel Sacher. It’s particularly famous for creating the Sacher Torte – a kind of cake that apparently tastes pretty good. We stopped at the hotel for a great tasting Melange, Vienna’s most popular type of coffee, essentially an espresso weakened with cream. At this point it’s worth mentioning that Vienna is especially well known for it’s coffee houses (and thus it’s wide variety of unique coffee servings) where artists, philosophers, politicians and the like have historically mingled and pondered life, the universe and everything. This may help explain why we had a double espresso with orange liqueur yesterday at the Lippizan palace.
Leaving the hotel we tubed through Vienna’s efficient underground system to the Palace of Schonbrunn. Set on a massive estate (probably 8 square km) it was the summer residence of the Hapsburg’s. Once set on the edge of Vienna it has now been enveloped by the city, but retains its 19th century country charm. We wondered around the outside of the palace into the gardens since we’d visited the main palace in the city centre yesterday. The back of the palace looks over acres of open land bordered by forest. A hill in the distance is crowned with a magnificent structure called the Gloriette where apparently tea parties were held in summer. At the base of the hill is a highly ornate water feature which when running in summer must be an incredible sight to behold. We walked up the hill and passed by what was once the private zoo of the royal family (now open to public) and on to the Gloriette, enjoying the wonderful view down over the palace in the distance and Vienna beyond.
From the opulence of the palace and its massive grounds we walked to the Tafelspitz restaurant but at 21 euro a meal we thought better of it and went for Sushi instead. I must admit I’m growing quite fond of sushi, never really having eaten all that much of it back home.
Tubing back through the busy underground we emerged near the famous Opera hall with its ever present touts in period costume trying their best to sell the nights performance. We briefly visited the ‘stables’ of the main city palace – the various Emperors kept up to 600 Lipizzan horses here to ride and pull carriages. The stables complex itself looks like a palace and stretches half a kilometer.
Kurt wanted to buy an additional suitcase for hand luggage (our gift collection – mainly chocolates - now looks decidedly in need of its own baggage space), so we went to Maria Hilfer street where as you’d expect we visited the best known shopping centre in the city.
Bag in hand we returned to the tubes and bid farewell to Michael. We would be seeing him again shortly since his wife and daughter were inbound on the evening train from Insbruck where they had been visiting family.
We had enough time to return to Betsy and collapse on our beds for an hour power nap. Michael is as fit as ever and needless to say he put both Kurt and I through our paces. We think we walked about 12 to 15km over the course of the day, definitely more than our usual exercise. With enough time for quick showers we were off to meet up with Michael, Verena and Caroline at the train station. Bags in hand we found a near by Coffee house for a bit of a chat and some refreshments before we went our separate ways again for the evening.
Tomorrow morning we head out of Vienna for Bergtesgarden via Michael’s house for breakfast.
The day started for us bright and early at 6:30am. Admittedly Kurt had been up from 5:30am with the excuse that he had to get our last load of washing for the trip underway. Given the lack of washing and or drying machines in most of the eastern European camp sites, we’d build up quite a back log of laundry. For both of us staying at the A&O Hostel has been a real treat with all the creature comforts available here. Beyond the laundry the private toilet and shower make life much more comfortable than usual.. it’s quite amazing how quickly one adjusts to deprivations in personal comfort levels – only to be surprised when you experience nearly normal living conditions again. There’s no doubt for both Kurt and I that besides driving our own vehicles again, our respective en suit bathrooms back home will be the most appreciated luxury we return to.
Our morning showers attended to we breakfasted on the hostels 4 Euro buffet before suiting up for our second day about the city. Yesterday we took in the big tourist sites in the centre of Vienna and were looking forward to what lay ahead of us with our very own local guide Michael. We met Michael on one of the main subway interchanges and made our way to Vienna’s open air market which runs down a pedestrian road for approximately one kilometer. It’s a bright and busy affair with road side stalls selling fish of every description (including octopus and shellfish), meat and poultry, cheeses, pastries, stuffed olives, sweet meats, fruit, vegetables, dried fruit and flowers, including tulips from Holland. We stopped at a sea food restaurant to sample fried prawns before buying more chocolate and some liqueur for home.
