TALLIN February 2, 2007

The view from our bedroom

We were in bed by about 19h30 last night (18h30 Swedish time!) and slept like logs on the very comfortable beds. Perhaps that Estonian beer was stronger than we thought? I also bought a miniature bottle of Vana Tallinn – a local spirit made from a secret recipe. It is very tasty I must say but it could not have influenced our sleep as we only had a sip. (What I didn’t realise until we made a second visit to Tallinn in 2011 was that there are three strengths of Vana Tallinn – the strongest of which is 45% proof – so maybe that was our nightcap!)

Breakfast view

Everything looks very reasonably priced here despite the fact that Vladimir, the taxi driver, said that everything in the Old Town cost two or four times what it could cost elsewhere. The exchange rate is 10:1 so dividing all prices by ten certainly makes for bargains. Vladimir also said the average wage is the equivalent of A$1,000 per month and the pension is about A$300 per person. A husband and wife can barely exist, so he says. One of the issues facing the country is the population drain since joining the EU two tears ago. He said the population of Tallinn had dropped by about 50,000 – a pretty substantial change in a population of about 400,000.

The taxi fare was EEK128 (A$12.80) so that was pretty reasonable and we also bought some delicious roasted sugared almonds last night for about A$3.50, so we didn’t spend much yesterday.

Later: A day of mixed fortunes.

We started off well enough. Walked through the snowy park – there had been a light fall during the night – to Balti Jaan, the rail terminus, to catch a tram to the bus station or, as we now know it, Autobusjaan. We had thought of going by taxi but decided instead to be more adventurous. So we bought a Tallinn card – A$40 each, valid for 48 hours – which provides us with free transport among other benefits. We went a ittle astray initially but eventually found the tram stop and were soon on our way.

Half way through the journey a gang of inspectors boarded the tram – eight of them, almost as many as the number of passengers.  They took one man off and put him in their van, presumably to be charged and to have to pay a fine of EEK600. We were OK of course. We duly got to the bus terminus and booked our seats for the 10h00 departure to Riga on Sunday. We thought it would be a good way to see a bit of the countryside since it is only a five hour trip – and so cheap too at A$46 (two thirds of our taxi fare from our house in Australia to the airport).

Rab at the Russian wool market

On our way back to the tram, we spotted an Internet café an for A$2 we had a half hour to pick up mail and send some to the family. We didn’t have to wait for a tram and were soon on our way to catch the bus for a city tour. We just missed the noon departure but filled in our time while waiting for the next one by browsing through the famed “wool market” set up just outside the city walls. It seems to be manned by very large women and even on a day like today there were a dozen or so stalls filled with knitwear of all sorts, most of it very nice indeed. But what a job, standing in the freezing cold waiting to  fleece the very small flock of tourists at this time of the year.

Rab bought a couple of lovely little hats for the girls – pink with cats (and ears!) for A$28 and I got myself a pullover and scarf with a reindeer motif for A$46 and A$14 respectively. I don’t really need either but I’m a sucker for souvenirs. In the midst of our putative bargaining – 10% discount was the best we could  do – the bus arrived so we boarded that for the city tour, usually A$30 each but free with our Tallinn card. It was an interesting drive with a good, clear recorded commentary. Since we had no idea of the history of Tallinn it was quite a surprise initially to find that it had changed hands so often and at one time was THE holiday resort for the Russians to whom it belonged.

Once the tour was over, we headed for the nearby mall at Vira. The day had warmed up a little while we were on the bus, rising to a summery +2C and causing all the snow to start melting but as we walked to the mall there were freezing gusts and my feet felt as if I was walking on ice cubes instead of the usual pebbles. There were sales in many of the shops in the mall and Rab was fascinated by the enormous variety of very reasonably priced boots, some very exotic indeed. I dropped all the pics we have taken to date onto a CD so at least we can’t lose those now. I asked the girl at the camera shop if she could open the damaged stick. She couldn’t but said she thought someone with the right tools might be able to. Hope she is right. (She wasn’t.)

We had a snack (cheese roll – again!) and a coffee and then came back to the hotel for a bit of R & R before dinner. On the way we picked up a couple of cakes and a Nestea Green Tea. This seems to have disagreed with Rab because she felt pretty grim when she woke up from her nap. We went out for a walk to see if she would feel any better but she didn’t so she had dry toast and Vegemite for dinner while I had a goulash in a bread bowl from room service – and very nice it was too.

