Greetings from the Eastern Bloc! Poland is the farthest east either of us has ever traveled. We sort of had an idea of what it was going to be like, but we really didn’t know what to expect. For the most part, our initial expectations of Poland being a bit run down were correct. Our train ride from Vienna to Krakow proved to be a challenge. There was one stop at a notoriously dodgy train station in Katowice that had us a bit worried. When we arrived at the station, nothing was in English and our connecting train information was not clearly displayed. Fortunately there was a huge group of boisterous Scottish men, clearly identified as such by their kilts, who were also on their way to Krakow. We also met a nice couple from Australia who were heading in the same direction, and we had time to converse once we boarded our run-down communist-era train. We made it safely to Krakow and were surprised by what we saw.
Krakow is a city with 
a lot of history; it was officially founded in 966. Our hotel was within walking distance of the train station. Poland is a generally inexpensive place, so we decided to stay in a nice hotel for a change, which was actually cheaper than many of the hostels we’ve stayed in elsewhere. As it turns out, we actually rented an apartment for our stay, and this place was as big as our last apartment in Monterey. It was so nice to have a private place to walk around and stretch out. Since it was early in the evening, we decided to head down the block to see what was nearby. Again, we picked a great place to stay as our apartment was within a few blocks of the main town square, the Rynek Główny. At night, all the buildings and the church are lit up and the sidewalk restaurants are filled. There are stalls all around selling flowers and other wares. It was the first time we were intentionally out in a city at night, and thankfully for us Krakow’s city square is really beautiful. The main focal point is the St. Mary’s Basilica which sits in a corner of the square. There are two very interesting stories regarding the church’s history. If you notice, the church spires are different styles and sizes. It’s said that during the planning, two brothers were contracted to build the spires of the church. Once they began to build, the younger brother became jealous of his brother’s spire, which was taller and more ornate. In a fit of rage, he killed his brother. Once he realized what he had done, he was so remorseful that he killed himself by jumping off of the roof of the church. The second story involves a firefighter in the thirteenth century who was standing watch over the city up in the tallest tower. It was very late at night when he spotted Tartar forces approaching, ready to storm the city. The firefighter began to blow a trumpet from the tower to wake all the residents to prepare themselves for battle. Partway through the trumpeter’s song, he was shot and killed by an arrow. Because of his valiant effort, the city was organized and staved off the challengers. So now, as a tribute, a local firefighter is in charge of playing a tune on the trumpet from the tallest tower every hour (during the daytime). And he never finishes; he always cuts out partway through the son
g as the original firefighter did. Right in the center of the square is the historic Cloth Hall, essentially the world’s very first shopping mall. There are booths inside selling souvenirs and such, carrying on the tradition. There are several churches in Krakow, almost all of them Catholic. The city, as I’m sure with the rest of the country, absolutely loves their native son Pope John Paul II, or as I like to call him, PJP2. There are statues and memorials dedicated to his life and work during his tenure as pope. There was one incredible picture of an aerial shot over the Rynek Główny were over two million people gathered to see PJP2 give a speech. Near the city center is the Wawel castle, home to the kings of Poland for centuries and now the resting place of many of them. The castle compound sits atop of a hill overlooking the 
city and is quite expansive. After checking out the church and some of the tombs (the very recently deceased president and his wife are controversially buried there) we descended into the famed Dragon’s Lair. The fabled dragon is a favorite in Krakow, but the lair itself was incredibly cheesy. At the end there is a statue of the dragon that at one point would shoot fire from its mouth whenever a text message was sent to a special number. Alas, no more.
We found out through the tourist information center about a free walking tour of the Jewish Quarter that day. The tour is run independently by a group of certified guides. Apparently, it is very difficult to become a tour guide in Poland and it requires taking state exams. According to our guide, less than ten percent pass every year (at least, that’s what he said). Our guide was pleasant but seemed a bit eccentric. We also ran into the Australian couple from the train who were taking the tour as well. Our tour started in the small area designated as a Jewish quarter and was where several scenes from “Schindler’s List” were filmed. We passed by the few remaining Synagogues and a cemetery. There are only a small percentage of Jewish people living in Krakow these days. We moved across the Vistula river to an area that was designed as a ghetto during WW2. There is a memorial set up in a large square with several statues of empty chairs. It was believed by the Nazis that Jewish people hit valuables inside of chairs. When everyone was forced out of their homes and into the ghettos, the chairs were piled in this square and searched. Our tour continued far outside of the city center to the site of Oskar Schindler’s factory. The original factory is no longer standing, but the building on the grounds is now sectioned into a museum and other workspaces. As controversial as Schindler may have been, he still played a role is saving lives. Once the tour was over, we booked it back into the city center to catch a piano concert featuring mostly works by Chopin. The concert was held in the historic Wierzynek building, and the pianist was very talented. He also played a few pieces by Liszt and Mendelssohn, and it was exactly the kind of classical music experience we were looking to find while in Vienna but didn’t. It would have been neat to see a Mozart performance in Vienna, but Chopin is Mark’s favorite composer (and from Poland) and Liszt his second, so overall this was a better choice. The evening was getting on and we decided to call it a night. We knew the following day was going to be hard-hitting and emotional.
