Tag: travel with humor

Founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, Alexandria became the capitol of Egypt for nearly 1,000 years. Due to wars and earthquakes, very little of the ancient city survives. The even more ancient city of Heracleion, a predecessor of Alexandria, has recently been found under the water of the Mediterranean not far from Alexandria (to the northeast). Just off the coast of Alexandria, the palace of Cleopatra has been discovered. Plans are underway to create an underwater museum. Both Alexander and Cleopatra were reportedly interred somewhere in Alexandria. But neither one has been found as of yet.

Cleopatra was thought to have been born in early 69 BC and reigned from 51 BC to 30 BC. The legends about Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, as well as Cleopatra and Marc Antony, and even her death appear to have been based in truth. She did have a son by Caesar in 47 BC whom she named Caesarian. Cleopatra met Marc Antony in 41 BC and had three children with him – fraternal twins Alexander Helios & Cleopatra Selene II, and Ptolemy Philadelphus. Caesarian was the last Pharaoh of Egypt. He was executed by Octavian (who became Emperor Augustus of Rome) shortly after his mother died. It is said that Cleopatra took her own life (either in her palace or her tomb) either by the bite of a venomous snake or via an injection of snake venom with a needle. No snake was found near her body when it was discovered, but she had puncture wounds on her arm that could have been caused by a needle.

Our hotel overlooked the Mediterranean and was across the street from the Royal Palace. The heat was rising. In addition to cold bottled water, I also drank as many lemon-flavored drinks as I could. Lemon is helpful in the heat. The hotel had fresh squeezed lemon squash at dinner. By this time, the temperature was roughly 104° F (40° C).

The day we arrived in Alexandria, several Italians and Germans, one Romanian, and eight Egyptians were kidnapped while camping on safari near the Sudan border west of Aswan. We were going to be flying to Aswan in a few days and then drive to Abu Simbel, which is about 12 miles from the Sudan border.

The Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt (of which Cleopatra was one) were Greek instead of Egyptian. The dynasty was begun with Alexander the Great and ended with the death of Cleopatra’s son, Caesarian. The Greeks honored Egyptian ways and Egyptian gods. But the Romans insisted on the Egyptians converting to Roman ways and treated them poorly. Cleopatra’s three children by Marc Antony were taken to Rome. Nobody’s certain what happened to the two boys. But the daughter was married off and became the Queen of Mauretania. Her son would be executed by Roman Emperor Caligula in 40 AD.

Our first expedition the following morning was to the Alexandria Catacombs, which date from 331 BC to 31 AD. These catacombs (Kom El Shoqafa) are considered to likely be the oldest in the world. We entered the catacombs by going down a circular stairway around what appeared to be a large airshaft. The “airshaft” had openings to the stairs. Turns out that the shaft was for lowering the bodies down. At the bottom, was a chamber with some really interesting carvings, incorporating a mixture of Egyptian, Greek and Roman styles. It isn’t large, but it is very unique.

The next stop was Pompey’s Pillar. According to the Egyptologist we had with us, the pillar was actually erected by Ptolemy II to honor his father, Ptolemy I, who followed Alexander the Great as the second Greek ruler of Egypt. The column is flanked by two sphinxes – one dedicated to Alexander the Great, and the other to Ramses II (Ramses the Great). We hung around long enough to be able to walk up the hill to the monument.

Normally on my travels, I wear a baseball cap. It usually works well to keep the sun off of my face and the top of my head. It also works well when it is raining, to keep the rain off of my face and allow me to continue to take photos. For Egypt, I used a Tilley hat (from Canada). It has a rim all the way around, is vented, and is the type of hat that the archeologists wear. I also upped my 35 spf sunblock to 85 spf. It all worked fine as I did not burn at any point, despite all of the time I spent in direct sunlight. Of course I hid in the shade whenever I had the option. With my fair, freckled, Celtic and English skin, I don’t take chances.

The original Alexandria library was created by Ptolemy I and was burned down several hundred years later, losing thousands of ancient documents. The current library is located not far from where the original was and has room for roughly eight million books. The books it contains are in three languages – English, French and Arabic, which are the main languages spoken in Egypt. The library also contains four museums, four art galleries and a planetarium in addition to a conference center and specialty libraries of maps and multimedia. At the time of our visit, it had about 600,000 volumes.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was the Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria. Destroyed by earthquakes in the 11^th and 14^th centuries, the lighthouse was replaced by the Qait Bey Citadel (on the same spot and built from the stones used for the lighthouse) in the 15^th century. After taking a photo from a distance, I walked to it so I could touch the stone walls. The Great Pyramid at Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders that still exists intact. But touching the stones from the lighthouse meant two of the seven I could touch. I have since visited the locations of three others.

