Crazies at the Reichstag

The queue at the Reichstag was long and somewhat boring so when a bunch of young guys (bucks weekenders most likely) come along on bikes wearing sombrero hats, it certainly grabs your attention. When one of these guys dressed in fluro pinks starts undressing to reveal female underwear, you start to laugh. However, when one tries to ride down the parliament stairs and falls off his bike and is too injured to get back on, you shouldn’t laugh but it is really, really difficult task to restrain yourself.

The Bears of Berlin

There are bear statues EVERYWHERE! It took us awhile to figure out the significance of them and we did we started taking photos of every one we saw – below are a few. The symbol of a bear is designed to be an illusion to the city’s founder, Mark Brandenburg, nicknamed, "Albrecht the Bear".
At the end of the 19th century, the bear received its official status as a symbol of Berlin.

Exploring Berlin

For once we made it to our hotel without much difficulty. We not only found the lift at the station but we also didn’t have to scour the streets for our hotel. The hotel was uber nice but I was slightly disgusted by the urinal in the bathroom – mum thought it was something quite different (something a little embarrassing to write here for all the world to see). The weather was a little gloomy but we decided to check out the Reichstag – Parliament House – upon which they have now built a huge dome roof – I am told it has many purposes but the greatest of which is the double helix walkways where tourists are allowed up to wander and check out the panoramic views of Berlin. It was a great introduction to the city even though we had to wait in a queue for an hour and a half (amid wind and rain)!


Now we had been hearing a bit about these fat tire bike tours so we decided to see if they lived up to their reputation. It was freezing, it went for 5½ hours and I forgot my gloves but we honestly had the BEST time! Here’s a list of everything we saw - Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin Wall, Hitler’s Bunker, Topography of Terror, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Tiergarten, Brandenburg Gate, Luftwaffe Ministry, Bebelplatz, Museum Island, Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz, Soviet War Memorial, Victory Column. The Jewish Memorial was impacting; the maze structure of 2711 blocks of various heights is intended to make you feel a sense of the isolation and solitude the Jews felt as they were being taken to concentration camps. Bebelplatz was quite an impacting site, however nothing much remains today. It lies directly in front of the Germany’s most prestigious university and is the location where the infamous Nazi book-burning took place on May 10, 1993. Heinrich Heine famously said, “Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.” Guess he knew what he was talking about. Checkpoint Charlie has an outdoor exhibit detailing the Cold War and stories about those who attempted to escape. We heard an amazing success story of a man who worked in the Nazi Luftwaffe Ministry building located about ten metres back from the wall. One night he “worked late” and went to the roof and attached a huge hook on the end of a long rope. A following day he got to work early with his wife and child and put them in a broom closet for the day. Once everyone had gone home, he took them up to the roof, threw the hook over both sides of the wall (a huge feat in itself) and had his friends on the west side of the wall fasten it firmly. The whole family then used the rope as a flying fox and got across the wall completely unnoticed. Crazy but many would attempt anything to escape. The frustration of Checkpoint Charlie was how tacky it was! There were people dressed up as soldiers and girls posing with them for a euro a photo – lame. I could go on but that would make this post illegally long. Lunch was yum – alpenwurst – sausage sizzle taken to a whole ‘nother level. Mum and I battled greatly on the bikes, overtaking each other, pushing each other, yelling at each other but I feel this really added to the enjoyment of the day – we laughed a great deal, particularly at each other’s misfortunes. For dinner we went to the Lowenbrau (which is actually pronounced correctly as Loovenbrau) and although quite different to Sydney (no one wore traditional dress) we had a great dinner and the beer was just as good.

We spent our final day racing back to things we wanted to see more of or had missed altogether. This is included the East Side Gallery where my camera battery unfortunately died, back to Checkpoint Charlie, shopping at Galeries Lafayette and an attempt to see the Topography of Terror. The former headquarters of the infamous Nazi ‘Gestapo’ and SS, it is being constructed into a museum, however in the meantime it is being exhibited in the open air but we couldn’t work out why we couldn’t get in. I was pretty set on seeing the exhibition so we snuck through the construction entry. About 10 minutes later a woman comes over asking how we got in and what we were doing there. Apparently it is closed until mid May while heavy construction is in progress – I was pretty devo. Mum cheered me up with the suggestion of ice-cream – it went down an absolute treat. Best 2 euro spent all day! I also talked mum into the purchase of sunglasses - we both got a pair and walked home in the dark with them on. We ended up having thai for dinner (absolutely delicious) as we were pretty buggered and had to awaken at 4 to catch a plane to Belgium.

So everything went smoothly this morning – a train, a plane, a train and currently on train 3 to Bruges (Brugge). One bus and we will be there. Can’t wait!

