Dubrovnik- A Fairy Tale in Real Life

One of the very steep streets in Old Dubrovnik.  It was a bit of  a fright when I first saw it & realised I had to walk down there!

When we walked through the portal into the Old City of Dubrovnik we felt we had been transported back 1000 years in time.

When I saw the staircase we had to walk down to get to our apartment, I thought I had died and gone to hell !!

Stairs and I do not get on, but this staircase was another matter entirely!  It went straight down at an angle of about 45 degrees, Bill surmises and had no handrails! And I had my hands full with two computers- which survived, and so did I- but only just!

We eventually skipped up and down these as we we were born here!

The old-world, fairytale theme continued on the stairs because every few metres there was a little door in the wall at the side of the stairs that led into a shop.  The shops were filled with the most diverse delights- jewellery made in the region, clothes, souvenirs, ice cream, shoes, anything your heart desired.  I had to concentrate so hard just to stay upright that I couldn’t enjoy the displays but I can assure you, that I certainly returned when I was less burdened.

Street in Old Dubrovnik

The streets, except for the main one, are about 2m wide, some maybe 2.5m and others, Bill says, would be less. There are a number of streets with stairs and on these it’s possible to touch each side of the walls when we’re standing in the middle of the stairs. We imagine that they were constructed this way for safety.  It would be impossible for two people to walk side by side down most of them and that way, if the town were to be attacked, the good citizens of Dubrovnik could just kill off the invaders one by one as the appeared down the stairs!  We have counted the stairs from top to bottom and there are 152 !!!!!! Thank God we’ve found a way around them to get back to the car tomorrow morning.

Dubrovnik has the oldest working pharmacy in the world.  It’s run by the Franciscans and we could go to the museum which is in their cloisters to see the history of the pharmacy through the centuries.  The churches are many- I think Bill counted about 14 crosses on parts of the map, some of which could just relate to a monument, but we have still seen some very lovely churches, one of which is Greek Orthodox .  Funny- we hadn’t come across any orthodox churches till Trieste and now we’ve seen three.

Old City of Dubrovnik from the Cable Station. The walls of the city are clearly defined here.

This morning, quite by accident, we found a cable car that went up onto a steep hill behind the old town.  Of course, we had to go.  I have never been totally into riding cable cars just for the experience- in fact, the older kids would tell you of their complete and utter embarrassment when in Switzerland many years ago.  We rode a cable car there & I sat on the floor in the corner with my head in my hands and they moved to the other end of the vehicle and disowned me!

Last Christmas holidays, we came to Europe with Mike and Mikaela to ski with our friends, Tiziana, Ugo and Andrea and had to catch the cable car on a regular basis.  Not wanting to embarrass anyone again, I put on a happy face in the cable car and found out that I really enjoyed the experience as I did today.

We had five star views of the world as far as we could see and of course took many photos.  Unfortunately, the smog was very thick and so we couldn’t see forever.  The views were so different though, from one side of the hill to the other.  We met some very nice people who live in the Adelaide Hills and who are on a cruise, along with about 4 thousand others.  We were talking to the proprietor here when we got back to our unit and she said that some days there would be 14 000 (yes, 14 thousand) tourists in the Old Town!

View of the Cable Station from the Old City Walls

This afternoon, we climbed the city walls and found treasure troves of the old and the new.  One of the new things we found was a cafe set right on the precipice with the sea hundreds of metres below!  I’m sure I wouldn’t be game to drink anything but mineral water in case I fell over the edge!  I don’t like heights but can handle most areas, however, this was one that I backed away from hastily.

The Domenican Monastery has a set of very lovely stairs with fancy balustrades. Apparently the balustrades aren’t quite as fancy as they were originally because the priests caught the local lads looking through them for a glimpse up the ladies’ dresses! So they filled them in!  What a hoot! Men never change!

We’re glad that our next stop after here is the most important and special one of our whole trip, otherwise we would be very sorry to leave, but tomorrow evening, we will hopefully be enjoying a prosecco at the American Bar in our very favourite piazza in all the world- in the Old City of Cividale!

Ci vediamo a dopo!

Bill in one of the wider streets of Old Dubrovnik

Old City Walls and Harbour

An Amazing Day

We left Trieste early Friday for Dubrovnik and what a day!  We drove nearly the full length of the country, from the north to the south so were able to see a great deal of the country.

