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Central Europe 2019/20
  • Lexie Magill
  • Richard DePaoli
  • Lexie Magill
  • Richard DePaoli

Central Europe 2019/20

December 2019 Read more
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  • Central Europe 2019/20
    131

    Hrad and Most SNP

    January 4, 2020 in Slovakia ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    A walk up to the upside-down table (Bratislava Castle) this afternoon, a relatively new structure by European standards which sounds like it likes to periodically burn down. It also afforded a great view of the UFO-like Bridge of Slovakian National Uprising, which is interesting as a cable structure and as it has a restaurant at the top!Read more

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    Cat cafe #2 - Mačkafé Klub

    January 4, 2020 in Slovakia ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    Treated ourselves with another cat cafe to escape the cold. Just down the hill from the city castle.

    Have never seen so many people in a cat cafe before, particularly grabby children (Lex's mates).

    Some good looking cats around with one inquisitive enough to come and have a crack at someone's hot chocolate.    Read more

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    Crushed it

    January 5, 2020 in Austria ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

    We made it back to the ice skating outside the Rathaus, having suspected it was special then spent a month confirming it. So much fun! We didn't die although one of us did push the other over QUITE egregiously because they "couldn't stop" but they said sorry.Read more

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    Viennese breakfast

    January 6, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ -1 °C

    Turns out to be breadrolls, jam, butter, a soft boiled egg, and a melange coffee which is a bit like a cappuccino without the chocolate sprinkle. Today we savoured it at Cafe Eiles, just around the corner from our apartment in Josefstadt.Read more

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    Grinzing

    January 6, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    We caught the #38 tram out to Grinzing, a cute suburb/village about 20 minutes from the centre, where a lot of restaurants have their own mini vineyards. We'd heard the little uphill streets were worth a walk so we set about exploring in the general direction of up, seeing fancy houses and dry leaves on the cobblestones.Read more

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    Augarten Flugabwehrkanonen

    January 6, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    To spare the over-processing waste, here's some information previously prepared on these ominous towers in Augarten park, eerily surrounded by playgrounds.

    "Flak" is short for "Flugabwehrkanonen" in German – i.e. 'anti-aircraft guns'. They are gigantic bunkers, between 7 and 13 stories high, built towards the end of WWII as bases for heavy anti-aircraft gun batteries on the roof. The lower floors also served as air-raid shelter space for the city's population.

    These towers always came in pairs – one for the actual gun batteries, called the "Gefechtsturm", the other, the "Leitturm", was for radar and other tracking devices, which needed to be separate from the guns in order to work properly.

    Three cities in the Third Reich (on the territory of today's Germany and Austria) were thus supposed to be better protected from the increasing Allied bombing campaigns during the second half of WWII: Hamburg, Berlin and Vienna. The latter two had three pairs each. Only in Vienna, however, do all towers still exist. 

    The guns didn't do much to prevent the large-scale destruction from the air, but they did serve their second role well – that of providing air-raid shelter space for the densely populated cities. They also served a propaganda function, creating the illusion of safety despite the fact that this war already was as good as lost at the time these towers were erected.

    After WWII, the Flaktowers in Berlin and Hamburg were largely destroyed but those in Vienna remain.

    The pair in Augarten are almost 180 feet (55m) and rise from the open plain of the Augarten (the city's oldest park), visible from far away. The larger Gefechtsturm is also of a unique design: it's 16-sided, i.e. almost round. The tower within the army barracks is of the same design, but you can't see it from anywhere, at least not from street level in public areas. The round structure was apparently meant to be more efficient and economical – it was the latest of the three designs of these uniquely (Nazi-)German bunker structures. The Augarten pair was only finished in early 1945.    Read more

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    Get around the Prater

    January 6, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

    Following our jaunt through Augarten to look at Nazi relics, we headed toward the Prater park with the hope of winter markets and possibly an amusement park ride or two (assumed it was mostly closed in the winter).

    Sweet Jeebers it was a winner. Roller coasters with no lines. Crazy high chair swings. Bonkers swinging pendulum things, and all the other theme park trimmings.

    We could walk up to any ride we wanted and jump straight on. There was a decent little rollercoaster to start, then the mammoth chair swing. It's 117m high, in a chain secured with some small chains with your feet dangling around in the wind, and I was petrified. I couldn't look around, up, or down - just dead straight the whole time. Lex enjoyed that a lot.

    To help calm down from this we moved straight on to the giant pendulum thing. Almost as high at its peak, but travelling a lot faster than the chairs-on-chains, with the added perk of tumbling you upside down. Loved the rush of it apart from the bit where it slows down and stops with us right up the top. Panicked a bit.

    That was it for heights based rides for me. Had a play with a couple of the go-kart tracks, and then gave a house of horrors/rollercoaster a crack. Being the big horror fans we are (not) this did seem a logical decision. The photo presented to us at the end of the ride proves otherwise (pictured).

    Grabbed one more indoor rollercoaster/laser show on the way out of the rides area and headed to the Christmas market for a glühwein weiß (mulled white wine). Great success for a non-planned afternoon.    Read more

  • Central Europe 2019/20

    Das KRIMINALMUSEUM

    January 7, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C

    Does what it says on the box - an impressive journey through the history of crime and criminology in Vienna including the wildest serial killer story I'd never heard of.

  • Central Europe 2019/20

    Choo choo Munich

    January 8, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

    The train from Vienna to Munich takes around four hours and goes through Linz and Salzburg, some gorgeous scenery. We loved Vienna so much, one of those places you could move to tomorrow. It's been a little disappointing that we haven't encountered any snow in the towns and cities we've been, but we have glimpsed it, and the times we have sought it out have been so special. Once upon a time this part of Europe in December would have been a safe bet but, as we've watched from across the world this trip, climate change will continue to turn 'normal' upside down. We arrived at 2.30pm and made our way to Marias Platzl hotel, over the river from the old town. We have been to Munich before, spending about a week here in 2013, and to be honest if we weren't flying out of here tomorrow we wouldn't be back, but it's a chance to see if the city can redeem itself to us - let's see!Read more

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    Bloody Bavaria

    January 8, 2020 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    The Munich public transport system is heinously expensive. We spent a good 10 minutes trying to work out what we were doing wrong at the ticket machine because it couldn't possibly cost that much, but yep, it did, and it didn't even get us all the way to the accommodation and yep, memories confirmed, this place sucks - particularly after Vienna, where things are so clear and effective. We were in a right strop by the time we finally got to the hotel, and it was nice, but tiny, the majority of the available floor space located in the shower. Argh! Bloody Munich! Better go for a walk and get a pretzel.Read more

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    Augustiner Klosterwirt

    January 8, 2020 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    Reading a few blogs on the train, a Canadian woman who moved to Munich 15 years ago described this place as just tourist friendly enough to have an English menu and not be rude that you don't speak German, but authentic enough that the food is excellent and it's full of locals.

    We thought she was bang on - we sat at a table with five Germans and savoured a big heavy meal of beef broth with a dumpling, pork knuckle with cabbage, sauerkraut, beef gravy, a potato dumpling and two skinny sausages, and crispy apple fritters with icecream. I suppose if you've been going since 1328 you get the hang of things. It was the perfect last dinner of the trip, and we rolled home, my electric scooter dying just metres from home.    Read more