We boarded a small bus earl
y in the morning and headed an hour and a half outside of Krakow to Auschwitz concentration camps. The former camps are now memorials and museums open to the public to either go it alone or to take a paid tour. We decided it would be best to get the most and take the tour. Out of respect, we did not take any photos inside of the camps, only of the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work makes you free) gate and the train tracks leading into Auschwitz-Birkenau. I won’t go into too much detail on what we saw, other than it was not a pleasant event but rather one we felt was necessary to do. Visiting Auschwitz was the reason we decided to travel to Poland altogether. It was a harrowing experience to say the least. We were taken around to the different barracks that are now museums that house photos taken during and after the Holocaust and items that belonged to those killed there. When the war was coming to a close, the Nazis tried to destroy the gas chambers and all other evidence o f their murders. However, one gas chamber was left intact, and our tour took us through it. Once the tour finished at the main camp, a bus took us to Auschwitz-Birkenau just ten minutes away. This was the location where all prisoners arrived, and once off the train were inspected to determine whether they were fit for work or not. Those who were fit were transported to the main camp for processing, and those who were not, about seventy percent, were marched right into the gas chambers just a few yards away. On either side of the tracks are wooden barracks used as quarantine areas, penal colonies and the women’s camp. At the end of the tracks lies a bleak memorial to those who were killed there, and at either side of the tracks are the ruins of the gas chambers. The sheer size of the ruins, as well as the entire compound itself, was shocking. We left that day feeling emotionally drained and morose, but thankful to have taken the time to go to Auschwitz.Our next stop was Bud
apest, but unfortunately there was not a direct route from Poland to Hungary that allowed us to use our Eurail pass. Therefore we had to go back to Vienna, stay the night and leave early the following day. We had heard and read a lot of really positive things about Budapest during our planning, but unfortunately the city did not live up to our expectations. The city is actually clean when it comes to litter, but the air is terribly polluted. I was constantly sneezing and my eyes were really affected by the smog. I suppose that’s the result of decades of heavy industrialization under communist rule. The monetary aspect of our stay was interesting: one US dollar was equal to two hundred Hungarian forints. It was a real surprise at first, but goods were actually pretty cheap. The one upside to our time in Budapest was a glitch in the computer system at the hotel-apartments where we stayed. Initially we booked a one bedroom apartment, but somehow we ended up with a three bedroom penthouse for the same price. It was spacious and clean, and best of all quiet. We had some time left in the evening to go out and see the city. Budapest is actually two cities divided by the Danube river; Buda on the west and Pest on the east. One thing we didn’t count on during our visit was how spread out all the main sites where. We were resolute to do most of our site seeing on foot, which turned out to be more of a hassle than we thought. There are several tour busses that boast the “hop on, hop off” feature, but they were really expensive and not very environmentally-friendly. We missed out on seeing a lot of sites, but after reading about all the different p
laces to see, we felt that it just wasn’t worth it. We walked across the iconic Chain bridge and took a fair amount of pictures at the palace, parliament and a few churches. We took a few shots from the top of the palace in Buda overlooking Pest, and you can easily see how poor the air quality is there. The day was rather sunny, but the photo makes it look like it’s overcast or foggy. After wandering around and increasingly feeling ill, we decided to pack it in early and make dinner at the apartment. We had a giant flat screen TV, but the only channel that had anything in English was music videos on VH1 (not even a BBC!). It was just our luck that someone left a DVD behind. We spent the afternoon watching Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery movie “Spellbound” with Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. We were really happy to have some downtime, and enjoy a classic as well. If it weren’t for the awesome apartment, we probably would have left Budapest feeling unenthusiastic about our time spent there. We can certainly check it off the list, but we feel there’s no reason to ever return.
Moving forward to: Venice and Florence, ItalyKrakow:Budapest:
It was difficult to leave Switzerland. The places where we stayed could have provided the kind of relaxation that, at this point in our journey, we certainly needed. However, we pressed on, if not for the sake of seeing new places but also to get away from the ridiculously high cost of everything there. Our direction was east to Austria, and our first stop was Salzburg. Within walking distance to the German border and an hour’s train ride to the Bavarian Alps, Salzburg and the surrounding areas were the settings for the timeless movie “The Sound of Music” and the Clint Eastwood classic “Where Eagles Dare.” We arrived at the tail end of Oktoberfest, and even there we could see people dressed up for the festival hopping on a train toward, or off from Munich.
We arrived late in the eve
ning and had a bit of a difficult time reaching out hotel. After a few turns on a bus and a few miles walking through neighborhoods, we finally found it. We actually had to stay in two different hotels during our time in Salzburg due to price fluctuations. The first was nothing much to speak of, but the second was in a building constructed in the fifteenth century and was very charming. It was nice to be in a more homely setting for a change. Our first full day in Austria was actually spent in Germany, in a small town called Berchtesgaden. Located in the Bavarian Alps, the town was the favorite holiday residence of the Nazi party and home to Hitler for some time. Our purpose for the visit was to ascend to the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s fiftieth birthday present from the party. Perched at 6017 feet, it is said that Hitler didn’t spend much time there because of his fear of heights. After the war, the building was set to be destroyed until the local mayor at the time successfully lobbied to keep it intact. The only way to get to the top is by a tourist bus as the roads have been closed to all other transportation. Once we arrived at the base, a long tunnel takes visitors to an elevator that goes four hundred feet up to the site. The building itself has been leased out and is now used as a mountain top restaurant. It’s kind of a shame; they could have made it into a museum or something other than a cafeteria. Although it’s not much to look at, the surrounding park area is really nice. We were able to do a bit of hiking and climbing around the rocks, and the view of the Alps was fantastic. It was a good thing the weather was nice, otherwise the whole experience would have been for naught. When we were finished, the bus took us back to a tourist center that includes the WW2 history museum Dokumentation. The museum focuses on all aspects of the war, both in Germany and abroad. The museum sits on top of an actual bunker, which is a part of the museum. The bunker is a dank labyrinth of tunnels and rooms that seem as depressing now as they surely were during the war. We went into the museum just over an hour before closing, so unfortunately we didn’t see everything on display, though we still felt it worth the time spent. The next day we headed once again outside of Salzburg, but we were still in Austria (barely). We took a train to Werfen, a small town in the Alps that was a setting for “The Sound of Music.” Remember the “Do, Re, Mi” song that was sung in a field? That was
in Werfen. One of the draws to the city is the Hohenwerfen fortress. You can see the fortress from almost all points of the area. We decided to do a little hiking to find the spot where the “Do, Re, Mi” scene was performed, and we’ll just go ahead and say the field we saw was it. It’s hard to tell just by looking since there aren’t any signs indicating the exact location, but our Google images investigation yielded a picture of the scene that looks almost exactly like where we were. Our intentions for going to Werfen were to be outdoors and enjoy the Alps for the last time, and in that we were successful. On our last day in Salzburg, we decided to take most of the day to relax and sleep in. It was a good thing as well since it was a rainy day. Later in the afternoon we decided to walk around the historic center. We found Mozart’s childhood house, which is now surrounded by souvenir and fast food shops . We found a few impressive cathedrals, but at this point we’ve seen enough of them. We climbed up to one of the fortress walls to get a panoramic view of the city, which is spotted with domes and spires throughout. We watched one of the street bands perform various Mozart pieces on an accordion and a harp-like instrument. Overall, Salzburg wasn’t the most exciting place. It has a very nice historic center, but the downtown area is a dump. Also, the drivers in the city are jerks. I can’t tell you how many times we were almost hit by cars while in the crosswalk with the right-of-way; bus drivers are the worst offenders.
