Pania and Ka Pai Go on a Real Puppet Stage

Monday August 30th

This morning we woke up to rain again. Apparently it is like this all over Europe at the moment and summer is over! Certainly feels like it here. It is freezing. Mary said that two of us could come today as they were going to see puppets. So we were the two lucky ones that went to Cesky Krumlov today. Mind you we were glad to be hiding in the bags for most of the day. It was wet and cold.

Being a Monday there was not much open and not as many tourists as usual. But they did meet some people from the South Island of NZ so they stopped and had a chat to them. Alan had read that you could get a special parking ticket if you were a tourist so they made their way to the Info centre to inquire about this. It was worth doing as they were charging about $3 an hour for parking and the special ticket will mean this works out at about half of that. Although the instructions written in English were confusing, they worked out if they put this ticket in the machine and validated it they would be able to use it to exit the carpark and get the ticket back. This would mean they did not need the ticket they were given on entry. This worked, although it was not how it read in the instructions.

CK is described as one of the most exquisite towns in the Czech Republic. It is squeezed into the tight S bend of the Vltava river. The old town is divided into quarters by the twisting snake of the river so there are bridges everywhere. Rose brown houses tumble down steep slopes in narrow cobble stoned streets and it has largely been unchanged for 300 years. Under communism few foreign tourists ever made it here, but now it is a tourist Mecca. The whole town is an UNESCO designated site. Of course the residents have turned nearly every building into accommodation, restaurants or tourist shops and it is at risk of over development. A lot of tourist shops are owned and run by Aisans and the goods on sale reflect this. There are still lots of traditional glass, jewellery and wooden toys available if you are prepared to pay the prices. Some of the foodstalls open out onto the street with wooden shutters just as they have down over the centuries. One of the traditional food items is dough wound around a steel tube and cooked over an open fire. It is then rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Mary and Alan tried it and they said it was beautiful.

The marionette museum was open so they took us to see the collection from the National Marrionette Theatre. Some of these puppets were 300 years old. They had used the wooden rafters in the roof of the former church of Sv Joist to hang them rather gruesomely, although this was a good idea as it made them all easy to see. Many of them were sets from Operas or Shakespearian plays. There were also some actual puppet stages there and we got our photos taken on one of them. The detail on the faces and the costumes were amazing. It would be good to see an actual performance.





The Castle was not open for viewing but you could walk around all the precincts. At the entrance in the medieval prikop (bear moat) live two bears, yes real bears. Tomorrow Mary is going take Ber Lin to say hello to them. The castle is built right into the rocks up on the hillside and uses them as foundations.

We visited a church Sv Vit, where no photos or videos were allowed to be taken. It has patches of a medieval fresco and a rocco organ case and fabulously gilded pulpit.
It was still raining and getting increasingly colder so they decided to go back to Hemi and head for the camp. The turn to get out of the carpark was a nasty one so Mary turned right and ended up taking a quite a scenic tour through the outer village and eventually along a river and out of town. When she was able to turn around she followed the signs to a Tesco Hypermarket. They were expecting something big like Tesco Extra, but were sadly disappointed. Mary thought she might be able to buy a heater but they obviously haven’t got their winter stocks in yet and still selling fans! The fruit and vegetables were sparse and with little choice and would never have made it to the shelves in England. A lot of shelves were near empty. You could be excused for thinking you had stepped back to communist days. They had found the same at the Lidl they had visited the day before. They did manage to find some nice steak and a few manky potatoes, carrots and mushrooms and had a nice dinner.

It was so cold, 10 degrees, that they made the bed and watched a bit of TV but Mary went to sleep in front of it just like at home. They are hoping for some sunshine tomorrow!

Some Quality Time Spent With Me.

Sunday August 29th

Hi, Hemi here at last managing to get a word in on my blog. They finally decided to leave Prague today, not that I minded being parked up in that lovely apple orchard. I watched people come and go from all around the world, but I seemed to be there the longest. One day I saw people there from Italy, Holland, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Czech Republic and of course I was from the UK although the kiwis are driving me, and there were only 15 sites. It was once of the nicest places I have ever been taken to and the people there were so friendly and helpful. They also kept the place immaculate and Mary loved it.

Alan programmed the Tom Tom to take us to Cesky Krumlov. Now doesn’t that sound like a great place. Haven’t seen it yet as they had to have a catch up day. That means doing laundry, diaries and IT stuff. I didn’t mind really as they hung about in me most of the day for a change.

It was an easy two and half hour trip without incidents. That means , no worong turns, no roadwaorks, no trucks and no arguments in the front seat over which way to go.The first campsite they got to was one Mary had found on the internet. It was so remote that even I think it was a bad choice. It was beautiful, once you got there and called Paradise but far too far out for visiting the place they want to see, so they gave up on that one and looked at some other options on the Tom Tom. They took the first choice, which is always wise and found the place we are in now.

When they arrived at this one there was no one here at all and it looked pretty unkempt. However they got out and walked around and found the facilities to be very clean. Mary was about to despair as there seemed to be no laundry, but then she checked out the ladies showers and guess what, a free washing machine. This was magic as no washing had been done for a week, so she rushed two loads through and Alan put up the clothes line. (No drier of course) Washing can cost as much as $7 a load so this was a real find. Free Wifi here as well so all this makes up for the long grass.

There are rows of shelters that you can camp under if you choose to. They are all covered with solar panels. After the washing was done, Mary updated her scrapbook diary that had got hopelessly behind while they were having such a busy time in Prague. Alan got all his photos sorted after being able to prise the laptop off Mary.

It is quite chilly here and the evening cooled down really fast. Mary was really cold and wondered if their bedding would be adequate, so put the fleecy blanket on and all was well. Summer seems to be over and there is a lot of rain on and off. Everywhere is green and lush. No sign of a drought here.

Ber Lin Has His First Big Day Out

Saturday August 28th

Today the little kiwis thought it was time Ber Lin had a turn at going out for the day so Mary popped him in her bag and took him for a tram ride into Prague. He was very surprised by all the tourists and very shy but he did have his photo taken looking out of her bag in the old town. His English is not good enough yet for him to do the reporting so he going to let Mary do it again today.

This morning we got up bright and early so we could be in town in time to join the tour about communism and a visit to a nuclear bunker. (Yes another one)
We met the tour guide under a rainbow umbrella near the astronomical clock. The clock, dating from 1410 is fantastic and crowds gather around it every hour. On the hour the 12 apostles parade through open doors near the top. According to the tour guide it is the second most visited tourist attraction in Europe, the first being the Mona Lisa.
The tour was a walk around the streets of Prague giving the political history since the end of the WW1. He was a bright young lad, studying psychology at uni, who knew his history well and was able to answer all the tricky questions. The Czechs certainly had a very bad time of it over the years and the time under Soviet rule was not pleasant. John says his grandparents just can’t understand how capitalism works. When he told them he was a tour guide they asked him if the state paid for the tours and when he said no the tourists paid they were puzzled.

