This is what buildings do in Brussels

Amsterdam, not what I expected

We stayed in Amsterdam for 4 days and managed to avoid most of the 'tourist' attractions.

After an overnight bus from Berlin, we stumbled into our hostel to be told our room wasn't ready. Not exactly the end of the world but we were meeting our friends in Utrecht and we would have rathered a few hours sleep!

We met Ruud and Margot during Nepali New Year celebrations in Bhaktapur. We all got on brilliantly and they suggested we come and visit them while we were on our tour of Europe. Little did they know we would actually take them up on the offer!

We had a wonderful day with them, we didn't see many sights of Utrecht, there was too much to talk about! We did however play many board games and ate lots of traditional Dutch food. An excellent day!

Spurred on by being cycled round Utrecht, the following day we rented bikes and cycled round Amsterdam. We kidded ourselves we looked like locals, but Martyn gave the game away when he nearly went through a red light and had a mini argument with a bus! Nonetheless, we had fun seeing sights we wouldn't necessarily seen sticking to the guide book. We got thoroughly lost and just took in the beauty of the city (oh, and as you know I've converted to bikes...).

After the seriousness of Poland and Germany it was nice to relax in our ignorance of The Netherlands' history. We avoided all museums and just strolled through the Christmas market and around town to see what we could find.

We weren't disappointed; we walked towards the sound of trumpets and found a man in a tiny boat with an organ and a trumpet driving in circles playing the Amelie theme tune. There was no further explanation...

Of course, eventually we ended up in The Red Light district but only for a quick 20 minute walk, it was a bit early so there weren't many hookers (the Dutch's term, not mine) out in the windows. One lady even had a cup of coffee and a dressing gown as there wasn't much footfall yet. It was all a bit surreal, and I just walked round giggling, not quite knowing if it's ok to make eye contact.

In Berlin we met Rhiannon who was also travelling round Europe. We got talking and it turns out we both like the Hunger Games. She persuaded me to go the cinema, but Martyn wasn't keen. Luckily The Hobbit had also been released so we did what any normal couple would do. We went to see our two seperate films at the same time. Slight drawback, they were in two seperate cinemas! A slightly odd time, but we both got to see the film we wanted and I didn't have to sit through a film j didn't want to see! :)

In the end I was pleasantly surprised by Amsterdam. Through avoiding stag dos, brothels and drunkeness I think we had a lovely time. I'd like to come back and are what else there is to offer...

I've converted!

After the Buxton Episode of 2012 I can't say I was all that keen to get on a bike again, but then we came to The Netherlands, the home of the bicycle!

My reintroduction to bikes was through the lovely Margot and Ruud, as we met up at Utrecht train station Margot asked me if I'd ever hopped on before. I had no idea what she was asking and hoped it wasn't what I thought she meant. Turns out it was exactly what I thought: you sit side saddle on the pannier rack of the bike while the cyclist just goes like normal. 

The first time I hopped on I made the bike really wobbly, I kept moving as every car, cyclist and pedestrian went past. It was a very weird experience. I did get used to it, but it didn't stop me gripping on for dear life!

We also rented bikes the following day to get a view of Amsterdam. We were given city bikes, they were big and chunky and I fell in love instantly. These bikes looked nothing like the intimidating racing bikes or the functional mountain bikes. This bike looked like a bike for a girl, I could look stylish while cycling round town (in my mind at least...).

We had a wonderful day cycling through the city. There are several beautiful parks and of course it is flat!

Just in case I got too carried away, the weather turned on us just as we were cycling back to the hire place and we got soaked!

Even so, I can see a beautiful bike in my not to distant future...

Berlin

Arriving in Berlin after spending the best part if a week in Poland gave me mixed feelings. We saw and read about some atrocious things that happened throughout ww2 and I don't think I wanted to hear of any more.

As the guide from our walking tour said, Berlin is the centre of the most scrutinized 12 years of history. Thankfully this tour we took part in gave us a brief introduction to Berlin, it's history and some of its sights. In turn this gave us direction for what we wanted to see.

