Days 29 & 30 Saturday & Sunday 29 & 30 April 2017

Ladies if you are deciding what the fashion is going to be for the upcoming season I suggest that you do not throw out your jeans with the holes in them.  Everybody is wearing jeans with holes in them, even some chaps.

As last night was my last Saturday night in Europe I decided I would go the whole hog, so to speak, for dinner.  Having experienced some difficulty getting into a restaurant on Friday I decided I would try a new strategy.  I will digress slightly here, on Friday and Saturday nights when the restaurants are really busy they are loath to take up a table with a single diner when they could put a couple in, I have been turned away, or ignored while they find a table for the couple behind me.  Anyway I was determined not to experience this on Saturday night, so late in the afternoon when I was walking back to my hotel I went past a restaurant where I had lunch the day before, so I went in there and made a reservation for one, gotcha!

Just changing locations down to the bar, to be continued.

Now in the bar waiting on my vodka & tonic.  So dinner on saturday night was pork shoulder and potato dumpling accompanied by kellarbier.  When you walk into the restaurant you walk past a window looking into the kitchen and in there you can see a large glass fronted oven with I reckon 50 or 60 roasted pork shoulders sitting in there.  The pork shoulder is a large lump of roast pork topped by a large lump of pork crackling, the potato dumpling is a dense ball of mashed potato all sitting in a pool of beer gravy, where can you go wrong with that.  Kellarbier is a speciality of the region and is a local brew drawn straight from the barrel located in the kellar, which is German for cellar.  This beer is served in a half litre porcelain mug probably so that you can't see how cloudy it is, but it is delicious and refreshing.  In a very large restaurant I reckon about 90% of the patrons were having the pork shoulder,

On Saturday I did a combined morning and afternoon walking tour led by our tour guide, Chris a 20 something surfer dude from the northern beaches of Sydney.  He has been living in Germany for 7 years or so.  The morning part of the tour was around the old town and was the usual array of market places, churches and castles.

Church in Nuremberg - blue skies

The afternoon involved catching a bus to the former nazi party rally grounds.  As I have mentioned before this was where Hitler and his cronies held their big propagander driven rallies and parades.  There is a documentation centre (modern museum) there as well as the unfinished nazi Congress Hall (when the congress hall was finished it was to be twice the size of the colloseum in Rome) and the Zeppelin Field where the rallies were held.  The modern day Germans are in a real quandry as to what to do with these buildings and facilities.  The original buildings on the site, congress hall and the zeppelin field grandstands are all crumbling and falling into disrepair.  The Germans want to leave these facilities as they are to show what has happened in 70 years to buildings that were supposed to last for a 1,000 years as the showpieces of the 3rd reich.  However they can't allow the buildings to deteriorate much more as they would then be unsafe.  This now becomes a political and moral minefield as they do not want to be seen to be spending money on restoring or maintaining nazi facilities.

A couple of Hitler's follies

The Germans still have real issues as to how they deal with the physical, moral and political fallout from the nazi era.  Maybe somebody should write a book about it one day.

On Sunday, continuing the nazi German theme I visited the site of the Nuremberg trials.  This involved my first foray with the Nuremberg undergound, the railway system, not a political movement.   Court room 600 at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice is where the trials of the leading Nazis took place after the end of the war.  Court room 600 is still a working court room and although the court room is laid out differently it is very easy to see how the court appeared for the trials of the leading nazis, a number of whom were executed as a result of the verdicts reached in this room.

Court rooom 600 - IMT (International Military Tribunal)

Upstairs in the roof space above the court room is a very (very) detailed display about the court, the processes and outcomes of the trials.  It is extremely well done but for the casual visitor far to detailed.  To see, watch and listen to everything would have taken many hours, so I skipped some parts that were probably important to the people who put the display together but not to me.  What is important from the Nuremberg trials is that they set the groundwork for the Nuremberg Principles that now form the basis for the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

So back out into the sunlight, beautiful day here today, sunny and about 16 degrees.  Train back into Nuremberg and Italian for lunch sitting in the sunshine on the edged of the old market square, listening to some bloke playing a piano accordian.  Now this is what European holidays are supposed to be about, not trudging through snow in dark leaden skies.

Ex Con Tiki bus I reckon

Catching the train to Frankfurt tomorrow (Monday) and then flying out of Frankfurt on Tuesday.

(wi fi is really slow for posting pics, more pics to come)

Day 28 Friday 28 April 2017

Quick blog entry, this is the view from my hotel room this morning!

It is 9.00am and still snowing

How cold is it going to be on the station platform this morning????

A photo from the train just out of Munich, obviously a lot more snow on the ground here than in the city.

