Goodbye relaxed casual orderly country feel of Epernay and hello hustle bustle noise and chaos of Rouen. Rouen, another town on the Seine, was a had to do; mainly for my benefit as another of my grandmothers uncles is buried in the war cemetery there. Finding the cemetery kept us busy and frustrated; we tried late arvo without a map (massive test for my driving and Manda's patience in afternoon rush hour) and early morning with a map (but it still took us a while)! The cemetery, considering it's large size, was immaculately manicured, I felt it a real mark of respect to the diggers buried there. Thankfully there were 4 or 5 rather thick consecutive alphanumeric volumes with all the diggers names and home town which also provided a code as to where in the cemetery one could find them. Invaluable! It would have taken hours to find without this. Interesting, the cemetery is open between set hours unlike Gallipoli which is open all the time so check opening hours before tuning up!
Camped in just outside Rouen but it was dodgy and freezing cold; I gave up on sleep at 5am when the car thermometer read -1 degrees. Bizarrely enough Manda slept on through seemingly happy enough so I managed to get a long walk in and do some exploring of the local village.
Once my princess awoke from her slumber (7am) we headed back to Rouen (5 min drive) and saw the site where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in the 1400's and the rather large, impressive and ornate Rouen cathedral. From here went to the cemetery and then left Rouen as quick as possible. Don't think we're the big city type!
Our prospects and spirits, having left Rouen finally having done what we went there for, were revived almost instantly as we headed south to Giverney, home to Claude Monet and his famous gardens. His home and more so the gardens were beautiful and certainly inspirational; the water gardens, featured in so many of his works, were simply stunning. I can only imagine the staff required to keep everything here so perfect. Favorite plant here was perhaps 10 apple trees grown to a meter tall to create a boxed hedge look! Incredible!
We then headed deeper into Normandy and did the 5 D-Day beaches before stopping in a little medieval village named Honfleur for the night. It to was pretty as a picture and had amazing fresh seafood (we couldn't have asked for more)!
Also, interestingly, on our trip to Honfleur we came across quite possibly 1000+ French police?!? Manda and I had all sorts of theories as to what they were all doing (searching cars, blocking road entries, big dogs, swat looking vehicles, wearing camo, hiding in bushes, on bikes, in helicopters; the district was swarming with them!) - murder/man hunt seemed most exciting and therefore appealing!!! Alas it was to keep a little seaside village next to Honfleur tight as a fish's posterior for the bloody G8 summit?!? No murderer? No terrorist? No drug bust? No secret mission?! What a let down. The bright side is that we haven't seen 1 police officer anywhere otherwise; clearly they are all at the G8!!!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Epernay to Honfleur via Rouen - pictures to accompany text
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| Mont Saint Michel at low tide |
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| Monet's water garden |
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| Monet's house |
Manda the map reader
To date Manda has been a terrific map reader; we have somehow managed to navigate over 2000km in France with hardly an issue!
That is when she is not sleeping of course!
Picture not allowed to be put on....
That is when she is not sleeping of course!
Picture not allowed to be put on....
There once was a man from Lille
From Brussels in Belgium we headed to Lille in France to see our good friend from Armidale, Thibaut. He put us up for 3 nights at his bachelors pad where and kept us well entertained; chocolate every meal in one form or another, flamin' banana pan fried with rum, microwaved banana with chocolate, crepes, markets, bowling, picnics, karaoke, guitar lessons, dodgy SFR Internet and football celebrations as Lilles team won the French league amongst others! Thibauts friend Baptiste was also a great host and ended up spending a lot of time with us which was good.
Lille was wherewe collected our little Opal hire car (from now on known as Olivia). I can now say that driving her is a pleasure but the relationship to start was a but rocky. 2 minutes practice in the airport carpark on her left hand drive and manual box and I had it, so I thought; we/I hadn't taken into account the mad french drivers, the multitude of french road signs (whattttt do they all say?!? There's not enough time to read them all!!!), and that we didn't have the map book at the ready (no gps here; fortunately Manda is an extraordinary map reader!). Let's just say it got a little crazy!
Once on the open road, map book in hand, we successfully got to the "birthplace" of champagne, Epernay in north-eastern France. This to date is the only toll road we've taken (11€ for about 30 min!! Hence we're not looking to take too many more). Epernay plays host to all things important to champagne;
1. Home of monk Dom Peringon (who was integral to it's creation-being a monk is starting to sound good!)
2. Moet and Chandon who still are the official suppliers of the Royal family (their vintage drops highly recommended; taste them next to the always good normal expense stuff from Aus and notice the difference!) and who also produce the champagne called Don Peringon; their flagship line. Interestingly here a nice bottle of Moet like we get at home sells for 25€ here in their supermarkets. The good gear, vintage, sells for less than 50€! Bit of a bargain really!
3. Underground cellars. This is where it's all stored; millions of bottles are stowed away maturing. The cellars (Moet and Mercier perhaps two of the largest houses) have a combined total length of about 40km. Amazing.
