Epic Europe

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Olomouc Day 1 Rest Day
September 30, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Of all the different challenges that travelling can bring, this has to be one of the more hilarious ones. Grace has decided to have a proper afternoon rest in our lovely apartment in Olomouc today. After arriving in Olomouc and admiring our new abode for the next 2 nights, we walked to the nearest supermarket Lidl for supplies to cook our dinner. I decided that as we're having a night in I'd get a bottle of beer from the supermarket. The 500ml bottle costs AUD $1.08, actually cheaper than a bottle of water. After an early dinner as we did not have lunch, it was beer time. In this very fancy fully equipped kitchen, I could not find a bottle opener. We are in Czech Republic, largest consumers of beer in the world. They serve beer at breakfast cafes, sell beer at newsagencies, and everywhere. We thought we'd just ask the host who lives downstairs to borrow his opener. He replied that he does not have one. So, Grace has just returned to the apartment from the street, my beer bottle in hand, looking for someone with a bottle opener in their pocket. It took only about a minute and the third person had the requisite tool. She even got a lesson on the various ways to open a beer bottle without an opener.

We went for a walk early this morning to check out the route and tram stop for the main train station in Prague before we hauled suitcases along cobblestones. An official looking car stopped and told us, "tram crash. No tram. 3 hours. No tram." As it was drizzling quite heavily, we decided to just call a Bolt (like Uber). A tram recovery vehicle carrying a crane passed us, and it would have been interesting to see that at work. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to, and we did not know how far down the road the tram crash was. We did tell a guy who was waiting at the tram stop that the trams were not running, and found out that he was from India, studying in Prague. I refrained from asking any questions, like what he was studying, and how one from India actually ended up studying in Prague. Is his course in English, or did he have to learn Czech as it is a very difficult language. Grace might have needed a rest for 2 days if I asked anything.

No photos taken today.

Distance walked 7.4kmRead more
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Olomouc Day 2 Up, Low Squares, Kopecek C
October 1, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ 🌙 15 °C
We set out today to explore Olomouc. Olomouc used to be a walled town but not all the wall still stands. There is still remnants of the fortification on one side of the town. For a small town, it has 5 churches in about a 1 km radius.

Upper Square has the Astronomical Clock, the Town Hall, fountains, and the Trinity column. 3 of the 5 churches are here. St Wencheslus Cathedral, St Maurice and Our Lady of the Snow.

While the Lower Square has 2 fountains and the Maria column. St Michael and Church of the Annunciation.

Most of the churches are baroque with beautiful frescoes, sculptures and ornate altars and pulpits except The Church of the Annunciation. While we were there we couldn't go in because mass was on but we found a Musica Viva performance of sacred music for tonight so we will return later.

The Astronomical Clock only chimes at 12pm once a day. Unlike the one in Prague, the decorations reflect the socialist past not the apostolic biblical theme. Crowds gather to watch a very uneventful affair and even applaud at the end.

After exploring the town we caught a bus out to Kopecek Monastery, which took about half an hour.
The church was set on a hill overlooking Olomouc, with baroque architecture. Beautiful church and surrounds. Great elevation to see Olomouc town.

A very helpful Czech lady offered to help translate the Czech menu at lunch. We made her job easy by choosing exactly what she was eating.

The Sacred music performance was very uplifting. Performance was by 2 sopranos, a tenor and a bass. Between the hymns was a recital by an ensemble of violin, organ and an old wooden wind instrument that sounded like a clarinet without a reed.

Total distance walked 21.3 kmRead more
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Thoughts about Czech Republic
October 2, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
When I first got to Czech Republic, I thought everyone was either shocked, horrified or extremely happy to see me. They would all say, "I'll be damn!" whenever they saw me. Then we went hiking in Turnov, and I thought they were all very concerned in some morbid way as everyone would say, "Don't be dead". Not till more than a week in this country that I realised the greeting is "dobry den".