Czeching Out Prague

So I am currently on train number 3 headed to BERLIN! So let me rewind and catch you up on the exciting happenings of the last three days.

We arrived in Prague (aka capital of the Czech Republic), tired after the long train trip. It was after dark and we naively started our hike to the hotel. We were told to get a train but they actually meant tram. We just walked and walked and walked with no map and no idea where we were. FINALLY after asking police, passerbys and other hotel concierges we arrived at Hotel Sax. This hotel is from another world – it is honestly amazing. The art deco theme of the hotel is insane with influences from the 50/60/70’s. The photos will have to speak for me – I have no words to explain it! We were so tired we opted not to go for dinner and crashed out almost immediately.

We started exploring the following day – Charles Bridge over the Vltava River, Old Town Square, the Astronomical Clock, the river, churches, the Easter markets and lots of gorgeous winding streets. We took plenty of time to eat – delicious buffet breakie, vienna almonds, sausages, chicken skewers and complimentary afternoon tea at the hotel. We also shopped – my favourite purchase being my painting – I LOVE it! Then in the pm we met up with Lydia and her parentals and went on a jazz cruise. (I was greatly amused by going in the lock ie. a boat swimming pool). It was beautiful and the weather was perfect – in fact the daytime was actually HOT!

Our second day around Prague we spent up in the Prague Castle precinct. Unfortunately Obama decided to rock up and ruin everyone’s day – the castle was closed until lunchtime. We decided to wander around which took us through many pretty streets and to panoramic views of Prague. Finally Obama made his exit and we were able to explore the Prague Castle, St George Basilica, the torture chamber and the Golden Lane. It was all built in medieval times – very different to the architectural styles of Austria. Tea was served at 4 and we had booked our spa/sauna for 5pm. We had dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant – potato dumplings, fried camembert, stuffed peppers and of course a local beer - yummy and filling. We went home and sadly packed up our things ready for an early start.


So here I am reflecting as we sit in the best train carriage we’ve had thus far. We have been busted because it is apparently a mother and young child carriage but somehow we’ve managed to stay. I even scored a window seat so I have a powerpoint. I think I’ll leave my update at that. Adventures in Berlin await!

Adventures in Salzburg

The adventure took us to Salzburg so now that I am sitting here on the train to Prague, it is time that I reflect and write so my memories are captured. I’m sorry for the information overload for those reading but I believe when I get home, I will appreciate the detail being here.


So Day 1 – We explored the old town. It is so beautiful and there are a crazy number of shops. As Easter Monday is public holiday we couldn’t be tempted by the shops but we chimed on a guided tour, looked through churches, snuck into the city hall, walked through markets, window shopped and had a delicious heiße Schokolade (hot chocolate) in what mum would call a “cute as” cafe. My favourite moment of the day was a bowl of goulash on the Hotel Stein rooftop. The panoramic views were incredible.


Day 2 – Mum was uber excited as the Sound of Music tour approached. We had breakfast at a cute cafe – I had delicious open sandwiches and a Zotter trinkschokolate – after having been to the factory I am pretty hooked. We spent the morning walking through the Mirabell Gardens that are divine and were used for “Do-Re-Mi” in the movie. I introduced mum to Billa – the corner shop chain and we bought up on snacks – Milka included of course. I then took mum to Zara – needless to say she loved it and bought the prettiest white jacket – I am of course hoping I get to borrow it in the not too distant future. Now I must say before I go on that I have been pretty negative regarding the whole Sound of Music tour situation, although I seemed to have now changed my mind. Yes the tour was tacky and our tour guide corny but we saw the most beautiful places - lakes, villages and of course many of the locations in the movie. (Leopold’s Crown Palace-Glass Gazebo-Frohnberg Castle-Mozart Foot Bridge-Residence Square-Nonnberg Abbey-St Peter’s Abbey-Hedge Covered Archways-Wedding Church in Mondsee-Untersberg Mountain) It felt like you had jumped into Maria’s world and I loved it. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant – such cuteness and went to bed early to watch, “The Time Traveller’s Wife” wishing we had more time to spend in this beautiful city.



Day 3 aka heute (today) we had our final morning. We walked up the river banks for the hundredth time – I could never tire of such beauty and we took an elevator up to Mönchsberg – the woods on a cliff which houses three castles and museum. We walked around the top taking in the most magnificent views and stumbled upon one of the castles. Now a five star hotel, this place was out of a fairytale. We sat out the front and drank coffee in amazement at this hidden gem. Mum grabbed brochures with plans to convince Dad to take her there. I on the other hand can only dream. We begrudgingly headed back to the hotel and checked out realising we could’ve spent a week here if we had more time. However, we are a few hours out of Prague now after an interesting trip thus far. We have been on two trains and a bus due to track work but we are finally making some ground now. I am so excited to see this place I have heard so much about! Tschau...