The tour took us to Wencelas Square and john showed us the balcony where the speeches were made when communism finally ended. There were thousands of people crammed into the square on 17th November 1989 to wittiness the velvet revolution. The building now houses Marks and Spencer a fine example of the transfer from Communism to Capitalism. Over the road is Debenhams. There are stores from all over Europe in this part of time and you can buy virtually anything. Only 21 years ago the people had the choice of 4 styles of winter coats. Bananas were a luxury item and you had to wait 5 to 10 years to get the phone on or get a car. Apparently a lot of the older folk still have the furniture from those days and it was all the same, very plain with no choice.
We went on a tram ride out to a dingy suburb and into a derelict area where there was a well locked up nuclear bunker built in the 1950s. It was nothing like the one we seen in Berlin. It had been well kitted out with beds, kitchens, hospital etc. This was really just a concrete shell. There was a huge lead door to stop the radiation getting in but nothing as sophisticated as the one in Berlin. There would have been nowhere to sleep in this one. It is now used for parties, film sets and Microsoft launched an Xbox game in there at one stage. There would not have been room for many people. Originally they had said it would provide shelter for 4000 but they later cut that back to 2000. Apparently there are bunkers all over the city but they are all in bad repair and condemned. During the cold war there was a frenzy of bunker building behind the Iron curtain, but only 30% of people would have been able to be sheltered in Prague and then only for a week after which time they would have had to come out and head for the wooded areas if there were any left. They had the theory that the trees would clean the atmosphere and make the air safe. This bunker is kept in working order so that the local radio station could use it to broadcast out of in an emergency, but even so is starting to show signs of cracks and the water is getting in. Rats were discovered in the ventilation system not so long ago. The trip ended with an opportunity to try on a series of gas masks and enjoy a beer in the bunker.

Coming back through the old town we saw the old guy with the megaphone who stands outside the astronomical clock directing traffic for all the weddings that are constantly taking place. He is self appointed director of traffic. He is basically an old tramp, but part of the fabric of the place so no one tries to remove him. He had been there in the morning when we first arrived for the tour. Apparently he is at his best in the mornings. As the day progresses apparently he becomes increasingly drunk and doesn’t perform as well. He tells people where they can stand and where they can take photos, all in Czech of course. He also tires to organise all the parking for the limos. And there are a lot of weddings going on all the time everyday of the week. Apparently it is the place to have a civil ceremony and bookings are heavy. They seem to be in and out quite quickly. Being Saturday it was really busy from before 10am, but they were taking place all through the week as well.

The afternoon was our only opportunity to visit The Municipal House. This is a stunning Art Nouveau building with a large concert hall in the centre of it known as the Smetana Hall. You can only see through the upstairs rooms with a guide and you pay dearly for it. Even with the discount on Prague card it was over priced as you had to buy a special token for the American bar. You could trade it for a drink or keep it as a souvenir. We took the drink but that was over priced as well considering what they charged for the token. They certainly know how to make the money out the tourists in Prague. The interior of the building was pure style all the way through. It is Art nouveau at it’s peak and all the leading exponents of this style contributed the building of this. Mucha got to decorate the centre front piece and the Mayor’s Hall behind it and it is the jewel in the crown. The light fittings, door handles, furniture etc id all in keeping with the style and it is a visual feast. Of course you had to pay to take photos as well and no video was allowed so we paid and took photos.
The woman tour guide was quite bossy and told a couple of guys off for going to the toilet on the way. She basically said, this tour is for one hour and you knew that so you should have gone to the toilet first. She obviously had no concept about tourist and finding free toilets! She was locking doors behind herself all the time, so I guess it was a bit inconvenient.

After this we did the one last visit “free” with Prague card that we had missed which was to the Old town hall. It was 14th century and the main hall was beautifully preserved with rich decoration.

As we were staying in town for Carmen, we had old Prague ham carved off the spit roast in the Town square. This is cooked over a wood fire and smelt delicious and it tasted great as well. Because we had unbooked seats in a block we went and waited at the head of the queue for getting into the theatre. We needn’t have worried as they were n where near booked out. There is so much on in the evenings I guess they all have to compete. Unfortunately the show did not live up to our expectations. The concept was excellent and it had some clever touches but it didn’t really ever come together with the wow factor. The stage was divide into three sections, one for the orchestra, one for the singers and one for the dancers. They had a screen to project images onto behind the dancers but this really didn’t work. The singers were in exactly the same outfits as the dancers but in black and white, and the dancers mirrored the words of the arias. But it was an experience and we didn’t regret going as it was different.

Ka Pai Learns to Appreciate Art Nouveau

Friday August 27th

Today was taken at a much more leisurely pace. Mary had woken to find that it had rained quite heavily in the night and all the bottom part of the bedding was wet because she had left the sky light open. They had slept so soundly they had no idea that it had been raining.

They intended to go to the Anton Dvorak museum, so worked out that the 17 tram would get them closest and then they would walk. They managed to get off one stop too early but it didn’t matter as they were in the new town where all the interesting Art Deco buildings are, so they were able to have a good look at these on the walk.

The Dvorak museum was small but informative and good notes were provided in English. After leaving here they walked to Charles Park and had lunch where they were approached by yet another homeless beggar wanting money for booze, cigarettes or drugs. Just as they left the park Mary looked at the sky and suggested they get jackets and umbrellas out fast. They were just in time. They managed to squash under an awning over a shop with 3 other people while the heavens literally opened. Even under there you needed coats and umbrellas. When it eased off they walked on but it suddenly happened again so they rushed into what they thought was a cafe but was really a restaurant. Having just had lunch they weren’t up for a meal, but ordered a coffee and took advantage of a free toilet. Toilets are very expensive in this part of the world. They can cost anything from 50c to $1 NZ, so you use the ones at museums and cafes when you can.

It finally stopped raining so they carried on with the walk to Wencelas Square where there were some more fine examples of Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings. They were really making their way to the Mucha Museum but looking at other things along the way. When they finally got the Mucha they were not disappointed. What an amazing artist he was, apparently he started drawing before he started walking and his mother tied a pencil to him so he could draw on the floor. Once you see his work you realise you have seen it all before in various places. It is classic art nouveau in a similar style to RennIe Macintosh and William Morris. He made his big breakthrough in Paris when all the other artists were on holiday over Christmas and Sarah Bernhardt needed a new poster for her production of Gismonda. The original proofs for this poster are in the exhibition. He was the first artist to think of producing a long rectangular poster and it was so popular people were tearing them down in the streets and taking them at night. He literally became famous overnight.

This was one gift ship they did not leave empty handed. They could have spent lots more but thought the most sensible purchase would be a 2011 calendar. They continued on walking through all the lovely architecture and finally found the tram to take them back to the camp. When they got there it was obvious there had been a lot of rain as well. There were mud puddles everywhere. In spite of this they were able to sit out under the awning for dinner before having a much earlier night.

A Day of Culture in Prague

Thursday August 26th

The little people all wanted to stay back with Hemi and work on their puppet plays, so Mary is telling the story today.

Having caught the 14 tram to take us into the old town part of the city, we quickly found our way in the right direction. I had been keen to go to the Carmen Ballet/Opera the night before having seen a flyer, and now we right outside the booking office. So we went in an inquired. As we are still going to be here on Saturday, we have booked. It was much cheaper to take unreserved seats. You apparently turn up early and have a block you can sit in. So we will make sure we are back her right at 7pm for when the doors open to fight for a good seat. As we left he handed me the flyer for Swan Lake and I said no, one is enough, and he said that is what you booked for. He had booked us in for Friday not Saturday. So it was quickly changed, as although Swan Lake would be lovely too, the combination of Carmen as a ballet and opera with live orchestra really appeals.

Today was spent in and around the old town in Prague. There was such a lot to see and do in this area and the buildings are quite spectacular. Most of the historic buildings with entry using the card are art galleries and the ones in this area housed some modern works of art which was quite refreshing after all the 15 -18 century works we had viewed yesterday. There was some really impressive use of computers and data projectors in Stone Bell House and Golden Ring House. There are several towers you can climb up to get a good view of Prague and we decided one was enough so we chose The Powder Tower, the monumental entrance to the old town.