Not only is beer cheaper than water, it is cheaper than one's body getting rid of that water. Even tap water to have with a meal costs 30-50CZK for 500ml. A beer costs 35CZK. Use of toilet cost 20CZK per person, unless you eat (or consume beer) at a venue. So, it's cheaper to go to a pub to have a small beer between both of us and use their toilet. Then you'd need another toilet to deposit that last beer. Now I understand why Czechs are the largest beer drinkers in the world. The wait staff look at Grace and I with great sympathy when we order a small beer to share. I have not figured out whether they feel sorry with our genetic lack of requisite enzyme to efficiently process alcohol, or our lack of funds to purchase a beer each. The latter thought is not helped by us also ordering one entree and one main meal to share. The serves here usually come in 2 sizes, large or huge.

Czechs generally speak very good English, although most of them are not confident to use it. They are usually friendly, helpful, and the younger ones can be very well travelled. Being a land locked country, they are very much outdoors people. We see a lot of young local Czechs hiking, camping or cycling round the countryside. The younger pre teens Czech children are not glued to devices, and are usually well behaved in restaurants and on public transport. We have witnessed many instances of youths giving way to and helping older people.

Many public toilets and toilets at the eateries here provide sanitary napkins. They have a packet or more, perhaps a variety, just lying on the counter. How considerate and most practical.

Surprisingly, there is quite a bit of spitting here. The practice is not confined to a gender nor an age group. One upside is that unlike China, there is not the prolonged loud gutteral clearing of throat that preempts these expulsions. IlRead more
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Brno Day 1
October 2, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
We thought we were so prepared for this journey from Olomouc to Brno. We were at the Olomouc main train station, hlavi nadrazi (means main train station in Czech) yesterday, and took bus number 364 back to accommodation. So this morning, just cross the road and repeat. Nope. The travel goblins were up to their mischief again. Overnight, they changed the name hlavi nadrazi to something else. So when we got into the bus and looked at the fancy electronic board in the bus that lists all the stops, hlavi nadrazi was not to be seen. We did not have time to be on the wrong bus! We had to catch our bus to Brno. Grace walked to the front of the bus to speak to the driver who spoke no English, I stayed with our bags in the middle of the bus. Then the old ladies on the bus started to get all excited and had a very loud discussion of our plight, shouting from one end of the bus to the other. The 2 old ladies sitting in front of where I was standing told me in Czech what I was to do. All I heard was blahblah blahblah hlavi nadrazi, shaking of head, blahblah blahblah hlavi nadrazi, more shaking of head and much gesticulation. Fortunately, hlavi nadrazi was not far from our accommodation, I recognised the approach, and so did Grace and she started walking towards me. The old ladies just about shoved us out the bus with much hlavi nadrazi-ing. In all our travels around Czech Republic, the main train station was name-of-town hlavi nadrazi. How did that change for Olomouc overnight? Who was to know that same bus number, called one name one way one afternoon, changed name in another direction the next morning.

Fortunately, check in at Brno was uneventful. We have a tiny little apartment here. Grace remarked she could reach most things from standing in the middle of the room. We explored soon after arrival as Grace was hungry. We went to the Cabbage Market for lunch as there was a much acclaimed hot dog van there. We were not disappointed. On the way, we stopped at the Visitor Information. When we were walking around Olomouc yesterday, we google translated a blackboard menu outside an eatery. It translated to ..... pepper..... doll. Unfortunately, we were not able to go there for lunch, and by the time dinner came, the doll special disappeared from their board. We asked the lady at the information desk about this dish of doll, and apparently, the Czech word for doll is also the word for pork tenderloin. One mystery solved.

We walked up to the Spilberk Castle as it was supposed to be open, which it was. However, only the grounds were opened. Entry to the castle, except for the infamous Spilberk Prison and Armoury of which we were too sqimish to visit. We walked around the grounds and marveled at the battlements and formidable double walls.

Dinner was at a Chinese eatery as Grace had enough rich heavy czech food.

Distance walked 13kmRead more
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Brno Day 2 Spilberk Castle
October 3, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Eversince a suggestion was made after lunch at the Kutna Hora tour, I have been on a quest for good ice cream. Firstly we don't come across many ice-cream vendors, when we do, either they don't have the flavours I like or they are brightly coloured, with multi flavours, which we have learnt in the past, is not genuine gelato. Today will be another day, in search of ice-cream.