Back onto the subway we went to see the exterior of an impressive Roman styled church called the Kalskiche. From here we walked to the best known hotel in Vienna (and probably the most expensive) called the Hotel Sacher. It’s particularly famous for creating the Sacher Torte – a kind of cake that apparently tastes pretty good. We stopped at the hotel for a great tasting Melange, Vienna’s most popular type of coffee, essentially an espresso weakened with cream. At this point it’s worth mentioning that Vienna is especially well known for it’s coffee houses (and thus it’s wide variety of unique coffee servings) where artists, philosophers, politicians and the like have historically mingled and pondered life, the universe and everything. This may help explain why we had a double espresso with orange liqueur yesterday at the Lippizan palace.
Leaving the hotel we tubed through Vienna’s efficient underground system to the Palace of Schonbrunn. Set on a massive estate (probably 8 square km) it was the summer residence of the Hapsburg’s. Once set on the edge of Vienna it has now been enveloped by the city, but retains its 19th century country charm. We wondered around the outside of the palace into the gardens since we’d visited the main palace in the city centre yesterday. The back of the palace looks over acres of open land bordered by forest. A hill in the distance is crowned with a magnificent structure called the Gloriette where apparently tea parties were held in summer. At the base of the hill is a highly ornate water feature which when running in summer must be an incredible sight to behold. We walked up the hill and passed by what was once the private zoo of the royal family (now open to public) and on to the Gloriette, enjoying the wonderful view down over the palace in the distance and Vienna beyond.
From the opulence of the palace and its massive grounds we walked to the Tafelspitz restaurant but at 21 euro a meal we thought better of it and went for Sushi instead. I must admit I’m growing quite fond of sushi, never really having eaten all that much of it back home.
Tubing back through the busy underground we emerged near the famous Opera hall with its ever present touts in period costume trying their best to sell the nights performance. We briefly visited the ‘stables’ of the main city palace – the various Emperors kept up to 600 Lipizzan horses here to ride and pull carriages. The stables complex itself looks like a palace and stretches half a kilometer.
Kurt wanted to buy an additional suitcase for hand luggage (our gift collection – mainly chocolates - now looks decidedly in need of its own baggage space), so we went to Maria Hilfer street where as you’d expect we visited the best known shopping centre in the city.
Bag in hand we returned to the tubes and bid farewell to Michael. We would be seeing him again shortly since his wife and daughter were inbound on the evening train from Insbruck where they had been visiting family.
We had enough time to return to Betsy and collapse on our beds for an hour power nap. Michael is as fit as ever and needless to say he put both Kurt and I through our paces. We think we walked about 12 to 15km over the course of the day, definitely more than our usual exercise. With enough time for quick showers we were off to meet up with Michael, Verena and Caroline at the train station. Bags in hand we found a near by Coffee house for a bit of a chat and some refreshments before we went our separate ways again for the evening.
Tomorrow morning we head out of Vienna for Bergtesgarden via Michael’s house for breakfast.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Day Twenty Three
DAY TWENTY THREE
We woke early this morning to the continuous traffic noise in the middle of Vienna. Betsy is parked on one of the main city roads in Vienna and makes for an interesting cultural noise experience. Glenn could sleep through anything short of a nuclear explosion and I have my newly acquired IPod Earphones, so we both had a good night’s sleep. We had breakfast at the Hostel – an all you can eat Continental Buffet breakfast and then made our way by underground to St Stephens Cathedral.
The rain had stopped as predicted by “Q” and the weather was a warm 2 degrees – positive. This meant that Glenn only wore 4 layers of clothing this morning as compared to his usual 6 layers elsewhere in Europe. The trains in Austria are so easy to use and understand that in no time we were at the cathedral and admiring its beauty. The cathedral dates back some 700 years and is filled with numerous statues and artistic carvings that pay tribute to various saints.
We then planned to make our way on foot to the Hofburg Palace in Vienna but had to make a scheduled stop along the way.
Glenn had indicated his desire to visit the Lipizzans horses in Vienna and perhaps to watch a show. Now I know of at least three avid followers of this blog that love horses – Glenn’s Mom, Lee and My Pops. Well guys guess what; we went to see them exercise the horses in a palace listening to music by Mozart. I have to say that even though Glenn and I are not horse lovers, the experience was magical to say the least. We would have loved to have attended an official performance but they do not perform for the public during the winter months. The extent of training in these beautiful white horses is unbelievable and watching them trot sideways was incredible. Needless to say, Glenn felt so moved about the whole experience he has decided that he may well ask his Mom to teach him to ride when he gets back to SA. I have to say that throughout the entire spectacle we thought of you three horse lovers.