That evening, the five of us (me, Janet, Phiroza, Sue Ling and Irene) went out to dinner. Before we ate, we went fora  walk in the part of Alexandria near the hotel. We wanted to just explore on our own and see a little of the town and the people.

The next day, before leaving Alexandria for Marsa Matruh and parts of Egypt further west along the Mediterranean, we went across the street to see the Montazah Palace complex. It is a very large complex with gardens, various palace buildings, and hotels. It was the summer palace of the kings of Egypt from the 1800s to King Farouk, who died in 1952. The main palace building was not open to the public at that time (I understand it is now), so we just looked at it through the gates. It has its own harbor, including its own lighthouse.

I saw a television program not too long ago in which an amateur archeologist is searching for the tomb of Cleopatra in the temple complex of Taposiris Magna, roughly 25 miles west of Alexandria. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she found it?

Every once in a while, I go on a trip that fits in the category of something I have wanted to experience my entire life. For many of the years that I had been able to afford to travel, Egypt had not been available through any tour that I could find. Likely part of the reason for that included things like the massacre of 62 people (mostly tourists) on the steps of Hatshepsut’s Temple at the Valley of the Kings in 1997. Then, all of a sudden, in 2008, the tour company I use most of the time had a tour to Egypt!

After the Central Europe tour earlier that year, Mom decided that the Egypt tour would be too much for her. It would be a very physically strenuous trip in very hot weather (about 104F), in late September/early October. So I went on a solo tour to Egypt.

Not only would I be flying to Cairo, but would also be flying from Cairo to Aswan and then Luxor to Cairo later on in the trip for a Nile Cruise. So I bought a new suitcase – a bright purple soft-sided case that was light-weight. I could easily handle it when I needed to and, more importantly, spot it quickly. That really came in handy as we had to identify our cases each morning before they were loaded on the tour bus. I did have to handle it myself at the Aswan and Luxor airports as well as when we left the cruise. Among all the black or red cases, mine definitely stood out.

The hotel was in Giza, near the pyramids. In fact, I could see them from the patio just outside my hotel room. The rooms were clustered into small units with their own entrances and private patios throughout a large resort area which was walled and gated.

Throughout the trip, it was necessary to send whatever bags I had with me through scanning machines at every hotel, tourist venue, and each time we returned to the cruise ship. Most of these machines were ancient. My poor video camera didn’t stand a chance. It died during the trip.

We had a group of twenty five – 10 American, 2 Malaysian, 4 Australian, one from India, 2 from New Zealand and 6 from the UK. I mainly hung out with Phiroza from India, Irene and Sue Ling from Malaysia, and Janet from NYC. I met the four of them our first evening.

Usually on a tour, there is a Tour Director and a Driver. Then we have Local Guides in each location to take us around and show us everything. This trip, we had an Egyptologist with us the entire time, so no need for any Local Guides. We also had a plain-clothes, armed, Security Guard who would be replaced in each city where we stayed with a fresh one.

The next day, we went to the Giza Plateau. The pyramids and Great Sphinx were just as magnificent as I figured they would be. We went to the Khufu pyramid first. This is the pyramid known as The Great Pyramid and is the oldest (roughly completed 2560 BC) and largest of the three — Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure.

We were on the side of the pyramid with an entrance that tomb robbers created. Usually tourists were allowed to go inside, but that wasn’t being allowed at that time. Not sure why. So we went over to the Khafre pyramid to go inside that instead.

This was another time I was glad to be so short. The ancient Egyptians were so much smaller than people are today. Even I was bent over. I wouldn’t recommend going inside to anyone who is claustrophobic.

Khafre was Khufu’s son. His pyramid was the second built. There is evidence that the plan might have been to make it larger than his father’s, but that didn’t happen.

Next came something that I didn’t even know existed – Khufu’s boat. It had been buried in a pit in front of his pyramid and, despite being built of wood (Lebanon cedar), was still intact when discovered in the 1950s. The boat was buried in pieces to be reassembled in the afterlife. It took years to be reassembled and is now displayed in a building in front of Khufu’s pyramid. I just loved seeing a boat that old. So far, it is the oldest I have ever seen.

In front of the Khafre pyramid is the Great Sphinx. With the body of a lion and the head of a man, it looks like it is guardian of the entire area. The face was supposedly modeled on Khafre and was certainly built during his reign. There is a raised area to the left of the Sphinx when facing it, from which we could look at and photograph it, but we couldn’t get close enough to touch it.