Croatia is the most amazing country, geographically.  It has mountains and over 5 000 kms of coast. It also has thousands of islands in the Adriatic Sea.  However, what really amazed us were the thick forests that covered every part of the land from the northern border down at least a third of the length of the country. 

These forests were so thick.  Some were planted but most were natural and there was no end to them- very desolate looking and with few houses in these areas.  The undergrowth was also very thick and unrelenting. We had never seen anything like this topography anywhere we had ever been.

When we thought we were never going to see anything but trees for the length of the trip, the scene changed again and for about another third, we were in a geographical area that resembled a moonscape- limestone hills and more limestone hills with great chunks of rocks that looked as if someone had tipped giant buckets of rocks everywhere.  We saw some cement works in the areas but mostly just rocks and hills.

The little towns were interesting.  All the houses looked exactly the same.  Each was two storeys high but very narrow and had white walls and an orange roof.  The industries are not attached to towns but are just set randomly all over the country.

When we were just getting used to the fact that we might be travelling through this limestone moonscape for the rest of the trip, we turned a corner and there was the sea.  It looked like a lake because it was so calm.  It was a long way from the actual sea because it Croatia has many fjords and thousands of islands, many of them inhabited with huge hotels.

The scenery was just breathtaking. We had read many documentaries about Dubrovnik and what a lovely place it is and seen photos in the travel sections of newspapers, some of which we thought may be a tad airbrushed!  But no- this was the real deal and it was absolutely perfect.

We were in for an even bigger surprise when we reached the journey’s end.

Arrivederci Trieste

Piazza Unita d'Italia.  This is a breathtaking piazza. Every side  has  ancient and beautiful buildings .

We had the best time in Trieste, as always.  The only problem was that it is so close to our second home of Cividale but we just couldn’t get there yet- Monday, yes!

We have been to Trieste several times in the past, with our special friend, Tiziana who introduced us to Trieste’s long and interesting history and showed us many of the sights.  This time, we found two quite wonderful Greek Orthodox Churches- one of them a Slovenian Church which was quite different from the other, more ornate one.

One for the boys!  Or a few hundred! Bill just had to take this photo!  And this was one of many streets the same!

Again, we walked the streets and soaked up the flavour of the city.  Trieste is a city that is very comfortable with herself- age becomes her and she is like a gracious lady, welcoming all to her capacious bosom.

Can you believe this car!  It's actually a Ferrari!  How's that for a Saturday night out with the lady friend, Guys!

One of the good citizens of Trieste

One of the great delights of walking the back streets was that we found numerous shops that we hadn’t ever located when we were in charge of children- either our own or those entrusted to our care.  And here’s the wonderful thing (guys, this is wine, beer or coffee time here), I found a fabulous clothes shop.  All through Europe I had been searching for summer clothes- found some in Fussen which was great, but not enough.  I was really about to give up.  I was so disappointed, but then I found a marvellous shop & spent so much money that the assistant gave me the last shirt for 15.00E instead of 45!

Guys can rejoin us here if they wish.  

We ate at two restaurants that had been favourably reviewed on one of the tourism sites on the internet.  A Cafe Tommaseo- very old, apparently- & very nice, near the main Greek Orthodox Church, for anyone who’s in Trieste in the future- & Cafe Degli Specchi which is in the main square.  It was also great food and a great atmosphere.

We had dinner at this restaurant last evening & had heaps of fun watching the little ones running and playing.  A number of them, who were really only about 3 years old, had soccer balls & we were amazed at their skill with the ball.  They were able to do things with it that kids in Australia can’t do at the age of 9 or 10.  As Bill said, Italian kids are born playing soccer and he’s about right!

I was also very happy with myself, as I tried out my limited Italian on some of the poor unsuspecting natives during our time in Trieste and they understood me- & paid me the compliment of answering in Italian!  How good was that!

Off to Dubrovnik now for a couple of days.  We have never been there and are really looking forward to it as so many people have said it’s a fascinating place.  Stay tuned!