We started our morning looking at which art gallery to visit so the first stop was to find the Information Centre. There are 5 galleries in Brno, and we settled for the Spilberk Castle Museum because it housed, some 18 century paintings and sculptures through to 1920s, an armory, archeological sites and historic documents of the prison, prison torture and political prisoners that were once held there. On the way to the Castle we found a bronze sculpture of Mozart with one wing with a child's body on a piano. This was to commemorate his performance at the Reduta Concert Hall when he was 11 years old and the one wing was to signify his tragic death.

Whilst winding through the streets we ended up at the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul. A beautiful Gothic church with spires that seemed to touch the sky. A little boy was so taken to Ruby, invited her to dance with him and his grandma. We got free use of the toilet after the dance. A Brno quirk is that the longest church bell chime is at 11am, because Brno shortened the seige by the Swedish army by an hour, by moving the clock forward and since then it has become a tradition here to ring the noon bells at 11am.

After the Castle, we were famished. We headed straight for a local Czech pub that served "the best pork knuckle". There were 3 men in three next table tucking into one knuckle each. The serve was humungous. Even though we were famished, we decided to share one knuckle and still had to take a third of the knuckle to take back to the accomadation. Too full even for dinner, we will have to have it with scrambled eggs for breakfast tomorrow.

The quest for icecream is still to no avail.

Distance walked 13.5kmRead more
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Telc Day 1 Lednice Château , Palova,
October 4, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
We are moving from Brno to Telc today but before we do, we booked a guide to take us to see Lednice Chateau, Mikulov, Palova and introduce us to Moravian wines.

We were picked up at 8am from our accommodation and the first stop was to see a Church built during the communist era. The guide said it was the only church built in that era. The architecture was interesting. Grey concrete structure without any embellishments.

In complete contrast, we visited the Lednice Chateau with the beautiful manicured gardens. Lednice was home to the Hapsburg family when they were in Brno. There was a green house for palms, beautifully topiaried hedges, fountains and a minaret for one of the son in laws who was from Turkey.

We had a quick stop at the Soviet war memorial before heading to do wine tasting in Palova. The guide explained that each plot in a vineyard grew different grapes by different families to make different wines. These wines are a limited edition and only sold in vinotekas or at the cellar doors. These wines cannot be found in supermarkets as the wines are made in small quantities of between 2000 bottles to 5000 bottles, not sufficient for large distributions.

In one vinoteka, you could choose to taste up to 30 different wines from the South Moravian regions.

I finally found coffee gelato in Mikulov while Ruby had Burcak ice cream.

Our guide kindly dropped us off at the bus station and even checked that it was the correct place to wait for our bus.

Distance walked 11.1kmRead more
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Telc Day 2 Hike and Explore Town
October 5, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Started the morning early with the Lipky Trail. We saw the trail brochure at the foyer of our hotel-like accommodation. The owner here very cleverly decided to have one good coffee machine shared amongst all the little self catering rooms rather than a basic one for each room.

The funniest story on the trail boards read that a Prince went hunting and fell into a pit. He made a vow that if saved he would devote his life to a Carmalite order. Even the Pope's despensation, did not desuade him to leave the order to marry. So lineage died out. Then another son was struck by lightning on the same spot and his mother built a chapel over the site where the pit was as a memorial for her son. Pretty dangerous hike for the both of us at this particular spot.

WE were ravenous after the 6km hike and had a main course each at lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around Telc. It's a quiet sleepy town that is sometimes disturbed by hoards of tourists descending from monstrous tour buses. The renaissance town square lined with pastel coloured burgher homes. We avoided the hoards by walking in the back lanes and alleys as well.

After our enormous lunch there was only room for salad for dinner.

Distance walked 20kmRead more
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Cesky Krumlov Day 1
October 6, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
We woke up bright and early, to early for our bus to Cesky Kromlov. We had one last walk around Telc, taking in this very pleasant colourful and lovely little town.

We got to the main bus station with 20 mins to spare. Bus was suppose to arrive at 1020am. At 1030am, we were starting to worry if we were at the right stop because there was no one there. After confirming with 2 bus drivers that we were at the correct stop, panic was averted. The bus was 20 minutes late. I am such a good sleeper, I slept at the beginning on the journey and seated next to me was a young girl. When I woke up an hour later, an old lady was in her place. I didn't think I slept so long.