In the afternoon we visited the Bedrich Smetana museum. This was a small and informative museum about the composer’s life. The last visit of the day was to the Museum of Decorative Arts. It was fascinating and easy to view even though we were getting wary by this time in the day. There was a glass exhibition with items from the Glass school in Zelezny Brod from 1920-2010. Here you were able to make your own piece of glass jewellery as a souvenir with no more than 5 beads. The rest of the gallery was a permanent collection with many fascinating pieces of jewellery, clothing and domestic objects. It has one of the world’s biggest collections of glass, some of which is very old and unusual.

The concert at the Rudolfinum Concert Hall and home of the Czech Philarmonic who were playing, was the highlight of the day. Renowned for having perfect acoustics, the interior of the concert hall was also impressive and many tourists had their cameras out taking illegal photos. This kept the staff alert and most photographers were politely told that taking photos was not permitted. I have included a photo of the outside.

The Prague audience have been to clapping school. From the minute the first musician appeared until the last was finally seated they were applauding. This was not light tapping, this was a thunderous applause, and the person next to us had mastered the technique and could clap really loudly by the way he held his hands. This was followed by even more enthusiastic clapping for the conductor. There was not a hint of a clap until each piece was finished with no clapping between movements,(unlike NZ audiences) but then there was a sustained loud enthusiastic applause that went on for several minutes at the end of each number.

The conductor was Sir John Eliot Gardiner from England and the programme was part of a series called, Don’t be Afraid of Classics. Being part of a Dvorak season, the opening number was his Carnival Overture this was followed by the Grieg A minor piano concerto. Lars Vogt from Germany was the pianist and we were lucky to have chosen seats that looked right down on the piano. He was so obviously enjoying his music and also the orchestra’s interpretation of it as well. The audience’s prolonged enthusiastic clapping drew him back to the stage many times and in the end managed to get him to play a short encore. The second half opened with Balad of Blanik a symphonic poem by Czech composer Janacek. The major work was Dvorak’s Symphony No 8 “English”. There was quite a change of orchestral personal especially in the woodwind and brass for the second half so they must have a lot of people on the payroll. I guess unlike the NZSO they don’t call up the students when someone is sick. It was a treat to have heard such a wonderful orchestra live.

After the concert we caught the 17 tram which is the one that takes us in our direction. After a relatively long ride it came to a halt and we were the only ones left on it and the driver said we had to get off and go and catch another and pointed to the tram stop. So we went to the tram stop and caught one that we thought was going in the right direction. Suddenly I recognised the buildings in town and said we are back in town. We got off at the next available stop and crossed the road and got one travelling in the opposite direction and finally got to our stop. Because it was dark and everything looked different it was impossible to know where we really were. Looking on the map this morning, I can see we were on a tram that terminated one stop from where we usually got off. The tram went into a little siding and when we got out of there we got ourselves going the wrong way. We did get to see Prague all lit up at night, twice, and eventually got back to the camp quite late.

An Exhausting Day for Patariki in Prague

Wednesday August 25th

What a busy day this turned out to be. The tram ride into town was easy. There were two choices of tram but they chose the 17 as that took them in the direction of the famous Charles Bridge. Having managed to get off at the right stop they realised they were right by one of the big concert halls. Mary suggested they look and see what was on in there over the next few days. It turned out there was Dvorak series of concerts on. The Thursday one looked really good with the prestigious Czech Philharmonic, so they found the box office. Mary asked the young lad if he spoke English and he said “Of course!”. She found out as the day went on that they all speak English in Prague; it is well established as a second language. So they booked the tickets for Thursday evening.

The Charles bridge was swarming with tourists. The hawkers and buskers were setting up as it was still quite early. A group of musicians were playing rare early jazz from the 1920s and Alan decided to buy their CD. They were an interesting band; the violin had a brass horn attached to his instrument and it was curled around his shoulder.

At the other side of the bridge was the information point so they made inquiries about the Prague card. This had no transport tied into it, but by buying the 4 day card you got free admission to most of the major museums, art galleries and monuments. It is all nicely sorted into areas, so they decided to concentrate on the castle area for the whole day.

They started at the Schwarzenburg Palace which is one of the best preserved renaissance palaces from the late 16th century. It had a permanent collection of Baroque Art in Bohemia. The exterior is decorated with black and white Italian and Venetian style Sgrafittio which makes it look like it is made of bricks but it is painted on to give a 3D effect.

From there they went to the St Vitus Cathedral which stand at the heart of the castle complex. Begun in 1344 it was not finished until 1929. So it took nearly 600 years to build. Because of this many of the stain glass windows are 20th century and in art nouvea style. They are really refreshing and original. It also houses the tomb of Good King Wencelas. His chapel is richly decorated with jewels and stones, but you can only look into it. There is constant restoration work being carried out on the cathedral and they have recently finished restoring the golden portal which has golden mosaic arches and mosaic of the Last Supper on the front.

From there they went to the Old Royal Palace which up until the 16th century had been the residence of Bohemian Princes and kings. It contains a huge gothic hall (Vladislav Hall) which is used today for presidential elections and representative events. The St George Basilica was right next to this. It is the oldest preserved church building in Prague. It was founded in 920 and rebuilt in Romanesque style in the 12th century. It was given a baroque facade in the 17th century. Next door was the St Georges Convent, the oldest monastery in Czech lands founded in 973 for Benedictine nuns. It was dissolved in1782 and used as barracks. It now houses a collection of 19th century art in Bohemia. It was an extensive collection and they had to be selective over what they took the time to view.

The Mihulka Powder Tower was well worth a visit. It has an exhibition tracing the history of the castle guards, from Royal Cohort to the Presidential guards of today. They had arrived in time to see the Changing of the Guard at 12 o’clock outside the Palace. It was a brief simple ceremony and there were all of eight players in the band but it had attracted a sizeable crowd. The next stop was the Rozmberk Palace which had rooms furnished in the style for when it was used as a young ladies finishing school.

The final building to visit in the castle complex was the Sternberg Palace. This was yet another art collection, so it got a once over lightly as they were tired and hungry by this time, but thought they may as well see it since they were so close and had a ticket. It was a large collection of European art from antiquity to the end of the Baroque and some was very dark and primitive. But there was also some fine work from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Because it had been such a full on day they decided to eat a proper meal in town before attempting the find the tram home which was still quite a walk away. They found a really reasonable 3 course meal in a little garden courtyard and had a good rest before walking back across the Charles Bridge and easily finding the tram back to Trojska.

I was quite a tired little kiwi after looking at all that art and all that walking. I did like looking at all the wooden puppets in the shops on the way back to the tram. You could have some fun puppet shows in Hemi with some of those guys. And the glass and crystal is all sparkling and pretty and there is so much of it. I am going to have a rest tomorrow and let one of the others go out for the day and see some of this stuff.

Dresden to Prague

Monday August 22

This morning Mary got woken up to a text at 6am. It was from Craig. He and Amy were in Palmerston North for the week and visiting Grandma who has Skype, so they wondered if she could come online. Luckily the Wifi reached me really well at this site so Mary switched the computer on and had a long chat to them. It was great to catch up and see Craig and Amy.

