Bratislava
Crippling hangover. Too much “Vienna Blood” the night before. Have to get a train to Bratislava. No time for breakfast and couldn’t face the thought of food anyway.
Fortunately it is only a short train journey from Vienna to Bratislava and I managed to avoid being sick everywhere. Always a bonus.
We arrive in Bratislava when the sun is at its hottest and make the walk to the hostel. The hangover shows no signs of easing and the heat isn’t doing anything to help matters. Most of the afternoon is spent sleeping as neither of us really feel like doing anything.
Fortunately Bratislava is a pretty small city and you can see all the main sights in a day. Following a pretty average breakfast consisting of bread, jam and some brown water the two of us took a stroll to Bratislavský hrad (Bratislava Castle) which sits on a hill overlooking the River Danube. The castle dates back to the 9th century and during its lifetime has been subjected to various conversions and reconstructions. Most notably, in 1811 the castle was completely destroyed by a fire accidently started by troops garrisoned there. Idiots. The building remained a ruin until 1957 when the restoration finally began. Evidently the restoration is still not complete as there was still plenty of scaffolding in place when Chris and I visited. Not a lot of actual work seemed to happening though. The workers are probably all sat in cafés drinking coffee.
Anyway, it’s an excellent reconstruction and you get some great views over the rest of the city. The castle sits in the traditional looking Old Town. Across the other side of the Danube is the more Soviet looking part of the city. Essentially lots of identical looking apartment and office blocks. The uniform look is not particularly inspiring. The two sides of the city are connected via a number of bridges including Nový Most, which translates as “New Bridge”. How imaginative. On top of the bridge is the so called “UFO restaurant”, possibly because it looks like a UFO.
In the afternoon we took a walk through the very pleasant looking Old Town. It has a small main square with a handful of restaurants and bars around the edge. Chris and I decided to stop one such eatery for a well deserved bagel and coffee. I got that impression that this was not a traditional Slovak thing to do as the menu was only in English. After a further short walk the two of us decided to go all healthy and eat some fruit. We found a Tesco of all things and bought some corporate fruit. Tesco gets everywhere these days, it’s only a matter of time before they have their own private army and take over the whole.
In the evening we ate at a restaurant called Prašná Bašta located in the Old Town. Once again I feasted on a salmon related dish and 500ml of Erdinger Black beer. There is definitely a pattern emerging here.
Next stop on the tour, Budapest.
Vienna
Woke up. Got dressed. Walked to the train station. Boarded the train. Same shit different day.
It was already the evening when we arrived at the Happy Hostel, so after dumping our stuff in the room we headed to a place called Gasthaus Franceschi which had been recommended by the hostel staff. It was a nice little pub run by an friendly (albeit slightly drunk) American called Gary. He talked to us about our travels and how he was planning a trip to the UK in the coming months. He also professed to us his love of snooker (which he insisted on pronouncing “snucker”).
It’s surprising how tired you can feel after a whole day of sitting on a train not really doing anything, so after the meal we headed back to the hostel and went to bed.
As usual we got up late in the morning and headed back to the gasthaus for a classic meat and cheese breakfast. At the hostel in Krakow there had been no option for breakfast in the morning, so it was good to have something prepared for us rather than having to worry about where the nearest supermarket or kebab shop was.
Afterwards we headed down Vienna’s main shopping high streets towards the city centre. We passed through the Museumsquartier and on towards Hofburg Palace which is where the Habsburgs used to hang out. The Lonely Planet guide had also recommended that we take a look at Saint Stephens Cathedral which is probably an architectural masterpiece, but unfortunately some wise guy had decided that a load of scaffolding would greatly improve its look. Either that or it just isn’t finished yet. This has been a constant problem/theme throughout Europe. We get to a place only to find that it has been turned into a construction site. I’m sure the same problems probably exist in England and I just haven’t noticed.
We crossed a bridge going over the Danube expecting to find plenty of bars and cafés, but unfortunately the whole place is very poorly utilised. At this point the Viennese should take note: when you’ve got a river like that take advantage of it. Cover the whole place in bars, cafés and restaurants. The tourists will love it. Unfortunately I expect that my cries will go unanswered.
We’d read somewhere (possibly on the internet) that the Viennese are very keen on their coffee, although this does seem to apply to most of Europe. Once again Lonely Planet came up trumps in recommending Kleines Café. It was full of locals as well which is always a good sign.
In the afternoon we headed to a corporate supermarket and purchased some corporate fruit before heading to the very public Sigmund Freud Park. The park is fairly small and at one end sits the Votivkirche (Votive Church), although this too had been ruined by scaffolding and advertising boardings. The Roman Catholic church certainly is selling out hard these days.
On the way back to the hostel we popped into an independent record store and had a good peruse of the shelves. I used to think that I had a reasonable knowledge of the music scene, but it soon transpired that I know little or nothing about the subject. About 90% of the CDs in the shop were by artists that I had never heard of.