We bought the Berlin Museum Card, definitely a recommended purchase! We managed to recoup our money after 1 day and it was valid for 3. Overall I think we saw 8 museums, all of them 'free' thanks to the card. We were able to get to grips with the effect the war had on Germany, followed by the East/West divide and the Wall. 

It's amazing to think all this history happened so recently. Yet to look at the city itself you would be none the wiser. It has bounced back with gusto; attracting young artistic types who have in turn added more youth to the city. Don't for a minute think that this means Berlin has ignored the past. On the contrary I've never been in a city with so many memorials for so many reasons.

The newest memorial is colloquially called the 'Holocaust Memorial', it was designed by an American who didn't want to give a description of why he made what he did. This gives the structure an ambiguous nature that is left open to personal interpretation. On the outside you can see many concrete blocks, over 1000 in total, probably 1x3 metres in width and length, but all different heights. As you walk into the stucture the floor starts to slope downwards revealing the different heights until they are towering above you.

Martyn and I had different interpretations from our experience.

He saw the blocks as graves, with the small ones representing children and the larger ones representing adults. 

I saw the blocks as the Nazis. Initially looking across the memorial it doesn't look all that big but then as you walk in they soon tower over you and you lose all sense of scale as the blocks next to you are all you can see. I thought that was similar to how the Nazi party came about. Initially there were small problems, not all of them known until their presence became so huge it was impossible to know what to do.

Conversely, Hitler's bunker and the place of his death has no memorial or marker of any kind. It's a car park just down the road. It was only when Berlin held the world cup and people started ringing doorbells to see if it was round there that the council decided to put up a sign, saying yes this is the bunker but we don't want a memorial. (it's the post by the grass...)

I'm not going to run through all the museums. That will bore you to tears. Some of the things we read felt a bit repetitive as they covered some of the same subjects but it was interesting to see different view points. The Jewish Museum was particularly interesting. The subject matter wasn't really new information but the building was constructed in such a way that it was specifically designed to confuse and disorientate. Well it did that!

After all the upsetting things we'd seen and read about we decided to treat ourselves to some new jeans! It feels so nice to wear clothes that aren't baggy! :)

Berlin was an interesting city, but I think at heart I am a country/small town girl so the sheer size of the city overwhelmed me. I think we saw a great deal of things but it was still only the tip of the iceberg.

Our time in Warsaw

There was a blizzard.

So we had cake.

Szczecin!

We've visited three different cities in Poland; Krakow, Warsaw and Szczecin. The most cities we've chosen to visit in any country in Europe. We also had a special visit as we chose to see our good friends Greg and Lidia (everyone say hi!), we met Greg in school many years ago and he moved to Poland with his fiancee. It was really lovely to get the opportunity to see them in their home in Szczecin (pronounced Sh-che-chin).

After the size of Krakow and Warsaw it was nice to get to Szczecin, which was smaller but by no means small. It was a bit of a trial getting there! We got the overnight train, leaving Warsaw at 11pm and due to arrive at Szczecin at 6am the following morning, but 6am came and went, so did 7am... Our train sat still for two and a half hours in the middle of Poland, followed by the conductor chucking everyone off the train into the snowy morning. Turns out the train had broken down and we had to wait for rescue! The next train showed up and we started along again, hoping that the final stop wasn't too far away. At 11am we rolled into Szczecin station. Sigh!!!

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time with Greg and Lidia. Lidia was very keen for us to see all the sights and taste all the foods, snacks and drinks she could find. Three days was not enough time for all the food we ate! We walked through the old town, and down the river, stopping every now and then to see more beautiful things.

We've stood on the famous steps outside the main museum, where, during WW2, Hitler stood to wave to the crowd. The tradition has changed over the years to become standing in the place of Hitler to mock him rather than emulate him.

On visiting the rebuilt cathedral, it was destroyed during the war, we got a mini tour from an over-zealous priest. He was very proud of his cathedral, and when he found out we were foreign he wanted us to see all the interesting places; such as the musician who loved the cathedral so much he wanted his heart to be buried there when he died. His wish was granted and there is a small urn visible in the wall next to the organ at the back. :)

Martyn got a cooking lesson from Lidia, they made delicious potato and cheese dumplings. I'm now expecting them when we go home! In fact I think a lot of our cupboard will look like a polish larder with the amount of tasty food we've tried!