We had much better lu
ck in Vienna. We stayed in a hostel that was really close to the train station, which was nice for a change. Our room was small but private, and everything we needed was just a few blocks away. We decided to take a self-guided walking tour on our first day. The first stop was the symbol of the city; the Stephansdom. No part of the original church is still intact, and the oldest portion dates back to the thirteenth century. There are a lot of different architectural styles mixed in the building, which are very apparent when walking around the exterior. We decided to take an elevator to the top of one of the towers. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong tower to get the best views of the city, but we did get to see cool parts of the top of the church. It was just our luck that right across from the church was a Manner store. Manner is the original Viennese Neapolitan wafer treat and is very delicious. Not far from there was another house where Mozart lived during the later part of his life. The house, like his childhood house in Salzburg, is now a museum. We continued into the city toward the museum district and passed by one of the many ostentatious opera houses along the main streets. Outside are guys wearing Mozart themed bathrobes and wigs peddling last minute discounted opera and symphony tickets to tourists. We actually were planning on going to a symphony while in Vienna, but after seeing how they are all geared toward tourists and are slightly more expensive than we were hoping for, we declined. However, we were still hounded by the faux-zarts everywhere we went. Vienna certainly has a flair for dramatic structures. The Rathaus and the library i
n particular are very striking. Their statues are incredibly detailed, and in some cases quite bizarre. There were several statues in front of the Parliament building depicting naked men punching horses in the face. Who knows what that means? We continued on to an outdoor market to find lunch. The market stretches for about four blocks and is mostly filled with kebab shops. There are fresh produce stands and actual restaurants as well, but every other stall housed a döner/falafel/kebab stand. It was not exactly the traditional Viennese food we were looking for, but we were satisfied. As we made our way toward the metro station, we passed by a park which had manhole covers from all over the European Union on display lining the path. We never considered manhole covers as art before. After a full day of walking, we decided to call it a night and make dinner at the hostel. The next morning we were out early to finish up our sightseeing in town. Our first stop was at a local coffee shop to enjoy a traditional Viennese coffee and a Manner. The coffee was about as good as I’ve had back home. Just outside of the coffee shop were St. Micheal’s Square and the Roman ruins. The ruins contain an old Roman road and the basement of a theater that was built in the seventeenth century. It was a pretty neat find that we just happened to stumble upon on our way to get coffee. Across the way were more interesting statues of large naked men slaying various types of mythical creatures. We decided to visit one of the sev
eral museums Vienna has to offer and chose the Papyrus Museum at the Nationalbibliothek (the library), mostly because it had really cheap admission. A small section of the library houses a rare collection of papyrus scrolls and artifacts from around the world that are thousands of years old. The artifacts were from various areas and times; ancient Egyptian, Jewish, Greek, Muslim, and Christian writings. One of the more interesting displays was of the pieces of original text from Homer’s Odyssey. There was a whole row dedicated to ancient prescriptions and medical advice, one of which was a recipe for toothpaste. Also on display was a small statue of Ishtar, the mother of magic in Persia, and was the oldest object in the collection dating back to 3000 BC. It was certainly the oldest thing we’ve ever seen as we
ll. After the museum, we headed about a half hour outside of the city to the Zentralfriedhof, the central cemetery. The cemetery was incredibly large and required a map to navigate. Not far from the front gate was the “graves of honor” section, the final resting places of composers Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss and Schubert. There is a memorial to Mozart between Beethoven and Schubert because his body was buried in a mass grave elsewhere. Visiting these famous composers’ graves was the only reason for our trip to the cemetery, so we didn’t stay long to wander around. We decided to call it a day and head back to start planning for our next destination. Vienna is a very pleasant city that was easy to navigate and had a lot of really interesting sights. Salzburg was kind of the opposite of Vienna, and we’re glad that most of our time spent there was actually outside of the city. Austria probably won’t be a country that we’ll intentionally* visit again, but we’re satisfied with our time spent.
Coming up: Krakow, Poland and Budapest, Hungary
*At the point of this post, we will have returned to Vienna two more times, once coming back from Krakow to stay the night and again coming from Budapest for six hours on our way to Italy. At least we knew the area well…Salzburg:Vienna:
Greetings from Switzerland, home of the timeless classics Swatch Watch, Toblerone, and fondue. We began our Swiss adventure in Interlaken, a small town that is bordered by lakes to the east and west, and by the Bernese Alps to the north and south. The town itself is quaint and very clean, and the surrounding wilderness is gorgeous. Unfortunately, Interlaken is also quite expensive, so we ended up staying in a hostel. It wasn’t too bad, although we had a room right next to the only bathroom on our floor, making it a high-traffic area. And as with almost any hostel, there were a few less than classy individuals staying there who preferred to stay out late, cause trouble, and make a racket into the morning hours. Interestingly, Swiss law mandates that excessive noise is illegal after ten o’clock in the evening and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law (whatever that means). But it was the cheapest option in town, so it was our best option. The hostel also offers a wide assortment of extreme sports and excursions like paragliding, bungee jumping and canyoning. We decided that maybe when we return to the area we’ll try paragliding. We saw so many people toward the tops of the mountains sailing in the sky. It seems like it would be a fantastic way to view the Alps.
