Bratislava. Nowhere near Berlin!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbcH_qYkeTc&feature=related - worth watching for a hilarious (fictional) insight to Bratislava.

The closest two capital cities in Europe, Bratislava and Vienna are only around 45km apart so it only took us an hour to arrive this morning. Very cruisy compared to the multiple-hour train rides we had been used to by now!

The start if the tour, near the centre of the Old Town

After navigating our way to the hostel we relaxed for a little in our top floor private 3-bed room (cheap prices convinced us to get some privacy for once!). James found us a free tour that was starting up just after midday so we headed off to this, finding the main square of the town and meeting up with the guide there. A brief discussion of the history of Slovakia and Bratislava and we were off touring through the Old Town. Like others, the Old Town in Bratislava was very pretty and featured quite a number of Baroque buildings and quaint cobblestown walkways and squares. Given the small size of the city, it did not take long to walk around and see many of the sights. 

A number of these scultpures popped
up around the Old Town

Yen, James and I in one of the centre squares of the Old Town

More Old Town quaint..ness

Bratislava Castle from afar

'The Blue Church'

So, after finishing up we went in search of some Slovakian cuisine with two friends we had made, one from Italy and the other New Zealand. Finding a large authentic pub, we all crowded inside and cosied up in the warmth. Opening the menu we were greeted wyouith a couple of things. First, you simply cannot argue with 0.5L of proper good beer for 0.90euro cents. Second, there were some very funny order descriptions for food. For example, some were listed as "the cheap student", whilst the best was "what to order to impress your girlfriend". Grabbing a beer, we then decided on the local delicacy; potato dumplings (very small, similar to gnocci) covered in sheeps cheese and diced bacon. It was delicious and worked very well with beer; but then so does everything!

Yen in front of the Bratislava Castle lit up at night

One of the fantastic views; showing the 'UFO bridge'

Walking outside into the cold again was a sharp slap in the face! Wrapping up, we decided to walk up to the castle and see what the view was like. A short walk, wandering up through some fairly poorly lit and crumbling stairs (which no doubt in Australia would probably have resulted in the whole castle being shut whilst it was repaired – not here!), we made it to the grounds at the top. It was deifnately quite cool up here and there were certainly just as cool views. Though, saying that it was a little dissapointing that the Castle was closed due to renovations. Can't get them all I guess!

The next day we decided to check out a couple of things missed on the walking tour. The first was a small novelty, the national radio station building which took the form of a reverse pyramid which was pretty cool to see. Following this we made our way up the many, many steps climbing up the nearby high terrain to the Slovak Soviet memorial. This place reminded me of the Shrine of Remembrance with its laf arge orthogonal landscaped spaces in front of a vastly scaled central shrine. Unlike in Melbourne however, this memorial towered over the city and presented views that stretched far into the distance.

The Slovak Soviet Memorial

Yen demonstrating the scale of the memorial complex

As it began to get dark we heeded advice we had received earlier from the tour guide and went to the large shopping centre on the banks of the river that ran through the city. The reccomendation was to walk through to the area at the back which would provide great views across the river to the castle and surrounds.It didn't dissapoint and produced some great shots.

The shopping centre, 'Gherkin' copy

James with a pretty lit up embankment and river

Rounding up the day, we head back to the hostel just in time for the free blues gig that the hostel was hosting that night. With a couple of 1.30euro beers, we sat back and took in the great free music – a nice relaxing end to yet another exhausting day!

Wien, Vienne, Vienna.

So, after a great couple of days in Prague we hopped on our train to Vienna. After only about a five hour trip, we arrived in darkness and found our hostel quickly. Both starving, James and I went down to the basement-level bar and ordered a meal and several solid Austrian beers. An early night.

Me in front of the Loos Haus

Exiting Hafsburg Palace grounds..

Stephanplatz; roughly the centre of town

The next morning James, discoverer of all things free, found us a free tour to walk on. Particularly interesting given the guides specific architectural insight in many of the cities buildings we visited a number of icons, starting with the Secession Building and moving onto the Loos Haus (any archi kids following should know this) and then taking quite a large tour through the extensive Hafsburg palace grounds. We finished up at the iconically beautiful Stephanplatz in front of St. Stephan's Cathedral.

