Saturday 22nd August Birkenau then Auschwitz We are lost for words today to describe how we are going to spend our day.’Visiting’ or’ sightseeing’ the death camps at two of the most notorious places that WW2 created is definitely not appropriate. The weather has changed overnight as expected and a cool front has passed through but it hasn’t yet brought the promised rain and we hope that it holds off for the day as we shall be out in the open. We shall hold off leaving our hotel until later in the morning as the crowds at Auschwitz reportedly are greatest between 9am and 3pm when bus loads of people that travel from all over converge for their guided ‘tours’ of mainly Auschwitz which is now termed a’museum’.In fact as an individual you have to join ... read more

Thursday August 20th Another day,another border............Poland The heat wave continues and it is predicted to be over 30C today so we are pleased that the drive today as we head further east shouldn’t take too long.Our destination is just across the border in Poland although we do have to drive across a fair amount of the Chzech Republic to get there.Google Maps have given us several options avoiding toll roads of course and we have selected the shortest in both distance and time not really knowing what there might be to see on the way. First call though is at Kaufland supermarket.I had threatened to remove all the luggage from RR and load her up with beer .At the prices for beer in this country it is a wonder that we haven’t seen more drunks.Perhaps making ... read more

Tuesday 18th August Some local sightseeing in Beroun After a full day yesterday in Prague we have decided today to stay in Beroun and do some local sightseeing as well as catching up on some washing,banking etc and head back to Prague tomorrow for a walking tour of the sights we still want to see. After a lazy breakfast and sorting out some paperwork we took a walk up the hill behind the town to see three bears that used to feature in a childrens TV series made in the republic that are now housed in an enclosure as they can’t be returned to the wild. It was a short and steep climb but we were rewarded when we got there as one of the bears was outside although he wasn’t active and we had to ... read more

Sunday 16th August Into the land of the Skoda We have been wracking our brains as to the year we owned a Skoda car.It was our first car after we were married and when it was time to trade up we sold it foir the same amount that we brought itr for!!We did have to replace an axle,a front windscreen and put in a reconditioned motor though in the couple of years we owned it.Leigh might remember trips in the grey Skoda with the engine in the rear but Erin would have been just a baby so it must have been the early eighties.The Skoda was ranked just above the Lada but it was definitely more comfortable to travel in than the Lada!!(just) Today we are heading for the country that New Zealand used to trade ... read more

Our usual routine of an early morning visit to Kaufland supermarket to get our breakfast needs gets our day underway again.And today is our last day of sightseeing in Berlin.The weather today is brilliantly fine and ithe temperature is expected to be in the upper 20's so we shall go prepared and dress accordingly. We plan to walk between the sights we haven't seen so far over the past two days and we will start with the Documentation Centre. Our 48 hr pass isn't quite finished yet and as we are ready to catch an earlier train than the past two days we will still be able to use it for the trip into the city. We needed to change trains once to get to the Documentation Centre.It is here where a lot of the history ... read more