 Inside the Greek Orthodox Church

Budapest: A Diamond on the Danube

We really enjoyed Budapest and it was hard to say “goodbye” this morning.  It was only that we had decided to slip into Italy for a couple of days before heading to Dubrovnik that made the departure bearable- & the fact that the unit we had booked in Budapest left a great deal to be desired!  It was clean, but old- built we feel in a tenement situation during the Communist regime & had not one ounce of atmosphere.  It was more than austere- a very cold atmosphere which was exacerbated greatly by the fact that the ground floor had once accommodated shops which were now all closed so the whole situation was just not welcoming at all.  Also, many people would sit in the downstairs area and talk for most of the night & because the building was so empty there, the noise echoed dreadfully, so she who sleeps like a cat, got no sleep at all for 3 nights!  Not a good idea!

Anyway, we overcame the unit problems by going out all day and half the night. There was so much to see and do & everyone is so friendly.  Budapest is the quintessential old European city, albeit still recovering from the ravages of communism, but it is really blossoming and coming back to its former glory. The good citizens of the city are so proud of their heritage and so eager to share their stories that we felt very welcome.  Attributes such as wide streets, lots of trees and flowers and such a sense of place in the world really give the city a special feel.  We just loved wandering through the squares and sitting at the cafes watching the world go by.

Parliament House from the Danube

One of the lovely avenues near St Stephan's Church

We sailed the Danube once again and saw many of the city sites from the water.  One part of the river reminded us of floating along on the Grand Canal in Venice.

Parliament House was amazing.  It looks like a palace and was built right on the river bank between 1885 and 1902.  At the time of construction it was the largest parliamentary building in the world.  It has a length of 268m and is 118m wide and contains more than 20kms of staircase and 691 rooms. Imagine having to clean it!!!!

We also enjoyed the Palace Precinct where there is a whole town, part of which contained a hospital bunker from WW 2 which was also used for many years afterwards, during the Cold War.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t open when we were there.  The Imperial Wine Cellars were also down there so Bill was a bit disappointed that he couldn’t see them and have a wine tasting at the same time.

We also enjoyed the Palace Precinct where there is a whole town, part of which contained a hospital bunker from WW 2 which was also used for many years afterwards, during the Cold War.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t open when we were there.  The Imperial Wine Cellars were also down there so Bill was a bit disappointed that he couldn’t see them and have a wine tasting at the same time.

The Beautiful Blue Danube featuring one of its many bridges.

Bill was like a kid in a sweets shop when he saw these!

Budapest has a huge Food Market which was just amazing.  The hall is divided into areas such as meat, vegetables etc and the amount of meat shops was mind boggling.  There were also many vegetable stalls but the vegies didn’t look very appetising.  They appeared to have been brought in days before because they looked very wilted.

Upstairs, we were able to buy any amount of Hungarian national costumes- I thought Bill would have looked particularly fetching in an embroidered waistcoat which would have looked especially charming matched with a set of green lederhosen, but he declined to try them on.  Maybe it was because I was holding the camera at the time....  He has no sense of adventure what so ever!

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Walls of St Matthias Church

For agnostics such as ourselves, we spend a great deal of time in churches, our motives stemming purely from our love of history and churches are such rich repositories of history.  So much of a country’s background can be learnt from a church.  A church we really enjoyed was that of St Matthias.  This church was the Castle church and the walls were absolutely stunning.

I

Monument outside St Anne's Church.  It is Jesus protecting a soldier

Sometimes, in fact often, the very best treasures appear without being sought.  We found a wonderful little church, yesterday, which had been started by an order of Servite priests many years ago.  The church was not ornate but had some wonderful 3D installations.  On the outside front wall was a relatively recent monument of Christ on the cross, protecting a soldier on a horse. This accompanied a wall of names of those killed in WW2

If we had one criticism of Budapest it would be that not enough information is given in English.  Quite often, an English text is provided but there were times when we really wanted to know and couldn’t find out.  Thank God/Buddha/ Alla/etc for Google.  Everything we need to know, we can find on Google!  Maybe the Budapest Tourism Industry realises this!

So... Budapest is beautiful.  We would go back again- but not to the same accommodation!  And now we are in Italia- the second best place in the world and we are about to go and have dinner in Piazza dell’ Unita d’Italia.

Ci vediamo domani!

One of the good citizens of the Castle Precinct.

I Hate the Doonas Over Here!

I hate the doonas!