In the evening, following much aimless walking around, we eventually found somewhere to have dinner. Chris and I settled down to some fine Austrian cuisine accompanied by some Schneider Weisse wheat beer.
The previous evening our American friend Gary had advised that we check out the nearby Travellers Shack. As the name suggests this is where a lot of travellers go. We arrived to find the place almost completely empty but the barman informed us that things in Vienna don’t really get going until 11pm. Because we had to get up early in the morning to catch a train Chris and I had originally intended to just have a “few” beers. However this plan went out of the window when the barman pulled out a bottle of something called “Vienna Blood”, which is a delicious chili based liqueur.
The bar steadily filled up throughout the evening and we found ourselves playing cards, table football and pool with our fellow travellers. The alcohol flowed steadily and several more shots were consumed (some of which were a little bit on fire). My pool skills went from bad to worse to non-existent and I eventually decided to call it a night. Fortunately I remembered where the hostel was and stumbled up the stairs and rolled into bed.
I awoke the next day to find my face covered in paint. Sign of a good night.
Auschwitz
For ever let this place be
a cry of despair
and a warning to humanity
Where the Nazis Murdered
about one and a half
million
men, women and children,
mainly Jews
from various countries
of Europe.
(Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial inscription)
Krakow
Following the concrete blocks of Warsaw, Krakow presented us with a nice change of scene. Although the Nazis did occupy the city during World War II they didn’t blow it all up and as a result Krakow is quite an attractive looking place to visit.
Krakow’s main claim to fame is Rynek Główny (Main Market Square) which, at 40,000 m² is the biggest medieval town square in Europe. At the centre of the square is Sukiennice which is essentially an indoor market selling clothing, fabrics and “I ♥ Krakow” T-Shirts.
Wieża ratuszowa (Town Hall Tower), which dates back to the 13th Century is the oldest building in the square. Also of note is Kościół Mariacki (Saint Mary’s Basilica) and a statue to celebrate the works of the Polish romantic poet, Adam Mickiewicz.
Around the edges of the square are many bars, cafés and restaurants. It was one of these restaurants where Chris and I went for our evening meal. Here we indulged in some fine cuisine, several glasses of beer and talked of philosophy (as you do). There seemed to be a direct correlation between consumption of beer and the quality and coherence of the conversation.
By the second day the weather had taken a turn for the worse. The clear blue skies had been replaced with dark clouds and rain. Chris and I decided to brave the elements and headed out in our rain coats. It is all but impossible to look in anyway “cool” whilst wearing a raincoat, especially if you already look like an obvious English tourist. Hoping that the weather might improve we headed to a corporate coffee shop, where we had some corporate lattes and corporate sandwiches. The sandwich looked like something you might find at the side of the motorway and tasted much the same (probably).
Once we’d finished our drinks we headed outside again to find that the weather had not improved. Feeling slightly narked we headed back the hostel where we did some planning for the rest of the trip.
By the evening the weather had improved slightly so we headed out to find food and somewhere to watch the Champions League Final. After a short search we were able to find a restaurant which was showing the match on a massive projector screen. The food was pretty good and was helped largely by the 1 litre jugs of beer which we were drinking from. Obviously this would never be allowed in England at the risk of people “having a good time”.
The football didn’t really go the way I wanted, but I was pretty drunk by the end of the game and didn’t mind so much. The result just confirmed my belief that Barcelona are far and away best team and the world and that everyone else (including Manchester United) have a lot of work to do if they are to catch them.
The next morning, feeling slightly worse for wear, we headed out in search of something to eat. We decided to go for the healthy option of a kebab, which turned out to be a pretty good choice and was ridiculously cheap. Afterwards we took a walk along the Vistula River towards Wawel Hill. Along the way we passed by a sculpture of a dragon which at first I thought looked pretty shitty, but managed to change my mind when it started breathing fire!
We made the climb up Wawel Hill to the Castle and Cathedral. From the top you get a good view of the city and the river down below.
Interestingly the Cathedral, which is of Gothic design, has two domes although only one of them is gold. Perhaps they were working to a tight budget?
In the evening we went to a traditional Polish restaurant called Chłopskie Jadło . Here we had one of the best meals of the trip so far. We both started with beetroot and potatoe soup, for the main course I had pork roulade with dumplings and Chris settled for beef wrapped in cabbage with rice. Had we known how large the portions were we probably wouldn’t have bothered with the starter. The food was fantastic but I regret to say that neither of us managed to finish the main course (a very rare occurrence for the both of us). The quality of Eastern European food has been a very pleasant surprise during this trip. Most meals consists of a combination of meat, cabbage, potatoes and dumplings, and although they don’t look particularly attractive they certainly do a good job of filling you up. It’s a cliché to say it but this is good hearty honest grub.
