VIENNA

This hotel, Hotel Post, had to be the easiest place to find – thanks to a very helpful young man at the tourist information office at Vienna Hauptbahnhof. ‘Down three levels and catch the U1 line four stops to Schwedenplatz. My colleague can sell you the tickets!’ Easy – and even finding our way to the hotel was easy  - given we only had to walk about 200m, but because it was so close we missed a turn – thanks Google!

St Stephen's Altar

St Stephen's Cathedral

                                   

Our first day [we actually arrived early as the train we just managed to catch at Bratislava was an hour earlier than the one we had had reserved for us – but because our tickets were ‘open’ we could catch any train] we arrived at 11.30 – check in didn’t start until 2.00 pm but the hotel manager was there at the time and she did two wonderful things: (1) gave us an upgraded room from our shared bathroom we had paid for to a business suite with private bathroom – luxury at NO extra cost even though we offered!; and (2) allowed us to check in early because our ‘new’ room was ready. Hotel Post – this a great advertisement of your service. So effectively, we had an extra half-day here.

Our first day we basically spent doing a self – guided walking tour, broken in the middle to go to mid-day Mass. More walking; a cheap supermarket lunch €4.85 – which meant 4 bananas; two fresh bread buns; two nectarines and a bottle of coke – enough to get us through to an early dinner and a walk through the streets of old town Vienna arguing about where to eat. First World problem – and the thousands of refugees are just a few km down the road!

Holy Trinity Column from 1679 and Karlsplaz Metro Station

The refugee problem has become a major headache for Austria but it has still continued to take in refugees albeit with restrictions. Those who ‘made it’ have been accommodated in all sorts of places – many on the green spaces at each end of West Bahnhof; some have even been taken into the homes of people of Vienna who have opened up to try to help with what is clearly a major problem for Europe. Germany received 10,000 refugees in one day last week. How do countries deal with issues of this magnitude?

  

Schonbrunn - Gloriette and Palace

However, as tourists, we have been impressed with Vienna. Five days here and we have used every one. We took out a three day travel pass [for €16.50 pp] and used it to within 5 minutes of its expiry. We have done a lot of travel on trams and trains [buses were included but we didn’t use any] and very easily made the most of our outlay.

Twice we went to Schӧnbrunn: one day to the zoo where [amongst other ‘normal’ zoo animals] we came face to face with a surfacing polar bear in relax mode; an arctic wolf which was a part of a zoo breeding programme; and even a black jaguar: seems most of the animals were struggling in the 33⁰C heat as much as we were. Still the early autumn days here have been glorious. Great for the tourism industry.

           

                           Schonbrunn Zoo - Arctic Wolf, Red Squirrel and Meerkat 

Surfacing Polar Bear, Vienna Zoo

A night with the Vienna Mozart Orchestra at Weiner Mozart Konzert was really enjoyable. Preceded by a traditional Viennese dinner [soup, pork schnitzel, potato and salad and apple strudel] and a ‘free’ small beer, we were taken to the Musikverein for 2 and a bit hours of Mozart music. From a balcony overlooking the stage we
could see all the facial movements – the smiles, the grimaces – and the finger movements but at the same time it felt as though we were a bit like the two old grizzling geezers from the muppets. However, no grizzles – great night of Viennese culture!

                      

                                Mozart Concert (period costume) in Wiener Musikverein

We have also managed to fit in a half hour or so with the locals at Vienna’s Danube ‘beach’ on the little Danube across the river from downtown Vienna. However, not really tempted to swim or even dip toes into the water… it was nice to have the feel of grass under the feet for a change. There are places here [like Schönbrunn] where signs have been erected specifically asking for people to stay off the grass. Got to keep up the good looks.

We have also enjoyed the location of the hotel – 5 minutes from the main shopping street – and 10 minutes from Stephensplatz; and about another 10 minutes from most other places. All this, of course, made the walking tours more easily accessible. But we still managed to clock up on average 12km/day while in Vienna.