There were several men in the area who were trying to sell things to tourists or were taking tourists on camel rides. It wasn’t a great idea in Egypt, even at that time, to admit that you were from the US. So, whenever I was asked, “where you from?” I would say, “Canada.” The reaction was the same every time. There would be a short beat, and then the other person would say, “Canada Dry.” That just made me smile.

To save time spent on lunch, our Tour Director got us all falafel sandwiches to eat on the tour bus en route from the pyramids into Cairo to visit the National Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square (where the Egyptian Revolution took place three years later in 2011). We were also there during Ramadan, so most of the population was fasting.

We also quickly found that Cairo traffic is “every man for himself”. There are no traffic signals, stop signs, or seemingly any rules at all. There is also so much traffic that it pretty much crawls along and takes forever to get anywhere. We had plenty of time to get our lunch eaten before we arrived at the museum.

Ice cold bottled water was kept on the tour bus and was sold to us for 1 USD apiece. I went through three or four of them daily. We were instructed to drink bottled water only and to watch for the bottle to be sealed. This is because the water in Egypt is not drinkable. One can get really ill from drinking it as it contains parasites. It was also suggested that we not get ice cubes in drinks and use bottled water for brushing our teeth too. When we took the Nile cruise later, it was okay to use the water and ice cubes on the ship as the water came from a different source.

The Cairo Museum (with roughly 120,000 items) reminded me of someone’s attic with everything packed in and stacked up. It was only two levels, but like a labyrinth. It would be very easy to get lost. During the riots that took place in the square during the revolution, parts of the museum and some of the contents were destroyed, damaged or stolen. That really upset me as I found the contents to be awe-inspiring. If I were ever to return to Egypt, I would like to spend at least a full day exploring that museum.

When our group entered, we went straight to the Tutankhamun exhibit, which covers a very large area of the upstairs. We weren’t allowed to take photos anywhere in the museum. The amount of items that had been in the tomb was overwhelming. They were packed into a relatively small space. But the space was much larger than the tomb had been. There was a special room for the most precious items from Tut’s tomb, including the gold mask. Since two of his statues were damaged during the revolution, it’s a good thing that the vandals couldn’t get at the mask, gold coffin, jewels, and some of the other completely irreplaceable items.

We then went through several other parts of the museum where we saw statues of Khafre, Khufu, Djoser, Menkaure, Ramses II, various Amenhoteps and Tutmoseses, Tut’s dad Akhenaten, Hatshepsut, Seti I, the Seated Scribe, and loads of other items from all over Egypt. During free time, I made a beeline to the Royal Mummies.

After paying extra (the equivalent of about 25 USD), I was able to gaze upon the actual faces of Seti I, Ramses II, and several other pharaohs. New to the room was female pharaoh, Hatshepsut who reigned from roughly 1478 – 1458 BC. Just the year before my trip, Dr Zahi Hawass had used modern methods to try to identify her body from among three possible candidates. The actual identification came from comparing a space in her mouth from a missing tooth to a tooth contained in one of her canopic jars (jars the held the heart, entrails, and other parts of mummified pharaohs). I had watched the whole drama of the search for her identity unfold on the Discovery Channel and was thrilled to actually see her! Other royals who had not been pharaohs, were in another room nearby and there was a room with animal mummies – cats, goats, crocodiles, and a dog.

That night we had a Nile Dinner Cruise that included belly dancing. Egyptian belly dancing is very different from the belly dancing found in the rest of the Middle East. It is actually more sensual despite the dancers wearing more clothing. There were a couple of male dancers who, at one point, brought me up to dance with them.

We began the next day at the Muhammad Ali Mosque, built in 1848. It is mainly a tourist mosque and was the first mosque I had ever been in. Then we went to Old Cairo. We were told that the street level was 18^th century. We went several steps down to reach the 8^th century. The 7^th century was when the Muslim conquest of Egypt took place. Prior to that, Coptic Christianity (founded in 42 AD by the Apostle Mark in Alexandria, Egypt) was the main religion throughout Egypt.

We went down a few more levels to reach the 4^th century. At that level, we walked to the Saints Sergius & Bacchus Church (also known as Abu Serga), which is one of the oldest churches in Cairo. It was built over the location where Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus reportedly lived when they fled to Egypt after Jesus’ birth. We could look down the steps to the 1^st century level, but we weren’t allowed down there.

The next day we set off for Cleopatra’s capitol, Alexandria.