On the way back to the hostel we found large numbers of Wisła Kraków football fans to be roaming the streets. Despite seeing their team lose 2-nil the fans were all in high spirits. It was the last game of the season anyway and Wisła had already wrapped up the title a few weeks ago. One group of fans, who all looked to be in their late teens and early twenties were being followed by a couple of police cars. The mood of the group seemed to be very light hearted until one of the police cars pulled over, a cop jumped out (with truncheon in hand) and proceeded to bundle one of the fans into the back of the car. I took this to be a little heavy handed, but perhaps I am being naive and this was just some traditional Eastern European policing.
Warsaw
My first impression of Warsaw was how well built the place was. The city is very much a celebration of the versatility, beauty and strength that can be found in concrete. Yes concrete is an excellent building material, but don’t build a whole city out of it.
Perhaps I am being a little harsh, after all Warsaw was almost entirely destroyed by the Germans in 1944 following the Warsaw Uprising and had to be rebuilt from scratch. Warsaw is sometimes known as the “Phoenix City” because it has risen from the flames.
The first thing you see upon leaving Warsaw Centralna is the Palace of Culture and Science. If you include the spire it stands at 231 metres tall. Construction of the building took place between 1952 and 1955 and was a gift from Joseph Stalin to the people of Poland (although Stalin died before the building was completed). Although not a particularly attractive building it looks very unique and imposing against the Warsaw skyline.
The Palace of Culture and Science.
It was already dinner time by the time we checked in at the hostel, so Chris and I asked the unreasonably attractive receptionist to recommend us a restaurant. She recommended a traditional Polish eatery a short walk from the hostel, though given her good looks she could have recommended McDonalds and I’d probably have gone along with it.
The menu at the restaurant was based almost entirely around dumplings. It seems you can have dumplings with just about anything and I eventually settled on salmon and camembert. Chris and I were also pleased to find all the staff in the restaurant were excessively good looking, which did cause something of a distraction for most of the evening and also meant that we had to stay there for as long as possible. Consequently a lot of Tyskie was consumed that evening.
After breakfast the next morning we visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which contains the remains of a soldier killed during World War I. The tomb was guarded by two angry looking Polish guards who looked less than impressed with how close I was standing to the tomb.
From there the two of us took a stroll through Saxon Garden and on into Stare Miasto (Old Town). The Old Town is the main tourist destination, possibly because it is the only attractive part of Warsaw. Along with the rest of Warsaw it was completely destroyed during World War II, but has been rebuilt in the original style and using as many original materials as possible. Regardless of my thoughts about the rest of the city, there is no denying the hard work that has gone into beautifully restoring the Old Town.
The Old Town Market Place
After stopping to eat a slightly distressed looking burger we headed for the Warsaw Rising Monument and the Warsaw Ghetto Monument. Although it is difficult to describe (or imagine) the horrors that took place in Warsaw during the Second World War the two monuments are a fitting tribute to the strength of the people of Poland.
Thanks largely to Google Maps we struggled to find the Warsaw Rising Museum, which at one point looked like it might have been located in a shed. Anyway, we found it in the end and spent most of the afternoon their educating ourselves on the events of 1944. To give a brief overview the Warsaw Uprising began on the 1st August and lasted for 63 days. During that time the Home Army (resistance fighters) received little in the way of outside support, yet they were able to take control of large parts of the city. Controversially the Red Army (who were pushing through from the east) did not enter the city until the Home Army had been defeated and what remained of Warsaw razed to the ground. It is estimated that 15,000 Polish troops and between 150,000 and 200,000 Polish civilians were killed in the Uprising. Soviet troops eventually liberated Warsaw on 17th January 1945 from the retreating German Army.
Although from a historical viewpoint the museum was extremely interesting Chris and I felt that that the exhibits were laid out in a rather confusing way. Instead of being set out in chronological order the museum presents a mishmash of information which is a bit confusing if you aren’t too familiar with that period of Polish history.
In the evening Chris and I struggled to translate the Polish menu at a restaurant and so decided to play it safe and get some steaks and chips accompanied by a few pitchers of beer. We reflected on the days events and planned what we would do at our next destination, Kraków.
Prague
Following breakfast at the hostel in Dresden Chris and I set out for the station where we would board a train to Prague.
Upon arriving at the station we were treated to some light entertainment by a jazz band. A large crowd had gathered around to watch the band, seemingly more interested in the music than they were boarding a train. Perhaps I had the wrong end of the stick and this was simply a fun day out for the Germans. At one point the jazz band were joined on stage by a man dressed as a Hippo. Quite how this related to the music (or anything else for the matter) I am still unsure, but everyone seemed to go along with in regardless.
Eventually Chris and I boarded the train to Prague. The train line follows the Elbe valley pretty much all the way to Prague and we were treated to some spectacular scenery.
Upon arrival at the hostel we headed straight for the bar where we would do some planning for the next few days. Obviously we had to order a couple of beers as well and were surprised to find that they cost just £1.50 each (although we would later discover that this is actually quite expensive for the Czech Republic).