We stopped at the Café at the Spanish riding school where the horses are trained and had a Maria Theresa coffee – double espresso with Orange Liqueur and topped with fresh cream sprinkled with orange flavored sugar – Yum…
We left the church and proceeded by foot to the Palace district in Vienna. I use the word district because the Hofburg Palace complex in Vienna stretches some 240 000 square meters and has more than 2900 rooms. This was undoubtedly the most formidable and lavish palace complex we have seen yet.
We purchased tickets to view the Imperial Apartments’ of the Habsburg monarchy as well as the “SISI” museum – Elizabeth I as well as the Silver collection of the Habsburg monarchy. The Hofburg Palace was the residence of the Habsburg dynasty for over 600 years. The stately splendor under which the Austrian royalty lived was beyond belief and attested to the wealth and power of the Austrian rulers of their time. The bulk of the exhibition was dedicated to Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth – also known as Sisi.
The Imperial Apartments’ were restored to their original splendor and gave one insight into the lives led by the Emperor and his wife Sisi. Franz Joseph was a simple man and chose to live his life with little luxuries whilst his Empress enjoyed the finer things in life such as a personal toilet with Flush mechanism not unlike those in use today as well as a bath tub with running water – hot and cold.
The Sisi museum was dedicated to Empress Elizabeth and gave insight into her personality, her rebellion against court ceremonial and the way in which she strove to remain beautiful and trim. In particular it showed her obsessive dieting, sporting manias and her romantic poetry and melancholic behavior. The empress travelled incessantly and had the most incredible travel cases filled with Bone China, travel tea sets and even a specially modified rail carriage. The story of Sisi may be remembered by those loyal followers who watched the 3 part trilogy of her life as portrayed in movies made in 1956. The silver collection showed a level of opulence that words could never aptly portray except to say that one had to surmise that the collection on show in the palace museum would be worth Billions of Euro at the least.
For those history buffs among you, it was the son of the Emperor – Franz Ferdinand II – that was assassinated in 1914 that gave rise to the start of the First World War.
We then made our way back to Betsy for an afternoon’s siesta and got ourselves up and ready for a Sushi Dinner with Michael. For those of you who don’t know Michael, he and I went to high school together – yes we did have schools back then as well. Michael has been my good and close friend for more than 30 years and seeing him again tonight in his Hugo Boss suit, I can see now the error of my ways in choosing to become a bean counter and not a computer wiz like Michael. We enjoyed a super dinner of Sushi – at long last – and a lot of laughs and jokes around the dinner table. Michael has taken time off work to join us in Vienna tomorrow and we will all be taking the sights in together and meeting up with his Wife Verena and daughter Caroline tomorrow evening.
We woke early this morning to the continuous traffic noise in the middle of Vienna. Betsy is parked on one of the main city roads in Vienna and makes for an interesting cultural noise experience. Glenn could sleep through anything short of a nuclear explosion and I have my newly acquired IPod Earphones, so we both had a good night’s sleep. We had breakfast at the Hostel – an all you can eat Continental Buffet breakfast and then made our way by underground to St Stephens Cathedral.
The rain had stopped as predicted by “Q” and the weather was a warm 2 degrees – positive. This meant that Glenn only wore 4 layers of clothing this morning as compared to his usual 6 layers elsewhere in Europe. The trains in Austria are so easy to use and understand that in no time we were at the cathedral and admiring its beauty. The cathedral dates back some 700 years and is filled with numerous statues and artistic carvings that pay tribute to various saints.
We then planned to make our way on foot to the Hofburg Palace in Vienna but had to make a scheduled stop along the way.
Glenn had indicated his desire to visit the Lipizzans horses in Vienna and perhaps to watch a show. Now I know of at least three avid followers of this blog that love horses – Glenn’s Mom, Lee and My Pops. Well guys guess what; we went to see them exercise the horses in a palace listening to music by Mozart. I have to say that even though Glenn and I are not horse lovers, the experience was magical to say the least. We would have loved to have attended an official performance but they do not perform for the public during the winter months. The extent of training in these beautiful white horses is unbelievable and watching them trot sideways was incredible. Needless to say, Glenn felt so moved about the whole experience he has decided that he may well ask his Mom to teach him to ride when he gets back to SA. I have to say that throughout the entire spectacle we thought of you three horse lovers.
