And it was all going so well....

Well I spoke too soon - I really thought that the refugee crisis would only affect northbound travel but it's not the case and it's now likely to impact me heavily over the next week.

I stupidly decided to walk to the main station this morning - got a bit lost (distracted by this rather lovely moving sculpture)

and though I was there on time was hot and bothered on arrival. I managed to get a seat but first class was again packed with people who'd sensibly reserved. On arrival in Vienna, I decided to go and reserve for Budapest on Friday, only to discover that it's very unlikely any trains will run at all as they haven't done so for several days. The rather unhelpful man advised me to consider going via Bratislava -which I had just come through on the train.

Eventually managed to find my way to this sweet little pension near Schwedenplatz and the Danube, with the view of a lovely square and very elegant buildings,

The view from my window at Pension Riedl

plus very helpful people and a supply of free chocs in reception. I made a couple of calls to reach out for help in checking out the situation I'm moving into, had a shower in the tiny little cubicle in the corner of my bijou room (it's really hot over here - normally I'd love it but it doesn't mix well with stress, and tomorrow is set to be 30C+!), and then headed out for a little local exploration at 6.30pm.

The boat to Bratislava at the bottom could be my salvation!

Unfortunately, my plan to board the tram ring for an orientation tour was also scuppered because it only runs 10-5.30, but I then ventured across the road to where a boat apparently goes up the Danube to Bratislava in 75 minutes - actually quicker than the train - for a relatively small sum. so providing I can get easily from the old town port to the station, I think I might take a different route on Friday and then pick up a fast train to Budapest. With luck I'll still be there mid-afternoon - please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Neil and I think we will have to skip Montenegro though because the border between Hungary and Serbia is now closed for 30 days, which is gut-wrenchingly disappointing as it supposed to be one of THE great European railway journeys - the upside may be more time in Croatia and we're now looking at Split for a couple of days before Dubrovnik.

I had a celebratory Aperol Spritz on discovery of the alternative Danube route at a trendy bar above the "port", and then after some more wandering about found a slightly confusing fusion restaurant to eat before coming back to blog. I embarrassed myself by walking into a glass door at the restaurant, and then tried to look nonchalant by giggling in relaxed fashion at my stupidity - mind you, the lighting was very dim! I'm trying very hard not to get emotional and tearful at this setback - managing it so far. And at least I have options - I should be grateful that I can travel freely, unlike the poor bastards who in the middle of this mire. And I have Aperol Spritz and a nice rosado to help make it better.....

Pottering in Prague

Wednesday 16 September

I have a few spare minutes before wending my way to the almost-impossible-to-pronounce Hlavi Nadrazi (Prague main station) to catch the 1042 to Vienna, so decided to make the most of the wifi to catch up.

Tuesday started off with a "free" (give us a tip please) walking tour of Prague - it was actually really good, taken by a tall and handsome young man with a good sense of humour who added a lot of personal insights. These tours, while faintly embarrassing because of the herd element (thankfully not an umbrella in sight), are a really good way of orienting yourself and deciding what you do and don't want to see in more detail. It was over 3 hours and took in the old town, Wenceslas Square and the Jewish quarter, finishing up near the concert hall with national hero and genius Dvorak in front.

I've found myself wandering around Prague with a crick in my neck - there is so much to see on the tops of buildings, whether that's sculpture or rococo or art nouveau details. I haven't done any major building interiors this trip as I've found myself a bit short of time, plus I think you can get museum/cathedral/castle/palace fatigue so just yomping round and taking in the architecture has been enough for me. I'd like a return visit one weekend though.

I'd done a bit of exploration across the river the previous evening and picked that up again in the afternoon. I headed for the metronome on top of the hill across the Czech bridge - looks impressive from a distance but once you've climbed all the steps it's a major disappointment, mainly because of all the graffiti which has completely ruined the area. I walked through the parks and up towards the castle area, then back down and through the cobbled streets towards the Kafka museum square - major error, should've paid a visit but didn't have enough time so I settled for an Aperol Spritz instead in front of this highly amusing sculpture

Just one whinge - a bit like the cyclists in Amsterdam, got a bit annoyed by the segways buzzing all over these quaint and narrow streets - they are everywhere! I'm sure they're fun, but really - what's wrong with walking?! Fashion observation - every woman here under 40 is wearing skinny jeans or trousers with ripped knees. And the clothes shopping is pretty good, but actually quite upmarket and not so cheap.

