Bled, Bavaria, Bohemia
We were so completely focussed on our rendezvous with L and PJ that we had given little thought to where we would head after Venice. At the end of our wonderful two days in Venice we took the vaporetto back to Tronchetto, collected Cecile and drove to the nearest cafe, took out the map and decided in which direction to head. Slovenia won.
It is only a little over an hour's drive to the Slovenian border, and it was there that we ran into....well, a little trouble.
We had just crossed over the border and were approaching a motorway toll booth. No problem, we've been through hundreds of those....I was driving and I slowly approached the toll booth.....stopped....nobody there.....had a closer look....edged forward.....a little further.....police-looking person up ahead waved for me to pull over to the side of the road. Strange. Not sure why.
"Your papers please" said the armed female(?) police-looking person. I reached for my passport.
"Your registration and insurance papers" said the armed-female-police-looking graduate (Hons.) of a previous communist protocol school . Senor hands me registration and insurance papers.
"Bring all your identity papers and follow me now", said the scary armed-female-police-looking-graduate(Hons)-of-a-previous-communist-protocol-school!
After scaring me sufficiently and describing the 800euro on-the spot fine for entering a Slovenian motorway without displaying on our windscreen the mandatory vignette, it was my turn to speak. I added to the scenario as liberal a sprinkling as I could command of firstly, shock and horror and then.... charm. My dementor then determined that she would use her discretion to waive said fine, and....we began to get on a little better.
All's well that ends well, and Bellatrix may have even let a very small smile escape as I waved goodbye with Senor busily applying newly-purchased vignette to the windscreen.
We spent two days enjoying Lake Bled. It is a beautiful alpine setting and here I saw advertised one of the lovliest holiday activities ever - Bosi po Rosi - which means 'walking barefoot in the morning dew'. A one hour early morning walk up the Straza hill with stretching exercises in the meadow then return walk. Magic.
Senor and I rode bikes around the lake in the morning and swam in it in the afternoons.
Bavaria
From Slovenia we crossed the border into Austria (not before purchasing our required vignette!) then into Germany - to beautiful Bavaria. We stayed overnight in Berchtesgaden and visited Hitler's mountaintop retreat Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle's Nest. It was a project of Martin Bormann's, built during 1938-39 as a 50th birthday present to Hitler from the Nazi party.
Bohemia
From Bavaria we crossed the border into Bohemia, in the south of the Czech Republic. First to Chesky Krumlov then to Prague - both of these towns have quite a bit in common, including the Vltava River, large castles and UNESCO heritage listings of their old towns.
Quaint, medieval Chesky Krumlov sits in a deeply flourishing 's' of the Vltava River. We stayed with Jan in his family pension high on the hill overlooking Krumlov castle.
We hired a canoe for a day and 'ran the rapids' down the Vltava River from Chesky Krumlov to the next town. It was hot and a great way to spend a day. We paddled past forests so thick that not a beam of sunlight could penetrate the canopy of the fir trees.
It was, in fact, our last hot day for two and a half weeks as a low weather cell settled over central and northern Europe. Our days of 30plus degrees suddenly became days of 17 to 20 degrees.
From Chesky Krumlov it was only a few hundred kilometers to beautiful Prague. We took a three hour morning segway tour which took us (quickly) to many of Prague's historical sights and monuments. Prague has seemingly endless sightseeing possibilities and the segway was a great way to orientate and to get to know Prague in the few days we were there. The added benefit is that the tour was led by Tom, a young Prague-born university graduate who provided great suggestions for restaurants and other useful local information. For example, he showed us which restaurant (the Lokal Inn, Misenska in picturesque Mala Strana) to go to for the city's best beef-cheeks, which you won't find on the menu. He was right, this lovely restaurant set in a Baroque building from the early 1700s served the most tender and deliciously flavoursome Czech specialty, hovezi licka.
I really should not have liked Prague as much as I did for Prague is a city where it is cheaper to drink beer than water. That's right! A 250ml bottle of water is more expensive in any bar or restaurant than half a litre of beer! As a water-drinker I find that outrageous! On the other hand Senor, as a beer-drinker, found that to be exquisite!
