Prague Castle

View of St Vitus Cathedral and Prague Castle

On the second day of our first trip to Prague, we packed up and left the hotel after breakfast, and headed
up the hill to Prague Castle.  It is a Castle on a hill.  There are various buildings and palaces within the Palace walls.  The Castle has guards, and a Changing of the Guard ceremony.  One of the guards was the drop dead gorgeous!

St Vitus Cathedral

Castle Gate/Main entrance

Courtyard II

After clearing the Gate, we started walking up a short incline, then went under an arch and came out looking at Courtyard II.  On the bottom of the left wing is an arch and entry into Courtyard III, and St. Vitus Cathedral. 

The best part of Prague Castle is the views.  We only went inside St Vitus Cathedral.  From there we passed through arches in various wings of the Castle, marveled at the beautiful architecture, and then saw the view of Prague from the Castle.  Amazing.

View from the Castle

Royal Palace
 

For a beautiful tour of Prague, check out my video:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LindaHarward/photos/photo/5943256794020687330

Prague - the First Trip May 13, 2013

Pretty cool Panorama, huh?  Eventually I'll get rid of the uneven borders.

Prague - 
Everyone I know, who has seen Prague, has been captivated by its charm.  Between our two trips, we spent almost a week in Prague or the surrounding area.   I am sure we only scratched the surface, but we did see all the usual tourist spots.  We marveled at the views from Prague Castle, we sampled Trdelnik, twice.  [It's essentially a cinnamon roll in granulated sugar, not icing.  Very, very good.]
We walked all over Old Town, taking photos of the beautiful picture-perfect scenes from every angle imaginable.  We spent an hour on the Charles Bridge alone! We also crossed the lovely but less well known Czech Bridge, the next bridge north of the Charles Bridge.

Our first trip, Essence of the Elbe, began in Prague.  After arrival day, we had another day and a half in Prague.  In the morning of Day 1, we had a bit of a bus drive around town, then took a walking tour not repeated in our next visit to Prague!  We started on the west bank of the Vitava River, walked up through a nice park to an outdoor exhibit at the Kampa Museum.  It was odd, to say the least.




We continued walking north through the Mala Strana, and finally arrived at the west end of the Charles Bridge.   We took our time on the bridge, since the weather was mostly sunny and there were so many great photo spots.    We wound up near Old Town.  From this point on, we saw the same stuff on both trips.  Both times we had a walking tour into the Stare Mesto, during which a local guide gave us a lot of information, I'm sure, but my senses were in full overload from the sights around me, I don't think I heard a word she said.  I certainly don''t remember anything.  We were dismissed for "free time" (including finding our own lunch), at the Astronomical Clock.

The afternoon was "at leisure"in Prague.  This means Grand Circle was running an optional tour, and those not participating got an afternoon "at leisure'.  Today's Optional was a tour of the Jewish places of note in Prague.  We didn't do it.

My husband, ever frugal, pointed out the old Jewish cemetery on the map and said "we can walk there ourselves" and so we did.  Took a couple of pictures on the street, peeked in at the cemetery itself, with caskets and headstones all askew.  We did the Great Rivers of Europe tour last year, and we got sort of Nazi-Jewish'd out.  Having just come from Auschwitz we were looking for something more upbeat! 

So we spent an enjoyable afternoon on our own, wandering about Prague.  Prague Castle was on tap for the morning, before we departed for Dresden and our riverboat, the MS Allegro.

Next Up:  Prague Castle

Poland - more on Krakow

Krakow has the advantage over Warsaw in that it sustained very little damage in WWII.  Its Old Town and Wawel Castle are authentic, no re-builds.  To that I say, I salute the people of Warsaw for rebuilding from the ashes.

Wawel Castle, Krakow, Poland

We arrived in Krakow in the early evening, so once we were all checked into the hotel, the Park Inn, our Program Director, Jutta (from Vienna) took us to Old Town on a local tram, showed us how to get back on the same tram, and cut us loose to find dinner on our own.  Bob and I found a wonderful little restaurant that served sea bass.  It was served head on, which we here in the US don't normally see.  I didn't think of taking a picture before I ate it, but I did get a shot of the carcass when I was done. Not quite the visual I thought it would be.

The next morning, after our "buffet breakfast" (see my other post today on European hotels), we went to Old Town again, but saw more of it.  We went to Wawel (pronounced VaVel) Castle which you can see is absolutely gorgeous).  We went to the Jewish Quarter, if that's what they still call it. 

We also went to a Memorial to the Jews Deported from Krakow and sent East . . . I found it very moving.
                                                                                    

This was taken at what was the railway station during the Nazi occupation.  Each chair faces East, and represents 1000 Jews deported from this place. 