We stopped at the Café at the Spanish riding school where the horses are trained and had a Maria Theresa coffee – double espresso with Orange Liqueur and topped with fresh cream sprinkled with orange flavored sugar – Yum…
We left the church and proceeded by foot to the Palace district in Vienna. I use the word district because the Hofburg Palace complex in Vienna stretches some 240 000 square meters and has more than 2900 rooms. This was undoubtedly the most formidable and lavish palace complex we have seen yet.
We purchased tickets to view the Imperial Apartments’ of the Habsburg monarchy as well as the “SISI” museum – Elizabeth I as well as the Silver collection of the Habsburg monarchy. The Hofburg Palace was the residence of the Habsburg dynasty for over 600 years. The stately splendor under which the Austrian royalty lived was beyond belief and attested to the wealth and power of the Austrian rulers of their time. The bulk of the exhibition was dedicated to Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth – also known as Sisi.
The Imperial Apartments’ were restored to their original splendor and gave one insight into the lives led by the Emperor and his wife Sisi. Franz Joseph was a simple man and chose to live his life with little luxuries whilst his Empress enjoyed the finer things in life such as a personal toilet with Flush mechanism not unlike those in use today as well as a bath tub with running water – hot and cold.
The Sisi museum was dedicated to Empress Elizabeth and gave insight into her personality, her rebellion against court ceremonial and the way in which she strove to remain beautiful and trim. In particular it showed her obsessive dieting, sporting manias and her romantic poetry and melancholic behavior. The empress travelled incessantly and had the most incredible travel cases filled with Bone China, travel tea sets and even a specially modified rail carriage. The story of Sisi may be remembered by those loyal followers who watched the 3 part trilogy of her life as portrayed in movies made in 1956. The silver collection showed a level of opulence that words could never aptly portray except to say that one had to surmise that the collection on show in the palace museum would be worth Billions of Euro at the least.
For those history buffs among you, it was the son of the Emperor – Franz Ferdinand II – that was assassinated in 1914 that gave rise to the start of the First World War.
We then made our way back to Betsy for an afternoon’s siesta and got ourselves up and ready for a Sushi Dinner with Michael. For those of you who don’t know Michael, he and I went to high school together – yes we did have schools back then as well. Michael has been my good and close friend for more than 30 years and seeing him again tonight in his Hugo Boss suit, I can see now the error of my ways in choosing to become a bean counter and not a computer wiz like Michael. We enjoyed a super dinner of Sushi – at long last – and a lot of laughs and jokes around the dinner table. Michael has taken time off work to join us in Vienna tomorrow and we will all be taking the sights in together and meeting up with his Wife Verena and daughter Caroline tomorrow evening.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Day Twenty Two
DAY TWENTY-TWO
After getting to bed a bit late last night after my afternoon Turkish Coffee, this morning’s 6am wake-up was a bit rough – but nothing a good cup of coffee couldn’t sort out. Without a shower or a cooked breakfast we were on the road by 7am with a 468km drive ahead of us from Krakow Poland through Moravia in the Check Republic to Vienna in Austria.
At this point I must mention that Kurt and I have really had God’s providence with the weather thus far on the trip. Every single day we’ve gone exploring the sun has come out and the day has been clear for photographs – no small fact given the nature of winter weather in Europe. The inverse of this however has been that our travelling days have invariably had bad weather and today was no exception. No sooner had we left Krakow we drove into near gale force winds and a snow storm. As we headed south the snow abated but the winds buffeted Betsy the whole way to Vienna. Given that the drive took six hours this was a really hard stretch for Kurt but he managed to wrestle our three tone wind catcher into the yard at A&O Hostel by early afternoon. If you’re wondering why we’re camped in the front yard of a youth hostel, it’s because all of Vienna’s seven camping grounds are closed for winter.. another one of those mysteries. We’ve had to rent a two bed ‘dorm’ since there are no public ablutions, but given the soft foam mattresses on offer we’ve chosen to continue sleeping in Betsy during our planned three night stay in the capital.
