Day 41 At a cafe with Einstein

We were told that Prague was a special place and in spite of the thousands of weekend crystal buyers (the less than sympathetic description of the tourists used by the locals) we loved this rich, diverse and beautiful city. We avoided the ‘follow the umbrella’ tour groups and with our own map we made our way around the town. The rich layers of history in this old capital of Bohemia are quite extraordinary. We were told that even Hitler was so taken by the architecture in the city that he insisted that it not be damaged.

After a busy day seeing the sights we sought refuge at the famous Café Louvre for afternoon tea. For over a century (except for when the Soviets closed if for a few decades) this café has been a meeting place for intellectuals, artists, lovers and those who like apple meringue cake. To sit in a cafe previously frequented by the likes of Einstein and Kafka was rather fun, especially as the food and hot chocolate was cheap and wickedly delicious.

In the evening we sat on the steps of a gorgeous art deco Museum and listened to a chamber orchestra play an hour long concert of all the classical music that the uncultured (i.e. us) only recognise from TV commercials. We ended the day by going to a restaurant we could only afford because Aussie dollars are worth 15.25 of the local currency. We think the waiter picked up on the fact that we really didn’t belong with the snooty crowd, and treated us accordingly, but nevertheless it was a nice treat and Richard enjoyed the duck.

We were probably the only patrons of the classy restaurant who caught a tram back to their hostel. Then we glanced up at the magnificent Prague Castle, floodlit on the hill above us, and marvelled at our diverse experiences of this very special city.

Day 40. What are all the toruists looking at?

We arrived in Prague at about 2pm. We have had a great deal of fun getting around European cities on various forms of public transport, trains, trams, buses, subways, the underground and metros. Again we conquered the metro and found our way via Pavlova Station to our accommodation. What Lonely Planet described as a ‘Boutique Hostel’, Miss Sophie’s presented itself as a lovely place to stay. It was neat and clean and to make it even more attractive they offered us a 30% discount as they were doing some renovations and warned us that there might be a little noise. There was no noise (it was the weekend) but we were very grateful for the discount. Again we enjoyed a really nice one-bedroom apartment with bathroom and kitchen.

After the mandatory visit to the supermarket and the debate over milk (it’s hard enough buying milk in a foreign language let alone deciding between full fat, low fat, skim, soy, organic and a few others we did not understand) we headed down town to take our first look at Prague.

As we battled the Friday night crowds in the Old Town we discovered a particularly oversized crowd of tourists staring at an old 70 metre high clock tower waiting for the clock to chime at 7pm. We then noticed that many of the marauding crowd were poised with cameras at the ready, obviously expecting something exciting to happen. We waded into the mob; camera poised! On the hour, a skeleton rattled a lamp that he was carrying, the clock chimed, the doors above the clock face opened and twelve bowing wooden apostles passed by, the astronomical apparatus did something, the crowd cheered and of course we all took pictures. Only later did we realise this clock has been doing the very same trick, every hour, for about 600 years.

Wow Europe is a cool place!

Day 37 ( oops we forgot to post this) A concert to set the place ablaze

Our last full day in Berlin saw us again using our Eurorail pass to head out of Berlin to visit Potsdam (described as Berlin’s Versailles). Sure enough we received our fill of completely over the top summer palaces and enormous parks and gardens. Though incredibly impressive for a couple of died in the wool republicans it was starting to look like our blog this day would not have that much to say.

We raced back to Berlin to visit the famous Berlin Philharmonic. We had been advised by friends the Buckley’s that we could not go to Berlin without hearing proper music. We discovered that a string quartet was playing a free lunchtime concert (fitting neatly within our budget constraints). About 300 people packed the foyer to enjoy this wonderful performance. We are not experts but it was obvious that we were listening to a hot performance. We did not really know at the time just how hot?

After the concert we moved to the gift shop to buy a couple of post cards. As we were about to pay a man in a suit rushed into the shop with a loud animated announcement in German. We stared! He then repeated the message in English; “ We have a small technical difficulty; you must immediately leave the building”. Wendy asked if she could just pay for the cards but was ordered “no” – “ Schnell Schnell” (which we remembered from Hogan’s Heroes) “Quick Quick!”

Once outside the building we realised why we had to leave as the building was now completely evacuated and was on fire. Elegant patrons, evacuated from the dining room and now standing on the pavement, were trying to finish their classy white plate lunch and glass of wine while we looked for a vantage point to take pictures. A fire was burning in the roof and soon dozens of sirens sounded as police, fire brigades and various emergency services arrived. In the street we also saw many bemused musicians clutching instruments gazing up and pointing at the burning building.

