Jeremy & Zoe's Eastern Europe Escapade

2006-05-11T17:28:00.000+10:00

Final morning in Dortmund-

As they say in the classics...all good things must come to an end...and this has been definitely the case for Dortmund.

We have had a luxurious week of long breakfasts...going for walks...drinking beer on the terrace...and getting to know family that has always been on the other side of the world. I even got to know the Hooper family tree in greater detail.

We had a wonderful Sunday night at the theatre listening to Jim play his harp in an operetta...which was a bit of a challenge because the dialogue was in German...but it was awesome to see Jim from high up plucking away!

On Monday we followed Dad's advice and went for a walk through the forest and ended up with the most divine cakes...Dad- we have taken photos for you.
We also did the trip of a life time by visiting Hypermart!!! (Metro in German)
This supermarket is purely insane!!! It is double the size of Ikea...and 2 storeys...I have never seen anything like it...especially the sweets and alcohol sections. We had a ball with Jim doing his weekly shopping!

On Tuesday we then went on a day trip with Flick to Neandertal...which is the home of the Neanderthal man. They have a great museum that explains human evolution and the history of the neanderthal of the area...they found neanderthal bones that dated back thousands of years. We finished up across the road, by a river, having a beautiful picnic in the forest.

Wednesday was spent at home relaxing with Jim, playing cards, doing some cooking, planting flowers and vegetables for summer...and of course...drinking beer!! I have discovered Uncle Jim likes a beer on his day's off!

And TODAY...Zoe is grumpy and sad that we are leaving...as I am.
Jim has taken Flick to the station...and then he will drive us to Dusseldorf airport so that we can get on our flight to Dubai.
The weather for Dubai basically looks like a Melbourne summers day...39 degrees and some humidity.
For our 1 day in Dubai we are planning on going to Wild Wadi's Water park that has fast waterslides and the 'Tunnel of Doom'.
We will then venture into the air conditioning of some shopping centres for dinner and get back to the hotel so we can be up for our 10am flight on Saturday morning.
Thank-you to Phil & Cath for picking us up from the airport at 5.30am...much appreciated!!

Finally we would like to recap on our top 5 highlights in no specific order-
1. Berlin- Just go there!
2. Auschwitz-Birkenau: What can you say about a place like that.
3. Dortmund- Catching up and getting to know family and German living
4. Salzburg- Very cute city..especially for people who like little alleyways and the Sound of Music
5. City of Krakow- An up and coming city that had friendly people and great beer!

This will most likely be our final blog for our Eastern European Escapades.
Thank-you all for your comments!! Zo and I have really enjoyed reading all your comments and we look forward to catching up with you all when we touch back down in Melbourne.

As they say in German...Tschüss! (Goodbye)
xxoo

2006-05-06T20:52:00.000+10:00

Dortmund-

Hi all...well after a 45 minute train delay we finally made it to Dortmund from Berlin, to the lovely meeting of a familiar face in my Aunty Flick.
It was great to finally get to a destination and not be met by beggars...people trying to sell us a room...or even trying to work out...now...how do we get to our hostel???

We spent the first evening having a traditional aussie bbq with NZ lamb over some excellent Dortmund beer...Uncle Jim has told me that Dortmund beer is the best in Europe...which is a common phrase I have heard in Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and Berlin. I must admit though...the beer is excellent and the quality assured process has been met.

Barren & Jennings Family- Flick, Jim & the girls pass on their love and hello's.

We have had a very lazy first morning which has been a great change from packing our backpack, surveying the map and hitting the tourist destinations.
Today we are just lazing around home over a very long breakfast, and might even go for a swim at the pool with Vanessa & Nellie this afternoon. It seems we have brought the lovely weather with us again...low 20's.
Tomorrow evening we have the fortune of going to listen to Jim play the harp at an operetta...he say's it is crappy theatre for the plebs!!! Hahahaa...sorry for people who do not realise- my uncle is a professional harpist for the Dortmund Orchestra...and my aunty is a social worker...who has just finished up for 11 weeks...so it will be lovely to have her company for the week. Vanessa our cousin is 14 years old..and are other cousin Nellie is 25 and a great artist!! (they also have a 11 year old cat called Ginger)

Over the next couple of days we will do some day trips...Flick has suggested Cologne & Neanderthal which is the original home of the Neanderthal...other than that...things will happen when they happen.

Dad- Jim laughed when suggesting the idea of going to Hypermart...he said "do you really want to???"
The whole family did agree about the cake tavern though.

Any way...must keep moving and we will keep you updated.