Our mission for the first full day in Switzerland was to take in the natural beauty of the Swiss Alps and do a little hiking. Our top destination was the Schilthorn, a peak reaching over 9,700 feet in elevation and providing fantastic views of the surrounding mountains. We started off by travelling to the nearby village of Lauterbrunnen by a small private train and then through Lauterbrunnen Valley by bus. The valley rivals the natural beauty of Yosemite with its towering vertical rock faces and waterfalls. When we reached the south end of the valley and the base of the Schilthorn we found a cable car system based there, whisking passengers up and down the side of the mountain. It was coincidentally about that time we decided the day would include more of the sightseeing side of things and less hiking. We rode the cable car to the top, stopping along the way to explore some of the villages perched on the mountainside and to take in the stunning scenery. From the top we had fantastic views of the Eiger, the Mönch, and the Jungfrau, some of the highest and most impressive peaks in Switzerland, and Europe for that matter. The cable car station at the peak of the Schilthorn also houses a revolving restaurant and several gift shops selling Ja
mes Bond themed souvenirs. The peak was the setting for the 007 film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” starring George Lazenby. It’s not one that we’ve seen, but then again we haven’t seen many older Bond films. The movie made the Schilthorn peak famous, even though in the movie the station was apparently blown up. There is an observation deck outside that goes all the way around and provides a breathtaking vantage point of the surrounding mountains. Our original plan for the day was to hike to this point, until we realized just how high that really was. In addition, the snow would have done quite a number on us as we were ill prepared for even the slightest snowfall. The only hiking we ended up doing was some walking around in the villages of Gimmelwald and Mürren. On our village walking adventure we came across a field of grazing cows, which is a common site throughout rural parts of Switzerland. The difference with the Swiss cows is that they are musical: all of them have giant bells around their necks of different sizes that chime and ring as they graze. It is quite a harmonious symphony.
The following day we decided to get some real Swiss Alps hiking done. After putting on multiple layers of the shirts, jackets and socks we packed, we took a train to the small town of Grindelwald, which is on the opposite side of the Kleine Scheidegg from Lauterbrunnen, where we were the previous day. Our goal was to hike to Mänlichen, a small peak on the same ridge as the Kleine Scheidegg that reaches 6,761 feet in elevation. We took a private, two person gondola (similar to the cute ones from Disneyland) from Grindelwald halfway up the mountainside, and hiked the rest of the way. This, I assure you, was not at all cheating. The gondola ride was fantastic, however the weather was not. We were still able to get decent views of the surrounding villages, valleys and mountains, all while listening to the grazing cows below. Normally this hike would have provided great views of the Bernese Alps, but because of the weather we weren’t able to see much. To make matters worse, we took a detour we probably shouldn’t have through a swampy area and ended up splattered in mud. By the time we reached the top it was raining with some snow mixed in and both of us were cold, tired, and a bit cranky. We thought it over and reached the conclusion that taking the gondola all the way back down to Grindelwald would also not be cheating. After a long ride back down, reflecting on our day, we decided to pack it in at the hostel and take it easy. Probably the only good thing about a hostel over a hotel is the use of a full kitchen. We stopped by the local grocery store for the goods and made the first “home cooked” meal we’d had since we stayed with the family in Hamburg. Nothing is better after a cold and long day than delicious pasta and garlic bread. We were also fortunate enough to have found a place that offers coin operated washers and dryers. We had not had freshly laundered clothes since Hamburg as well. After dinner, laundry and splitting a Toblerone, we went to bed tired, stuffed and smelling good.
The next morning we left early at headed south to Zermatt, home to the famous Matterhorn. Nestled near the Italian border, Zermatt is a picturesque town just begging for the attention of tourists. Every view of the city would be a perfect postcard. The main streets are lined with shops and expensive restaurants and hotels. We arrived just after noon and quickly realized that between noon and two all of the shops are closed, I suppose for an extended lunch. Therefore our day started out with a bit of window shopping. Not a single gas-powered vehicle was in sight as the city does not allow them. Instead, electric carts and horse-drawn carriages offer the affluent a ride about the town. Often between the newer buildings stand what appears to be dilapidated shacks but are actually original homes and foundations from 18th and 19th centuries. It definitely is an interesting contrast when one is right next to a brand new hotel. Our hotel definitely was not brand new, and in fact had a décor that smacked of the seventies. It made us want to buy turtleneck sweaters and have a fondue date night. We probably would have too if restaurant fondue weren’t so expensive. Even though the hotel was living in the past, it was situated in the perfect spot: right outside the front door was a full view of the Matterhorn. Or at least it would have been were it not for the group of clouds surrounding the top. We waited patiently for the clouds to disperse, but every time it appeared to be happening the winds would pick up and blow the opposite direction, making the top barely visible. While waiting, we struck up a conversation with an older gentleman from Indiana who told us all about his days traveling through Europe as a youth in the sixties. He also diverged into some stories about his army days and when he used to wear an onion on his belt. We enjoyed our talk with him, but when we realized that the clouds were not going anywhere we decided to head back into town. Zermatt nightlife is typical of most places, that being bars. Therefore we decided to pack it in so we could wake up early and go for a quick hike before departing to our next destination. The following morning the clouds were still hanging around during our hike. We had to constantly be watching for when the Matterhorn might be unobstructed so we could get at least one good picture. Finally, during the last hour before we had to catch our train, the clouds dispersed and we were able to get some very nice shots. It was a good thing we were patient, otherwise it would have been disappointing to have traveled so far and not be able to marvel and the full majesty of the Matterhorn.
Coming up: Salzburg and Vienna, AustriaInterlaken:Zermatt:
We left Prague on a Saturday, which was probably a mistake since we were travelling into Munich during Oktoberfest. The train was packed, mostly with Americans, and Mark was stuck sitting in the dining car for five hours, forced to buy awful train food. We would definitely have traveled to Munich regardless of the annual festivities, but we figured if we were going to be in the area, we may as well go to Oktoberfest. We both had our own interpretations of what it was going to be like, and we were quite surprised by what we saw.