Today was a travelling day again but not a long journey was planned. Mary had sorted out a camp in Prague back in NZ before they left home and Alan had all the details so he set the Tom Tom to take them straight there. Well not quite straight there as they got the first turn onto the motorway wrong due to some confusing directions and tricky lane changes and ended up going the wrong way through three long tunnels for about 10k. Tom Tom lady kindly replanned the route and turned them around and got them in the right direction towards Prague. They had agreed to include a route that invovled pay roads but as it turned out that didn’t happen as there was a huge diversion with a large section of the motorway out of commission. They were taken on a country road along with all the many trucks. In one place a huge drain cover was missing and the police had narrowed the road down to one lane and were letting a few vehicles through each way at a time. They were lucky to be travelling in the direction of least traffic; the queue the other way went on for miles. They were taken through some lovely rural villages and got a first look of Bohemia. It was very attractive with traditional houses and churches up on the hills alongside a river.

Once on the outskirts of Prague, the Tom Tom again tried to take them up roads that had been changed to one way, so they had to override the instructions and get a new route which happened successfully. They finally found themselves not at one camp but at a whole street of camps in a suburban area. They saw the one they had the material about and drove in, took one look and backed out (with great difficulty). It looked untidy and poorly presented and with so many to choose from felt they could do better. So they drove into the next but one and it was really lovely. It is really the large backyard of someone’s house. There are only 15 places and it is set amongst trees, some of which are fruit trees. The facilities are of hotel standard because there is a guest house in the actual house as well. The woman seemed relieved when they spoke English. She spoke fluent English and showed them all around and where everything was. It is just the most beautiful setting. She was able to sell them tram tickets to get into town tomorrow as the trams are at the end of the street.

Having had such a busy few days, Mary and Alan got the awning out and the chairs and relaxed in the sun in the beautiful garden. The little guys had all got on well together on the trip so Mary played them episode of Sooty on the computer. Ber Lin was able to follow to it all easily even though his English isn’t very good yet. Pania is trying to teach him English with a few Maori phrases as well, but he gets all confused every time she says Ka Pai. He thinks she is talking to Ka Pai, but Patariki tells him it means he is doing really well. After Mary and Alan went out they turned me into a puppet theatre and did their own little show. I really am a multipurpose van it seems. I can be a vehicle, kitchen, lounge, bedroom, bathroom, tv room, games room, internet cafe, phonebox, and a puppet theatre!

Later in the afternoon Mary and Alan went for a walk in the local area and found the Troja Chateau just up the road. It is built in the style of a Classical Italian Villa. They went in and were able to take the guided tour at 5pm. Although the tour was all in Czech, there were translations in many languages in each room, all colour coded, that people could pick up and read. There were so many visitors from other countries that the guide seemed to be talking to herself at times.

It was the summer time palace of Count Vaclac Vojtech of Stemberk, one of the oldest Czech noble families. Every ceiling had been decorated with elaborate frescos; some to a higher standard than others. The highlight was the grand hall completely painted, walls and ceiling, and it is the finest example of a decorated hall in the Czech republic. There are also beautiful formal gardens laid out in French style. It was quite a bonus to have found something to see so close.

The walk home took them past the convenience store where they shopped for a few basics and then it was back to spend time outside in the cool of the evening. There is good Wifi here so Mary sat outside and caught up with all the news from NZ and the rest of the world.

Pania has a Quieter Day in Dresden

Monday August 23d
Today they spent a bit more time hanging out with me and round the campsite. There was washing that needed doing and Alan used me and a tree to make a very ingenious clothes line. It would have been fine if the instructions on the washing machine had been in English, but they weren’t and when Mary went back to review the progress she found that it hadn’t started. A few presses of the buttons later and it was away, but goodness knows what the wash programme was. However she did make sure it was on the coolest possible temperature so everything didn’t come out pink or muddy grey.

Then they finally took Pania off for a day in Dresden leaving me to mind the washing, although I wasn’t going to be able to do much if suddenly started raining again. I needn’t have worried, as when they returned just after 7pm it was all dry.

It was lunchtime by the time they got into town and there were people still dismantling the stall s and stages from the day before. It looked so different. Yesterday there had been stalls and umbrellas all over the huge squares, now the vastness of the squares was evident. Apparently during the Soviet days there were large parades through all these squares and they were enlarged to accommodate this. They are all cobbled which makes walkingon them difficult and the cars are very noisey.

They set out on the town walk with the guide they had bought at the Info centre. The first place they went into was the Frauenkirche (the protestant church) with a huge statue of Martin Luther outside the front. This had been bombed nearly to the ground in 1945 and had been an anti war monument after that. Through donations received from all around the world it was rebuilt in the early 1990s and reconsecrated in October 2005 It has been brought back to its original appearance inside and out. The Germans are very good at rebuilding their lost heritage in the same style as the original. There are a huge building programmes going on in Berlin and Dresden to replace things that were either bombed in the war or torn down during GDR days. There are cranes and workmen everywhere. There reproductions are so good that you really can’t tell, except for the fact that they are not blackened by pollution. The exteriors of the remaining old buildings are black and eaten away by the extreme effects of weather and pollution and could all do with a bit of Wet and Forget.

The walk took them over the river to a large square and along the Hauptstrasse with quite a nice shops, so Alan sat on a seat for a rest and Mary went shopping and came back with new winter boots. Further on up the street was the Dreilekongskirche. It has been reconstructed inside but they have encoporated what was left of the baroque altar after the night Dresden was bombed. They also have one of Dresden’s most significant surviving Renaissance monuments in the church, a 12.5 metre “Dresden Danse Macabre” created between 1534 and 1536 and originally located at the old Georgentor Gate of Dresden Castle.


It had started to rain, so they found a tram to take them back across the river to the main part of town. The tram actually took them over another bridge so they got a good view back up the river. Finding themselves by the main railway station where there was great shopping, Alan found a bar to have a quiet drink, while Mary checked out the shops.
They then set off to complete the rest of the town walk. The Church of the Holy Cross was described as a must see. This church had also been bombed nearly to the ground. Instead of rebuilding it in the same style they used the remaining parts and built up around and on top and created a very plain and undecorated church that contrasts with the ruins. The outside was rebuilt in the original style. It is quite unique inside and is also another one of the reconciliation churches with a cross of nails from Coventry Cathedral.

It was too late in the day to get a guided tour of the opera house but the exterior was magnificent. The final stop was the catholic Cathedral a unique combination of Roman and Baroque architecture. It has a magnificent Rococo pulpit and a modern Pieta of Dresden china in one of the chapels.

Finally they made a quick stop into the food market to get some supplies and then a nice easy tram/bus ride back to camp. It is one of the easiest transport systems they have had to negotiate so far and not a great way out of town. No wonder it is such a busy campsite.

From Berlin to Dresden

Sunday August 22

Travelling on a Sunday proved to be inspired once again. They packed me up and tidied everything away. The three little kiwis were joined by Ber Lin on the back seat. What a fuss that caused as they all wanted to sit next to him and only two of them could. Mary told them to sort it out or they could get and walk. That fixed the problem; they have agreed to take turns. Ka Pai is the reporter for today.

Ka Pai Finds His Way Into Dresden

It took only a little over two hours to get right to the campsite and find a spot, have lunch and head into town. At one stage the Tom Tom wanted to take them up a narrow one way street but Mary ignored the instructions and the route was successfully replanned. Alan was trying to insist she go up it, but she stood her ground and refused and it was just as well as it was one way coming down!

