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Well, its been too long. No WiFi at the current accommodation means this one's on the run cause $8 Euro per hour is really pushing the holiday budget.
Where did I leave off...mmmm... thats right... we were leaving Berlin to head to Leipzig & Dresden. Well as it turns out we spent an extra day in Berlin & then decided to skip L&D for more time in the Czech Republic... but before I cover the finer details of eastern European culture I shall pick up from that lovely Spring time weather in Berlin. After such a fantastic free bike riding tour we thought it wise to go with the same company for a day trip to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. We were not disappointed - the tour guide Desiree, is a native German and had us all enthralled for the 5hr tour. Visiting a concentration camp in spring probably doesn't accurately convey the horrific nature of this place because to be honest it was beautiful. Amongst the rusted barbwire and towering grey walls birds were twittering and the flowers were in full bloom across the velvety ocean of grass. Very little of the original building remains and even one part that that
been re-constructed was recently burnt by neo-nazis. A new tidbit of info we hadn’t known before was that when the Soviet army took over the camp in 1945 they kept it running, using it to confine their own political prisoners and captured Nazi soldiers. During that time a massive towering shrine was constructed to commemorate the fallen comrades who died at the hands of the Nazi’s. The tower was adorned with the symbolic red triangles that the Nazi's used to identify communist prisoners. The statue of comrades being rescued from the camp at the base of the tower apparently went through many design iterations - Stalin wasn’t happy with his rescued prisoners being accurately depicted as emaciated and weak so in true propaganda style the statue now standing shows a soldier rescuing a couple of Arnold Schwarzeneger’s from the camp. “Sachsenhausen - where the propaganda machine never stops”. After the reunification of Germany considerable effort was taken to ensure a suitable memorial was built to remember all the people who lost their lives there.
After studying John Le Carre’s classic cold war novel “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” it was fascinating to peer into the very
café where Le Carre’ put pen to paper. Inspector Clueso immediately came to mind when I thought of those east and west spies staring across the wall, eyeing each other off through binoculars. Family and friends divided by the wall would wave to each other across the wall from their apartment windows. Obviously nothing was learnt from old King Soloman when they came up with the brilliant idea of divvying up the city amongst the war victors. What a shamozzle. During our jawnt through German history one striking similarity came to mind with concepts like creating a constant state of emergency and introducing new laws that give great power to the head of state. We can’t help feeling like little has be learnt from the whole Nazi experience.
After enjoying such lovely weather in Berlin, Mark and I were really looking forward to hitting the frequently raved about Prague. We jumped on a train with a bunch of Aussie blokes from our Berlin hostel who were also heading to Prague. With beer & Aussie-isms flowing, the trip just flew past. Just before the Czech border we passed this gorgeous riverside town and suddenly the cabin of guys in their
early 20s started discussing real estate and houses in Germany. We were all captivated by the beauty and drifting off into our own little German chalet pipe dreams… that is until we crossed the border into relics from a communist past. Our first impressions of the Czech Republic were not necessarily complimentary but we were prepared to give it a go. Only when we had to navigate the local train station and find our way to the hostel did we realize how good we had it in Berlin. English is not widespread in Czech and as we were to discover the local residents of Prague are not necessarily pleasant to tourists (or not just pleasant - not sure). Despite the shaky start, the incredible beauty of the place prevailed. It is gorgeous and if those pesky tourists just herded away from all the monuments for just a second maybe I could of captured at least a pixel of its beauty. It was like locust season and it hadn’t even peaked yet! At times it really did feel like Disneyland but a late night stroll after the locusts had turned in revealed a grandeur like nothing I had seen before. One
of the most amazing moments of the trip so far was standing in a beautiful square listening to live classical music drifting out of a second story window staring up at the stars. It was magical.
After a few days in Prague the next stop was Cesky Krumlov - another destination that came highly recommended. Now Mark and I could live here. It had all the beauty of Prague but on a smaller scale and it was all so quaint and chilled out. And best of all, the locals were friendly. I had to pat myself on the back for discovering our abode as our room looked out over the town and the host was a real gem. He organized all our day trips and was constantly trying to be of service and he could cook a mean breakfast. Definitely could have stayed there longer than 3 days.
Right now I’m in a café in Nuremberg but I won’t delve into that just yet cause this has got to be enough of an eye bashing for the party faithful. So from the magical land of Cesky I will bid adieu.
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We love the Busker but we all thought it was Mark> topping up the trip funds your blog is great and in formative. you should be writing maybe travel, this weekend the seahs begin their epic adventure to Coral bay and Darwin. theyare taking my caravan and a tent to coral bay then returning and flying to darwin where they will hire a large campervan. Lara has booked a tour to Exmouth to swim with the Whale sharks we are all well except Jass who has a cold hope the rest dont get it! Fleur is in the throughs of buying a new car maybe a subaru Forrester my text are getting better can you tell me the cost of having roaming on the mobile as Bronwyn and i may get it between us while we are in Alaska. Fleur is going to Melbourne for a workshop then on to sydney for a day its her first time in melbourne and your not going to be there? However caleb and fleur will be over for a holiday from the 15 to the 28 of july and may be around for your birthday. hope all is well . keep up the travel blog isn't technology great LOL lots of love Mum Fleur and Caleb xxxxxxxxoooooooo