Category: 2Cs OverCs

Saturday 20 April 2024

I neglected to mention our delight in Dresden at the proliferation of white asparagus. It’s the season to consume this delicacy and we love them. Fat, white and delicate, they are delicious and we eat them as a main course. Yum.

Today we fly from Dresden to Munich, and once others had arrived we were bussed to Passau to board our Viking cruise on the Egil, 137m long. We have a very comfortable room with a little balcony. Unfortunately it is pissing with rain and 2 degrees. I did not pack well, but at least my raincoat sleeves reach my wrists.

On the bus we pass a nuclear power plant

which has been decommissioned. It shut down last year after a decision by Government, under Angela Merkel, to halt the use of nuclear power, following the Fukushima disaster. But Germany does not produce enough power to service the country and so they buy nuclear power from France!

We drive past beautiful black soil plains, which remind us of Cherrie’s family seat in Quirindi

To make up for the use of nuclear power, there are lots and lots (but not enough) of solar panels.

Not much use today though

We drive through Bavaria and past the BMW factory. I did not know that BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works. Did you?

And we drive past a white asparagus farm

As we pulled into Passau, we are reminded of Bergen

The tours start tomorrow but following a late lunch on board we take the shuttle bus into town to have a nose around, as the rain has stopped. Coinciding with our leaving the bus the heavens open with a vengeance. We re-board the bus and return to the boat, quite wet.

An orientation, a talk from the over verbose ‘Hotel Manager’ and a few wise cracks from the Entertainment Manager, we are required to put our hands up when our country is mentioned. No hands are raised for England, Wales, Scotland, 188 hands raised for USA and 2 for Australia. We are on an American tour, with food to match, owned by the Swiss.

Sunday 21 April 2024

We join one of those tour groups we said we’d never join. The ones led by the man carrying the paddle with a number on it, and us with an ear piece and a walkie talkie Our boat carries 190 passengers and I reckon all of us were out on this walking tour, in several groups. It’s very overcast but no rain today. Very cold though, 1 degree. We were led by an English speaking Greek who had all the jokes. But at least he wasn’t in costume.

Passau is known as the City of Three Rivers, because this is where the Rivers Inn, Ilz and Danube meet.

Back in the day, that is the medieval days, Passau was the heart of the salt trade, the white gold, transported from the Alpine salt mines.

St Stephens Cathedral

Was built in the 1600’s and is not quite finished yet. You see, a tax is applicable once building works are finished, and the Catholics have not finished this one. Good tax dodge eh?

St Stephen’s is home to the largest cathedral organ in the world, with 17,974 pipes. Most of which have been removed for restoration. Of course.

The tour finished in the town square

Passau feels like a wealthy town

We might have bought a hat if the shop weren’t closed

We wandered the narrow streets before returning to the boat

And by the way, it’s not blue

Thursday 18 April 2024

A colourful journey by train through farming country of brown ploughed paddocks, green crops and fields of yellow canola. Also a sustainable journey, past solar farms and wind turbines. When we pass through villages we see that all the houses have garden plots, of varying tidiness and plantings.

The train travels at 165kmh and we are in Dresden in two hours. We are checked into the hotel, bags in room, by 11am. It’s drizzling, and freezing cold. It was 25 degrees in Dresden last week. Today it’s 7 degrees. I must dispense with my short sleeved rain coat and replace it with something warmer, which I do. Waste not want not, I donate it to a beggar. With short arms.

Dresden is the capital of the state of Saxony, and in days gone by was known as the Florence of Saxony, such was the wealth and beauty of the city. It was the city of Kings.

And a gorgeous princess

In February 1945 Britain and America bombed the be-you-know-who out of Dresden and killed 25,000 people in the process. This beautiful city, with its palaces and castles, its artistic splendour, was wiped out. Rebuilding did not start until the reunification of Germany in the ‘90s and the restoration is remarkable. The damage is not hidden, buildings are both burnt black and new sandstone clean. The black is what remained of the original and the new sits in stark contrast.

We do the HOHO bus which takes us high above the Elbe Valley, where the city sits. Three castles remain in tact, as do many truly beautiful houses. It’s evident that this was indeed the playground of the rich. Perhaps is once again.

This fellow does something at night. I just can’t remember what it is

We walked along the Elbe River, with its beautiful meadows either side.

The restoration work throughout the city is meticulous and astounding

Not all building work is yet complete

Throughout Berlin, and now in Dresden, we see large overhead pipes snaking their way through the city. Both cities sit by a river and a quick Google search reveals that the pipes ensure the level of the ground water stays within safe bounds. Extra water is pumped back into the river. In Berlin these pipes also deliver drinking water to several areas. These photos are from Berlin…I forgot! No photos of the Dresden pipes. I forgot!

