Group of Zero

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 house near the hotel. The restaurant is in a high-end shopping mall. The mall is filled with brand name shops like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. It is hard to believe how things have changed in the last 20 years.

We got up early and went to the Reichstag. It is the Parliament of the united Germany. The building is relatively new as it was heavily damaged in WWII. The dome is all glass and mirrors that were designed to reflect the sunlight and for environmental reasons. It is an engineering marvel. Since they were cleaning the inside of the dome, we could not go inside. Instead, our tour guide decided to take us to the Valkerie site (Tom Cruise starred in a recent movie about it). This was where the Nazis executed four German officers who tried to assassinate Hitler. The area is a courtyard surrounded by apartments and office flats. The government wants to use all of these, but there are still a few people living in those flats who refuse to leave – I don’t understand why anyone would want to live in a flat overlooking such a dreadful site! We were both glad the dome was closed so we could see this significant historical place.

We then visited the Jewish memorial. It is a strange place. The memorial was built like waves of rectangular grey cement blocks of various sizes and heights. As we walked between the blocks, there was an eerie feeling of darkness even though it was a sunny day. It would be easy to get lost as it is like a maze and even the walking surface changes in height. Our tour guide said they really did lose a person in there for about a half hour as some of the stones are above your head.

The bus then drove us to the famous Brandenburg Gate. It is a huge area with numerous five star hotels built after the wall was torn down. We passed under the balcony of the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby. There were women asking tourists “Do you speak English?” We ignored them. We later learned that those were Roma gypsies who select their victims for pick-pocketing. If one stopped and answered them, others in the gang would go through their bags or pockets during this distraction. Our local guide said she had even been pickpocketed there three times! There is no wall in front of the gate now. The entire former wall is now marked by a line of two bricks width inlaid in the roadway. What a change for the collapse of communism!

The bus drove to the suspected location of Hitler’s bunker. The German government would not verify the exact site of the bunker. There is a small sign noting this site. It is now built up with new apartment complexes and a parking lot. It was a weird feeling wondering if we were driving over the spot where he used to hide out.

We stopped by the longest remnant of the Berlin Wall, about 1km. It is now covered with paintings. Actually, there were two layers of walls to prevent East Berliners to escape to the West. We took pictures of each other on different sides of the wall. There is one shorter section that was nearer to our hotel, but this is all that remains. As people buy up the land and develop it, they don’t want the reminder to the past, so our guide said the day will come when none of the wall will remain. Too bad – they should at least put some in a museum somewhere – we should never forget!

James went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. It has the collection of the stories and artifacts of those who tried to escape. The museum was a tourist trap and fire hazard. The place was crowded with small doors but no air conditioning. It was hot inside with poor ventilation. I did not stay long. Kathy opted against the museum as we had been warned about the heat inside. She went shopping instead for a piece of the Wall and took pictures of Checkpoint Charlie.

It was so hot today, we all looked for an air conditioned place to spend the remainder of the afternoon. We went to the mall near our hotel and visited a chocolatier across the street. They had huge chocolate models of the Brandenburg Gate, Titanic, and a volcano spewing chocolate. There was a whole wall with glass cases of thousands of truffles! Of course, we had to try a few and they were delicious.   

We went for a highlight dinner in the evening in the former West Berlin area. Since most of the new investment goes to the east side, this part looks less classy and parts are even a bit seedy looking. There were seven menu choices. James tried pork knuckle and really liked it. Not too many people chose that option. Kathy enjoyed the lamb. There was lots of music and folk dancing. Three tour groups were in this small restaurant, so it was pretty crowded and noisy, but fun.

Reichstag, the German Parliament

The mark of the former Wall

Valkyrie site

Brandenburg Gate

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 are digging up and grading, but everything seems to be pretty disconnected. I suppose they have a plan, but it’s going to take a long time. Most of the highway is just 2-way single lanes and you can get behind convoys of trucks, tour buses, farm tractors, and just plain slow drivers. James and I got to sit in the front seat today (there is a rotation system) so we could see how closely drivers follow each other, the chances they take passing other vehicles- a few gasps on occasion – and how expertly our driver handled that big coach of ours.

The scenery in that part of Poland is mostly farmland and quite flat, though not as flat as our Canadian prairies. There were still plenty of areas where the floodwaters of 3 weeks ago had not all dried up and a lot of crop damage from hailstorms especially to the grain fields.

We saw several storks in the fields along the way, especially if farmers were tilling the ground. They like the worms and bugs that get dug up. We also saw a few stork nests, one with four storks in it. Everyone, including the tour guide, got very excited at those sightings. They migrate here to breed in the summer. “Stork Alert!”