We read on the net that the fire lasted 5 hours and caused quite a deal of damage. Burning buildings have been too regular a feature in Berlin's past but fortunately this is a very rare event in this now thriving, diverse and rejuvenated city.

Day 39 Why go there?

If you have followed our blog you may be wondering why we made such a rapid and extensive detour east to Poland. The reason of course was that we wanted to visit a little town near Krakow called Oswiecim. After a much longer 4.5 hour train trip than we planned (don’t ask) we arrived at Krakow station about 10.30am. After securing our packs in a day locker we boarded a train to Oswiecim at 11am, which arrived at 12.30pm. With no signage but some help from locals we walked about 20 minutes to find the place we came to Poland to visit, the former Nazi Concentration and Death Camp, Auschwitz. We cannot in a short blog really explain the impact of this day but let us try by answering three short questions.

Why did we want to visit Auschwitz? I guess we always felt we had too! Having read about the Holocaust, having thought about the Holocaust, and recognising that somewhere between 1 and 1.6 million people died at Auschwitz we both felt we had to make the effort to see with our own eyes.

What was it like? Well in short it was so much worse than we could ever have imagined. To see authentic photos of the arrival of trains full of people, being treated worse than cattle, was bad enough. To walk past preserved and massive piles of human hair, eyeglasses, shoes, toothbrushes and suitcases made us confront the humanity and enormity of the crimes. To see and walk through the first gas chamber and to confront the efficiency and horror of senseless mass execution was numbing. But all that was nothing compared to our visit to Auschwitz II ( Birkenhau) 3kms up the road. This camp, which housed 300,000 people at one time, was indescribable. The living conditions in this camp made Auschwitz 1 look almost bearable. The day ended with a visit to the ruins of gas chambers and crematoriums 2 and 3, where maybe a million were exterminated often within an hour of stepping off a railway car. Again our emotions were deeply affected as we considered systematically efficient, utterly senseless, evil stupidity.

What did it do for us spiritually? Of course such suffering is always a challenge to any person of faith. But somehow the greater question that we faced was the problem of human evil. How is it that a man like Hess can run such a death camp and then go home (right next door) and play with his children. Indeed you could not hang out the washing from his home without a view of the smoke from the crematorium. Seeing Auschwitz would challenge anyone’s worldview. However any worldview that does not seriously address human evil or believes all humans are basically good is left in tatters.
In the face of such evil we need a faith that addresses concepts such as sin, judgment, redemption, forgiveness and hope.

We arrived back at about 8.30pm to another hostel called Nathan’s Villa where the hot water was cold and the room was rather ordinary. After 8 hours on rural trains, little food and substandard accommodation we thought we had had a tough day. However that was nothing compared to the plight of the Jews, Gypsies, Russian POWs, intellectuals, priests, homosexuals and Jehovah Witnesses (and many more) who had lived and died at Auschwitz.

Day 38 Finding a piece of history

Something extraordinary struck us as we travelled about 800 kms across Northern Europe from Berlin to Warsaw. Since leaving the coast of Britain and travelling through Belgium, Denmark, Germany and now Poland we had barely seen a decent hill. The whole area is so incredibly flat. You can just imagine how quickly the panzer divisions of the Third Reich poured east and west across these plains.

Arriving in Warsaw we were greeted with another environmental feature; rain. We have had the most perfect weather and apart from a couple of showers in Peru we have had almost 6 weeks without rain.

However our afternoon in Warsaw changed all that. In spite of the rain, with the aid of Gortex jackets we trudged for about 20kms around the city. Firstly we were amazed to discover a part of the wall the Germans had built around the Warsaw ghetto. As big fans of Leon Uris and his book ‘Mila 18’ we were keen to find this historical relic. With the aid of a map, which was becoming increasingly difficult to manage as it became soaked and fell apart, we eventually found the street and the number, but not the wall. Finally we huddled in the window of an upholsterers shop to try again to read the map away from the pouring rain. We were embarrassed when the upholsterer saw us through his window. As he came out of his shop we thought we were in trouble. In fact he guessed what we were looking for and with a key from his pocket he opened a locked gate to allow us into a private courtyard to see this preserved wall. It was shocking to think of the day the Nazis surrounded this community with a wall and did their best to then starve the Jews inside to death. With the rain pouring and the spring temperature falling we caught a glimpse again of what it really means to suffer.

After a visit to an awesome museum about the Polish uprising at the end of the war it was more walking in the rain to find Warsaw’s old town. Such bleak weather meant we almost had the place to our selves. After buying an authentic Polish dinner of dumplings, meat and potatoes it was back to a warm shower in a very nice hostel called Nathan’s Villa.