During our 2008 tour of Central Europe, once we left Budapest, we headed directly to Vienna and arrived by lunch. We ate at a lovely place at the foot of Rotenturmstrasse near Schwedenplatz. They not only had good food, but marvelous gelato in a large variety of flavors. Mom wasn’t feeling 100%, so she went on to the hotel with Wence, Esther and Franco while I went on a walking tour of Vienna which began at Hofburg Palace (the Hapsburg’s Former Winter Palace).

The palace was built in the 13^th century and has been expanded several times since. It is currently the residence and office of the President of Austria. The Royal Music Chapel is where the Vienna Boys Choir sings mass every Sunday. The palace is enormous and also includes a riding school for the Lipizzan horses, called the Spanish Riding School. They sometimes put on shows for the public, for which they sell tickets.

From there it was all uphill – literally. At the top of the hill is Saint Stephen’s Cathedral (Rotenturmstrasse takes you down the other side of the hill to where we had had lunch and where the bus was waiting at Schwedenplatz). With its multi-colored tile roof, it is as gorgeous outside as inside. The cathedral was built in the 14^th century over the remains of two earlier churches, which were, in turn, built over a Roman cemetery. The Giant’s Door is named because of the hip bone of a mastodon that was found during excavations when expanding the cathedral in the 15^th century. For quite a while, that hip bone was on display above the door.

I have been to a lot of cathedrals in my travels and Saint Stephen’s remains one of my favorites. It is said that Beethoven realized just how deaf he had become when he saw the birds flying out of the belfry at Saint Stephen’s, but couldn’t hear the bells. Mozart had been named as a music director at Saint Stephen’s shortly before his death. His funeral was held there in one of the side chapels (which isn’t open to the public). There is a catacomb beneath the cathedral with the remains of over 11,000 people which can be toured.

One story that I find amusing was when Emperor Leopold I took an icon of the Virgin Mary with the Baby Jesus from a church in a village and moved it to Saint Stephen’s. This was because the figure of Mary on the icon would cry and miracles were said to be performed. The Emperor said he was taking the icon for safe keeping from the Ottomans who were running around in the area of the village at that time (late 1600s), but he didn’t give it back when the village asked for it. Instead, he sent them a copy. Interestingly, the original hasn’t cried since it has been in its new home, but the copy now in the village cries every once in a while. Hmmm.

That evening, we went to a show at the Kursalon where the Strauss brothers used to give Promenade concerts. The music consisted of Strauss waltzes and Mozart. They also had a couple of dancers. Mom had perked up by that time. Just needed some rest that afternoon.

The next morning, we took a tour at Schonbrunn Palace, which was built by the Hapsburgs in the 17^th century. Most of what you can see was decorated by Maria Theresa in the 18^th century with a small section of rooms redone by Franz Joseph in the 19^th century. The personal belongings of both Franz Joseph and his wife, Elizabeth (called Sisi), are still there as if they are still living there. I really liked this palace because of the personal touches.

After lunch back in Vienna, we departed for Prague in the Czech Republic. The hotel was brand new and we got a little bit lost trying to find it according to the directions we had been given. But, eventually we got there. The hotel was connected to a large shopping mall with several restaurants. Not everything was completed as of yet. There was an underground stop at the shopping mall, which ended up being quite handy the following day.

We started our day at the Svatopluk Cech Bridge, where we were dropped off to explore the Old Town of Prague. Although some cars are allowed on some of the streets in the Old Town, the majority of the thoroughfares are pedestrian only and no big tour buses are allowed period. We were taken on a walking tour of the old Jewish Quarter and over to the 14^th century Charles Bridge.

The Jewish Quarter (Josefov) saw its first occupants in the 10^th century. By the 18^th century, much of the population had moved out, leaving mainly the Orthodox and the poor. In the early 20^th century, some of the oldest parts of the area, with the most narrow, cramped streets, were destroyed.

Construction began on the Charles (Karlov) Bridge in 1357, replacing a 200-year-old bridge that had been severely damaged by floods. It is now a pedestrian only bridge and is lined with copies of the original 17^th century statues, which have been moved indoors to the National Museum for safe keeping.

At the Charles Bridge, some of the group (including Mom) departed for the hotel. They walked down to a nearby square from which they could catch the underground to the hotel. There were about seven of them, including our “guide in training” Esther. Both she and Wence could speak the language. Wence got everyone on the right train and then left them in Esther’s capable hands. One of the men on the trip took Mom by the arm and was her escort. I gave her plenty of money for the train and for some lunch.