What did I think of the Check Republic? Well it’s not really fair to comment given we only spent a few hours driving through but from the surface it looks very similar to Poland, just not quite as prosperous. The old Soviet buildings are all mostly repainted with bright colours, advertising is everywhere, new cars abound and new houses and factories are common. The road system is a bit disappointing after the new highways we’ve driven on in Slovenia through Poland, with some potholes and sections of concrete highway with really bad corrugations. I did enjoy driving through the abandoned border post – having read Brother Andrews ‘God’s smuggler’ it’s given me a great appreciation of the freedoms now available to Eastern Europeans after the fall of the iron curtain.
Back in Austria we tended to Betsy’s water needs, our long overdue washing and also the internet. We decided to look for sushi but found the nearest restaurant overcrowded and went for Schnitzel instead. For what ever reason non smoking laws don’t seem to have reached Europe, and it was really unpleasant having to eat in a crowd of smokers. The schnitzel at least was very good.
Editors Note: I have just returned from my shower in room 108 of the hostel. It must seem kindof strange to the staff at the hostel since we shower at the hostel and keep going back to the camper. We now at least have our own changing room with 15 German TV Channels and CNN.
After getting to bed a bit late last night after my afternoon Turkish Coffee, this morning’s 6am wake-up was a bit rough – but nothing a good cup of coffee couldn’t sort out. Without a shower or a cooked breakfast we were on the road by 7am with a 468km drive ahead of us from Krakow Poland through Moravia in the Check Republic to Vienna in Austria.
At this point I must mention that Kurt and I have really had God’s providence with the weather thus far on the trip. Every single day we’ve gone exploring the sun has come out and the day has been clear for photographs – no small fact given the nature of winter weather in Europe. The inverse of this however has been that our travelling days have invariably had bad weather and today was no exception. No sooner had we left Krakow we drove into near gale force winds and a snow storm. As we headed south the snow abated but the winds buffeted Betsy the whole way to Vienna. Given that the drive took six hours this was a really hard stretch for Kurt but he managed to wrestle our three tone wind catcher into the yard at A&O Hostel by early afternoon. If you’re wondering why we’re camped in the front yard of a youth hostel, it’s because all of Vienna’s seven camping grounds are closed for winter.. another one of those mysteries. We’ve had to rent a two bed ‘dorm’ since there are no public ablutions, but given the soft foam mattresses on offer we’ve chosen to continue sleeping in Betsy during our planned three night stay in the capital.
What did I think of the Check Republic? Well it’s not really fair to comment given we only spent a few hours driving through but from the surface it looks very similar to Poland, just not quite as prosperous. The old Soviet buildings are all mostly repainted with bright colours, advertising is everywhere, new cars abound and new houses and factories are common. The road system is a bit disappointing after the new highways we’ve driven on in Slovenia through Poland, with some potholes and sections of concrete highway with really bad corrugations. I did enjoy driving through the abandoned border post – having read Brother Andrews ‘God’s smuggler’ it’s given me a great appreciation of the freedoms now available to Eastern Europeans after the fall of the iron curtain.
Back in Austria we tended to Betsy’s water needs, our long overdue washing and also the internet. We decided to look for sushi but found the nearest restaurant overcrowded and went for Schnitzel instead. For what ever reason non smoking laws don’t seem to have reached Europe, and it was really unpleasant having to eat in a crowd of smokers. The schnitzel at least was very good.
Editors Note: I have just returned from my shower in room 108 of the hostel. It must seem kindof strange to the staff at the hostel since we shower at the hostel and keep going back to the camper. We now at least have our own changing room with 15 German TV Channels and CNN.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Day Twenty One
DAY TWENTY-ONE
Well the day of our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau (AB) arrived at last. Last night Glenn and I spent some time reflecting on the day ahead and what we would feel in going to the Nazi war camp. We woke early at around 6.15am and after a quick breakfast we left for AB located around 67 Kms from our campsite in Krakow. It has to have been the quietest Glenn and I have ever been on a drive in Europe thus far. I somehow knew that the visit to the camp would be a life changing experience and having got back to our campsite and typing up today’s blog, Glenn and I both agree that it’s not possible to go to AB and not be changed in some way.