The countryside in the region was spectacular and the perfect weather over our time here made it even more amazing; just to drive the back roads and see the vineyards, hills, fields of wheat etc and picture perfect little villages was blissful. And that was before the tastings! (which had a cost and generally include a tour at the larger places)
Epernay was our first campsite; for 13€ we got a private little tent site, showers etc and a beaut river view. Champagne not included and nor was wifi (both available at a price!). Little orange tent held up well but doesn't breathe well and ends up dripping with condensation in the morning. Can't complain for a 25€ tent thats smaller to carry than my sleeping bag. There will be more camping to come!!!
Finally a little ditty to Thibaut;
There once was Frenchman from Lille,
Who could cook crepes with chocolate and dill (yum!),
The combos kept rollin',
Till the rumanas (rum on bananas) start smokin'
And the whole damned contraption caught fire!
Thibaut was the Masterchef behind the pan fried bananas with flaming white rum which was actually not to bad! We later tried microwaved banana with chocolate; this was a disaster... Hahahaha. Thanks for a great time in Lille Thibaut and Baptiste!
Lille was wherewe collected our little Opal hire car (from now on known as Olivia). I can now say that driving her is a pleasure but the relationship to start was a but rocky. 2 minutes practice in the airport carpark on her left hand drive and manual box and I had it, so I thought; we/I hadn't taken into account the mad french drivers, the multitude of french road signs (whattttt do they all say?!? There's not enough time to read them all!!!), and that we didn't have the map book at the ready (no gps here; fortunately Manda is an extraordinary map reader!). Let's just say it got a little crazy!
Once on the open road, map book in hand, we successfully got to the "birthplace" of champagne, Epernay in north-eastern France. This to date is the only toll road we've taken (11€ for about 30 min!! Hence we're not looking to take too many more). Epernay plays host to all things important to champagne;
1. Home of monk Dom Peringon (who was integral to it's creation-being a monk is starting to sound good!)
2. Moet and Chandon who still are the official suppliers of the Royal family (their vintage drops highly recommended; taste them next to the always good normal expense stuff from Aus and notice the difference!) and who also produce the champagne called Don Peringon; their flagship line. Interestingly here a nice bottle of Moet like we get at home sells for 25€ here in their supermarkets. The good gear, vintage, sells for less than 50€! Bit of a bargain really!
3. Underground cellars. This is where it's all stored; millions of bottles are stowed away maturing. The cellars (Moet and Mercier perhaps two of the largest houses) have a combined total length of about 40km. Amazing.
The countryside in the region was spectacular and the perfect weather over our time here made it even more amazing; just to drive the back roads and see the vineyards, hills, fields of wheat etc and picture perfect little villages was blissful. And that was before the tastings! (which had a cost and generally include a tour at the larger places)
Epernay was our first campsite; for 13€ we got a private little tent site, showers etc and a beaut river view. Champagne not included and nor was wifi (both available at a price!). Little orange tent held up well but doesn't breathe well and ends up dripping with condensation in the morning. Can't complain for a 25€ tent thats smaller to carry than my sleeping bag. There will be more camping to come!!!
Finally a little ditty to Thibaut;
There once was Frenchman from Lille,
Who could cook crepes with chocolate and dill (yum!),
The combos kept rollin',
Till the rumanas (rum on bananas) start smokin'
And the whole damned contraption caught fire!
Thibaut was the Masterchef behind the pan fried bananas with flaming white rum which was actually not to bad! We later tried microwaved banana with chocolate; this was a disaster... Hahahaha. Thanks for a great time in Lille Thibaut and Baptiste!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Mussels in Brussels
Topdeck done! And how great an experience it was. After my thoughts initially about the possibility for it being a booze/bang bus (may have been good or bad!) it was terrific. The average age was 27, there was a great mix of people, we had a fantastic driver and enthusiastic guide. The bus dropped us and 'waaaavvedddd gooood byyyye' after they stopped briefly for lunch at Brugge and it was back to the Brad and Mandy show! Missing the topdeck crew as made some great mates!!
Brugge was pretty, very medieval really. Had a great feel to it. Very touristy. We wandered the old town fairy widely as it was very pretty and explored the canals too. Given so much of the Netherlands has been reclaimed from the sea it was interesting to see a few windmills remain! Non functional I assume!! After sampling Belgium beer and frites (belgium chips - quite a specialty) and more up Mandas alley waffles with whipped cream and strawberries and delicious Belgium chocolates we headed off to see Liams parents in Brussels on the train!
Thankfully, we met Terry at the station in Brussels as we'd have been lost without her! We spent 2 relaxing nights at Chateau Gallagher and were lucky enough to have Terry take us on a guided tour of Brussels to see all the sights and to share a meal together of moules-frites ('national dish' of mussels and chips). We shared our time here with Terry's Mum and Dad (Monica and Tom) who unselfishly shared both Terry and Martin which we greatly appreciated!