Day 36 Luther Beer Mugs

Day 36 saw us visit, by train, a small town about 100 kms from Berlin. In wonderful DB (German Rail) style the trip only took 40 minutes. At the station, after a little bit of language trouble as we asked directions, we caught a bus to the centre of a town called Wittenberg. For those who know their reformation history you will know that Wittenberg was the place made famous by a monk who rediscovered the gospel – Martin Luther.

We had a great day in Wittenberg. Firstly it is a really beautiful town with buildings that date back not only 500 years to the Luther period, but some hundreds of years before that. Luther came to this, then remote, town as a scholar and priest. We visited the Castle Church where he nailed his famous 95 thesis to the door. He challenged established church doctrines, especially the idea of selling indulgences which was a way of essentially raising money for the church by offering ‘get out of hell’ passes for you and your dead relatives (for the right price). It was great to see the door, which since the 19th century has had these famous words inscribed onto the outside in steel.

We visited houses in town and the parish church where Luther preached. This church began in the 13th century. Later we visited Luther’s house, which was not at all what we expected. Now a museum, Luther’s house was originally a monastery. Large collections of original letters, books pamphlets, his pulpit, and so much more meant our day was long and fascinating. Richard, who should know better, was a little astounded by all he didn’t know.

The day was only marred by thoughts of what Luther would think of much than now goes on to keep the tourist buses rolling in. Luther beer, Luther tea towels and Luther beer mugs were a small part of the ‘Luther junk’ that was on sale. An annual weekend festival is held to celebrate the day Luther married his ex-nun friend, and the organisers encourage thousands to come in fancy dress. The trivialisation of faith that Luther railed against has returned as the trivialisation of Luther. So sad!

All that said – to stand next to the actual table where Luther gave his famous ‘table talks’ was a wonderful and rare privilege.

Day 35 Staying in love and visiting museums

A question that many people asked us before we began this trip was ‘How do you think you will get on with each other in such close
quarters for 13 weeks?’ After 26 years of marriage this trip is a wonderful opportunity but still a challenge. Will we get on? Will we still like each other?

Well you’ll be pleased to know that so far the happy couple have indeed been a very happy couple. But it would also be truthful to admit to a couple of less than perfect moments. Sadly one area of tension is museums. Wendy loves to wander through museums carefully reading and taking in all the history. Richard is much less patient. Having said that, we were completely united in our appreciation of Berlin’s Pergamon Museum.

Firstly there was the dramatic Pergamon (an ancient city mentioned in Revelation) altar, a huge marble staircase and structure framed with the most wonderful marble statues. To see such a huge part of antiquity in a Berlin museum (thanks to 19th century archaeology), was a bit of a surprise. However a greater surprise appeared around the corner as we stood in front of the 6 metre high gates from Nebuchadnezzar’s palace in Babylon. Again, removed brick by brick from Iraq in the 19th century, these gates and walls, which are made from deep blue glazed bricks are indeed a wonder. Adorned with lions and other exotic animals it was possible to imagine the time when Daniel in the Bible may have seen these same walls and gates when he was in captivity in Babylon as a young man.

In the afternoon we queued for an hour to climb the contemporary glass dome, which adorns another of Berlins iconic buildings the Reichstag. The home of Berlins early post WW1 parliaments, The Reichstag’s history was stained when a mysterious fire in 1933 became Hitler’s justification for introducing sweeping totalitarian powers and the abolition of democracy. The glass dome, completed just a few years ago now allows visitors a wonderful view of the city while at the same time the Parliament is in view below. In many ways this building, now the home of the united German Parliament, is a wonderful symbol of hope for Germany in the 21st century.

Day 34 Wars, walls and wombats

They say there is no such thing as a free lunch, but in Berlin we discovered a new phenomenon in European travel, the free walking tour. After meeting the tour guide at our hostel we travelled to a central meeting place, where we waited with about 200 other people. We were then organised into groups of about 25 for our free tour (well a tour with no cost, but with the expectation of a generous tip for the guide at the end). Again we were the youngest by 20 years but the tour was informative, entertaining, exhausting and at times quite sad.

Berlin is not a pretty city as very few buildings survived the bombing of WW2. War still seemed to dominate our visit. Beginning at Berlin’s iconic landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, a monument to Prussian military dominance we moved quickly to the site of the Holocaust Memorial. This relatively new memorial was breathtaking. Set on a site of maybe 10 acres the site contains 2711 grey/black rectangular concrete prisms, some flat to the ground and others as high as 3 metres. Set on an undulating site this memorial has been interpreted as tombs, railway carriages or many other things. A memorial that is great art is very rare but this huge, foreboding and mysterious structure easily evoked an emotional response.

