Day 38 - Prague

To Keeley's delight there was chocolate drink (a la Milo) at breakfast this morning, meaning she could not only have a coffee-mocha but also fill up our dwindling supplies of the precious powder. Also a simultaneous bonus and curse was the hostel staff member just hanging around, who was very pleased to wash our dishes for us but made stealing bread for lunch impossible. We walked to the free tour of Prague with an English guy, Antony, we met last night and although we were ten minutes late (Keeley had to do her hair) we caught the tour and spent the next three hours wandering the streets of the city in the now-familiar fashion. The guide was quite informative and I got used to her broken English quite quickly, although Keeley said she struggled a bit to concentrate on it. We saw a few of the major buildings in the old town, like the Charles University (the oldest university in central Europe, founded in 1347). A student from here burnt himself to death as a protest against the Communist government in the 1950s. It seems that King Charles IV was quite an impressive man, founding the university, leading not only Bohemia but also the Holy Roman Empire, and building Prague to be one of the richest and most powerful cities in Europe. This legacy is repeated all over the city, and the Charles Bridge is named after him (for around 600 years it was the only crossing over the river in Prague to the castle). The city itself is quite impressive, and a lot has been done to rebuild and repair the Communist neglect since it fell in 1989. Prague Castle is particularly nice with a spot on the hill overlooking the city and a very large grounds, being the biggest 'ancient' castle in the world (whatever that means). The gothic cathedral, St Vitus, in the centre of the Castle is very impressive, and despite being started in the 1300s it wasn't completed until the 1920s. The stained glass windows are amazing.

 

Our tour ended at the castle, and we were a little disappointed with it, but it was a good way to explore the city. We sampled some amazing Czech food – sweet bread-on-a-stick with caramel, vanilla, and almond in it, and some traditional Czech food at a cute little restaurant near the bridge. I had some amazing sausage and mustard and Keeley had pork in a paprika sauce. It was really nice, although soured a bit by the added extras on the bill (like a service charge that was 30% of the rest of the bill). Fortunately it was still dirt-cheap. We also went in search of the city museum because it apparently has a pretty amazing model of the city, but we couldn't find it so we went to a lolly shop instead. This shop had a demonstration of the process for making layered boiled-lolly-type candy, which was very interesting. They worked the sugar sheets into a roll maybe 15cm in diameter, but eventually got it down to around 1cm diameter, with a little picture of a fruit in the middle. The same shop also had a 112kg gorilla made out of chocolate and lots and lots of other chocolate goodness. We bought the off-cuts from the lolly-making process for cheap, and now can't wait until we get to Switzerland or Belgium for the chocolate there.

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Day 37 - Prague

A very early morning this morning got us to the bus station in time for our bus to Prague. The guy on duty at the hostel was really nice and got breakfast organised for us even though it was an hour and a half before breakfast officially started. This put us in a good mood for the day, especially considering the early start, and between that and our naps on the bus the five-hour trip went quickly. First impressions of Prague were not good, as we drove through a few very run-down suburbs. It felt like the relic of Communism that I had expected Poland to be. The other thing that takes some time to get used to is the currency; it is 25-30 Czech Krony to €1. This meant that we could justify getting a subway train to our hostel rather than walking. The hostel (U Melounu) is clean and friendly, but the kitchen is very small and lacks an oven. It is also a good 10-15 minute walk from the city centre. Once in the city centre, though, you get a feel for why everyone loves Prague so much. With the sun out, it really did look magical. I think one of the reasons it is so good is the consistency of old buildings – unlike a lot of places, every single building here is (or looks to be) of the same era, giving the Old Town a really brilliant atmosphere.

 

Exploring a bit, we saw the astronomical clock do its chime on the hour (a very underwhelming experience) but did climb to the top of said clock tower. The view was incredible, no doubt helped by the excellent weather. We found a little market and just generally got accustomed to the city. The real excitement happened tonight though. We went to the Image Theatre just off the Old Town Square. It is a pantomime show for around €18 with the majority of it under UV light (or 'black' light). The room is darkened to pitch black and the stage and background are all black, and under black light anyone wearing black can't be seen against this background. This allows the performers to use big pieces of fluorescent material, fluoro props and costumes to perform without being able to make out the dancers. It's a difficult thing to describe in words, but very cool to watch. They were very clever with their use of screens and movement, so things would just 'disappear' off the stage and 'reappear' later on. Likewise the dancers could interact with props so that only parts of their bodies were visible, for instance there was a caterpillar costume with three dancers standing in it but we could only see their legs because they were wearing black tops. My personal favourite was a dance with these spherical props with pieces cut out of them, so they looked like four broken hula hoops put together, and the spheres would be suspended with rods or something so they would fly around the stage. Likewise, there was another dance with glowing spheres that seemed to levitate as the people behind them moved them around. The highlight, however, wasn't a black light act at all but the slapstick antics of a couple of 'maintenance crew' who mimed things like stealing aeroplanes, falling off scaffolding, ten pin bowling and my favourite, opening up the heads of audience members to reveal what was going on inside. For example, one guy was 'thinking' computer sounds, one was 'thinking' about a football match (cheering), and one lady had water on her mind (at this point they sprayed the audience with sprinklers). It was really enjoyable and the best part was it was something we just stumbled onto in our travels.

