Prague spring... 45 years late.

The flight to Prague was uneventful, we landed in the early evening to cold and a bit of snow lying around the ground. The people who we rented our apartment sent a man with a van to collect us. Which was great - nothing is worse than arriving in a new place in the dark (particularly where the language used is not keen on vowels) and then trying a to find transport.
We elected to stay in what they call the Old Town part of Prague. It's basically the same architecture as contemporary european but squashed tighter together and older cobblestones. The monolithic chic favoured by the communist rulers thankfully absent. Plenty of those buildings were available in the form of apartments as you drive from the airport - no wonder alcoholism became a national sport.
As with Paris the entrance to the apartment was just a door in the wall straight on the street - a street thronging with tourists to boot. The door looked ancient but with a card reader to get in, 1890's meets Motorola.
Two floors up, a old apartment converted with all the modern conveniences. The ceiling must be at least 15 foot high but warm and cozy. Radiators for the win.
We grabbed something to eat locally, cheap and cheerful. The Czechs haven't adopted the Euro which makes it very cheap to visit, even in the expensive tourist areas - but not so cheap to live. They all head across to Germany to buy their electronic equipment apparently.
The next day I headed up the hill to the Prague castle or Prazsky hrad as it's known in Czech. This joint has a mixed history - people who have resided there include the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors, Presidents of Czechoslovakia and now Czech Republic... and the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia - that dark prince of the SS - Reinhard Heydrich.
It sits on the hill overlooking Prague and the river Vltava and it's pretty much what you expect from an ancient castle in the middle of Europe. Apparently the largest castle of it's age in the world.
I wandered around poking my noses into different areas, I would have liked to get into the royal gardens but they are closed until the 1st of April it seems..(although that could be just a joke) so I had to content myself with looking over parapets and taking photos of innocuous doors and stone work to see how many other tourists would rush over to take a picture of something that simply shouldn't be missed.
At regularly intervals a group of 3 soldiers all dressed in blue and warm hats would march down to the entrance of the castle and back again up the hill - they looked pretty bored. There were so many tourists that they had to send another soldier in front to clear the way. People seemed to expect the soldiers to just move around them. Fascists!
It was getting quite grey and cold so I wandered back to the apartment and read up on the Unbearable Lightness of Being, a novel about the Prague Spring (decided against actually reading the novel though - history is interesting enough without adding the existential layer) while I waited further instructions about where we were going to have tea.
As it was Helen's birthday we decided to go to a flash place - right on the river, the food and atmosphere was excellent equal to many top tier places in Sydney. The big difference was price - we probably paid a third of what you'd expect to pay for a similar meal near Circular Quay or Darling Harbour. We walked back to the apartment feeling pleased with ourselves and dodging people trying to entice us into dodgy looking nightclubs. They have this strange habit of putting a huge TV screen in the window showing people dancing and drinking inside... as if to convince us that real nightclub things are going on inside. It could be pre-recorded for all I know.
Tomorrow : Kafka and Golem (no..not the Tolkien kind).
Homework : The invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw pact and the "normalisation" period after Prague Spring undermined the goals of international communism. Discuss.

We'll always have Paris.

In which Martin visits the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower and we learn some surprising things about shopping in Paris.