Within 300 metres of the memorial we were soon standing in a rough grass car park surrounded by what looked like unimpressive old East German public housing. However the guide informed us that we were actually looking at ‘elite’ old East German housing. He then surprised us by telling us that we were actually standing directly above Hitler’s bunker, and the site where he had committed suicide in 1945.

Again we walked less than 500 metres and found ourselves staring at a section of the Berlin wall, which was built in 1961 at the height of the Cold War. The wall, was in fact two walls with a section in between known as ‘No Mans Land’ or the ‘Death Strip’. The stupidity, sadness and suffering of WW2 and the Cold War continued to haunt our visit to Berlin. The city has made such progress since reunification in 1990, but the city’s past sufferings are evident wherever you turn.

If you read the heading of this blog you will understand ‘war’ and ‘wall’ but why have we included ‘wombats’? Well, on the advice of our eldest son Tim, our accommodation in Berlin was at a hostel called Wombats. This Australian owned hostel provided us with a very reasonably priced apartment with our own kitchen and bathroom. The public toilets downstairs were unique in Berlin for two reasons; firstly they were free, and secondly they carried the door nameplates ‘Sheilas’ and ‘Blokes’. (And we thought we weren’t homesick!)

Day 33 Born to Run?

We were sad to be leaving Copenhagen, but even sadder when we realised that we would have to backtrack over much of the same journey that had brought us from Kiel to Copenhagen earlier in the week. One of our aims on this trip is to keep going forward and to try not to go backwards. Because we had to backtrack it meant that we had to once again alight from the train onto the ferry as it crossed the Baltic Sea. But this time for us, it nearly ended in tears. The train boarded the ferry, as before, and we got off the train and onto the ferry, leaving our packs on the train. This time we were keen to get some photos of the bow of the ferry opening to allow the train, the cars and the trucks to disembark. We were busy taking photos well after the ‘Please leave the ferry now.’ announcement. When we had finished, we looked around and noticed that the ferry was looking decidedly empty. Immediately we made a mad dash through the now completely empty ferry. We ran down three flights of stairs and tore open the door only to discover a section for buses and lorries. In short we seemed to have lost the train. Immediately we made another mad dash back up the same three flights of stairs and made a desperate plea for help at a sales counter. (We can only imaging what two 48 year old panicking and sprinting backpackers must have looked like). We were directed down a different flight of stairs, and after a couple more wrong doors and several stumbles, we finally opened the correct door and found the train. Once back in our seats it was less than a minute before the train began leaving the ship and heading for Berlin. There was no check of passengers and missing the train would have separated us from our packs. Who knows which European city they would have ended up in by the end of the day?

We have commented before that the journey can be as rewarding as the destination. We are very glad that this day ended at our planned destination, with our packs, in Berlin. Maybe calling this trip “Born to Run’ might have been a mistake.

Day 32 Born to Ride

In an attempt to really experience the city, and to not just be tourists, it seemed that the obvious thing to do in Copenhagen was to hire pushbikes for a day. Thankfully this was made easy in two ways. Firstly Copenhagen is flat so you can enjoy riding a bike without having to worry about gears, and also with something that Richard thought was a very quaint reminder of his childhood, back pedal brakes. Secondly the city has followed a program started in other European cities where you can rent a bike at one part of the city and then just return it to a rack later and your money (the equivalent of $5) is returned much like a trolley in a privatised airport or a greedy supermarket. So we ‘girded our loins’ and headed out for a day in Copenhagen, on push bikes.

Again this task was made easier by the fact that many of the streets in the city have bike lanes. These lanes are well populated especially by tall blond beautiful Scandinavian women who ride on mostly black old-fashioned ‘girl’ bikes with wicker baskets attached to the front. Many of these women look incredibly elegant as they ride sitting very upright and wearing their high heals and stockings ready for a day in the office. But they also ride very fast so you have to be able to keep up with the bike traffic. Our day was great fun. We visited a 400-year-old astronomical tower, which still is one of the tallest buildings in the city. The tower affords a visitor, willing to climb its circular ramp to the top, an amazing view of the city. Then we witnessed the changing of the guard outside ‘our Mary’s’ palace. After that we checked out a wonderful museum, which explained what it was like to live in occupied Denmark in WW2. Finally we rode across the city to lunch at our favourite building, The Black Diamond.

After dropping Peter at the station to return to the Logos Hope we continued to explore the city on foot and discovered some charming city lakes that are probably ice skating venues during the northern winter. In the late twilight about 9pm we ventured out to a hippy neighbourhood called Christiania, which we decided was not one of Copenhagen’s greatest assets.

