Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Marie and I are now in Prague, Czech Repbulic. Apologies for not writing for so long, but we've been busy! So, to recap briefly:
We visited Potsdam, which is about half an hour out of Berlin and, apart from a cute little town, has an enourmous park (Sansouci) full of palaces and monuments. In between hanging out in cafes and restaurants, we managed an afternoon in the brand new Jewish Museum. The architecture - while derivative of our wonderful Federation Square - is very impressive. There is an enormous volume of material about the 1000 years of history of Jews in Germany, their culture, how they lived and so on. Of course, the Holocaust is addressed and it is very moving reading diaries and accounts from those people. But, it doesn't have the feel of a mausoleum which is uplifting.
We took a night at the Konzerthaus we're we listened to some chamber music (the Belcea Quartet). They performed some Schubert, Webern (very 'modern') and Beethoven. They played with much passion and were amazing to watch.
Next, we went to Dresden with Gerd and stayed with Herr und Frau Ziegenhorn. This city has dried out from the floods and is brimming with culture and histroy. The rebuilding effort is awesome. It was very sad to see the effects of the fire-bombing on the night of the 13th of February, 1945 - it must have seemed like hell on earth. They are spending hundreds of millions on rebuilding the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). We had some great food at the Ziegenhorns', and we also visited with Gerd's brother Frank and sister-in-law Titin, where we had some delicious tradtional Indonesian food.
Fortunately, most Germans we encountered spoke fluent English, but we remain embarrased at our lack of language. In Czech it's not too bad as it is seems entirely insurmountable. Marie has written a little about our 16 hours in Prague so far - I will write more about our experiences in the train station once we've left the jurisdiction.
--- posted by Greg 11:35 PM
Hey there
Greg and I are simultaneously "blogging" so I'm not sure how this will work. But I think that if you like me better than Greg you read my bits and vice versa. Anyway, we are in Prague after 10 fantastic days in Germany. We spent most of the time in Berlin, staying with Gerd, then we went to Dresden with Gerd and his family.
Berlin was great - we spent a lot of time hanging out with Gerd and his friends. Because I've been there before, I didn't feel any imperative to see things in a checklist fashion. So we spent a lot of time in cafes and pubs, as well as doing touristy things like visiting the top of the radio tower and walking around Unter den Linden seeing all the beautiful buildings and statues.
Dresden was lovely as well - really funky, with lots of cool bars. It also has lots of great architecture, although some of it is still being rebuilt after the war almost 60 years ago. We had a great time hanging out with Gerd and his family - Frank, Titin and Herr and Frau Ziegenhorn. We also tried to learn some German, which was very amusing for everybody.
The train trip from Dresden to Prague was very beautiful. We followed the Elbe all the way, and passed some picturesque villages set in the forest beside the river. I like travelling by train.
Now we are staying in a flat in the boon-dykes (sp?) of Prague with this crazy Czech "brother and sister" - Maria and "Eddy" (Adolf). "Eddy" is a real Arthur Daly - bit of a charmer, sweats a lot and is always shaking hands with people in his building (a highrise block of apartments). When we left to come into town he gave us a huge double-handshake and then a hug and a kiss! It's certainly more interesting than a hotel.
We will stay here for 3 more nights, then will head south to Cesky Budjevovice and/or Cesky Krumlov. From there we'll stay in Vienna for a night or so and then probably get a boat down the Danube to Bratislava.
Oh yes - when we got to Prague we had dinner in a pub. Greg ordered goulash and it came in this little metal cauldron that was suspended from a stand - just swinging there. We had no idea how he was meant to eat it. Greg made a few desolutary pokes at it with his fork which made it swing back and forth - the waitress cracked up laughing. Apparently, you're meant to take the little cauldron off it's stand. So - now you know. Hard to explain, but I did take a photo.
Take care, love and greetings
Marie
P.S. In my last blog, I gravely misspelled a lot of German words. Sorry Gerd. I will try to misspell all the other languages I encounter just as badly.
--- posted by Marie 11:11 PM
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
Well, Marie and I made it to Berlin. The flight wasn't too bad - I watched movies and ate my bodyweight in food. We stopped over in Kuala Lumpur (20 mins) and Vienna (1 hour). Gerd picked us up from Tegel airport and took us to his flat just near Kreuzberg. We met his girlfriend Anna, and a few of his friends. We went to a massively ornate domed church and listened to some great organ music on the huge pipe organ there - for the first half hour I wanted to convert to Christianity, which happens when I first go into these really impressive cathedrals.
Yesterday we had Easter frühstück (breakfast) with half a dozen of Gerd's friends. We made some little dough Easter bunnies (or bilbies in my case) and baked them and painted them in chocolate the night before, and took them alnog. Delicious! In the afternoon we took the train to Wannsee, which is delightful lake area about half an hour from downtown Berlin. We walked around for a couple of hours on the walking track and took a ferry on the lake. We also looked at the villa where the Wannsee Conference took place (where the Nazis planned the 'Final Solution' for the Jews).
Today we're just hanging around in cafes, soaking up the atmosphere here. It's a lovely spring day - blue skies, no wind, maybe 22°C. It seems very 'European' to me: narrow windy roads, five story terrace flats everywhere, bikes, cobblestones, buses and trains and small cars - and everyone has a cigarette hanging out of their mouth!
We're planning to hang out here until the weekend, and then go to Dresden to visit Gerd's family and see the culture there. Then we'll head across to Prague. But, for the next few days we'll do the museums and galleries and other tourist sights. When I was hear two years ago, it was only for three days, so it was a bit of a blur. They've also finished the Jewish Museum now, which should be interesting.
--- posted by Greg 12:04 AM
Monday, April 21, 2003
Hey there people
Please forgive the tzpos as this German keyboard is different! Anzwaz, we´re in Berlin and having a great time. We´ve been staying with Gerd and his girlfriend Anna in Kreuzberg, which is the funky end of town. Yesterday we went to church for Easter, then went to Gerd´s friends´ house for Easter brunch/frustick. We had painted hard´-boiled eggs for easter brekkie. We also went to Wansee - a huge lake in Berlin, where the rich go to sail. Then we had dinner at Gerd´s - goulash and Czech dumplings - lekker.
Greg has invented two new German words - G´tag (G´day) and Hundeschiser (work that one out). Not sure if they´ll take off yet - be sure to tell your German-speaking friends.
Tschuss
Marie
--- posted by Marie 11:49 PM
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Woo hoo! We're heading off today. We're all packed ... I think. First stop is Berlin for a week or so to catch up with Gerd. Should be a balmy 12 degrees on Friday.
Check out the weather in foreign parts with the weather underground.
Please email me at either my usual address:
gcwhill@studentmail.dis.unimelb.edu.au
But, if you don't hear any reply, it could be because I can't access it from foreign internet cafes. So, try:
gregory.hill@telstra.com
Feel free to text me - it only costs 22c, as opposed to $5/min for voice calls.
Toodle-o.
-Greg.
--- posted by Greg 1:42 PM
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Hi there
Greg and are off to Germany tomorrow, so this website is about to get a bit more interesting
Marie
--- posted by Marie 2:18 PM