Well I finally found my castle today, I know that it is a castle cause it is at the top of a bloody big hill.  Much more of this and I will have legs like a mountaing goat, I don't mean hairy and smelly, I mean taut and muscley.  Luckily I have been keeping fit on a diet of sausages, sauerkraut, potatoes and beer.  Nuremberg castle isnt a big castle as far as castles go, but it is old and at one time was one of the main castles in the Holy Roman Empire which was a pretty big deal back in the day.

Nuremberg is another of the German cities that was almost totally destroyed in WW2, or as I call it NTGW (Not the Great War), and was rebuilt after the war.  What I find amazing is that they rebuilt in the style of the original city, with the old medieval style buildings, including the churches and public buildings replicated so that as you wander around now you think that these buildings are hundreds of years old when in fact they are less than 70 - 80 years old.  The castle was heavily damaged and has been substantially rebuilt.

How old do you reckon this building is? Prize for neatest correct entry

Nuremberg was heavily bombed as it was an industrial centre and transport hub but was also seen as a city that had been integral to the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930's.  The nazi rallies that we have seen in the old black & white movies were held here and the infamous Nuremberg laws that codified the nazi views on racism were passed here.  

Of course the Nuremberg trials were held here after the war, but that is a different matter and will be dealt with at another time.

I am doing a walking tour tomorrow that includes a lot of the old town but also visits the site of the nazi rallies.  It is going to be a balmy 12 degrees tomorrow, might have to break out the sunscreen.

Day 26 & 27 Wednesday & Thursday 26 & 27 April 2017

There is no danger of me ever getting scurvy, the amount of sauerkraut I have eaten should protect me for life.

I went to the concentration camp site at Dachau today (Wednesday).  I reckon the temperature did not exceed 4 degrees all day and when it stopped raining it snowed.  The novelty is starting to wear off for the snow.

The forecast for tomorrow is similar.

I did a guided tour of Dachau from Munich, the tour guide was an American who had lived in Munich for the last 40 something years.  The concentration camp site is located just outside the village of Dachau which is now pretty much a suburb of Munich.  Our little tour group caught the S-Bahn train from Munich to Dachau and then a local bus service to the concentration camp site.  For those of you who are interested Dachau was the 1st concentration camp built by the Germans and it operated from 1933 to 1945.  It was originally built as a camp for political prisoners and was never intended to be used as an extermination camp such as Auschwitz.  But having said that it is estimated that of the 230,000 or so prisoners that went through Dachau more than 30,000 died.  The majority of these prisoners died of hunger, maltreatment and disease rather than deliberate killing, although many prisoners died as a result of punishment handed out by the Germans.

I didnt take many photos as, one it was either raining or snowing and I didn't want to get my camera wet and secondly I didn't feel comfortable with some of the photo opportunities on offer.  Anyway a couple of general photos of the camp follow.

This morning (Thursday) was cold and wet, what a surprise!  Nothing formal planned for today so after breakfast in the hotel, which was included as part of the deal, I donned coat, hat, gloves, thick socks and boots and ventured forth.

I wanted to have a look around some parts of Munich that I hadn't already visited and go back to a couple of places for a better look.  For a couple of reasons today's itinerary included a couple of churches.  The first reason is that if you are visiting a church you are indoors and not getting wet, although I dont think that they waste a lot of money on heating.  The second reason is their role in the history of these places.  Munich and Bavaria generally is still strongly Roman Catholic, the rest of Germany, particularly in the North is Protestant.  For whatever reason the reformation didn't reach this far south.

I also visited the only TGW memorial that I have seen in Germany.  I have attached a couple of photos instead of trying to describe it.

My walk today included a stroll through part of the English Garden, the term garden is a misnomer as it is bigger than either Hyde or Central park.  There is a large open area and apparently in nicer weather people sunbathe there nude, although there wasn't any nude sunbathing there today although I had my zoom lense ready just in case.

The other thing is that I haven't seen any squirrels! I thought that they would be all over the place, maybe they are still in their little squirrel holes eating their nuts.

Now here is a funny sight that you don't see every day;

and another pic just for the sake of it;

For lunch today I had beer goulash with a massive dumpling in the middle accompanied by a beer and a pretzel, no sauerkraut though.  Through the day today I discovered an Irish Bar that also has the Ned Kelly Australian Bar, so that is an option for dinner tonight.

Leaving Munich tomorrow and on the train to Nuremberg.

Day 25 Tuesday 25 April 2017 (Anzac Day)

Dreary rainy day in Munich, but in the interests of providing my readers with more interesting and entertaining stories I donned my coat and ventured forth.

Immediately I was struck by an opportunity to include a food picture, see below;

The Bavarians and the Germans as a whole are mad about fresh asparagus and it is currently the middle of the asparagus season.  Their asparagus is very white and often quite large almost the size of a banana.  Asparagus and strawberries are sold all over the place from these streetside stalls, as above.

