Some great days just happen!! Berlin on Wednesday!

Today was a little cooler but we awoke refreshed and ready to go after a longer than usual sleep! On Ben's advice we headed for the Jewish Museum which is an amazing piece of architecture as well as an extremely well-presented museum which gives a very detailed account of the Jewish faith and the, generally depressing, experience of Jews over the centuries.

The building itself is a real experience with some sloping floors, unusual "voids" (to indicate the absence of so much Jewish "presence" in today's Berlin - due to the terrible killings and repression) and a staircase which leads nowhere! The content of the museum is extraordinary - we are talking serious money here! - with interactive displays and with very detailed stories of individuals and significant points in Jewish history ... after the tour in Prague we are experts!!

We were there  most of the day and talked long about it afterwards .... a significant point of interest was the large number of school groups and the short section, at the end, which reflected on the average German's awareness of or interest in the Holocaust. There wasn't anything about Gaza!

As it had rained heavily while we were in the museum, we headed home (this transport system is terrific and you simply wouldn't be without a weekly ticket!!) to get the umbrellas and some warmer clothes. Todd was busy tonight so, refreshed by an ale, we investigated the "Berlin Wall Self-Guided Tour" on the aforementioned TripAdvisor App. We had realised that it started in easy walking  distance of us so began another very interesting trail.

The section near us is one of the main "museum" sections of the wall and we were able to spend over an hour in a fairly small area reading the excellent displays and getting the picture. As the rain moved in we followed the tour to the canal and sought shelter, sustenance and a 'loo around Haputbanhof (the main train station). Lo and behold there was this huge tent outside from which issued music. Attracted, we found ourselves in a cheezy, pop-up "Oktoberfest" beer promotion. There was lots of leiderhosen, some dancing, a large disco ball, food and beer! It was reasonably quiet but still fun and we danced a little!

Refreshed and invigorated, we wandered along the canal around the Reichstag and Chancellery areas along the river.

This is a very modern part of the city with wonderfully designed buildings and a light show. With everything glistening after the rain is was very impressive and quite spectacular. A short way further we came out onto Unter den Linden and the hugely impressive Brandenburg Gate, it all its floodlit glory! Again there was much to read and absorb but perhaps the strongest realization was that all of this had been within the East for so many years - it is difficult to contemplate!!

Home on the "U" to fall into bed and sleep the sleep of the justifiably tired!! A top day!!

Travelling to Berlin - Berlin days 1 and 2

The travel day on Monday from Prague to Berlin went smoothly and was much more comfortable that the previous rail journey. The trip takes about 4.5 hours but it passed easily and we arrived comfortably at Berlin Central. On the advice of our landlord, we took a taxi which turned out to be a good idea! This flat is in Mitte, part of the old East Berlin, so we have had to walk up more stairs that ever so far - but then it is only a  landing and a half!! The flat is not as good as some others but is humungous and we have pleanty of room to spread out. It is in a good area (there seems to be so many of these in Berlin!!) and we are quite happy!

We contacted Todd and arranged to meet him in Hermannplatz for a beer and dinner, so after quickly learning to navigate the basics of the Berlin Transport system (which is pretty amazing!), and a few moments of panic when we thought that we had stuffed up our Opera dates here too (we hadn't!!) we found ourselves lounging on the window of a grungy McDonalds watching Todd appear from the crowd. Todd seems very well and is living the life of the committed musician, learning classical flamenco guitar, from a guru here in Berlin. Todd kows where to eat and drink so we had a really lovely night with him before Metroing it home and collapsing into bed!! Berlin has a real buzz!

On our first full day, following the advice of a number of pundits, we took the S-bahn (aka above ground rail) from Alexanderplatz to the Zoo station, then sat up the to of the 200 bus while it wound its way back across the city. This was a great thing to do as it gave us, from two different perspectives, a really good idea of the layout of the city. We had discovered Trip Advisor's downlondable app of Berlin (it works off-line) it is really amazing, So, Mick kept up the commentary using this App and his paper map - we know where everything is now ... we just need the time and energy to visit it all!!