Having drawn up a list of things to do over the next few days we set out in search of somewhere to eat. Our trusty Lonely Planet guide had recommended a pub called Pastiča, and we were not left feeling disappointed. Chris enjoyed a meat skewer and I was treated to a fine fillet of baked salmon. The meal was accompanied by several glasses of Pilsner Urquell (which was even cheaper than the stuff in the hostel), and the two of us eventually returned to HQ feeling full and possibly slightly drunk.
The next day we took a walk down Wenceslas Square, which is actually more of a long road than it is a square. At one end of the square is the National Museum and a monument to Saint Wenceslas, the patron Saint of Bohemia. Over the years the square has played host to many demonstrations. In January 1969 a student by the name of Jan Palach burnt himself to death in protest at the Soviet invasion which had taken place the previous year. The following month another student called Jan Zajíc also set himself on fire. Twenty years after their death the Velvet Revolution took place and the Communist Government was finally overthrown. There is now a memorial in Wenceslas Square to recognise the sacrifice that the two men made.
Statue of Saint Wenceslas. By all accounts he could party pretty hard.
Having walked through the Old Town we crossed the River Vltava and headed up the hill to Prague Castle. Construction of the castle began in the 9th Century and didn’t really stop until the 1700s. Due to damage sustained in various wars and the subsequent rebuilding that has taken place the castle doesn’t conform to any particular architectural style. The Castle is home to several Churches and Palaces, but perhaps the most impressive are the Saint Vitus Cathedral and Saint George’s Basilica. Prague Castle is a great vantage point and there are some superb views to be had over the city.
After making the long descent back to the city the two of us paid a visit to the so called Lennon Wall. The wall is covered in ever changing graffiti and was originally seen as a way of protesting against the Communist Government. Now it has become something of an ongoing art project and tourist attraction.
The Lennon Wall, named after Celtic Manager Neil Lennon.
As it was the final day of the Premier League (or as Sky Sports had called it “Survival Sunday”) we headed back to the hostel to watch all the action unfold. With five teams still battling against relegation we were confident of seeing some great action. Unfortunately we were stuck watching the Tottenham vs Birmingham game. Based on the first half performance it looked like Spurs were desperately trying to avoid Europa League qualification whilst Birmingham seemed pretty open to the idea of being relegated. Fortunately things picked up a little in the second half and Spurs eventually won 2-1 much to their annoyance.
In the evening we headed out to a little Thai restaurant just around the corner from our hostel. I’d never had Thai food before so I didn’t really know what to expect. I can’t remember the name of the dish, but it was essentially prawns and rice in some kind of red spicy sauce. Once again it turned out to be an excellent choice. The evening meal was finished of nicely with some jasmine tea with honey, which might be the best thing in the world.
On our second full day in the city we took a trip to the Communist Museum. We had looked for it the previous day but hadn’t had much luck. This time however we were more persistent in our search and found the museum hiding away between a McDonalds and a Casino. The museum goes into a reasonable amount of depth about Czech 20th Century politics starting with the Nazi invasion, going right through the Cold War and the Soviet invasion of 1968 and ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Czech Republic’s Communist government. Although the exhibition was very informative there was a strong anti-Communist agenda which was sort of understandable given the the Czech Republic didn’t have the best of times under Soviet control.
Afterwards we crossed the Vltava and took a stroll through one of Prague’s parks which was located on the side of a very steep hill.
After a hard days work it was necessary that we get some food from somewhere, so in the evening we headed to a traditional Bohemian style restaurant. Here I was treated to a pork sausage starter along with onions, chilis and peppers followed by a main course of beef stew with potatoe pancakes. Once again several glasses of extremely cheap (around 96p) yet very tasty beer were sampled.
On our final full day in Prague we paid a visit to Vyšehrad which is another Castle located on top of a big hill (although on the opposite side of the river to Prague Castle). Within the Castle walls is the Basilica of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Once again we were treated to some stunning views, although due to the location of Vyšehrad these were more views of the Vltava and the valley it flows through rather than the city itself.
View of the River Vltava taken from Vyšehrad.
Our original plan that evening had been to take the night train from Prague to Warsaw, but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you view the idea of sleeping on a train) we were unable to get reservations so we ended up spending another night in the hostel. This meant moving to a smaller, slightly more expensive yet far superior room for the night.
Prague is an extremely beautiful city and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there. It also had an extremely different feel to any of the other cities I have visited so far. This may have something to do with the language (although most people spoke perfect English) and the fact that it was under Soviet control for so many years. More likely I suspect that the price of beer and the size of the food portions may have greatly added to my enjoyment of the place.
Next stop Warsaw…
Dresden
Insane fear grips me and from then on I repeat one simple sentence to myself continuously: “I don’t want to burn to death”. I do not know how many people I fell over. I know only one thing: that I must not burn.