The sun finally set at about 10pm and the day ended with a hot chocolate in a pub overlooking another beautiful canal. Hans Christian Anderson’s city has charmed us and we are very glad to have paid it a visit.

Day 31 Hot Spots

To be honest Copenhagen was not on our original list of places to visit in Europe. However when we realised that Peter (our son) would be in Kiel, in the very north of Germany, and that he could get a couple of days off, we checked the map to see where we could take him, and Copenhagen seemed the obvious choice. Copenhagen has become a city that has really charmed us with its beauty and diversity.

Denmark has several things that you really have to admire. With 20% of its electricity coming from wind power (you see wind farms everywhere), with huge numbers of its city dwellers riding pushbikes and with no plastic bags available in supermarkets (unless you buy one), Copenhagen is a ‘greeny’ paradise.
In near perfect, sunny weather we were able to experience the beauty of the city at close quarters. Of course a city built around a labyrinth of canals has a certain charm. But what we really loved was the thoughtful way in which Copenhagen has been able to mesh the past with the present. Alongside some magnificent old buildings, Copenhagen has also invested in some wonderful, modern public buildings for the benefit of its citizens and visitors.

One new building that we loved is built beside the largest canal. It is the new Royal Opera House, it is not in the same league as another Danish designed Opera House in Sydney, but it is still quite magnificent. On the other side of town just up the road from where we were staying we stumbled upon another outstanding building known as The Black Diamond. This modern building made of black marble houses a huge public library and various cultural centres. Copenhagen has many wonderful old buildings but to see a city investing in beautiful, functional modern buildings was also most impressive. With a free WiFi zone both inside and outside of the library and a great café, the young flock to it as a place to learn, eat and just enjoy the sun. Denmark’s rich Nordic and Viking history was evident in many places throughout Copenhagen but we were thrilled to visit a city that is as committed to the future, as it is to the past.

Day 30 Copenhagen

Peter was able to get a couple of days leave from the ship so today we again enjoyed an ICE (Intercity Express) train on a 6 hour trip from Kiel to Copenhagen with a change at a little place called Lubeck. We noticed on the map that the we had to cross a significant section of water and we wondered whether there would be a large bridge or a tunnel. There was neither! Instead to our surprise the entire 5 cars of the train, boarded a ferry bound for a 45 minute crossing from Puttgarden in Germany to Rodby in Denmark. The train was running late, the ferry had awaited our arrival and the train was quickly parked on the bottom deck of the ship next to a large number of lorries. We left the train and climbed up the stairs to the ferry decks where we enjoyed a 45 minute smooth crossing. As we approached land we were instructed to return to the train and then as the bow door of the ferry opened the train resumed its journey to Copenhagen.

We arrived at Copenhagen and we were able to walk to the YHA, a huge 17-storey hostel with a minimalist Scandinavian interior design (everything was white). After a short rest we set out to explore the city. A short walk turned into a long walk, as a stroll downtown turned into a search for one of Copenhagen’s most famous landmarks, a statue of The Little Mermaid. Copenhagen is the home of Hans Christian Anderson who wrote many famous stories such as the Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea and of course The Little Mermaid.

During the course of our search for The Little Mermaid we passed the palace and residence of the Queen of Denmark and across the road we saw the renovation going on at the Crown Prince Frederick’s palace where he lives with ‘our Mary’ and their two half Aussie kids. Peter was also excited to see a 300 million dollar yacht called the Polaris in the harbour nearby which is owned by an infamous Russian billionaire who is building a new ship in the berth just across the harbour from the Logos Hope in Kiel.

After a visit to a supermarket, dinner in the hostel kitchen was a packet of Ravioli, a ready-made tomato sauce and some wieners thrown in for good measure. A meal fit for a king (or at least a Crown Prince)

Day 29 Peter's Birthday

Staying onboard the MV Logos Hope, the ship that Peter is living and working on for a year, in a very comfortable guest cabin, was a very pleasant experience. In terms of engine and intercom noise the Logos Hope is much quieter than the Doulos. The large ship sits very still in the water and to be honest it was easy to forget that we were on a ship at all.

We awoke early and went for what turned out to be about a 10km walk. Kiel is a surprisingly beautiful harbour and town and our early morning walk took us along part of the quayside heading north towards the mouth of the Baltic Sea. As we walked we observed many Germans enjoying their early morning walks (with sticks in case they fell over), bathing in a private pool, running and risking life and limb on roller blades. We passed a children’s fair which was just coming to life which included standard kids things such as rides and face painting but also unique German attractions (celebrating the public holiday for Pentecost) such as an ‘on tap’ beer stand open from 9am. The walk was quite sunny and hot. We were surprised to come across a plaque commemorating the fact that the fiord was used for the yachting at the famous 1936 Olympic Games.

