You’re Doing What?
That has been the most common response to my announcement regarding the trip. Not many Oklahoma families fly to Europe, rent an RV and drive throughout Eastern Europe. But the Engle’s are.
The concept is to fly into Munich and rent the RV there, then drive through the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, back through Slovakia, through Austria and back to Germany for the return. For an experienced world traveler that might not be so challenging but despite my Polish heritage the number of words we know of Polish or any of the dominant languages in the lands we are traveling to is limited to the number of fingers and toes I have. Perhaps, not quite that many. In my case, international travel has been limited to a week in the Bahamas, another in Canada and a couple of quick border crossings into Mexico. Each of us (it seems I am the only one to actually do so) intends to write our impressions at least daily to compile something that may be instructive or at least entertaining for others. More likely it will simply serve to help us remember how we felt at the moment. Memories fade and often the best specific experience loses its details and only the impression remains. As I sit at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport I wonder what adventure awaits us. As the man of the house and principle driver I wonder if I will inadvertently violate some law. Will we experience any health difficulties? Will some leftover of the Cold War give us difficulties at the border? Will the Engle family find themselves the inspiration for the next National Lampoon vacation movie? Not to worry, I have confidence. After all we survived months of effort to plan the trip, hours on hold with various travel related vendors, word that our flight to the coast is delayed and thereby we would miss the connection to Europe (but they decided to hold the overseas flight for us) and worst of all; the airport security. How many is four?
Cultural distinctions are a big part of why we are going but also a big part of what intimidates me. After reading several books and perusing more websites than I should have shaken a mouse at I wonder which of the warnings are really true. For example, the word is that the use of fingers to communicate a number is different in Europe. Whereas Americans who would like one piece of pizza would put their index finger up and for two would add the middle finger. On the other hand, Europeans start with the thumb and add the index finger for a second. We will see, but there seems to be a failure in the system when you try to imagine asking for four of anything. OK, the ‘thumb is one’ system seems to be reality but still not sure how to communicate other numbers.
Germany:
Landing at Munich we are first hit with the actual name, which is Munchen but pronounced in the first syllable exactly as Americans have but the second is “chen”. We were not even corrected when we pronounced it in the ordinary manner or when we first attempted (with a short ‘u’) the proper name. It does not take long to get it right.
Speaking of pronunciation. You will quickly find that the more British version of the language is useful, absent the accent. Use “caravan” over “RV”, “petrol” over “gas” ect. Another trick is to limit the words used when requesting something. Whole sentences are better at home; simple requests like “water closet?” make more sense over here. Additionally, if inquiring about a matter and not getting a response use a synonym. English is a compilation of several languages; most significantly Germanic and Latin, so using a synonym will often find a word that is closer to their own.
The impression of Germans as quality addicts seems to bear out. Everything is well built and largely over engineered. Bavarian people are friendly enough but not so curious about Americans as we tend to be about visiting foreigners. They respond well to efforts to communicate but they always say they don’t speak English well yet often speak better than many American youth.
You may introduce yourself with “Good Morning”, “Hello”, or such and if they have any English knowledge they will respond. If they ignore you and move on then you can assure yourself that this person is truly monolingual.
The hotel shuttle was quality transportation but a cab is less expensive for those with 3 or more persons. Taxi rates are fixed. Best value, sensibility and safety are found in the public transit if it can get you to where you need to go. A taxi/public transit combo is what we used.
When first on the ground you need to get some local currency. At home you are lucky to find me with two dollars in my pocket. In Europe cash is still king. Credit cards have very little acceptance, Debit cards must have the “Maestro” version of Master Card and traveler’s cheques are worthless. Places that will accept credit cards may not display the logos on the door as is done in the US. I recommend that you take out your card only and show it to whomever you make eye contact with first. You will quickly get a nod revealing your options. If they see you have cash they may deny that a card can be used even if it can. If you inquire as to why they don’t take cards the ordinary response is “3%”, the fee charged to accepting businesses. It doesn’t seem to matter that they may well sell much more than 3% more if they did.