The rest of the group was staying in the Old Town for lunch and then would meet Wence back at the first bridge where we had been dropped off to take an afternoon optional excursion to the Prague Castle compound. We walked over to the astronomical clock in the Old Town Square to watch it do its thing.

This very complicated piece of machinery was built in the 15^th century. Legend has it that the clockmaker was blinded after he completed it to make it impossible for him to duplicate it anywhere else. Having great talent back in those days wasn’t necessarily a good thing. There are several animated pieces and figures that are set in motion when the clock strikes the hours. We made sure we were there and able to see it when the time came. A skeleton rings a hand bell while the Twelve Apostles parade by the windows. Then the hour is rung by a larger bell and it’s all over.

Thus contented, we went off to find someplace to eat a light, but satisfying lunch. I found a place with some hearty soup and a half sandwich. I found a shop where I bought a few souvenirs, including a Pilsner Urquell glass for one of my brothers (Pilsner Urquell was the first pale lager, or pilsner, created and is a very tasty Czech beer), then I explored around in more of the Old Town before walking back to the meeting point.

Once we entered the castle precinct, we headed straight for St Vitus Cathedral. The castle is the largest ancient castle in the world. It dates back to the 9^th century and is currently used as the President’s residence as well as for various government offices. Very little of the actual castle is open to the public. We did visit a small part of the castle with some extremely old cellars after the Cathedral.

St Vitus Cathedral began in 930AD under Saint Wenceslaus and was greatly enlarged in the 12^th century. Many of the kings of Bohemia (the area that includes Prague) and Holy Roman Emperors are buried here, as is Wenceslaus himself. He is the subject of the song “Good King Wenceslaus” although he was actually a Duke. His chapel isn’t open to the public, but it can be viewed through the doorway. The cathedral was named after Saint Vitus because Wenceslaus owned a relic of him – his arm. Vitus was himself Italian.

Another saint who has a really cool tomb within the cathedral is Saint John of Napumuk. John had been tortured and thrown from the Charles Bridge back in 1393. The spot where his statue now stands on that bridge is supposedly the spot from which he was thrown. Apparently they fished his body out of the river and then buried it in a tomb of solid silver. He was pretty much venerated as a saint immediately upon his death although there is a controversy as to why he was killed. I prefer the story of him refusing to tell the king what his wife had confessed to him. It has a much more heroic air to it than that he backed a man for abbot that the king didn’t like.

After visiting the old cellars in the castle itself, we toured the Basilica of Saint George. This is the dragon slayer who is considered to be the patron saint of England. He is also quite venerated throughout Eastern Europe and even parts of the Middle East. The church was built in 920 and enlarged in 973 to include an abbey. The baroque façade was added in the 17^th century.

From the church, we walked down the Golden Lane, which is a small, narrow street within the castle walls where, in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, goldsmiths lived and worked. In later days, Franz Kafka stayed at No. 22 for a while. From Golden Lane, we left the castle walls and walked down a long, steep cobbled walkway to where the bus was waiting for us.

Back at the hotel, Mom had snacked on the food we had in the room for lunch and so we had loads of money left for our last night in Prague. We went to one of the fancier restaurants in the shopping mall and splurged. After dinner, we met up with the rest of the group again for a visit to the Strahov Monastery (founded in the 12^th century) to see the view of Prague from there and to sample some of the beer that they brew there.

Our last Bohemian adventure was to visit the Krizikova Fountain, where they put on a show with the lights and water coordinated to music by the Czech composer, Anton Dvorak. The next day, we returned to Germany.

Only a couple of the former Soviet countries to which I have traveled have been determined to still operate as they did when they were Communist. Slovakia, which we needed to pass through while traveling from Poland to Hungary during our 2008 tour of Central Europe, was one of them. As part of the European Union, surrounded by other members of the European Union, we shouldn’t have been stopped at the border. We were stopped and made to wait for quite some time. The border patrol wanted to see all passports for everyone not from a European Union country (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand).

Shortly after they released us, we were stopped by the police in the first town we encountered. Although we had the correct sticker for the tour bus, the police wanted to see our driver’s receipt for the sticker, which he did not have with him. So they made him buy another sticker. They didn’t want to give him a receipt for that one either, but Franco and Wence argued until they got one. It seemed to me that the police in that town planned to fleece tour buses for a new sticker every time they passed through.

Since we took up so much time with all of this, we just went to a McDonalds to get a quick, cheap, lunch and continue on our way to Hungary. Fortunately, the McDonalds took Euros, so no need to exchange any money anywhere.