I did a walking tour this morning, again a good way of getting a bit of a feel for the place.  During our walking tour we visited the largest of the beer halls, the Hofbrau Haus.  Whilst we were there the tour guide explained how there is a system of regular customers marking their tables and heaven help any innocent traveller/drinker who may inadvertanatly sit at one of those tables, she also advised that sometimes the indicators may be subtle and vary from bar to bar.

We were also taken to Munich's favourite (only?) surfing place.  Wow, I hear you say, Munich is 100s of kilometres away from the sea, how do they go surfing?  Patience little ones, all will be explained.  There is a swift flowing stream that runs through the English Garden, (Munich's equivalent of Hyde park or Central park) anyway at a certain point the water in this stream crosses a weir wall producing a major wave and this is what the surfies surf on.

So this is how you go surfing in Munich.

So now for a funny story.  After the tour finished I was lookng for a suitable establishment for some lunch and rehydration.  I found a nice little bar/restaurant and found a handy bench to sit at near the bar.  The bar wasnt very busy and was only about half full.  Anyway I ordered my lunch, meat loaf with warm potato salad, served with two different types a mustard and a beer poured from a wooden barrel. Anyway I was halfway through all this and a respectable older German gentleman entered the bar, greeted everybody by name and sat down at the same bench as me but opposite.  I thought, 'this is strange, there are lots of other places for him to sit' but we nodded greetings and he went about his beer.  I finished my lunch ordered another beer and drank that feeling a little uncomfortable.  Then the man's wife came in, ordered a beer and sat at the same bench, it was getting a little crowded by now.  Looking casually around the bar I observed that some tables and benches had a wooly halo thing over them.  I looked up and there was a little wooly halo over my bench.  Then I recalled the tour guide's advice from this morning, I was sitting at this man's private bench without realising it.  I must admit he took it very well, didn't glare at me or anything.  I finished my beer and with gracious auf wiedersehens all round made my exit.

I have just found out it is going to be 4 degrees tomorrow!  I am going to do a guided tour to Dachau tomorrow so will need to get rugged up for that.

I have just got back from dinner, schnitzel, a mountain of fried potato, a small salad and apfelstrudel mit cream and ice cream and a couple of beers.  Lucky I am walking a lot.

I will finish up with this little story.  The tour guide today mentioned the mistress of one of the King Ludwigs of Bavaria and the mistresse's name was Lola Montez.  This name rang a bell with me, it turns out that after Lola ( who was English born) had to flee Bavaria and seek refuge in Switzerland she somehow turned up in the goldfields in Victoria as a dancer.  She danced a dance called the 'spider dance' in which she showed her knickers, or would have done if she was wearing any.  Imagine the furore that would have caused in Melbourne in the 1850's.  There is also a story of her horsewhipping the editor of a Ballarat newspaper for giving her act a bad review.  Great story from royal mistress in Bavaria to exotic dancer in 1850's Victoria and various other adventures before, during and after.

On that note good night from me.

Day 24 Monday 24 April 2017

On the train from Prague to Munich with extremely dodgy wifi, so will see how it goes.

A big thank you to Flashy for his detailed explanation of the term 'defenestration',  as an ex altar boy he would certainly be familiar with the latin roots (so to speak) of the word.

As the train left Prague the sun was shining, it was about 2 or 3 degrees but promising to be a fine day.  The wi fi on the train isn't up to giving me a weather forecast for Munich so I will just have to wait and see.

The train is just crossing the border, leaving the Czech Republic and heading back into Germany, still about 3 hours to Munich.  Everything just got neater and tidier so I think we have crossed the border into Germany.

I need to gather my thoughts a bit about Prague.  They certainly don't go out of their way to make visitors and tourists feel welcome.  There is no signage in English or German, even at the tourist spots.  At the station this morning trying to find the international train departure area was difficult as the station signage was all in Czech.  Once you got to the international area the departure information board had a smattering of information in German and English.  Even the French do better than this.

The other thing is that you always have the feeling that the Czechs are trying to separate you from your funds.  As an example, if you go into a bar they may have some pretzels hanging from a wooden frame on your table or on the bar.   Hmmmm you say, I might have one of those, at your peril, you will be charged through the nose for it.  The other trick is to give you a basket of bread with your meal, hmmm you think I will have a piece of bread. Again you will be charged extra as the bread is not included in the price of the meal.  If you don't touch it you won't be charged.

But I did like the old town and the medieval feel of the place,  it was an interesting town to walk around as you were never quite sure what you would find at the end of the street, or even where you were actually going to be.  The buildings and the history were all interesting and like a lot of these European cities they have been at the centre of dramatic historical events both recent and in the distant past.