STOCKHOLM TO TALLINN February 1, 2007

Difficult to believe that one twelfth of the year has gone already – it is likely to land up as a very short year this year, I think.

We woke to a less than sunny day yesterday but the predicted rain/sleet held off and there was a sprinkling of light snow on the evening. It is too dark now to see if it continued falling after we went to bed. There is not much snow predicted for Tallinn, our next stop, but there seems to still be plenty of it on the ground from the webcam shots.

Lars had to go to hospital yesterday to review his latest PSA results, so after a walk around the neighbourhood with Gerd we all caught the train into town. Lars and  I left Gerd and Rab there while we pressed on by train and bus to the hospital. The womenfolk had a great old time by all accounts, including a very large lunch of pasta. Lars and I didn’t lunch as well – a cheese and ham roll in the hospital canteen.

Later: Evening In Tallinn

Well! Tallinn is where we are now and it is terrific. Just what we wanted. The hotel Rab chose on the Internet (Imperial Hotel) is very nice indeed and right on the cusp of the Old Town.

We arrived here at about 16h00 after a short flight from Stockholm. There was a lot of snow around, although the taxi driver said it hadn’t snowed for five days. As ever the drive from the airport was pretty ordinary – traffic and industrial sites but as we got closer to the hotel, spires and minarets and towers and walls started to dominate the skyline.

We checked in and were off as evening fell for our first look at the Old Town. It really is terrific – lovely old buildings, lit by floodlights and garlanded with bud lights with soaring spires on some – just like a fairy tale. We wandered around for about one and a half hours quite entranced and it was only cold feet that finally decided us on heading for food (even though it was only about 5 o’clock Swedish time!)

 

We had read some of the write ups for the restaurants and decided that one with an almost unfortunate name of Turg sounded what we wanted – good plain food. We each had an enormous shepherd’s pie and a half litre of beer for A$25! Not bad at all!!

STOCKHOLM Wednesday January 31, 2007

Well, we had a lovely day yesterday. The temperature was about -3ºC but with no wind and he winter sun it didn’t feel that cold. Both of us slept very well the night we arrived – we were in bed by 20h00 and although we both woke up during the night, we managed to get back to sleep. Last night we made it for about half an hour longer, but were both asleep by 21h00 and both woke up early this morning, giving me time to check the e-mail, read the South African and Australian papers and even check my PayPal account. I’m still amazed by the Internet!

But to get back to yesterday. We went upstairs at about 08h00 to an excellent Swedish breakfast – mainly cheese, cold meat ad a variety of bread and crispbread with some home-made muesli and Gerd’s blackberry preserve, which was delicious. Accompanied by a lot of talk and chatter, of course.

We went into town at about 10h30 to pick up our air tickets for the Riga/Warsaw leg from LOT (Polish) offices in town. There was surprisingly little traffic but some rather hair-raising driving from Lars! We parked illegally and I was surprised at the security measures to stop us getting into the LOT offices. First of all there was the street door, where you had to enter a code to get a response. Lars punched in the numbers but – no reply and the door did not open. Tried again with the same result. At that stage fortunately a postman arrived so we followed him in – so much for the security! When we got to the LOT office we had to buzz again, although this time it worked. Lars mentioned the problem with the front door buzzer downstairs to the woman who greeted us and she said they knew about ti – it was broken. As I said to Lars, if it hadn’t been for him and the postman, I might have frozen to death waiting for a response!

From there we drove out to what is called the King’s Animal Garden – the old hunting grounds of the Swedish kings. There are hundreds of acres of national parklands and it all looked so wondrous. There are cleared paths everywhere for walkers and riders and we spotted a number of ski tracks where cross-country skiers had got their exercise. Lars and I went for a stroll looking for photo opportunities but we couldn’t lure Rab out of the car.

The snow and the trees and the little frozen river/canal/lake all looked tremendous and I took what looked like some excellent shots but Alas! We may never know because my memory stick suddenly gave up the ghost and refused to accept or  display any more images. I hope we will be able to get it open when we get back home, but fear the worst. Fortunately Lars had taken some shots, so we will be able to take these with us. (I couldn’t recover the shots but I found out the most likely cause of the problem. My camera battery was low and with the cold, it dropped even more quickly than usual, finally petering out as the camera was transferring an image to the memory stick. Cutting off power during this action has the effect of jamming the stick. I always check my batteries now!!)