We actually stayed on the 200 until its terminus out in the boondocks, went for a longish walk through a park (looking over the fences of a large number of "Allotment gardens"),

had a nice lunch in a cafe where the host's English was on a par with our German (we were happy with our guesses!),

negotiated a significant "service interruption" on Trams successfully and found ourselves back at Hackscher Markt to follow an "Urban Graffiti" self-guided walking tour from Trip Advisor when we bumped into Todd who was busking there!!!

After chatting for a while, we followed the tour (it was really very good indeed ... we must volunteer a few for them for Sydney!!). After a beer by the river, near Museum Island, we realised how weary we actually were so we trammed it home, bought some groceries at the local supermarket, cooked our own tea (an extreme rarity on this trip!!), spent some time on our "electronic devices" and fell into bed!! This is some city!!!

Sunday - Our last day in Prague.

We had a very easy Sunday morning with the chruch bells of Prague chiming away around us! Elaine had a bit of a headache and, after discovering that Nanny had been carted off to hospital back in Australia, we took advantage of having the internet on tap again to ring a number of people back in Aus. Being Sunday evening back there we got most of them and enjoyed our chat while catching up on Mum's condition.

Around midday, guided by the internet and the young concierge, we tracked down a purveyor of genuine Czech garnets - one has to be wary of those cheap Nigerian imitations!! - so that Elaine could buy a ring. The shop was near the "Museum of Communism" which was on our list of things to see so we went there next.

This is a simple museum with a range of old artefacts from the various eras but the photographic displays (with descriptions in many languages) were excellent. Arranged in the sequence -Background; The Dream; The Reality (lots of subsections here); The Prague Spring; The Velvet Revolution; Post Communism it really gave us the chance to answer many of the questions that had arisen in our minds about Communism both here, in Prague, and in Budapest. Actually having the chance to understand how Communism seemed the best choice for people in these countries after WW2 and how the reality was so different from the dream was very good for us as was remembering clearly the events of 1968 and 1988 and putting the events and people into sequence. We thoroughly appreciated this museum and we most glad that we went there!

On the way to a recommended restaurant/bar for an early tea - anticipating a quiet night - we happened to wander past the National Theatre Area and discovered that there are several Opera Theatres in Prague and that there is at least one opera on every night!! The tickets are also only around $60 each for excellent seats so we bought tickets for "Don Giovanni" which started at 7.

Changing direction we had a quick meal, home for a shower and change, walked the short few blocks to the "Estates Theatre" where we thoroughly enjoyed and excellent performance. This theatre was a little smaller that the State Opera the previous evening but still had all the loggia boxes on the many levels - we were in the "Stalls" in the main hall area this time. It was a somewhat modern staging (for a brief moment during the overture we thought we had come to a ballet!) but was very well done and, of course, the music was divine!!

An amble home through the quietning streets with an ice cream and a "Prague special rolled doughnut thingy", including a peck on the cheek in the full moonlight on the Charles Bridge, before home to bed!!! Paris will have to lift its game!!! 

The shortest possible "travel day", washing, an appalling concert and a near disaster!!!

Saturday in Prague was the shortest possible travel day as we bade farewell to Scenic Tours and moved from the Marriott to our little AirBnB flat in Liliova (about 100 m from the Charles bridge and unbelievably central!). After a leisurely start and a conveniently late Marriott breakfast, we packed and intended to walk when Martina, the Tour Director, told us that we were welcome to catch a lift with another couple who had a transfer to another inner-city hotel - this would cut our small journey in half!! So after doing the complete tourist thing and dragging our bags through the Old Town Square and along Karlova we arrived at a truly lovely apartment - very modern, Ikea chic and with a great washing machine with a short cycle!!

Domestic chores and the stringing of temporary clotheslines behind us we headed to the Klementium, a large collection of buildings - formerly a Jesuit College several centuries ago - for a tour and a concert which we had booked from Australia. The tour was OK - it included a climb up a rather tall tower but the views across the city were well worth it - but the concert was very, very ordinary!! It was an hour of a chamber group with organ. They trotted out all the usual traveller's delights but it was not very good at all!! Ah well! You can't win them all - that was our first dud!!!

Needing a beer we walked home - all of 80 metres! - took off some of our glad rags, and decamped to a recommended pub across the Charles Bridge in Mala Strana.

