Cesky Krumlov... to Budapest and Sopron

Hi Everyone! Thanks for your patience and sorry for the delay (especially you Mum Judy - we know you check every day!!). Internet access is not always easy. Afraid this instalment will be a big one!! Want to take this opportunity to thank our friends Brad and Ben for lending us their baby laptop - thanks so much - it's fabulous! If only the internet access was as convenient everywhere!!

Tuesday 16th

Said goodbye to Cesky Krumlov and set off on a ‘driving day’ to Budapest. Our sat nav took us on a wonderful journey which included a blend of tiny minor roads through snow covered Czech villages and some major roads which helped us to make up some time. Before long we crossed the border into Austria, which meant a new currency was required to purchase a ‘vignette’- a pre-paid sticker for the windscreen that allows travel on the motorways.

Cut across the top of Austria, sat nav has a distinct dislike for major roads, but we saw some great countryside and Phil had a driving break to run through the snow – pity it was in a non pedestrian ski slope – but Louise said I could do it!!

Phil - naughtily running through the snow in the 'No pedestrians!' area!!

Finally we entered Hungary – another currency, another ‘vignette’ and new road signs to conquer – at least Hungarian road signs have more vowels than those in the Czech Republic – Louise has truly become the queen of road sign languages!!

Arrived in Budapest just as it was getting dark. Depended on our trusty sat nav to take us through the peak hour traffic and right to the door of our hotel – another Art’otel (this one dedicated to the work of artist Donald Sultan) – on the banks of the Danube, on the ‘Buda’ side of the river. The view from our room was awesome. We looked straight across to ‘Pest’, including the Parliament building (apparently modeled on London’s Westminster), the dome and spires of St Istvan Basilica and the beautiful Chain Bridge.















View of the Chain Bridge and the Danube from our room... noice...

Spent the evening wandering across the vast Danube via the Chain Bridge to explore the “Pest’ area. The city lights were breathtaking. As we explored the city streets, we stumbled across – you guessed it – a Christmas market! Of course we had to dive in. It may seem as though we’re addicted to these festive gatherings – and to an extent we are – but we’ve found that they’re a great way to mix with the local people, admire traditional arts and crafts and sample the local food. Every single one is different. On this occasion, we got to watch (and Louise couldn’t resist joining in with) some traditional Hungarian dancing (by the way - people were invited to join in - she didn't make a complete fool of herself!! Phil wants to add 'mostly children, though'....!). The market settings are always beautiful, too – typically in a town square surrounded by beautiful architecture. We hope you’re proud of the fact that we didn’t attempt to drive through this one!!

Wednesday 17th

Had a wonderful day exploring Budapest. This is one place we’d love to spend more time. Focused our morning on the ‘Buda’ area. Caught the funicular up a steep hill to check out ‘Varhegy’ (Castle Hill) and the ‘Kiralyi Palota’ (Royal Palace) which is massive – and very beautiful. It houses the Hungarian National Gallery which we explored at length. We saw some fabulous Hungarian art ranging from the early medieval period to the present time. The pieces we found particularly amazing were wood carvings (essentially items from churches including statues and altar screens) from the 14th Century. The fact that these have survived – beautifully preserved – all this time is astounding.




















Louise outside the Hungarian National Gallery

View to 'Pest' from the Royal Palace area

Continued to enjoy the area around the castle including the beautiful Matthias Church, the Fisherman’s Bastion and lovely streets and buildings in general.

Phil at the Fisherman's Bastion

Spent the rest of the day in ‘Pest’. Mastered yet another Metro system to make our way out to Heroe’s Square to see a magnificent monument. Wandered some more to see the Hungarian State Opera House and the Basilica – absolutely amazing buildings.















Heroe's Square

Had a fabulous meal in a great restaurant we just stumbled across. Enjoyed the company of our host Andrea, whose family has owned the restaurant for 70 years – beautiful food and great atmosphere – a must for anyone visiting Budapest.

Thursday 18th

Keeping Budapest as our base, we headed off for a drive in the Hungarian countryside – hugging the Danube to visit an area known as the Danube Bend. There are a few charming villages along the way - we chose to spend time in Szentendre and Esztergom.

Szentendre, which used to be an artists’ colony, has a beautiful old town square and lots of little shops, galleries and cafes. We spent a lovely couple of hours exploring this beautiful village – particularly enjoyed the local pottery (and had to buy some!!).

Szentendre - Louise after a visit to a potter's gallery!

Esztergom was another delight. It has Hungary’s largest church – Esztergom Basilica. It’s also right across the river from Slovakia! We resisted the urge to drive across the bridge and ‘collect a country’ (but we did take photos!)!!