                       

                          Hundertwasser's Krawina House adds vibrancy to Vienna

And so, while we haven’t really ‘done Vienna’ we have given it a good shot; so friendly; so easy to get around with the amount of English spoken; signage is English friendly; train stations are among the best we have seen in Europe as to their layout which, with the signage, made getting around here, much easier than in other countries we have visited to date. But tomorrow morning it ends [in Vienna, that is] and we fly out to Zurich which we imagine will do major damage to the pocket. Just as well we have been able to travel a bit under budget to date!

          

     The oldest street in Fleischmarkt    The new city across the Danube

BRATISLAVA

The journey from Krakow to Bratislava took up much of the day. We needed to make a re-adjustment to our train itinerary at the suggestion of the lady at the ticket office at Krakow station who suggested there would be a very tight fit between one train arriving and the net leaving. But with three train changes and the experience of first class which gave us a little more room, free water and juice – and a guaranteed seat with luggage alongside, we finally made it into a mild grey Bratislava afternoon. Another suggestion that we call a taxi [by information at Bratislava main train station] resulted in our picking up a taxi and being ripped off  - the charge of 18 Euros [and being unaware of approximate taxi costs] we even tipped the driver 2 Euros. [The real cost apparently, we found out later should have been around 7 Euros.] However, we weren’t to know, but the challenge was to get to the next train station for less. [As it turns out we managed to find appropriate public (bus) transport for a total cost for both of us for 3 Euros – we felt a bit better about the earlier rip off!

Botel Marina, Bratislava, Sovakia

Our accommodation was the Botel Marina – a floating hotel on the Danube about a 10 minute walk from the old town, Very handy and as is our usual practice, we headed into town for the recce or orientation. We managed to find a place to eat on the street listening to a drunken Slovakian singing away in the middle of the little square to the accompaniment of his guitar. Not too bad for a drunk.

Back to the Botel for our Danube ‘cruise’ – only to find there was no air-con in the cabin – there WAS air-con noise but nothing came of it so we asked for, and were given a little fan, which provided just enough cooling to last the night semi-comfortably.

The Castle - an 'upturned table' - overlooks old town Bratislava

The following morning we embarked on a ‘free’ walking tour of the old town with Dominika, a 22 year old medical student who spoke very good English and as well as guiding us through the town’s features gave us some very personal stories that helped to explain some of the Slovakian traditions [eg Easter and boys hitting girls; Christmas and the carp in the bath tub – check out on YouTube] and facts – girls are pretty; boys are silly – even 20 year olds look and behave like 15 year olds – she claimed. She was pretty …….and the boys, well, they still seemed to have a bit of growing up to do!

  

The statue of Cumil in the Main Square Pedestrian Zone; The Blue Church of St Elisabeth

That afternoon we spent wandering around again, some of the places we had been to in the morning tour and finally wended our way to the top of the Castle from where we got sweeping views across the old city, over the Danube and into the wind farms of Slovakia and Austria. A meandering path took us back down into the old town - but we were waylaid by a Chinese Restaurant which provided an excellent, cheap and tasty meal. Well, it was dinner time anyway. Even had space for a couple of 500ml beers!

 

Bratislava Central pedestrian zone and Slavin - memorial to Soviet Dead

And still had time to get back to Botel Marina to watch the sunset on the Danube.

Danube sunset from the stern of the Botel Marina, Bratislava

The next morning, being a Sunday, we walked from our Botel to St Martin’s church and morning Mass. That was followed by a walk through the walls of the battlements and to St Michaels Gate – the only remianing gate in the town. There were very few tourists around [ by the end of the day toursit numbers were well up again – the river cruise boats had arrived through the day, disgorging passengers into the town] and so we were able to move about freely, get some unencumbered photos – and sit down at a street side café for coffee and bagels. Quite the local thing to do! More walking to the Russian monument at Spavin [to remember Russia’s war dead – thousands of them buried in mass and single graves] overlooking the town but accessed through wide and narrow suburban streets and step ways. Coming back into the town we came across a brass band being set up in the main thoroughfare to play the music of a Slovakian composer who had died 10 years ago that day – September 13.