Back across the Charles IV bridge to meet up for another tour - this time a Beer Walk which was a nice way of having a sociable evening with other English speakers (and some jolly nice Polish people too) and enjoying some nice beer and a (frankly) not very nice dinner, but enjoyed meeting some new people and sharing experiences. Those I was chatting with were a bit jet-lagged and I had to pack, so not a late evening but a very pleasant one, and yay! the weather has warmed up a lot and Vienna looks set to be a bit of a scorcher - speaking of which, time for Nellie and I to get going.

You don't expect it in first class

And so this morning Rick left at the crack to fly home, and David & Steve took me to the station to wave Nellie and I off to Prague.

The journey wasn't easy - the train was rammed (stupid compartments rather than open layout, with nowhere to stash luggage out of the way unless you could lift it above your head), and I didn't have a reservation as it was optional and I'd been assured unnecessary in first class. I found a seat but then the rightful owner got on at Berlin Sudkreuz and so I stood in the corridor for a while until some jolly American chaps were kind enough to give up their seats so they could stand in the corridor and drink beer, getting in training for beer in Prague and then in Munich for Oktoberfest (which seems to be in September - am I missing something?)

Suddenly, loads of people from the other 1st class carriage started lugging their bags past us and the guard was running up and down the corridor like a headless chicken. Turns out there's been a small fire in the heating system in the carriage so they evacuated it and we stopped for a while until they made sure the fire was out. The carriage however couldn't be used, so they took it off at Dresden and the squished conditions continued. Only about 15 minutes late into Prague though, and I got a cab straight away which cost only slightly less than my dinner tonight - though he did tell me before we set off how much he would charge.

There's a caretaker at this slightly odd Air BnB as the owner doesn't appear to live in this one - it's a flat above shops, sharing a floor with a language school. The 2 bedrooms which are hired out are both huge, and the bathroom is shared along with the kitchen and the caretaker chappie who seems to sleep in some kind of makeshift arrangement above the kitchen. It's only 2 nights though, and is very close to the old town square and the bridges.

Fortunately it stopped raining and I went for a late afternoon wander to get my bearings before dinner at the rather lovely Cafe Louvre across the street. Very cheap! The trams and traffic outside are a bit noisy as I'm on Narodni, one of the main thoroughfares, but to be honest I don't think I'll need much rocking tonight. I'm fairly sure though that yet again I'll wake up in the middle of the night thinking "Where the f*** am I?")

Free walking tour tomorrow and I'm off to Vienna on Wednesday, so it's a flying visit here and I won't fit much in this time I guess.

Berlin decadence, WW2 and Cold War history

14 September 2015

Apologies that scarcity of wifi and having a splendid time have kept me away from the blog for a few days.

I've had a lovely weekend in Berlin in the company of Messrs Johns, Carr and Johnson, who have looked after me reet well and helped me discover this wonderful city whilst plying me with alcohol and food, but at the same time attempting to shield me from some of the shenanigans going on in the district of Schoneberg in the name of a gay party weekend called (I think) Felsom. I caught a glimpse on Thursday night, but subsequently have seen more leather, rubber, handlebar moustaches, studs, chains and general gay kinkery in this fair square mile over a weekend than I have witnessed in a lifetime. Even what David referred to as the socks and undies shop 2 doors down from Rick's is a purveyor of garments which can presumably only be donned with the assistance of a lot of baby powder and were probably deeply uncomfortable (not to say unhygienic) when the temperature hit the mid-20s this weekend. Absolutely hilarious - it was like being in Castro in SF again but multiplied a thousand times - a fun eye-opener for a middle-aged straight old fake blonde like me.