Esztergom - you can just see see the dome of the Basilica in the mist

Friday 19th

Tore ourselves away from Budapest. It’s a fascinating city. Louise loved it when she visited 18 years ago, but - with a little more time to explore this time – she loved it even more. This city definitely goes on the ‘must return’ list.

Headed off across the Hungarian countryside again to our next destination – Sopron. Once again, the sat nav took us on some minor roads so we got to see lots of smaller towns and villages.

Sopron is a beautiful Hungarian walled town with a Gothic centre. We resisted the urge to drive through the tiny town centre (and – yes – the Christmas market), parked the car and walked the cobbled streets to find our hotel. Although the area inside the city wall is tiny, it’s a maze of streets and alleys. We knew we wouldn’t be able to navigate our way to the hotel without a map (which we didn’t have), so we took the sat nav for a walk with us! Imagine this... two people wandering the deserted laneways... a distant churchbell rings... the only other sound you can hear is our footsteps on the cobble stones and then suddently a robotic voice says very loudly 'in 50 meters turn right'. Where was the volume switch for the sat nav??? We couldn't find it so had to muffle her under Phil’s scarf - very classy! She got us there, though – a beautiful old building built in the 1500s.















Sopron town square Christmas market by day...















...and by night... Where's that mulled wine stall??

Spent the afternoon and evening exploring Sopron (including the Christmas market – in the old town square) and ended up in a great basement restaurant enjoying the company of some locals. We all managed to overcome the language barrier to have a really fun time. Turned down the invitation to go to a concert with them – we’ve got another driving day tomorrow – bound for Salzburg.

Prague to Cesky Krumlov

Friday

While the snow cleared overnight, there was still a lovely soft covering on the ground and the rooftops for our daylight exploration of the Cathedral area around our hotel. The view over Prague from the Cathedral grounds was quite breathtaking. We enjoyed a walk through the Cathedral itself before wandering through the cemetery to find Dvorak's grave.


Phil exploring the statues in the Cathedral park


Louise and her snowman (with nut shell hat and stick pipe!!)


View over Prague from the Cathedral park

We enjoyed looking at the magnificent architecture on our walk along the Vltava River through the Nove Mesto (New Town). As we approached the Charles Bridge and the Stare Mesto (Old Town), the streetscape changed. The buildings became even more magnificent and the streets narrowed to become cobbled laneways, which - of course - we explored at length! The Old Town square was buzzing - crowds of people were enjoying the views of the Tyn Church, the Old Town Hall and the Christmas market! We decided to return to this beautiful place for an evening visit and continued with our exploration of the city.


At the Old Town square in Prague

We wandered through the old Jewish Quarter before crossing the Vltava and walking up a (quite large!!) hill through parkland to Prague Castle. Spent ages exploring the castle grounds and visiting St Vitus Cathedral before heading back down the other side of the hill through Mala Strana (Little Quarter) - intriguing cobbled streets and beautiful houses built in the 17th and 18th centuries.


The Jewish Quarter


St Vitus Cathedral in the grounds of Prague Castle

Strolled across the Charles Bridge (with all the other tourists!) towards the Church of St Salvator where we had tickets for an evening concert. Soaking up the atmosphere of the beautiful 17th century church while listening to a string quartet was a very relaxing way to spend an evening. We listened to some of Louise's favourite's - Bach's 'Air', Pachabel's 'Canon' (you know how much I love this one, Mum) and Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'.


View of Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge


Louise about to enter St Salvator Church (in the background) for the concert

This really is a fabulous time to visit this part of the world, as Christmas is truly celebrated in a big way. The Christmas markets are full of people. Decorations and lights adorn most buildings - everyone gets into the spirit of the season. We did our bit by eating our way around the Christmas market in the Old Town square - sausages, local cakes, mulled wine...yum! Made our way back to the hotel for a much needed sleep - we just about walked our feet off today!!

Saturday

Back into our trusty car for the drive south towards Cesky Krumlov. Stopped in the small town of Kutna Hora to visit Sedlec Ossuary - the crypt of a church which is completely decorated with human bones! It's estimated that the bones of approximately 40 000 people have been used to construct the decorations and displays which include four pyramids, a coat of arms and a chandelier! An awesome sight.


Phil under the chandelier made of bones

Spent the afternoon travelling along tiny, winding roads - passing through little Czech villages - on our way to Cesky Krumlov. Reached our destination just as it was getting dark. Cesky Krumlov is a truly beautiful place. The old town nestles at the foot of the castle on the Vltava River. It features Renaissance and Baroque buildings and tiny cobbled laneways.With the help of the local police (but that's another story - not a good idea to drive into the town square while the Christmas markets are on - but the sat nav said to!!) we navigated the laneways to find our hotel at the foot of the castle.

Enjoyed a delightful (and freezing!!) evening stroll and sampled a couple of the local establishments before retiring for the night. Lots of exploring to do tomorrow!