There are other pipes in Dresden too

The Dresden Short Film Festival is currently on. It’s an outdoor affair and we feel sympathy for the organisers as it’s wet and cold. Only a very few sit on the deck chairs for a viewing.

Friday 19 April, 2024

These photos are for Bryan and Garry.

This beautiful architecture

Makes for happy travellers

The Museum restoration is one that is not yet complete and the building remains closed. This is as far as we can get inside

But carefully fenced areas allow us to observe external areas

A tour of the Royal Palace is extraordinary. The lavishness explains much about why the peasants revolted in 1849 and overturned the Monarchy

These clothes are original. Dating back to the 16th and 17th century. Spot the codpieces

We also visited what is called The Green Vault within the Palace. No cameras allowed. High security to get in. It contains the largest treasure collection in Europe, founded in 1723 by Augustus the Strong of Poland and Saxony. It took all our strength not to over react to this gauche collection. It was severely damaged in the 1945 bombing, three of the eight rooms were totally destroyed. At the end of the war the collection was confiscated by the Red Army and transferred to the Soviet Union. Returned to Dresden in 1958 and reopened to the public in the early 2000’s.

Yikes

The Opera House

has been rebuilt three times. The first was destroyed by fire in 1869, caused by workmen in the roof welding with gas. The second was destroyed in the 1945 disgrace and this is the third. It’s lavish, both in the foyer and the auditorium, and again a replica of the original

1300 seats and as usual the rows are so close as to cause seated audience members to stand in order to let others pass. No issue during the performances though, as Germans are never late

The clock over the proscenium arch is a curiosity. So many men were opening their fob watches during the performances, and then closing them, that the clicks of the gold cases irritated His Majesty. Hence he ordered the installation of the clock

The stage is being set for the ballet tonight – Romeo and Juliet.

Even in this lavish house, there is a plywood facade as the front border

Don’t jump

What a truly beautiful city is Dresden. We could have filled another day here, but on to Munich now by plane to be transferred to our boat.

A curious touch of home at Dresden airport.

We have struggled to upload this post as the wifi on the boat, which we boarded yesterday, is shocking. A Turnbull/Abbott travesty relived.

Sunday 14, Monday 15, Tuesday 16 & Wednesday 17 April 2014

When we did finally check into our hotel it was 4pm. It was a glorious sunny day and we immediately went for a walk. This park is just down the road from our lovely hotel in Charlottenburg, in the western district of this very big city. It was lovely to see so many folk basking in the sun, and others walking their dogs. Neither of these things we saw in Abu Dhabi.

On Monday morning it’s raining. We’ve seen the last of the sun in Berlin. It seems that the sleeves on my raincoat have shrunk

But we intrepid travellers brave the drizzle and we walk down to the zoo to catch the HOHO bus. Whilst it’s not a laugh a minute, we find this hop on hop off journey a great way to introduce ourselves to the city. We hopped on at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. It’s a victim of WW2 and now known fondly as the hollow tooth

We sat on the bus for the full round of two hours to work out what we wanted to do over our three days here. It was to be four days, but thanks to Benjamin and Iran we lost a day.

This city will never allow us to forget the wall, or the holocaust, and reminders of it are everywhere. We visit the Berlin Wall Monument, which is a 200m section of the original wall, and which includes harrowing stories of the holocaust.

This below is the Memorial to the six million Murdered Jews of Europe. It consists of 2711 concrete blocks, all different heights and dimensions, covering an area of 19,000 square metres.

There are cobblestones set in the roads to denote where the wall was

These plaques, and doubtless many others, are set in the pavements in various areas.

Checkpoint Charlie is still there. Along with some of the original sandbags

Cherrie and I were last in Berlin in 1976 and 1975 respectively, and we both went through Checkpoint Charlie. We agree that it was like passing from a technicolor film to black and white, so grey and miserable was East Berlin. I found those old memories quite emotional. As a 25 year old, travelling alone, it was a spooky city to be in. But today Berlin is a thriving, bustling, arty and tolerant city. A city which bears all.

Since the 1200’s the bear has been the city emblem,  symbolising strength, resilience, and protection and the bear is the unofficial ambassadors of Berlin. There are bears everywhere. So, over three days Cherrie and Christine go on a bear hunt.

And find a Lego giraffe

And some bears

My cousin married a German (and had a pair of very clever daughters, one of whom is a theatre producer, silly girl) and knows Berlin well. When we asked Lynne what we should do in Berlin she responded with “walk”. And so we do. We literally walk many kilometres. Three shoes and a boot do Berlin. I’m obviously quite slow. And I’m not a fast walker either. It’s a bit of a shame when I am overtaken by this

It’s true. She overtook me!