The part of the country we drove through was a ski resort area, quite mountainous and beautiful. But my opinion of Slovakia was so colored by our experiences with the authorities that I was much more interested in getting to Hungary than I was looking at the Slovakian scenery. Fortunately the border crossing from Slovakia to Hungary was uneventful.

After dinner that night in Budapest, we went on a cruise on the Danube River. All of the buildings on both sides of the river were lit up and quite beautiful. I did not yet have a digital camera and the photos I took didn’t turn out decently at all. I took some video as well, which turned out just fine. We were on a relatively small boat, so it was a private cruise for just our group. We were served champagne and some appetizers. Strauss music was played, including the “Blue Danube Waltz”.

What eventually became Budapest was originally founded by the Celts in about 1AD, but was soon taken over by the Romans. At this time it was called Aquincum. Some of the Roman town can still be seen. Later came some folks from Bulgaria who settled two towns – Buda, up on the hills of one side of the Danube, and Pest, on the flatlands on the other side of the river. In the 9^th century, Arpad and the Magyars conquered the country and named it the Kingdom of Hungary with Buda as its capitol. The Magyars were from just north of Bulgaria.

The Ottoman Turks took over in the 16^th century and weren’t driven out until the 18^th century. Turkish baths still exist and are quite popular in Budapest. The Austrian Hapsburgs then had control until the 19^th century when the Hungarians revolted and won their independence. The Chain Bridge was built across the Danube, linking Buda and Pest, which then became one city.

During World War I, Hungary and Austria were allied with Germany. As part of the losing forces, Hungary ended up being partitioned and lost a lot of its territory, including Transylvania, which ended up as part of Romania. Many Hungarian Transylvanians even today consider themselves Hungarian, not Romanian. In World War II, Hungary once again picked the wrong side and was taken over by the Soviets after the war. They now have a park (Memento Park) on the edge of town where they display all of their statuary from the Soviet occupation.

We had a busy morning after our Danube cruise. Our first stop was at Hero’s Square, which contains statues of Arpad and the boys plus a colonnaded display of the early kings of Hungary. At the top of the central column is the Angel Gabriel. The seven Magyar chieftains are depicted on horseback with Arpad front and center.

One of my long ago Scottish ancestors married a woman born in Hungary of the royal family, so I have a dab of Hungarian ancestry. When I had my DNA tested, a small amount of Eastern European showed up. That correlates with what I have found in the family tree.

After driving around Pest to see the City Park, St Stephan’s Basilica (the first king of Hungary), the  Dohany Street Synagogue (the largest synagogue in Hungary), the Hungarian State Opera House, the House of Terror Museum (exhibits on the Fascist and Communist regimes with memorials to their victims), Memento Park, Margaret Island, and the Parliament, we crossed the Chain Bridge to Buda. There we went to Buda Castle. The medieval original had been destroyed during the siege to extricate Budapest from the Ottomans, so this version was built in the 1700s. It is used as a museum. We just drove around outside.

From there we went to the square near the Matthias Coronation Church. The church is over 700 years old and was being renovated and refurbished during that time, so the exterior was in scaffolding and the interior was closed to the public. I toured it on a later visit. King Stephan I originally built a church on this site in the 11^th century that was destroyed by Mongols in the 13^th century. The current version of the church was built after this destruction. Although mainly used for coronations, the church has also had a couple of weddings and a handful of burials. When the Ottomans took over, they whitewashed all of the frescos and turned it into a mosque.

Right in front of the church is a monument to the Plague. Most of the buildings close to the church are medieval (or reconstructed medieval). Next to the church is Fisherman’s Bastian. Although it looks much older, it was constructed in the late 19^th century. Between it and the Matthias Coronation Church is a bronze statue of King Stephan I (aka Saint Stephan or Szent Istvan) on horseback. From the Bastian, one can get a breathtaking view of the Hungarian Parliament. This is the enormous, white, gothic-looking building that all of the river cruise ships go by in their commercials.

After a little bit of time to wander around the Bastian and the square, we went back down to Pest for a lunch break. Mom and I were hanging out with some Brits who spotted a British pub – the John Bull Pub. So we went there for lunch. Had one of the most interesting club sandwiches I have ever had with a glass of Guinness.

On our way to the town of Szentendre (Saint Andrew), which is not far from Budapest, we stopped off at some of the Roman remains of Aquincum. A pretty extensive area has been excavated.

Szentendre was founded by one of the Magyar princes who arrived with Arpad. The town was built over the remains of a Roman town.  At Szentendre, we walked up a pedestrian-only, cobbled road to reach the main square of the town. Then we went down a side street to the Margit Kovacs Museum. She was a potter and ceramics maker. Several of her pieces were on display at the museum.