- Margaret Freyer; survivor of the bombing of Dresden.
Before its almost total destruction in World War II Dresden was a European city of culture, art and science. In terms of total tonnage the bombings of Hamburg and Berlin were far worse, however, the carpet bombing of Dresden remains such a controversial topic because the city was of little or no strategic value. Modern estimates put the death toll at around 25,000 people, although the exact figure will never be known.
Today Dresden resembles two cities divided by the River Elbe. North of the river is the Neustadt (New Town) and south of the river is Altstadt (Old Town). The hostel in which Chris and I were staying was located in the New Town. It is a fairly hip and happening area of the city, with plenty of bars, restaurants, books shops and record stores selling second hand vinyl. Even though it was a weekday the area was still alive with activity, which just served to further enforce my belief that Europeans don’t have jobs and instead spend their days sat in bars drinking novelty sized beers and smoking large quantities of cigarettes. Walls and the sides of shops are covered in graffiti and yet nobody seems to mind. The graffiti is very much a part of what gives the area its character and charm. If this was in Britain the Council would have wasted large sums of taxpayers money employing a crack squad of cleaners to remove all the graffiti. Having said this the graffiti I saw in Dresden (and Berlin) is far superior to anything I have seen at home. Aside from being far more artistic it also has a political edge to it rather than simply being someone’s “tag” or crude remarks about the size and shape of someone’s genitalia.
The Altstadt (Old Town) is where most of Dresden’s interesting buildings are located and hence where most of the tourists like to hang out. Considering that the city was almost totally flattened in 1945 the Germans have done a fine job restoring the Old Town to something reminiscent of its former glory. The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) is particularly impressive. Its reconstruction began in 1993 and took 13 year to complete. Obviously I’ve only seen photographs of the original building but I would say that they have done a fairly accurate job. Where possible, and with the aid of 3D modelling, original materials and plans were used to complete the job. For the doors of the Church the restoration teams where unsure exactly what the carvings looked like and so asked people to send in old wedding photographs that they may have.
The Church of Our Lady
The other main Church in the area is the Katholische Hofkirche (The Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony). It too was badly damaged during the bombing and was restored during the 1980s when Dresden was still part of East Germany. Whilst vastly different in style to the Church of Our Lady it is still a very impressive piece of architecture.
Not far from the Church is the Fürstenzug (Procession of Princes), a 102 metre long mural depicting 35 Saxon Kings from the House of Wettin. Fortunately it received relatively little damage during World War II.
The Procession of Princes
The trip to Dresden was a fitting end to our time in Germany. It terms of its overall look it is far from being a beautiful looking city, but it does have some very striking individual buildings. Given what happened in 1945 it’s amazing that the city still exists at all. The citizens of Dresden can take great pride in the painstaking reconstruction work that has taken part in the Old Town.
Berlin
The journey to Berlin would turn out to be somewhat more eventful than Chris and I had hoped. Optimistically (or perhaps stupidly) the two of us had hoped that we could complete the epic voyage from Helsinki to Berlin within 36 hours. How naive we were.
The challenge began on the ferry from Helsinki back to Stockholm. Fortunately this time we did not have to put up with any drunk Finnish room mates which made the nights sleep a lot more pleasant.
Once again we enjoyed the all you can eat buffet, and I was more careful this time not to make any stupid food combinations. In the evening we headed to the bar and watched the World Championship Ice-Hockey Final between Finland and Sweden. Going into the final third of the match the scores were tied at 1-1, but then Sweden seemed to fall apart with Finland romping to a 6-1 victory. Needless to say this caused much celebration amongst Finns on the ferry.
We awoke early and headed to the buffet breakfast, knowing that we had to get off the ferry almost as soon as it arrived in the port if we were to make our connecting train to Copenhagen.
Following an expensive taxi ride to Stockholm Central Station we hopped on the train which we hoped would take us to Copenhagen. Unfortunately the train failed to travel all the way to its advertised final destination, instead stopping at Malmö and unable to travel across the Øresund Bridge due to “technical reasons”. Quite how serious these technical problems were I’m not entirely sure, but the train had so far taken us across the entire width of Sweden without any problems so I’m not convinced we were being told the whole story.
This delay would have a huge knock-on effect, meaning that there was not a chance in Hell of us making it to Berlin on the day we had intended. A delay of just 30 minutes meant that we would now be getting to Berlin a minimum of 14 hours later than originally planned. This was chaos theory in action, with the blame placed entirely on the Swedish rail network.
Fortunately Chris and I were able to make it as far as Hamburg where our good friends Jamie and Chris were able to provide us with somewhere to sleep for the night. In the morning we got back on the train and finished what remained of our epic journey to Berlin. Whilst the journey makes for an interesting anecdote it is not something which I ever wish to repeat.
Having spent most of the last two days stuck either on boats or trains Chris and I were both in need of a serious injection of culture, so having checked into the hostel we set out to see what Berlin had to offer.