The walking tour for Cesky Kromlov was done by a guide that lived in the old town and grew up there. He gave great insights, quirks, and very good history of Cesky Kromlov.
He pointed out bears in what was once a moat of the Rosenberg Castle.

Dinner was at the guide 's family restaurant and hotel, that his father bought post communist era for a song. Dinner was delicious.

Distance walked 11.9 kmRead more
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Cesky Krumlov Day 2 Monastery visit
October 7, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Today we decided to walk around Cesky Krumlov Old Town. We started by going to the Castle and the lookouts early before breakfast to avoid the hoards of tourists that descend on the town.
It was lovely to walk around without the crowds and the dangerous selfie sticks.

After breakfast we made our way to the Kláštery Český Krumlov and Monastery of the Minorites. There were nice gardens and a very informative museum about the life of St Francis of Assisi. It was the first time we could come close to the frescoes, to see the layers and the paints in the plaster at the St Wolfgang Chapel. We could see how the layer below revealed a totally different painting.

We continued to explore the old windy mediaeval streets with interesting trades still done by hand like carpenter that makes cake and biscuit moulds, a blacksmith shop making armours and a leathersmith.

We also managed some time to do shopping and we found a skilled jeweller who made beautiful jewellery with oxidised silver and worked in with Moldavite, garnet, and other semi precious stones.

We ended the evening with a lovely stroll along the river and seeing the castle lit up.

Distance walked 12.9 km.Read more
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Cesky Krumlov Day 3 Egon Gallery
October 8, 2023 in Czech Republic ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
We had planned a long hike today but the dark clouds were looming and when we got out of the apartment for coffee, it was already starting to drizzle.

So our wet weather plan was to visit the Regional Museum and the Egon Schiele Gallery.

The Regional Museum was full of information about the history, wars and turmoil that happened here with the Hapsburg, Rozenberk and the Schwazenberg, the religious wars of the protestants and catholics, the 1st and 2nd world wars, Nazi occupation and then the communist. Very informative and interesting museum.

Egon Schiele Gallery showcased some of his work and his life that tragically ended at 28years old from the Spanish flu. Beautiful sketches and paintings of the buildings and landscapes of Cesky Krumlov and others.

There was also an exhibition of Ivana Lomova and Jans Franz. Ivana's was picture perfect painting. Her paintings looked like photographs but done with oil on canvas. So impressive.
I found it very hard to appreciate Jans Franz work as it was akin to really bad graffiti.

Dinner was at Hanoi Memories as we had good memories of the food from last night. Nice break from the heavy meaty Czech food.

Distance walked 6.5kmRead more
TravelerGot back just over a week ago. Found some quiet time this morning to catch up on all your travels. FABULOUS. Ease up on the beer 😂 xxx
10/9/23Reply
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Obertraun Day 1
October 9, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
We took a private shuttle bus, CK Shuttle to Obertraun, Austria yesterday. After 9 transfers on public buses and trains, it was an indulgent luxury to have a door to door transfer. Our host at Cesky Krumlov even carried all our bags down for us. Our driver was from south India, now living in Cesky Budějovice, a city half hour away from Cesky Krumlov. He studied biology in Czech Republic, and stayed on. He learnt the Czech language before he left India, and continued his language study as part of his course which was all done in Czech. His wife is from north India, and they speak only Hindi to their 7 year old son so he can communicate with grandparents when they visit India.

Obertraun is on Lake Hallstatt , part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hallstatt Dachstein Salzkammergut characterised by tall peaks and breathtaking views of the lake. Our accommodation in this heavily touristed and therefore expensive area is at the end of Obertraun, about a 2km walk to the main town where the shops, restaurants and transport are. On the way back, we thought we took a different route by what our host called the "local stream". Silly Perth people that we are, we think we followed the local drain instead and ended up back on the road we took into town. It was full of gushing water over pebbles, and looked very stream like. It wasn't until the next day, on the bus that we saw the said stream which we would have called a river.

Grocery and food prices here are almost 3x that of the Czech Republic. Fortunately our Airbnb apartment is well stocked with herbs and sauces for cooking, and even has Vegeta a powdered vegetable stock.

