Vienna and Prague

Perched on the 11^th floor of the Corinthia Hotel with a magnificent view encompassing historical Prague watching the sun set on the old castle and the river is a really memorable sight. At the same time the night before when we were well into our fifth hour sitting patiently in our car amongst thousands of others waiting for the “traffic jam from hell” to start moving on the freeway (?) just 20 kms away from our destination due to an accident. A great contrast that does give some  idea of what makes up the Czech Republic. 

Just waiting, no information and then suddenly five hours later it just cleared like magic!

  

Dr Who would be at home on the Prague Metro!

There is a real feeling of old world history in both Prague and Vienna; castles, palaces, church spires; they are planned cities with wide boulevards that allow trams, cars & pedestrians to co-exist easily. And traffic-free cobbled streets (not malls) where the four, five & six storey buildings of the nineteenth century fit together beautifully. We have enjoyed both cities for their ease of getting around (both walking & public transport), their spaciousness and lovely public parks and their cosmopolitan culture. Vienna was more ordered and spotlessly clean with a statue on every corner. Both have an ingrained café culture with great beer and coffee where you can just sit and watch all day if you like. Together with amazing art galleries too!  We saw a wonderful exhibition of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele paintings at the Leopold Museum in Vienna, just the day before we drove to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic where Schiele painted many of his works.

Just part of the huge Hapsburg Palace in Vienna

It is Vienna after all! Sachertorte anyone?

The museum quarter, Vienna - a great use of old and new to create public spaces

 Perhaps the thing we find most irritating in Europe is that so many people smoke in open air cafes and in the streets and occasionally we find ourselves retreating inside to eat to get away from them.  Tony just found something on the net that said Germany is loathe to encourage smoking bans because Hitler did this and they don’t want to upset people!  Very sensitive but having lived in smokefree WA for so long, it is an affront to the senses to have to sit next to a table of smokers when you are eating or enjoying a coffee outside on the pavement.  We saw a cigarette machine outside a block of flats tonight in Dresden so smokers don't have to worry about getting to the shop even! Rant over!

This is where you can satisfy your desire for a dirndl, Vienna

 

 It was interesting to cross from Austria into the Czech Republic by road and encounter a string of casinos within 50 metres of the border. We saw very few farmhouses in the Czech countryside, maybe a hangover from the collective farm days when most people lived in towns, although public ownership has dropped from 95% in 1990 to less than 20% now. It is very beautiful at this time of year, green trees and meadows, summer flowers on the roadsides and golden wheat, sweetcorn and sunflowers just about to be harvested.

We went to a wonderful museum in Prague that detailed the history and collections of the former aristocratic Lobkowicx  family that got their castles and belongings back after the fall of communism, the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic under President Vaclav Havel. Family members told the stories of the paintings and the treasured items on the audio guides (which we have found very useful on our travels and are often free) which really made the experience so much part of a story, highlighting their sense of belonging and included original composition manuscripts by Beethoven and other composers of that period.

Eating out is so cheap compared to home; we’ve had a number of meals recently that have cost less than 30% of what they would in Perth and the servings are pretty generous. We have struggled to spend a lot except on visiting places of interest, public transport is not expensive and we haven’t been driving long distances recently. Air BnB's continue to be excellent and we have managed to stick to our budget of close to $100 a night.

It has been relieving to not be in the presence of lots of armed police or soldiers as we were in France and parts of Italy. The acts of terrorism in France and Germany in recent weeks have been a sobering reminder that we are in a part of the world where we need to be careful. 

 

We have been in 11 countries so far in 10 or so weeks and the new car that we leased has clocked up over 9000 kms!  We have encountered only one or two border guards and the rest of Europe has been like one continuous countryside but with signs in a new language and different foods and traditions every few days.  Crops are similar, apart from the acres of dried poppies we saw near Cesky Krumlov (Czech Republic)  which end up as poppy seeds to go with all the local sunflower seeds in the supermarkets.

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

 

Now we are in Germany - more later!