The Jewish quarter was interesting, pre 2nd world war Prague had a Jewish population of I think 70 to 80,000; after the war the Jewish population was something like 2,000.  There are something like 6 or 7 synagogues in the Jewish quarter and a Jewish museum.  Hitler had the bizarre idea of putting all the material looted from the synagogues all around Europe in a Museum in Prague, although this never quite got of the ground for some reason or another.

Must be nearly time for a beer on the train, so I will see if I can post this and I may come back to it later, or then again I may not.  I might need a nap after my beer.

Days 22 & 23 Saturday & Sunday 22 & 23 April 2017

First up, Clair, thank you for your comments, but of course the difference was that I always knew when I'd had enough and knew when it was time to go home.

Flashy, you are right about the word hotel emblazoned on the front of the building, it is very handy.  The other thing is it is the only word in the Czech language that has any resemblance to the English equivalent.

To the guys at the Shrine, have a good Anzac Day, I trust it all goes well without too much drama.  I will be in Munich for Anzac Day, might have to find the nearest RSL for a game of two up.

 I have never used a map for finding my way around a city as much as I have done here.  And I am not alone, street corners are clogged with people looking at the maps and trying to compare them to the incomprehensible street names.

The city of Prague is an old European city and few of the streets go in straight lines and most are narrow.  So you start off walking along a narrow winding street going in a certain direction thinking that you know where you are going to end up, and then lo, you pop out onto a square somewhere nowhere near where you intended.  Not a problem, you just reorientate and head of again.  Most things are close and easily  walkable, eventually.

Prague has three really significant tourist attractions and a heap of lesser ones.  I will deal with the biggies.

Tourist attraction number one is the castle/cathedral complex.  The castle is high up on a hill, castles were usually built on hill so the occupants could drop boulders on any attackers.  On Saturday, which was wet and cold (8 degrees max less 4 degrees wind chill, felt like 4 degrees) I decided to visit the castle and cathedral and a number of other sites on the hill top.  I could have caught the train up or walked, I chose to walk.  This involved a rather long walk, mostly up hill and when I got to the square in front of the castle there was a queue of people about 300 metres long standing in the wind and the rain waiting to get in.  Not this little wood duck.  I visited a couple of the lesser sites on top of the hill and made my way back down again.

This brings us to major tourist site number two, the Charles Bridge.  This was named after some important bloke called, wait for it, Charles and was built in 1342 or thereabouts.  Tens of thousands of tourists visit this bridge every day.  Now, dont get me wrong, this is a very nice bridge and it crosses a very nice river, but at the end of the day it is a bridge across a river.

I bet you can hardly wait for biggie number three.  Number three is the astronomical clock in the old town square.  This clock is in a tower that was built in 1342 or thereabouts.  Every hour, on the hour the clock puts on a little show, this involves two trap doors above the clock opening and the disciples appearing in the little windows, 6 on one side and 6 on the other.

This display last 45 seconds!  Hundreds of people wait in the square in front from one hour to the next to see this, it is almost like it is a miracle of some sort.  The Czech tourist people claim this to be the most visited tourist attraction in Europe!

It may not sound like it but I have enjoyed my stay here.  Walking around the old town streets is an adventure with lots of little bars, bistros, ice cream shops and food stalls.  The market places, and there are lots of them are great, busy and colourful.  There is a huge amount of history here, and they even invented execution by defenestration (look it up).

After yesterday's sojourn up the hill and back down again, I visited the Fat Cat Pub and Brewery for lunch.  This is a bright modern bar, in contrast to the older style bars which are quite often dark and gloomy, although their food and beer are still good.  Anyway the Fat Cat served a taster flight of 6 of their own brews.

I had one of those followed by a number (I think three) of their light ales (light in colour, not strength) and to eat I had the roasted pork shoulder.  This is a Prague standard and every restaurant has it on it's menu.  Most places state the weight and mine was 1kg (including the bone of course), this was served with mustard and dried sauerkraut and strangely a toasted loaf of bread.  This was extremely filling and I staggered out of there about 3 in the afternoon with a tummy on me like a poisoned pup.  The pork shoulder, 3 half litre beers and the tasting flight cost me 1,000 krowns, including tip, or about $50 Australian.

I haven't even got to good King Wencleslas, save him for another day.

I am going by train to Munich tomorrow (Monday), so more good food and beer to come.

Day 21 Friday 21 April 2017

Well, it is going to be an interesting night in the old town tonight.  It looks like Prague may be a the favoured destinaton for groups of young blokes for a boozy weekend away.  It is only Friday afternoon and already there are groups of  drunken young men wandering around the streets apparently looking for trouble.

