The Big Trip Report Nummer Fem - Fri, 05 Jul 2002
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It seems like a long time ago and a world away since our last report from
sweltering Switzerland. We are now in Sweden where the weather is very cool
and wet. Where did the summer go? How did we get here?
From Switzerland we headed to Salzburg in Austria where the weather was even
hotter, so we took refuge inside a nice cool salt mine, and a castle garden
with 'trick fountains' that squirt water at you unexpectedly. After this brief
taste of Austria we were off to Prague. A wonderful city, incredibly beautiful
and cheap - a great combination in our book! Despite the fact that it is besieged
by tourists, it has a really great feel. The architecture is reminiscent of
dark old fairy tales or a gothic novel; you expect to see Rapunzel letting
down her hair, or Dracula lurking in wait for a victim. There are however
quirky modern touches like the Fred and Ginger building designed by Frank
Gehry or the palace guard uniforms by Jean-Paul Gaultier. There is also the
interesting habit of using tomato ketchup as a prime cooking ingredient (chicken
in tomato sauce is literally a chicken breast smothered in a thick coating
of the stuff), the fascination appears to come from communist times when it
was very hard to get and so considered very desirable. It has whetted our
appetite to visit more of Eastern Europe. Furthermore, driving in the Czech
Republic was a pleasant surprise. The roads were in a reasonable condition
and the drivers were less scary than in Italy. Near the German border, the
rural roads are lined with scantily clad hookers touting for business from
the many Germans that had nipped across the border for cheap booze, cigarettes
and garden gnomes, a change from all the cows and meadows in Switzerland and
Austria! Then it was on into Germany and the famed speed limit free autobahns.
However at around 160-180kmph (in excess of 100mph) the Italians and Spanish
drove just as fast on roads that technically had speed limits.
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Prague was a highlight, but our next stop, Berlin, proved to be one of our favorite places so far (although it is very hard to come up with a definitive ranking!). A very cool cosmopolitan city, that was more beautiful than we expected with a fascinating history (both the Nazis and Red Army were here). It is the only the major European city that is still under construction, since is the area that is now the center lay in the no-mans-land of the Berlin Wall. So the Downtown of Berlin is being created now. In East Berlin we stayed in a fabulous apartment in the classiest youth hostel we have seen. Our private balcony had panoramic views over the city and there were great bars and restaurants on our doorstep, as East Berlin now seems to be the cultural and nightlife center of the city. As usual we spent the days walking miles, although we rented bikes one day and cycled through the Tiergarten to West Berlin.
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All too soon we had to say Auf Wiedersehen (we will be back!)
and goodbye to the ease of using the Euro too, as we headed up to Copenhagen.
This was where our luck with the weather ended, although we managed to enjoy
a rain-free evening at the famed Tivoli amusement garden, dating from the
19th century (with some modern additions) it is more quaint than state of
the art. We spent the evening of our second wedding anniversary (aaawwwwww!)
in Christiania, an independent state within Copenhagen, paying no taxes and
making its own laws, including the open sale of marijuana. A very interesting
place, it also has one of the best restaurants in the city.
Next up was Louisiana, a wonderful modern art museum by the sea north of Copenhagen
- great location and collection. Then on to Hamlet's castle in Helsingor,
before we took the ferry to Helsingborg Sweden. That night we were treated
to a wonderful BBQ Swedish style by our hosts Anne and Johann. 'Swedish style'
means sitting outside wrapped in blankets 'enjoying' the weather come rain
or shine. Tough people these vikings!
We have just spent a couple of days driving across southern Sweden to Stockholm
where we are staying in a hostel that is a moored sailing ship.
We are now at day 89 of our 129-day Euroadventure. This trip is a good example
of relativity. It has taken both forever and yet no time at all to get this
far. One thing we have noticed for certain is that the further north we get,
the colder the weather, the saner the driving, the cleaner the toilets and
the more expensive the booze. You can decide if this is an improvement or
not!
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