  

Church of St Stephen and the Old Town Hall in the Main Square

 It was relaxing to sit in chairs, in the sun at 3.00 in the afternoon listening to some spirited music before we headed back to the Botel  - just in time to see a cruise boat undergo a 360 as it moored behind us and discharged its human contents into the city for a quick look and a quick cheap spend. That boat pulled out about 5 hours later …. But that was our last night.

  

The Old Town Hall and SNP Bridge with UFO Restaurant

The next day we were to travel to Vienna. We made a trip to the bus station at about 8.15 to buy bus tickets. Walked back to the boat – picked up our luggage; signed out and walked back to the bus station straight [almost] into Bus 91 that took us to Ptrzalka Train Station [this was the 3 Euro trip!] and straight onto the [very comfortable] commuter train that took us to Vienna, only an hour away.

We arrived at Vienna Hauptbahnhof to see hundreds of refugees being gathered together having found their various ways from Hungary [and beyond]; there were some who arrived on our train and were being questioned by local police and volunteers – this refugee and asylum seeking movement is the largest influx of migrants since WWII – and it is creating quite a stir across Europe. Most countries seem to be making some effort to accommodate the thousands who stream across the borders every day – but there is still some quite serious anti-migrant sentiment coming out of Slovakia, Poland and Czech Republic. However, that’s another story..

KRAKOW

Krakow is a gem. Awash with history of conquest and religion it has a vibrancy and life about it fuelled largely by younger people who have probably experienced an education with connections to Western Europe and all that that brings. From our first experiences in our hotel [Atelier Aparthotel], a quaint little enterprise about 20 mins walk from the Main Market of the Old Town – quiet, friendly, 20ZL breakfast – to the tourist bustle of the Old Town, Krakow has an energy and a life that Warsaw doesn’t so obviously flaunt.

St Mary's Basilica, Krakow

A key feature of tourism throughout Europe

The 2 ½ hour Walking Tour of the Old Town starting at St Mary’s Church and finishing at Wawel Castle courtyard was a great introduction and orientation that gave us our bearings for the days to follow. The Pizzas were delicious; the beers long and cheap – but getting to the start of Autumn and a chill in the air so had to look for escapes inside at times. And not much to do but eat when you get there.

  

Wawel Hill/Cathedral and Church on the Rock, Krakow

Also did a Walking Tour of the Jewish Quarter – initially before the group was split up because of its size, it was led by a young guy who had spent time in NZ  - and even had a Lord of the Rings tattoo banding his arm. Again we walked for a couple of hours ending up at the [Oscar] Schindler factory and passing through a square of single chairs – a reminder of the broken furniture that had been thrown here by the Nazis during the ghetto incarceration as they searched for jewellery hidden in the legs of the furniture by the Jews to help prevent the Nazis from finding it. A sombre place!

The Head - Modern Sculpture - and the Cloth Hall from the 1300s

The Salt Mines were an extraordinarily different kind of experience – we only went down three levels [of nine] but even then we were more than 100m deep into the ground. And full lives were led down here – people were able to go to prayer in the chapels carved out of the salt – the horses used by the miners to carry loads spent their whole lives from about the age of two down the mines never being able to see the sun and feel the fresh air again. Some life!

 

St Kinga's Chapel (1896) and relief of the Last Supper, Wieliczka Salt Mine

So what did we see?? The Leonardo da Vinci painting of the Lady with the Ermine; Churches – loads of them and went to Mass in St Marys – felt like a McDonalds Mass: the next one started as soon as the previous one finished – people came into [say] the 11.00am Mass and sat amongst the congregation coming toward the end of the 10.30 Mass – really quickfire stuff.