We only spent a short time (but good time) with Martin over a few Belgium beers (Leffe and Duvel) at their local bar which was equally relaxing!
Mandas highlight was a stop at Pierre Marcolini who could be argued is one of Belgium's forefront choclatiers combining amazing flavours with textures and colour and design. His chocolates to die for! To demonstrate this blokes creative flare he has just released his spring summer 2011 collection of chocolates called Pastel (and I thought only clothing was designed around the seasons); wow! At 1€+ each they'd want to be amazing!! Must say they are mindblowingly great! Good choice Manda (2 free samples that was)! My highlight was beer stop number 3 on Terrys walking tour at a belgium beer house called Delirium! 2004 Guinness record holders for the most beers available (2004 apparently the record they set): they have their own drop also; a blonde beer called Delirium which has a flying pig as it's mascot! Very cool. Also left our backpack here (contents including but not limited to all our cash and passports)... Remembered i was missing it about 45 minutes later so caught the train back to town and thankfully the bar staff had it. Honest locals. Too many Belgium delirium causing beers for Brad?!?
A huge thanks to Terry for her hospitality. It was just perfect!
Brugge was pretty, very medieval really. Had a great feel to it. Very touristy. We wandered the old town fairy widely as it was very pretty and explored the canals too. Given so much of the Netherlands has been reclaimed from the sea it was interesting to see a few windmills remain! Non functional I assume!! After sampling Belgium beer and frites (belgium chips - quite a specialty) and more up Mandas alley waffles with whipped cream and strawberries and delicious Belgium chocolates we headed off to see Liams parents in Brussels on the train!
Thankfully, we met Terry at the station in Brussels as we'd have been lost without her! We spent 2 relaxing nights at Chateau Gallagher and were lucky enough to have Terry take us on a guided tour of Brussels to see all the sights and to share a meal together of moules-frites ('national dish' of mussels and chips). We shared our time here with Terry's Mum and Dad (Monica and Tom) who unselfishly shared both Terry and Martin which we greatly appreciated!
We only spent a short time (but good time) with Martin over a few Belgium beers (Leffe and Duvel) at their local bar which was equally relaxing!
Mandas highlight was a stop at Pierre Marcolini who could be argued is one of Belgium's forefront choclatiers combining amazing flavours with textures and colour and design. His chocolates to die for! To demonstrate this blokes creative flare he has just released his spring summer 2011 collection of chocolates called Pastel (and I thought only clothing was designed around the seasons); wow! At 1€+ each they'd want to be amazing!! Must say they are mindblowingly great! Good choice Manda (2 free samples that was)! My highlight was beer stop number 3 on Terrys walking tour at a belgium beer house called Delirium! 2004 Guinness record holders for the most beers available (2004 apparently the record they set): they have their own drop also; a blonde beer called Delirium which has a flying pig as it's mascot! Very cool. Also left our backpack here (contents including but not limited to all our cash and passports)... Remembered i was missing it about 45 minutes later so caught the train back to town and thankfully the bar staff had it. Honest locals. Too many Belgium delirium causing beers for Brad?!?
A huge thanks to Terry for her hospitality. It was just perfect!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Prague to Berlin
Berlin. Rich history from WW2 and Hitler's 3rd Reich. Severely bombed/flattened WW2. Home of the east west divide by the now fallen Berlin wall. Capital of Germany. Check point Charlie. Uses the big bear as it's mascot. The place where Mercedes taxis are as common as Holdens and Fords in Australia. Museum central especially if it's war related. Home of the Holocaust Memorial. Pergamum altar resides here in the Pergamon museum. And without doubt nightlife central; nightclubs (ie strippers), discos (ie place to dance, what we would consider a nightclub), gay bars, live musicians (we had Cat Stevens play down the road from the hostel), and good food (crispy crackling pork knuckle at 1kg plus - great washed down with 1/2 L beers!). All in all an mind-blowing experience.
I'll let Manda tell you all about the photo below. Maddie, I will however tell you it was a very large night and Manda was well and truly amongst it (for better or worse i couldn't say...). We had a white dress party; yours truly cross dressed as a female (lots of unwanted attention from males and females - is this common when out ladies??!!) and Manda wore a lovely white dress too! Great night! Lots of sore heads the next day for a moving walking tour. Now on bus to Amsterdam so the looseness may continue!!! Yeahhhhhh!!!
Aidans experience of soft sour worms in his jocks a real experience for him! Lesson learnt; don't get too drunk next time!
I'll let Manda tell you all about the photo below. Maddie, I will however tell you it was a very large night and Manda was well and truly amongst it (for better or worse i couldn't say...). We had a white dress party; yours truly cross dressed as a female (lots of unwanted attention from males and females - is this common when out ladies??!!) and Manda wore a lovely white dress too! Great night! Lots of sore heads the next day for a moving walking tour. Now on bus to Amsterdam so the looseness may continue!!! Yeahhhhhh!!!
Aidans experience of soft sour worms in his jocks a real experience for him! Lesson learnt; don't get too drunk next time!