First, the whole city was
packed. We couldn’t find a hotel within an hour’s train ride, but we were actually happy to not be in a full hotel with rowdy people near the fest. As we approached the festival grounds we discovered that Oktoberfest is much the same as any county fair, like the Puyallup fair for those of you in Washington, only with drunk people everywhere. Maybe it’s the same as the Puyallup in that way as well. There are fair rides and carnival games, deep fried foods and a kid’s area all situated between the city center and historic churches. Yes, there are beer halls, brats and giant pretzels being sold, but also swarming masses of people excited for the party. We went to the fest that Saturday and upon arrival Mark got a beer outside but not able to get into a hall. On the weekends, reservations are required to join the festivities inside the halls. I was determined to eat a giant pretzel, just to partake in something cliché since I don’t drink. It fest wasn’t the most enjoyable experience as a non-drinker, but it was still an experience nonetheless. As for the crowd, I would wager that there were more foreigners mingling about, mostly Americans and Australians. But there definitely were Germans, and a lot of them were dressed in old-fashioned Bavarian garb: low-cut Dirndls for the ladies and Lederhosen for the fellas. I thought that type of dress was releg
ated only to those who work at the fest, but apparently it’s quite popular to don the traditional outfits as a party-goer. We always knew we were on the right train to Munich if we saw the young adults dressed that way. We left that evening a little down considering the weather was gloomy and the crowd was rowdy. But we decided to return on a Tuesday afternoon to see if things would be a bit calmer. Thankfully our intuition was correct; we were able to walk right into the once over-stuffed Spatenbräu beer hall to view the festivities inside. There were still a lot of people that day, but not so much that it became uncomfortable. The hall was decorated with white and blue streamers and brightly lit. A fully orchestrated Bavarian “oompah” band was in the center keeping the crowd entertained. Traditional songs were sung and we were witness to a “Zicke zacke zicke zacke hoi hoi hoi” as well. It looked like everyone was having so much fun that it made our Oktoberfest experience totally worthwhile. If we had not returned to see the hall, which is what we had envisioned the fest to be, we may have left with a bitter feeling about the whole affair.
While in Munich we took a New
Europe tour, but this time it was a paid tour that focused on the rise of the Third Reich. Once called “The Capitol of the Movement,” Munich was the birthplace of Hitler’s dictatorship and the tour took us to the various spots where history was made. We visited the infamous Hofbräuhaus were Hitler effectively swayed the people towards National Socialism. We learned about his early days before the movement and his struggles as an artist. It’s amazing to think what the world would be like if he had been an accomplished and accepted artist instead of…well, you know. Our tour guide detailed the resistance to the movement, although in many ways it was subtle since the consequences for betrayal were extremely harsh. We learned a lot about how devastating the Versailles Treaty was to Germany after the First World War and how that lead to a collapsed economic system. The country was completely unstable and yearned for a solid government. All it took was one charismatic leader to persuade the people toward an outrageous ideology. At the end of our tour our guide explained how now, three generations later, Germans are still trying to cope with the tragedy. It is abundantly clear that although countless amounts of people were hurt by the war, so too were many Germans.
After the tour we decided to look up the locations visited on the free tour that we missed to try and see as much of the city as we could. Our first stop was the tallest church we’ve seen thus far, the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, built in the twelfth century. Two extremely tall bell towers climb over three hundred feet into the air and can be seen from all around the Marienplatz center. Unfortunately one of the towers was under construction and was not as enjoyable to look at. There is a legend about this church involving the devil. It’s said that during its construction, the devil came about and noticed that the bell towers had very few windows on it. He made a deal with the builder to not put any more in the church. The builder agreed and continued on with construction. When it was complete, the devil returned and was dismayed to find more windows. The builder said that the windows were there before he made the pact with him and that the devil must not have noticed them. In a fury, the devil stomped his foot down on the pavement, leaving an indentation that is still there today, known as the devil’s footprint. It does, however, look as though the devil was wearing shoes, so I’m not sure how much credence there is in this tale. There is a picture in the slideshow. A short distance away is the Marienplatz, which is directly in front of the new town hall, and very close to the old town hall. Twentieth century romanticism struck again as we found that the new town hall was build to look much older than it really is.
We took a full day during our stay in Munich to visit Neuschwantstein castle in the nearby Bavarian Alps. The train ride lasted about two hours each way, so we were committed to a full day excursion. The train took us as far as Füssen and from there we took a quick bus ride to Hohenschwangau, followed by a twenty minute hike to the castle itself. The weather was overcast and gray, therefore our pictures are not as spectacular as they could have been. There are some really gorgeous pictures on google images, if interested. Neuschwanstein served as the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland. The castle was pretty awesome, architecturally speaking, and was very picturesque given its location in the foothills of the Alps. Unfortunately the guided tour of the inside was less awesome, as our guide had a very thick German accent and an all around creepy demeanor. Despite that fact, the trip was well worth it because of all the beautiful scenery, which included a pretty incredible waterfall under a suspension bridge over which we could walk to get amazing views of the castle.
We had a lot of fun in Munich and at Neuschwanstein, but like most cities so far there just wasn’t enough time. We missed going to the Dachau concentration camp, one of the first in Germany, which would have been a sobering experience. It would be great to visit Munich again, but maybe not during such a hectic time like Oktoberfest.
The train is rollin’ to: Interlaken and Zermatt, Switzerland
Here it is: the Prague blog! I love saying that. We had a smooth ride from Germany into the Czech Republic; Dresden is only two hours away from Prague. The landscape between the two countries is very beautiful and lush. It was one of the few times that we paid attention to the scenery on board the train. We really didn’t know what to expect from Prague, other than it being a very old city and vastly different than anything we’ve seen so far. As one of Central Europe’s largest cities, Prague has a history that dates back to the ninth century. It is the heart of medieval Bohemia and once the capitol of the Holy Roman Empire. For most of the twentieth century, the city was oppressed both by the Nazis and the Communists. Fortunately, the original structures and churches remain intact and did not suffer much if any devastation in both World Wars.