We don’t find German an easy language. Does anyone? Except for Germans perhaps. I mean, what is this napkin trying to tell me?

One thing we do know, is that the Currywurst has replaced the Bratwurst. Crikey, tradition flies out the window when you’re not looking eh? But with the exception of the currywurst, which is sold from street carts, we don’t find German food anywhere. The city is full of Italian restaurants. Lucky for us, as we can read an Italian menu, just not the German translation under Penne Arrabiata or Fettucine Tartufo. But where did the German restaurants go? What happened to the schnitzel?

Last time we were here, the Brandenburg Gate could only be seen from the back. This time, we view it from both sides.

And we see the Reichstag

The river Spree flows through Berlin and it tickled my fancy to learn that The Old Museum is fondly referred to as Athens by the Spree

We also made a point of visiting the New National Gallery.

Entry cost an arm and a leg (we did not show them one of my legs) and it’s surprisingly small with only two galleries and an outdoor sculpture garden.

I don’t ‘get’ abstract, even the one Picasso. I wonder what the model thought of Pablo’s work

But, Cherrie loves abstract and insists that I give you the name of this work. “Reclining Woman with Flowers”. Yes, of course.

One perfectly remarkable experience though is The East Side Gallery, a 1.3km section of the wall, retained as a permanent open air gallery. The first spring after the fall of the wall, in 1990, 118 artists from 21 countries were invited to comment on the political changes of 1989/90 in art. It’s wonderful

The East Side, near the gallery, is resplendent with public art. These faces are outside a little cafe called The White House

I guess it goes without saying, but I’m sayin’ it anyway, the architecture in Berlin, both old and new, is simply stunning

And there are some fabulous sculptures around

This one denotes the city before reunification in 1989

The traffic light man was first used in East Berlin in 1969. After the reunification Berliners protested to keep the quirky hat-wearing man rather than go for the international symbol. He’s rather sweet, don’t you think?

As tourists, we felt obliged to go to the top of the most recognisable of structures, the Berlin Tower

Fantastic views and well worth the rip off price. It’s good that we did it on our last day so that we knew what we were looking at

Cherrie is incapable of passing a plant, or a box of white asparagus, without whipping out her camera

What trip to Berlin is complete without a visit to the Berlin Philharmonic? Here we are, culture vultures that we are

The program of Dvorak’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, with a wonderful French Cello soloist, Gautier Capucon), Strauss’ Don Juan op. 20 and ‘Till Eulenspiegal’ all under the baton of a very energetic Petr Popelka, who has just started his role as Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony. It was a great concert and we floated back to the hotel. In the back of a cab.

We leave Berlin early tomorrow by train to Dresden.

Friday 12 April 2024

We had a great direct flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi on Etihad. Leaving at 9pm with a 5am arrival meant that we ate a bowl of pasta each en route to the airport and then went straight to sleep on board. No food, (almost) no drinks (well, none for her) and a good long sleep. We had enough Etihad points to grab a hotel room to cover the 40 hours we were in town. And not just any hotel either, but the Hyatt no less. On an island no less. One of the natural islands, not one of the many man made ones. Actually, it’s a rather large sand dune, but the Emirati imported lots of greenery to make it look natural. And, of course, the grounds of the hotel are spectacular

With its own beach. With lots of umbrellas

We are waiting at the breakfast room when they open at 6.30am. Please remember that it’s been nearly 24 hours since we ate, and we’ve worked up some steps since then. And, after breakfast, we are lucky enough to have a room allocated to us, so we can change into lighter clothing to accommodate the 30 degree heat.

Our room is a 4km walk from reception. Well, maybe not that far (don’t accuse me of exaggeration) but it’s a bloody long walk. After the return trek we took a cab into town and boarded the Big Bus for a 2 hour round trip. It’s still only 9am and the streets are deserted.

Clearly not much action at the Presidential Palace

Abu Dhabi is pretty much like the other UAE cities we have been to (Dubai and Doha) – that is clean (almost sterile), with lavish buildings and masses of construction work.

Most of the power is solar generated these days

And they have one nuclear power plant and are hoping that nuclear which will deliver 25% of power, However, meanwhile there are still plenty of old fashioned air conditioners around

There are two 7 star hotels in the city. Our minds boggled so much that we actually did not absorb the decadence, except this one fact…..if you order a cappuccino it will be dusted with gold rather than chocolate. Mohammed help those with amalgam fillings.