Peter joined us for a walk to town, which again was very pleasant. Kiel is a town of 250,000 with all the facilities of a small city. We had lunch on the ship and then enjoyed catching up with an old friend Graham Jack.

In the evening we went out to dinner to a waterside restaurant with Peter and 5 of his friends to celebrate his 18th birthday. With great food we enjoyed this significant event. Peter’s friends, Adam from Perth, Antony from the UK, Becca, Nicky and Brian from the USA were a wonderful group and we laughed so much the other more refined Germans at the restaurant kept turning around and looking at us. We have enjoyed outdoor dining before with portable gas heaters in case of cold weather, but it was a first for us when we noticed the blankets, also supplied to enjoy alfresco dining, Baltic style.

It was wonderful to meet Peter’s impressive group of friends and to see that he is having a great time on the ship.

Day 28 Mother's Day

It’s hard to explain just how special it is to ride on the trains of Europe with a Euro rail pass in your hands. There is a joyous feeling when the ticket inspector comes to look at your ticket and he simply smiles waves and wishes you a good trip. Today was the first of our European train journeys and it was in First Class, as can only buy a First Class Eurorail pass when you are over 26 years of age. And even more exciting was being on a train travelling along at 250 kms per hour. Our journey from Brussels to Kiel via Koln and Hamburg was long, about 8 hours, but was also, if you look on a map, a very long way.

We arrived in Kiel, and with the help of a local taxi, finally found the ship the Logos Hope that Peter (our son) is staying on for a year. It was a Mother’s Day without presents for Wendy but the greatest present was to see her youngest child Peter. Family is one of God’s greatest gifts and a family reunion amidst an adventurous trip was very special indeed. Peter is well and enjoying his time on the ship. It has already been a delight to meet his many friends and to sense that he is enjoying and making a real contribution to the ministry of this wonderful OM ship.

Peter gave us an extended ship tour, which lasted over 2.5 hours. The ship, with its 9 decks is huge and wonderful. Though they are working still to get things ready it is also clear that much has been achieved. We sat in the newly completed dining room, which was large, spacious, almost flat and filled with light from its large windows that look out onto Kiel. Kiel has a surprisingly beautiful harbour and interestingly was the venue for the sailing at the 1936 Olympic Games. The size of this ship compared to the Doulos (the Hope’s sister ship) is quite extraordinary. The large auditorium, bookshop, café and interactive display areas are yet to be completed but are progressing. It is a very exciting place to be.

Mother’s Day with Pete, in Kiel Germany, on the MV Logos Hope! Wow!

Day 27 The Iron Harvest

With both of us having paternal grandfathers who served and survived the Western Front it was natural that our time in Belgium would involve a visit to Ypres. After a two-hour train journey from Brussels North we arrive at Iepes and nearly missed the station as the Flemish spelling confused us. Our visit to this town was nothing short of amazing. Within a 10 square mile radius of this famous town nearly 1,000,000 men in WW 1 perished. We visited the famous Menin gate where every night since the 1920s a service, which includes the playing of the Last Post, has been held in honour of the British and Commonwealth forces that died defending the town. The town is a delightful old town, but is actually a complete fake. The huge Gothic Cloth Hall, the largest secular Gothic building in Europe is in fact a recreation, as the tower and indeed the entire town, was obliterated during WW1, rebuilt, and then significantly damaged in 1940 by the Germans and again in 1945 by the liberating Polish.

In the afternoon we booked into a three-hour tour to visit WW1 sites. We visited the infamous Hill 60 and Caterpillar and sensed what it was like to leave a trench to hopelessly try and storm an enemy hillside position.
We were told of the incredible heroism of the Australian tunnellers (NB Richard’s grandfather was an Australian tunneller) who dug underneath enemy lines to lay explosives. We visited a crater caused by the largest of these explosions which our guide described as being an explosion of nuclear scale which caused an earthquake that was registered in the UK. This huge crater now contains a peaceful lake (which is 25 metres deep) is the most visible sign of this incredible devastation. We were hushed as we visited a Commonwealth gravesite and as our guide took us to a young man’s grave. We wept as we were told that after twenty months service on the Western Front and after being wounded a number of times he had cracked and tried to escape only to be tied to a post and shot by his commanding officer.

Later we met a tourist excitedly carrying a shell that he had just found. Our guide shocked this man, and us, when he told us that 7 people this year in Ypers alone had died as victims of unexploded WW1 ordinances. It seems that if you find a shell or grenade on your property you simple leave it outside your property… household garbage on the right, WW1 live ordinances on the left. Apparently the authorities will pick these things up within a few weeks and explode them at a special range. However if you find a left over gas shell they will add it to their 25-year backlog of gas shells that still need to be defused. They call this the ‘iron harvest’.