We drove around the park for a while, admiring the wonderful grand houses on the fringes of the park. Many of these are very old and owned by the very wealthy. We stopped to get some views of a little inlet and for once Rab joined us.

There was an enormous swan that swam towards us, obviously expecting food, and within a short time mallard ducks and seagulls were skidding in to land. What a pity we had to disappoint them all.

From there we drove on to Skänsen Gardens, aiming to have lunch at a restaurant that Gerd knew – but it was closed for winter. Rab spotted two wolves near the parking lot, but it turned out that they were in a part of the Skänsen Zoo grounds. I had spotted some deer spoor and hare too and Lars had said that there had been a wolf or two in their neighbourhood a year or two back. Gerd complained that the deer come out of the woods in summer and eat her flowers!

The spot where we had lunch was very pleasant but jammed full of young mothers and babies. There must have been 20 strollers parked about the premises, some in the foyer and some in an overflow park in the courtyard. The rest of the clientele were mainly women with very few men in evidence. We just had rolls and coffee at a cost of about SWK240 – about A$40 which was pretty pricey.

We thought we might try to see if a camera shop would be able to open my memory stick, so popped into an Onoff shop on the way home. The joke about the name of this chain is that when they first opened up in Sweden, Lars thought it was yet another Russian invasion, failing to grasp that it was On + Off! Anyway, as I expected they were not able to help but at least we established that the camera itself was OK and I bought another memory stick – with plenty of room being 1G. it cost about the same as it would have in the Melbourne duty-free where I had been contemplating buying one. Rab and Gerd paddled around the shops for a while then joined Lars and me for a very good coffee in a rather smart coffee shop.

We had a good laugh over dinner. It was Lars' turn to cook and he and I went down to the supermarket to get the ingredients. I noticed that he bought about one and a half kilos of Baltic Herring - which he said he was going to put into a pie. I said nothing but wondered how many people might be joining us for the meal! In due course he presented this enormous pie - with all the little tails sticking out - and by the time we had eaten our fill there was enought left for half a dozen more people. We assumed that Lars and Gerd would be having cold herring pie most of the week.

A lovely day (apart from that darned camera stick!!)

BALTIC WINTER TOUR - 2007

It was December 2006 and it was HOT. The crunch came one morning when we took the boys up to the oval for their walk. It was 25°C at 06h00, the flies had been brought down on the hot wind that was blowing – and bringing smoke in from the fires 200 km way. So much smoke that the airport was closed. I was not happy, but good old Santa was. As we sat watching the morning news over our first coffee of the day, there the old boy was, surrounded by snow and decidedly cooler than we were. Rab suggested we might consider taking a trip to see some snow – since we had done a trip in Winter. So on the spur of the moment we decided that if we could find cheap seats, we’d be on our way!

Onto the Internet, cheap bookings aplenty; on Skype to Lars in Stockholm – they had room for us – and we were set to leave on January 28th. Ironically we actually had a light snowfall here in Melbourne in the Dandenongs on Christmas Day, while there was very little snow in Scandinavia. 

Here is the diary I kept - a post a day almost four years ago to the day.

STOCKHOLM Tuesday January 30, 2007

We arrived on time yesterday afternoon at 14h15 to a wonderful scene of winter – just what we wanted, snow all around, sparkling in the sunshine. Lars was there to meet us, having a long wait in the end because the baggage took so long to come off. It was over an hour after landing before we got it.

The traffic was very heavy although it was only 16h00 and it took about an hour and forty five minutes to get to the house, where Gerd gave us a very warm welcome. After a shower, we felt a little better and enjoyed the light meal they had prepared – a Russian fish soup with a couple of glasses of wine. That was just what we needed and I slept like a log.

The flight over here was very good. This is the first time we have flown Malaysian Airlines and it was a positive experience.  We took off from Melbourne at 00.45 on Monday (yesterday!!) morning and got to Kuala Lumpur at 05h25 – a flight of about seven hours with the two hour time difference. I tried a Malaysian breakfast – rice and spicy fish/chicken – which was very tasty and Rab settled for the fruit. They had, of course, given us a meal shortly after takeoff, the first course of which was delicious satay sticks. I declined anything other than that but Rab had a chicken and leek pie which she said was very good. MA have lie-flat bed seats which did not go quite as flat as the Qantas seats, but which were very comfortable, so both of us had a good few hours sleep. (I say about 4: Rab says about 3 – but who has the digital watch that can be read in the dark?)