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Day 36 - Wroclaw

We didn't expect much of Wroclaw; after all, it was only the place where we had to catch the bus to Prague from. However, we have been pleasantly surprised. Things like the free laundry service at the hostel have been a godsend, as our jeans have been in serious need of cleaning. Things like the lack of milk at breakfast, however, are not so good. The hostel has a number of signs telling us that milk is available to buy from reception, and now we know why. Keeley was very unimpressed at the lack of milk for cereal. Despite this, the rest of brekky was good (with about four different varieties of bread) and we decided to wander the streets to experience the town. The town square is nice, and although large pales in comparison to Krakow's gigantic version. We went to a market in an amazing church-like place, and saw the greatest variety of vegetables so far on the entire trip. There was also a significant number of flowers and confectionary. In stark contrast to the markets, we found the major, modern shopping centre only a couple of blocks away. This marked an important milestone in our trip: Keeley found some new boots to replace her old ones that she unsuccessfully tried to fix with duct tape. After lunch, we explored a bit more and found a cool little street that has been restored to its medieval state, complete with (statues of) farm animals. We split up for a bit and I went to the Panorama Raclawicka, a 15m high x 120m circumference painting on the inside of a spherical building. The entry fee was a little steep, but it was very cool because the foreground of the painting had been 'extended' into a three-dimensional model. This filled in the five-ish metre space between the viewing platform and the painting, and in the foreground it was genuinely difficult to tell where the 'real' stuff stopped and the painting started. It was very detailed and the presentation about the history of the battle (where the eventually ill-fated Polish resistance against the Russians in the 1800s began) was good.

The beauty of this place seems to be in the details, just like the Panorama. There is a collection of fifteen gnome sculptures scattered around the city, hanging off lamp-posts, sitting on stairs, guarding postboxes, etc. Every now and again you'll stumble across one without even trying. It's very cute. There is also a very interesting sculpture at a major intersection called "The Anonymous Pedestrians" and shows commuters sinking into the pavement on one side of the road and climbing out on the other. It's quirky and different.

We went out for dinner tonight to a traditional Polish restaurant. Ordering almost blind (we knew the words for 'chicken', 'beef' and 'pork') we ended up with some very nice meals for a very good price. Keeley had basically crumbed chicken, which although not 'traditional' was very nice, and I had pork medallions with a spinach and cheese sauce on top. It was delectable. Both meals came with sauerkraut, sweet grated carrot and a coleslaw sort of thing. To finish off our excellent day we had excellent ice creams, which were massive and had three big scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, topping and fruit. I'm a bit sad we're leaving tomorrow, but on the flip side I'm not sure there'd be much more to do around here. It was nice to have a relaxing day though.

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Day 35 - Krakow and Wroclaw

Our super-friendly hostel staff at Premium Hostel yet again saved us a lot of frustration by pointing us in the direction of a train to Wroclaw (pronounced "vrotswav") and as this train left every hour or so we decided to spend the morning taking in Krakow. Keeley tried in vain to repair her ailing boots (her black ones not her walking ones) by duct-taping the soles. This proved useless and the puddles from the now-completely melted snow and misty drizzle made her morning very uncomfortable. We couldn't find the replacement boots she wanted in her size so we made our way to Wawel Castle. A complicated pricing system seemed to want to charge us for each separate part of the admittedly large complex, and we decided against it. Keeley seemed grumpy because of her shoes and I was indifferent to it - it seemed like the thing to do in Krakow but I don't feel I missed out on much. Instead we roamed the streets and wandered into the massive town square. Plenty of photos for me and lots of window-shopping for Keeley. We found her a badge to add to her collection and more importantly we found a block of Lindt 99% cocoa dark chocolate for only 11 Zł (?2-3). It was very exciting.

 

We got on the train at about 3:45pm and prepared ourselves for the four-hour-plus ride to Wroclaw. The time passed quickly and it was a comfortable journey, reinforcing to me that trains and buses will be the best way to travel over here (no weight limits and hours wasted at airports). Wroclaw was a bit of an adventure, with no maps of the area in the train station and Keeley's frustration peaking. We did end up finding a map and went in search of our hostel (Nathan's Villa). Unfortunately, this proved a challenge and we walked the length of the street three times before some friendly locals, noticing our obvious lost looks, explained to us that the hostel entrance wasn't actually on the street the address is on. It is a very exciting place for Keeley - it is right on top of KFC. The beds are comfy, the kitchen is well stocked, we get brekky and a free laundry service, and it's right in the middle of town. We are pretty impressed.