Krakow to Czech Republic via Kutna Hora
Krakow the nicer version of Poland's capital Warsaw was similar to most other larger cities; not that it was bad/boring just the same as most other cities we've visited. Did a Shindlers List tour and saw a smaller orthodox synagogue (yes, had to wear the little kap for men) which the Nazis had stripped of anything of value or significance to the Jewish (since restored). Interestingly the ladies and men sit separately in the orthodox synagogues (like the Muslim faith): apparently, according to the guide, this is to help everyone focus on their prayer. Additionally the orthodox synagogues will often be minimally decorated again to focus prayer. From what I can gather there are 3 strains of Judaism of which the black hats and long long sideburns is the most demanding!!! They appear to dedicate almost all their energy to their faith (religion first priority, then family and so on if time permits); interesting stuff. The synagogue also had a little cemetery with all the headstone inscribed in Hebrew; they often use code; dot above the Hebrew letter which with a code key corresponds to numerical information such as dates of birth/death etc to help protect identity or such. Sadly with the Nazi occupation here many of the original headstones were destroyed to be used as stone for the roads so the headstones here were all relatively new. Never flowers on the burial only rocks or 'non living' objects.
Saw the Jewish ghetto from WW2 and Oscar Shindler's factory from the war also (he set up a labour camp during the war staffed by Jewish people where they were well looked after with their families where possible. He produced metal wear; pots and pans and bullets etc. Just watch the movie! Great watch. Tour highlight was for most of the men the beautiful guide - a somewhat sassy sexy Polish lass... Smokin'... Notice I said most of the men... Wow... Not a patch on my wife however!
Poland also saw me lose poker and 10€, nearly lose my hair (fire breathing dragon which blows huge flames every 5 minutes almost got me; don't get too close Brad but do you think I'd listen? No. I climbed the dragon for a photo... Adrenalin rush of the trip to date!). Then I really did lose the mop of hair as the melon was shaved in the hostel... (1st time in 7 weeks); I've never seen such a mess left in a hostel room! Hair everywhere!!!
Left Krakow feeling we'd seen most of what it had to offer so we can happily tick that one off!
From Krakow we buzzed off into the Czech Republic were we stopped in the beautiful Prague (almost as beautiful as the Polish women!) for 2 days.
Insert photo
What more can I say; it was spectacular by night and day; a lovely romantic city and without doubt had the best train/tram system I've ever seen! Romance was off the agenda as we somehow ended up with a 3rd wheel (bloke) who shadowed us all day despite our best efforts to shake him off?!? To say Manda was furious would be an understatement! Nonetheless we did end up finding Monique and Suidy (the other married couple on our trip) so spent evening relaxing with them! 3 things to note;
1. Crowds are spastic during the on season. You can NOT avoid them.
2. The clock tower that does something on the hour is often terribly boring. And CROWDED! If you want to watch something more interesting watch the people watching it. Confusion often all over their face when it's a dud display!!!
3. Watch out for massive rip offs when dining out. Fees and charges are rampant, hidden and only disclosed when the bill arrives (by which stage it's to late to argue). Seating fee, bread fee, service fee it's all there and will often cost more than the meal! Over inflation of prices is common too!
Otherwise it's a great place and one could easily immerse themselves here for a number of days! Beer also fantastic here; strict brewing laws here result in a good ale!
Insert pic
Ah! Almost forgot, we took a slight detour to a little village along the way called Kutna Hora which is the site of a somewhat famous and certainly interesting little church and cemetery. The cemetery holds/held a special spot for 1000's of people from a bygone era (?1400's) when a chap travelled to Jerselum and brought back a fistful of dirt from the holy land and scattered it around the local cemetery. There are 12000 plots and bodies have been buried 12 deep as demand for these plots was so high as people believed that the fistful of soil scattered here would put them closer to God/Heaven etc. The church later employed some chap to dig up bones and decorate the church with them. The result is fascinating! Bones everywhere including a huge chandelier containing at least 1 example of every bone from the body!
Good times!
Saw the Jewish ghetto from WW2 and Oscar Shindler's factory from the war also (he set up a labour camp during the war staffed by Jewish people where they were well looked after with their families where possible. He produced metal wear; pots and pans and bullets etc. Just watch the movie! Great watch. Tour highlight was for most of the men the beautiful guide - a somewhat sassy sexy Polish lass... Smokin'... Notice I said most of the men... Wow... Not a patch on my wife however!
Poland also saw me lose poker and 10€, nearly lose my hair (fire breathing dragon which blows huge flames every 5 minutes almost got me; don't get too close Brad but do you think I'd listen? No. I climbed the dragon for a photo... Adrenalin rush of the trip to date!). Then I really did lose the mop of hair as the melon was shaved in the hostel... (1st time in 7 weeks); I've never seen such a mess left in a hostel room! Hair everywhere!!!
Left Krakow feeling we'd seen most of what it had to offer so we can happily tick that one off!