It is an interesting city with an old centre that hasn't been significantly damaged in any of the wars to recently sweep through Europe.  The market square in the centre of the old town and various other squares all have stalls selling all sorts of barbecued meats along with beer and wine.  The meats are cooked over open wood fires and consequently the whole area smells like an Aussie barbecue.  Another favourite is a pastry type thing that is wrapped around a long rolling pin like device coated in sugar and again cooked over wood coals.  This can be eaten with Nutella or filled with ice cream.  I showed remarkable restraint and had mine plain.  What is amazing is that none of the people working in these stalls preparing or serving your food, wait for it, are wearing gloves!  I wonder if the hospitals here are full of people with food poisoning because they bought food from someone not wearing gloves.

You wanted a food photo

There is plenty of beer being sold in the same area or if you prefer you can have a cup of hot wine with your meal.  White or red they do both.

I am typing this sitting in the square in front of my hotel with a half litre of pilsner sitting in front of me.  I am just in connection with the hotel's wi fi so I hope that this all works ok.  It has been warmer today, it is currently a barmy 13 degrees.

My hotel

Couple of Prague photos

I previously mentioned that the hotel has character.  It has character in a dark mittel Europe sort of way.  The room is large with a huge wooden wardrobe across one wall and a chandelier providing light and two smaller chandeliers for reading whilst in bed.  It looks across the square in front of the hotel, has double glazing for noise and warmth.  The bed is a double bed but has two separate doonas.  Breakfast is included in the tariff.  This morning there was a range of cheeses, cold meats, pickled vegetables, pastries plus some eggs and bacon and toast.

I did a WW2 walking tour this morning.  As you all know Czechoslovakia was peacefully occupied by the Germans prior to the start of WW2 so there was no actual invasion or fighting.  A resistance movement developed through the war and in May 1945 there was an uprising against the Germans.  Prior to the start of the war Prague had a significant Jewish population which was very active in the business and cultural life of the city.  By the end of the war that population had been reduced to virtually zero and still only totals a couple of thousand.

After the walking tour I had lunch in a restaurant on the market square accompanied by a couple of beers.  Everybody drinks beer!

Talking about lads out looking for trouble and half dozen German lads have just sat themselves down at the table next to mine, going out of their way to be smart arses, whatever that translates to in German.

Just got my bill for my beer.  A half litre of draught Urquell pilsener cost me 43Kc or 1.70Euros, thats about $2.40 AUD, no wonder everybody drinks all the time.

Getting cold here, time I went inside.

Day 20 Thursday  20 April 2017

On the train from Berlin to Prague, a four and a half hour journey.  The first half I shared a compartment with a young German chap who lived in Dresden and he had just been to Hamburg to visit his sister for her birthday and was on his way home again.  He spoke English very well and was employed in a research centre in Dresden doing research into some sort of macro biology.  He was doing work in conjunction with Monash uni and hoped to be visiting Melbourne later this year.  He got off the train in Dresden and I am now sharing a carriage with 3 older Germans who are friendly enough but don’t speak any English.

I really enjoyed Berlin, especially the cold and the snow.  When I first arrived I noticed all these blue pipes running above the roads and footpaths and understanding Berlin to be a cultural sort of place I assumed that they were some sort of avante garde sculptorial installation.  I found out later that Berlin is built on a swamp so that any time they dig a whole to build something they have to pump the water out and keep pumping it out.  So these blue pipes were just to take water away from the building sites.

Blue Pipes

Berlin is a funny place it doesnt have any dominant physical feature, no castle on a hilltop, no 1,000 year old cathedral, no giant ferris wheel, but it what it does have is history by the wheelbarrow load.  When you think of some of the major events in European history Berlin was a major player in these events.  As a casual observation they are still not very fond of Napoleon.  The Deutsche History Museum has the hat that Napoleon was wearing at Waterloo, I wonder how many of these there are around.

When I did the walking tour, the tour guide asked if anybody in the group spoke German, I said ‘nein’ which as we know now means no in German.  Pretty funny eh?

In the part of Berlin that was East Berlin there is a large communication tower that is supposed to be the highest man made object in Western Europe, now this tower was built by the communists to demonstrate their superiority over the decadent west.  It is also known that the communists were strongly atheist and set about removing anything to do with religion in the area under their control.  Now here is the thing, under certain sunlight a large cross appears on the side of the communication tower. The locals call it the pope’s revenge.

The Pope's Revenge

Since unification of the East & West Germanies the Reichstag building in Berlin has become the site of the German parliament.  They have put this stunning dome on top of the building where a dome that had previously been destroyed sat.  I am not sure how tall it is but there is a ramp that is 230 metres long that goes from rooftop level to the top of the dome.  It is full of mirrors and directs light into the chamber below it also acts as a convection funnel for heating and cooling.