Competition among business is not as price conscious as at home. In Germany at least competition is done on quality factors instead. Not ‘what you get for the money’ but “how good does it get”. My expectation was that variations in political and religious ideas would be most significant but was found to be in error. While these have developed far differently between the continents human nature is unchanged. Of course, my travels took me to the more religiously devout and socially conservative portions of Europe and may have found more similarities than I would have found elsewhere. What is required is to keep such conversations on the ideal rather than the specific. Personally, I am highly active in politics and my degree is in theology. Any conversation I have is bound to approach one of these taboo subjects in some manner. Defending the reputation of a particular elected official or describing your favorite flavor of America’s ‘Baskin/Robbins’ versions of Christianity will not work. Instead let a conversation naturally go to the underlying ideal. If it doesn’t go there without effort on your part then you will cease to communicate and may get the brush off. We had been in contact by email with the son of the friend of a friend who lives in Munich. He was quick to avail himself to taking us to a store where we could equip the RV as needed for an extended stay. He owns a computer related business, which has become successful. When discussing my observation that Bavarian villages were quite compact and attractive he suggested that it was a cultural concept, and that they would not sprawl as Americans would. Still, my curiosity queried that someone would purchase some part of the adjoining farmland and build a home just beyond the village limits. His response was that the use of land is highly regulated. Agricultural land may not be converted to residential use without fulfilling a long process so as to keep growth slow. He told me that if private agricultural lands could be converted to homes and large lots that his small but highly populated nation would look like one enormous American suburb with “people everywhere!” This sounds much more political than cultural to me. While the democratically elected officials have not altered the regulations on land use and such is presumably supported by the majority, his contention was that if permitted Germans would spread themselves out as Americans do. If this was only a cultural distinction then it simply would not be done, but he suggested that it would be done if not restrained. I then asked if his business is as highly regulated and he let me know that it is a new industry and regulation has not reached it as yet. I asked if the lack of regulation was important to him in entering and succeeding in his industry. At this he thought for only a moment, made the connection and replied, “But I like the green spaces!” This shows me that people are the same everywhere. For themselves, their businesses and their homes everyone is a libertarian. For controlling what someone else does most are something far different. One matter that is cultural and not controlled by regulation are the variations of habits at restaurants. Americans drink water (most preferably, ice water) with their meals even when having another beverage. Europeans do not and if they do it is bottled water. A significant factor in this is that restaurants do not make any money on giving water away. While you may find beer or wine to be the same price as a soft drink (and a bottle of water the same as well) you will not find water at your table to be considered an appropriate part of table service. I made it my personal goal to educate several servers that a glass full of ice with tap water is a valued thing among Americans. They simply think it to be outside their cultural existence. The European resistance to using very much ice in a beverage is understood, as it can dilute upon meltdown. However, not filling a glass with ice when tap water (which the ice was made from) continues to boggle the mind. At one point I convinced a server to give me a full glass of ice but could not convince her to put tap water in the glass. Instead she gave me another glass full of tap water, with no room for ice. Another time I could not convince the restaurant to put tap water in my glass at all but they would give me a glass full of ice and I proceeded to the water closet to fill it. My wife was embarrassed but when very thirsty you will do what you need to do. In case you are wondering, there is no Central/East Europe version of Montezuma’s revenge. I suppose it would be called ‘Lenin’s Revenge’. The water from the tap is fine. Unlike the expectation you would have in Mexico you can drink the water and the restaurants certainly cook, clean and make ice from it. Additional distinctions include the fact that there is never a free refill of anything. Your bill will not come until the table has been completely cleared and the expectation of the restaurant is for you to remain for long periods of time. They do not look to use the table again that evening. We stayed at an airport area hotel for about 50 Euros per night per room. Adding a cot in one room would have been 85 Euros so we opted for two rooms. The “NH Munchen Hotel” is quite modern and a bit institutional in feel but quite a bargain at the price we paid. As we were picking up the RV the next day we choose to head into the city for the remainder of the day to sightsee. Taking the subway to Marienplatz we came up out of the subway and back several centuries that said like nothing else, “you really are in Europe”. For a first time visitor to the continent there is not a better experience. The clock in the square gives a performance not to be missed, on the hour. We had no difficulty finding many interesting things to keep us busy, happy and awake. Staying awake is vital. Jet lag will get you if you don’t force yourself to stay awake until the evening.