From Krakow we buzzed off into the Czech Republic were we stopped in the beautiful Prague (almost as beautiful as the Polish women!) for 2 days.
Insert photo
What more can I say; it was spectacular by night and day; a lovely romantic city and without doubt had the best train/tram system I've ever seen! Romance was off the agenda as we somehow ended up with a 3rd wheel (bloke) who shadowed us all day despite our best efforts to shake him off?!? To say Manda was furious would be an understatement! Nonetheless we did end up finding Monique and Suidy (the other married couple on our trip) so spent evening relaxing with them! 3 things to note;
1. Crowds are spastic during the on season. You can NOT avoid them.
2. The clock tower that does something on the hour is often terribly boring. And CROWDED! If you want to watch something more interesting watch the people watching it. Confusion often all over their face when it's a dud display!!!
3. Watch out for massive rip offs when dining out. Fees and charges are rampant, hidden and only disclosed when the bill arrives (by which stage it's to late to argue). Seating fee, bread fee, service fee it's all there and will often cost more than the meal! Over inflation of prices is common too!
Otherwise it's a great place and one could easily immerse themselves here for a number of days! Beer also fantastic here; strict brewing laws here result in a good ale!
Insert pic
Ah! Almost forgot, we took a slight detour to a little village along the way called Kutna Hora which is the site of a somewhat famous and certainly interesting little church and cemetery. The cemetery holds/held a special spot for 1000's of people from a bygone era (?1400's) when a chap travelled to Jerselum and brought back a fistful of dirt from the holy land and scattered it around the local cemetery. There are 12000 plots and bodies have been buried 12 deep as demand for these plots was so high as people believed that the fistful of soil scattered here would put them closer to God/Heaven etc. The church later employed some chap to dig up bones and decorate the church with them. The result is fascinating! Bones everywhere including a huge chandelier containing at least 1 example of every bone from the body!
Good times!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Vienna to Krakow & Aushwitz
Today was always going to be a sobering day. After losing 2 games of poker against the boys and 10€ in the process it was grim from the get go. Later today we would visit Aushwitz concentration camp and the later built Birkenau (built by the Jews et al under Nazi control as Aushwitz was out grown).
It was a beautiful spring day in Aushwitz and yet it felt cool. The tour of the camps (x2) was insightful and certainly paint the picture very adequately; it was without doubt saddening and moving. It's hard to believe there could be holocaust deniers. Having just watched Shindlers List on the bus provided us all with some other valuable information on the war and concentration camps and the finer details and gave the Shindlers tour more meaning.
Aushwitz concentration camp
Birkenau concentration camp
It was a beautiful spring day in Aushwitz and yet it felt cool. The tour of the camps (x2) was insightful and certainly paint the picture very adequately; it was without doubt saddening and moving. It's hard to believe there could be holocaust deniers. Having just watched Shindlers List on the bus provided us all with some other valuable information on the war and concentration camps and the finer details and gave the Shindlers tour more meaning.
Aushwitz concentration camp
Birkenau concentration camp
Hungary to Vienna!!
From Budapest we headed up toward Slovakia and briefly spent time exploring their capital Bratislava. As it turned out the ice hockey world championships were on in Bratislava during our stay. The vibe here created by the hockey fans (all adorned in their countries gear sporting face painted flags, wigs and crazy hats!) was terrific - hockey fever and rivalries were high pitched! If time had of permitted we would have loved to see a game. Alas it was not to be. We did however get to have a good look around and find all their wacky statues (man climbing out of a manhole, photographer, performing man holding hat/accepting applause and man leaning on a park bench) - nice change from scantly clad humans and horses that are ubiquitous in every other cities main squares/old cities.
From Bratislava it was only a short trip to Austria and Vienna. Oh how I've missed the Euro! At last some respite from rip-off exchange and exorbitant bank fees!
Vienna and Bratislava are Europe's two closest capitals at about 50km as the bird flies.
In Vienna we did the Hasburgs residences (yes one palace for summer and one for winter) and wandered yet more old town. Sadly we missed the Vienna Boys Choir and the more sadly we missed getting tickets for the Vienna Opera who were performing Mozart's Don Giovanni. Oh well! Could have possibly got standing tickets but needed to line up for 90 minutes before it started then, if we had of got tickets, would have been standing for the 3 hours of opera! Took the topdeck optional extra of visiting the schnapps distillery and tasting which was great. Learnt that absinth is made from distilled worm wood; the same way they make schnapps! Horrid stuff! Garrrrrr! Not meant to be a hallucinate but can if the metho fraction is not properly distilled from it! Good to know!
Schnitzel was plentiful as was their beer! Schnitzel not as impressive to look at as Mandas Fatal Hungarian one but much better to eat! Had a black beer, horrid, note to self, stick with what they do well (pilsner) and leave the dark beers until we reach Ireland! If I can wait!
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| Brad and new age statue in Bratislava |
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| Slovakia Ice Hockey fans!!! |
Vienna and Bratislava are Europe's two closest capitals at about 50km as the bird flies.