While we were attempting to read the menu Mick using the Calendar app for illumination, saw "Turandot" on today's date. Horrified we realised that we had mixed up the dates for our dud concert and the Opera which had already started!!!!!!! (See, not even the most organized are beyond making a mistake!) We bolted across the Charles Bridge to home for the tickets, snaffled a taxi (who must have thought if was Christmas as we are sure we overpaid him significantly in our haste) and made it just as they went in after Interval!!! Having "bumped" the young couple who had been enjoying our front loggia seats for the first half we breathlessly sat down and went straight into "Nessun Dorma"!!!! Aaaaahhhh!

Certainly we felt foolish, annoyed with ourselves and a trifle agitated but to be in such real quality again so quickly (especially after the "dud") was soothing for the anxious soul. The music was lovely, the singing very, very good, the theatre amazing and the whole experience, albeit foreshortened, was great. Wandering out with the other concertgoers, we walked through Wenceslas Square - sort of like Kings Cross on a Saturday night - had a tourist beer (it had been a rather hot day as well) and watched the crowds before heading home! At least we now have our last night in Prague free tomorrow night and the moon will be full ...........

A lovely warm Friday in Prague.

After our early start yesterday and our late finish we both took the chance to catch up on some sleep! Thankfully the Marriott serves breakfast until 11 ... how civilized!! Mick was up around 8:30 plotting and planning to protect us from all possible future dangers and Elaine enjoyed a significant lie in. After breakfast we chatted with Martina who booked us onto a tour of the Jewish area in the afternoon and sorted a few other things for us. Elaine headed back upstairs to read the SMH on the iPad and catch up on the news of the world and home and Mick found his way to the larger railway station to buy our tickets for the next leg to Berlin for Monday.

After a beer and sausage lunch ("Czech tradition" grinned the vendor to Mick) we found our way, via the really swanky shops in Parizska St. to the meeting with Matthew, a young local Jewish man, an a small group of retired American Jews. They were surprised and pleased to find a couple of Gentiles who would be interested enough to spend three hours finding out about the history of the Jews in Prague, we were surprised at their reaction and felt, if anything, it was a simple manifestation of the insularity of the average American - we muttered something about reading books and education, but felt most welcome (Mick kept nudging Elaine saying : "Don't mention Gaza!").

Matthew was very knowledgeable and pleasant (reminding us of a combination of our Matt and Ben, in a nice sort of way!) and we were immersed into the generally tragic history, the Synagogues, the significant people, the very few buildings which remain, the memorials, photographs and artefacts. It was an extremely "dense" tour in that it really only covered part of one decent city block and yet we enjoyed it very much. I don't know that we will ever truly appreciate the experience of these people but we were very glad that we took the time. Among the memorials, perhaps the most poignant for us, was the display of the children's drawings from Terezin camp which was the staging camp just outside Prague. It made us so very conscious of the children in detention on Manus Island and other places under our present regime back home. Quite chilling!

The day was very warm and sunny - defiinitely a sunscreen and hats day!! - so we repaired for a tourist beer in the front eople-viewing row of the Old Town Square before home for a shower, change and out (on the trams for a change this time!) to a "night spot" called the "Jazz Dock" which is on the river and highly recommended among the hipsters on TripAdvisor etc.

As recommended, we were there early for music that started at 10 pm and we enjoyed an outside table next to the river and a simple, but very adequate and dumpling-free meal and a few drinks. As the music time approached we negotiated the agitation of the young maitre de woman who was suggesting that we needed to go as we did not have a reservation inside. With our finely honed crowd skills we managed a couple of seats at the bar and stayed for most of the first set of "Shalab Toulouie Trio" who blend Persian and flamenco music (they had performed the longest soundcheck in our experience at least an hour an a half! and Shalab looked like Rob Stitch with a goatee ... so we weere a bit distracted). The percussionist was great but Shalab's singing wasn't, so we slipped away into the night.

A tram ride home through different parts of the city, and ice cream and a welcome bed completed  a simple day in Prague! This is a very lovely and entrancing city.

Our first full day in Prague - Mick actually pays for Internet, magic Mozart and Cuban cool!!

Martina had us up and out early today but to very good effect. (Her job is to orient the punters to the fact that they are on their own soon but to still let them know that "Scenic Tours" loves them!) She led us on a four hour walking tour of the Old Castle and down to the Old Town Square.