We loved riding Prague's red trams (exception: the one we were in one that collided with a vehicle - no injuries) but don't forget to validate your ticket or you'll be passing over the equivalent of AUD25 on the spot. That is, if you can find where to buy tram tickets. What is it with me and ex-communist countries? : )
We were so completely focussed on our rendezvous with L and PJ that we had given little thought to where we would head after Venice. At the end of our wonderful two days in Venice we took the vaporetto back to Tronchetto, collected Cecile and drove to the nearest cafe, took out the map and decided in which direction to head. Slovenia won.
It is only a little over an hour's drive to the Slovenian border, and it was there that we ran into....well, a little trouble.
We had just crossed over the border and were approaching a motorway toll booth. No problem, we've been through hundreds of those....I was driving and I slowly approached the toll booth.....stopped....nobody there.....had a closer look....edged forward.....a little further.....police-looking person up ahead waved for me to pull over to the side of the road. Strange. Not sure why.
"Your papers please" said the armed female(?) police-looking person. I reached for my passport.
"Your registration and insurance papers" said the armed-female-police-looking graduate (Hons.) of a previous communist protocol school . Senor hands me registration and insurance papers.
"Bring all your identity papers and follow me now", said the scary armed-female-police-looking-graduate(Hons)-of-a-previous-communist-protocol-school!
After scaring me sufficiently and describing the 800euro on-the spot fine for entering a Slovenian motorway without displaying on our windscreen the mandatory vignette, it was my turn to speak. I added to the scenario as liberal a sprinkling as I could command of firstly, shock and horror and then.... charm. My dementor then determined that she would use her discretion to waive said fine, and....we began to get on a little better.
All's well that ends well, and Bellatrix may have even let a very small smile escape as I waved goodbye with Senor busily applying newly-purchased vignette to the windscreen.
We spent two days enjoying Lake Bled. It is a beautiful alpine setting and here I saw advertised one of the lovliest holiday activities ever - Bosi po Rosi - which means 'walking barefoot in the morning dew'. A one hour early morning walk up the Straza hill with stretching exercises in the meadow then return walk. Magic.
Senor and I rode bikes around the lake in the morning and swam in it in the afternoons.
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| A morning ride around the lake then a lovely swim to the island in the centre of the lake |
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| The 'beach' at Lake Bled |
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| Slovenian coffee Despite our little 'border incident' I'm a fan of any country with 'love' in its name. |
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| The meadows were dotted with these structures? |
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| Ahh, traditional racks for drying the hay - of course. How clever. |
Bavaria
From Slovenia we crossed the border into Austria (not before purchasing our required vignette!) then into Germany - to beautiful Bavaria. We stayed overnight in Berchtesgaden and visited Hitler's mountaintop retreat Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle's Nest. It was a project of Martin Bormann's, built during 1938-39 as a 50th birthday present to Hitler from the Nazi party.
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| Must be Bavaria |
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| Breathtaking views as we drove up the mountain to visit Kehlsteinhaus. The road was blasted out of solid rock and has only one hairpin bend between the bottom and the top. |
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| This is the entrance to the tunnel, bored straight into the middle of the mountain. The tunnel leads to Hitler's dazzling brass elevator which takes you up through the mountain to arive at the Eagle's Nest - Kehlsteinhaus |
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| Hitler's big black Mercedes would have reversed through the tunnel to the doors of the brass elevator |
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| Inside Hitler's brass elevator |
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| Glorious view from Eagle's Nest down to Berchtesgtaden, Bavaria. It was the clearest of days and we could easily see Salzburg. |
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| Kehlsteinhaus at 1,843 meters |
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| The red marble fireplace was a gift from Mussolini. This room of Kehlsteinhaus is now a lovely cafe |
Bohemia
From Bavaria we crossed the border into Bohemia, in the south of the Czech Republic. First to Chesky Krumlov then to Prague - both of these towns have quite a bit in common, including the Vltava River, large castles and UNESCO heritage listings of their old towns.
Quaint, medieval Chesky Krumlov sits in a deeply flourishing 's' of the Vltava River. We stayed with Jan in his family pension high on the hill overlooking Krumlov castle.