As soon as we exited the train, we threw our bags into lockers and headed for the old part of town. We had just enough time to make it to the last New Europe tour of the day, and we wanted to make the most of that evening. We made our way to the Old Town center and were immediately swept up in the swarming crowds. Prague has become a popular tourist destination because of its unique history and it's really inexpensive. The center is surrounded by some of Prague’s most recognizable structures, most notably the gothic Týn Church and the first ever Hussite church. Construction on the Roman Catholic Týn Church began in 1256. Our tour met in front of the Astronomical Clock at the Old Town Hall, which was just in time for the hourly clock performance. There are marionettes placed on the sides of the clock that dance and jingle every hour until nine at night. One of the figures is a skeleton, and he is ringing a bell to tell everyone that it’s time to come with him
, essentially that our time is up. Once the bells were through chiming, a trumpeter on the balcony of the tower began to play for the crowd. The clock’s origins date back to 1410, although it has had multiple upgrades since, and has a somewhat morbid but historically untrue legend associated with it. It was believed that the original clockmaker was blinded on the order of the Prague Councilors so that he could not repeat his work; in retaliation, he broke the clock, and no one was able to repair it for the next hundred years. Of course now it is widely known how the clock works, although not many understand it. Our tour first took us to the Jan Hus monument in front of the Týn Church, memorializing the creation of the Hussite religion. Jan Hus was a member of the Roman Catholic Church, but at the time he did not agree with the Church’s policy on the treatment of the wealthy over the poor. He wanted to create a similar religion that treated people equally, regardless of their social standing, and built a church right across the way from the Týn. Naturally, the Catholic Church disapproved and wanted to quell any such deviations, which effectively lead to the Bohemian Wars. And it didn’t end well for either side. I didn’t know that there was an actual term for throwing someone out of a window, but apparently it’s called defenestration. A lot of people were defenestrated back then. Our tour moved on around the corner to the concert hall where Mozart first performed the opera Don Giovanni. We saw the two buildings in Prague that were inspired by Cubism, and they definitely looked out of place in a traditionally brick and cobblestone neighborhood. A grim tale was told at a church around the way: a thief walked into the empty church at night and saw the statue of Mary had a gold chain around her neck. Being a thief, he decided to steal the necklace while no one was around. Just as he grabbed hold of the necklace, the statue of Mary came alive and clasped his arm with her hand, then solidified into a statue once more with the thief’s arm in her stony grip. The thief yelled and cried for help, and soon woke the priest who came to his aid. Unfortunately, they were unable to free his arm despite all their efforts and decided that the arm had to come off. The thief was relieved and elated that Mary’s arm would be removed, until the priest told him that it would be his arm, not the statue’s, which would be taken off. The priest felt that if the statue grabbed the thief’s arm because he was trying to steal from her, what would she do to him if he tried to cut her arm off? And through much torment and pain, the thief’s arm was finally cut, and at that moment the statue dropped the severed arm to the ground and resumed her original position. The arm was kept and preserved as a warning to other thieves in the area and still hangs on a chain from the church ceiling. We were able to see the “arm” but not able to take pictures, not that I would want a picture of that. It doesn’t look much like an arm anymore, and I’m sure it is only a demented fable. Our next stop was the Jewish Quarter, an area with a deep and sad history. The Jewish people in Prague were subjected to segregation for several centuries before the Second World War. They were forced to live on lands that no one else wanted because of constant, terrible flooding. Because of economic disparities, the area became a ghetto.There is a Jewish History Museum that is supposed to be incredibly touching. Our guide told us that there are drawings on the wall just inside the museum that children drew while in the concentration camps and the story of the woman who was able to smuggle the drawings out. We really wanted to
visit the museum, but unfortunately it was closed due to a religious holiday. There are multiple Synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, all built at different points in the area’s history. The Spanish synagogue, which actually resembles a Mosque, is a tribute to the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain. The most interesting is the Alt-Neu, or Old New, Synagogue, which is the oldest active Synagogue in Europe. There are actual stones from Jerusalem that are in the foundation that are on loan and are required to be returned at the time of the Rapture. Inside the Old New Synagogue is rumored to house a Golem, a giant man-like statue that can come alive by a spell and do its masters’ bidding. The story goes that the Golem ran amuck in the city and the spell had to be broken. The statue is said to be sitting in the attic of the Synagogue, but no one is allowed to see it. There is a story of a Nazi soldier who wanted to see the Golem and snuck into the attic from a small window on the outside, and he was never seen again. Across the way is another Jewish building that has a Hebrew clock, which no one on our tour could understand. Our tour ended at a memorial for Czech student Josef Smrkovsk who set himself on fire in 1969 to protest the Communist rule of the city. The evening was upon us and we were advised by our guide to take a stroll along the Charles Bridge. Built by King Charles IV in the fourteenth century, the bridge is adorned with over twenty statu
es of different religious themes. There were actually two bridges prior to the one we were on, but they were not structurally sound and eventually washed away. On the other side of the bridge is the Hradčany, the castle district. There are several more churches and cathedrals on this side, known as the lesser quarter, all in the shadow of the ominous Pražský hrad, the Prague Castle. Through the tight alleyways paved in uneven cobblestones, we made our way up the steep hill toward the castle. It is the world’s largest medieval castle and certainly one of the oldest. The castle’s origins date back to the year 870, but it was rebuilt in Gothic style by King Charles IV and was finally completed at the end of the twentieth century. His tomb was apparently buried several centuries after his death during the construction and was covered for over one hundred and fifty years. The castle itself is impressive on the outside, but we decided instead to walk along the castle wall and enjoy the panoramic views of Old Town and beyond. We later found the John Lennon Memorial Wall down the hill, which is pretty much just a wall open for Beatles themed graffiti.