The KL airport was quite an eye-opener. Very big, bright and clean. We found our way to the business class lounge and read the local papers, snacking on the delicious grub – or at least Rab did. I just had some juice. I was at that stage a bit concerned about two things – my nose was running and my throat felt dry and sore, normally a precursor of one of my ‘travelling colds’ which are very uncomfortable. But that was not my main concern. The other was potentially much more problematical.

When I had gone to the toilet before boarding in Melbourne I was surprised to see that I had passed a bit of blood when I started to piddle. There was no discomfort or pain – just the blood and not much of that. Of course that put me in something of a quandary. If this was an indicator of a serious infection then Latvia and Estonia might not be the best places to deal with it. On the other hand if it was just one of the series of odd health events I have been subjected to of late, then it would be a dreadful waste of money to cancel the trip.

So I decided to press ahead, at least until KL and review the position there. I only went to the toilet once on the flight up and that produced a worse show of blood than in Melbourne, so I was a little concerned. However, there was only the slightest touch of pink in KL and there has been nothing since, so I am lad I decided to press on. The only thing I can put it down to is the fact that we have had a lot of chick peas in the last few days and that might have been a reaction with the Warfarin I take.

The shops in the terminal opened at 07h00 and we found a chemist shop where I got some Strepsils for my throat. We had intended getting a bottle of Scotch for Lars but because the plane was flying to a US destination (it went on to New York after dropping us off in Stockholm) no liquids were allowed on board in terms of the current somewhat hysterical anti-terrorist regulations. We were able to buy him a bottle on the plane however, so all was well in the end.

We took off on time again and had a very pleasant and attentive crew, good food and were able to sleep for a good number of hours (some dispute as to just how many!!). When Rab woke up we were over Kazakhstan and shortly after that she slip up the window blind to see the snow covered steppes of Russia. She was thrilled and although I often tease her about being blasé about travelling it was good to see her so animated. Let’s hope that there is plenty of snow everywhere since that is the objective for this trip.

PARIS TO HOME

Paris to Kuala Lumpur Sunday January 9, 2011

I was awake a fair deal with my damned cough keeping me awake. I'll be glad to see the back of it, although judging by the last 'travel cough' I had it might take weeks to clear up.

The hotel was very comfortable and probably the quietest room we have ever had, despite overlooking the Air France apron, with aircraft coming and going. But there was not a sound coming through what must be a very sophisticated system of double glazing.

The breakfast was adequate, but certainly no bargain at €29 (say $45 or even more frightening R315!) we had to clear our own plates and put them on a sideboard where the cleaning sprays and cloths were also displayed!

We were transported in the hotel car to Terminal 1 which is quite a way from the hotel by a very nice lad and then we entered the maze that is Charles de Gaulle airport. We hadn't paid much attention coming in as Rab was in her wheelchair, but now on foot we were faced by a maze of signs. With some patience it was possible to work out where to go, but I pity the amateur flyer. We had tickets to the Air France Premiere Salon so found our way up there but walked into a furnace. The terminal building itself is pretty warm, but the salon was heated to about 30C I reckon. Sweat was pouring off me as we swigged a quick drink and packed our heavy coats away. The outside terminal felt positively cool initially, but even though I am sitting by one of the many escalators, which is bringing some cooler air in, I am still sweating bullets.

The Tea Room beckons at the Windmills

 Rab and I were talking last night about what a wonderful trip this has been. My favorite still is Rothenburg while Rab finally came down in favor of the Windmills. It is very difficult to make a choice because so much was so good.

The sun came out at Rothenburg

Later- 20 minutes out of KL. 

I didn't sleep as much as I expected last night. My cough returned, which kept disturbing me and, somewhat amusingly, Rab also got a croaky throat. When she has one of those she tries to clear her throat repeatedly with a mini-cough that has three notes. I found myself dreaming of the trip and the folk dancing the three notes being repeated as the dancers whirled around Hi-Hi-ing furiously. Only a little over 12 hours to go now! But we're both bearing up.