Polish Folk Dance in Krakow

WARSAW

Getting out of Moscow was very easy – everything from security to border control was efficient and matter-of-fact. Nothing fancy – just a job done well, right down to the body scan image we watched as it came to screen. Flight to Warsaw took two and a bit hours as we passed into a new time zone, gaining an hour along the way.

Not a good start to Warsaw. We had a thermal hoodie stolen from on top of our luggage which was right in front of us on the trolley. As soon as attention was diverted to getting transport directions the said item went astray. We had purchased tickets to catch the 175 bus into the city but just as before we were about to board a leg ‘snap’ meant a reconsideration of how to get into the city. So the taxi became number one option – a trip costing 31 Polish Zloty, about US$9.50. A very comfortable option. However, things were about to get more difficult: (a) it rained and (b) the reception desk for our apartments (Platinum) had changed location to about 250m away: it felt like a long way in the rain but having checked in we had to make our way back, 250m where we started from. Stupid arrangements! But we finally made it  - and went to sleep waking up the next day after a solid 14 hours. The early start and the hectic schedule of the previous two weeks had finally caught up and we had the chance to sleep it off.

Warsaw's Palace of Culture - another of Stalin's Wedding Cakes

After eating breakfast out the first morning we walked to the Soviet styled tower near to Central railway station [buying rail tickets to Krakow along the way – and even that was a bit cumbersome as the woman didn’t understand we wanted tickets for two days away; however, with some help from a passerby the matter was sorted but there was a longish queue behind us by the time we had finished] and caught a ‘hop on – hop off’ bus tour which (a) didn’t go where we thought it should have gone and (b) didn’t go to a couple of stops because of some reconstruction. So it was a bit of a time waster  - not to mention the 120 ZL!

Modern Warsaw Architecture

   

Street Art in Old Town Waesaw

The modern skyline Warsaw, 2015

Finally, however, we got into the Old City and walked through the reconstructed streets and buildings, many of which, having been bombarded or blown up by German troops during WW2 have been reconstructed on the basis of paintings by artists over the years up to 1939. And it seems that they have been doing a great job in rebuilding a city that was flattened both physically and emotionally.

   

Monuments to the Memory of the Warsaw Uprising and Jewish Dead

But Warsaw is still rising despite an ageing population and where there are still more dead than living. Museums abound but churches abound even more. This is a very Catholic city where churches dominate the horizon along with the multitude of statues and memorials to …. well, just about everyone and everything.  The Memorial to those who perished in eastern camps in Russia, the memorial to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the square where Pope John Paul II celebrated his first Mass in Poland after becoming Pope and where his memorial Mass was held after her died in 2005 – these are among several monuments to recognise the struggles and achievements of the Polish people. These are all moving in their own way. Walking the streets through both the old and new towns brought us back to our apartment block just near to the remaining wall part from the Polish ghettos of WW2.

St Pope Jean-Paul II - proudly remembered by many

The next day we went to Mass; it was a Sunday and this was the most crowded Mass we have been to anywhere along the way. But the people were mainly elderly. [Perhaps the younger people were out participating in the ‘2015 Business House Run’ that we stumbled across just prior to its starting and which was being led by thumping music as part of the pre-run warm up.] A walk from the church took us back to the Old Town and to a very quiet main street – we were there at about 9.45am, too early for a Polish Sunday but we managed to find a coffee shop, had a bite to eat and then waited for the [free Sunday] entry to the Castle Palace Museum. This was one of the almost 100% destroyed buildings – if not from the German bombing raids of 1939, then from being blown up by retreating losers in 1944! More walking through the churches of the main street – around a wedding, a photo shoot of models in old cars, a movie/advertisement clip being filmed – to more monuments, to the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier [and who were those guys dressed in old style regiment dress walking the street with ‘weapons at the ready’] and to the church with Chopin’s heart encased as a memorial in one of the church pillars; to the Synagogue quietly sitting under a leafy roof in fringe-suburban new town…..