St. Stephans Cathedral

Quite cold and with a litlte emptiness in the stomach, ames and I banded together with some others we had met on the tour; a Scotsmen, an American, a Brit and a number of Australians to find some warmth and good food. We wandered into a cafe and sat and talked over coffee and apple strudle for an hour or so, before we headed next door to an authentic Austrian pub where we filled up on many litres of beer and lots of schnitzel!

Belvedere Museum at dusk

The Kiss, Gustav Klimt

Feeling particularly jolly, and with the day certainly not over just yet we went off in search of the Belvedere Museum; a Baroque Palace that houses an extensive gallery of art from numerous periods, ranging from medieval right through to contemporary. It also contains the largest collection of Gustav Klimt, including his most famous piece; The Kiss.

Signs of what was to come? Nah...

After touring through the gallery we went back to our hostel and snuck in a quick nap, worn out from a thorough discovery of the city. A little later that evening we met Yen who had flown over from Australia a few days before and was meeting us to continue the journey until at least Switzerland. We ventured down to the basement bar once more and stayed much longer this time, thanks perhaps in part to the '1 euro shot' happy-hour special. Add to that some great tunes and we were ripping it up on the d-floor until 3am. A solid day all in all.

A slightly later wake-up this morning, once again in part to the '1 euro shot' special... 

 

In front of the Secession Building

Skipping breakfast (probably a mistake admitted later on) we re-visited the Secession Building, this time taking a look inside properly at the exhibits on display. The usual strange modern-art greeted us, however there was also an interesting explanation of the construction of the building with a fantastic model and info on the Seccession art movement.

Random side note; this is how buskers do it in Vienna:

Passing again through Stephanplatz we marvelled at the fantastic interior before attending a tour of the Vienna Opera Building; another marvel of the city. A fantastic insight into the workings of the opera and the staging of all events.

James and I with the Vienna Opera House

Overlooking the grand entrance hall

Inside the beautiful theatre

That night we caught up again with the group of Australian girls we had met on the tour and went in search of another Austrian restaurant. Unfortunately we appeared out of luck as they all seemed closed; the Christmas holiday period still impacting opening hours. We eventually settled at an Italian eattery and then once full went back to the hostel for some drinks.

Our entrance to the hostel bar was just plain bizarre. Walking in, we were greeted by some kind of strange remix of the Pirate of the Carribean theme song. Not something I will forget. Following that it seemed like they were pandering to the large group of South-Americans in the room with a lot of Latino music we were unfamiliar with. Either way we drank up and got ready to head out to a club. James had been reccomended a place at the hostel so we went in this direction, despite it being a little out of the way. Right from the start, we began to resent and regret it – this was not a night we would forget either.

Taking us almost an hour to reach, we made it to the club, but not before walking through the apparent arse-end of Vienna, through a crowd of 'dealers' (yes, James of all people was offered..) and then past probably the most random thing ever – an old man; at least 60, if not 70, chilling at the bottom of a flight of stairs, at 2am, with a boom-box strapped to his chest, pumping out dubstep. For those playing at home; he reminded me of the guy from the Art vs Science/Magic Fountain music-video (definately watch if you don't know http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbhJ9c-pFoI).

Anyway, the club was terrible – which was not a good result given our trek across town; we were still keen to go out but were sobering up fast. Working off another reccomendation, hesitantly, we went in the direction of another club, eventually reaching this around 2am. A good selection of tunes, decent drink prices and initially good atmosphere reigned true – however a stupidly packed venue, overflowing with guys did not work well as we spent the night somehow protecting our female accomplices from numerous unwanted advances from the Austrian crowd.

Those guys needed to calm down. Still, a strangely enjoyable night was had. Understandably the next morning we slept in late.

Vienna Architecture exhibit

 

Glenn Murcutt Special Exhibition

Today we decided to explore the MuseumQuartier – a full block of the city dedicated to a number of museums centred around art and architecture. We chose to visit two buildings; first the Archizentrum which had to exhibits; the first showcasing the development of architecture relative to the city from the mid 1800s. The second, surprisingly, featured an exhibition of Glen Murcutt; for those who do not – probably Australia's most successful if not well-known architect at least of this century.