I hate the doonas over here. I hate the doonas, do you hear!

They’re long and thin or short and stout and bits of me keep hanging out.

But not of course in Italy, my second home, where I love to be;

But here, it’s a case of infamy; these doonas all have it in for me!

There’s two doonas to each bed you see & one of these is just for me.

No sharing here, how good is this, all for me- what utter bliss.

But I really do not know just how this thing is going to go.

I start off with it looking great, all neat & tidy, plump & straight.

I climb in carefully-here we go, all covered up and not on show.

But then I get it in a mess, and now it’s covering less & less

It wraps itself around my head or ends up sliding off the bed.

I put it back & set it straight; again I’ve got it looking great

I put my legs back underneath but now I’m looking like a wreath

Because instead of being under I’ve got myself all wrapped asunder

My body now is in the case & all that’s sticking out’s my face!

I start again to get it right- God, I could be doing this all night.

So in the end I just give in & pull the thing up to my chin,

But then my feet are hanging out and off we go all twisted out

It’s just a right old merry-go-round because the secret I’ve not found

To keeping doonas on the bed, not wrapped around my bloody head,

Or falling off onto the floor, or over Bill, or out the door.

I hate the doonas over here! I hate them, hate them do you hear

And when I’m home, back in my bed, without the doona round my head

I’ll give a blissful little sigh and go to sleep... goodnight!  Goodbye.

A Night in Budapest

Wow!  What a night!  We arrived in Budapest around mid –afternoon yesterday & set off to find the Square.  The sound of singing led us on & we followed till we found it. I must admit, Bill’s footsteps slowed considerably as he realised that what he was hearing was a soprano, singing an operatic aria.

When we arrived at the source of the song, we found a stage set up at the front of the Basilica & the entire square, as well one of the closest streets, was jam-packed with chairs. We estimate that at least 2 or 3 thousand came to enjoy the night.

Right near the stage, just to one side, was a cafe that had a spare table in full view of the stage.  We sat & ordered a drink & asked the waiter about the music.  There was to be a concert that evening at 7.30.  As this was now 4.30 & we weren’t going to miss the concert, and we wanted front row seats, which had all been taken in the area of the chairs, we decided to see how long we could stay at the table before we were asked to leave.

It’s amazing just how long a drink will last in these circumstances!  We kept the seat, had four drinks- mine were all sparkling water- I love that stuff! And just one glass of Hungarian sparkly wine which was very nice- but not as good as our Italian prosecco. Bill has been doing a great deal of research on the various beers wherever we’ve been & he had a local beer & a local wine, which both held up. 

After a while, we ordered an antipasto plate to share & much later on had some chicken, so all in all we were there, at the table, at the front of the crowd, for almost 6 hours!  And what an experience it was! We got to hear not only the concert, but also the practice with all the musicians and singers in their jeans & shorts.  Then later, they returned in their evening dress for the real deal.

Section of Crowd at Budapest Concert

 The concert featured the Hungarian Orchestra plus singers and musicians of all categories of music, from classical, to Hungarian national, to jazz and popular music.  The main guest artist was a violinist who was amazing.  We were just enthralled.  Most of the classical music I was familiar with, but not the national songs or pop/jazz.  However, the tune is always the same, no matter the language, so with the arias and the songs from musical theatre we were OK.

While we waited for the concert to begin, we had the added enjoyment of watching the crowd.  We could both just sit on a park bench and watch people for hours & we had plenty of opportunity here.  And from the front!  

Music is miraculous.  It joins people of all nations, creeds and languages and as we sat at the table at the cafe, eating and drinking with the local residents and people from all around the world, for a few hours we were not locals or foreigners, but one group, drawn together through our love of music and the beauty of the night.  The stars were shining, the weather was hot and the music was fabulous.  What a night to remember! And it would be the only time in our lives that we have been to such distinguished night dressed in shorts and runners!

View of stage from our table area

Basilica lit up for the concert

So...Bill has redeemed himself!  He stayed & listened to the concert- mind you, he had plenty to keep him happy- food, wine & people watching- so he really didn’t suffer.  And I will bring him again next time, because I really like him & as he says, he pays for stuff!

We’re off today, to explore the sites of Budapest.  Sun is shining, the crane on the next door building is roaring, the men on the worksite are shouting, so it’s time to get out of here & do some fun stuff.