PS> Ben & Richard- Go the mighty Dee's!!!
Richard- Lynden Dunn seemed to have a ripper first game...and Matthew Bate racking up 21 possessions!!

2006-05-05T17:40:00.000+10:00

Final Day in Berlin-

Hi all...well we have finally reached our last day in Berlin and we are definitely sad to say goodbye.

Thank-you all for all your comments...it is great to see people really enjoying our blog...but more importantly us keepin ing touch on what is happening in Melbourne and our drive-way in Parkside Street!!

Our wrap up of Berlin yesterday was visiting the Deutsch Technik Mueseum...trains, planes & automobiles really...it was a nice change from the museums we had visited previously.
We then made our way over to the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum of Contemporary Art which was fantastic. It was great to see some Andy Warhol paintings in real life.
We finally walked our way to the Reichstag, which is the German Parliament and has an amazing glass domed roof that you can walk up. Took some more panoramic photos from the top..which must be the 50th panoramic shot of Berlin!!! Too many roof tops in Berlin!

We are about to head to the train at Zoo Garden train station and catch our first fast train (ICE) to meet my aunty Flick at Dortmund station...it will be great to finally have a home to stay at..and catch up with family!!

Well...it is officially good-bye from Berlin.

We will keep in touch from Dortmund...love to you all.

PS> Leanna- great to hear from you...Wayne & I are always working hard...we are able to multi-task!! Hahahaha

Phil- Thanks for keeping us up to date with state politics...my German has been pretty good really...conversationally no...but asking for 2 train tickets...yes!

Dad- We will definitely ask Jim to take us to Hypermart and walk us through that forest

Ben- I will take comission if you want me to advertise your blog on my blog...my marketing manager will be in touch shortly...go the Dee's for tonight!!

2006-05-04T00:42:00.000+10:00

Berlin-

Hi all,

Well we have just come back from a big day of walking around Berlin.

Yesterday was a busy day as well in that we spent the morning touring Charlottenburg Palace...Dad you are right...it was definitely worth a visit...and we had a lovely walk through the Palace gardens.
We then ventured to the Olympic Stadium that was built during Hitler's reign...and where Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics...we got to see the outside...but the rest was closed unfortunately...but it looked very impressive!! I think they are playing the World Cup Final there...any soccer buffs I am sure will correct me if I am wrong.
Last night we visited the TV tower and saw Berlin from 203m which was very impressive.

Today we have visited the Pergamon Muesum which showcases near Eastern antiquities and ancient Islamic artifacts.

We then made our way to an area known as Topography of Terror which is the region where the Gestapo was based during WWII. Very interesting.
We finally walked our way back through an area known as Tiergarten which was lovely considering it is 23 degrees today. That walk I reckon was close to 5km.

We are finishing our time here in Berlin and will be heading to my family in Dortmund on Friday.

I will make 1 final Berlin post prior to our departure on Friday.

PS> Judith- Congratulations on your first post and thanks for passing our link to Catherine & Christian. (Hi to you both as well!)

2006-05-02T16:28:00.000+10:00

Berlin-

Hi all...well we have settled into Berlin life at our awesome Hostel in Berlin...it is called Citystay. We are in direct view of the Fehrstehn Tower (Massive TV tower seen from everywhere in Berlin). We are only a 2 minute walk to the train station that can feed us out anywhere around Berlin.
I must admit we are still getting our heads around the Berlin train system. The signage is not brillant and we have jumped on...and then jumped off very quickly...a couple of trains.

Yesterday we spent the first half of the day at the Berlin Zoo in glorious weather which was a nice change from walking through gothic churches and museums!!
We then moved onto the new Judisches Mueseum (Jewish muesum) which was simply amazing, where the architect has used the building to emphasise the exhibits. We then had dinner in a groovy part of town.

Today we are off the to the Palace and the Olympic Stadium. Thanks Dad for the ideas...we have definitely got those sites on our itinerary.
Anyway...Zoe has come down for breakfast so you will hear from us soon.

Hope is all well with you all!!

2006-05-01T04:13:00.000+10:00

Berlin-

Hi all...we have made it to Berlin...and yesterday the journey between Prague turned out to be interesting in that the hotel I booked through the WOTIF website (cheap hotels website)...ended up being a challenge to get to by public transport! After 2 hours of training...busing...and walking...we ended up at our beautiful hotel to discover that they had over booked...they asked if it would be OK to transfer us to the city Berlin Hotel...Mercedes Benz transfer at their cost...and we said..."oh...if you have to." We arrived to a beautiful 4 star hotel...with buffet breakfast this morning...all for 57 euro...not too bad really.