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Day 34 - Auschwitz

After all the fun of Zakopane, we headed to Auschwitz today. We got on another dodgy looking minibus from the central bus station (and got ripped off we think - 18 Zł each return) and rode the hour and a bit to Auschwitz. The weather seemed to realise where we were, as it drizzled all day and was generally miserable. We paid 34 Zł each (around ?9) and saw a short 20-minute film before our guided tour. The tour took us through Auschwitz I (the main camp) and Auschwitz II-Birkenau over about three hours. It was horrifyingly eye opening. We saw some of the horrific living conditions, the gas chambers and cremation furnaces. One building, Block 11, was the first test site of Cyclone 8 (the gas) and had a number of gruesome torture rooms. These included the Standing Rooms (900x900mm rooms with crawl-in 'doggy doors' where four or five people would be crammed in for a day or more at a time), the Starvation Rooms, and the Suffocation Room (a 3x3m room where 20+ people would be locked in with the window and door blocked off so they would literally suffocate). The displays were incredible - huge rooms full of human hair that was to be sold to German textile manufacturers, thousands of shoes, brushes, pots, clothes, etc that were looted by the soldiers at the camps. The living conditions were pretty amazing - five to eight people on each level of the bunk beds. In Birkenau the timber blocks had no sanitation at all; in both camps prisoners were only allowed access to toilets for 4-5 mins at a time (that's all 1400 people per toilet block in the same 4-5 mins). The scale of Birkenau is unforgettable - there were 300 blocks holding over 700 people each. It is almost indescribable.

It was a pretty sombre experience but it was well worth it.

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Keeley Contributes

There have been comments made that I am not contributing to the blog… Which is unfair because I help Scott write this one, just he words it so it sounds too smart for me to have written.

Anyway. I'm not going to tell you about every day so far because that would be boring, you have already read Scotts (and a little it my) version. So you get the Highlights Package. A little bit about all of my favourite moments so far:

If you remember back to the start of the trip we landed ourselves in Hong Kong for a night. There we had the best noodles I have ever had in my life. I'm sad to say that Noodle Box will never quite be the same again. The markets were good too, the money I could have spent!

After that we headed up to Scotland, where I experienced a not so traditional Christmas. There is usually some alcohol at Christmas, but these people were excessive. And I can't leave out the worlds biggest trifle. Made in a 35 litre storage container. Not long after that there was the amazing torch-light procession and the New Years fireworks. Incredible. Also the Vodkat, it's Vodka, except so cheap and horrible that the Vodka experts refused to let it be called Vodka, or so I decided.

Riding the tube and the big red bus was cool, only because it reminded me of the game Scotland yard, and because it is so ridiculously famous. Continually seeing streets of the monopoly board never got old, for me anyway. I think Scott got over it pretty quickly.

Running into Tom at London Bridge, and been scared out of my head at the London Tombs (that scare attraction we visited which claimed to be the history of London Bridge????)

Sleeping at the airport not overly pleasant, but better then the 20 pounds in accommodation we would have had to pay.

Sleeping in a castle is not something I will quickly forget either, just like the insane run that we did down the road to get the incredibly infrequent bus.

Epic Nachos, they were like normal nachos, except with Bolognese sauce and there was enough for an army…

All time favourite place so far is Poland. It is going to be tough to beat. I love it here. When we arrived the place was covered in snow. I really like that we have the time to just stay here a bit longer and see places like Zakopane. It was indescribable; my vocabulary is way too small. Photos don't even do it justice. Trying to speak Polish was good fun, I think we are rubbish at it, but we tried and hopefully they appreciate that. Being better at Snowboarding then Scott was good to. Doesn't happen very often that I'm better at something, just ask my dad.

So that is my input to the blog, hope you enjoyed my compacted version, a full version will be available when I get home. I have been keeping a journal, so I have everything written down the same as Scott, just not as technologically.

Enjoy the hot weather, and get off my back about Scott doing all the work for the blog, he he he.

Keeley

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Day 33 - Zakopane

We woke up very stiff and sore today – our entire bodies hurt from the snowboarding. This led to a consensus to take it pretty easy today. We caught up with the guys from last night who had, by all accounts, a rather big one. Donny didn't get back to the hostel until 5:30am. We didn't really leave the hostel until noon, and went for a walk through Zakopane with Donny and Mark (our roommates). Overnight a lot of the snow had melted, and it was very slushy. The alpine magic of the place seemed to have lost its lustre, and we were very glad we snowboarded yesterday and not today. The sun was out, though, and it was a mild 8°C, so it was quite enjoyable seeing all the little shops around the place. By the time we were ready to leave at 2pm, our backs and shoulders made us feel every step to the bus station, and we journeyed back to Krakow. We haven't done much else, just made tea and Keeley attempted to bake a cake in a bench oven (like those griller things we used to toast sandwiches at home in). The cake tastes okay, but doesn't look brilliant. Tomorrow we head to Auschwitz, which will no doubt be a much more sobering experience than the last couple of days. Tonight we have returned to our hostel in Krakow, one because it is so good and two because we're staying for €4 a night each.

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