In Vienna we did the Hasburgs residences (yes one palace for summer and one for winter) and wandered yet more old town. Sadly we missed the Vienna Boys Choir and the more sadly we missed getting tickets for the Vienna Opera who were performing Mozart's Don Giovanni. Oh well! Could have possibly got standing tickets but needed to line up for 90 minutes before it started then, if we had of got tickets, would have been standing for the 3 hours of opera! Took the topdeck optional extra of visiting the schnapps distillery and tasting which was great. Learnt that absinth is made from distilled worm wood; the same way they make schnapps! Horrid stuff! Garrrrrr! Not meant to be a hallucinate but can if the metho fraction is not properly distilled from it! Good to know!
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| Brandy at the Hasburgs Winter Palace Vienna |
Schnitzel was plentiful as was their beer! Schnitzel not as impressive to look at as Mandas Fatal Hungarian one but much better to eat! Had a black beer, horrid, note to self, stick with what they do well (pilsner) and leave the dark beers until we reach Ireland! If I can wait!
Croatia to Hungary
Trip from Croatia into Hungary again spectacular. The Great Eastern Plane was very much evident and quite reminiscent of home (well the country out west anyway) with the cropping; wheat and canolla mostly. We arrived into Pest after spending some time in Buda up on the hill (citadel) looking over the Danube at the old town with it's London like parliament buildings. We were now in BUDAPEST! (Danube passes through 5 European capital cities!)
Budapest was like a lot of the other eastern European cities and remind me a little of Belgrade (atmosphere, people, architecture). Once also ruled by the good old Ottoman Turks (amongst others - I just find it amazing how powerful the Ottomans were...). We squeezed plenty into our spare day here greatly aided by a dawn walk with Suidy (mate on topdeck from Wagga Wagga) while the wives slept (ipad autocorrect wives to wolves!!!) to get some tourist clear photos otherwise unattainable. We also found a Hungarian bath so did that before breakfast too. Language barrier a small issue as we initially forgot our hair nets when getting in and had the equivalent of an Aussie lifesaver (but obese, hairy and smelly ie a stereotypical Hungarian) yelling at us and frantically pointing at his head?!? 100 kuna later we were back in the cold thermal bath (300 kuna = 1€) hair nets on! Apparently the thermal baths have healing properties, didn't cure the headache sadly. Hence, not surprisingly, the patrons were all, no exceptions, old and all wearing the overly revealing togs, again not appreciated. The baths were stunning so overall a good experience to be able to tick off as done. No, no massage by the huge Hungarian man in the change room!!!
Whatelse... Hero Square, Terror Museum, fancy shopping (window only), Jewish shoe memorial on the Pest side of the Danube (sad) and sightseeing a plenty! Also did the labyrinth under the palace near the citadel/fishermans bastille which was almost a repeat of our earlier experience at Swarzoski crystal world outside Innsbruck in Austria! This is somewhere NOT worth going. Boo.
A great day in Buda & Pest (pronounced phest) ended with a near fatal meal at the appropriately named restaurant Fatal; Manda had a beef schnitzel with chips that I swear they cook for the Hungarian Olympic weightlifters! HUGE would be an understatement. It was overhanging all edges of the plate, much like the fat men at the bath overhung their speedos! Yeahhhhhh! She didn't finish it. I had an equally impressive pork fillet with you guessed it cabbage and bread dumplings! Giggity... No room for an ice-cream tonight! Did manage to finish the beer!!
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| Brandy overlooking Budapest |
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| Dawn on the Danube before Hungarian bath |
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| Hungarian baths - Igor works here and weighs about 200kg |
A great day in Buda & Pest (pronounced phest) ended with a near fatal meal at the appropriately named restaurant Fatal; Manda had a beef schnitzel with chips that I swear they cook for the Hungarian Olympic weightlifters! HUGE would be an understatement. It was overhanging all edges of the plate, much like the fat men at the bath overhung their speedos! Yeahhhhhh! She didn't finish it. I had an equally impressive pork fillet with you guessed it cabbage and bread dumplings! Giggity... No room for an ice-cream tonight! Did manage to finish the beer!!
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| Manda, daughter of Igor, with her Fatäl piece of meat! |
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Happy Mothers Day!
Presently in Budapest (Pest side) in Hungary, its 6am and im about to go for a walk with one of the other topdeck blokes! Hoping to get a Hungarian Turkish massage at the baths as they open at 6am!
Just a quick Happy Mothers day to Mum and Chris and any other mums reading this post! We love you!
Off for that walk!
Have a great day!
Brad and Manda
Just a quick Happy Mothers day to Mum and Chris and any other mums reading this post! We love you!
Off for that walk!
Have a great day!