Monday was the day for visiting the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. So in the morning we headed off to the Louvre on the Metro. The metro is great, different to the London Underground (which is also fantastic). London metro everyone maintains a slightly detached air even while squashed nose to nose. The Parisian tolerate all sorts of ruckus, people playing instruments, talking loudly, watching noisy TV shows on their mobile device. One bloke was even playing a mobile game with volume turned up to ear splitting levels - no one seemed to mind. They basically treated the metro as an extension of the street. Probably because no journey is that long - you're never more than 30 mins away from anywhere.
We arrived at the Louvre...to see tourists and school kids stretched from one end to the other. Too many! I know it's ironic me saying that.. me being a school kid, but it really detracts from the experience when you're trying to look at something and next minute a chic woman with an umbrella in the air goes marching by leading a bunch of sheep nodding and photographing everything.
The first thing we did was go and see the Mona Lisa. It looked like... the Mona Lisa. Surely the most over produced picture in the history of mankind. It's over 500 years old and apart from 2 years when some Italian "patriot" nicked off with it.. it's been residing at the Louvre since 1797, so it's got significant history and basically stands of the symbol of the arts but frankly to me it just looks like some woman who's left her hat on for too long.
You need weeks to see a place like the Louvre, so I headed to the medieval section and the "statues" before finishing up with the Napoleon III apartments. All very interesting although I have to say the apartments were completely over the top. Rich, baroque style where more is apparently more. Thank goodness the empire came to the end before they ran out of gold leaf.
The Eiffel Tower on the other hand was the soul of simplicity, engineered beauty with this delicate quality even up close. Although I was surprised to find that it was a brown rather than the grey steel colour of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There was only one lift going up, so we waited quite a while to get going... but it was worth it. They view of Paris was excellent and it's worth while going just to see the pictures of the different noters who have been up there.
It's the tallest structure in Paris and it shall remain so because they refuse to allow anything larger.
The next morning it was off to the Notre Dame. Which looks as you would expect..... like a large Cathedral. There were hordes of tourists and school kids around and since I had no desire to pay to enter, I took some ugly photos of the Charles the Great statue (or Charlemagne if you prefer) and left. I didn't see anyone swinging from gargoyle to gargoyle.
The rest of time in Paris was spent shopping, eating and catching up on correspondence. Nothing much to relate except for morning tea at Galleries Lafayette the Special of the Day was... champagne and caviare for a cool 32 euro. At least 2 lots of people ordered it the half hour we were there.. one of them looked like russian mafia.... those merry band of thugs have certainly spoiled the black turtle neck as a "look".
With Adelle's guidance I purchased a couple of items.... at 40% off which made the prices somewhat less eye watering.
Next stop : Prague.
Points if you can name the movie where the heading came from. (Googling is cheating)

Paris - a city set on a river...

When I sit at the keyboard and try to think how I will describe Paris I feel like an pygmy treading where giants have gone before. It would be easier to list who hasn't had a crack at describing the place. Anyway I like Hemmingway's description - a movable feast. Of course when he and une génération perdu were knocking around the place it was somewhat different. Shall we say that the tart looks different but the flavour remains the same?
I certainly enjoyed myself. Paris has a certain vulgar charm.
Firstly, let me say that Parisians are very kind and a tolerant lot to tourists. They assume of course that we are English. When we got a chance we explained we were Je sui Australian or New Zealand. Any reputation for surliness is undeserved, although to be fair we didn't stray too much off the tourist areas - the merchants are not stupid.
We arrived and checked into our apartment which was in Montmartre, which is the area where all the "colour" is. Sort of a Surrey Hills, or what Surrey Hills would like to be . The apartment was very modern, large and with four of us a great price.
The next morning we walked up the hill to Sacre-Coeur. An imposing basilica that sits on the hill in Montmartre. I suffered from some de-ja-vu walking up to it, then I realised I had visited it already -in a computer game called The Saboteur. I started babbling this to Helen, who immediately crossed the road and pretended to be interested in the view.
Anyway, we removed our caps and walked through before heading up further up the hill into the clutches of people wanting us to sign papers, have our picture drawn, buy this and that piece of tourist tat. The girls loved it... I mooched back down the hill and sat in a park. Where I watched black au pair's letting their charges dig up the flowers and generally run riot while they talked on their mobiles. It was too cold to stay long otherwise I could have sat reading and watching the locals for longer.
After managing to resist buying anything except a tasty baguette with ham and cheese we headed back home. I was sorely to tempted to buy a Dali T-Shirt saying "I don't do drugs, I am drugs" but the writing on it was too plain..
The next morning was Sunday, so we went off to meet with some of our folk in the suburbs. It was champion meeting them and it was very uplifting to share an hour with them. They went to a great effort to help with translating.
After some lunch we headed into central Paris, only to be greeted by protestors. The gendarmerie had blocked of the Arc de Triomphe. It was a real family event - people rushing up and down with flags, singing songs and chanting. The gendarmerie linked hands and chatted with the protestors. Sirens, flares, chanting, bullhorns, buses - basically a good day out was had by all. Apparently they were protesting about same-sex marriage and adoption. Since they already have civil union in France and same sex couples can adopt children - I doubt anyone was taking much notice.
The girls went shopping. I froze in the cold and took footage hoping for an incident that I could post on YouTube to world wide acclaim. Sadly everyone behaved themselves.
Tomorrow - art and engineering.