You just have to go with the flow sometimes
Other times you just pull your hair out. Even when language is not a barrier you can run into obstacles that simply cannot be moved. In our case we contracted to rent the RV beginning at 9AM in the morning and it was not available to us until nearly 5PM. This gave us time to visit with our German friends. It also meant not getting on the road anywhere close to the expectation and thereby not stopping for the night until late. Just a bit too late. Unlike America campgrounds do not fill up they just squeeze more people in. Also distinct is that you may not simply pull in and find a spot if you arrive late. They close and lock the gate by 10PM. If you arrive later (even moments later) then you will not plug in for the night. That difficulty being understood one would be surprised to note that parking in parking spots is readily accepted. Departing Munchen for Prague (Praha) the natural first place to go for the night is Regensburg. Anyone who knows me knows that I would most certainly be drawn toward a city with a name even remotely comparable to the name of my favorite US President. It should at this point be mentioned that camping in Europe is not a way to get away from cities but a reasonably low cost method of visiting them. Therefore campgrounds are placed in cities rather than away from them. Reservations are not needed and to a great extent not available. We pulled into Regensburg just prior to 10 but didn’t find the campsite until the hour had passed, the gate locked and our carriage turned into the proverbial pumpkin. Well, after some difficulties we reversed out of the drive, back into the street and went looking for a good parking place. Street parking was an option but a parking lot in front of a public swimming pool sounded better. No sooner than we pulled in did a half dozen other camp rejects join us for the night. Waking with the sun (as is my habit when camping) I found that the parking lot also had been locked down with all of us in. Not a problem for any others as they had arrived at the destination of choice. The swimming pool was actually quite the resort style spa. They were looking forward to a day at the pool proceeded by a grand spectacle of a public event. It seems during the night the streets surrounding the ad-lib campground were converted into an arena for the start of a popular, once per year marathon. In short order the streets would be full of runners and their fans from all over the nation and we would be stuck behind them even if the gate were unlocked. I wandered about for quite some time in my efforts to find a person who could unlock the gate to allow our escape. When finally we were released we narrowly escaped the crowd control barricades locking us in again. Not that another day in Bavaria would have hurt but it was simply not our plan. We were grateful that we could move on and enjoyed the early morning adrenalin rush of slipping out at the last moment. We now needed to find a way to stop in one of the many beautiful Bavarian villages to compose ourselves with coffee and some breakfast. We found just such village at the first one we tried. They are all so charming and accommodating that any would have been equally fine. We managed to fit into a street parking spot with minimal sidewalk coverage and walked to a bakery as church bells rang out the joy of a just performed wedding, men and women making their ways about town for shopping and visiting atop bicycles, and pleasant sights and aromas assaulted the senses with the greatest contentment. Now adequately caffeinated and feed I was able to address a problem whose solution evaded me the night before. All interior lights were not working. The engine ran but lighting was not. We had ransacked our memories on the instructions we had received, searched in vane the German language vehicle manual, and considered turning back to get it repaired. Giving myself one more chance to figure it out we found that a switch allowing 12 volt power to lights had been inexplicably moved. European RV’s are different from American in many ways. In the US we have a small 31 foot class C. In Europe we rented a very large 21 foot caravan. In addition to the shorter length it is also much lower in height and fully 3 feet narrower. They use a cassette type toilet system that is surprisingly better than what we use in the states. On board water storage is very adequate if showering is not expected in the vehicle. And, of course, the electric is very different. Czech Republic: Our route through the remaining areas of Bavaria and into Bohemia (Eastern Czech Republic) were as idyllic as could be hoped for. Bavarian architecture slowly gave way to the red tiled roofs of Bohemia. Crossing the border was too easy. We showed our passports for a second and then were waved on. We had to remind ourselves to request a visa stamp for souvenir purposes, to request an Autobahn pass (which is required to dive on their better highways – basically it is a toll pass) and to change money. On arrival in Praha a short time later we worked our way to a fuel station to purchase our first tank full. Short distances and high mileage vehicles make driving in Europe less expensive than the converted price per gallon would suggest. We paid 30 crowns per litre, which comes to $6 per gallon. Double the price in the US but this vehicle gets nearly double the mileage. It cost $80 to fill up. It would have been about $8 per gallon in Bavaria. The fuel station included a uniformed working young man who could not