.

Today there are only trams, but where we see trams, those terrified people saw railway cars that were taking them some place they didn't want to go, and from which they would most likely never return.
But where did the Jews go?  Belzec extermination camp, Plaszow slave-labor camp, Auschwitz.  .  .  .

On our tour, we saw the Kazimierz District, which was historically the Jewish District from the 14th century until the Naziis wiped them out in 1943.   This was not the location of the Ghetto, however.  The Nazis moved all the Jews from Kazimierz to the Podgorze District,where they were crammed into a space that used to house 3000 people and now had to house 15,000.  This the Nazis established as the Jewish Ghetto, and nothing of it remains today except a plaque, if I remember right.  Helena Rubenstein was born in Krakow, in the Kazimierz.   We saw the Old Synagogue, and the Remuh Synagogue, and the outside of Schlinder's Factory.  Nothing meant as much to me as the symbolism of those chairs.  Some of our group had their pictures taken sitting in one of the Chairs.  I didn't think of it, but I now wonder if that wasn't a little insensitive of them?  The chairs represent Jews going to their deaths.  I'm not sure a blond Gentile sitting in that chair is appropriate.  But it did make for a nice vacation picture.

Just a couple of notes on Standard European hotel accommodations

I have to say, I HATE duvets!  In Europe they do not use a top sheet.  There is just the duvet in its cover which presumably is washed between guests since there is NO TOP SHEET.  In addition to that, the damn things are too short!  The are barely longer than the mattress itself, and there is no room to tuck them in.  When I pull the covers up around my neck my feet stick out.  Each time I reposition myself I end up further twisted into the wad my duvet has become.  Eventually I am forced to get up to straighten out the duvet, usually several times.  I don't sleep well in European hotels. 

Although I do love their bathtubs!  Long and deep, high and narrow, it is a pleasure to relax in these 6' tubs.  Some of the more feeble among our passengers complain about these being hard to get into and out of to use the shower, much less take a bath!  We love the tub so much we've ordered as close as we could get here in the States.

Bidets are a lot more scarce these days, at least in the hotels we stay at.  I never figured out exactly how to use them.  Maybe it's a cultural thing based on local dress.  Then there's the Turkish Toilet, or the Ottoman toilet or the Eastern Toilet - it consists of two footprints straddling a hole.  You put your feet in the footprints, squat over the hole and do your business.   Sometimes there's a garden hose to act as a sort of primitive bidet, if you get my drift.  I don't know about today, but when we were in Italy in 2000 they still had these toilets in a lot of places.  We had to use one in Siena, because we were there at 9 AM and the only place open at that hour was a bar with one Turkish Toilet.  We were told that the further south you went, the more you would find these.  Bigger Muslim/Moorish populations. We have not been that far south since, but we will probably find out when we got to Athens next year.

A lot - all of the ones we stay at - offer an "American style breakfast buffet".  It is usually inedible.  The bacon looks raw, like they just ran it through a warm kitchen.  Maybe it's cured differently over there and doesn't need to be cooked thoroughly?  I really don't know, but I'm not going to eat it.  They usually have powdered eggs posing as scrambled, and they're invariably either runny or glutinous.

Beware ordering coffee in a restaurant.  Their coffee will put hair on your chest unless you specify Americana, or white (with milk).  If you don't specify you will usually get Espresso.  They think we're coffee wimps.  I plead guilty.  I like my coffee with hazelnut creamer and sugar.  The less like coffee it tastes, the better.  I plan on taking my flavored creamer over on my next trip!

BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS - this is not your usual warning.  When you are warned that a city is particularly bad with pickpockets, believe it and keep everything you have close to your person and zipped up!  Your purse, coat pockets, pant pockets - keep them closed up tight.  Keep your wallets on a leash, ladies, hooked to the inside of your purse.  Don't take it off the leash.

Prague is crawling with pickpockets so smooth you won't know anything.  I was pickpocketed in Prague (lost my Canon 260SX camera and the memory card.  Fortunately I downloaded my photos onto my iPad every single night on our 5 week trip.  So when my camera was lifted, all I lost were my pictures from that day.  That was bad enough, but if I had lost all my photos I would have been devastated.  So even if you plan on putting the whole vacation on one memory card, still download or upload or backup the day's photos, just in case your memory card doesna't make it home with you.

Krakow, Poland

By the time we reached Krakow, I was already in love with Poland.  The countryside at this time of year was stunning, with all the rape seed in bloom.  It's a brilliant yellow, with green grass interspersed, or vice versa.  I normally fall asleep during these bus transfers, but I couldn't find a dull spot in which to nod off.  Around every corner there were these spectacular landscapes of farmland, painted in yellow and green.