The Ruler of the Queen's Navy

There are so many things to do in London I decided to keep it simple on Thursday by....by going to Portsmouth. I guess I wanted to see some more of England.
Also I wanted to see the HMS Victory.
Portsmouth is the site of the oldest continuously running Drydock - I think I have that right. I'll check the fount of all truth later........Wikipedia :P. It's also a naval base, and a museum.
I will break my dissertation into 3 different parts addressing the different ships we saw.
The first ship we went onboard was the HMS Warrior. The Warrior was the first Ironclad, essentially teak with iron plating outside. It was in response to the French building a bigger ship. The ship-building-arms-race had got to the point where wooden hulls where simply getting too big to support the sail area. They need to go to iron.
This ship started a new naval arms race that ended in the disaster of the Great War and ultimately made capital ships obsolete with the age of the carrier.
Walking around it (in the drizzle as usual) I appreciated the sheer amount of work it would take to move the thing around, the engine room was massive and it was obsolete within 10 years. That's progress...
Secondly we moved onto the Mary Rose exhibition.
The Mary Rose was Henry VIII's capital ship that sunk in the channel with 500 onboard. It was a premier example of a fighting ship of the day. They have no idea why it sunk but it wasn't because of his enormous highness. They have a statue of Henry there and he certainly was big boy.
In the 70's some mad ship hunter finally located where it was in the channel and they have spent the last 40 years, raising part of it from the depths and coating it with stuff to preserve it. It doesn't officially open until June 2013 sadly so we were too early to see the actually half ship, but we did see a lot of the items inside. They had everything from Longbows to Musical Instruments. Interestingly, they found a couple of items that they didn't even know existed at that period of history - so thumbs up for underwater archaeologists. I could have spent all day there but we had to keep moving.
Finally and the reason I went to Portsmouth we got to see the HMS Victory, in drydock and still the flagship of the First Sea Lord, thank-you-very-much. You have to love the barnacle encrusted tradition of the British Navy.
What can I say about the Victory and Nelson that hasn't already been said. Well firstly to put paid to one myth - his men did NOT drink the rum he was pickled in after he died at Trafalgar - they were too superstitious for that sort of thing. Also the decks where not painted red - that was a Victorian thing. What is annoying is the number of books I have read stating that fact. Bunch of lay -about-non-fact-checking historians. :)
We have to understand that Nelson was the premier celebrity of the day and dying at Trafalgar only enhanced his reputation. He was like the Princess Diana of the day. Come to think of it.. the French where his nemesis as well.
We saw the place where Nelson died - they have a brass plate screwed onto the deck which the hoards of school children gawked and went back to horsing around with their iphones.
It was very difficult to move around the below decks area - the average sailor size was pretty short I understand. Captain Hardy's bed (imagine a coffin on stand like a cradle - which if he died it turned into) was considered huge and it was shorter than I was.
Standing on the decks surveying the scene you could get a sense of the majesty and frailty of charging around the ocean on these wooden deathtraps.
The battle of Trafalgar happened at walking pace.. they took hours to get into position. Like a train crash between snails. It's well honoured by the exhibition there. As is Nelson - although presumably so he doesn't get a big head posthumously - we are also reminded that he was pretty nasty to his wife and actively gallivanted around with another man's wife.
Anyway, all too soon we had to train our way back from Portsmouth to London and our adventure was over. As we pulled out I reflected on another bunch of people who pulled ever so slowly out of Portsmouth - the First Fleet. In an hour or so I was going to be in Leicester Square enjoying Chinese. Those poor wretches had months before they hit the Great Southern Land...
.