Often in our few days in Poland, we would pass by cemeteries that are so adorned with flowers. Almost every gravestone was like this. Ewa explained that this is a very old Catholic tradition. Each gravesite must be maintained at least monthly and fresh flowers placed on the grave. The gravestone or plaque is washed and cleaned. In the winter, the snow must be cleared off. If a family member is unable to do this at least once a month, like Ewa who lives in London but her parents’ graves are in Poland, they must hire someone to do it for them, usually older ladies who could use the extra income.

To fill in some time on our long journey, Ewa had a quiz for us. Each of us was to list as many internationally famous Polish people as we could. Good thing we didn’t have to have correct spelling! Of course we had learned about a lot of these people on the tour, but it was funny when she read some of them back. People got quite creative such as “Shoe Polish”. The woman who won had 17 and with the most correct spellings. She is a schoolteacher and I’m sure had kept notes diligently. James and I had 12.5 – we were the only one who mentioned Wayne Gretzky (Polish heritage at least), but she had obviously had other Canadians on tours as she had heard of him.

It took 4 hours of driving time just to reach the Polish/German border (after stopping for an hour and a half in a little town called Poznan around lunchtime, plus a couple other breaks). We got stuck in a huge caravan of traffic because of road construction. We were just inching along. There were so many trucks as this is the major route from Berlin through to the Ukraine and Russia. Our driver was constantly checking his GPS to see if there was any way to reroute. Finally, he and Ewa decided to take us through a small town to another border crossing she had taken 20 years ago. She hoped it was still there! What a great decision as the driver figured we saved about 1-2 hours. We did manage to get back to the road that led to the border crossing originally planned on. Once across the border, we were immediately on the German autobahn with cars whizzing by us going at least 140-180km/hr. Crazy! Because of Kalman’s expert driving, we managed to make it to Berlin by 6PM. Ewa said it was the best timing she’d had for the past few tours there. That meant we had more time in the evening for a leisurely dinner at an Argentinian steak restaurant near our hotel. We were too tired to walk anywhere, but Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburg Gate, a section of the old Berlin Wall, and the Reichstag were all within walking distance of 15-30 minutes. It was very hot today as well, near 37C, so it just saps your strength. Tomorrow we will see all these places. Time to get an early night for a change.

Poznan, a small towm between Warsaw and Berlin

A church turns into a museum in former East Berlin

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. One woman told me to leave all my camera gears outside the exhibit in the cloak room. You must be kidding! Will I ever leave all my camera gear in an unlock place and depend on some strangers to look after them? I took all my lenses and memory sticks out and stuffed them in my pant pockets. They can take care of my empty bag! They said it was for security reasons. I noticed that they never asked any women with huge handbags for their safekeeping. What a bunch of crooks!

The exhibits were nothing special. They were paintings of just plain portraits of some former Royals. The others items looked like something I could buy in a Saturday flee market. The rooms were hot and humid. I wondered how the paintings could survive for long under these conditions. Compare with the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Wilanow is in the class of the mosquito and Schonbrunn is in the class of elephant.

After a few hours of rest in the hotel, we went to a Chopin piano recital. It was just fantastic! Kathy bought a CD from the pianist and she autographed the cover.

It is time to say goodbye to our suitcase. It has come to the end of its road. The zipper broke. We bought a replacement in a big shopping mall near the hotel. I contributed something to the Polish economy.

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 but the exhibits were chilling. The Nazis shaved off the hair of all the dead copses and harvested them for making blankets and clothing. There were mountains of hair behind glass walls from 30000 people. The Nazis could not use up or destroy all the evidence before the war ended. There were piles of 80000 shoes and thousands of suitcases with the names and addresses of the Jews whom they were told they would be relocated. Other exhibits showed thousands of combs, toothbrushes, utensils, baby clothes, prayer shawls, etc. that were collected from the Jews’ belongings after they died.

We walked into the gas chambers where the Jews were told they were supposed to have a shower. The Nazi soldiers would drop pellets of Cyclone 2. These pellets were activated by the body heat of the people who were locked in the chambers and cyanide gas would emit from those pellets. All the people would be killed in the chamber and the bodies cremated. It took only 20 minutes to gas them and another few minutes to cremate them.

We walked into the courtyard where the shooting wall was located. This was where the Nazi officer gave summary dead sentence to prisoners and they would be shot against that wall. One member of our tour group laid flowers on the wall because his mother was killed in Auschwitz.