Izima Kaoru, Landscapes with a Corpse
for Alexander Mcqueen

Following this we visited the Kunsthalle which had two photography exhibits. The first was entitled 'No Fashion!" which was effectively an anti-fashion theme that different artists explored. This lead to some interestingresults; with an always surprising amount of nudity. The second was almost a documentation of fashion photography which was very interesting, showcasing samples of work from the early beginnings, through to contemporary styles.

James and I at Schonbrunn Palace

Exhausted from a walking around non-stop for most days, we took the chance of an early night.

On our last full day in Vienna I took the opportunity to see the last thing in the checkbox, Schonbrunn Palace. A bitterly cold morning meant we had wrapped-up strongly and dodge numerous puddles, still we would be inside for a while! On a tour of the palace interiors we walked through a number of of the royal rooms and took in the grandeur and the oppulence of it all before walking for a short while through the gardens.

James 'in character' at the Museum

James showing the scale of the exhibits

James was quite keen on seeing an exhibit on the Austrian military (basically hoping to see some guns and tanks), so we which ventured off to the Vienna Military Museum which turned out to be quite an impressive building, holding just as an impressive and extensive collection of historic exhibitions – and free!

Yummy apple strudel!

Our last evening in Vienna was spent in an authentic micro-brewery, downing more schnitzel and even more beer; nothing wrong with that! Brilliant stuff.

Oh and of course, apple strudel! Cheers :)

Prague; Paris of the East.

So, Prague again impressed with just how beautiful it is. It proved impossible to take a bad photo of, though James did try and having said that James admitted his first thoughts of the city were “Prague really is a sh*thole!”. To be fair, we did somehow take a wrong turn and end up walking through the red-light district of the city...

Anyway, not to dwell on this, we ventured out on our first full day on a tour of the city which ran us through a smorgasbord of scenic locations and key icons. The most notable of course being Prague castle, which itself represents a huge area and took us over an hour to walk through. 

James and I with the view towards Prague Castle

Overlooking Prague Old Town

Changing of the Prague Castle guards

 

Following this we walked back towards the Old Town via Charles Bridge – by which time the weather had turned fantastic and made for some spectacular views of the city across the river. 

The Vltava River and Charles Bridge

 

The tour concluded in the Old Town Square where we watched the famous Prague Clock tick over the hour with a little animated show.

We then decided to climb to the top of the City Hall Tower and with great timing – sunset was fast approaching (though only 4pm!) so we were given a beautiful set of views all across the Old Town. As all the lights were turned on it only made it more breathtaking. Just look at the photos!

Overlooking the Church in Old Town Sqaure

Just one of the spectacular views from the clocktower

That night James and I went in search of proper Czech cuisine. We found a small-looking brewery which turned out to be massive underground and filled to busting point with customers. The meals we ordered were fantastic – roast boar, potato dumplings and spinach sauce for myself, whilst James attempted a supposed 'healthy' option, choosing two meals; one consisting of 5 types of cheese melted into each other, while the other was some kind of muesli seasoned with a large amount of salt. Needless to say he failed hard on the intended health-factor, however I sampled both and they were very tasty!

James tucking into his 'healthy' meal

That night we took the opportunity to sleep in as we were still reeling from NYE in Berlin. After rising late-morning we walked out to Petrin Tower – a monument built on a hill near to Prague Castle. This structure strikingly resembles the Eiffel Tower – and with good reason; it was apparently based entirely upon it. Though it stands at a much smaller height itself, when on the hill it clears the city as the highest point and provides a fantastic lookout point to see Prague and beyond. We spent the day at various museums; that of Communism, Medieval Torture and others I have forgotten – not much seems to warrant distinction of 'museum' in this city as some featured barely a couple of small rooms. Either way, all in good fun!

Petrin Tower

Prague Old Town far below

Later in the evening we met up with some familiar faces; two girls, one from Adelaide and the other Melbourne we met first in Berlin had 'unknowingly' followed us to Prague. James had caught wind of a 'caveman'-themed restaurant and so we all followed his directions there. This was certainly quite authentic! We were greeted with a pretty wacky décor and waiters who dressed in sheaths of material with tribal make-up and spoke in grunts and vague nods.

'Caveman' restaurant interior

James digging into his pork knuckle

It was explained that to order, we must write down what we wanted on paper and then bang a supplied rock on the table – which would call our caveman waiter running and then later deliver our food. Quite a bizarre experience but good fun! After a few late drinks at the hostel bar we called it an early night for once and got some sleep for the travelling ahead.