Ci vediamo!

Vienna, City of Dreams

“Heaven, Vienna mine

I'm in the spell of your charms divine..”   Richard Tauber

Vienna-a great & noble city.  Home to the music of Mozart & Strauss & much more importantly, where Bill’s concerned the Sacher Torte! And of course,  the songs of Richard Tauber.

Vienna any time of the year is worth a visit, but in summer it sings- & literally!  Every cathedral, church & chapel is filled with music- there are concerts on every corner & we didn’t go to any of them because Bill is an absolute Philistine where music’s concerned & he couldn’t believe that I would want to spend money to sit in a church for 2 hours while someone filled our ears with classical music or opera!  So... we didn’t do the concerts. 

I did, however, take photos of the musicians' stars on the footpath outside the Opera House & I will share one of them with you now- it's good to share with friends.

Next time I come to Europe in the summer I will most likely bring Bill- I really like him, even though he’s a Philistine- but I will bring someone else as well who likes the music I like.

We walked the streets & ate in the restaurants & of course, sailed the Danube blue where Bill was like a kid because we had to pass through a lock, which even in girl world was really rather fascinating.  We sailed into the lock area, the boat was moored while water came in rapidly, filling the gap & raising the boat till we could just sail over what had been an 8m drop & then, in the next lock, we dropped 4m.  Really cool stuff, if you’re into locks and what they do.

The Lock on the Danube

Churches- many, from the famous such as St Stephen’s to other, smaller, but no less beautiful ones.  99.9% of Europe’s churches are so ornate & beautifully decorated, that sometimes, one can become slightly “over-churched” but it’s all so worthwhile knowing about them & the eras in which they were built and who by.

Music, religion, food... what more could anyone want?  After 3 days in Vienna, we reluctantly packed a small bag each & set off for the land of the Turks.   

Fabulous Fussen

Three days in Fussen, in the Bavaria Region of Germany- Fussen is surrounded by mountains & the best thing about them is the fact that the other side of them belongs, in part, to our wonderful second home, Italy. We will always remember the absolutely unforgettable day we spent in the Dolomiti with Tiziana in 2009 when we felt we had reached the top of the world and we were sharing it with each other- Tiziana, Bill, Mikaela & me.

River and Mountains in Fussen

  The scenery around here is poster material.  I remember Mikaela finding voice in January when we were in the Italian Alps. She had been silent for a while- so unlike her- & then all of a sudden she just burst out with: This must be where the Christmas card pictures come from.” And this is the same, only this time it’s summer.

We went into the streets to have dinner at one of the local street cafes and found a band playing Tyrolean music. Long benches and tables were set up in the street with people singing and drinking the famous Bavarian beer. We sat & listened & watched as the locals came by, many of them dressed in their traditional lederhosen and skirts and aprons.  Not a look either of us is about to adopt, I can hastily assure you!  I just can’t see Bill in embroidered leather shorts & braces! And as for the dandy little floral/checked frocks & aprons and the blouses with puffed sleeves- not a good look after about 10 years of age! Unless you’re born to it, then it’s part of the culture and you wear it with pride. 

Bill's contribution to the local community

The ice cream is also famous here, & is mostly Italian! So we have enjoyed that experience as well.  Interesting, too- most of the wine is from Italy & I have really been enjoying the prosecco which I fell in love with in 2009, in Cividale & which I have drunk with great regularity ever since because we found our favourite one in Dan Murphy’s!  How’s that for luck!

Fussen is an old town right on the border of Austria- but we didn’t know it was so close till we went for a drive in the country yesterday & found ourselves shooting past a sign saying “Republic of Austria.”

Bill hates not having a proper agenda & kept asking, with increasing frequency & a rising degree of concern, just where we were going.  As I kept telling him, it didn’t matter where we were going.  It was the going that was the thing.  Who cares where we’re going?  Most of life is like that- we have no idea how things are going to turn out, but it’s all a fabulous adventure.  I was about to tell him that we couldn’t get out of Germany, but we were out already, so ...  Just enjoy!

