032 Russia: More of Moscow

Russia: Moscow - sample of the many photos
It was over 32C every day. So many 'myths' in our head were dispelled by this trip

St. Basils Cathedral in Red Square.

 Red Square

The 'official' shopping centre, just off Red Square where overseas delegates went to be shown the opulence in the Russian stores!!! The mother of our guide was from Siberia and once a year they made a journey here to shop as it was one of the very few places in Russia where you could buy goods. Their idea of luxury was a can of Coke!!!

Lenin's tomb 

Red Square 

 

Changing of the guards. The guy at the back left had a whistle and if anyone did anything wrong, (like sat on the wall) he blew his whistle and came towards you - believe me, you got up off the wall pretty smartly!!

One of the many 'churches'. Most are not old and most are not churches - they are museums. 

The Kremlin

Three photos of the inside of St. Basils. Once again this was a museum and not a 'working' church. And not that old.

 

 

Victory Park. Enormous. Very impressive. 

 

and that was Moscow and we loved it.

 

033 Russia: Moscow. The big donger, the big bell and big balls

Russia: Moscow

and yes, we've been away from grown up conversation for way too long!

 

The big donger

The big bell

and the big balls

031 Russia: MockBa (Mocow)

Russia: MockBa (Moscow)

There are hundreds of photos to choose from. This has to be our favourite place so far. It is extraordinary to think we are residing just 1km from Red Square. However our first hour was pretty scary.  Russian drivers are maniacs and the guy who picked us up from the airport was no exception. We were nearly involved in 3 crashes and we saw the remains of two recent ones - all that within just 67km and at 11:30pm. THEN we got the first site of our accommodation - an apartment:

The entrance & the lift buttons. The lift could just fit three people and was terrifying.

THEN you had the next entry door - double locked and THEN the interior door - also double locked. Our hostess assured us we were safe. (So I'm wondering - why all the locks?) 

But once inside it was lovely. And the view the next morning, of a guy working on the opposite building, 5 floors up, was attention grabbing. It was hot, so he made himself a hat.

 

 

She was right, we were vey safe in Moscow. One thing we noticed though was just how much was hidden away. Very little advertising. We went to a show with Russian dancing and if someone had not told us where it was, even when we got right outside, we would never had known. We also noticed the older local men, when they spoke to each other, were right next to each others ears. I guess that reflects on recent history?

 

 

Our hostess told us about her favourite restaurant, that she said was great for an intimate dinner. We never stopped giggling as there was a lamp hanging right between us.

We went around the corner into the local supermarket. No kidding. Blew our socks off.

 

Gorky Park was one of the few disappointments, so here is just a map so we don't spoil your illusions :)

We can't remember the real name of this church as we kept referring to it as the "Pussy Riot' church. This is where those girls went and videoed disrespectful things about Russia. 1) the place has signs everywhere "No photo's or Video's"  2) It is a location where you need to cover your legs, shoulders and head.
While I don't agree with the harsh sentence they were given, they were most certainly looking to make trouble - they perhaps got a bit more than  the celebrity few minutes of fame they were hoping for!

Moscow to be continued....

030 Czech Republic - Praha (Prague)

Czech Republic - Praha (Prague)

Took this just because it is an odd looking building. It has affectionately been named 'The Fred & Ginger" building

I didn't think I could be further impressed by stained glass windows. I was wrong. This was a magnificent mosaic. The photo does not do the colour justice.

View of Praha from the castle/cathedral. It is a beautiful city and it flows from area to area via large squares.

Romance was everywhere. We saw so many couples holding hands, sitting closely on benches and 3 weddings. However the streets are not good for high heels.

I was fascinated by this. It was a simple stone building. Each stone block had exactly the same pattern etched into it. The photo doesn't seem to capture it well enough. It was very eye catching.

The astronomical clock. We never did manage to work out how to tell the time. On the hour the cock crows. a skeleton dances, other items wiggle and jiggle and move.