As museums tend to be closed on Mondays, they thought they had better try and make it to the Zwinger today. Normally they are able to get maps and directions from reception on how to get into town but as it was closed they walked out into the street boldly with little knowledge of where to go or what to catch. At the bus stop outside the camp were some very friendly people who told them to get on the next bus to get to the tram 11. Alan managed to buy a ticket off the bus driver that turned out to be an all day family ticket for €7 which seemed good value. The people on the bus got them off at the tram stop and onto the tram into town and then told them which stop to get off when they got there. Alan wrote down the names of all the stops and tram and bus numbers.

In town they managed to find the information centre and get a map and a town walk. The town was alive and festive. It was, as it turned out, the last day of their three day summer festival. There was entertainment of every kind everywhere, huge sound stages, food, drinks, and stalls with beautiful things for sale.

The priority was to get to the Zwinger, which was easy to find. The Zwinger is the most famous building in Dresden and survived the war. It is a beautiful Baroque structure and was built in the spce between the former town fortifications. It was built between 1709-32 and has a spacious courtyard once used to stage tournaments and festivals. The top attraction here is the very famous Dresden China Collection which they paid to see. It features numerous specimens of Chinese, Japanese and early Meissen porcelain, which are counted amongst the most significant in the world. It is the 300th anniversary of the Meissen Manufactory this year so they are celebrating it with various additional exhibitions. Of course there is plenty for sale as well. They gave the old masters a miss as they have seen so many of these and the street life looked like something to experience. And it certainly was. The quality of the main acts was superb, and doted around the streets were buskers of varying quality. Playing under a covered archway was a classical group of clarinet, violin and bassoon. They were so good that Mary decided to buy their CD.

It was exceptionally hot and the sudden downpour was an almost welcome relief from the heat. It took not time at ll to dry out and feel hot and sticky again. There were plenty of places to buy a cold beer and sit down so they found one and the man who served them, (all dressed up Bavarian costume) asked them where they were from. When they said NZ he called his daughter over as she had spent a year in Oz and had a trip to NZ while there. She spoke really good English (all the young ones do) and chatted away about time there.

When they were walking back to the tram they came across some paper recycling bins in the street with children’s art work on the sides so I decided that would be a good place to have my photo taken today. There are recycling sorting bins in the streets for everything and very little rubbish around even after such a huge event as they have had here over the last three days.

They managed to negotiate the public transport back to camp with little difficulty, although missed the connecting bus by seconds when they got off the tram and had to wait 15 mins for the next one. Back at the camp they booked in for two nights and also paid €1.50 for 8 hours internet. What a luxury and wifi right into the van. Mary caught up on all the NZ news off Stuff and listened to some radio as well. This could prove to be a real time waster!

They had not been in bed long when there was tremendous thunder storm with huge sheets of lightening. It has been so hot it is not surprising.

Patariki Has a Day Out in Postsden

Saturday August 21st

After lots of talk and mind changing, Alan discovered he had copied notes about Postden to bring and so after they read them they decided that they should take another day to look at the Sanssouci Park and Palace. So they packed me into the backpack and managed to catch the 9.12 bus which meant they were in Postden not long after 10am.

They caught the bus that took them nearest the park and get off in the right place which was not a bad effort. They decided to walk around the gardens before the heat of the day, but Mary suddenly realised that they were walking away from the actual palace and it might take a bit of getting back to. So they climbed back up all the steps and found a huge queue had formed for tickets. What was more, it seemed to be hardly moving. Alan stood in the queue while Mary went and looked at the prices. While there she saw a notice saying that because of the big summer event the park would be closing early. So at this stage they decided to buy a ticket to the one palace only, rather than a combined one than all the palaces in the park. There were a few and one would be struggling to see them all in a day anyway.

When Alan finally made it to the ticket seller there was one woman only selling tickets and they were all computer generated and it took ages for her to deal with each customer. Their tickets were timed for 12.25, so they bought an extra one to view the ladies rooms while they were waiting. These were a gorgeous set of rooms for the ladies in waiting of the court. They wanted money for everything, extra to view the kitchens, and money to take photos or videos. While not bothering about the kitchens, Alan did buy a photo ticket but this slowed him down as he was the only one allowed to use the cameras.

The wait was worth it. The ticket included a very informative audio tour and the palace was quite charming. It was the summer residence of Frederick the Great. He didn’t spare much on his holiday home. Most impressive was the music room which had a gold spider web on the ceiling with three gold spiders in it. After viewing the palace there was not a lot of time left until the grounds closed so they shortened the walk and went to the Chinesisches Haus (Chinese tea house). It was lavishly decorated with gold all over the exterior. By this time they were quite thirsty and hungry and so they found the old Drachenhaus which had been built in 1770 as house for the gardener. It is now a restaurant. It was a very hot day so Mary finally got to have one of the huge icecream sundaes she had been wanting to try.

There was a bus stop at the bottom of the steps and so they consulted the timetable and it all looked good until a man came over and told them that the road was closed for the event and they would have to walk to the next one. They finally got a bus back into the railway station along with lots of other tourists speaking a great variety of languages.
It was one of the hottest days they have experienced on the trip so far and one way of cooling down on a day like this is to go on a boat cruise. So they found the 25% discount voucher and went and took a 1 ½ hour cruise on the waterways around Postdem. Every kind of boat you could think of was out on the water and the basin where they all turned around and tied up was a traffic jam. There were some pretty nice looking cruisers and yachts about, and some people in kayaks and pedal boats. There was even a pedal boat in the shape of a swan. By the time they got off the boat it was 6pm so they went back to the supermarket in the station to get cold meat and salad for tea. There was quite a long wait for the bus in Wasser and they finally got back to the camp at about 8pm. It was still a very warm evening so they sat out quite late as Hemi was very hot after being shut up all day.

Tomorrow they are planning a travelling day to Dresden and Mary got online and found the campsite so it is all programmed into the TomTom for the morning. Hopefully being a Sunday there will be less trucks on the road to contend with.

Pania Goes to Potsdam

Friday August 20th

Having realised that they were so close to Potsdam, it seemed silly not to visit this city as well, so they decided to stay an extra day and go there today. In hindsight they should have bought the 5 day travel card that included Potsdam as well; hindsight is a wonderful thing. The whole transport thing had proved something of a nightmare as the AB travel card they had bought got them to Wansee station but apparently the campsite was in Zone C. Completely oblivious of this they managed to do the whole journey for 2 days, but on the 3rd ran up against Hitler’s 3rd cousin twice removed who spoke little or no English and they had to buy a bus ticket to the station. There was no intention to rip the system off, just an honest mistake. Yesterday they tried to buy a ticket right through to Potsdam on the bus at the camp but that was a lost cause as well. So having bought another single ticket they decided to buy a 2 day travel card and have either two days at Potsdam or perhaps one there and another in Berlin.
They arrived at the big vibrant railway station and went and bought the travel card and the new discount book that came with it. The local buses and trams go from out the South and the Tourist buses go from the North; they went out the South. So finally realising this they went right back through the station and found the Tours. There were at least 6 to choose from, but they chose the City Tour with a hop on hop off for 24 hour ticket. They then literally had to compete for a place on a crowded bus that everyone was fighting to get upstairs on. Mary said let’s just sit downstairs, and then walked through the bus and up the back stairs to a perfect spot while everyone was fighting their way up the front stairs. Once again the guide spoke in a mixture of German and English and you had to listen very carefully to pick up the English. However he was very amusing and started every sentence with, and by the way, which was good as it was an indication that he gone back into English.