London calling

Tuesday we got up early and headed South. Our first stop was York.York is a great place to visit if you like history of any type. It principle City of the North for many years and it retains it's facination for me, being part of so many of the pieces of drama from English and British History. We didn't have a great deal of time so we headed straight to the old area called the Shambles. Lot's of old buildings crammed together..so close that the upper stories are almost a handshake apart across the street. I wandered around soaking up the atmosphere and watching the stall owners go about selling in the same way they had done for 100's of years. I had a Yorkshire pasty to compliment the journey. Tasty but not as warm I would like to have it... a bit like the weather.
Soon we were heading south again via some forgettable truck stops until we arrived in London where we dropped off our car and taxied to our friends house in Ravenscourt.
Later we all headed to Shepherds bush to catch up with a bunch of friends at Jamie Olivers resturant chain. It's was at a new Westfield of all places, good to see some Australian colonization. Jamie wasn't there, must have been busy elsewhere.
The next day we headed into the city and caught up with a friend from Wellington before doing the tourist thing and visiting Westminster Abbey, Parliament buildings, Horse Guards, Covent Gardens etc.
I was interested to see the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside parliament (see attached dodgy photo). Opposite him is the bust of James I on St Margaret's Church, Westminster Church. The old antagonists facing each other... Cromwell the statue and...James's head! A wonderful irony.
The Budget was being presented, so there were a lot of people with placards and bullhorns complaining about the general state of affairs. Unlike Canberra there is no handy place to run around with pitchforks and discontent - so they were all spilling out over roads creating havoc and mayhem.
We spent the rest of the day eating and shopping. Put your hand up if you're a Tourist.

There's No business like Snow Business

Well we didn't get to York on Monday.... 'cause it started snowing. For some mad reason I keep waking up at 4ish in the morning and Monday morning while I was pensively staring out the little lounge window of the Manse, sipping my cup of tae (people from Yorkshire don't drink Tea.. they drink Tae) the first flurries of snow arrived and then the place was covered, like icing, all over the buildings and fences.
I have to say at this point I was somewhat excited. I've never been in snowfall, and although I have seen snow on the side of the road... it was nothing like this. It turned the little stone walled settlement into something out of a picture book. Very romantic. I'm sure it would wear thin after a while but I stayed just long enough, that it didn't lose it's charm
As soon as the light came up I went for a tramp down to the river, watching the flurries of snow sweep down the valley and settle everywhere. Later the others joined me (except Adelle - who thinks running around in snow is a crazy thing to do) and we walked up to the waterfall, threw snowballs around and had a half hearted attempt at making a snow man.
Later after we had dried out a bit we decided to follow the river Swale down the valley to the town of Richmond. This suited me fine as I had heard there was a castle in Richmond.
Driving alongside the river was quite pleasant, you cross it repeatedly at each little settlement. Little stone one lane bridges weathered and worn. Avoiding the fat pheasants that marched across the road like fools...they were pretty game.. Boom boom.
Richmond is a little market town stuck in the bend of the Swale. It grew up around Richmond castle which was founded by the Normans to control the area. See : Harrowing of the North. William the conqueror.
The castle is a pretty good example of early medieval castle architecture but we couldn't get in because it wasn't opened until 1st of April. I decided storming the castle was probably counter productive....
Instead I went to the regimental museum of the Green Howards. They have 14 Victoria Crosses and a variety of battles from fighting the Catholics under William of Orange through to fighting Taliban in Afghanistan (now as part of the Yorkshire regiment). A rich and bloody history.
The weather was pretty cold which justifed the sausage, bacon and egg buttie that I wolfed down along with pot loads of tea. You can't eat like that in Australia... unless you want to look like Billy Bunter.
The next day we got up early and crunched through the snow to begin our journey south via York.

Richmond Castle

Richmond Castle

Excellent example of a Norman Castle in North England.

Keld - The place of the springs

Keld. Finally I've found out what inspired Skyrim. (An elder scrolls computer game for the unlearned). The rivers, waterfalls, stonewalls and little stone houses. It was uncanny.

We drove through the snow covered hills on little one lane roads until we reached the "Manse", basically a ministers house attached to a little church. The house has been renovated for tourists and is very pleasant and modern inside.