The following day we would set off to Vienna in the afternoon. Before this however, we utilised our time by seeing a little more of the city. 

I can only imagine that James will no doubt continue to tell the following story to generations of his family because I have certainly heard it enough times myself. Throughout the time we were in Prague James had become increasingly interested and then genuinely obsessed with the idea of the KGB Museum he had seen advertised on posters in the city. In order to track down where it was, he had asked a number of people, all of which pointed him in the wrong direction to another similar exhibition, the Communism Museum. Death threats and foul language aside, James had eventually discovered the whereabouts of the museum and I followed him on the journey to find it. Once there, it was quite strange. 

James and I in KGB gear (don't laugh..we'll shoot)

Small and quirky, but plenty to see and read, the owner seemed intent on a 'personalised' tour and so we had to try on different Soviet hats and weapons, and learn about spy devices from the WWII-era. Quite interesting and a bit of fun, but I am glad that we managed to escape before we were somehow conned into wearing full Hazmat suits and gas masks.

All in all, a beautiful and very fun, though short visit to the Czech Republic!

 

********James to add possible rants and strange comments at a later time so check back soon!*******

Berlin, Ich liebe dich.

So, not a greatly routine start to the blog, but wow, what a week so far.

The flight went particularly smooth, with the only apparent negative being no upgrade. James must have asked every attendant and employee of the airline though so it's not to say we didn't at least try.
*James: that said; the in flight entertainment system was fantastic, I didn't want to get off the aeroplane because I was still watching a movie.

Within seconds of entering the hostel at Berlin, James had already managed to meet half the guests. This is when 'it' started. Once learning the German phrase 'das ist gut, ja!', it became customary for James to say it...every...single...time. This was not limited to friends, nor guests of the hostel but just about anyone in public – trains, bars, the street – it was 'all gut, ja', never failing to gain a confused and a slightly bewildered laughter.
*James: that's true. As well as attempting to speak Czech in Prague would always make them laugh. I found sparking up conversations was a great way to practise new German phrases with either Joel or the local correcting the pronunciations.

Anyway, whilst we had initially decided that we would simply sleep off the jetlag with an early night – that plan was short lived as within about 30mins of checking into the hostel we were at the rooftop bar with friends we had just made from the US, Brazil and some pokey town called Adel...aide. * shudder * (this friendship didn't last long, juuuust kidding!)
*James: These new friendships turned out to be really valuable as for a start we learnt about the great free tour running the next day plus gained some good company.

James waking up to Berlin

Berliner Dom and Museum Island

Pergamon Museum

A bright and new day in Berlin and a beautiful sunny one at that. We head off on an organised free tour of the city with some introduction to the main sites and history of the city. This left us on Museum Island, where we decided to go to the Pergamon Museum, which I had been looking forward to for some time. It certainly did not dissapoint! The main attractions; the Ishtar Gate and the Pergamon Alter were amazing to see first-hand and just blew me away. There was also an additional exhibition open at the time which was a huge 360degree panoramic digital render of ancient Pergamon.
*James: we went on the tour with Rachael, MC and Dan, friends we'd made at the hostel. Dan later joined us the museum.

Gendarmenmarkt

Me in front of the Pergamon Altar!

Babylon Gate of Ishtar

On Thursday we visited something close to my architectural-heart; the Neue Museum – designed by Mies van der Rohe. Not only was the building beautiful but the exhibits housed inside were fascinating and all interesting – all with a tendency to focus on the impact of the National Socialist regime and WWII on art and then it's progress and various eras running to contemporary times.
*James: Our new friend Sarah from France accompanied us this day.

With a decent amount of artistic enlightenment under our belt, we ventured into the Gendarnmenmarkt Christmas Market, which I had been looking forward to (and probably raving about to friends in advance). It did not disappoint – it was just beautiful and traditionally amazing on so many levels! Just look at the photos. Gluhwein and Bratwust of course were consumed as well as a shokolade banane and a large quantity of delicious sugary sweets.
*James: The market was great with all the stalls offering something new and interesting. Joel was pretty keen on me trying some mulled wine which kept you toasty warm.