They had intended to stay on for one complete circuit, but having joined the tour part way through it stopped for half an hour at Luisenplatz. Here the whole square had been turned into a cafe set up by a Jacobs who sell home espresso machines. There were stations where you could make your own free coffee with the help of an assistant. They were also giving away free product and promotional material. It was huge and there were green plastic couches and tables everywhere. Of course they took advantage of a free coffee each. The sample did not impress them enough to consider a purchase. It was a gorgeous day and the shopping street leading up to a church looked very inviting so they decided not to return to the bus straight away and investigate the town.

The walking area of the street was charming with tables and umbrellas out in front of the cafes and lovely little shops with beautiful window displays. The whole place was compact and lively. They bought takeaway food from a bakery to eat on the run and finally made it up to the church where there was a market so they bought fruit as well. A quick look inside the Catholic Church was followed by a look around the Dutch quarter. The Dutch originally settled here to build canals, many of which have been filled in to provide parking. However it is an area with a lot of water as they saw on the tour. One of the stops was at the Gleincker bridge, the place where the transfer of spies from East and West Germany used to take place. The wall extended right out to here and Berlin starts on the other side of this bridge.

Another fascinating part of the tour took us through the Russian Forbidden City. Here they had their own fortified city with their own wall built. The KGB had its headquarters here and there are huge palatial houses for all the hierarchy, quite a contrast from the drab slab flats that were built to house the people. There were also barracks built to house all the border guards that they brought over from Russia. Further along are also some lovely traditional Russian houses in this area as well.
The tour took them near Schloss Cecilienhof but they didn’t get off. So once they had completed the tour and were back at the railway they decided to try to catch a tram back to that point as the City Circle bus would have been too slow as it literally goes all around the houses. They jumped on a 92 tram but were unsure where to get off. Mary saw a sign pointing in the right direction, but by this time they were past the stop. Suddenly the tram speed up and they were heading out of civilization, so they quickly got off, crossed the road and caught the next one heading back in the other direction. It was nearly a 2km walk alongside a lovely river, from the official gates through the grounds to reach the Palace.

This was the last Hohenzollen royal residence built in 1913-17 in an English manor house style for Crown Prince William and his wife Cecilie. It is famous as the site of the Potsdam Conference venue in 1945. The audio guide tour was excellent and they got to see the room where the conference was held, set up just as it was then. It was well worth the long walk in and out again. It was easy enough to find the way back to the bus stop and catch a bus back to the station.

Tomorrow they can either go back to Potsdam or into Berlin for one last look. Postsdam is having a summer event in the park in the park tomorrow and they are expecting 35,000 to descend on the place; Berlin might win.

An Interloper Joins the Tour

Thursday August 19th
The little kiwis had all had a day in Berlin so they decided to stay back and keep me company on the canal bank today. What a fuss when Mary turned up with a “new friend”. They were not sure that there was room on the back seat for another traveller. But they have got used to the idea and have welcomed Ber Lin into the family. There are bears everywhere in Berlin and Mary had been planning to buy one for days to join all the others on the couch in the passage at home.

Having read all the tourist guides carefully, today we wanted to pick up on the remaining few things we wanted to see on our last day in Berlin. One of these was the 1930s Art Deco Department store. We went in and it was more like an early shopping mall with individual shops but it had real class and was certainly an excellent example of Art Deco. It had sweeping marble staircases with wrought iron and beautiful black and white marble tiles.

We walked on down to Gendarmenmarkt, reputedly Europe’s’ most attractive square with the lovely concert hall, (Konzerthaus), which we were able to view through a glass door but not actually go into. It is the home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. On either side stand the twin churches of the German and French cathedrals both now used as museums.
We carried on down to Checkpoint Charlie. In the street on large boards, is the whole story of the building of the wall and it traces the Cold War era. It is exceptionally well laid out and displayed and there were people everywhere just standing and reading it. There is a replica booth in the street with actors in uniforms as well. It took us nearly an hour to read all the boards that cover both sides of nearly a block. We decided there was no need to pay money to go into the actual museum as the public display was so extensive. Instead I bought a book and DVD about the wall.

From there we walked on to the Topographie of Terrors which is also a free exhibition in the street but it was all closed off. It looks as if it is brand new and not officially opened as yet. You could see it but you couldn’t get up close to read the writing and look at the photos. It is right alongside the only remaining sections of the wall left in the city. In 1943 the Nazi institutions were based here. After the war they were razed, except for the cellars where the prisoners were tortured. These are still visable from the street.

While looking for lunch we found ourselves back by the memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe. So we grabbed a quick bite off a street seller and went to the information Centre which had been closed on Monday. Underneath the actual field of 2,711 concrete stelae is an extensive exhibition surveying the Nazi’s extermination policy between 1933 and 1945. We bought the audio tour; general admission was free. There are several rooms. The room of dimensions has actual written personal accounts by Jewish people. The room of families was the most interesting. It traces the fates of fifteen Jewish families in different parts of Europe. In the room of names they are constantly playing a tape of names and short biographies of some of the Jews. The room of sites documents the geographic spread of the genocide.

There were large numbers of people visiting this site but it was the one of the quietest places we have been in. It was also one of the best presented exhibitions we have seen. One of the most impressive things about Berlin and the Germans is how they have presented their history in such an unbiased way and tell it as it really was. It has taken a remarkably short time to get the city looking vibrant and tourist friendly. There must be more museums and memorials here than anywhere else in Europe. There is so much around the streets on boards and all in English and German. Even in four days we know we will have missed some of it.

On the way home we took a photo of a huge house right next to the camp. It has enormous grounds all gated and with an electronic keypad at the gate. On the porch in full view of the road is a mannequin of a policeman about to draw his gun. Two dog barks constantly and run at the fence when anyone comes near. There never seems to be actual people around. However over the road is a derelict house that has become a ruin and this is their outlook. We photographed them both, because it just goes to show that you can be as grand as you like but you can’t choose your neighbours!

Patariki Has a Wet Day in Berlin

Wednesday August 18th

Woke up to rain today and not too warm at all. Luckily I have my zip up rugby ball to climb into on days like this. We caught the bus and train into town and headed for the DDR museum which was an interactive museum about everyday life under a socialist dictatorship. It really showed how life had been for the people living in East Berlin and East Germany for 40 years. There were drawers to pull out and cupboards to open and everything was in English as well as German. Because it was raining it was crowded with people. I got my photo taken on a Trabbi which was the only choice of car most of the East Germans had and they sometimes had to wait up to 10 years to get one.

After lunch, Mary and Alan visited the Berliner Dom, (Berlin Cathedral). This is the largest and most lavish church in the city and was reopened in 1993 after 40 years restoration to fix the war damage. Although there has been a church on this site since 1747, this one was originally finished in 1905 after many years of planning and decision making over what style of church they would build.
After this they ended up going on a long walk to look at the only part of the city that is left to give an idea of how it would have looked in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is a picturesque scene on the River Spree promenade and although it took a bit of finding it did look good with the bridges and boats tied up alongside.

They had decided to visit an outlying museum on the way home and it all seemed easy from where they were. When they got off the train they walked into the area of Schoneburg and found the street that the book said the Jugend Museum was located in. After walking in one direction for about 5 minutes they realised the numbers were getting bigger, so they retraced their steps in the other direction. Very few buildings had any sort of number. After about 10 minutes walking they picked up some numbers and found they were going up in ones not twos. So they decided to check the other side of the road, which was several lanes of traffic across, only to discover that they number up one side of the street and loop around and down the other. So they ended up walking right back beyond the other the side of where they had started out. So they now had to walk all the way back in the direction they had come from. This would have been fine had it not started to rain really heavily. By the time they reached the Jugend museum they were soaked.