Reichstag photos

For meals, I have had wiener schnitzel, duck and wiener schnitzel as well as a delicious black forest cake with coffee for morning tea at the Deutscher History museum.

John, in the history museum in the WW2 part they had the engine of a shot down Halifax bomber.  The photos below are of the engine and the descriptive label.

I have arrived in Prague, this is going to be interesting I think.  From a quick walk around (and a beer and a sausage) the place appears to be half tourists and half locals trying to rip the tourists off.

Some of you may recall that in the past I have said that every now and again I like to stay in a hotel with character, well the Betlem Club Hotel has character by the bucket load.

Day 19 Wednesday 19 April 2017

Have I happened to mention how cold it is here!  As I was walking around today it started to snow, so I took shelter in a doorway to do up my coat and get my camera into its bag.  As I was standing there I chatted to the English couple next to me.  Now the forecast was for sleet but what was falling on me looked like snow so I asked the English couple if it was sleet or snow and they confirmed that it certainly was snow.

Pretty ordinary snow pictures

I am leaving Berlin tomorrow and going to Prague.  I have a few hours on the train to Prague so will do a further update then.  Dinner time now and I can hear a big deep fried schnitzel calling out to me.

Days 17 & 18 Monday & Tuesday 17 & 18 April 2017

I am in the bar of the Augustiner am Gendarmenmarket in Berlin, it is 6.00pm and they have just tapped a wooden keg in the traditional manner.  Just prior to that I asked the barman, ‘do you have wi fi in here?’ (although I made it sound more Germanic than that), he looked at me weirdly and said ‘nein’ which is German for no.

I am drinking Augustiner Dunkel, which is a dark beer and I have a suspicion it may be a little stronger than what I am used to.

Lets get the food stuff out of the way, last night for dinner I had wiener schnitzel with fried potatoes.  Note, that it was made from veal, not chicken, not pork but little cows. It was delicious, very, very thin veal coated with something, probably deep fried to a golden colour and served with fried potatoes with little bits of fried onion through it. Accompanied by a couple of glasses of Rhine reisling.

Flashy, the place is as Germanic as ever, then again what would you expect, it is Germany after all, the people are direct, which can come across as rudeness, but it isn’t, it is just their manner.  If you ask for assistance or advice they are only too happy assist, sometimes it just doesn’t seem like it.

Did I mention that it has been cold today, almost NYC 2008 cold but not quite. Maximum 7 or 8 degrees through the day.  It actually snowed today, would you believe snow, or sleet.  No wonder my man flu is lingering.

As an observation, every wine bottle in Europe is still sealed with a cork.  Apparently some cheap wines from Portugal or similar may use the compound cork but no way known are they using the screw tops that are being used in Australia.

I am staying at the Sofitel am Gendarmenmarket.  Great location and so far walking distance to everything I have wanted to visit.  This is in the old East Berlin, the whole focus of the city has changed since the wall came down in 1989 and since I was last here in 1986.

I did a walking tour yesterday, that was very well done, two different guides, an Englishman and a Canadian (can’t get away from em), both had lived here for a number of years and were up on their history.  I tested them early in their respective tours just to make sure.  Combined it was a 6 hour tour and cost 15 euros (if anybody at the Shrine is reading this, please note).  The beauty of these tours is that you cover a lot of territory reasonably superficially but with a wealth of information to delve into later.

The Dunkels might be kicking in so time to give it a rest and come back when making more sense.......

Day 16 Sunday 16 April 2017 (Easter Sunday)

This is a bit of an experiment as I am using the WiFi on the train to post the blog, it is very slow (the WiFi, not the train) so we will see if it works or not.

I left Lille at about 9.00 this morning and had to go back to Paris, the train came in to Gare du Nord and then I had to walk from Gare Du Nord to Gare Du Est to catch my next train in the general direction of Germany.  This was done successfully if not slightly panicky, as I didnt have a lot of time.  This train went to Karlsruhe which is just inside Germany, after a short stop in Strasbourg. I thought to myself I wouldn't have minded getting off in Strasbourg for a couple of days.  But not to be.

Changed trains in Karlsruhe and this time caiught a train to Berlin via Frankfurt.  This journey is a little over 5 hours so I dont get into Berlin until close to 7.30 this evening.  I've already had a beer and a toasted ham & cheese sandwich but I reckon I will be looking for the buffet car before this journey is over.  Dayumn, I forgot to take a photo of my beer and ham and cheese sandwich.  Maybe next time, I am not even going to try and upload any photos on the train WiFi.

I like Germany and I always get a bit of a thrill when I cross the border a bit of a return to ancestral homelands maybe, or the thought of roasted ham hocks and pitchers of beer, one or the other or both.

Not much to write about so far, sitting on a train going backwards through pleasant German countryside.