We returned to the town square and visited the Serbian Orthodox Church at the edge of the square. It was a tiny little church, but ornately decorated. I couldn’t get any decent photos because of its size, the amount of people in our group, and the lack of light in the church (but I do in a later trip). Serbs had been invited to settle in Szentendre (to try to evade the Ottomans) in the late 17^th century during the Great Turkish War after the Ottomans had been kicked out of Buda.

To finish our visit, we had some cake and tea at Korona on the main square. The restaurant is 200 years old and serves traditional Hungarian food. We then had some free time to make our way back down the road leisurely. Both sides of the narrow street had shops. Some were clothing shops, some were souvenir shops and many were for various crafts. Ended up getting a couple of hand-embroidered table runners.

Our next stop on the trip was Vienna, followed by Prague.

Crossing into Poland as part of a 2008 tour to Central Europe, our first stop was for lunch at Poznan, which is one of the oldest and largest cities in Poland. We had lunch in the Renaissance Old Town in a restaurant just across the square from the clock tower of the 14^th century Town Hall.

Poznan had been the capital of the Polans until about 1039, when the capitol was moved to Krakow. Poznan suffered an enormous fire in the 1500s, which burned most of the city. The 1600s and 1700s saw several wars, the plague, and floods. In the 1793 Second Partition of Poland, Poznan ended up as part of Prussia. In 1807, it became part of the Duchy of Warsaw, but in 1815, was returned to Prussia. At the end of World War I, however, it once again became part of Poland. During World War II, Germany declared it part of Germany, which changed again at the end of the war when it became part of Poland again and all of Poland became part of the Soviet Union. Poznan needed to be rebuilt over and over again throughout its history, including after World War II.

On our way to Warsaw, the current capital of Poland, it began to snow quite heavily, causing a major traffic delay. We had an included dinner that evening at the hotel. The hotel was informed we would be late and held dinner for us.

Though not as old as Poznan, Warsaw changed hands many times throughout its history as well. In the 1600s, Sweden, Brandenburgian (German) forces and Transylvania played a game of tug of war with Warsaw. It bounced back and forth between Poland and Prussia several times until, finally in 1918, it became the capital of Poland.

After a good night’s sleep in cozy beds in a very large L-shaped hotel room (Mom was around the corner and on the other end of the room from me) we awoke to see a pretty solid blanket of snow covering the ground. Fortunately we always wore nonslip-soled shoes when traveling (in addition to taking coats with zip-in linings plus gloves and hats – just in case). Our first stop after breakfast was the memorial to Frederic Chopin in Lazienki Park. Hiked through quite a bit of snow to get to it, but it was really quite beautiful with the snow on it. Nearby was the Presidential Palace, which we could go by but not tour.

Next stop was the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943), which is located in what had been the Jewish Ghetto (which was completely flattened during World War II), on the spot where the first armed clash of the uprising took place. We also went by a memorial that consisted of an open railcar with burnt crosses and gravestones, which was near the Umschlagplatz Memorial, where the railcars departed for the concentration camps. This memorial is located on the actual site and was built to represent an open railcar.

There is also a memorial to the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, which took place over 63 days as the Soviets watched from across the river while the Nazis destroyed 85% of the city due to the Polish Home Army’s decision to rebel. We were taken to Market Square, where we watched a film about the destruction and rebuilding of Warsaw. Then we had some free time to explore the restored medieval (15^th century) Market Square. The mermaid fountain was under restoration at that time, so I was unable to take a photo of it. But I got some great photos on a later trip.

We had an included lunch at a restaurant in the Royal Square that included a soup with sausages and hard-boiled eggs. It was so hearty, it could have made a meal all by itself, but we still had breaded chicken with coleslaw and roasted potatoes plus an apple cake for dessert. After lunch, we toured the Royal Castle. The contents of the castle had been hidden away during the war and the castle itself had been leveled after the Warsaw Uprising. Plans were drawn up to rebuild the castle in 1971 and the necessary funds were raised by 1975. Reconstruction was completed by 1984. The castle is used as an art museum (which includes two Rembrandts), for exhibits, and for conferences.

After another night in Warsaw, we set out for Czestochowa and the Monastery of Jasna Gora. The monastery was founded in 1382 by monks from Hungary. A painting of a black Madonna and Child is venerated, with pilgrims approaching the painting on their knees. The origins of the painting are disputed. Some feel it dates to the 14^th century, while others claim that it was discovered in Jerusalem in 326 and taken to Constantinople. From there it eventually got to Hungary and brought to Czestochowa in the 14^th century.