They were able to get into the dry and hang up their jackets and umbrellas and put their backpacks into a locker before starting to look at the exhibits. The main exhibit was called Berlin Half and Half. It traced the story of Berlin from the time the wall went up until it fell. They were provided with a translation of all the main panels in English and it was really worth making the effort to get to as it was beautifully presented and easy to follow. When they had finished looking at that one they were offered translations of the exhibitions on the floor above and in the basement. The one on the floor above was fascinating. They had a created a series of rooms and inside each they told the story of a real person living in the district is Schonburg who was an immigrant from another culture. It was called Global Village. The last one was the enchanted rooms. Primarily for children it contained a series of themed booths containing things from the past exhibited in a bright lively way. There was a huge hands on area and lots of dressing up clothes. If it wasn’t behind glass it could be touched.

The whole museum was an educational centre for children to learn of their own history but wonderful for adults as well. They were pleased they didn’t give up trying to find it which would have been easy to do.
It was quite a walk back to the station but it had a Lidl store so they were able to stock up on food. Negotiating which way to go on the circle line was interesting, but they got on the train going in the right direction and finally got the pink line back to the bus stop.

Ka Pai Visits a Nuclear Bunker

Tuesday 17th August

Today was the first day of the three day Berlin Card so they made sure they were on the bus before 10am along with lots of other campers. The bus to the station nearly filled up completely at the camp stop. Once on the train they worked out the changes needed to get to The Berlin Story Exhibition. They had decided that this would be a good place to start as it would give the history and the whole overview of Berlin. The multimedia presentation was in the form of a tour across the 800 years of the city’s history. It was a very full and extensive exhibition with all the information and video in English as well as German.

Included in the ticket was a guided tour to an original Cold War fallout shelter. Early in the 1970s a huge shopping complex had been built on the Kurferstendamn Boulevard. The Western Berlin Government had paid the owner to convert the bottom floor of the car park underneath, into one of several nuclear shelters under the city. There was room for 4000 people in this particular bunker. Inside were beds made of similar materials to a mini trampoline. There were airlock doors and a decontamination shower in the first compartment. There were limited toilet, kitchen, and medical facilities. Apparently you would have been able to live down there for two weeks after a nuclear explosion, but then you would have had to come out, as they were only able to store enough food for two weeks. It is unlikely the people would have survived once returning to the surface. There were not enough places for everyone in the city and it would have been on a first come first in basis. There were no lists or privileges. Apparently there had been a sign in the street, but they kept getting stolen. Part of the bunker has now been turned into a function centre. It would have cost a lot of money to build and maintain, but apparently the government felt that it needed to do something during the time of nuclear threat.

The tour took place part way through their visit in the main museum, so they needed to get their tickets recharged to go and finish looking at it. It turned out to be a three hour visit. They were quite hungry by the time they got out, so grabbed a quick bite to eat.
After lunch they went to visit the Emperor Wilhelm memorial church. The church was destroyed during severe bombing by the British in 1943. The ruins of the tower were left standing as a memorial. Inside is a cross is a cross of nails from the roof beams of Coventry Cathedral in England. It was bombed by the Germans in 1940. Mary and Alan have seen the cross of nails at Coventry and also the chapel of reconciliation there.
The new church that has been built on the site looks plain on the outside, but is breathtaking inside. Built between 1957-63, it is octagonal shape and the walls are completely made of reinforced concrete set with small blue glass squares to form a dense grid. Although the main colour in the glass is blue there are other colours introduced in patches. The glass has also been chipped on the exterior in places to create more light diffusion. There is minimum decoration in the church, it is all about the glass. Apparently when Egon Eierman came up with his plans for the new church it was so radical he had difficulty convincing people to accept his idea.

Being in the area, they took a short walk to look at KaDeWe. Kaufthaus des Westerns, (The west’s department store) is Europe’s largest department store where you can buy everything. The main attraction is the gourmet’s paradise with the largest collection of foodstuffs from around the world. It is very like Harrods, but probably not as expensive.

An afternoon tea break and free wifi at Hagen Daas finished the day. The trip back on the train was a real crush. People are allowed to take their bikes into designated carriages, and they are huge bikes. When they get to the station everyone has to move and shuffle about to let them off. It was ages before they could get a seat to sit down. It was quite a wait for the connecting bus which again filled up almost completely with people going back to the camp.

Pania Finds Her Way Around Berlin

Monday 16 August

When we all woke up it was raining and it didn’t look good for a day out, but by 10am the rain had cleared so I got whisked into the backpack and they set off to walk to the bus stop. It was only about a 10 minute walk and they got there in plenty of time. The bus went back along the motorway to the little village called Wasser where they had first arrived yesterday. This was on the train line right into Berlin. They bought what they thought was the right ticket for whole journey, from the bus driver, which later in the day turned out not to be.

Once in town they got out at Friedrichstrasser and walked in the direction of Unter Den Linden which is the historic part of what used to be East Berlin. Not far along they were approached by a girl selling tickets for a2hour tourist bus and decided it would be a good idea to get an idea of where everything was in the city. The commentary was in German and English. The man spoke really fast in both languages and never drew breath in between, so they had to listen really carefully. Using the map they were able to work out where things were and where best to go over the next few days. Being Monday most of the museums and galleries were closed.

After the bus trip they walked down to the Brandenburg gate and found the information centre. There they bought a 3 day Berlin Welcome card which they will start using tomorrow for all their transport around the city. It comes with an excellent guide book, maps and discounts so they will have time to study it and look carefully at what order to do things in.

The Brandenburg Gate is the quintessential symbol of Berlin. It was restored in 2002. It stood in East Berlin before the fall of the wall. It is now a very happening place leading onto a big square full of entertainers and tourists. From there they took me over to play in what has become a children’s playground. It is really a memorial for the Jews killed by the Nazis in 1933 -45. Known as Holocaust-Denkmal, it covers 19sq metres and is a series of large concrete slabs set a various heights symbolizing the millions of murdered Jews. The ground is not even and curves up and down and you can walk all through it like a maze. Kids were playing in it everywhere, and of course the big boys were leaping from stone to stone, which you are supposed not to do, but it was harmless fun. The stones were set too far apart for me to leap across and not being able to fly I had to just play hide and seek around the corners.

A walk towards Postdamer Platz followed, and there was also an exhibition in the street with old sections of the wall mounted. In the Roaring twenties it had been one of Europe’s busiest plaza and the centre of Berlin’s nightlife. During the war it was almost destroyed completely during the final battle for Berlin. It became a vast open space in the shadow of the wall, where Eastern tourists , standing on high observations towers could peek over the wall. Since the wall came down, it has been developed into a busy business and leisure hub. The Sony Centre is a huge domed glass and steel structure which houses eight cinemas, many restaurants, and Sony’s Europe headquarters. Most of the movies were advertised as original version showing in English.

By the wall exhibition was a young man dressed as a border card for the old Checkpoint Charlie. For €2.50 Mary got her passport stamped with all the possible seven stamps you could have got if you had been travelling through the wall between 1961 and 1989. There are information boards in German and English everywhere in the streets documenting the history of the wall and reunification. There are still fragments of the wall for sale in all the tourist shops in various forms as well.

It was getting late so it was time to make the journey back to camp. Unfortunately the ticket machine didn’t really have good English instructions, so they ended up having to queue to see a real person to buy a ticket. They produced the one way ticket they had bought in the morning and asked for reverse of this only to find that the one for the morning was only for about 6 bus stops in the suburbs, so it cost a bit more to get back on the train. The three day card they will start using tomorrow is excellent value but has a time limit so they have not put it in machine to validate it yet.