Brad and Manda
The morning alarm sounded at 1030pm (pm that was); sleep totaling 1.5 hours. Rucksacks packed and lodgings triple checked for the essentials (passport, money, airplane tickets) the Peregrine Tour squadron boarded the bus ready to do battle. Our ANZAC 'battle' however wasn't with the Ottoman Turks at Gallipoli, rather the Turkish police at the checkpoints (yes there were checkpoints much like the airports with metal detectors and frisking!) and the freezing weather that prevailed (worsened as the day progressed - coldest at Lone Pine service at 10am). Luckily, for the other Peregrine troopers sleeping bags were provided as they were the only way to defend against the cold. So after crossing the Turkish line at the security gates we bunked down for the night in the grandstand were sleep was allusive! Dawn service, and similarly the Lone Pine service were certainly memorable and emotional experiences. Watching the sunrise on the ice cold looking water from ANZAC cove really put it all in perspective. Visiting Nana's mothers brothers headstone at Shell Green another moving moment.
From Gallipoli Peregrine took us back to incredible Istanbul where the 2 week tour terminated and saw Manda and I join a slightly younger and slightly more school like Topdeck tour. Average age 27 which surprises me as I can identify far more <27 than >27? Maybe they are including the guide and drivers age?!? Could be that the younger travelers are the more boisterous... Anyhow I'm sure it will be an incredible experience traveling through eastern Europe, with or without them! Today we arrive in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital.
Upon entering Bulgaria you can't help but feel sad for these people, they haven't had much 'luck' in the past having been under Turkish rule for 500 years, Russian fighting, and then most recently (until the1990's) under communist rule its not been easy or equitable for their people. Not a wonder they win olympic medals for weightlifting, skiing and shooting! I suspect if wood chopping was an Olympic sport they'd win this too!!! Believe it or not, bass opera singers are another common product of Bulgaria!?!
Reading their alphabet is another confusion as it's our usual alphabet scrambled with reverse N's and R's, O with a horizontal line through then and an assortment of other interesting hieroglyphics!! Apparently two brothers dreamt it up in 600ac odd to help protect them against enemies (amongst a few other things I suspect) - would have worked a treat as I couldn't decipher a bloody thing! Currency is the Bulgarian Lev (presently 1€ buys 1.90 lev, 1$AUD buys about 1.50 lev. Local beer 500ml bottle costs 1.50 lev. Imported beers 2 lev, and that was at the Chinese restaurant! These cheaper prices are commonplace with their economy struggling a touch!
Would love to spend more time here but tours being tours we only get 1 day so that will be it!
From Gallipoli Peregrine took us back to incredible Istanbul where the 2 week tour terminated and saw Manda and I join a slightly younger and slightly more school like Topdeck tour. Average age 27 which surprises me as I can identify far more <27 than >27? Maybe they are including the guide and drivers age?!? Could be that the younger travelers are the more boisterous... Anyhow I'm sure it will be an incredible experience traveling through eastern Europe, with or without them! Today we arrive in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital.
Upon entering Bulgaria you can't help but feel sad for these people, they haven't had much 'luck' in the past having been under Turkish rule for 500 years, Russian fighting, and then most recently (until the1990's) under communist rule its not been easy or equitable for their people. Not a wonder they win olympic medals for weightlifting, skiing and shooting! I suspect if wood chopping was an Olympic sport they'd win this too!!! Believe it or not, bass opera singers are another common product of Bulgaria!?!
Reading their alphabet is another confusion as it's our usual alphabet scrambled with reverse N's and R's, O with a horizontal line through then and an assortment of other interesting hieroglyphics!! Apparently two brothers dreamt it up in 600ac odd to help protect them against enemies (amongst a few other things I suspect) - would have worked a treat as I couldn't decipher a bloody thing! Currency is the Bulgarian Lev (presently 1€ buys 1.90 lev, 1$AUD buys about 1.50 lev. Local beer 500ml bottle costs 1.50 lev. Imported beers 2 lev, and that was at the Chinese restaurant! These cheaper prices are commonplace with their economy struggling a touch!
Would love to spend more time here but tours being tours we only get 1 day so that will be it!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Plitvicka Lakes National Park Croatia
Plitvicka Lakes NP. Amazing. Not a wonder it's UNESCO Heritage listed. Something you've just got to see to believe. It was freezing cold here today so we sat down for a 'well deserved' hot choc and coffee. Manda thought it was so well deserved she drank half her cup of coffee then added extra sugar (more energy right!?!?) only to get back to the table and discover the sugar was indeed salt! Classic moment. Coffee ruined! Other than dirty asians doing 1's and 2's in the caves and perhaps worse, squatting women weeing on the dunny seats, it was incredibly tranquil and amazingly well preserved (nice for a change to see some conservation work happening!). Off to Budapest, Hungary tomorrow. Another long bus trip!
Bosnia through Croatia (excuse spelling!)
