5/8/15

Hi. We've moved on!
Chelsea and I had an interesting time bike riding 250 Kms in 6 days west along the Loire Valley last week.
Not quite what we expected with a head wind the whole time, quite strong and cold some days and freezing rain 2-3 days.
Not what one thinks of in July in France!
A couple of days were warm luckily.
The last 2 days were the most scenic, quite lovely.
There were many wine tasting breaks at local wineries, I still hate the stuff but Chelsea enjoyed a few of the reds.
There were Chateaux's everywhere which was exciting and a couple of spectacular Cathedrals.
We had late dinners of fancy, small expensive French food. Hmmmm!
It was a fabulous group and we had a lovely time, other than freezing and sore butts.

Our train back to Paris was late, then I had trouble with my plane ticket, then the flight to Berlin was late, then our booked transfer didn't come, so we got a taxi who took us on a bit of the 'long route' to the hostel.
So we were quite late joining our next tour- 14 days Berlin to Venice.
It's the biggest group I've been on with the Intrepid tour company -16.
There is a totally wacko Aussie otherwise they all seem nice. Aussies, Kiwis, Poms, Irish and Canadian.
We did a walking tour of central Berlin, seeing the main sights with a good commentary on WW11.
Then we got a train to the Polish border, and the connecting Polish train was FIVE hours late, coming at 1am!
We were told there were no sleeping berths on it so our guide was trying to find seats thru the train ( 12 hr trip).
Some were standing in corridors. We got abused for being in others seats.
The area manager suggested we got off at a town and looked for a hotel!
He was told by one of our group to do it himself , he hung up!!
Anyway finally a conductor lady who came to kick us out of our seats after a complaint worked out that we DID have beds and we toddled thru 3 carriages to the right place!! Phew.
So we got to Krakow Poland in the PM, in time to do a walking tour of the Jewish area, seeing some Synagogues, the ghetto in WW11 and Schindler's factory and bring told some great historical info.
Then a lovely dinner- cheap too.
Today was a big day with a 7 hr tour to Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. Very interesting seeing the places we have heard so much about.
Auschwitz was the most central camp in Europe and prisoners came from every German occupied country and more people died there than any other camp. Birkenau is part of the complex and is ginormous with dozens and dozens of barracks.
Anyone who wants more info or photos just email me.
We then had an hour break back in Krakow then went off on a 4 hr tour to the Salt Mines.
They've been mining salt here for 6,000 yrs after working out where the salty water in streams was coming from.
We went down to 135 m underground walking Kms along massive wood lined tunnels. There are 100 Kms of tunnels and salt is still mined, but most comes in from other countries at cheaper prices.
Every so often in the tunnels are little and massive carvings and chapels etc.
some are fun with gnomes, some are of leaders, famous people and some are religious chapels.
It's not white but grey black and looks mostly like rock except sometimes there are salt crystals on it.
Very interesting.
We didn't have time to see the local castle or Cathedral which is a pity.

9/8/15

We then went to Prague, capital of Czech Republic.
We were split into small groups into holiday apartments around the city centre which was great as we had a kitchen with fridge so for 2 nights we had yummy fresh salads with cold meat, and yoghurt for breakfast.
The city was FULL of tourists , had to push and shove through narrow streets. We went up the hill to the ginormous palace complex and Cathedral but it was all shut.
We did a walking tour seeing the sights, wasn't our best one.
4 of us and the guide got the train 70 Kms out of town to visit a church which is 'Decorated' with bones from previously buried people in the cemetery.
Soil from Golgatha, Palestine was bought back, by a monk I think, and sprinkled in the cemetery and people then came from around the country to be buried there. They ran out of room and started removing skeletons and stock piling them in the church corners in piles of similar bones. Then in the 1800's they employed someone to decorate the church with them. The central chandelier contains every bone in the human body.
It actually wasn't gruesome or creepy seeing them as it 's quite artistic. The photos seem to be creepy tho.

There is a heat wave through Central Europe at the moment -35oC+-making it uncomfortable to get around and to be enthusiastic about walking for miles!!

We had some nice pastries , sweet round hollow things, usually with chocolate or cream in them.
We went to the ballet to see Swan Lake which was good.

We then got a posh long distance bus to move south to a small town with a historic centre enclosed by a castle and river.
Most of the group went rafting in the PM after we'd done a sight seeing walk.
Chelsea and I had a snooze then a nice dinner by the river.
Yesterday we moved in vans to Vienna, Austria.
It's not what I expected, countryside and houses not pretty or hilly or scenic like Switzerland and the city is massive and modern with the old centre just fitted in.
The palace complex is massive but only a tiny bit is open. We spent 2 hrs sweltering thru the exhibition rooms with no air-con seeing the Hapsbergs ( Royal Family until 1918) lavish surroundings.
Sadly the Vienna Boys Choir is on holiday, and there were no Spanish Riding School shows.
Today we went out to the summer palace but only walked thru the gardens and didn't go thru house.
Tonight we are going to the leaders apartment for drinks/ supper as she comes from here. Poor her!
Tomorrow it's off to Budapest, Hungary.