Here we are! We're back in Birmingham, UK for 2 weeks before the next big leg of our trip - 3 months in SE Asia! Our time in Europe was great. For me, I had never really traveled around mainland Europe, so it was a treat to see so many cities. We ultimately made it to FIVE countries, which I'd say is pretty darn good!
As I said in the previous blog, we started in the Czech Republic with some of my family. It was me, Si, my dad and his wife Blanka, and my brother Abe and his lovely lady Jennie. As a most wonderful Christmas gift, my dad and Blanka rented us this incredibly beautiful apartment in the Old Jewish Town. Haha, no, not because we wanted to get closer to our Jewish roots! 
The apartment did make spending time relaxing at home and cooking good dinners a lot easier than it would have been had we stayed in a hotel. In the Czech Republic, Christmas Eve warrants more celebration than Christmas day itself, so Blanka cooked us a traditional Czech meal of carp and potato salad. 
With my brother in town, we of course had to have some eggnog in the house. When I poured them for everyone, Blanka was given her virgin drink, and the rest were doused in rum. However when Blanka turned her nose up as she took a sip and said i had added too much rum (none added), we realized that I had just added a rather large shot to each full glass of Czech egg nog that apparently comes with 20% alcohol included! haha, needless to say, the rest of the night was filled with fun and laughter, and a couple of slightly drunk people! The rest of the week was wonderful. Prague most certainly had the Christmas spirit, with a beautiful huge Christmas tree in the Old Town Square, a great but over-priced market, lots of lights, and beautiful sights. 
We spent most of our days wandering around different parts of the city, taking thousands of pictures of beautiful castles and buildings built back in the 11th century and of old Jewish graveyards with tombstones laid on top of one another after the graves were uncovered, and new bodies thrown on old during the war, as the death toll swiftly rose. 
Almost everyday we made our way over to the Vlata River, home of many beautiful bridges, and incredible picturesque views. Blanka also took us to the town where she grew up, a couple of hours north of Prague, which gave us a better prospective of what the real Czech Republic looks like, and included a real home-cooked Czech meal. In total, the trip was amazing. And it was so great to see at least some of my family for the holidays.
On the 2nd, we made our way to Nuremburg, Germany. IT WAS FREEZING! It snowed the entire time we were there. And it was that thick, heavy, big snowflake kind of snow. It was great! 
The first full day we had was Sunday, and in this old Catholic city, that means the entire city shuts down. Even Starbucks! Geeez. We visited the old Imperial Castle, where we intended to take a tour until we found out that the tours were only given in German. The nerve of those people! :) We then went to the best museum we visited during our trip - the Documentation Center for the Nazi Rally Grounds. And the following morning, we returned back to the site, to take a walking tour (in the snow!) of the rally grounds themselves. It was pretty mind blowing. Simon and I were surprised by the way Nuremburg has chosen to treat the memories of these national monuments. In part, like many German cities, they have tried to disregard the place, by turning them into sports stadium and parking lots. For instance, the Great Road, a 2 km long/60 metre wide road designed to be the central axis to the Nazi Rally Grounds was half covered by a new parking lot, however was still pointed out to the public by plaques and signs. Same with the ever so powerful Nazi Rally Grounds. The are now in part the backdrop of a new sports stadium, however, the bleachers people Heil Hitlered from, and the stand where he gave so many speeches still remains, in tact, and very available to the public. I stood in the exact place I have seen Hitler stand in so many pictures, and looked out into an empty field that was once filled with hundreds of thousands of people saluting that man. It was pretty incredible.
We also visited Dachau Concentration Camp. Even after all these years, the place has such a cold, unhappy, and scary feel to it. We were able to see where the people slept, and the conditions in which they did, we saw the gate where numerous people tried to escape and ultimately killed, and the crematorium, where thousand of bodies were taken and burned. It's just so hard to imagine that something like that could have happened in the 20th century. Before leaving Germany, we made it a point to go to a real beer house, where Simon and I took our best guestimate of what the words on the menu meant, and ordered...something. We were served 2-3 HUGE hunks of meat, and about 3 potato wedges as our 'vegetable.' And just to add to the experience, we were sat at a table across from two German men, complete with their authentic huge German mustaches!Innsbrook, Austria. We booked a B&B here. It was a cute place, up on a hill, looking over the valley of Innsbrook and up to the Alps.
The first afternoon we arrived, it was clear blue sky, and we were able to appreciate what Innsbrook is so famous for - turn around 360 degrees and you will always be facing the beautiful Alps topped with snow. Unfortunately, by the time we woke up the next morning, it had snowed and with that came low grey clouds that completely engulfed the mountains. Our view was gone. We didn't do too much, but did take a nice hour long hike up one of the mountains. It was a more pleasant and laid-back part of the trip.
We visited Simon's old colleague Anca, her husband Teo, and their beautiful 2 yr old son Alex. They live in a beautiful old farmhouse just north of the city, so needless to say, we spent a lot of time just lounging around there. In addition, we all seemed to pick up this nasty tummy bug that left Simon being sick all day Sunday, Alex sick Monday, Teo sick Tuesday, and me sick Wednesday. However this was just the excuse we needed to do just about nothing other than play endlessly in and out of the snow with the 'cutie patutie', Alex, just relax and catch up. Si and I did make it out a couple times, doing a walking tour of Geneva nad heading to Chamonix in France. 
There we visited France's largest glacier, Mer de Glace which is 7km long and 200m deep. We were able to walk inside of it which was very cool.The glacier receded 7.5 metres last year in part because of global warming, so people, seriously, STOP! :)
So that's the end of our European journey. We are now preparing our bodies for the change from cold to hot hot hot weather (about time too). The visas are being arranged, the volunteering in Thailand has been signed up for, and now we're just waiting! We will do our best to write as often as possible while there.Lots more pictures from the trip posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/simonworkman/Europe
P.S. we miss our family and friends back in the US so much! please know that we are forever thinking about you!
You each and both ooze a happiness in discovery, sensitivity to, and immersion into your changing and enveloping environments including each the other.
ReplyDeleteI miss you. I love you. mw