The futility and foolishness of war, and the longevity of the cost has never felt so real.

Day 26 Brusels by metro, tram and shank's pony

With a day to discover the delights of Brussels we decided to explore on our own rather than taking an organized tour. In the morning we walked down to the town and discovered the classic tourist places starting with the Grote Market described as the finest main square in Europe (a big call). The 14th century architecture was very impressive but the tourist groups with their flags and school excursions dominated the landscape. Around the corner another huge crowd had gathered to witness a small fountain in the form of a dressed up boy urinating. Apparently this famous statue has his clothes changed regularly and to be honest this is just the sort of tourist gimmick that we really do not enjoy. On foot we discovered the much more impressive Royal Palace and Park, and Central Station. After figuring out the Metro we arrived home for lunch and a delightful afternoon nap. However with the weather a balmy 26 degrees we again ventured out about 4pm on the tram to discover the real Brussels. Around the city the local tram took us through beautiful historic districts and a diversity of ethnic and cultural neighborhoods; Turkish, Moroccan, French speaking, Dutch speaking and who knows what else. By 7pm we found the incredibly impressive War Museum, a huge 19th century building probably financed by Belgium’s colonial plunder from Africa. It was astounding to see the locals in the scenic park in the front of the museum picnicking in beach gear at 7.30pm at night enjoying weather we would be proud of in Sydney. Just around the corner we discovered the European Parliament buildings, which reminded us of Brussels’ significance as the centre of the EU. In a nearby street we came across three local Irish pubs spilling onto the streets with probably 1000 or more, young professionals enjoying Friday night drinks. By 8.30pm we were starting to feel hungry and discovered a local restaurant serving authentic Belgium cuisine- in a rather unimpressive backstreet. With the help of the metro we headed home about 10.30pm only to get a deep desire for some Belgium chocolate. A walk to town uncovered hundreds if not thousands of tourists ( the same ones we saw earlier at the square ) dining in overcrowded overpriced restaurants still going strong now at 11pm. Finally we arrived back at our hostel with our chocolates at about 11.30pm. It had been an incredible day where, according to our pedometer we had broken our trip record… we had covered 26.5 kms on foot!

Day 24, 25 Planes, trains and automobiles

Three months without a car creates some very interesting and challenging modes of transport. Getting from New York to Brussels by public transport was not simple. We began our journey on Wednesday afternoon at about 4pm from our New York apartment on the Upper West Side. Firstly we walked up to 79th street and caught our favorite subway, the No. 1 line downtown to 34th Street and Penn Station. From there we caught the E line to Jamaica Circle, a slightly longer trip of about 50 minutes. From there we traveled for about 15 minutes on the sky train to the airport at JFK. After a number of rather ordinary American Airlines flights to and from South America it was a delight to board a British Airways jumbo at about 8.10pm to head for London. As we taxied out we experienced a huge traffic jam – as about 15 planes were lined up in front of us to wait in turn to take off. The flight to London took about 8 hours and with time differences we arrived in London at about 8am. Next was a tube ride into Kings Cross station, which took about an hour. After a couple of hours wait we boarded the Eurostar bound for Brussels. Two hours and twenty minutes later, and in another time zone, we arrived at Brussels South Station, on Thursday afternoon. Finally we got a taxi to our hostel – a very pleasant and trendy backpackers establishment quite close to the centre of Brussels. The good news about this trip was that the overnight flight meant we saved a night’s accommodation costs, which helped with our budget. The bad news of course is that we did not get much sleep.

Mark Twain believed the journey was as important as the destination and our little subway, subway, sky train, jumbo, tube, eurostar, and taxi adventure crossing three time zones, three currencies, a few languages, the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel was tiring but very memorable.

Day 21-23 You've got mail

Tonight is our last night in NY. We have had a great time and have and managed to cram in about a years worth of sight seeing into 6 days...my feet are killing me (Wendy). Here is a quick run down of the last few days:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The American Museum of Natural History
Central Park
Riverside Park
The Rockefeller Centre
The Empire State Building (with 5 million other people)
The Chrysler Building
City Hall
The NY Public Library (where we saw the original Winnie the Pooh toys)
The UN Building
The Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
FAO Schwarz (an amazing toy shop)
The Apple Store
Fifth Avenue
Wall Street and all related buildings
Trinity Church
Ground Zero
We went to church at Redeemer Presbyterian Church New York
Times Square
Yankee Stadium (we saw the Yankees play the Mariners)
Brooklyn Bridge / Manhattan Bridge - we walked across one and back on the other
Chinatown
Grand Central Station (and even found the whispering room)
Broadway-which is the next street down from where we are staying.