Distance walked 9.3kmRead more
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Obertraun Day 2 Hallstatt, Gosausee
October 10, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
We took the first bus to Hallstatt at 8.26am and arrived before 9am. We walked through the town which was already full of tourists and too many selfie sticks. We went up the furnicular to the skywalk and salt mines. We did not do the tour of the salt mines and walked down the hill. Salt has been mined here in the Bronze Age, 1500BC and was an important income for the Hapsburg kingdom. Tubs used for curing meat have been carbon-dated to the 13th and 12th century BC and the pig bones found were of a uniform size, suggesting that these animals were reared.

To escape the monstrous tourist buses disgorging even more selfie sticks, we caught a bus to Gosausee or Gosau Lake for the 7km hike around that lake.

It was so beautiful , more narrative is not required.

Distance walked 20km.Read more
Traveler Hallstatt
10/11/23ReplyTranslate
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Gosausee photos
October 10, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
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Obertraun Day 3 Eishole and Krippenstein
October 11, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
It was supposed to be a furnicular ride and a short walk to the ice caves ie Eishole, then another furnicular ride to Krippenstein to the Five Fingers viewing platforms, a short hike and down again by the furnicular.

This was not to be. Firstly it was a climb to the first furnicular station then another climb to the Eishole, with a further climb to the Five Fingers.

The Eishole was at 1460m above sea level and Five Fingers was 2100m

The Eishole was an incredible experience. There is ice all year round in the cave. It was first thought to be from the Ice Age, but then science places the ice at 500-600 years old. The outside ambient temperature was 24⁰C but inside the cave was 0⁰C with 98% humidity. The naturally scupltured ice was lovely, acoustics were amazing and archeological remains of prehistoric ice bears were found in the cave too.

By contrast of tight enclosed Eishole, was a panoramic view of the mountain ranges, Hallstatt, Obertraun and the surroundings at 5 Fingers. Also on the way to 5 Fingers, we walked past a launching pad for paragliders.

We gave up the hike in the end because the air was thin and walking to attractions was hiking enough.

The weather is finally starting to cool and we can finally start to wear the winter gear we've been lugging around. It has been an unprecedented warm autumn. Despite our very limited summer clothes of weeks past, we're not complaining as the weather has also been dry which makes travelling, hiking and sightseeing much more comfortable.

We will allay all concern about our beer consumption in Czech Republic. Everything is so expensive here, cost alone is enough to keep us sober and on rations. Just the cost of public bus rides yesterday was €24 (AUD $40) for both of us.

Distance walked 13.1 km with lots of steep ups or downs.Read more
TravelerSounds gruelling but satisfying!
10/14/23Reply
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Salzburg Day 1 Xmas, Rupertinum, Mozart
October 12, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
After a 2km walk with our suitcases to the train station, we arrived in Salzburg and checked-in to the Little Guesthouse Salzburg. Most of the accommodations we have booked are self contained apartments on Airbnb. This accommodation gives much more than air. We actually get breakfast, cake at morning and afternoon tea, and a commercial grade Jura espresso machine.

Salzburg is a big city, not as beautiful architecturally as Prague or Dresden, with lots of squares.

We got the Salzburg card from the information centre that gives you free entry for 48 hrs into the main attractions, transport and a boat cruise .

We visited the Rupertinum, museum of modern art, home where Mozart was born, and Christmas Museum.

We have also discovered that if we picked restaurants outside the touristic area, the prices are more reasonable. We found a restaurant that served typical Austrian food called Gösser Stub'n. Wonderful food and dumpling dessert with Nutella inside that the staff highly recommended.

Distance walked 11.7 kmRead more
TravelerYummmmm!
10/14/23Reply
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Salzburg Day 2 Dom Quartier
October 13, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
More photos of Dom Quartier
TravelerEnjoy the tranquil beauty as well as the chocolates! Here we’re mourning the loss of the Referendum after a needlessly divisive political campaign against what could have been a positive step forward in our history.
10/14/23Reply
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Salzburg Day 2 Walking Tour
October 13, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
We joined a free walking tour of Salzburg and the highlights were to learn that not only was Mozart born here but so was Christian Doppler, Herbert Von Karajan and the Sacher Torte.