We hired a canoe for a day and 'ran the rapids' down the Vltava River from Chesky Krumlov to the next town. It was hot and a great way to spend a day. We paddled past forests so thick that not a beam of sunlight could penetrate the canopy of the fir trees.
It was, in fact, our last hot day for two and a half weeks as a low weather cell settled over central and northern Europe. Our days of 30plus degrees suddenly became days of 17 to 20 degrees.
From Chesky Krumlov it was only a few hundred kilometers to beautiful Prague. We took a three hour morning segway tour which took us (quickly) to many of Prague's historical sights and monuments. Prague has seemingly endless sightseeing possibilities and the segway was a great way to orientate and to get to know Prague in the few days we were there. The added benefit is that the tour was led by Tom, a young Prague-born university graduate who provided great suggestions for restaurants and other useful local information. For example, he showed us which restaurant (the Lokal Inn, Misenska in picturesque Mala Strana) to go to for the city's best beef-cheeks, which you won't find on the menu. He was right, this lovely restaurant set in a Baroque building from the early 1700s served the most tender and deliciously flavoursome Czech specialty, hovezi licka.
I really should not have liked Prague as much as I did for Prague is a city where it is cheaper to drink beer than water. That's right! A 250ml bottle of water is more expensive in any bar or restaurant than half a litre of beer! As a water-drinker I find that outrageous! On the other hand Senor, as a beer-drinker, found that to be exquisite!
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| Chesky Krumlov in deepest, darkest Bohemia |
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| Chesky Krumlov's town square and 'plague' column |
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| Castle tower with impressive cloud formation which became an impressive night time summer storm! |
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| Pretty Bohemian country driving |
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| We also visited the UNESCO heritage listed town of Holasovice where, coincidentally, it was Holasovice Field Day |
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| There was music, dancing, and displays of old farm and fire equipment. Here the local 'blokes' gather around the old engine. Same anywhere in the world, I guess! |
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| Holasovice village green |
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| Holasovice has it's own circle of stones and as we were there the day after midsummer we could see the remnants of a midsummer bonfire and festivities |
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| As we canoed down the Vltava River we saw a few of these mid-river 'bars' - this one in case you feel like ........a mojito of course! |
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| The castle's impressive Cloak Bridge |
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| Each morning we ate breakfast under Jan's laden cherry tree. Jan spoke no English and we speak no Chesky, however Google Translate helped us tell Jan that his cherries would have to be the sweetest and most juicy in all of Europe |
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| Who'd have thought? I'd can now agree that the famous Prague dark ale is indeed..... very good; and cheaper than water. |
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| Love locks on the Charles Bridge, Prague |
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| Sunset over the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle |
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| Grand old Prague and the art nouveau Obecni Dum which houses one of Prague's main concert halls and home of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. |
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| Astronomical clock in Prague's town square. I like the skeleton - he strikes the time every hour |
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| Prague has its share of grand old cafes which we enjoyed sampling. This one the Municipal House Cafe. Chandeliers, high ceilings and massive windows looking onto Republiky Square. Excellent coffee too! |
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| Prague's very grand Cafe Louvre. A favourite of Franz Kafka and Albert Einstein we're told. I'd say this was our favourite too. We returned twice for coffee, strudel and English newspapers. |
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| A cafe after my own heart! |
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| For L x |
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| Prague bridges and towers |
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| We took a segway tour to see the sights - near and far - around Prague. Cute helmet, wouldn't you agree? |
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| From Letna Park a perfect view to examples of some of Prague's communist architecture, including the Zizkov tower in the distance, often referred to as Europe's ugliest tower! |
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| Another Shakespeare and Sons....that makes three we've found. |
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| The Lennon Wall, Prague |
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| 600 year old beer tavern, complete with original tables and benches. |
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| I felt a tingle up my spine as we stood in Wenceslas Square. I remember the 1989 demonstrations of the Velvet Revolution, where half a million peaceful demonstrators crowded into this square and rattled and jingled their keys to symbolise that it was time for the communist regime to go. It is also beautiful by night. |
Mojito river/canoe bar? Count me in!!
ReplyDeleteLove the Municipal House Cafe. So elegant.
Did you buy any more Hemm at Shakespeare and Sons?
Love you Mumma x