Fussen Lake

We cruised on the large lake here yesterday.  It was magical.  One part of the trip was past the castle built by mad King Ludwig who was apparently a gentle soul, much more into the art of painting & music than the art of governing.  He died, allegedly in suspicious circumstances, in the lake we cruised on.  It seems his psychiatrist was with him, but no-one seems to know if the psychiatrist did the dastardly deed or if he lived on or drowned as well.  Ludwig was a good swimmer, so who knows?

Walt Disney uses Ludwig’s castle as his Disney icon.  We were going to visit it until the staff at the tourist information centre said that we would need to be in the parking station there at least an hour before the castle opened at 9 am as it’s an hour’s walk from the parking place & tickets are only sold at the castle, so we would need to get in line very early.

  Bill is fabulous & will happily do anything I ask, but the reason we have never before been to Europe in the summer is because of his absolute hatred of queues.  When he heard the news about the castle queues, he just went white!  So I decided that, as usual, most of what I needed to know could be sourced on Google, so we didn’t go to the castle, we did other great things instead- like visiting the cemetery at the local Franciscan Monastery!

Last night, Fussen held its annual bike race- 76 laps x 800m which my mathematician friend tells me is 60.8 kms.  There were teams racing & we sat on the verandah of the hotel & cheered them on with a drink. (Your probably won’t believe me when I tell you my drink of choice was actually a mineral water!)  It would have been hard riding, because the course was through the streets of the old town & they are all constructed of cobblestones.  It was action from every quarter, as some of the competitors fell and the ambulance had to be called.

Off to Austria properly, tomorrow, to Vienna, which we love.  I remember when we had the kids here 20 years ago; we took a photo of Larry literally walking on water in Vienna- it was minus 14 degrees Celsius & he walked out onto a small lake- he’s not very heavy- & we took a photo of him. In hindsight it was a silly thing to let him do because the ice could have been very unstable but all was OK.

So... more from the land of Mozart.

Prague: A City of Contrasts

Bohemenian Craft

We didn't try them out to prove
the point!

Prague:  A City of Contrasts

Prague is an old city- from earliest times people have lived here & the city itself dates from before 1000 AD.  The castle complex is the largest in the world.

Today, Prague is the 6^th most visited city in Europe and we’re sure that the highest number of visitors at present comes from Australia! And the next highest would be from Italy!

There is so much about Prague to like- its ancient sense of place in the world. It’s wide, tree-lined streets. Its cafes and shops- from those selling Bohemian glassware and jewellery to the ones featuring international names like Gucci, DKNY, Hugo Boss, Lacoste etc.

The history- every building tells a story- some of it very sad.  Like the story of the Jews in WW2 and their terrible incarceration in Terezin, the concentration camp that was a staging post on the way to Auschwitz.  Over 80 000 Jews from the area died in either Terezin or Auschwitz.  Every wall in the Women’s Chapel is covered in names of those who died.  The red lettering is the surname & the black, the names of those killed.  Of course, there were often several families with the one surname but it was only written once because there was no room to write it every time.  Just the given names were included then.

Wall containing notes to loved ones asking for favours

Graves in Jewish Cemetery

We visited Prague Castle.  According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world, with an area of almost 70,000 m².   It has a number of palaces within its walls as well as a number of churches/chapels.  The good citizens of Prague are very proud of their heritage and we spent a couple of hours just reading their history and looking at the items in their museum. Then we spent another couple of hours looking at all the buildings associated with the history.  I have thoughtfully added a web site so you can check it out for yourselves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague#History

Cute as a Button!

One of the interesting events at the castle is the Changing of the Guard which happens every hour.  Two guards are at each gate & four others come for the change over.  Two come to take over the watch, one to march with them to & fro & another to shoo the crowds away from the area. The guards are so well trained.  Lots of giggly girls try to cuddle up to them for a photo but the guards don't even blink.

The Astrological Clock gathers literally hundreds of people every hour to watch its performance.  I will include a couple of websites so you can enjoy it too.  The first one is the clock doing its thing.  The second one is taken from inside the clock so you can see it working.  The figures inside- the ones that appear at the two windows – are the 12 Apostles.

http://www.videosurf.com/video/l%27horloge-astronomique-de-prague-1305083590

http://www.videosurf.com/video/prague-horloge-astronomique-1229294125

There are too many churches to mention, each of them beautiful in its own way-so many photos of altars and organs and windows and bells.