The drive to AB was largely through small villages and forested areas and one truly got the impression that the Nazis had planned to locate this site far away from prying eyes. The oppressive sense that you felt once we drew near to the camp was almost tangible and we were shocked to see houses located right across the street from Auschwitz I. The main museum is located at Auschwitz I which was built first and the second camp is located around 3kms away and called Auschwitz-Birkenau II. The tour started with a 20 minute movie largely comprising live footage filmed by the Russian forces that liberated the camp at Auschwitz. The scenes shown in the movie were no doubt meant to prepare us for a tour around the real camp. I am sure that most people who had read about or watched History channel on Auschwitz, would have seen some of the images in the film footage.
It was walking down the same road through the gate entitled “Arbeit Macht Frei” – or “work will set you free” that really brought the true cruelty of this place to mind. We were part of a tour of 14 English speaking people and were accompanied by a guide throughout the 4 hour visit to AB. The guide was quick to point out that with the hard labor experienced by the prisoners at AB – of which 90% were Jewish, it was most likely that people would die within 3-4 months and thereby gain their freedom from this place of hell. We were taken on a detailed tour around Auschwitz and shown articles of personal effects, torture chambers and other areas too indescribable to mention on the blog. The final stop at the tour of Auschwitz was the crematorium and this really brought the killing that took place at AB to life. I have to say that I was largely speechless throughout the entire tour with the exception of the occasional – Oh no, or that’s unbelievable.
A little historical background that Glenn and I learnt for the first time today was that the Nazi’s murdered around 6 million Jews during the duration of the Second World War. The total Jewish population of Europe at the start of WWII was 11 Million and Hitler therefore murdered almost ½ the Jews in Europe. The polish Jews however were the worst affected. Poland had around 3.5 million Jews at the start of WWII and approximately 3 million of them were murdered by Hitler. The total number of Jews that live in Poland today is around 12 500. He succeeded in totally annihilating the Jewish population in Poland which by the end of the war meant that ½ the Jews that were murdered were Polish. The camp at Auschwitz accounted for around 1 million deaths and the camp at the larger Auschwitz-Birkenau accounted for around 1.5 million deaths. The camp at AB II accounted for the extermination and disposal of 437 000 Hungarian Jews in 56 days near the end of WWII. The most horrific discovery was that 20% of the Jewish people murdered were children under the age of 16 years of age.
We left the first camp by coach for AB II. This camp was largely destroyed by the Nazis to hide the evidence of their evil work at the camp but one could see the size and extent of the crimes committed by the Nazis when one walked around the camp. The camp itself is the size of 16 football pitches. It housed 150 000 prisoners in late 1944 and the Nazis murdered and disposed of 8 000 people per day at this camp. We were taken to one of the wooden barns in which up to 1 000 people were housed and shown their living conditions as well as ablution and washing facilities. I cannot go into details in the blog but needless to say, one can only imagine the horror these poor souls had to go through during their incarceration at AB and ABII. We spent some time walking around the camp outside and although it was around -8 degrees, one almost felt it was just the thing to do in remembering these people and the incredible demonstration of the human spirit shown during the 5 years of WWII.
I cannot recall ever having been so moved by an experience in my life and I have to say that although it was a somber experience to say the least, it was without a doubt the most important time we have had thus far in Europe.
On a lighter note, we had lunch at a restaurant near Auschwitz and Glenn had some kind of beef steak with mash potatoes and read cabbage whilst I enjoyed a Check steak with potatoes and cabbage. Glenn decided that instead of his usual cappuccino, he would have a Turkish coffee. I sincerely hope he will be able to sleep tonight since we leave at 7.00am for a long drive through the Czech Republic onto Vienna for 3 nights.
Well the day of our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau (AB) arrived at last. Last night Glenn and I spent some time reflecting on the day ahead and what we would feel in going to the Nazi war camp. We woke early at around 6.15am and after a quick breakfast we left for AB located around 67 Kms from our campsite in Krakow. It has to have been the quietest Glenn and I have ever been on a drive in Europe thus far. I somehow knew that the visit to the camp would be a life changing experience and having got back to our campsite and typing up today’s blog, Glenn and I both agree that it’s not possible to go to AB and not be changed in some way.