I will be back if anything interesting happens or I think of any pearls of wisdom to cast before you.  I've got another 3-4 hours to think of something.  As they say here Auf Wiedersehn (or something like that).  I studied German at high school for 4 years and still learnt more from watching re runs of Hogans Heroes.  (Maybe study was to strong a word).

Day 15 Saturday 15 April 2017

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated, good news about Alyssa and the team of mooters in the USA.  Just one question though, is winning or losing a moot a moot point?  Just wondering.

Andrew, thanks for appreciating the food descriptions but you know that there will not be any food photos unless certain previously stated conditions are met.

Today's blog will be a short one as so far nothing interesting has happened.

This morning I drove from Ypres to Lille and had the usual problem with finding the drop off point for the hire car.  A little bit of background for you. I am staying in a Novotel Suites hotel opposite the Lille TGV railway station.  This is a massive station and services all the high speed and express trains to and from this part of France.  Now, under the station are 4 or 5 multi level underground carparks all with very similar looking entrances.  For some reason known only to themselves the hire car companies refuse to put any signage at the entrance to the car park that is the one to return the car to.  It is only once you are in the car park and down a level or two that the hire car company's signs start to appear.  If I didnt know better and if the French weren't such a kind and helpful people I would suggest that it was done this way as a sheer act of bastadry, but they wouldnt do that, would they?

A little about the car I had, it was a neat little Peugot 308 that I got quite attached to.  Like pretty much all the hire cars here it was a 6 speed manual and zipped along nicely, sat on the speed limit of 130 km with heaps to spare.  It had only done about 9,000k and I reckon I did a further 1,000.  The only disconcerting thing I found was the keyless locking and ignition.  When I left the car I was never quite sure if it was locked or not.  The French certainly know how to make good cars, dont they Flashy!

A photo of the car

I am off to Berlin tomorrow and I must admit I am a bit excited about that.  Last time I was in Berlin was 1986 and the wall was still up so it is going to be very different this trip.  I have already booked to go up to the dome of the Reichstag, this was quite a complicated process and had to be booked well in advance with all sorts of details provided.  Probably due to security concerns.  And I have also arranged to do a walking tour on the Monday.  

It is a grey, dull day in Lille so I havent bothered with any photos.  Lille is a bit like Newcastle, Glasgow and Ballarat in that it has lost its traditional manufacturing economic base and is battling to find something to replace it.  It is certainly busy around the stations, but still lots of homeless around the place.  And the Gypsies are back, actually saw some Gypsy men begging today, that would be like going to work for them, they usually leave it up to the woment and the children.

As the hotel is on the edge of nowhere and I have a proper table and chair I am catering in house tonight.  Bread, ham, cheese, creamy pastry thing and a bottle of bordeux.

A donkey

Day 14 Friday 14 April 2017 (Good Friday)

Thanks for the tip Jo, I will certainly be keeping an eye out for some of that Becherovka, it must have some medicinal benefits by the sound of it.

Flashy, the Regina Hotel where you stayed the 1st time here is closed for renovations.

A quiet day in Ypres today, I have been coming down with a cold for the last few days so I decided to have a bit of a rest day.  So I got up late and wandered up to to the market square for an omlette for brunch, with orange juice and coffee.  It is amazing for a town that is in the middle of rich farm land and proud of their local produce they you give you milk for your coffee in one of those little plastic tub things.

Another interesting thing here is that although Belgium has a strong Catholic population Good Friday is not a public holiday, in fact there is nothing happening here to indicate that it is any different than any other day.

Ypres from the Zonnebeke ridge

The above photo shows you what the fighting was all about.  Whoever held the high ground had the advantage, and the high ground didn't have to be very high.  Just think, you have your artillery spotters on the ridge with the guns on the reverse of the ridge and you can fire away all day.  The photo was taken using my zoom lense, Ypres is about 7 - 10 km away.  Even the lightest of the German artillery had a range of at least 12 km.

Although suffering terribly from my man flu I decided to go for a walk around Ypres and get some photos to pad out this episode of the blog, so I hope you appreciate the pics and the effort that has been made to take them.

Market Square Ypres

Inscription on the Menin Gate

Two Goats

Day 13 Thursday 13 April 2017

If you are ever visiting this part of Belgium remember this, do not ever, and I repeat do not ever stand in the path of a middle aged Belgium riding their bicycle towards you, they will not try and avoid you but will keep on coming at you with a steely determination, leaving it up to you to get out of the way.

For those of you who may be interested in what I had for dinner last night, I had prawn croquettes and sole menuire.  Sole is a fish similar to our flounder and last night's offering was cooked in a very light buttery sauce.  The croquets were, as usual, delicious.  How can you go wrong with something made of prawns and deep fried.