We went to another part of the death camp in Berkenau. The camp is at the terminal of the railroad. The Nazis brought in Jews from various parts of Europe and performed their “Final Solution”. We went in some wooden barracks where the Jews were kept as slave labourers. We saw their inhumane living conditions. The Nazis burnt and destroyed a large portion of the site just before their defeat and tried to cover up their evil deed. We could see the burnt out remains of many of these barracks. The vastness of this camp really hits you hard.

This was a day filled with emotion. It is difficult to understand how an ideology can cause so much evil and suffering. I also cannot imagine how there are still people who can deny the holocaust never took place. If we do not remind ourselves how easily hatred can spread, history can repeat itself. A young Polish girl who guided us through the salt mines yesterday told us it is required for every Polish student to visit these camps as part of their high school curriculum. We only wish every Canadian student would be required to at least learn about this horrific period of history.

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. The miners even carved out a huge church auditorium in one cavity of the mine. The giant chandeliers were made with salt crystals. The tour lasted more than one and a half hour. The walking was intense. At two different points, we had to walk down several narrow staircases to reach various sections of the mine – a total of 400 steps in all! Kathy and many others in our group really minded the stairs. She was not the only one who later said if she had known about all those steps they would have opted not to do that tour. It was an interesting place to see, but not as spectacular as the caves in Slovenia.

We went for a Krakow city tour after the salt mine visit. The town square is big. During the Nazi occupation, one quarter of the population was Jews. The Nazi gathered all the Jews into a ghetto. There was a Jewish memorial set up in a small square. At one end is the guard house where Nazi guards controlled the entrance to the ghetto. An artist designed simple bronze chairs placed about the square. At one point, all the remaining Jews that hadn’t been already sent to concentration camps were rounded up and made to stand in the centre of the square. They were not allowed to sit for three days. They would be shot if they sat or moved. Many died of exhaustion. For those who survived, they were sent to work camps. There were also stories about how the Polish people risked their lives to save some of the Jews, including a pharmacist whose shop still stands across from this memorial.

We bought a few Christmas ornaments. Handicrafts are Krakovian’s speciality. In the town square, there is a huge market place called the cloth market. Of course, you can buy all kinds of souvenirs, but in the mornings, especially on Saturday, they have lots of vegetables and fruits, butcher shops, etc.

Also in the town square is a beautiful cathedral. Kathy said “they didn’t leave an inch unpainted or decorated”!

In the evening, we went out in the country to a farmhouse Polka party and dinner. On the menu was traditional Polish sausage, stuffed baked eggs in the half shell with crispy cornbread topping (they were delicious!), the best homemade perogies we’ve ever tasted, yummy cabbage rolls with tomato sauce, and strawberries and real cream for dessert. Have we made your mouth water yet? We were entertained by a Polish folk music group who sang traditional songs and danced. They often invited members of our group to join them. Even James got into the swing of things! It was a fun night.

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 in language and more so in culture. The forced marriage of the two cultures did not work well for the Slovaks. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the Slovaks became more nationalistic. A charismatic Vladimir Meciar declared Slovakia a sovereign republic. The nation of Czechoslovakia ended in December 31, 1992 and a new nation of Slovak Republic was born. It has been a European miracle. The economic growth has been even faster than the Czech Republic. We saw mostly farmland in the region we travelled. We stopped in a ski resort for lunch.

After another four hours of bus ride, we arrived in Krakow. It was the former capital of Poland. We could see the results of the former communist government. Many buildings are in need of repair. The Communist government tried to turn this city filled with artists into an industrial city. It built the largest steel mill in the suburb of Nowa Huta. The population rose and they demanded a church. The Communists finally had to allow a church to be built and the archbishop was Karl Wojtyla. He later became Pope John Paul II. He was the Polish pope that later supported the Solidarity Movement. Communism failed because it could not satisfy the natural need of the people. The economy stalled and human creativity was suppressed. Ultimately, the system crumbled. I can sense the guides have no love for the Russians and communists.

Our hotel here is much nicer with a bigger bathroom, the best upload speed for the computer is the best yet, and we have a great view of Wawel Castle (where the late Polish president was buried recently, not without controversy) and a beautiful church. Both are within walking distance.  We did a lot of laundry, by hand, again – too tired to take it to a “laundrette” about 20 minutes walk away. The AC in our room is great though, so things are drying out quickly.