have been over the age of 14. It seemed he was the son of the owners but it was run in the manner of a chain. All very clean, crisp and professional. His English was better than anyone else so I asked him about a campground. We were referred to the Branik Hostel and Camp on the East side of the Vtlava river south of the central city. With little difficulty we found the Branik area and the river itself was unmistakable but finding the entrance to the campground eluded us for a short time. Driving about in a relatively large vehicle on narrow streets in a formerly industrial area was unsettling. As it turned out two Praha Policemen on bicycle guided us. The camp area and the hostel had separate entrances. If we had understood this then we would have had no difficulty whatsoever. The camping area is immediately beside the river, which is broad and swift flowing (in late spring anyway) and across from us was a significant hill with some fine homes on it. The campground is gated with a leftover from the cold war era but painted to be pleasant. The attendant was a kindly older gentleman who spoke decent English. He required my International Drivers License as surety for payment and directed me to the spots with electric. Camping rates are all ala carte in that each distinction has its own rate. Number of adults a rate for each, children each a less but separate rate, the type of vehicle – ours the highest rate, electric another charge, use of showers and dump station (per se) another charge. Add in the sale of tram tickets and we were at 1200 crowns! This equates to $60 for two nights. Not a bargain but not bad for most US locations. Add in that this location was on a major river, within a major city, breathtaking vistas, and short walk uphill to the tram station for a ten-minute ride to the central city and I felt quite good about it. Efforts to hook up to electric for the first time took a turn to the absurd for a while. Negotiating the 3 distinct cords and the very odd looking connections was trouble enough. Upon making the connection we plugged in the converter we purchased in the US and to it a power strip we brought with us. My intent was to plug in my laptop to charge as well as my rental cell phone. No sooner than it was all together the indicator light showing we had a power failure. Presuming the campground had faulty equipment I inquired of the attendant who opened his electric box at the site and found that the circuit breaker had been thrown. Switching it my wife found the indicator light on for but a moment. The attendant suggested the problem was with the caravan but he could look at the manual as he could read German. As he perused the manual I finally found the circuit beaker in the vehicle and it also had been thrown. It seems the power strip itself had caused the difficulties. We now plug in only one item per converter. So much for my economizing on converter purchases. We also brought a vehicle lighter/110 volt converter from home used to power my laptop for my daughters DVD viewing. Another mistake as European lighters are different. Those items that could not be used (and should not have been brought) were stowed in the underneath stowage.
On to the central city
The tram system works well and its numbering system and route maps are like any American city with such a system. It is the primary transportation mode for everyone. While the roads are wide enough and parking is possible for a fee driving makes no sense even if our vehicle was not oversized. We started with Wenceslaus Square, a broad and crowded area with innumerable shops. My intention was to go but had little interest beyond seeing it. It was also convenient as the tram stop to switch to the underground is located there as well. Only one stop underground and we are in the old city. We came up near St. Nicholas Hussite church where we bought tickets for the concert that evening. Then walked to the Huss memorial and throughout the old city. Baroque architecture and the several museums are the tourist choice of the day. Lunch around the corner at a bar with less than family friendly cartoons on the wall and we were once again about town. At lunch we shared a table with two young ladies from France. One of the two had been robbed of her purse with passport and all the other items ordinarily kept in such. Pickpockets are all too common in Praha. One must use the pouches tucked into the shirt and pants, which cannot be easily stolen. My daughter and I each carried a backpack with guidebooks and water bottles. If stolen the thief would have little and we would be spared the grief of being held up for actual valuables. My wife carried the camera with an over the shoulder and head strap in which the camera hung exactly where the hand most comfortably rests. At one point I found a girl sneaking a peek into the back (empty) flap of my daughter’s backpack. Caught, she quickly departed. Needless to say a little care can prevent a lot of hardship. Praha would do well to increase police patrol in such popular areas. We also heard of a counterfeiting scam regarding a 2000 crown note that seems not to exist. The astronomical clock is a wonder to behold but it seems the top of the hour exhibition is nothing to exert oneself to see except at noon. The Tyne church would have been of greatest interest except that our timing was slightly off. We missed the last time of entrance by about ten minutes. We were able to look in and I enjoyed the gothic architecture. Walking to and fro the many attractions filled our afternoon to return