Monday



Words can't describe the beauty of Cesky Krumlov - so we took heaps of photos!! The prettiest part of the town is quite small and very easy to thoroughly cover on foot - which we did. We spent most of the day generally wandering down the numerous narrow, cobbled lanes. The town is full of galleries, interesting shops, cafes and bars. With the help of a guidebook we were able to identify those buildings of most historical significance (they all looked pretty amazing to us!!).


The well-worn stairs leading to St Vitus' Church - Cesky Krumlov


The cobbled lanes of Cesky Krumlov

Other highlights of the day included a visit to the Eggenberg Brewery (the local beer) and a wonderful couple of hours exploring Cesky Krumlov castle. We climbed the 162 steps - up the spiral staircase - to the top of the castle tower and were rewarded with a fabulous view and an opportunity to take - yes - more photos!!


Guess who's just been to the Eggenberg Brewery shop?


View from the castle tower

Oh and... we're sure we don't need to tell you... but, of course we were compelled to sample more of the local food before calling it a night.

Tomorrow - the drive to Budapest for four days in Hungary!

Berlin and on to Prague

Hi everyone!

Wednesday

We spent our last morning in London visiting Richmond which is about a 45min train journey up the Thames. While it's a London suburb, it has a very village-like atmosphere. Had a quick look around and a picnic in the park before heading back to pick up our gear and make our way to Stansted airport for our flight to Berlin.


Picnic at Richmond

Caught the train from Liverpool St station directly to Stansted in plenty of time for our flight. Landed in Berlin and navigated the train system to make our way to our accommodation. Quite cold (about 2 degrees), but even at 11:00 at night, there was a real vibe. Checked in to the Berlin Art'otel in the historic centre of the city. The hotel is dedicated to contemporary German artist Georg Baselitz. Original art hangs in the foyer, hallways and hotel rooms. Looking forward to exploring tomorrow after a long 'travel day' today.

Thursday

Did a huge amount of sightseeing in Berlin today! We started at Potsdamer Platz and visited the Topographie des Terrors - an open air display of photographs and information about the Gestapo and SS headquarters that used to occupy the site. Unfortunately, many of the beautiful buildings have been destroyed. This part of town also still has some original parts of the Berlin wall.


Topographie des Terrors - original Berlin wall in background

Walked to Checkpoint Charlie and then down Friedrichstrasse to Bebelplatz where a memorial (a window in the pavement showing empty bookshelves below) serves as a reminder of the first major Nazi book-burning in 1933. Continued on to see the Brandenburg Gate and then to the Reichstag (Parliament Building) - a beautiful building that has been the site of many significant events in history.


Brandenburg Gate


Reichstag

Visited the Holocaust Memorial - a huge open air space containing 2711 concrete columns of different shapes and sizes - an amazing design.


Holocaust Memorial

Made our way to the East Side Gallery - 1.3 km of the original Berlin wall which has been dedicated to art essentially themed around the wall itself.


East Side Gallery - old Berlin wall

Headed to see a different kind of art at the Hamburger Bahnhof where we were lucky enough to see two fabulous exhibitions - Warhol and Beuys.

Not having stopped all day(!!) we enjoyed a lovely meal at the Boulevard Friedrichstrasse - a fabulous restaurant with a great host (thanks - Jochen!!). Certainly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Berlin.


With our host Jochen

Finished off the day with a visit to a Christmas market in an absolutely beautiful setting - an old square off Friedrichstrasse surrounded by magnificent buildings. Enjoyed some of the local fare before heading back to the hotel - absolutely exhausted! Need to get some sleep as we have a big day tomorrow!


How happy does he look??

Friday

Said goodbye to the Art'otel and headed for Kurfurstendamm to collect our car (a tiny black Merc)! Thanks to the satellite navigation (thanks, Phil for booking this and not listening to Louise who insisted we could do it the old fashioned way and use maps!!) and to Phil's driving, we made our way out of Berlin - bound for Prague.

The further we drove from the city, the more snow covered the landscape. Took a detour (much to the disgust of the sat nav) into a lovely little town - Luckau - for morning tea. It has a beautiful old town centre, cobbled laneways, gorgeous buildings and awesome strudel!!


Luckau

Appeased the sat nav and got back on the road to Prague. Travelled through some amazing countryside, particularly the mountains around the Czech Republic border, and tiny villages before arriving in Prague just as it was getting dark.


Scenery on the road to Prague

Checked in to our hotel which sits at the foot of a fortified hilltop Cathedral. It was snowing!! Enjoyed a lovely walk around the local area before retiring - ready for a day of exploration tomorrow!


Hilltop Cathedral above our hotel - complete with snow!!

A couple of days in London

Monday

Up early and out for a big day in London. Walked in the direction of St Paul's Cathedral via the priory church of St Bartholomew the Great - a beautiful church founded in 1123 which managed to survive both the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the Blitz.