At the time of Mozart's birth Salzburg was independent, so Mozart was neither German nor Austrian. As much as Mozart was a genius, apparently his sister Anna nicknamed Nanni was also one but females weren't given the recognition at the time so not much of her compositions are known or published.

Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich had the Mirabel Palace built for his mistress Salome Alt who had 15 children with him. Mirabel Palace and the gardens were made famous by The Sound of Music because some of the scenes from the movie was filmed there.

The Sound of Music anecdotally draws more people to Salzburg than Mozart.

The DomQuartier was the work of Prince Archbishop Guidobald von Thun's palace connected to the Salzburg Cathedral built on the funds from salt trade. It houses lots of art, bejewelled chalice, monstrance and staff and jewellery. The rooms are baroque decorated with the life of Alexander the Great depicted in the frescoes to impress his visitors.

Distance walked 9.9kmRead more
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Salzburg Day 3
October 14, 2023 in Austria ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
We visited the Salzburg Museum, The Fortress and attended the Requeim concert for a Memorial service for a Professor.

The Salzburg Museum was interesting and "the exhibition on the second floor of the Salzburg Museum
explores the Salzburg myth.
Romantic painters, writers and scientists expressed their enthusiasm for the region around Salzburg in paintings and texts and spread them throughout Europe. They are now on display at the exhibition. Visitors learn about Salzburg's rise to become a baroque town and how, after the end of the archbishopric around 1800, the urban structures developed, tourism took off and thus, the "myth" of this town transpired"

The Requiem concert was amazing to listen to the orchestra using Old instruments like wooden wood wind instruments, french horns shaped in number 8, tympanum and mandolins.
The chorale was angelic and sounding sublime.

Distance walked 12.2kmRead more
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Vienna Days 1 & 2
October 16, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
When we arrived on Sunday, most of the shops, supermarket, attractions were all closed. So we utilised the time to do our washing and have an early dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that was open called Viet Soup, because we had tickets to see Tosca at the State Opera House.

The performance was amazing. To see the performance of this standard live was really quite exhilarating. We were seated in the lower box, and though we were at the back of the box, we were much closer to the performance. We felt this closeness to stage made a big difference to the whole experience.

Today we went to the art galleries of the Upper and Lower Belvedere Palace. The highlights were Gustav Klimt's, and Egon Schiele's works. There were also Monet, Van Gogh and beautiful artworks displayed in beautiful rooms of the Belvedere. It was distracting that the paintings were hung in beautifully frescoed rooms, not being able to decide where to look.

Distance walked yesterday was 11.6km and today 11.3 kmRead more
TravelerA feast of beauty!
10/18/23Reply
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Vienna Day 3 Museum of Art History
October 17, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C
We spent a whole day at the Museum of Art History.

There was so much to see. The museum housed a great collection of Egyptian antiquities, sarcophagus, papyrus and urns. There were works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, his son Jan Bruegel the Elder, and Jan's son Jan Bruegel the Younger. There was a large collection of Italian Masters, coins of the empire and interesting automation toys of the Hapsburg Royals that were gold gilded, and amusing.

As we were so long at the gallery, we decided to have a break in the The Art History Cafe. The prices were so inflated that we only had for a cup coffee and lemonade. Even the cakes did not look inviting.

We also went on a night walking tour with Prime Tours. It was good to see Vienna by night. At the end of the tour, we visited Church of St Stephens and were treated to a short organ practice.
Distance walked 12.2 kmRead more
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Vienna Day 4 Wachau Valley
October 18, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C
Navigating the public transport systems in the different countries can be an exercise of patience, imagination and determination. The website of each country's transport network seems to assume that the user is already proficient and familiar with the whole system. So, when we booked online tickets for a day trip to the Wachau Valley inclusive of return train journeys to Melk and/or Krems, a boat ride between the 2, and a visit to the Melk Abbey; we had to print the tickets at "an OBB machine or counter". Nowhere was it mentioned if these printing machines were available at all stations, or if not, which station. We wanted to avoid the busy main train station (Vienna Hoph Banhhof) so we set off at 7.15 this morning with ample time for printing of these tickets. Turned out that the station we chose was the major station it seemed online, and it actually had a ticket office that was open with a lovely young man who spoke perfect English.