St. Stanislawa Church

Wawel Castle

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. We were told that the rock formation was limestone. Only local cars were allowed because the road may cave in. We could see the whole city from the hill. The view was spectacular. The only thing that damaged the scene was the Hilton Hotel. The hotel building was built right in the middle of the castle, Fishman’s Bastion, and St. Matthias Church. An ultra modern Hilton Hotel building ruined the historical context of the area. It is worse than having a Starbucks Coffee in the Forbidden City in Beijing!

We then went to the Hungarian Parliament. The building is not just a tourist attraction; it is a working building, just like the Parliament in Ottawa. It is splendid building and very extravagant in decor. Each tour group had to be escorted by an armed guard. Actually, we were very privileged to even get in, but our local guide is also a Trafalgar employee for the area, so she arranges all these things months in advance.

Last night on the boat cruise we had seen the Holocaust “shoe memorial” at the edge of the Danube River. During the Nazi regime, many Jews had been escorted to this place, told to take off their shoes, and then they were shot into the river. Someone has since made all different shapes and sizes of bronze shoes and they are arranged at the river’s edge just as if the people had been there. We drove by them again today, but we couldn’t stop there so the driver just slowed down. We were really disappointed that we didn’t have a chance to walk up close and get a picture.

Later, we drove out into the Hungarian countryside to a little medieval town. It is well known for having dozens of shops selling handicrafts such as beautiful embroidery, woodcrafts, porcelain, traditional costumes, etc. Of course, you can find all kinds of souvenirs too that are probably made in China. Kathy bought some embroidered items and a wooden bell for the Christmas tree. We had lunch at a very unusual restaurant – the owner loves to collect local antiques and the place was filled with old musical instruments, beautiful handcrafted chairs, cow bells of all sizes, armour, big combs for combing hemp, old radios, and much more. We were served traditional Hungarian goulash soup with paprika.

In the evening, we went downtown for a highlight dinner at a local restaurant. To get there, the bus had to drop us off up the street as the restaurant is nest to the British embassy. They have the partially barricaded with concrete medians and steel ramps. There were several security guards as well. So, we had to walk on the opposite side of the street until we could cross to the restaurant. Once inside, we went down into what was probably an old wine cellar, but some of us thought it looked more like a bunker or bomb shelter. There were a couple of gypsy musicians who played to entertain us. The meal was nothing to write home about, but it was on Trafalgar so we can’t complain.

Fisherman's Bastion

Hungarian Parliament Entrance

Hungurian Parliment

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 customs. It took more than half an hour. There was nothing at the border, not even a coffee shop as it is a new border.

Hungary is a different country. It has its own culture and beauty. The language is totally different from the Slavic language of Czech, Slovenia and Croatia. Hungarian belongs to the language group closer to the Finns. Hungary was occupied by the Austrians, Germans and the Russians. Most importantly, after the Soviet Union expelled the Germans after the Second World War, the Russians refused to leave. They instituted their version of Communist government in Hungary. The Hungarians tried to revolt in 1956, but the Soviet Union sent in the troops and crushed the revolution. The Russians executed their leader and they did not leave until 1990. The local guide called it a 40 year tragedy. I do not think there is any love lost between the Hungarians and the Russians. The Hungarians did experience a somewhat more liberal-minded government, and so life was a little easier for them than the people of the other eastern bloc countries. They tended to have more goods available from the West.

We arrived in the resort town of Lake Balaton. It is the largest lake in Europe. During the Communist era, East Germans would come to Lake Balaton for vacation. Their relatives in West Germany would also come and they could have a reunion in this resort town. It is still a resort spot for Germans.

It took another two hours to get to Budapest. The city is bigger than Zagreb. The Huns from Asia came to occupy the land one thousand years ago. They decided to stay and King Istvan established the empire and converted to Christianity. Like other former Eastern Bloc countries, the transition is huge during the last twenty years from Communism to a free market economy. There are plenty of new buildings and investment but there are just as many old Soviet style housing apartment blocks. They are gray and ugly and greet you as you enter the outskirts of any sizable city or town in any of the former Soviet bloc countries. A few have been painted, but usually with odd colouring. Some of those buildings are in terrible shape. The local guide said that the unemployment is about 14%. Even so, it is an improvement from 16% last year.

We went for an evening river dinner cruise. The food was nothing special but we saw the night scenes of the city. Budapest has some very large and impressive buildings, such as their Parliament, Fisherman’s Bastion, Palace, and St. Matthias and St. Stephen’s churches. They are all lit up at night and very beautiful. There are three main bridges that connect the two former cities of Buda and Pest. All of them were destroyed during WWII, but have been rebuilt. Many of the city’s buildings, including the Parliament and palace, were heavily damaged at that time, but have been wonderfully restored.