KL to Melbourne January 10, 2011

A little over two hours to landing and we've both had a good sleep. Rab says she was sleeping lightly, but I was out for almost five hours, so I feel pretty good. I've just eaten an apple I bought in Paris with my last Euros and I think that may do me, although I haven't eaten since breakfast about 12 hours ago. But sitting here for so long tends to make you feel pretty full.

As I said before, this was a tremendous trip and, if, as we have said so often before, it is our last one (bodies being slower to recover and funds being finite) then it was indeed a good one. (Of course it wasn't!)

PRAGUE TO PARIS

Prague to Paris Saturday January 8, 2011

Well, the tour ended officially this morning when Milan put us into our transport to the airport. It was a tremendous job to sort out all the various destination and flight times from 04h25 this morning until quite late in the afternoon. We were on the one o'clock flight to Paris so left the hotel at  in the company of none other than Suitcase John, still bemoaning the loss of their luggage and setting out who he was going to sue. We felt quite sorry for them because they were finally ostracized by the group, many of whom had shown him a good deal of sympathy initially. But he simply refused to get on with his life and insisted on playing the martyr until everyone avoided him before he cornered them like the Ancient Mariner.

The cabbie didn't say one word on the way to the airport and we knew we had reached our destination when. She stopped the vehicle and opened the boot! It turned out the Prague airport is not logically designed and we discovered the initial problem when we made our way to Terminal One Departures (right next to Terminal Three Arrivals). Turns out we needed to be at Terminal Two Arrivals and Departures Czech Airways which was about as far from where we were as you could get. We were sharing a luggage 'chariot' and all the way John was muttering about the stupidity of the driver in not telling us where to go. I finally responded by asking rhetorically how many Melbourne cabbies would be able to tell a Czech passenger where to book in for VirginBlue at Melbourne airport.

We went to collect our tax refund - all of $60- so didn't go through to the lounge with John and Carole. What a circus the refund process turned out to be. There was a Russian woman at the Travelex counter when we got there and only one staff member on duty. It took all of an hour for her to collect her refunds - over US$3,000. We finally got through and who should be bump into but Leon and his missus so we had a good long chat to them.

I had a bit of a mishap when I board the aircraft. Rab was travelling Business Class while I was in Economy (long story) and I had my passport in my hand as well as our two packs. As I swung her pack into the luggage rack, I dropped the passport but only discovered the loss when I got to my seat. After searching my immediate area, I made my way back up the plane against the incoming tide of passengers and there was the missing passport, as John pointed out to my chagrin.

Nice short flight to Paris and we had booked a room at the Airport Sheraton, which was fortuitous as we were able to walk to the hotel from the arrival terminal. Very nice room. We just had a snack for supper in the Club Room and are now having an early night ahead of our flight tomorrow. 

Just after I wrote that we had a bit of an odd experience. There was a knock on the door and someone pushed it open. This at 9.00 pm! I had put the chain on so they couldn't open the door fully. I shot out of bed and shouted "Who is there? What do you want?" I peered through the peephole, but the passage lighting was very dim and I could only make out the shape of a man who said he was just checking that the room was OK and then he walked away. Very odd and I mentioned it to the girl when I checked out, but she was busy and I guess nothing will be investigated. It may have been nothing, but I was glad I had the chain on.  

PRAGUE - DAY THREE

Prague Friday January 7, 2011

A free day today although Milan and Peter offered to take us to the Castle by tram and then walk down from the Castle to the Charles Bridge. I had looked at the various distances and there was no way that was for us! Those who braved the walk confirmed that it was indeed a loooong way.

The show last night was, as expected, a little long for our taste. Stirring, but somewhat deafening music and frequent foot stamping and Hi-Hi dancing, which always went on too long. The food was interesting - curiously enough, my first course was pea soup and, like the soup Rab had on Victoria Island it was sweet. We landed up sitting with some Emeralders (from the sister ship Emerald) after getting to the venue a little late and although the one couple were very pleasant the other three were a rum lot. One of them - Robyn- was VERY intense. Staring into our eyes, one after the other, she introduced herself and asked who we were saying how PLEASED she was to meet us. Just a tad intense! She was sharing a cabin with old friend and gay schoolteacher Jim who had laryngitis and who I found to be a bit of a dead fish. Rab said he was not to bad, but he seemed humourless to me.