Unfortunately the boat ride between Melk and Krem decided to not run this afternoon as the water levels in the Danube was too low. Damn global warming and climate catastrophe!

The baroque Abbey in Melk was ornate and amazing. It was built as a fortress for the Babernbags but gifted to the Benedictine monks since 1079 and is still a working Monastery today with a school for 1000 students. The Abbey is privately run and not assisted by the Catholic diocese. The Abbey has an impressive library and interesting frescoes that are done so well with perspective that it gives the illusion of curved ceiling. Empress Marie Theresa would visit for a few days with her entourage of over 200, including her own furniture and carpenters to assemble her room exactly to the manner she's accustomed to.

Since the boat was not operating thus afternoon, we took a bus from Melk to Krems where we did a small walk around the circumference of town. Ruby took fright with a huge playful dog that tried to rear up and lick her face. Fortunately the owner yelled enough and dog was under control promptly. As Wachau Valley is known for its wine, we had to visit vinotecca for a glass of Buchefger Holzgasse Grüner Veltliner 2021 before the train ride back.

Distance walked 32.2kmRead more
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Vienna Day 5 Leopold Museum
October 19, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Today we spent about 4hrs in the Leopold Museum that housed works by the artists' of the 1900.

It showed work by Klimt from his early work till his work called Death and Life. His studio was also on show. Lots of Egon Schiele, and the artist from the Secession period, like Giestyl, Schindler, Hans Markt, Oskar Kokoschka and Max Oppenheimer.
Furniture by Kololmen Moser, and Josef Hoffmann.

I felt that the Museum was very well laid out and the work was really thought provoking and emotive.

After the museum, we did a walking tour for 1900. The guide literally walked us through from Hitler's early days, his life in Linz, Vienna, his failure to be accepted into The Academy of Fine Arts, his 4 years living as a vagabond, selling watercolour cards, to finally joining the German army and the rest is history. The final part of the tour was where Hitler stood to address Austrian. Wonderful guide and a great story teller.

Distance walked 8.4kmRead more
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Tree fell on our train to Esztergom
October 20, 2023 in Slovakia ⋅ 🌬 24 °C
Ruby had a very hard time finding the most direct way to Eztergom and one with the least transfers. She was met with Hungarian websites, no translations, train runs that are there one minute and the gone the next. This was further complicated by track works happening in the area.
She finally found the most direct from Vienna through Breclav in Czech Republic to Sturovo in Slovakia, then a taxi to Esztergom in Hungary; we will be in 4 countries during this journey. Sturovo is just across the Danube River from Esztergom, about 8.5km from our accommodation.
Got in our train in Vienna to Breclav without a hitch. Found extra Czech money in Ruby's wallet which was handy, so we had quite a feed in Breclav cafe of sandwiches, cakes and ice-cream. Even got takeaway cakes as there was money left over.
Caught the connecting train at 1213pm which took a detour as there were works done on the tracks. So a slight delay was announced. 2hrs into our train ride, the train came to an abrupt halt in the forest, in the middle of nowhere because a tree fell on our train. All announcements we're in Czech and the lovely young lady sitting behind us translated. We have been stopped here for an hour, twenty three mins and counting....

When stuck on a train, one needs to eat cake.....

After 2½hrs, rescue train is here....

After 3½hrs, we're still here. Fortunately we not in need of emergency rescue.

3 hours and 50 mins and we are GO!

We finally arrived at train station destination at 7.30pm. Next challenge was getting off the platform to the station side and onto the road to catch a taxi. The was no lift to go down the stairs. So we heaved the suitcases down the stairs only to find it went to platforms. Heaved suitcases back up the stairs as we saw an overhead bridge. Dragged suitcases to the overhead bridge which on closer inspection led to further darkness. Fortunately a guy came down the bridge and we gesticulated getting to the office. He gesticulated back to go downstairs and around the corner. More heaving and puffing later, we were out of the station.

