Jun 2008

After taking a 7 hour train ride from Vienna to Krakow, which really should only have taken 4 hours if the train moved fater than 20 km/h in the burbs, Amelia and I were pretty knacked to say the least. Luckily we didnt have to walk far to our hostel, which from the outside looked like abuilding transported directly from 1950's communist Russia. The stairs looked even worse, resembling some sort of CSI opening, but the hostel itself and the rooms were unbelievably good. Free breakfast, supper and internet, hot showers and a massive new bedroom. We have even been lucky enough to try a traditional Polish potato and sausage soup, gratis ! After looking around the old town square yesterday, which was really gorgeous, we decided to take the journey to Auschwicz today. An hour and a half bus ride took us to the first concerntration camp, which was basically left untouched after the war. Seeing a room full of womens hair, a crematorium used as a gas chamber and the notorious death wall and death block were all pretty shocking, however with truck loads of tourists it was hard to feel any deep emotions in the camp, which was a tad dissapointing. I still struggle not to belt people who laugh and do whatever they feel in such a place of sorrow. We then headed down the road to Birkenau, more commanly know as Auscwicz 2. Here train loads of people were brought into the camp, with 75% of the load being gassed upon arrival. As this camp was much bigger (3 square kms) you could find some space on your own inside some of the barracks were the prisoners slept. This was a far more harrowing experince and you could almost imagine what people felt inside. Further down we saw the ruins of 2 former gas chambers and even though they were a pile of rubble, you could still see where thousands of people entered the chamber never to be seen again. The fields alongside the chambers had memorial plaques, indicating that pits filled with the ashes of thousands of bodies were only 1 metre away. Still it is not comprehendible to think that 1.5 million people died in both Auschwicz camps, that is roughly the size of Adelaide and Canberra combined !

Tomorrow the search begins for wedding shoes and replacement shorts for myself, after the volleyball accident of the other day!

Speak to you all later

I had a rule when I moved out of home, never eat the same meal 3 days in a row. Well I broke that rule quite badly in Vienna having 4 schnitzels in 3 days, but when they were served on a sword and in a wheelbarrow, how can you refuse ? After leaving the beautiful little town of Cesky Kremlov, we arrived in Vienna in the afternoon. After finding are hostel, we had a feed and went down to the fan zone in the city square. For those who dont know, Austria and Switserland are hosting the Euro 08 soccer tournament, which is a big deal over here ! The corwd was quite tame on the first night, but when the Turks stole a late win, the streets were alive with red flag and chants I couldn't understand ! The next night was the big big big game between Austria and Germany, but it was a bit of a fizzer and there was not much of a party going on (even though my face was painted red and white). While the schnitzels and the soccer were good, by far the best experience we had was a day trip to the Daunabe Valley wine region. Here we rode around on push bikes all day, drinking wine and schnapps, follwed but eating some sausages and chocolate, and finishing with a game of volleyball and more wine. We loved everything about this day except for when I tore my trusty pant/shorts in 2 whilst showing off in volleyball. This resulted in me having to create a makeshift cod piece out of my hat to protect the region from my nether regions ! Funny for all, emotional for me ! Still a great day though.

We didn't really get to see much of the classical Vienna as it was all covered up with soccer stuff, but the atmosphere made up for it.

Oh yeah, Peto you might like this, they make a sausage in Vienna called a Bern - Wurst (or something similar) which is a sausage filled with cheese and then wrapped in bacon. I now know what they eat in heaven !

We are now in Krakow after a long, long train trip, so we will update with more soon !

Until then.....

Evening All, we have spent our last 2 days in the tiny little Czech town of Cesky Krumlov. We have pretty much been taking it easy in the cobblestoned streets and castle gardens of the town, composing ourselves before our Polish quest (with a quick stop over in Vienna first). As the Euro soccer tournament is currently in full swing, we have been watching a heap of soccer with some fantastic games on offer. The Dutch side are quite unbelievable at the moment, thrashing both the Frogs and the Wogs. I certainly enjoyed the later win, especially after Australia's world cup exit a couple of years ago. While Italy has probably been our favorite place so far, I still love seeing their diving, whining mob of soccer players have a cry when they lose ! Back to Cesky Krumlov and the highlight has to be the castle's bear pit. I often ask myself how to best protect a castle but building a pit and chucking 4 bears in there never came to mind. Still a fantastic sight though ! Tomorrow we are off to Vienna for some schnitzels and plenty of soccer (since they are the hosts).

Until then stay beautiful.

Ahoy All (yep, hello in Czech is Ahoy) todays update is from the pretty city of Prague. Being lucky enought to avoid an major damage in all wars, the majority of buildings in the Old town are quite old and are very interesting to look at. One individual said "it is like being in a fairy tale". While I wouldn't go that far, the set up of Prague is very welcoming and there is plenty to look at. Wehave wandered over a bridge from the 15 century, walked around a castle on top of a big hill and seen the brilliant astronomical clock in the old town square. While we missed the puppets coming out on the our, the design of the clock itself was amazing (telling you the time, month and day is a quirky manner - we will attach photos soon). We also experienced what Prague is truly famous for, its nightlife. We joined a pub crawl and lets just say we didn't ruin the Aussie reputation of having a good time and putting away a few, especially with our Dutch/Belgium friends. Not sure if an of the footy boys read this blog but if they do, 2009 footy trip should be to Prague.

Next update from Cesky Kremlov soon (we head off tomorrow)

See you all later

Halo All, todays update come from the amazing city of Berlin. We have been here for 4 nights now and we head off tomorrow to Prague in the Czech Republic. Berlin has been very interesting and diverse, from finding the best opp shop in the world so far (we both got some cool stuff and so did Danielle) to learning of the troubled past of Berlin on a bike tour, there is definitely something to keep you going for ages in this place ! We have seen bits of the old Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg gates which have witnessed everything from Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, the Russians and Michael Jackson hanging babies over balconies (just up the road a bit), where Hitler died and a moving memorial to the Holocaust victims. We are staying in the old East Germany, so a lot of the bars and buildings here have lots of soviet memorabilia, certainly fascinating stuff. We have also been lucky enough to stumble upon markets were plenty of Nazi and Soviet treasures could be found. Tonight there is a massive game of soccer with Germany playing the Poles and apparently the 2 aren't the best of mates (something about an invasion in 1939 still causes some issues) so we are trying to head down to a popular spot to watch the game with thousands of locals (we just wont wear any red clothing).

Sorry about the delay in replying but internet is hard to find here ( damn commie infrastructure!). Only Kidding

Jus (informal for goodbye apparently)