St Bartholomew the Great church


Enjoyed coffee in the crypt of St Paul's and then walked across the Millennium Bridge (completed in 2000 as a footbridge across the Thames) to the Tate Modern. Spent a few lovely hours enjoying the work of artists such as Kandinsky, Picasso, Klimt and Lichtenstein.

View of St Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge from the Tate Modern


This photo is for you Judy (Louise's mum) - Carter Lane YH where you stayed when you were in London . . .


Today's refreshments were enjoyed at the Viaduct Tavern - a lovely old pub opposite the Old Bailey and the site of the Newgate Prison. From there we headed for Oxford St for some shopping, before making our way to the Bank district to meet our friend Tim after work. The three of us enjoyed a meal and then a great play in the West End - 'No Man's Land' which stars David Walliams of 'Little Britain' fame.

Tuesday

Donned the comfy shoes for a 'walking day' in London. Enjoyed the sights of Fleet Street and The Strand, including St Bride's Church (the steeple of which, designed by Wren, is said to have inspired the design of the tiered wedding cake), Temple Church, Inns of Court and Twinings Tea House.

St Bride's Church showing the tiered steeple - like a wedding cake!!

Explored Covent Garden before a quick visit to the National Gallery to pay our respects to Constable, Turner, Gainsborough and Monet to name a few. Wandered through Trafalgar Square and then down Whitehall, past Number 10 and on to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Louise at Horse Guards, Whitehall


At Trafalgar Square - notice Big Ben coming out of Phil's head!!


Marvelled at the magnitude of Westminster Abbey then explored the lanes of Victoria before heading to Westminster Cathedral, a beautiful Byzantine styled building tucked away behind busy streets. Took the lift to the top of the Cathedral tower to take in a beautiful view across London - Phil's fingers just about froze off getting some photos - note to self to get gloves that you can actually leave on while taking photos!

Westminster Cathedral


View from the top!

Getting dark by this stage (about 4pm!!), so we made our way to Harrods to enjoy the wonderful light display on the outside of the store and the spectacular Christmas lights around Kensington and Knightsbridge. Jumped on a double decker bus for some great sightseeing and more Christmas lights back towards our accommodation via Park Lane, Mayfair, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street and Oxford Street.

During the day we also went to Kings Cross railway station - so we really did the Monopoly board today!

Finished the day with a lovely meal at the Rising Sun pub in Cloth Fair which was once the trading district for French and Flemish cloth merchants and London drapers.

The Journey Begins

We left Brisbane at lunch time on Saturday, feeling surprisingly organised - given that we started packing at 10:30 the night before! Thanks to Brad and Mel who formed the official farewell party. Had a great flight on Cathay to Hong Kong, and managed to get a couple of hours sleep at HK airport in the 'sleeping lounge' area. Left HK at about midnight local time for an 11 hour flight to Moscow with Aeroflot. Slept quite well on that flight, then changed planes in Moscow and headed to London. Couldn't believe the amount of frost on the ground as we flew in (about 9am local time). It certainly looked cold out there!

Aeroflot flight to London - still looking refreshed after 30hrs!

After checking in to our accommodation we made our way to Camden Lock and market. Quite chilly - thank goodness for warm coats!

Watching the working lock - Camden

We spent the afternoon having a lovely walk on Hampstead Heath - a wonderful thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Lots of people out enjoying the sunshine, walking dogs, etc - very relaxing. There was still some frost on the ground - in parts not reached by the sun. Even the duck ponds were mostly frozen over!

Louise on ice..a frosty Hampstead Heath

Popped in to the Spaniards Inn for some refreshments. This is a beautiful old pub beside Hampstead Heath where it is thought Dick Turpin may have been born in 1705. The mulled wine went down well!

The Spaniards Inn

Enjoyed a lovely dinner at Covent Garden before heading home for a much needed early night. Lots to do tomorrow!

Farewell everybody!!

WOW! Just 24hrs to go and we will be on our way.

It has been a hectic couple of days visiting friends and family before we leave. Sorry but I have promised to publish a couple of farewell photos!

Phil headed down to the Gold Coast to see Phil's mum (Dorothy) and brother (Peter) yesterday with his boys - Ryan (the tall one) and Kyle (the gowing taller everyday one).

Dorothy has promised to visit the internet for the first time in 84yrs, yeah well I know it hasn't been around that long but mum has!

Phil with his mum saying goodbye - and promising not to go to India!!

Ryan and Kyle with their Nan Barrett - notice the very noice Jeep Brett!

Finished off the day with a farewell dinner with the boys - Ryan (far left) and Kyle at the Himalayan Cafe (noice too!).

My arm is just long enough - squeeze in everyone!!