Our walking tour guide in Prague warned us to not catch taxis from train stations but to call one from Uber or Bolt. He gave us graphic details from bad experiences of people on his tours that scored into our memory. Scary. However, those services are not available in this area. With that severe warning in mind, we were rather worried about shonky taxi drivers or even finding one in the small town of Sturovo, Slovakia to take us across the bridge to Esztergom, Hungary although it was only a 10 minutes drive. There were 2 taxis outside the station. The first taxi driver didn't want to know us and our English. In a feeble effort to look like we knew what we were doing, Grace has the address and route on Google map to show the driver. The second driver looked like a Mafia muscleman and had a very old taxi. He looked up our apartment address on Google map ( exactly what was in Grace's phone), showed us the route and time it'd take, helped us with our luggage, and most importantly, put the meter on before driving away. We were so relieved that he was so honest we gave him a big tip and thanked him profusely. It was instant noodles for dinner.

An observation in Breclav, there must be lots of cyclists in Breclav because they have a multistorey parking for bicycles here.

Walked only 4.2km, but sat for hours and hours and hours....Read more
TravelerHiccups always make travel more memorable!
10/21/23Reply
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Epic Europe Traveler
Esztergom Day 2 Esztergom Piac
October 21, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
After a good rest, we walked to the Esztergom Piac which is the Market. Tried our first Langos. It was delicious. It's deep fried bread topped with garlic spread and copius amount of shredded cheese. We also got some green leafy veges and some meat from the butcher. Whilst waiting in line for the butcher, Ruby started a mime play with 2 little kids who were in line with their dad. She had the kids and other customers in fits of laughter. So much so that when I met the kids again whilst Ruby was at an op shop, the kids gestured🤷 asking after Ruby. I pointed to the shop to their disappointment.

On the way back from the Piac, I stopped to have a coffee at a sort of pub/coffee shop. A lady that was already there was having a pint of beer and a shot glass of clear liquid. The bar person let Ruby smell the clear liquid and asked if she wanted some. This is not even 10am yet. So using gestures, Ruby said she would try a little. The lady proceeded to pour her half a shot and said it was on the house when I tried to pay for it. It was a delicious apricot brandy.

We visited the Basilica that is the biggest in Hungary but it was still under renovation. Outside the Basilica was a busker who played 3 recorders really well, together at the same time. When I was playing the recorder, I couldn't even make one sound good.
The views were spectacular from the Basilica and it was lovely to walk down the streets without the throng of tourist. On the walk we found some lovely sculptures.

Distance walked 18kmRead more
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Epic Europe Traveler
Esztergom Day 3 Visegrad & Svetlana
October 22, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ 🌙 13 °C
We set off for Visegrad at 830am to catch the connecting bus to get us up to Visegrad Castle. No sooner had we arrived at the bustop, when along comes a lady pulling a little bag. She is from Ukraine and we got her life story in 5 mins. She continued her stories on the bus, tears and all.
Her daughter's who were working in Budapest went to her border town with Russia called "Happiness" to bring her to Hungary in 2021 as war was looming. She and her younger daughter are school teachers whilst her older daughter's a lawyer. However, they now work as house keepers and for Samsung, not sure in what capacity. Just before we got off at our stop, she invited for us to meet for coffee later in the afternoon after her work. She is even eager for us to meet her daughters and go dancing in Budapest on Thursday night. When asked how her village felt about the war, she said that they all just want peace. Most of them work across the border in Russia but live in Ukraine. She said, "We are Russians, but Ukraine Russians. No problem. No war. Just peace. Work Russia, come home sleep Ukraine. What's the problem. No need war. Just peace."

Visegrad is a very small town with a castle by the Danube bend. Beautiful panoramic views from the castle. The castle holds a small but informative museum. Visegrad was the hometown of King Matthias of Hungary and it was also home to the Summer Palace of the King in the 13th century. Lunch was at a kisch medieval themed restaurant. We shared an entree smoked cheese salad and a bison steak main. The weather was wet and windy so we did not venture for much more hiking than the steep descent from the castle to lunch. We did meet Svetlana late afternoon, and she insisted on buying us afternoon tea. We had to meet her "man " who came to pick her up. He showed us his model planes at the back of his car.

Dinner was a simple leafy green vege soup back at the accommodation.

Distance walked 8.7kmRead more
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