We took a train to Alexanderplatz, which as the name suggests is a large city square full of restaurants and bars as well as a huge TV mast which towers over the whole of Berlin. From there we walked through one of Berlin’s parks which featured a statue of two of Germany’s most famous sons, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A large group of tourists were all having their photographs taken next to the statue whilst doing a raised fist salute. How original.
From there we walked to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, arguably the Cities two most famous structures. The Brandenburg Gate is Berlin’s only surviving City Gate. Originally an entrance to the City were money would be collected from traders. Largely destroyed during the Battle of Berlin, the gate has now been completely restored and stands as a monument to the City. The Reichstag too has been rebuilt a number of times during its history. It was last restored following the reunification of Germany and still maintains a traditional design apart from the glass dome on top which looks completely out of place. Outside the Reichstag is a small but fitting memorial to 96 members of Parliament who were murdered by the Nazis. Outside the Reichstag it was strange to think back to the dramatic and horrific events that happened on the very spot I was standing just 66 years ago.
The Brandenburg Gate. Berlin's last remaining City Gate.
Having wondered around the City for a number of hours Chris and I stopped to sample some traditional German Currywurst. Essentially curried sausage, it is every bit as good as it sounds. A large group of Sparrows had clocked onto the fact that we had some food. Although I suspect they were more interested in the bread than the curried sausage.
Late in the afternoon we headed to the Berlin Wall Memorial. The experience was fascinating and moving in equal measure. There are several sections of the wall which remain intact, and parts of where the wall once stood are now marked out by tall rust coloured metal posts. There is a memorial to those killed trying to cross the wall which features photographs of the victims. There are also two simple wooden crosses which serve as a monument to the citizens killed during the Battle of Berlin. It is a place you really have to visit in order to properly appreciate, as the words I write simply cannot do it justice.
A remaining section of the Berlin Wall.
Having had a very filling meal at a Mexican restaurant Chris and I headed back to the hostel where we met fellow travellers Ben, Nara and Kieran all of whom hailed from Australia. The original plan was to take part in a bar crawl around the City, but we spent too long drinking in the hostel and these plans quickly evaporated. The beer from the hostel bar was only €1 and at prices like that I would be been rude to turn down a drink. The night ended with the five of us heading to a techno/dance rave inside a warehouse at an abandoned train station, and yes, before you ask this was as cool as it sounds (perhaps cooler). It was light again by the time we left the rave. Evidently we’d all been having a great time.
For me the next day was something of a write off. Apparently too much alcohol had been consumed the previous night, meaning that I endured a very boring second day in Berlin.
Regardless of this the two of us had had an great time in Berlin. We’d met some great people in Nara, Ben and Kieran, as well as experiencing a vibrant City rich in culture and history. It is definitely a place I will visit again as there are still a great number of things which I would like to see. Perhaps I would be wise to drink a little less next time.
Helsinki
The journey to Helsinki would involve what Chris and I had codenamed “Boat Challenge”. Essentially this involved taking a 15 hour overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. The voyage took us across Sweden’s highly impressive looking archipelago.
We boarded the boat at around 4:30pm and headed for our cabin where we could dump our luggage. In their infinite wisdom the Ferry company had decided that we would be sharing a room with a drunk 60 year old Finnish man. Perhaps this was someones idea of a hilarious practical joke. The man in question was already knocking back his second or third can of Gin & Tonic when we got to the room. We tried to converse with him for a short time but his English was not great and he kept reverting back to Finnish, although this may in part have had something to do with the levels of alcohol already in his system.
In the evening Chris and I headed for the all you can eat buffet. It also appeared to be an all you can drink buffet which initially sounded like a great idea. However it soon transpired that the white wine tasted largely of vinegar. This was literally the scrapings from the bottom of a not very good barrel. The beer was pretty bad as well, although it didn’t set off the gag reflex in the same way that the wine did. It was just tasteless carbonated brown water (much like the Lager we get in the UK).
Fortunately the buffet was somewhat better, and it was cheap as well so we couldn’t complain too much. Although it was all you can eat and you could go back for multiple servings I decided that it would be much more fun to see how much food I could fit on my plate in one go. This would prove to be a mistake, although I was able to come to the conclusion that salmon does not go particularly well with beef casserole. Especially if the beef casserole tastes like it came out of a tin (of dog food).
Having eaten far too much the two of us headed back to the room to try and get some sleep. All was going well until our drunk Finnish friend stumbled back into the room and 3am. He immediately crashed out on his bed fully clothed and preceded to talk loudly to himself for most of the night. Needless to say it wasn’t the best nights sleep, but it does make for a pretty good anecdote.
We arrived at Helsinki the next morning and began an unnecessarily long walk to the hostel. Instead of taking the most direct route to the hostel Google Maps decided that it would be more fun to walk around what appeared to be a large building site, (as I have mentioned before, much like the rest of Europe Helsinki is still under construction).