Greg and Lidia were wonderful hosts. I would recommend Hotel Lidia to anyone! :) They gave us a nice little holiday from our holiday and we can't wait to see them again soon!

The Other Side of the Curtain

We've been in Eastern Europe for the last couple of weeks, starting in Bulgaria, moving to Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, and now we're in Poland.

Jess has been blogging loads, and in another vain attempt to catch up, I thought I'd try to sum up some of the things we've seen, learnt and experienced.

Things we have seen

When we were in India - particularly Rajasthan - we joked that everywhere we visited had a city palace (with displays of musical instruments) and a giant fort just outside town (with a formidable display of weapons).

We've had a similar experience in our travels in European cities - from Sofia to Bratislava, Budapest to Prague - everywhere seems to have had a beautiful old town, with market square, complete with Christmas market. Outside the town (over a river, often the Danube) is a castle on a hill.

This has been great to see - there's something really nice about walking around a cobbled square with a glass of hot wine, eating a sausage. Also, the cities so far have had the highest concentration of pretendable-statues I've ever seen. We have taken a boat-load of pictures pretending to be statues. For enthusiasts, Bratislava is really good for this. Punching above its weight.

Things we have learnt

I'll be honest, my knowledge of the history of some places we've visited, particularly Bulgaria and Romania, was patchy at best before we went there. It has been really interesting to learn about the sometimes painful history of countries I couldn't reliably point out on a map 6 months ago. We've been going to plenty of museums to learn about the places we're visiting - I'd particularly recommend the Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest (really, really good) and the Regional Ethnographic Museum  in Plovdiv (small and quirky). I feel like we've discovered the Ethnographic Museum since we started travelling. It is really interesting to see what everyday life was like throughout history in different countries, and notice the similarities and differences.

Things we have experienced

Jess has already blogged about her experience of visiting the Auschwitz Museum; I haven't much to add to her thoughts. But that was definitely an experience, and I thought the feeling I got walking around will stay with me more than the particular information we learnt as we visited the exhibitions. We've visited a few museums and places in cities dedicated to previous atrocities: the mass grave behind the Great Synagogue in Budapest, the Museum of Communism in Prague, and numerous monuments to wars past. Before our trip is out I'm sure we'll experience more of this kind of thing - visiting Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, or the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam for example.

Next week we will have left Eastern Europe behind, and will be in Berlin for five or so days. I know we won't have left behind the experiences of visiting some truly harrowing places, and being reminded of the some of the worst things humans have ever done to each other.

All that said, we've had a really nice time in Eastern Europe. Strolling through the beginnings of Christmas markets, visiting some great museums, and eaten some fantastic food (sausages) : )

Auschwitz

We visited the museum of Auschwitz today.

It's located in a town called Oswiecim; the name was changed by the Nazis when they decided to move in. A fact I didn't know, and it explained why the lady at the ticket counter huffed when we ordered bus tickets. We hopped aboard the minibus, along with a lot of other English speaking tourists, and I don't think anyone really knew what to expect.

On arriving to the actual site I was surprised to see that the town extended right up to, and around, the border of the camp. There was a childrens' play area in sight from the barbed wire. Life goes on.

We chose not to have a guided or audio tour, we wanted to see things at our own pace. Just stepping out onto the grounds was a strange experience. A coach load of tourists had just arrived and so a mass of people tried to fit through the doors leading outside. There seemed to be strange parallels between what was happening in front of us and what had happened all those years ago. Walking through the crowd, while I was wearing a lot of layers and a thick coat, I could still feel the cold and it just made me think of how absolutely terrifying it would have been to march into the camp wearing nothing but pajamas in the bitter cold.

Some of the blocks had been turned into mini exhibitions and we went into a few to see different aspects of both the camp and the war itself. The first block spoke of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". The exhibition outlined the progression of the initial plans to the creation of gas chambers and the expansion to create Auschwitz II at Birkenau, the death camp.