Gendarmenarkt Christmas Market at night

Christmas Market stalls

Later that night we had a typical Berlin moment – going out with some friends we had made at the hostel; ending up at a very random club hosted in a strange abandoned utility building in an equally strange area of Berlin, Kreuzberg.
*James: before we went out our friend MC invited us out to dinner with her and several others to a Mexican restaurant before we headed to their new hostel for pre-drinks (or for me a 2 hour nap)

Friday was NYE...eve so we slept in late to build up our resistance and then had a more relaxed day of exploring a couple of other areas of the city. We first visited the Reichstag to climb up the glass dome. Even though I had visited this before it was still fantastic and the view was amazing. After this we looked around Potsdamer Platz for a while; with the festive markets still around featuring plenty of good food (in addition to a huge snow slide which James demanded to be able to ride on – he got his way!)

At the top with the Reichstag Dome - very cold!!

After this we visited the Topographie des Terror; a museum which documents the cruel impact the National Socialist regime had on Berlin, Germany and the world as a whole. 

Topographie des Terror - built on the grounds of the SS hq

That evening we hit the hay early and I actually managed to sleep for 12 hours; something I would come to value in the coming day and night....and day.
*James: well, at least Joel was the smart one here. I decided to go on an alternative pub crawl which took me to places as varied as a goth pub; the group I talked too were great insisting I drink plenty of beer and a pub (ping pong king) where everyone plays as they drink!

With NYE came many many fireworks and they started early; people chucking them on the ground and letting them off into the sky from around midday. James and I split up today, each wanting to do different things. I ventured off on an 'alternative city' tour which focused on the development of the underground and street art scene of Berlin post-1990/falling of the wall (we also discussed the following gentrification that has occurred and has commercialised or destroyed much of it already; some would argue they are the same thing), Either way this was a very interesting insight and took us to some intriguing areas of Berlin I hadn't yet discovered.
*James: While Joel was exploring I checked out the Berliner Dom an immensely large Cathedral near central Berlin. Access too the upper balconies then roof lead to very spectacular views indeed.

So, NYE in Berlin was....insane. It will go down as easily one of the most ridiculously intense and genuinely awesome nights of my life. Without really any plan of what to do; myself, James and the rest of our room at the hostel (Mark and Mark from the US, Erika from Italy and Natsuko from Japan) ventured off to the Brandenburg Gate where 2 million or so other people planned to welcome in the new year. We had been warned we would not be able to move and would not enjoy it but I could not disagree any more. We managed to find a great spot with some space close to the gate and with a beer in hand and a variety of sweets waited for the countdown listening to live music and dancing along.

The fireworks were brilliant and the moment was just very surreal standing amongst so many other people having such a great time.

Following this we went back to our hostel bar to meet up with some other friends. The bar was in a very messy state, people on tables, ridiculous music blaring and generally just sh*t everywhere – fantastic really! Also, it continued to pain me when I compared the drink prices to back home; all cocktails here were 3.50euro which works out to be just under $5. Needless to say I exploited this luxury.

Not content with the night so far, we pressed on, heading to a bar in Alexanderplatz. This is generally where it gets pretty hazy for me. A massive dance floor, very solid tunes and similarly priced drinks (perhaps the real killer) extended our time there to the early hours of the morning.
*James: Thankfully we'd bought the last 2 tickets several hours prior which meant we were mercifully able to skip the large queue!!!

Crawling into bed around 6am, I might even have been able to keep going were it not for having to rouse about 9am. This key factor did not make for a pleasant day once I woke up...

Nach Deutscheland!

So, it has certainly been some time since my first visit to Europe - and perhaps even longer since my botched attempt at a travel blog. This time however I swear I shall try my upmost not to be distracted, not to get too worn out and commit myself to write at least every couple of days!

I am leaving very soon, Boxing Day in fact, for Berlin - this time with a travel buddy James. What this means, is we will actually manage to catch the last of the Christmas markets which I am extremely excited about! I can smell the Gluhwein und Bratwurst from here!

I will be traveling to some familar cities, and many more but in a different direction this time. Also, unlike previously I will not be studying - this is all about letting loose and enjoying beautiful Europe in all it's winter wonder.

German Christmas markets, Berlin NYE, the Swiss Alps, skiing in the backdrop of the Matterhorn, many castle's and many more museum's I am sure - together I hope will make for quite the epic trip!

If only I can make sure to document it this time...

Below: The Secession Building, Vienna , Skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland , and Christmas Markets in Berlin!