Eventually we got to the hostel which much to our surprise was located inside the Olympic Stadium. Apparently Finland hosted the summer Olympics in 1952 although I’ve never before heard anyone mention this so I’m not entirely convinced that it’s true.
We got to the hostel only to find that we could not check it until 4pm. Both of us where tired from the walk and the lack of sleep the night before and didn’t much fancy making the walk back into town. We therefore decided to just hang out in the reception area. Perhaps not the most fun thing you can do in Helsinki. To try and pass the time I decided to try I learn a few key Finnish phrases, although this proved to be largely a waste of time. I had wrongly assumed that Finnish would be largely the same as Swedish and Danish. How wrong I was. Finnish is full of double letters, which isn’t so bad with the vowels but they also do it with the consonants. The only word I managed to learn was “Kiitos” which means thank you.
On day two we took a stroll along the lake and headed into the City centre. Compared to Stockholm Helsinki is a fairly small City with a population of around 550,000 so we easily managed to walk around the whole thing in a day. On the way we took in the Cities two main Cathedrals, Uspenski and the imaginatively named Helsinki Cathedral.
Helsinki Cathedral
In the evening we went to a traditional Finnish restaurant called Savotta which was in the style of an old loggers cabin. It was by no means the cheapest meal I have ever eaten, but Chris and I were in agreement that it was the best food so far. The starter was a platter of different meats, salad, cheese and pastries including a Wild Boar jelly, smoked Salmon and Bear Salami. For the main course the two of us settled on Reindeer Steak with smoked mashed potatoe and a cranberry sauce.
The following day we took a boat trip out to Suomenlinna, an inhabited former island fortress situated a couple of kilometres off the Finish coast. It was the Swedes who originally started to build on the island in 1748 under the command of Augustin Ehrensvärd. His grave can still be seen on Suomenlinna.
Grave of Augustin Ehrensvärd, complete with Greek Hoplite helmet (for some reason).
Russian Naval Gun, used primarily for blowing shit up.
Upon arriving back on the mainland Chris and I headed back to the City centre and found a sports bar where we hoped that the FA Cup Final would be shown. We got to the bar in time to see the last 30 minutes of Blackburn Rovers vs Manchester United. Although United got the result that they needed they did spend the last ten minutes of the match passing the ball between the back four which seemed like a pretty negative way to win your 19th league title. In the bar was a strong contingent of Finnish Manchester United fans all of whom seemed fairly pissed and were more content with singing and jumping around than they were watching the actual football match. Afterwards Chris and I sat down to watch a disappointing FA Cup Final. Manchester City’s success left me feeling somewhat bitter as we left the bar in search of something to eat.
Stockholm
So far using the trains in Europe has not proved to be the success story that I was expecting. Although the trains themselves are excellent and we did manage to get seats on the journey from Gothenburg to Stockholm, they are subjected to the same delays as in the UK. Our train was delayed for around one hour in the middle of Sweden seemingly to let all the other trains go past. No official reason was ever given.
Fortunately the Swedish country side is extremely beautiful, so we did at least have something to look at. It’s a mix of lakes, vast pine forests and large open fields.
After around six hours the train finally pulled into Stockholm Central Station and we headed to the hostel which was only a short walk away. Having dumped our things in the room Chris and I met a fellow traveller called Ben (from California) and the three of us headed out in search of some food. After yet another fine steak and chips we headed to a bar for several expensive Swedish beers. After an excellent cultural exchange of views and ideas we headed back to the hostel for the night.
The next morning feeling slightly worse for wear we settled down to a somewhat disappointing breakfast comprised of some depressing ham and stale bread.
We headed to Gamla stan (The Old Town), situated on the island of Stadsholmen. The area dates back to the 13th Century which combined with its narrow and cobbled streets has a medieval look about it. It’s a very pleasant area of the town to walk around. From the old town we headed to some cliffs which overlook Stockholm and provide some stunning views.
A view over Stockholm
Afterwards we headed to a place called Max’s for a burger. It’s essentially Sweden’s own version of McDonalds only a lot better. The food doesn’t leave you with the feeling that some small animal has crawled into your digestive system and died there.
In the afternoon we took a trip to the Vasamuseet. The museum displays a 17th Century warship called the Vasa which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. You’d think this would be of great embarrassment to the Swedish people, but instead they have turned it into one of Stockholm’s most visited attractions. In many ways the Vasa is like the Mary Rose, although not nearly as lame and crappy. The hull of the ships is amazingly well preserved and it seems that the masts and sails were the only major parts of the vessel that did not survive being underwater for over 300 years.
The Vasa... it aint no Mary Rose.
The ship was built during the reign of King Gustavus Adolphus, who from the sounds of things was a pretty arrogant guy. He had great expansionist aspirations and wanted Sweden to be seen as a world power. The Vasa was to head his fleet but unfortunately for him the vessel sank after travelling less than one mile.