On Friday - despite David and I feeling the after-effects of way too many Ap spritzers - we set out with Steve for a day of sightseeing, starting with the excellent Bauhaus museum on the edge of the Tiergarten and on the way to the Siegerssaule (also known as Golden Elsie - a magnificent gold statue on top of a column - sadly didn't quite have enough time to climb to the top this time).

The cyclist did attempt to duck, bless him

We then wandered past the Brandenburg gate and along Under den Linden, and after an alcohol-free lunch headed up to the Nordbahnhof, which during the time of the Wall was one of the ghost stations under constant surveillance by the East guards because West trains passed through it - though East Berliners didn't see them. A number of people attempted to escape to the West via the tunnels, and some succeeded, including a railway employee who managed to get his whole family out.

Nearby there's a poignant memorial to those who tried and failed to get over the wall (what's especially sad is the two who attempted to escape just months before it came down in 1989), together with a section of wall and various information points describing the layout and history of the area at the height of east-west tensions

We headed back to Rick's (he'd been working all day) and met up again at Cafe Eckstein that evening before going to a Japanese restaurant for dinner, followed by drinks at the Service Station cafe bar, the motto of which is Auftanke, Erholen, Flirten, Chillen which I think is marvellous (even if they didn't have any Aperol or Kahlua....)

On Saturday David and Steve were set for the Felsom street party, so Rick, who prefers to avoid such gatherings, took me off to see the Olympic stadium for a tour, only to find it was closed to tourists because of a home game for Berlin's football team. They're blue and white like Chelsea but the main difference is they drink publicly and apparently without restraint. It was all quite good-natured at that point, about 2 hours before the game, but I'm not sure I would've felt quite so relaxed closer to kick-off.

Instead we headed off (Rick fortunately has an intricate knowledge of the U and S-bahn systems) for Grunewald to have some lunch (my first and only currywurst - well I've tried it now haven't I...) and en route from the station went to the memorial known as Gleis (platform) 17, which saw regular transportation of Jewish Berliners to the death camps. It's marked by a series of plaques along the edge of the disused platform - moving and sobering. The other chilling thing is that the station is in the midst of an area characterised by huge and beautiful houses - so the well-to-do of Berlin hosted the start of the journey that brought misery and death to thousands upon thousands of their fellow citizens.

We hopped on a bus and ended up at the Tiergarten for a stroll in the sunshine, skirting the edge of the zoo and enjoying an ice cream. Dinner that night was at the Due Immigraten (or something like that!), a bustling neighbourhood Italian, followed by a nightcap at a local cafe.

On Sunday we succeeded in getting our Olympic Stadium tour, which was excellent. I hadn't appreciated that Berlin was supposed to host the games in 1916 but of course by then WW1 put paid to that - and then the IOC would not allow the games to be awarded to a nation that had started a war for at least a decade. Berlin then succeeded in winning the bid to host the games shortly before Hitler came to power - and you know the rest - Jesse Owens and so on. The stadium was intended to resemble the Coloseum in Rome - Adolf scrapped the original design because he wanted something that was bigger and more imposing than any other existing stadium. All interesting stuff, with lots of fascinating sculpture and architecture - well worth a visit.

Romanesque splendour with limestone cladding

The roof came in the 1990s

Rick can't quite measure up to these big boys...

Potsdam next - a strange mix of Eastern block old-world splenour and Communist brutalism. We wandered through the high street and then went up to the gardens to see Frederick the Great's two palaces - quite beautiful, with more statues on the ground and on the roof than I think I've ever seen anywhere - and he even built a romantic ruin for the pleasure and indulgence of his beloved wife Sophia Charlotte.

Sunday was a new walking record but it was a beautiful day, so we still managed to find the energy to meet David and Steve for dinner in a Greek resturant in Wilmersdorf with old friends of theirs, Norbert and Brendt - great fun, and a fitting end to a fabulous weekend - I'm eternally grateful to the West Dulwich posse for their kindness and generousity in playing host.