Instead of joining the trek to the Castle, Rab went to Marks and Spencers and found a very nice coat. Much lighter in weight than her old Russian one which she has found to be a bit of a burden on this trip. I think it might not be enough to block very cold weather, although we have kept the lining from then old coat and together she will probably be weatherproof. I spent a fair bit of time people watching and trying to get some good shots of the decorations on the two gorgeous Art Deco hotels. Of course we had to then re- trace our steps yesterday in the forlorn hope that we might be able to recover the ear-ring Rab lost yesterday. No luck, unfortunately. 

As we were walking through the Old Town square we saw a bloke under a brolly advertising the Hop On Hop Off bus we had been looking for yesterday. Turned out he was a Namibian student, working his way through college! Anyhow, we decided to give it a try although it seemed a bit dodgy because they were a bit mysterious as to how we got to the bus, given the traffic limitations in Old Town. Well, we walked for about ten minute before getting to a corner where we waited for the train? Didn't know what they were talking about until a little diesel train and carriage came around the corner, ringing it's bell. We climbed aboard and bumped our way over the cobbled streets for several blocks until we finally got to the bus parking area and transferred to our red bus.

The courier was a young woman from Florida who was teaching English at high school. She seemed very nice and said she was enjoying her time there, mentioning that the English speaking ex-pat community numbered about 20,000. It was good to see a bit of the city. Parts are in very poor condition - magnificent old houses but falling to pieces - and there is an enormous amount of graffiti everywhere. We didn't hop off the bus, at least until we got to the Railway Station, which was the nearest one to our hotel. We paused to share a Prague sausage and a fruit drink and then headed back to the hotel for a snooze and to pack.

We had intended to just go out for a quiet meal on our own, but Ian called us at about 16h00 and invited us to join him and some of the others at a restaurant he had found. We agreed and after a couple of drinks with some of our other pals, ten of us went off to the Italian restaurant about 1 km from the hotel. It was quite a mild evening after the freezing one that had preceded it and Rab was warm in her new coat. The food was excellent and we had a good time. Everyone was exchanging e-mail addresses and telephone numbers. Based on previous experiences no one will be in touch, but maybe this time it will be different. (It was - a little. Two people contacted us - but only once each.)

PRAGUE - DAY TWO

Prague, Thursday January 6, 2011

We had a pretty good night in our eyrie, although I'm still coughing a bit from time to time. We made it down to breakfast in time and found a reasonable spread. The plan was to join the guide for a four hour walk this morning. I must say I was somewhat surprised at this decision of Rab's because that's a long walk in the freezing cold - it was about minus 8C today. As things turned out, Milan, the guide was not available and the local guide, a very nice young lass, took about 20 minutes to tell us what Milan had told us the night before about Wenceslas and his murderous family, as we stood in the chilly square that bears his name.

Rab suggested we move on without them and I was only too happy to do so. Group movements are not really what I want in foreign parts. We drifted down the hill into the borders of the Old Town to where we had turned back last night when Marj decided to march back up town and, as I expected, we were son in the Old Town. Magnificent old buildings and lovely shops to dawdle in everywhere. The main square is terrific and is dominated by the building with an extraordinary astronomical clock. I had no idea how to read it, but it has phases of the moon, zodiac sectors and the lord knows what else. Apparently one set of hands divides the day into 12 hours between sunrise and sunset, with longer hours in summer than winter. Extraordinary.

We moved on from there towards the Charles Bridge, passing some very nice shops on the way. They weren't open as it was only just gone nine (we had heard the trumpeter at the clock sounding off the time as we got to the square) and there was hardly anyone about. The Bridge is a wonderful example of beauty and form and we got some good shots down there. It was freezing cold standing above the water and my gloveless hand was quite painful in the end and took some time to warm up even when back in my thick gloves. We had a laugh because I wanted to get a shot of a local tram crossing in front of the church at the foot of the bridge, thinking it would make a god subject. Rab went down to the road to signal when a tram was in site and in due course she waved to me, I set up the shot - and instead of the distinctive red tram, the one that came along was pink and covered in advertising! Not what I had in mind at all. The second was not much better, so I gave up the idea and we went and had a cup of coffee and a slice of honey cake.