 Krakow itself is lovely.  It didn't suffer much damage during the war, so it's old Town and wonderful Wawel Castle were preserved.











Krakow is visual.  It is all abut the beautiful sights.

 The video I made shows Krakow much better than I could by trying prose.

 https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LindaHarward/photos/photo/5958894026203022130

Poland - Jasna Gora

Halfway between Warsaw and Krakow in the little town of Czestochowa, is the most famous shrine to the Virgin Mary in Poland.  It is the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, believed to have miraculous powers, residing in the monastery of Jasna Gora.  It is Jasna Góra's most precious treasure.

 

The monastery has a beautiful Cathedral in which to house their treasure.  Not only is the monastery a spiritual place for pilgrims, it is a mecca for tourists.  It is an active Catholic church and frequently services are being conducted amidst the hordes of tourists trying to make their way to the Madonna.  They do not close the church to visitors during services and they do not have any organization to herding the tourists through.  It was a melee of tourists crowding and pushing and little children making their First Communion, and an old woman having the misfortune to be seated in a chair in the aisle, trying to pray (probably begging God to rid the church of all these tourists!).  When the Holy Communion was over the priest led the kids out through the crowd.   He had to clear a path, practically having to push his way through, waving his incense and chanting the whole time like nobody was there.  It was really the most amazing sight.  Here is a picture of the crowds and of the Black Madonna, behind a locked gate.

There is a service going on. Is that supposed to be the Black Madonna?

What little can be seen of the Black Madonna looks nothing like the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I escaped the weirdness of the Cathedral, the rest of the church was not crowded at all.  It is a beautiful place.  I would highly recommend a visit to Jasna Gora.  Just avoid the Black Madonna.

Poland

Warsaw,  May 7-8, 2013

This past Spring, Bob and I took a 5 week tour of Eastern Europe.  This included two river cruises and some land tours.  It was a magnificent trip!  I had a professor in college who was Polish.

We flew to Warsaw from Denver.  We arrived in the early evening and crashed right away, so that day was shot.  The second day we were up early for breakfast and to begin an included City Tour of Warsaw.

I don't know what I expected.  Poland was the butt of so many jokes when I was growing up that I guess I thought it would be old and kind of decrepit.   I certainly didn't expect this new and shiny city! We had an interesting tour of Warsaw.  It was leveled by Hitler, another Stompy-foot leader who had to punish those who dared resist him,

so there aren't really any historical sites from WWII.  They have just completed a Holocaust Museum and Memorial (but the museum itself wasn't open yet when we were there.)

The Royal Palace in Castle Square, Old Town

Warsaw's Old Town isn't going to make you sigh in awe.  I thought it very pretty, but of course it can't compare to Krakow's Stare Miasto.  Nor Bruges, nor Brussels.  But Warsaw's Old Town was completely destroyed by the Germans, and had to be rebuilt by the Poles after the War.  They received nothing from the Soviets, and no Marshall Plan money from the US.  Yugoslav's Communist Dictator Tito got Marshall Plan money, but the Poles did not.  Perhaps it was impossible to assure the money rebuilt Poland and was not siphoned off to the Soviet Union.  Tito, though a communist dictator, ruled his own country as he saw fit and was not under the thumb of the Soviets.  That Marshall money went to the people of Yugoslavia.

A short history, from Wikipedia:

During the Invasion of Poland (1939), much of the district was badly damaged by the German Luftwaffe, which targeted the city's residential areas and historic landmarks in a campaign of terror bombing. Following the Siege of Warsaw, parts of the Old Town were rebuilt, but immediately after the Warsaw Uprising (August-October 1944) what had been left standing was systematically blown up by the German Army. A statue commemorating the Uprising, "the Little Insurgent," now stands on the Old Town's medieval city wall.

After World War II, the Old Town was meticulously rebuilt.  As many of the original bricks were reused as possible. The rubble was sifted for reusable decorative elements, which were reinserted into their original places. Bernardo Bellotto's 18th-century vedute, as well as pre-World-War II architecture students' drawings, were used as essential sources in the reconstruction effort.

My interest in Poland dates back  to my college days, 1969-73.  I had a political science professor who

made such an impression on me, it helped shape my views of the world and the people running it.   He was Polish and the story of his life is the most inspirational story I've ever heard (non-religious, that is).
Perhaps I will do a blog on him.

I think we had the best time just walking down "Embassy Row", as I call it.  All the big embassies are on the street.  There is a huge park right across the street, about 2 blocks from our hotel (Sheraton Warsaw).  We had a lovely stroll through it on a really gorgeous day.