The drive to AB was largely through small villages and forested areas and one truly got the impression that the Nazis had planned to locate this site far away from prying eyes. The oppressive sense that you felt once we drew near to the camp was almost tangible and we were shocked to see houses located right across the street from Auschwitz I. The main museum is located at Auschwitz I which was built first and the second camp is located around 3kms away and called Auschwitz-Birkenau II. The tour started with a 20 minute movie largely comprising live footage filmed by the Russian forces that liberated the camp at Auschwitz. The scenes shown in the movie were no doubt meant to prepare us for a tour around the real camp. I am sure that most people who had read about or watched History channel on Auschwitz, would have seen some of the images in the film footage.
It was walking down the same road through the gate entitled “Arbeit Macht Frei” – or “work will set you free” that really brought the true cruelty of this place to mind. We were part of a tour of 14 English speaking people and were accompanied by a guide throughout the 4 hour visit to AB. The guide was quick to point out that with the hard labor experienced by the prisoners at AB – of which 90% were Jewish, it was most likely that people would die within 3-4 months and thereby gain their freedom from this place of hell. We were taken on a detailed tour around Auschwitz and shown articles of personal effects, torture chambers and other areas too indescribable to mention on the blog. The final stop at the tour of Auschwitz was the crematorium and this really brought the killing that took place at AB to life. I have to say that I was largely speechless throughout the entire tour with the exception of the occasional – Oh no, or that’s unbelievable.
A little historical background that Glenn and I learnt for the first time today was that the Nazi’s murdered around 6 million Jews during the duration of the Second World War. The total Jewish population of Europe at the start of WWII was 11 Million and Hitler therefore murdered almost ½ the Jews in Europe. The polish Jews however were the worst affected. Poland had around 3.5 million Jews at the start of WWII and approximately 3 million of them were murdered by Hitler. The total number of Jews that live in Poland today is around 12 500. He succeeded in totally annihilating the Jewish population in Poland which by the end of the war meant that ½ the Jews that were murdered were Polish. The camp at Auschwitz accounted for around 1 million deaths and the camp at the larger Auschwitz-Birkenau accounted for around 1.5 million deaths. The camp at AB II accounted for the extermination and disposal of 437 000 Hungarian Jews in 56 days near the end of WWII. The most horrific discovery was that 20% of the Jewish people murdered were children under the age of 16 years of age.
We left the first camp by coach for AB II. This camp was largely destroyed by the Nazis to hide the evidence of their evil work at the camp but one could see the size and extent of the crimes committed by the Nazis when one walked around the camp. The camp itself is the size of 16 football pitches. It housed 150 000 prisoners in late 1944 and the Nazis murdered and disposed of 8 000 people per day at this camp. We were taken to one of the wooden barns in which up to 1 000 people were housed and shown their living conditions as well as ablution and washing facilities. I cannot go into details in the blog but needless to say, one can only imagine the horror these poor souls had to go through during their incarceration at AB and ABII. We spent some time walking around the camp outside and although it was around -8 degrees, one almost felt it was just the thing to do in remembering these people and the incredible demonstration of the human spirit shown during the 5 years of WWII.
I cannot recall ever having been so moved by an experience in my life and I have to say that although it was a somber experience to say the least, it was without a doubt the most important time we have had thus far in Europe.
On a lighter note, we had lunch at a restaurant near Auschwitz and Glenn had some kind of beef steak with mash potatoes and read cabbage whilst I enjoyed a Check steak with potatoes and cabbage. Glenn decided that instead of his usual cappuccino, he would have a Turkish coffee. I sincerely hope he will be able to sleep tonight since we leave at 7.00am for a long drive through the Czech Republic onto Vienna for 3 nights.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Day Twenty
DAY TWENTY
It was another relaxed seven am start to the day with a great cooked breakfast. Outside temperatures started out at -9.8 degrees but fortunately warmed up to around 1 degree over the course of the day. We planned to take in the UNESCO protected Salt Mine outside of Krakow, a major tourist site 14km from our camp.
Naturally occurring salt deposits were discovered in the area 700 years ago and became a major export for Poland, making up a third of their economy during the Medieval period. Mining at the site continued up to 1996 by which time the shafts ran 9 levels deep to 350m below ground level with over 2000 chambers having been carved out.
Apparently profits from the mine were responsible for funding both Wawel castle and the university which is the third oldest in Europe. Interestingly Copernicus the famous astronomer was a Pole and an alumni of the university.
