Author Archive
Sunday, July 18th, 2010
The Berlin Wall
July 14 We stayed at the Hilton Berlin. It is a relatively new hotel built in the former East Berlin after 1989. Most of the newer hotels and new buildings are built on the eastern side. After the wall was torn down, new investments poured in to rebuild Berlin. We dined at an Argentina steak [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General by Dragonfinger
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
Warsaw to Berlin
July 13 Today was a very long travel day! Our wakeup call was at 6:45 and we were on the road by 8AM. Travelling from Warsaw to Berlin, there is not a motorway or divided highway as yet. They are working on sections of it, an overpass here or there, a stretch of road they [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General by Dragonfinger
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Death of a Suitcase
July 12 We could sleep for an extra half hour today. Yippee! We went to visit Wilanow Palace. What a waste of time and money. We could have slept in even more. The palace should be a photo stop only. It is beautiful on the outside. First of all, the people were quite rude inside. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General by Dragonfinger
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
Auschwitz – a Solemn Experience
July 11 We left early to Auschwitz. We were the first group to arrive at the holocaust museum. Auschwitz is not a place that anyone would enjoy visiting. We walked through the camp barracks where the Nazi housed and murdered 1.1 million Jews, gypsies, handicap people, political prisoners and POW’s. It was a hot day [...]
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Sunday, July 11th, 2010
A Day in Krakow
July 10 We arrived at the Wieliczka salt mine. The mine started in 1700’s. It is now a tourist attraction and is listed as a UNESCO site. We saw models of how miners worked in the past centuries. More importantly, the miners carved out the statues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and the Biblical stories. [...]
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Saturday, July 10th, 2010
Three Countries in One Day
July 9 This was a long travel day. We left Budapest early in the morning and went up to some hilly roads towards Slovakia. We only passed through the rural area of the Slovak Republic. Slovakia broke away from Czechoslovakia in 1992. They called it the Velvet Divorce. The Czechs and Slovaks are somewhat different [...]
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Friday, July 9th, 2010
A Day in Budapest
July 8 We had a walking tour of the city centre of Budapest this morning. We went up to Castle Hill. We could see the castle last evening during the river cruise. We had a good walk to the castle after the bus dropped us off. It could not drive us to the Castle Hill. [...]
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Friday, July 9th, 2010
Arrived in Budapest
July 7 It is another travel day. The bus left early from Zagreb to Budapest. It was a long drive. Since Croatia is not in the EU yet, we had to stop at the border and had our passports stamped. We then waited for the Hungary border police to collect all our passports and clear [...]
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Thursday, July 8th, 2010
Kumrivec Tito’s birth place
July 6 We spent a full day in Zagreb today. We went for a morning city walk. Zagreb is a city of 800,000 people. It is not a mega city but it is not small either. We walked through the market square. People still shop for their produce at individual stalls. It was a hot [...]
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Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
From Slovenia to Croatia
July 5 This morning we went on an excursion to the largest glacier lake in Slovenia, Lake Bohinj. It is in the region of the Julian Alps. We went up Mount Vogel, elevation 1500m, by cable car to a ski resort. It overlooks the lake and the surrounding mountains. The scenery is just breathtaking. Later [...]