Opposite the coffee shop was an intriguing shop carrying very large stocks of local work. Not the normal touristic stuff, but some beautiful pieces. Amongst these were some pendants in the style of Faberge eggs and other designs. Beautiful, I thought, but never expected Rab to like them. I expected her to say they were too glitzy. Anyway, she didn't and as the shop was opening at 10 (some of the shops are open from 10am to 11 pm!) we shot in there. The one piece that she really liked was in the shape of a stylized crown (Rab thought it was a heart, which is more romantic, I suppose although I told her the crown was because she was the Queen of my Heart!) Turned out to be the only one of it's kind in the shop, or so it was claimed, and we duly bought it. We think it is lovely, but the one problem was that if did not fit on the chain that Rab had. As we walked back towards the hotel I got the bright idea of asking a local jeweller if he could alter the loop of the pendant without damaging the settings of the crystals in the loop. He did a great job and declined any payment. What nice people!

We grabbed a Prague Dog on the way back up the hill. A HUGE sausage, well done and very tasty which with an Ice Fruit drink (mangosteen flavour, of all fruit!) made a good lunch.

Rab drifted in and out of the shops on the way back up the hill, buying the odd item, while I stood out in the street watching the world go by. I noticed how many people had rather large noses - not so much fat as long. One mother and daughter looked for all the world like a pair of dachshunds, their long and pointy noses preceding them up the street.

Back in the hotel we are relaxing before the dinner tonight. I'm somewhat dreading that as it promises to be a local feast - that part is OK because we like what we have had of Czech cuisine, but accompanying that will be some local entertainment and I know that will mean loud mazurkas and Hi-Hi-ng from the dancing girls.  

PRAGUE - FIRST LOOK

Prague, Wednesday January 5, 2011

A fairly long day today, but not as long as we collectively feared.

After a last breakfast we clambered aboard our coaches at 08h30 for what we were told would be a nine hour journey to Prague, with an eta of 17h30. There was only room for our knapsacks (Hugh says they are most inappropriate for a grown man, who should never carry more than a briefcase) so we had to sit with our coats on our laps as we always found it too hot to sit in our coats. This made for a very crowded seat and I had half a cheek in the aisle - most uncomfortable. We stopped for a fifteen minute pee-break after about 90 minutes and since I had no local currency and didn't want any, I declined to pay the requisite fee and used the public ones. I was glad I didn't have to sit on the icy steel throne! We re-arranged the coats, but it didn't make much difference and I was resigned to a very uncomfortable few hours ahead. It was only after our lunch break that Hugh suggested that I ask the courier/guide if I could sit in the spare seat in the front row. I did and luxuriated all the way in to Prague.

The lunch stop was at a McDonald's. Milan the guide had warned us at the start that this would be the case as he said they were the only reliable food stops on the motorways. We were off the bus and in only just behind Hugh - no doubt we old travellers know the tricks of the trade. Hugh was paying with a credit card which delayed the works somewhat but once the staff had got that worked out, they battled manfully (or womanfully to be more accurate) to deal with the sudden rush of 66 foreigners, most of whom hadn't eaten in a Macs anyhow and didn't understand the rules! Milan told us there was only one woman in the kitchen and the cashier was on the job for first time that day. (We thought the cashier was bemused by the credit card because she only saw them rarely, but were way off the mark. We only learned later that countries like the Czech Republic jumped a couple of stages of technology. The problem with the cashier was that she had never handled a credit card that required a signature instead of a PIN. It was we Australians who had old technology, not the Czechs!)

Milan played the movie Amadeus on the coach DVD - which we didn't enjoy at all. We didn't have a very good view, but from what we could see it was not our scene. Maybe you had to know more about Mozart than we do.  As I say, I was quite comfortable in the end as we drove through the lovely snowy countryside, but the travels we have had on coaches have reinforced my long held view that I would not choose that method of travel. The seats are simply not designed for my size person. Incidentally the road surface in Czech are appalling for long stretches. They are concrete slab highways and as ever, they created a very bumpy ride.

We got in at about 16h00, considerably earlier than expected. Milan said this was due to the opening of a new bypass  which had taken all the heavy trucks off the road we were on and clear up a long standing problem that had created hour long backups. He seems an excellent guide - just what girl in Paris was not. He explained what we had in store, how he had arranged for our check in at the hotel so there was a minimum of fuss, what we were going to do.