When we arrived at Auschwitz, I found it to be quite chilling to be there. I was allowed to take video within the concentration camp interiors, but not photos. There were enormous piles of luggage, shoes, and other items confiscated from prisoners on arrival. It was all terribly moving. It was the eyeglasses that especially got to me, possibly because I wear glasses myself. They are the first thing I put on in the morning and the last thing I take off at night. They are so personal.

There were also loads of photos of what was found when the Allies liberated the camps. We were told that experiments on women were performed in Building #10. Another part of the camp, Auschwitz II, is also known as Birkenau. Since the decision had been made at the time it was being built to exterminate all Jews, it was pretty much purpose built as an extermination camp. We spent a lot of time at Auschwitz I and just a short time at Birkenau. Then we drove to Krakow for the night.

We began the day at Krakow with a tour of the Jewish Quarter, in a portion of the city called Kazimierz. Parts of Schindler’s List had been filmed there. Film director Roman Polanski managed to escape as a child and basically hid out on his own after a brief time with a Catholic family. His mother was killed at Auschwitz, but his father survived the camps in Austria where he had been sent. A group of young men began to sing and dance while we were there – quite jubilantly.

The Royal Palace and the Royal Cathedral are at the top of Wawel Hill. There have been people living on Wawel Hill for about 50,000 years. We managed to climb the hill and enter the cathedral before it began to rain. Over 900 years old, the Wawel Cathedral is where the Polish kings were crowned and buried.

As we got to the large covered porch area between the cathedral and the castle, the rain came down in torrents. So we hid out there for awhile. It finally settled down by the time we needed to leave enough that we didn’t get drenched going back down the hill. The Castle is now an art museum.

By the time we arrived down in the market square of Krakow, everything was still wet, but the sky seemed to be getting lighter, like maybe the rain was truly done. We looked around a little in the square, especially at the Renaissance Cloth Hall. The lower level consisted of stalls with lots of things to buy, including tourist items. Then we went off of the square to find someplace to eat.

Usually the main squares where tourists hang out have the most expensive places to eat. So, unless we have a reason to want to spend the extra money, we usually would go off a street or two to find someplace quiet with what looks like good food, at a reasonable price. We ended up at a small, cozy, place down some stairs where we had something called zapiekanka, which was a toasted, open-faced sandwich on a baguette. It was pretty good. We both had hot drinks to go with it as it was getting a wee bit nippy.

Most of the group was doing an optional trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mine where historic statues and mythical figures have been carved out of salt. Mom was having some balance issues (she had Menieres, which is a balance disorder that would flare up from time to time) and so didn’t feel that it would be a good idea for her. We had planned to explore St Mary’s Basilica and the Cloth Fair, then take a taxi back to the hotel. When we came out of the restaurant, it was raining again. We went directly to the basilica as it was not far from the restaurant.

In the 13^th century, a trumpeter was sounding the alarm at the basilica as the Mongols were attacking when he was shot through the throat. Each hour, a trumpeter plays a plaintive tune from the top of the taller of the two towers at the basilica and stops suddenly mid-tune. The basilica was found in 1221-22 and was destroyed by the Mongols. It was rebuilt shortly after. The interior is very ornate and beautiful.

By the time we left the basilica, it was raining very heavily again and getting colder. So we gave up and took a taxi back to the hotel. Whenever I am someplace where I am not totally familiar (especially if I don’t speak the language) I get a card from the front desk of the hotel so I can just show it to any cabbie and they can read the hotel name and address. Wence had shown us before leaving us that the place to get taxis was behind the basilica. We had a short wait before any taxis arrived, then about three showed up at once. A very nice fella, who didn’t speak much English, took a look at the hotel card, nodded and said he knew that. The trip back to the hotel was through extremely heavy rain, but didn’t take too long.

We had snacks, fruit, and liquids back at the hotel or we could go to the hotel restaurant if we were really hungry at dinner time. We weren’t. They had a program on television called “The Road to Broadway”. It was about four musicals getting ready for the 2003-2004 Broadway Season. The musicals were “Caroline, or Change”, “Taboo”, “Avenue Q”, and “Wicked”.  The narration was re-recorded in Polish, but everything the actors said (or sang) was in English with Polish subtitles. We watched it while taking turns taking bubble baths (I always carry bubble bath when traveling), writing in my journal, and getting things ready for the following day.

The next day we left for Slovakia and Hungary.