Today we have commenced the touristy expedition of Berlin...what a place!!! We will definitely need the full 5 days to see everything. We ventured out on the bus and saw the main attractions...Brandenburg Gate, Parliament House, TV Tower and Postdam Platz. In the afternoon we went and visited Check Point Charlie and had an interesting walk through the Checkpoint Charlie Muesum.

Over the next few days we will be vsiting the zoo and other places. We will keep you all updated.

2006-04-29T01:50:00.000+10:00

Final Night in Prague!

Well all our praises re the weather (of the jeans and tshirt variety) have gone down the proverbial...we had a lovely daytrip to Plzen (aka Pilsner....brewery!) and even though I said to Jeremy "you sure you don't want to take your jumper just in case?" he didn't, and guess what? the sky darkened, a mist appeared, and the temperature plummeted!!

But first of all, thankyou to all who have sent us helpful suggestions re accomodation in berlin - we managed to find some. the problem was that monday is a public holiday here apparently and saturday night was chockers. so we booked a hostel from sunday night onwards and the ever resourceful jeremy found some gig at a hotel (wotif) on the internet for saturday night. So we are sorted.

Two days ago we went to Kutna Hora on a day trip with a tour company. We saw the 'bone church' - no kidding, there's the bones of 40,000 people done up into spectacular sculptures and chandeliers etc - don't worry, we purchased a camera 'licnese' and took heaps of photos. It was nothing short of incredibly bizarre. Had a lovely lunch with the group in a great pub and then ventured back to Prague.

Today, as mentioned, Jeremy and I navigated ourselves to pretty little town, Pilsner (Plzen), about hour and a half away by train from here to go and make sure the beer was up to standard and brewed properly. The Pilsner Urquell brewery has been operational since 1842 or something - through two world wars, communism and the velvet revolution - so yeah, the taste is good, as we discovered in the underground cellars which incorporated a nine km network or tunnels to store the hundreds of barrells of beer.

We have now ventured back to Prague for our final night and head off to Berlin for five days tomorrow.

Love to all xx

2006-04-27T16:51:00.000+10:00

Prague-

Hi all...well Zoe had a great birthday yesterday...but unfortunately the horse riding didn't come off because the person didn't come...oh well...we ended up taking the time to visit the Jewish area of Prague known as Josefov...we walked through the Jewish cemetry and many different synagogues which was very interesting to gain a better understanding of the history of the Jewish community in Prague.

After this we had a piece of birthday of cake in a cute little bakery in a side alleyway.
For Zoe's birthday dinner we went to a nice little restaurant in a courtyard off the old city sqaure where Zoe was able to sip on a strawberry daiquires...and she had a beautiful salmon crepe for dinner.

For our last 2 days in Prague we intend to do some day trips to Kutna Hora to visit the bone church and then tomorrow we will take a train to Pilsner to do a tour of the original Pilsner beer factory. Yummmm!!

We then in theory head to Berlin...which has been our first obstacle in respect to accommodation...Berlin Hostels are booked out!! We have even attempted to go via Dresden...but they are also booked out.

I am sure we will find something!

Any way...breakfast beckons...so you will hear from us soon.

2006-04-25T23:12:00.000+10:00

Prague-

Hi all...well we have defintely settled into the hurly burly, touristy nature of Prague. The crowds here have been nothing of what we have previously experienced in either Krakow or Vienna...but we are still making the most of a very beautiful city!

We have spent the last day and a half having a roam through the Castle area and Old City area of Prague. We had a tour through the Palace and numerous either sites which form the Castle Area.

We have also worked out that beer is cheaper than water...which is very unfortunate...NOT...so we have had many refreshing ales in pubs and boardwalk cafe's.

It is Zoe's birthday tomorrow, so I have arranged an afternoon of horse riding for her in the south of Prague. All I can say is that she is very excited.

Over the next few days we will also visit the Jewish area of Prague and might do a day trip to another Castle area in the south west of Prague...we have heard from many tourists that the Bone Church is a must. (Thanks for the heads up Suz)
We then head to Berlin either Friday or Saturday.

Hear from us soon.

2006-04-24T01:37:00.000+10:00

Last Day in Krakow-

Yesterday we visited Auschwitz, a german concentration camp in southern poland built specifically to house polish prisoners (intellectuals) and then 'renovated' to accommodate Hitler & co's 'final solution' - to exterminate the Jewish population in Europe.

Obviousy this was a rather sobering afternoon. The place of the worst massacre in human history where over 1.5 million people were murdered (90% Jewish) was a truly mind-blowing experience.

Moving into something more positive, highlights of krakow included visiting Wawel castle and enjoying many a polish beer in the fabulous town square.