This leg of the trip start after a long bus trip from Belgrade to Sarajaero in Bosina and Hertzagonia. The trip from Belgrade (Serbia) into Bosnia was interesting, both in terms of the ever changing landscape but more interestingly their recent conflicts. Boarder control were stern and stoney, no joking here and this tense relationship between Serbia and Bosnia was evident constantly throughout the trip. We Made a few stops during the bus trip including one at Srebrenica, Bosnia, which was setup as a UN safe zone during their conflict with the Serbs in July of 1995 (yes, incredibly in our very recent living memory). Sadly this was the scene of the largest mass killing since WW2 and saw the lives of 8000+ men (Muslim) aged 12-75 herded up, taken down the road an shot in front of the Dutch UN peace keepers (in a nutshell). There has been a lot of mass grave excavation and cemeterial burial which was a very stark and confronting reminder of wars ongoing and brutal presence. Interesting contrast having had ANZAC day only a week prior. From Srebrencia we head into Sarajevo again depressing but extremely interesting. Flash diggings and a provided meal were fantastic! In Sarajevo we visited the bridge were the disgruntled uni student assassinated Franz Ferdinand prompting the start of WW1. There was a nice little collection of photos and plaque at the site which detailed things fairly well. We also drove through Snipper alley and saw the pitted buildings from prolonged gunshot; quite remarkable to think people actually managed to get through the gunfire alive. The snippers were positioned on the surrounding hills and basically shot down into Sarajevo's main street.
We left Sarajevo early for another long day on the bus in order to have us in Dubrovnik at a reasonable time. It took a big bag of snacks to get us through this leg of the trip; surely one of the longest bus trips we'll do while away! 11? hours as we got lost an re route with road works!!! We did make a stop in Bosnia at Mostar, another place of significance during the conflict in the old Yugoslavian Republic in the early to mid 90's. Mostar saw the Serbs fighting the Bosnians allied with the Croats (allies prevailed) before the Croats then turned on the poor old Bosnians. The bridge connecting east and west Mostar was destroyed by the Croats and in effect broke the Bosnians spirits which had role in this conflict (bridge was built while the Turks ruled under the Ottoman empire and was of major moral significance to the Bosnians). Mostar, considering the obliteration it suffered, was a real highlight. It had an amazing old city (impeccably restored given the damage sustained) and identical replica replacement bridge which was something else! The people here, Bosnians, were delightful and complimented the great vibe of a city that only a decade ago was under siege.
Not hard to see now why there is so much tension between Serbs, Croats and Bosnians at home!!!
Eventually we rolled into Dubrovnik, Croatia which really was something else! Precariously positioned on the Adriatic coastline this place was spectacular! The old town (protected by a 2km wall up to 25m thick in some sections, parts of which were on built on top of the rock cliffs) was a labyrinth of small streets and shops hidden away in narrow alleys. It was a fantastic place to explore and take in the beauty of the coast. Thankfully the weather was impeccable which further added to our praise of Dubrovnik. To complete a terrific day we then hired scooters (with Aiden and Sarah from NZ on the tour with us) and rode around for 2 hours. Yes, I doubled Manda and yes she tried to ride it; need I say more?!?!?! Put it this way, Manda won't be getting a motorbike license anytime soon!!! Off to Zadar and the Plitvicka Lakes National Park to walk off some of the food we've stored while in Turkey!! Should be fun!
We left Sarajevo early for another long day on the bus in order to have us in Dubrovnik at a reasonable time. It took a big bag of snacks to get us through this leg of the trip; surely one of the longest bus trips we'll do while away! 11? hours as we got lost an re route with road works!!! We did make a stop in Bosnia at Mostar, another place of significance during the conflict in the old Yugoslavian Republic in the early to mid 90's. Mostar saw the Serbs fighting the Bosnians allied with the Croats (allies prevailed) before the Croats then turned on the poor old Bosnians. The bridge connecting east and west Mostar was destroyed by the Croats and in effect broke the Bosnians spirits which had role in this conflict (bridge was built while the Turks ruled under the Ottoman empire and was of major moral significance to the Bosnians). Mostar, considering the obliteration it suffered, was a real highlight. It had an amazing old city (impeccably restored given the damage sustained) and identical replica replacement bridge which was something else! The people here, Bosnians, were delightful and complimented the great vibe of a city that only a decade ago was under siege.
Not hard to see now why there is so much tension between Serbs, Croats and Bosnians at home!!!
Eventually we rolled into Dubrovnik, Croatia which really was something else! Precariously positioned on the Adriatic coastline this place was spectacular! The old town (protected by a 2km wall up to 25m thick in some sections, parts of which were on built on top of the rock cliffs) was a labyrinth of small streets and shops hidden away in narrow alleys. It was a fantastic place to explore and take in the beauty of the coast. Thankfully the weather was impeccable which further added to our praise of Dubrovnik. To complete a terrific day we then hired scooters (with Aiden and Sarah from NZ on the tour with us) and rode around for 2 hours. Yes, I doubled Manda and yes she tried to ride it; need I say more?!?!?! Put it this way, Manda won't be getting a motorbike license anytime soon!!! Off to Zadar and the Plitvicka Lakes National Park to walk off some of the food we've stored while in Turkey!! Should be fun!
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