It was horrifying to read, especially as there were many bureaucratic records and reports of how many people had been killed, for what reason and with which method. There was list after list of names, some with crosses through, some with a giant tick next to each name. It all meant the same thing.

It all got too much for me when we went to the exhibition regarding what happened afterwards. There were rugs on display that had been made by the German officers, but after forensic analysis it showed they were made from female human hair. Yes, human hair. From the people they killed. The inhumanity and disconnect shown by the people who made these items overwhelmed me and I burst into tears there and then.

Following this we went round to a patch of land that had been used as an execution ground. When the Nazis realised that the war was lost they hastily took everything down to hide the evidence, but it was reconstructed by the museum. There were memorials donated from many countries in Europe placed round the area.

The final exhibit we saw showed us Block 11, the prison block. Political prisoners were sent, tried and often executed here. There were many dorms in the building that were labelled "habitable" in comparison with the cramped, dirty cells in the basement used as punishments. In stark contrast was the SS officer's study in the first room. It was a perfect office space, with a large table, comfortable chairs and a large window. It is really hard to fathom how the soldiers/officers felt when they were treating their fellow man with such disdain and cruelty.

Birkenau contains the majority of the gas chambers, it was purpose-built for execution. Auschwitz has the first gas chamber, which was also rebuilt by the museum to allow people to walk inside. Walking through all you see is grey concrete. Even so it was overwhelming, a room half the size of a tennis court was routinely filled with over 2000 people, locked and filled with gas.

Over the course of the war, across the two sites, over 1.1 million people were killed by the Nazis. This figure is just too large to comprehend, it wasn't until we saw the human stories that it felt real. Within one of the exhibitions was a room filled, virtually to the ceiling, with the shoes of those who died. All of a sudden that number was all too real. It was a powerful, beautiful representation of all those people. They had the most meagre possessions, and placed all together it was hard to pick out an individual from the whole, just as it was in the camps.

We've all learnt about the War in school, and even that young it was obvious that what had happened was atrocious; seeing it in the flesh changed everything I ever thought about the war. I honestly don't understand how any action we witnessed today was justifiable in the mind of a Nazi, and in the same way, why it took so long for the Allies to step in.

The second camp was not far from Auschwitz but we were both extremely emotionally drained by the sights and stories we'd read so we decided not to visit. Maybe if we were to stay in Krakow longer we'd be back to visit but we want to see the city we're staying in too.

It's Prague Jim, but not as we know it

The shortest stay we've had so far has to be Prague. We arrived at 12 midday and we're leaving the following day at 1030pm. Sadly it's also our last day with Ben.

A lot of things added up to make our first impression of this city a fairly unpleasant one. Firstly, it's Christmas Market time, mixed with a LOT of tourists, mixed with Saturday afternoon mixed with rudeness. It doesnt add up to happy customers. We arrived tired from travelling to a loud, busy, aggressive city. It was all a bit overwhelming.

We trekked through the touristy and less touristy areas to get a feel for the city but soon burnt out, and stopped for a coffee. We called it a night pretty early and when we got back to the hostel we discovered that so had our dorm mates for exactly the same reason. It was mental!

Sunday morning was much more enjoyable. The Saturday nigh revellers were obviously sleeping off their hangovers and we managed to get to see some sights rather than wrestling our way through crowds.

By far the most stunning sight was St. Nicholas' Church. Listed in the guide book as the only church you should see in Prague and we know why. It took your breathe away. There were huge marble statues that were so expertly carved they made the hard stone flow like the most delicate fabric. A giant fresco covered the ceiling to show the walls extending into the heavens and there was gold everywhere! For a small unassuming church on the inside it was a total surprise.

More strolling took us to the famous bridge. I can't remeber whose it was though! It was dotted with statues of Christ throughout his life (and death) and was pretty intense.

Finally a walk up the hill took us to the castle that gave great views down onto the city, all terracotta roofs and church spires.

Its a pretty city, but in all honesty, I feel like the time we've had here was enough. The sheer number of people is just overwhelming.