We are sure there are more but just can't think of them. There are also lots of other places that we just happened to come across and had
a quick look at...like Tiffany and Co, Madison Square Garden and the Trump Building etc.
We have mastered the subway and learnt to measure distances in 'blocks' and to refer to the washing as 'laundry'. NYers have been extremely helpful and polite and despite the fact that they can never understand us when we speak, we have enjoyed our
interaction with them. The city is not terribly busy or noisy (especially after La Paz) and the traffic is nothing like Sydney...although we haven't been trying to get to work in 'rush hour'.
We have eaten hot dogs, pizza (it was terrible) hamburgers, NY cheesecake, French fries and onion rings. We are yet to try a bagel...maybe tomorrow... but mostly we have been buying food from
Zabars ( featured in the movie 'You've got Mail') a fantastic deli around the corner and we have cooked for ourselves.

Today we had coffee in the little cafe called Cafe Lalo where Meg Ryan was waiting to meet Tom (also from You’ve got Mail). It was just as cute and appealing as it looks in the movie. The movie was certainly shot on location around here and we are always coming across places that are familiar.

And to complete the picture tonight we are watching one of the 1000 cables channels and thrilled that Barack seems finally to have put the Democratic nomination beyond doubt.

We have always loved Americans and so we should not be surprised that so far we have loved our stay in America!

Day 17-20 The city that never sleeps

From South America, and Bolivia in particular, to New York was indeed a pleasant surprise. After 16 hours and three flights in transit we arrived wearily to New York near midnight. After an overnight in a hotel near the airport we arrived the next day at a small apartment we had rented on the upper west side of Manhattan. It has not let us down. We walked almost to town to get acquainted with our immediate environment, and then came back to pay the bill and settle in. But it was too exciting to sit in our rooms so we braved the subway and arrived downtown to check out Times Square. Wow! Wow and did we say Wow!.

Hunger finally got the better of us so we ate at a famous hamburger joint called Juniors. After a mix up with our order we fortunately received only one dinner, which was more than adequate for both of us. Dessert (New York Cheesecake) was put in a doggy bag and has been enjoyed over the last three days. And after all that we bought half price tickets to a play staring God himself ( Morgan Freeman). After the show we managed to find our way home at nearly midnight in a packed subway train. And all that was just day one!

Since then we have explored Central Park (wow!) and the Upper West Side, seen where John Lennon died, eaten from the famous Zabars deli and visited the Bronx to watch a baseball game at Yankee Stadium, where to be honest the locals seemed more preoccupied with food and drink than the game. We then explored Riverside park, (home of Wendy’s favourite scene in the movie ‘You’ve got Mail’), visited the Met (one of the most famous art galleries in the world), the Apple store, the famous toy shop FAO Schwarz, and had more wonderful home cooked food courtesy of Zabars. New York is wonderful, exciting, and friendly and did we mention – very very cold!

Day 15,16 A city on top of the world

La Paz , the City of Peace, is certainly an extraordinary city. It is quite true to say that firstly La Paz literally takes your breath away, for at an altitude of about 3800 metres above sea level this is the highest city in the world. Altitude is simply not much fun, we will be quite glad to get back to sea level. Interestingly in this city, the rich people live down the hill and enjoy a little more oxygen and the poor live on top of the hill and enjoy the view, but less oxygen. La Paz is a city of 1.3 million with a poor satellite city on top of the hill where another half a million (soon to be a million) people live. The city is build around a huge basin and is surrounded by an extraordinary range of snow-capped mountains (which are over 6000 metres) which serve as a magnificent backdrop.

Two things stood out. Firstly with no public transport, and as most people don’t own cars, people travel in mini buses. These mini buses, each individually owned and financed by micro finance are the method of transport for hundreds of thousands of commuters each day. Each van has a driver, and another young man, who hangs out the window or door to hawk for business. From our three star hotel, in the centre of town, the noise of these young men hawking for passengers sounded like a great cacophony of chanting or speaking in tongues. Traffic, like elsewhere in South America, was chaotic but the chanting seemed to rise about all else. Red lights, road lanes and road rules seemed to be only advisory, rarely adhered to.
Secondly, to help the situation the government has added a feature to help pedestrians cross the roads – zebras at the crossings. Our experience was that these ‘zebras’, probably made crossing the already busy road even more dangerous. But they were fun to watch.

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. A place of contrast, extremes and some very real challenges. With its first ever, indigenous president newly elected, and close allies in Venezuela and Cuba, we can only hope and pray that Bolivia may look forward to better days.