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Victory Square

Warsaw - the Old Town

  

Warsaw is a city on the rise – still! New architecture sits alongside the old. The past and the present are one and there is absolutely no way a local [or a tourist for that matter] can be allowed to forget the tragedies that this city has battled through – not just once! And tomorrow we’re off to Krakow – a once former capital city of this former communist country – and now fiercely looking western and upwards.

'Girl in a Hat' and 'The Scholar at the Lectern'
Both works of Rembrandt in the Royal Castle, Warsaw

MOSCOW

One should be very careful of taking too much from news bulletins and bytes from TV clips. Almost invariably they paint a drab picture of Moscow and Muskovites. Sure, it is a city built on marshes [from where the name Moscow is drawn] but the image is very misleading. This is a city of vibrancy and colour and people going about their daily lives with as much vigour and engaging levels of social interaction as any other city. People are laughing; they joke; they engage with English speaking people as much as they can; they DO NOT ignore you because you speak English and thy mightn't - despite the common mis-beliefs. People aren't interested in war and armaments and conquest and military might - they just want peace and a fun world where they can relate as families. Which part of the world is really any different.

The boys were friendly and keen to pose

All the postering of discord and fragile peace - that is the game being played by politicians all around the world in almost every country and does not represent what the people are like. Moscow [and Russia for that matter] is very welcoming and obliging. It is a definite must see/experience for anyone who can make that a reality. People should not be put off by press and media images.

From the art of the underground metro stations where there is no dirt; no litter; no graffiti as in London and Paris and other big undergrounds; if officialdom is helping to maintain these conditions on a regular basis it is not in your face and it is definitely not scary.

The Glitz of the Moscow Metro

 Millions of people will use this metro system every day and mixed up in the hustle of daily life are these images of significant episodes of Russian history adorning the walls and ceilings of the underground.

Even the Kremlin and Red Square exposed in international media as grey places of military muscle are far from that. The colour again of the buildings both around Red Square and inside the Kremlin [which means fortress] walls make the whole environment alive and fun. Lenin must be rolling over in his Red Square tomb as it looks out onto the commercial centre of consumerism in the 'Gum' shopping centre immediately across from where the tomb is located.

Gum Shopping Precinct

On Guard in Red Square

            

There is some sentiment here that sooner or later his tomb will be moved maybe to where the other former President are entombed elsewhere in Moscow city. Apparently there is always scaffolding up in Red Square as it hosts party celebrations for Moscow's 837th birthday this weekend coming and at other times cultural events and concerts. Concerts are popular because they are big revenue gatherers for the Government.

Christ the Saviour Church

Preparation, Red Square for 837 birthday celebrations

                                 

The Church of Christ the Saviour is one of the most impressive structures we have seen. A Russian orthodox church it was made famous recently by Pussy Riot - the girl punk band that was arrested for performing anti-Putin songs on the doorstep.

All around the city are the Stalin [wedding] cakes - buildings initiated by Stalin and now the homes of Hotels [eg Radisson] and apartment blocks. They leave a defining image on the Moscow skyline. But like any huge city [of in excess of 12,000,000 people] traffic becomes a huge problem;

    

Radisson - Stalin's Wedding cake - by day and night

congestion in the Russian rush hour is like any western city; but perhaps scariest of all are the three laned open roads with a common middle lane used by vehicles to overtake in both directions; drivers really need to be on the alert but in allour travels here we have seen only one small nose-tail collision [other signs on the sides of the highways suggest more frequent serious results!].

      

Inside and outside the Kremlin

The road to Zagorsk and the Russian Orthodox Church of  St Sergius proved to be a real highlight; the experience of ongoing service at the re-burial place of the former founding monk of the Monastery and the art that adorned the walls was simply awesome.

   

Buildings and Guard - both at attention

Moscow is certainly a place to come back to. It is clearly different from Mother Russia, the rural embodiment of the down-to-earth Russian ethic; and as commercial centre and capital it is different from the slower pace of Saint Petersburg; it is in essence, a country within a country.

    

Rural Russia - Dacha's in the Heartland outside of Moscow