Prague is an incredibly interesting city with a deep and often times gruesome history. Over almost a dozen centuries, Prague struggled between periods of political stability and strife. We were really fortunate that a New Europe tour was offered there; otherwise we may not have taken an actual tour of the city. Prague is definitely a tourist destination now, but it’s only been in the last few decades that travel was so easily available. The city as well as the state was under a deep depression during Communist rule, but it seems to have made a complete recovery and thrives on the attention it receives from the traveling community.Our next stop: Munich and Oktoberfest
Berlin really took a lot out of us. We wanted to do as much as we could, and by doing so we became incredibly exhausted. Thankfully, Dresden was only a short two hour train ride away. We made it into the city in the early evening and decided to rest for the night. Our hotel was also partially a hostel, so there was a bizarre mix of retirement-aged travelers and teens mingling about and making noise. From our room we had a view of the old town which had many church spires piercing the skyline.
Our morning began like most so far, on foot. We walked into the center of the old town where an autumn carnival was taking place. Enormous cathedrals punctuated just about every block leading up to the river. Dresden was once home to several generations of Saxon kings and was known as a cultural and industrial center, rich with priceless art and famous architecture. Then it was repeatedly firebombed by Allied forces for two days in February of 1945. Buildings that survived show evidence of the devastation, scorched and blackened. It took several decades but the city has finally rebuilt itself to its former stature. One key structure used as an example of the city’s rejuvenation is the Frauenkirche, the Church of Our Lady. Below are pictures of what the church originally looked like, after the bombing and finally rebuilt using as much of the rubble as was possible.
The portion still standing after the bombing is intact today. Any of the blackened stones shown are original pieces of the structure that were reclaimed and used in the rebuilding process. The reconstruction of the Frauenkirche was finally completed in 2008. Most of the buildings that were destroyed were rebuilt to look exactly the way they were before the war. It is amazing to see such perseverance for original restoration considering that larger cities moved on after the destruction with newer facades. Unfortunately, most of the buildings are not marked as to whether they have been completely rebuilt or if they survived, so it’s hard to tell how old some buildings really are.
One inspiration for our stop in Dresden
was to find schlachthof-fünf, the location where author Kurt Vonnegut survived the bombings as a prisoner of war in an underground meat freezer inside of a slaughterhouse. There were no clear directions to the location, and not many knew who Vonnegut was. Our only clue was to find a placard across from a bus station near a sports complex. Our search took us around the area for about three hours, often feeling as though we were aimlessly searching for something that could not be seen. But fatigue did not hinder us; we were determined to find it before the sun went down. Our resolve paid off as we finally spotted the placard hidden conveniently behind a tree. It tells the story of the bombings on one side and a quote from the novel “
Slaughterhouse-five” on the other. Unfortunately, both sides are written in German. The only sentence I can make out is “So geht das” (So it goes). We were both joyous yet restrained, having found what we were looking for but understanding what that building represents. The story goes on about how the POW’s were forced by the Nazis to collect the burned bodies from the city, but there were just too many. So the Nazis decided to go through the city with flamethrowers and crudely cremate the bodies left behind. It has been estimated that just under thirty thousand people perished in the bombings. We both felt thankful that the city kept the buildings intact, although we’re not sure why they did. They don’t have any marks of recognition other than the obscure one at the bus station, and it’s not a part of the city’s overall must-see cultural experience. In fact, it’s mostly obscured by a modern sports complex and a school. But for us, we wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
Next stop: Prague, Czech Republic
Greetings from the Eastern Bloc! Poland is the farthest east either of us has ever traveled. We sort of had an idea of what it was going to be like, but we really didn’t know what to expect. For the most part, our initial expectations of Poland being a bit run down were correct. Our train ride from Vienna to Krakow proved to be a challenge. There was one stop at a notoriously dodgy train station in Katowice that had us a bit worried. When we arrived at the station, nothing was in English and our connecting train information was not clearly displayed. Fortunately there was a huge group of boisterous Scottish men, clearly identified as such by their kilts, who were also on their way to Krakow. We also met a nice couple from Australia who were heading in the same direction, and we had time to converse once we boarded our run-down communist-era train. We made it safely to Krakow and were surprised by what we saw. 
a lot of history; it was officially founded in 966. Our hotel was within walking distance of the train station. Poland is a generally inexpensive place, so we decided to stay in a nice hotel for a change, which was actually cheaper than many of the hostels we’ve stayed in elsewhere. As it turns out, we actually rented an apartment for our stay, and this place was as big as our last apartment in Monterey. It was so nice to have a private place to walk around and stretch out. Since it was early in the evening, we decided to head down the block to see what was nearby. Again, we picked a great place to stay as our apartment was within a few blocks of the main town square, the Rynek Główny. At night, all the buildings and the church are lit up and the sidewalk restaurants are filled. There are stalls all around selling flowers and other wares. It was the first time we were intentionally out in a city at night, and thankfully for us Krakow’s city square is really beautiful. The main focal point is the St. Mary’s Basilica which sits in a corner of the square. There are two very interesting stories regarding the church’s history. If you notice, the church spires are different styles and sizes. It’s said that during the planning, two brothers were contracted to build the spires of the church. Once they began to build, the younger brother became jealous of his brother’s spire, which was taller and more ornate. In a fit of rage, he killed his brother. Once he realized what he had done, he was so remorseful that he killed himself by jumping off of the roof of the church. The second story involves a firefighter in the thirteenth century who was standing watch over the city up in the tallest tower. It was very late at night when he spotted Tartar forces approaching, ready to storm the city. The firefighter began to blow a trumpet from the tower to wake all the residents to prepare themselves for battle. Partway through the trumpeter’s song, he was shot and killed by an arrow. Because of his valiant effort, the city was organized and staved off the challengers. So now, as a tribute, a local firefighter is in charge of playing a tune on the trumpet from the tallest tower every hour (during the daytime). And he never finishes; he always cuts out partway through the son
g as the original firefighter did. Right in the center of the square is the historic Cloth Hall, essentially the world’s very first shopping mall. There are booths inside selling souvenirs and such, carrying on the tradition. There are several churches in Krakow, almost all of them Catholic. The city, as I’m sure with the rest of the country, absolutely loves their native son Pope John Paul II, or as I like to call him, PJP2. There are statues and memorials dedicated to his life and work during his tenure as pope. There was one incredible picture of an aerial shot over the Rynek Główny were over two million people gathered to see PJP2 give a speech. Near the city center is the Wawel castle, home to the kings of Poland for centuries and now the resting place of many of them. The castle compound sits atop of a hill overlooking the 
city and is quite expansive. After checking out the church and some of the tombs (the very recently deceased president and his wife are controversially buried there) we descended into the famed Dragon’s Lair. The fabled dragon is a favorite in Krakow, but the lair itself was incredibly cheesy. At the end there is a statue of the dragon that at one point would shoot fire from its mouth whenever a text message was sent to a special number. Alas, no more. 