As we were driving back to the hotel, we crossed a bridge and proceeded toward a tunnel off of a rotary. At the last second, Istvan (our driver) kept going around the circle and every time he approached the tunnel, he would go around the rotary again. After the third time, everyone was laughing hysterically. I guess this was his farewell gift to us as he was going off duty for a few days and we would have a new driver joining us in the morning.

Not enough time left on our internet connection to post pictures tonight. See tomorrow.

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 day. We passed through many smaller churches and squares. The city hall building has a plaque of Nikola Tesla. I forgot that he was a Croatian. He was the one who invented the three phase electric generation.

By the time we came back to the hotel, the bus was not allowed to drop us off at the front door. There were a few police cars parked at the front entrance of the hotel. When we finally walked into the hotel lobby, there were many dressed like Men in Black standing around. I thought there must be something going on here. The tour bus driver told me that the Prime Minister was at the hotel somewhere. We had to leave before I had a chance to take a picture of her.

We traveled to Kumrovec, the village where Tito was born. The local guide was an older man who described the life and accomplishments of Tito. Kumrovec is a village of only 200 people. We visited the house where Tito lived. The village is still active in farming. We saw a number of chickens running around. Some buildings are preserved as in the condition of the early 1900’s when Tito was born. I can see that the people still respect him for fighting against the German occupation and stood up against Stalin. Even Churchill did not dare to do that. It was really interesting to see the way they dry corn. There were many drying racks large and small. Once dry, they grind it into corn flour for making bread. We had some of this bread later and it was really good – not yellow like our corn bread though, almost white.

The local guide did not talk too much about the conflict in the 1990’s. I can see that that city is still recovering from the war. Some buildings are crumbling. They are still expecting Croatia to join the EU in 2012 so foreign investment will flow into the country. War is never good for any country. It is a waste on human lives and the country takes a long time to recover if ever.

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 we walked near Lake Bohinj and crossed a little old bridge to an old church. The water in the river was so clear you could see thousands of trout swimming. St. John’s Catholic Church was built in the 12^th century and presently they are restoring the 13^th century frescoes. The guide was really surprised that it was opened. We enjoyed the rare treat of seeing inside this charming little church. We then drove about an hour to Ljubljana. It is the capital of Slovenia. It was a very hot day, above 30 degrees but it felt more like 36. About a dozen of us enjoyed a typical Slovenian lunch at a local restaurant. Even the waiters dressed in traditional waist coats. Most of us had mushroom soup in bread. (Tim Horton’s must have borrowed this idea from Slovenia. It just would not work in Canada.) The mushrooms were local and extremely tasty. A local guide gave us an hour and a half walking tour of the old town. We even met the mayor of Ljubljana. He greeted us and invited us to take a group photo with him. It was quite a surprise and honour.

It took the bus an hour to reach the border. Croatia is one of the few countries in Europe which does not belong to the EU. We had to stop at the Slovenian border and the border police came on the bus and stamped our passports. At the Croatian border, they made us get off the bus and line up at the booth and have our passports stamped again. Meanwhile a female border guard boarded the bus perhaps checking we all get off. It was not disturbing or scary but it was a small taste of yesteryear. Our tour guide said it used to take up to four hours when former Yugoslavia was under communism. Sometimes they would even take the car apart searching for who knows what.

Croatia is a pretty country with lots of farm land especially with small fields of corn. Small family farms are common. Our guide described in more detail how life in Communist Yugoslavia under Marshall Tito was different than those Eastern Bloc countries under Stalin’s USSR. It was a dictatorship under Tito in the name of Communism only. People could own property. We were told that Tito gave some measure of religious freedom. Stalin tried to take control of Yugoslavia but Tito was quite shrewd in using his relationships with the west to resist the USSR influence. This worked fine until his death in 1980. The dream of a united Yugoslavia disintegrated. The different ethnic groups have different cultures, religions and languages. There was no charismatic leader to glue all the groups together. That led to the breakup of Yugoslavia. Most of us remember the Balkan Wars in the 1990’s.

Upon arriving in Zagreb, you could definitely see the evidence of a country still recovering from years of wars and unrest. Many buildings are in disrepair, crumbling, some are abandoned ruins, others are being rebuilt, and others are beautifully restored. One thing that struck us was all the graffiti everywhere on buildings, overpasses… It was not as clean and tidy as Slovenia. We had a lovely dinner at the hotel.

Lake Bohinj

Mushroom soup in bread

Ljubljana