As he had said, we were into the hotel and in our room within minutes of arrival. It is a very nice Art Nouveau building (THE style in Prague!) and decorated accordingly. We are on the eighth and top floor in a kind of attic Rome with sloping windows. It is very large and very comfortable and a HUGE improvement on the Paris room.

 

We went for a freezing orientation walk at 18h00 last evening and then left Milan and the group to do a bit of exploring on our own. Unfortunately we me up with Marj and Chris (I think they are a couple but Rab won't accept that). I say unfortunate because Marj is very bossy and thrustful (so to speak) and so although they were good company sitting on the boat, they are less so for a wander through town window shopping and looking for a Czech eatery. I missed a number of photo opportunities as we marched at speed from place to place and in the end, since we couldn't agree where to eat, they went their way and we went ours, ending up in a nice cellar restaurant where we had some good food and a couple of large beers. Just what we wanted. Rab had roast pork and sauerkraut and I had a grilled schweinhaxe which, while not up to the standard of the one in Koln, was nevertheless just what I wanted.

And so to bed.   

BUDAPEST

Budapest, Tuesday January 4, 2011

We opened our curtains to a wonderful white world again. The river was quite narrow and the trees which came right down to the water's edge were all covered with frozen snow. Clearly we were in for another cold day. I went up on deck as Frank had suggested for our arrival into Budapest and although it was a misty morning with light snow falling, it certainly was an impressive sight, as he had promised. The Parliament building was the first massive structure to come into view on the Pest side and then the hilly Buda crowned with the castle.

 

We duly assembled for our tour after breakfast and were surprised at how beautiful the city was, with magnificent buildings in all directions. I suppose we should not have been because after all this city was the centre of an enormous Empire for centuries. Our trip included a visit to the Castle and Cathedral high above the city. It was as cold as......up there with gentle snow falling from time to time. We followed the group leader for a while, but dropped out to examine the shops more closely. Rab lashed out on a little souvenir plate of all things - quite a surprise since we got rid of most of our collection in the Great Move back to Australia. She also finally succumbed to the cold (and my suggestions) and started looking for something to keep her head and ears warm. She found a snood like article in a market which is perfect. Fur lined it has long knitted side pieces that can be used like a scarf. Perfect for keeping warm.

We were back at the ship for lunch and it was proposed that we should spend the afternoon there - just like those old folks in Cape Town all those years ago. Fortunately one of the other couples, Barry and Diane, said they were going shopping and that eventually provided sufficient impetus to set us off with them. We caught the very cold and very old shuttle across to the Pest side, since we were tied up in Buda and the shops were in Pest. After fighting our way past some extensive building operations, we found ourselves in the Vinca (as I think the main shopping street is called). Rab was in her element and I spent a good deal of time watching the passing show in the street as she shopped. I preferred standing in the cold rather than the heat of the shops. There were some sights to see – clearly no 'Winter Fashion' had been established. There were many beautiful fur coats about too, which must really annoy PETA and it was the pale caramel ones that looked the smartest I thought. The young girls tended to wear something similar - tights with high boots or long stockings up to their knees and a mini skirt above with a short coat above that.

At one stage I was leaning on a lamp post reading the paper we had bought for Archie, when a voice said to me "Hello, kind sir." in a suitably foreign accent. It was Hugh and Richard, the gay couple who had proved to be such good company on the trip. They asked if I was waiting to be picked up? They were walking back to the ship across the Chain Bridge and invited us to join them. I said there was no chance of that happening, but we did walk as far as the remains of the Xmas Market.

After browsing around there we had a lovely cup of coffee and shared a homey cake before strolling back to the now very cold shuttle and on tom the ship to do our packing. Even though it was such a short stay and just a glance at this great city, we really enjoyed our stay. We also had a good laugh at a large banner at the Art Museum advertising an exhibition of art which used two very large people as models - I said I couldn't recall us posing as model for those pictures.

There was quite an atmosphere of frivolity as it was the last evening we were all together, with the first passengers leaving at 4.45 the following morning! Most people said they had enjoyed themselves thoroughly and counted the trip as a great success. Of course there were also those who found complaints to dig up but I think they were inn the minority.

They had some Hungarian entertainers on in the evening and whilst I am sure they were very good, I found myself nodding off in the first number and by the time the Hi-Hi-ing dancers had slapped their boots for the third dance I was happy to agree to Rab's suggestion to call it a night - Hugh and Richard having sneaked off even earlier.