to the old town square in time for a wonderful, long, narrow hot dog for dinner before going into the concert. Sitting in the minimalist pews with fixed kneeling rails in this Hussite, pre-protestant Reformation, Protestant church awaiting a string orchestra after a day of strenuous activity lead inevitably to an excessive attention to the backs of my eyelids. Each of us drifted off but the sound escaping me alerted all around us, and my wife blamed it on jet lag. This was, of course prior to the start of the concert but the urge to nod did not end. The concert (or my dream thereof) was quite pleasant. The following day was dedicated to the castle quarter and the little quarter on the other side of the river. The “A” ticket is well worth the price as is the audio guide. Visiting the castle grounds one finds St. Vitus Cathedral to be a dramatic and beautiful example of gothic architecture and many fine examples of baroque art. What should be understood about these cathedrals is that they were built to be a community of faith. The design with many differing chapels, nooks and crannies were all expected to be simultaneously used for different purposes. The vibrancy and activity of faith flies in the face of the ordinary American custom of being very quiet and paying attention to what the guy up front is doing. I personally enjoyed the views of the city from the courtyard in front of what is now the Presidential Palace. The red tiled roofs span nearly the entire city both contemporary and aged. I was privileged to visit with the audio guide concessionaire. In our discussion I asked about the current status of the palace and he responded with significant pride that it is being used for the President and executive offices. He further related his appreciation of the new President’s stand against the European Union. His comment was that the Czech’s had worked too hard for independence to give it up. I am pleased that Europeans are beginning to treasure the uniqueness of their cultures and the sovereignty of their nations. We completed the day with our first visit to the Charles Bridge. I recommend this course, as every other time we found crowds that would prevent any enjoyment. The late afternoon crowds are workable and the light is great. Views off the bridge in every direction are spectacular. We also had opportunity to visit with a couple from Spain. They related the difficulties of their nation. First on the list of priorities was concern regarding the increasing number of illegal aliens. Moravia: Driving into the Moravian region of Czech we found differences to be subtle. More farm land and less mountainous forests. Getting off the Autobahn to roam among the villages was more effort than value produced. The villages we drove among consisted largely of Cold War era concrete housing. In these cases they were seldom more than two or three stories and had pitched roofs so at a distance they have a quaint appeal but up close there is the unmistakable vision of deteriorating and flaking concrete housing all attached one to another. Churches and businesses were few and far between while government related buildings seemed to be more numerous than is utilized. Such churches as we did see were of the Baroque era and had seen better days. The days of Moravians sending missionaries all over the world and converting the likes of John Wesley are certainly distant memories if they are memories at all. We had lunch in a tavern, which may not have seen an American for years and an Oklahoman ever. Returning to the main highway I was reminded that the large truck traffic is the majority of all traffic. Poland: Differences were anything but subtle when entering Poland. Gone are the vast expanses of farmland and tightly packed villages and in their place are very small farms with single-family homes more commonplace. One does not enter Poland from Czech and spend much time observing the farm country. Quickly one finds themselves in a nearly endless semi-urban state. Worse roads and traffic lights every couple of kilometers, patched and re-patched asphalt greeted us in short order. From Biesko-Bialla through Katovice and all the way to Chestachowa we found urbanism with the kind of dark sooty industrial existence one expects from the old Eastern block. Finding ones way through Chestachowa is very difficult unless you are fortunate enough to be following one of the many tour busses. It is not a large city but it looks and feels like Chicago through and through. The tour busses go only one place, Jasni Gory. This shrine of Catholicism, Polish-ness and genuine (if occasionally odd) devotion is the only thing to see or do in Chestachowa. One cannot understand Poland without an appreciation for the Catholic Church and its connection to the nation. Jasni Gory is as Polish as Polish can be. It is the Alamo, Lourdes, Independence Hall, and the NYC twin tower remains all wrapped into one definition of Poland. Medieval monastery, church, and fortress; Jasni Gory was the last unconquered part of Poland during one of many invasions. In this case the Swedes had conquered all of Poland and worked to burn out the holdouts. The population gathered in the church and prayed for deliverance as their knights battled valiantly. Miraculously the site was saved and the Polish people rose up as they saw that this time the invader could be stopped. Many miracles are attributed to the Byzantine icon that has become such a symbol of Poland. Not being Catholic I cannot vouch for all the miracles but being Polish I must admit the