Has anbody noticed what the temperature is going to be in Berlin next week, maximum of 9 degrees for the time that I am there and Prague is similar.  Now thats cold!

Out and about again today.  Visited the Hooge wood crater.  This is a mine crater that was exploded by the British under the German lines in 1915.  The whole area was fought over many times between 1914 and 1918.  This is only about 5 km out of Ypres.
The crater is in the grounds of a hotel and you can walk around a path around it which inlcudes some German blockhouses and piles of battlefield detrius.  Now this is located in an area that was known to the British, and the Australians as Chateau Wood.

Detrius of War

There is a famous photo, taken by Frank Hurley, of 5 Australian soldiers walking on duckboards through Chateau wood, although it didn't exist as a wood at the time, it was just a wasteland of mud and flooded shell craters and splintered tree stumps.  We have an enlarged copy of the photo in the galleries at the Shrine it is one of the things that I talk about to school groups.  So I was inerested in what Chateau Wood looks like now, well there is a bloody big amusement park there and ironically there are a lot of water based rides.

I also went to Polygon Wood, Flashy they havent identified anymore of the 5 Australians that you helped bury.  Still 2 51st btn men, 1 49th (I think) and 2 soldiers of the great war, known unto god.

5th Division Memorial - Polygon Wood

As well as visiting the revamped museum at Zonnebeke I went to the large British cemetery at Tyne Cot.

On previous trips I have been unsuccessful in finding Sgt Lewis McGee's grave.  McGee was a 40th Btn soldier from Campbell Town in Tasmania, he was 29 years old, worked as an engine driver and was married with a small child.  He was awarded the Victoria Cross during the fighting for Passchendaele.  He single handedly took on a German pill box, known as the Hamburger, in front of where Tyne Cot now stands.  He was killed in subsequent fighting in the same area before he knew that he had been awarded the VC.  From memory his wife received the VC from a visiting member of royalty after the war in Central Park in Launceston.

I wonder what delights dinner holds for me tonight, prawn croquettes maybe??

A deer

Day 12 Wednesday 12 April 2017

Dear reader, I have been gently chastised for not providing detailed descriptions of my food and drink.  You may recall that I arrived in Ypres in Belgium yesterday, well Ypres is world renowned for its prawn croquettes.  Some readers may recall that during my last visit to Ypres I became slightly obsessed with prawn croquets.  So last night I decided that I would have prawn croquettes for my entree and they were delicious, two deep fried croquets sharing a plate with a little salad.  The ony unfortunate part is that the prawns themselves are ugly little grey wormy things and the restaurants insist on putting them around the plate as a garnish.

For main course I had a traditional Flemish beef stew, this is served in an iron casserol thing and was accompanied by chips (with mayonaise of course) and another salad.  This also was delicious and extremely filling.  Both courses were accompanied by a V & T for starters and a pitcher of the house red, both most acceptable.

Now that is out of the way lets get back to the real business at hand.  Today I decided that I would revisit the Messines battlefield.  Messines is a great battlefield to visit, because if you are standing on the Messines ridge (the high ground held by the Germans) the whole battlefield is laid out before you.  This is also the first major battle fought by the Australian 3rd Division and most importantly it is a battle that we won.

Now, this is a battlefield

Messines was a lead up to the battles of 3rd Ypres (which turned into a disaster, more of that tomorrow), and used a tactic known as 'bite and hold'.  Instead of trying to achieve a massive breakthrough and gallop all the way to Berlin the British generals decided to attack and advance in small stages.  Attack, hold the territory against the German counter attacks, bring up your artillery and attack again and repeat until you had achieved your objectives.

My grandfather's battalion, the 40th AIF, as part of the 3rd Division was an integral
part of this attack and achieved their objectives with, for the time, minimal casualties.

I followed some of the 40th battalion's advance through Ploegsteert Wood (or Plugstreet to the British and Australians) although it was difficult as much of the wood is in private hands and access is limited.  As I was walking through the forest there was nobody else around and I recalled the description from the 40th btn history of their approach of the front line through the wood.  It was described as a warm and humid night, very dark, and the Germans started to shell the British  support areas.  The shells went plop, plop, plop and at first the Australians thought that they were duds, then they realised that they were gas shells, so they had to put their gas masks on and continue their advance.  The 40th lost a number of men that night even before they reached the front line.

Ploegsteert Wood

I visited a number of other sites of interest in the Messines, Ploegsteert area including the Ploegsteert experience. This is a relatively new museum, oops sorry interpretive centre that has a small but well presented range of audio visual presentations and battlefield artifacts.  The staff were very helpful with some queries I had and happily spent some time with me trying the sort out some discrepancies in places and locations on the battlefield.

Well that is enough for now, have drinks in the bar at the Novotel, Jeffe Blonde, to be exact.

A cow (for no reason)