We have now arrived in Prague after a seven hour train trip, and we should be here for the next six nights or so.

Love to all, catch you soon!! xx

2006-04-22T00:28:00.000+10:00

Krakow, Poland

Hi all,

Well we said a sad farewell to Vienna yesterday and got onto an early train and made our LONG way to Krakow.

It was mean't to be a fairly direct journey but due to the high level of the Danube River we ended up having to go via Bratislava in Slovakia...then back in to the Czech Republic...and then finally up into Krakow.

Krakow is a much different place to that of Vienna!! We were meeted by various people offering us accomodation and asking us for money. The initial part of the city when getting off at the station is very dirty...but once you get past that and into the city sqaure...they city is quite beautiful...and it still has its medieval facades, streets, court yards and interiors. St Mary's Cathedral was testiment to this.

Today we have spent the day walking around the city and visiting Wawel Castle which was the Royal Palace up until the 18th Century.
It has also been a great opportuntiy to ensure the quality of the local beer...which seems to be up to standard!!

Tomorrow we have booked a guided tour of Auschwitz...which is going to be an experience...what experience we are not sure!

We then catch a train early Sunday morning from Krakow to Prague. This will be another all day journey in the train for us...which has been up until this point...very comfortable.

We hope everything is going well down under and you will hear from us both soon.

2006-04-19T17:58:00.000+10:00

Budapest & Salzburg-

Hi all...well what a couple of days!!

We thought we were going to Salzburg on a guided tour on Monday...but we woke up at 6am to discover that this had been cancelled.

We had a look at the train time table and discovered that a train was going to Budapest...so we thought why not!!

After a 3 hour trip we ended up in downtown Pest and had a look around.
St Stephens Basilica was the highlight and other scenes we saw was the Castle area and the Danube...this river makes the Yarra look like a creek in the drought!!

We did some general sight seeing and headed back to Vienna by train late Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday,we were able to get ourselves booked into the tour of Salzburg and it was lovely to spend the day with 6 other people from the US, Spain & Australia.

We visited the Lakes region which is famous for the Sound of Music...but more importantly the backdrop of the alps!!
About an hour later we arrived in Salzburg and had a interesting guided tour of the old & new cities. The various passage ways that feed into the market squares were stunning!!

We visited churches, the birthplace of Mozart and then headed home at about 4.30pm.

Today is our final day in Vienna...so we are about to head in the city for the final time to visit the Medical History Museum and the home of Siegmund Freud. (Zoe is getting very impatient...and wants to go RIGHT now!!)
But I am going to finish this blog for you all!

Tomorrow we depart for Poland for 3 nights at 9.08am.

You will hear from us soon!!

2006-04-17T02:41:00.000+10:00

Easter Day here inVienna-

Hi all,

Well...what a very busy couple of days Zoe and I have had in Vienna!

Yesterday we did a quick sightseeing tour of Vienna to get familiar with the local landmarks...and we ended up by accident doing a tour of the Vienna State Opera House...Amazing!!

We also made a decision to stay here for a longer period because there is so much to do.

Today we had the amazing Easter Sunday experience at St Stephens Cathedral in the heart of the Vienna with full orchestra and choir...thanks for the tip Dad!

After this we ventured through Mozarts home and had a look through a couple of Museums.

So what is ahead for Jeremy and Zoe.
Tomorrow we are doing a guided day trip to Salzburg...and then another day in Vienna...then a day trip to Budapest on the train.

We then head to Krakow at 9.08am Thursday...and get there by 3.15pm.

Hope all is going well in Aussieland and we will update you soon.

2006-04-15T00:49:00.000+10:00

Arrival in Vienna!!!

Hi all,

We thought we would take advantage of free internet access at the hostel here in Vienna.

The trip was bloody long...but Wayne...we got the emergency seats...which made it far more bearable!!

The room we have is nice and will do for the 3 days that we are here.

Sightseeing beckons for the next 2 days!!

We will keep u all updated as things come up.

Love Jeremy and Zoe

2006-04-13T09:02:00.000+10:00

Day 1:

Hi all,

Well the time has come to say goodbye...

Zo and I are frantically packing before we meet Wayne & LJ at Richmond to take us to the airport for our 9.30pm take-off to Vienna via Dubai.

We will do our best to keep you all updated through this blog...so don't delete this hyperlink!!

Just so you have a snapshot of our trip we will be taking the following route-

Vienna-Bratislava-other parts of Slovakia-Cracow (Poland)-Prague-Berlin-Dortmund (North West Germany to catch-up with my family)-Dubai-Melbourne.

Keep well and have a very happy & safe Easter!

Much love to you all

Jeremy & Zoe