Money:  Play money-a note of 2000 CK (Czech Krone) is worth $112.00 AU.  

Clothes:  70’s look for women but quite up to the minute for the guys.  Bill bought some great shirts. Not a good move for girls, though as the clothes are really quite dreary.

Names of Jews killed in Concentration Camps WW2
These are some of the names that completely cover the walls of the Women's Chapel
in the Jewish Quarter of Prague.

Birds of Prey demonstration.
 We saw one like this in Austria with Tiziana & Hugo

Bohemian Glass Clowns.
  Little guy on the left looks as if he's seen one too many tourists!

Delightful Dresden

At Dresden on the Elbe, that handsome city...

This quote, from German poet Heinrich Hiene (1843), sums up Dresden perfectly.

As I said in the last edition of this ramble, we fell in love with Dresden city on sight & probably because it reminded us so much of the cities and towns of our beloved second home, Italy.  The squares and streets were open, inviting and green, as 63% of Dresden consists of forests and gardens and these are surrounded by wonderful ancient edifices that told a story and were proud to do so.

 Though having said “ancient” edifices, one must be careful, because, nearing the end of WW 2, the Allies bombed the centre of Dresden till there was nothing left but the Wall of Princes, which was constructed of Meissen porcelain & therefore didn’t burn like the remainder of the city.  However, the good citizens of Saxony rebuilt their beautiful buildings, using as much of the recovered original materials as they could.  With the beautiful St Mary’s Church, the recovered stones were replaced in their original positions.

Frescoes on the upper level of St Mary's Church.

The Church was built on two levels and these frescoes adorned the outside of the upper level.  The altar was also beautifully decorated.  There was a wedding there the day we visited & it was interesting that tours and visiting tourists were still allowed into the church during the wedding service. 

The priest conducting the ceremony was in the middle of his homily when we arrived & when we left, some 15 minutes later, he was still holding forth. Whether  the presence of the extra audience led him on to greater heights, or the fact that he was exhorting the young couple to live a perfect married life, we will never know, but he was certainly making the most of the opportunity!

St Mary's Church- very fancy.

The guide books were funny.  They suggested that after we looked at St Mary’s Church we go to the Church of the Holy Cross which was much more “normal” and uneffacing and certainly more in tune with the ideas of the Church.  It was a lovely church, very simple and beautiful in its own way and certainly not prone to airs and graces like the other one.

Onto more secular themes. I mentioned earlier, the Wall of Princes.  This wall formed part of the King's mews and we were entranced with the detail. It featured all the kings, princes and dukes of the years between the 12^th and the mid 18^th centuries.  They were depicted in over 60 000 Meissen porcelain pieces and at the time of the Allied bombing of the centre of Dresden in the early months of 1945, this wall was all that was left standing in the old city.  As we heard a guide telling a group of paying tourists, it wasn’t so much the bombs that destroyed Dresden, it was the resulting fires but the porcelain could readily withstand this type of heat and so wasn’t affected. 

Part of the Wall of Princes.

Dresden wasn’t all historical- sometimes it was hysterical!  The Europeans make an art form out of enjoying their summers and there was lots of fun to be had watching the locals at play.

From toddlers to teenagers, they made the most of the wonderful weather and had the best fun.  We couldn’t believe our eyes when we came across a bunch of littlies splashing about in a public fountain.  No way would they be doing that in Australia! There would be a huge pool fence all around the perimeter and the kids wouldn’t have got within 20 metres of the water.

Groups of teenagers had hired a vehicle- for want of a better term- & were riding round the streets on it, drinking wine as they went.  It took me back to when Andrea, our “adopted” family member from Italy, was staying with us last year and couldn’t believe that he had to wear a helmet when he went for a bike ride with Mike.  As he said so succinctly, “In Italy, we’re allowed to decide whether we want to kill ourselves or not.”

Others who were not so energetic decided to let the “Limousine” take them where they wanted to go.

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All in all- a great way to spend summer!

This blog seems to have a mind of its own, as I'm sure you've worked out by now!  I can never quite get it just the way I want it, but hey- that's just a metaphor for life, I suppose- sometimes it all works out & sometimes it's sent to try us & it certainly does!

And for those of you who are still hanging in there,  next time we'll chat about the ancient pearl that's Prague.

Ci vediamo!