We found out through the tourist information center about a free walking tour of the Jewish Quarter that day. The tour is run independently by a group of certified guides. Apparently, it is very difficult to become a tour guide in Poland and it requires taking state exams. According to our guide, less than ten percent pass every year (at least, that’s what he said). Our guide was pleasant but seemed a bit eccentric. We also ran into the Australian couple from the train who were taking the tour as well. Our tour started in the small area designated as a Jewish quarter and was where several scenes from “Schindler’s List” were filmed. We passed by the few remaining Synagogues and a cemetery. There are only a small percentage of Jewish people living in Krakow these days. We moved across the Vistula river to an area that was designed as a ghetto during WW2. There is a memorial set up in a large square with several statues of empty chairs. It was believed by the Nazis that Jewish people hit valuables inside of chairs. When everyone was forced out of their homes and into the ghettos, the chairs were piled in this square and searched. Our tour continued far outside of the city center to the site of Oskar Schindler’s factory. The original factory is no longer standing, but the building on the grounds is now sectioned into a museum and other workspaces. As controversial as Schindler may have been, he still played a role is saving lives. Once the tour was over, we booked it back into the city center to catch a piano concert featuring mostly works by Chopin. The concert was held in the historic Wierzynek building, and the pianist was very talented. He also played a few pieces by Liszt and Mendelssohn, and it was exactly the kind of classical music experience we were looking to find while in Vienna but didn’t. It would have been neat to see a Mozart performance in Vienna, but Chopin is Mark’s favorite composer (and from Poland) and Liszt his second, so overall this was a better choice. The evening was getting on and we decided to call it a night. We knew the following day was going to be hard-hitting and emotional. 
y in the morning and headed an hour and a half outside of Krakow to Auschwitz concentration camps. The former camps are now memorials and museums open to the public to either go it alone or to take a paid tour. We decided it would be best to get the most and take the tour. Out of respect, we did not take any photos inside of the camps, only of the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work makes you free) gate and the train tracks leading into Auschwitz-Birkenau. I won’t go into too much detail on what we saw, other than it was not a pleasant event but rather one we felt was necessary to do. Visiting Auschwitz was the reason we decided to travel to Poland altogether. It was a harrowing experience to say the least. We were taken around to the different barracks that are now museums that house photos taken during and after the Holocaust and items that belonged to those killed there. When the war was coming to a close, the Nazis tried to destroy the gas chambers and all other evidence o f their murders. However, one gas chamber was left intact, and our tour took us through it. Once the tour finished at the main camp, a bus took us to Auschwitz-Birkenau just ten minutes away. This was the location where all prisoners arrived, and once off the train were inspected to determine whether they were fit for work or not. Those who were fit were transported to the main camp for processing, and those who were not, about seventy percent, were marched right into the gas chambers just a few yards away. On either side of the tracks are wooden barracks used as quarantine areas, penal colonies and the women’s camp. At the end of the tracks lies a bleak memorial to those who were killed there, and at either side of the tracks are the ruins of the gas chambers. The sheer size of the ruins, as well as the entire compound itself, was shocking. We left that day feeling emotionally drained and morose, but thankful to have taken the time to go to Auschwitz.
apest, but unfortunately there was not a direct route from Poland to Hungary that allowed us to use our Eurail pass. Therefore we had to go back to Vienna, stay the night and leave early the following day. We had heard and read a lot of really positive things about Budapest during our planning, but unfortunately the city did not live up to our expectations. The city is actually clean when it comes to litter, but the air is terribly polluted. I was constantly sneezing and my eyes were really affected by the smog. I suppose that’s the result of decades of heavy industrialization under communist rule. The monetary aspect of our stay was interesting: one US dollar was equal to two hundred Hungarian forints. It was a real surprise at first, but goods were actually pretty cheap. The one upside to our time in Budapest was a glitch in the computer system at the hotel-apartments where we stayed. Initially we booked a one bedroom apartment, but somehow we ended up with a three bedroom penthouse for the same price. It was spacious and clean, and best of all quiet. We had some time left in the evening to go out and see the city. Budapest is actually two cities divided by the Danube river; Buda on the west and Pest on the east. One thing we didn’t count on during our visit was how spread out all the main sites where. We were resolute to do most of our site seeing on foot, which turned out to be more of a hassle than we thought. There are several tour busses that boast the “hop on, hop off” feature, but they were really expensive and not very environmentally-friendly. We missed out on seeing a lot of sites, but after reading about all the different p
laces to see, we felt that it just wasn’t worth it. We walked across the iconic Chain bridge and took a fair amount of pictures at the palace, parliament and a few churches. We took a few shots from the top of the palace in Buda overlooking Pest, and you can easily see how poor the air quality is there. The day was rather sunny, but the photo makes it look like it’s overcast or foggy. After wandering around and increasingly feeling ill, we decided to pack it in early and make dinner at the apartment. We had a giant flat screen TV, but the only channel that had anything in English was music videos on VH1 (not even a BBC!). It was just our luck that someone left a DVD behind. We spent the afternoon watching Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery movie “Spellbound” with Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. We were really happy to have some downtime, and enjoy a classic as well. If it weren’t for the awesome apartment, we probably would have left Budapest feeling unenthusiastic about our time spent there. We can certainly check it off the list, but we feel there’s no reason to ever return. 