On the beakhead of the ship are twenty figures depicting Roman Emperors. Notably Emperor Augustus has been exempt from this list and replaced by Gustavus Adolphus himself. What an absolute lad!
After leaving the museum we headed to the Systembolaget to pick up some drinks for the evening. These stores are government regulated and are the only place in Sweden where you can buy drinks that contains more than 3.5% alcohol. The beers/ciders were fairly reasonably priced and you can buy single cans rather than being forced to get a six pack. Spirits on the other hand are extortionate. On average prices were around £10 more than what you would pay for the same drink in the UK. Chris and I picked up several cans each of some Swedish beer as well as some extra strong Kopparberg cider. Unfortunately you don’t seem to be able to get it in the UK (yet).
In the evening Chris and I headed out for food. Having wondered around for some time we settled on an American steakhouse. It’s the kind of thing you just have to do when in Stockholm. Having completely forgotten about the burger I had consumed earlier I ordered an El Dorado burger, which was essentially a massive beef burger with jalapeño chillies piled on top. Any meal can be instantly improved with the addition of spicy fruit.
Upon returning to the hostel we again me with Ben. He had got talking to some fellow travellers, Mike and Ivan who both came from Vancouver and Kevin, who like Ben was from California. All six of us soon found ourselves wandering around Stockholm is search of somewhere to drink. Ivan led the way to a club which he assured us would definitely be open on a Monday night. However, we eventually arrived at the club in question to find that it was very much closed. In fact there didn’t seem to be that many places open at all. On an average weekday student night in Britain you would have found people everywhere, passed out on the floor, throwing up into gutters or falling into the path of oncoming taxis.
Eventually we found a bar that was open and settled down for some well earned drinks. After a few rounds it was suggested that we once again go in search of a club. Again though our search was in vein and we eventually had to stop at a 7-Eleven convenience store for some further refreshments. Eventually we decided that it would be best to head back to the hostel, partly because we were all bored of walking around but also because there was more beer in the fridge there.
Needless to say Chris and I both missed breakfast the next morning. Although based on the food we had had the previous day neither of us were hugely concerned.
Being hungover Chris, Ivan, Mike, Ben and I decided that a trip to the National Museum would be a great idea. Much of the exhibition was very similar to what Chris and I had seen at the national museum in Copenhagen. There was plenty of stuff from prehistory right up to the Viking period. We did however notice the strange way in which a lot of the information was worded. More often than not it would ask the reader questions rather than just providing the answers. When I go to a museum it’s because I want to be lectured to and informed, not the other way around. There was also a rather trippy video/slideshow which seemed to outline the whole of human history in the space of five minutes. It was displayed across three screens which made me feel somewhat sick, although this may have been down to the hangover. These slightly eccentric nature of the museum made it all the more entertaining. One of the exhibits even showed a can of spray paint, with a caption that read something along the lines of, “spray can for wall art, C.2000 AD”. I assume this was meant as a light hearted way of comparing ancient cave paintings to modern day graffiti.
There was also the hugely impressive “Gold Room” which was full of things like coins, necklaces and sceptres. There is no way we would have anything like it in the UK. All the gold would have been traded in at “cash 4 gold” as a way of helping to clear the budget deficit.
At this point Ben had to leave and go and catch a flight to Germany. The rest of us headed to the Systembolaget where we could pick up some liquid dinner. Upon returning to the hostel we cracked out the beers and a pack of cards and settled down to play some drinking games. We were joined by Danny, an American soldier who had just recently returned from Iraq where he had been training the local security forces. Chris and I were introduced to the games “pyramid”, “Kings cup” (essentially the North American version of “Ring of Fire”) and “asshole”. It quickly became apparent that I am terrible at all card games, although the quantities of beer involved may not have helped the situation.
On out final day in Stockholm Chris and I once again missed the below par breakfast buffet and instead went out in search of a kebab. The Swedes seem to think nothing of eating a kebab during the day, whereas in England it is the kind of food that you only eat when completely wasted.
Afterwards a group of us headed down to one of Stockholm’s parks located alongside the water. Ever since we had met Ivan he had been making grand plans about how he wanted to go for a swim in the sea. When it came down to it he managed to last about five minutes in the water before the freezing conditions forced him back onto dry land. At this point Chris and I said our goodbyes to the group and began the long walk to the Stockholm Ferry Port where we would board the ship to Helsinki.
Stockholm is a truly beautiful city. The fantastic weather which we had probably helped matters as well. The Swedes are all extremely stylish which made me feel comparatively tramp like. The guys all have solid haircuts and the woman are effortlessly good looking. Quite frankly they have put the English to shame.
My only regret about Stockholm is that we did not stay there for longer. You could spend days just walking around taking in the architecture and stunning views across the water. It is certainly a place that I will visit again.