I Get My Photo Taken!

Sunday August 15th
Today we got up early enough to visit a nunnery in Wienhausen not far from where we were staying. The Tom Tom took us there but when we arrived it was closed. We are not sure if we were too early or it didn’t open on a Sunday. We decided not to wait around to see if it would open later. Mary thought that being Sunday there might not be so many trucks on the road, and she was right. There were trucks parked up everywhere in all the laybys with curtains drawn; the truckies were obviously sleeping or waiting to start out later in the day. It was bliss driving on a truck free road. They were heading for Berlin.

Travelling through the villages towards the motorway she got a bit over confident and I got my photo taken with a lovely red flash. I wonder if Mo will have a letter waiting for her when she gets back. It is most annoying as she never drives me at much more than 50 mph, but the villages all have little short bits of 70kph. Alan usually monitors the Tom Tom which tells you what speed you should be doing and what speed you are doing, but on this occasion he was admiring a lovely field of sunflowers! They were heading for the outskirts of Berlin and had programmed in a little village which showed a campsite nearby. Once they were off the motorway they asked the Tom Tom to find Campingplatz and the one they were hoping for came up. They had to get back onto the motorway as they had come off one too soon, but it was all very easy to find.
The office was closed so they just found a park and waited.

A Korean man came and asked them about finding a campsite nearer to Berlin and they told him, this is it. He thought one hour to travel in was a lot. The web address is actually called www.city-camping-berlin.de so it is unlikely there is anything as well positioned as this. They assured him that he wouldn’t want to be any closer in. There is a bus that takes you to the train which will be very easy. There is a bit of a walk to the bus.

The young woman in reception spoke really good English and was able to explain where to go and which line took you into town. She had been to Auckland when she was working on the QE2.

This campsite has a Hotel attached and it has WiFi! It is only €1 an hour, so Mary spent an hour getting all the blog posted and up to date. There was a nice bar to sit in and have a drink at the same time.

I am parked on the banks of a canal (Teltowkanal). Here I can watch the barges carrying freight and the pleasure craft drifting by. I could be here a few days as they have booked for four nights to start with and may stay longer if they really like Berlin.
There was a big thunderstorm last night and quite a bit of rain. They had the good sense to put my awning on a lean so that it doesn’t fill up with water.

Today it is Alan’s birthday and it is the 8th time he has spent his birthday outside of NZ. They were going to eat out, but on checking the menu at the outdoor restaurant, they decided that Chez Hemi would be able to serve better food and they would have a better meal in Berlin later in the week. With all the diaries up to date, all the video transferred, photos named and everything saved to external hard drives they were able to have a night off and watch a movie off the entertainment drive; singing in the Rain, what a classic and so ahead of its time.

Patariki Visits Celle

Saturday August 14th

Today was an easy drive a few kilometres to a place called Celle. The traffic was light on the road being Saturday. It was so pleasant driving along without so many trucks and only a few cars. We arrived in the little town of Celle. It was lovely and well worth staying for a while. A lot of the parking had height restrictions but we finally found a really suitable little park where you were able to stay for 2 hours. So they left me under the leafy trees and took Patariki for a walk.

Our first stop was the Lutheran church Satdtkirche Sankt Marine. It was originally consecrated in 1308. It has art work dating from 1495. Most striking were the paintings along the gallery showing scenes from the new testament that could be read as a pictorial bible, Often these stories are in stain class windows, but in this church they were a continuous frieze, like pages of a comic book . The whole church is richly decorated with stone carvings. While they were there, three guided tour groups arrived.
They then went and visited the Ducal Palace which is now a museum. It was built in 1292 and has links with George 1 of Great Britain as he was descended from the royal family that resided there. There were beautiful wooden parquet floors in the royal apartments and you had to put slippers over your shoes. These were impossible to walk in so you had to skate around the rooms. It would have kept the floors polished.

The 2hour parking had run out so they found their way back to Hemi and made lunch before paying for another 2 hours and setting out on the town walk. There are over 500 lovingly restored half timbered listed houses in the compact town centre. They are nearly all pretty little shops and the whole town has a lovely atmosphere. The shops were gorgeous with beautiful things in them. Mary bought two pairs of shoes! I had my photos taken by the talking lamps which was a modern art installation.

They then went into the Information Centre to ask about camp sites and were given directions to Silbersee. It is on a lake that you are able to swim on at your own risk. It is a nice place where you can park where you like under the trees.

Pania Spends a Day in Hanover

Friday August 13th

Today it was an earlier start than usual and I was bundled into the backpack and we all set out just after 9am. Mary and Alan walked in the direction that they had been told to go and followed another couple of walkers to the bus stop. When they got there they asked them for help and fortunately one of them spoke really good English. She was married to a Pakistani and English was their common means of communication. She explained how to buy a 24 hour ticket for 2 people that would cover all transport for the day. When the bus arrived she said she would do the talking for them and so it was all very easy. She also told them where to get off and catch the tram right into the centre of town. It was a lucky break as they had no idea how or what tickets to buy.
On the way to town Mary saw lots of ads for a circus with “All you need is laugh” written on them. She wondered if the Germans really think that was what the Beatles were saying, or perhaps they were being really clever. (Laugh is all you need.) There is English creeping into advertising everywhere, and it is noticeable in the shops. Today Mary saw a big sign in English in a shop, Back to School.

The Germans, (well the ones in Hanover) don’t seem to be in love with technology like the English and French. They are not walking down the streets with their mobile phones to same extent. But probably 50% of them are smoking. Cigarettes are really cheap and you can buy them from vending machines in the street. There are cigarette butts everywhere and places to stub them out on every rubbish tin.

The tram ride eventually went into an underground system but it was easy to get off at the right station and follow the labyrinth under the ground to emerge in the correct part of town. There was a town walk marked on the map and there was a red line to follow on the pavement so it was all very easy.

On the way around they went to the Information Centre to inquire about Wifi hot spots. They said McDonalds and World Coffee had them but they hadn’t been working lately. So they tried McDonalds, but you had to register with T mobile and have a German address and Phone number so that was no good, Next stop World coffee. The network came up but you had to ask for a user name and password at the counter and they had none. So no Wifi in Hanover.

They continued the walk and saw interesting places, but Mary was still hankering for an internet connection so they went back to the info centre and asked again and told about an internet cafe. They finally tracked it down, but it was an old fashioned one with no wifi and horrible keyboards with all the characters in the wrong places. Hopeless for blog publishing, but got emails to key family members to let them know where they were and that they were okay.

Having seen all they wanted to see in the city area they caught the tram back half way to look at The Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen. This was the summer residence of the Royal House of Hanover, but it was destroyed in WW2; a reconstruction is planned in the near future. The “Great Garden” is almost unchanged since it was laid out between 1696 and 1714. It is laid out in the English landscape style and is huge. A fascinating modern addition is the interior of the Grotto which is a walk in a work of art . The Grotto was actually built in the garden in 1675. Between 2001 and 2003 it was given a new interior by artist Niki de Saint Phalle. The rooms contain mosaics of coloured glass and mirrors and pebbles and many painted figures on the theme of “The Life of Man and Woman”. It was quite spectacular and I got my photo taken in there. The ticket included entrance to another garden across the road as well that included quite a few glass houses.

Weary legs caused the travellers to make their way back to the tram stop and head for the camp, as after the bus ride there was still over a 1km walk ahead. A quick bite to eat and then off to bed to read The Guardian they had managed to find at a newspaper stall in town.