The coach (our final run) took us all up the hill so it was a gentle start before Martina lead us through the Palace, St. Vitus' Church down the hill with a coffee stop and a swig of a well-known Czech liqueur - Becherovka (Elaine bourght a bottle later that evening proclaiming it had miraculous herbal ingredients!!!) to brighten us up before heading across the Charles Bridge and up to the Square. She had us out early to avoid the crowds and that seemed a great idea. Again she was very good at her job and we all enjoyed it a great deal. This will probably be our last experience of the large group of punters and, while there are no problems at all with them it will be very nice to be just doing our own thing again!!!

After a couple of beers (beer is cheaper than bottled water in Prague!) and some sausage in a local market for lunch we repaired to the hotel for a rest. With lots to catch up on and as he was really getting twitchy we decided that we would buy internet in our room for 24 hours (it is free in the lobby but we didn't want to be spending a lot of time down there - once we catch up that will be fine!) and Mick had all the withdrawal signs!

In the evening we were booked (from Australia) into a "Mozart Dinner - your own private Opera!" which is held in the baroque ballroom of a nearby hotel. Again, being summer, many of the big orchestras are having a spell so, while we were a bit fearful of "tourist pap" it had looked OK. It was really great!!! We had a table for two and the food was fine. The music - mainly "Don Giovanni", "The Magic Flute" and "Eine Kleine" was played by a quintet which, even to Mick's untutored ears seemed a notch above the average! Subsequent internet research revealed that some of them are members of the "Bennewitz Quartet" (go Google!) who have a gig at Wigmore Hall in Novemeber and a pretty extensive discography.

The soprano - Terezie Svarcova - and the baritone - Daniel Klansky - have good track records as well and the quality of the performance was great. (Everyone has to eat, and I guess in Prague, with so many tourists, this is a reliable summer income - we appreciated the quality!) The intimacy of the venue and the relaxed nature of the performance made for a great night!

After that we wandered through this lovely romantic place to "La Bodeguita Del Medio" a Cuban style, "cool" bar - recommended by Edgar - our æhost to beæ for Saturday and Sunday when we move to his AirBnB flat. Elaine had a martini and danced a few grooves while we mainly watched the crowd! Great fun! We strolled home, arm in arm, through the nearly deserted Old Town Square to a welcome bed - Elaine had a little Becherovka nightcap!!

On the buses! Nuremburg on our way to Prague!!

All went well with the "de-embarkation" and we soon found ourselves on a bus for the day!! (Not our favourite means of transport!). Our bus, loaded up with all our bags, spent the first two hours on a driving tour of Nuremburg with another very knowledgeable local guide who, again, was very good. We saw the remains of the Nuremburg Rally grounds - "Zeppelin Fields" actually as the ill-fated took off from there - and all those newsreels of the ranting Hitler came back to our consciousness.

Rafe, the guide, had been born around 1963, and had interesting insights into his grandfather's unwillingness to talk his war involvement and the changing History curriculum in German schools over time. It is obviously a difficult historical period for the German people and it was interesting to hear his reflections. We walked (guided) around Nuremburg castle and were amazed as much by the rebuilding efforts as by the history of the place itself. With some time to ourselves, we had a simple lunch, a walk around the old city centre (this included a humungous "Red Bull" crazy cycling track being set up for the weekend) before climbing back on the bus for Prague.

The trip took aound four and a half hours and there is nothing to report about it at all. We arrived at the Marriott and were able to shower and have a welcome drink before Martina, our new local guide and "Scenic" Tour Director for these last few days, took the troops for a quick orientation walk around the block. Martina was excellent and we are sure that everyone felt that they knew where to go - it is a great location!

Elaine and Mick headed straight for the Municipal House for a wonderful Art Deco dining experience in a beer hall. The decor was divine, the beer was cold and plentiful and the duck and lamb shank went down easily!

Fortified, we walked to the Old Town Square and the Charles Bridge - gaining and insight into just how lovely and wonderful this place is!!! Having never really been destroyed by the usual liltany of pestilences the architecture and spaces are simply delightful - coupled with the bustle of an emerging city that is going well. We will have some fun here!!!