An ingenious way to mask the phone tower. Hard to identify reality from props

The only place that we were inclined to visit was The Louvre Abu Dhabi. Of course, the bus stop is a long walk from the entrance, which is at the end of a long walkway. Spectacular building though and worth the trek

The exhibition we enjoyed the most was From Kabila to La Fontaine a travel through fables. No photos though

Because The Louvre (and Ferrari Land, and Sea World, and Harry Potter World) the Abu Dhabi is building The Guggenheim right next door. They tell us it is to open soon

Seems to us there is a way to go yet

We got a taxi back to the hotel. The taxi rank is a good distance from the museum entrance of course. Once back at the Hyatt, we trekked to our room and then took a long walk to that beach. The life guard might have been forgiven for assuming a disabled whale had beached itself as I defied all odds by walking over the sand to have a swim in the Arabian Gulf. Glorious it was too, and again well worth the trek. Lots of people on the beach and not a budgie smuggler in sight. All board shorts on the blokes. Back to the 40m swimming pool for a dip and a laze. So far, this holiday is going well.

Saturday 13 April 2024

We couldn’t visit the Grand Mosque yesterday as it does not open to visitors on Friday morning and by 3pm we were well and truly frightening the natives on the beach. So today we went. It is an amazing piece of architecture

Of course, the taxi rank is a very long way from the entrance. So we trekked up to the Mosque, only to be directed back to the underground Souq. What a pair of souqs we are. Of course, to enter the Mosque we have to walk (and walk and walk) through the underground supermarket. Anything you might want is available here. And an awful lot of stuff you are unlikely to want. I suspect that the entrance to the Grand Mosque was the inspiration for the Ikea stores.

Having resisted all temptation, we eventually we see daylight again. It’s a sweltering day.

And windy

The Mosque is enormous. A long walk. Of course.

Oh my goodness, the interior

And in the spirit of goodwill, they even throw Christmas light on

It’s clearly a Mecca for selfies

Who knew the grim reaper had triplets?

Big brother is everywhere

For a moment I got excited, thinking I could quench my thirst

As we left we saw a snap of a pair of familiar faces, one in fabulous dress

So, having curtseyed, we walk all the way to the taxi rank. And, trust me (why wouldn’t you?) it’s a long walk.

Back at the hotel, we walk (a long way) to our room and then to the pool, where we swim and lay about reading. We reflect that all the people in Abu Dhabi have we have crossed paths with have been friendly and helpful and we’ve enjoyed our short time here very much.

Abu Dhabi rocks

Tonight we leave the hotel for our 1.30am flight to Berlin, via Istanbul. I have booked a car for 10pm and we are dutifully in the foyer at 9.45. But the car is not there by 10.10pm. The Concierge calls the 24/7 customer service number. Does anyone answer? Nup. It rings out. So we take a taxi to the airport. It’s a rather long queue for the Business Class check in. Can you even begin to imagine the queue for Economy Class? Anyway, we eventually get checked in and and retire to the lounge.

And it’s then evident that our flight is delayed. It’s also evident that I booked that no-turn-up car for 10pm the next night, confusing 1.30am as tonight. Silly me. We’ve read about the horrible stabbing at Bondi Junction, a Westfield with which we are so familiar. We are upset, of course, and can only imagine the dreadful grief of those involved.

After several hours delay we board our plane, along with the sweetest little dog. Hope he saw this sign before boarding

Before take off the delay is explained. Our pilot makes an announcement that due to the drones over Iran, our flight path has changed and we will not go anywhere near Iran air space but Saudi Arabia instead. This adds several hours to the flight time, and of course means we miss our connecting flight. Rather than arriving in Berlin at 9am we land at 3pm.

We have one of those taxi drivers who tries to squeeze two modest size suitcases into the boot, which is already filled with a baby seat and his supermarket shopping. I fear for his tomatoes. His drivers seat is back as far as it will go, and then he’s tilted it to 180 degrees. Cherrie is well and truly crushed, much like his tomatoes.

We arrive at our Berlin hotel, to a very friendly reception and lovely room. We are in the Western district of this large city, with lots of restaurants nearby. So, early meal and indeed we are so tired that we don’t even order wine with dinner. Not to be taken as a precedent. So, off to sleep in the most comfortable of beds. Berlin, here we are.

On Thursday this week Cherrie and I take off for yet another holiday.

This is the result of some points that we had with Ethiad which had to be used before June. We simply refuse to pay for overseas flights so we hang on to points and buy seats that way. This is quite a chore as it requires serious spending. Ain’t life tough? So, we first fly to Abu Dhabi where we spend 40 hours, but as luck (and that hard spending) would have it we had enough points to secure a hotel room in a no doubt luxurious establishment on a man made beach with golden sand and diamond door knobs. It’s on a beach so we have packed our swimmers….that’ll frighten the natives. Anyhoo, from there we go to Berlin, Budapest and Bodrum, with some other cities starting not with B thrown in. So, if you want to follow our journey, please do so.

More soon. Wadae for now.