The mine is now a very slick tourist operation seeing a million tourists a year pass through its gates. We took the first English tour at 10am with a small group including an Australian Father and daughter and a Canadian couple whom we got to know a bit on the three hour tour.
The tour starts with a decent to 68m after walking down 380 steps, where the tunnels for the 1st level begin. Obviously the place has been done up really well with wooden staircases and reinforcing. As we walked along chambers of various sizes would open up with human mannequins reconstructing aspects of mining life and equipment. There were some ingenious systems of pulleys and ropes operated by men or by horses brought down as foals which could raise and lower large loads on counterbalances. Throughout men had carved little chapels out of the rock salt with the one exception being a massive chamber which three men spend 63 years carving into a church. It includes incredibly artistic rock salt carvings of the life of Christ and statues of various saints. Wooden chandeliers decorated with salt crystals finish the room off and the effect is really breathtaking. Apparently church services are still held there on Sundays and it’s obviously still used for weddings.
The tour ends at the only restaurant in the world 125m underground. Given that we were deep in conversation with our English speaking companions we missed our opportunity for an underground cappuccino.
Driving back to camp we passed the now rebuilt Jewish Ghetto area of Kazimierz which the Germans totally destroyed after the fierce resistance put up there by the Jews towards the end of the war. 65000 Jews were taken to Auschwitz from here and murdered during Nazi rule. We are heading out tomorrow to see the remains of the death camp.
Editors Note – Glenn forgot to mention the unbelievable Bacon Ravioli with Mince, Tomatoes and Onions that I cooked for a sumptuous lunch – washed down with a Becks Beer. He says there is no longer any need to mention the food since I always cook such good food but I say that since I love cooking so much and therefore feel all you faithful followers need to realize how much fun I am having in Betsy’s kitchen…..
It was another relaxed seven am start to the day with a great cooked breakfast. Outside temperatures started out at -9.8 degrees but fortunately warmed up to around 1 degree over the course of the day. We planned to take in the UNESCO protected Salt Mine outside of Krakow, a major tourist site 14km from our camp.
Naturally occurring salt deposits were discovered in the area 700 years ago and became a major export for Poland, making up a third of their economy during the Medieval period. Mining at the site continued up to 1996 by which time the shafts ran 9 levels deep to 350m below ground level with over 2000 chambers having been carved out.
Apparently profits from the mine were responsible for funding both Wawel castle and the university which is the third oldest in Europe. Interestingly Copernicus the famous astronomer was a Pole and an alumni of the university.
The mine is now a very slick tourist operation seeing a million tourists a year pass through its gates. We took the first English tour at 10am with a small group including an Australian Father and daughter and a Canadian couple whom we got to know a bit on the three hour tour.
The tour starts with a decent to 68m after walking down 380 steps, where the tunnels for the 1st level begin. Obviously the place has been done up really well with wooden staircases and reinforcing. As we walked along chambers of various sizes would open up with human mannequins reconstructing aspects of mining life and equipment. There were some ingenious systems of pulleys and ropes operated by men or by horses brought down as foals which could raise and lower large loads on counterbalances. Throughout men had carved little chapels out of the rock salt with the one exception being a massive chamber which three men spend 63 years carving into a church. It includes incredibly artistic rock salt carvings of the life of Christ and statues of various saints. Wooden chandeliers decorated with salt crystals finish the room off and the effect is really breathtaking. Apparently church services are still held there on Sundays and it’s obviously still used for weddings.
The tour ends at the only restaurant in the world 125m underground. Given that we were deep in conversation with our English speaking companions we missed our opportunity for an underground cappuccino.
Driving back to camp we passed the now rebuilt Jewish Ghetto area of Kazimierz which the Germans totally destroyed after the fierce resistance put up there by the Jews towards the end of the war. 65000 Jews were taken to Auschwitz from here and murdered during Nazi rule. We are heading out tomorrow to see the remains of the death camp.
Editors Note – Glenn forgot to mention the unbelievable Bacon Ravioli with Mince, Tomatoes and Onions that I cooked for a sumptuous lunch – washed down with a Becks Beer. He says there is no longer any need to mention the food since I always cook such good food but I say that since I love cooking so much and therefore feel all you faithful followers need to realize how much fun I am having in Betsy’s kitchen…..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)