Buskers from Peru. I'm thinking of showing this to the guys in Bourke Street Mall and telling them to lift their game :)

The pissing statue at which I am obviously shocked :)
The sculptor, David Cerney is know for his disrespect of authority or the norms.
It is two men pissing into a map of the Czech Republic. The middle section is animated. Rumour has it that the pissing action spells out something derogatory about Czech.

This was a one way pedestrian walkway, with traffic lights, between two buildings to get to a riverside café.

How to create a tourist attraction? Get someone to graffiti a wall with John Lennon slogans, open a pub in honour of the Yellow Submarine and voila, a tourist attraction

Frank negotiating our 1/2 hour Segway tour. It is much easier than we thought. There were loads of these. Bit difficult to navigate amongst the crowds though.

In Belgium we saw the beer shops. Here it is more about spirits.

General view

Charles Bridge. (VERY busy all the time)

 

We had a trip Karlstejn castle. The GPS did it's nut when we went on a diversion. At one stage it directed us down a railway track. Once again it was funny to watch cars whose GPS were taking them the same way as us. It wasn't scary as we had plenty of time. The castle just kept getting further away! We got there and it was well worth it. We went to some strange places on the way back too.

 

So while we leave the Czech Republic for Russia, our car is at the airport and we will be back.

 

029 Czech Republic: Karlovy Vary

 Czech Republic: Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad)

We visit Bamberg (which is actually still Germany) on the way to Karlovy Vary.  

An amazing river town. Note the kayak course on the left.

So many of the homes have water frontage - literally. We wonder how they maintain the foundations. This is known as little Venice.

This building dominates the centre of town and is on an island where the river disects. The architecture and the wall frescos are astounding

Karlovy Vary is an amazing Spa town. It seems there is also a famous film festival here. Many of the hotels have photos of famous film stars.

The local police ride Segways.

This was a spa town but we genuinely couldn't find a conventional spa, so we opted for a beer spa. You languished in a half barrel of hot bubbly water to which hops, yeast and ground barley were added. They also poured in 1 litre of beer. But we controlled ourselves and did not drink the bath, he he.  You are then wrapped up and rest on a bed of straw (Bit prickly)

028 Germany part 4

Germany: Baden Baden, St. Peters, Dinkelsbuhl, Rothenburg, Wurzburg

Now that's a big barrel! 225000litres
When this was on use the locals only drank wine & beer as the water couldn't be trusted.

A section of the Berlin wall

Now that is a very big rose. We spent a few days in Baden Baden and it was a simply fantastic Spa town. We spent 4 hours in a 17 stage spa, including a 1/2 hour nap where they wrap you tightly in a warm blanket. Bliss.

We went in a self drive funicular railway. At the top there was a hang glider. Behind us, out of site of the hang glider, was a large family taking a star jump photo. All the hand glider could hear was "one, two, three jump". He thought someone was taking the micky but couldn't see. We could see everything and were laughing hysterically. The family had no idea what was going on and did the countdown for the photo about 6 times. Priceless.

This is the wood storage for just one home. Scattered throughout the Black Forest are these massive wood piles.

As we are driving along we spot a mini golf. It wasn't actually open but she let us play. 18 holes of madness. It was simple in design but very difficult. I gave up on 3 holes! We had a great laugh.

We always intended to get off the beaten track but some of the place our GPS has taken us have been somewhat challenging.

At the top of the Black Forest are the ski slope and ski jumps. The whole are is very impressive.

There are many towns with their old walls intact and you can walk almost the whole way around on the ramparts.

Dinkelsbuhl was Frank's favourite place. EVERY home was magnificently presented.

 

Well that was Germany:

What a wonderful country. Not at all touristy. Definitely a focus on 'liveability'.

We did struggle at times with what seemed to us as 'attitude' - like being answered "of course" when you ask if the person speaks English, and they looked at you like you were an idiot - but it is a different culture and even when people were being vey helpful it felt like they were annoyed with you.

Interesting to note that we only saw one war memorial and that was well hidden and just simply listed the dead.

The way the castles are being looked after and renovated is wonderful. All this will still be here for future generations.

We didn't bother with the major cities and were well rewarded. Baden Baden was very special.