There is a little grouping of houses, farming and cottages. You can hear a waterfall further down the hill.

Apparently the place was settled by Viking sheep herders - so sheep and humans have been running around the place for some time. At it's height in the late 19th century there was about 6000 people living in the area when they were mining for lead. There is a lot less now... apart from farming, tourists and trampers seem to be the mainstay of the local economy.

They take their tramping quite seriously over here...heaps of people dressed in outdoors gear can be seen marching over hill and dale all around the place and let me say it's a tad cold outside.

Apparently you can tramp across the dales from b&b to b&b which does sound attractive, although I think I would prefer summer time.

Saturday night we walked through the flurries of sleet into a cosy pub for dinner.. the main was OK, but the sticky toffee pudding I had for dessert was awesome. The waiter told me that it was made from the original sticky toffee pudding recipe the chef was trained by the person who designed it. So there!  

Sunday morning we had our usual morning activities before heading to Hawes for lunch. Adelle was keen to check out the cheese shop - Wesleydale cheese maker. You eat the stuff with tea and fruit cake apparently. 

I had an excellent Sunday roast - Yorkshire pudding, beef and veggies - seriously good Sunday roast that put a lining on your stomach. Then back home as the clouds seemed to descend on us.

We're doing the snow dance and hoping that we get more than sleet tonight.

York tomorrow.

Rummaging through the trunk of time..

Well here we are in the Dales and despite the cold and the bleak, it's an incredible experience.
After we arrived in Gatwick airport we picked up a nice Peugeot station wagon (or Estate as they like to call them over here) and headed north to Cambridge.
Our good friends had waited up patiently and kindly had everything ready for sleeping. After 48 hours with the minimum of sleep I was ready for it. I never seem to be able to sleep on a plane.  If you want to recreate my experience in the 'comfort' of your own home, climb into a washing basket for 14 hours and have a small child kick it occasionally.
Anyway, the next day we headed into Cambridge town to wander around, shopping and have a pub lunch. Let me say here that there are one or two differences between Cambridge and downtown Caringbah..but they both have a Subway. Go where you will in the world... you'll find a foot long.
Returning to Cambridge was like stepping back in time (I was last there in '04). Some things were changed but really not much was different. It was like opening an old box right at the back of the wardrobe and finding all sorts of knick knacks that you had forgotten about.
The next day we headed north with our friends and had high tea at Betty's in Harrogate.  I had an excellent red pepper soup, which made up for the driving around madly all over the place looking for a place to park. A pot of tea as well... tradition must be upheld old chap.
It's remarkable to me the way the English master the art of the understated, the sorts of things that would have a people at home worked up into an apoplectic fit has the english saying things like "I felt a bit let down".
Then it was off to Keld, located in the heart of Yorkshire national park. Next update : Keld

And so it begins...

Every journey has to start somewhere... and so we're starting here. Sitting at the computer starting at the beginnings of a new blog.
Talking with an old friend yesterday we agreed that this moment, before you board the plane, before you even drive the airport is that perfect starting moment that we too often rush past in our anticipation of the journey to come. It's that moment before you open the present, or meet a new girl. That perfect moment when the possibilities are before you and the baying of normal life has been shut out in the shed.
You're checking your bags, fussing around over the odds and ends you'll pack... 4 tee shirts? or 3? these decisions take on an importance that you never thought possible in the context of every day life.
I find it all rather surreal actually, I live in the moment so often that it's hard to imagine that I'm going to be walking around in York or Paris. They seem abstract.
It's a privilege for me to be able to travel like this - unencumbered by work and with the children being looked after by my wonderful parents. I cannot thank them enough.
Anyway, tomorrow we'll be travelling to the airport at the early hours of the morning and from there we'll be swept along by the mighty Emirates machine until we are deposited in Gatwick Airport. As I sit here feeling slightly too hot I know when I walk outside to pick up that car - I'm going to be thinking that Sydney, Australia is a long way away. Physically and mentally.
See you there.
..dateline 13th March 13. 20.24 Sydney time..