one presented above. Chestachowa is a must for anyone wanting a true understanding of Poland. My eyes did not stay dry as I joined those peering into the distance at the icon on display. In my case, I used a pair of high-powered binoculars to see the detail of the picture and the artistry surrounding it. Departing for Kracow we found traffic to be lighter than coming up so I would have to recommend avoiding the areas previously mentioned. One comes into Poland’s greatest tourism city searching to find the quaint village of history. However, I found a thriving metropolis of almost a million souls. We found a fine campground nestled between two parks and a row of concrete apartment towers. These towers are distinct from the plain gray concrete ones you often see on TV in that they are painted white with each tower having stripes of a single distinct color. This, I suppose, is designed to prevent mistakenly walking into the wrong building. The campground is in the former and historic village of Clapardia but nothing remains of the old village as far as I have seen. The walk to the bus stop is very short and across the street is a super market. Around the corner from the market is a polish restaurant with very authentic food and monolingual employees. This convenience makes all the difference. Getting to the old city is not as easy as it was for Praha for two reasons. The locals are less likely to speak English and the guidebook we had used was not accurate. This meant more walking than would be expected. The nature of Slavic words to have multiple consonants without what would be the proper quantity of vowels and the length of many Polish words left me lost repeatedly. Once we arrived in the main square we were awed by the beauty, spaciousness and activity within it. The city museum at the north end of the square has a very good display of historical artifacts. Various weapons of war and sport fill the entry gallery. Succeeding galleries include paintings of many historic Cracovians. Several exhibits reveal the vitality of the cities guilds in days gone bye. Another area reveals the impact of Taduesz Cosiuscho and the short lived Krakow Republic during the period in which most of Poland had been annexed by Prussia, Austria, and Russia. St. Mary’s church is, to me, the ultimate in high Gothic. From the exterior it is simple yet beautiful. Inside it is simply spectacular! At the top of each hour a trumpeter sounds the same signal as was done the day the invading Swedes took possession of Krakow. He ends mid-note at the same point the trumpeter of that fateful day ended due to an arrow taking his life. Cloth Hall was a disappointment as most of the vendors sold the kitschy kind of souvenirs. The upper floors were closed off due to construction. The central square is filled with tourist related businesses some of which are high priced and low value but others are quite important. Checking emails at one of the several internet cafes was a welcome opportunity. One or two Zloty’s (30 to 60 cents) for a quarter to half hour is a great value. There are many other churches and examples of medieval to rococo design to feast the eyes on. The streets from the square lead to many other squares and the prices tend to drop as one moves from the main square. For ‘meat and potato’ Americans traditional Polish food is a wonder. Others who prefer finer cuisine will tire of Polish dishes quickly. As a person who can’t get enough pierogies I wholeheartedly recommend Polonia Smaky which is a ‘milk bar’ type restaurant. You order at the counter cafeteria style and can feed a feast to a sightseeing weakened family for about $10. We could never finish it all. Two great sites need planning. Wawel Castle and the Jagellonian University Museum. Each requires reservations or at least advance ticket purchase. The castle grounds may be freely visited and one can pick and choose a few exhibits to pay as you go. Due to time constraints this is the mode we chose. The Archdiocene museum is too often overlooked. Believe me, it is a jewel not to be missed. Jagellonian University was founded in the mid 1300’s and with brief interludes otherwise has continually operated since. With 40,000 more students that the original buildings were designed to handle the university now does without a central campus. The original buildings house the museum exhibitions. With former students ranging from Copernicus to Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtila at the time) the university has tremendous items to exhibit. The museum includes items used by Copernicus that were old when he first touched them (as early as 1084) to an 1890’s Krakow telephone directory (one page) the range of items is quite broad. The scientific exhibition items are of the greatest interest as well as the history of how such an institution operated and adapted over time. One final piece of information. While the public transportation system works efficiently it does not stop as often as you may wish and its cost is not a dramatic savings over a taxi if you are traveling with your family. Ten Zloty’s worth of bus transit would cost seventeen in a taxi. At day’s end the taxi is well worth it. Wieliczka:
Now effectively a suburb of Krakow, Wieliczka is a salt mine town from the middle ages and a tourist town for two hundred years. The salt mine is easy to find and the tour cost is high as Polish prices go but not exceptional considering a tour guide is required. The tour is one of those requisite things like going to New York and seeing the Statue of Liberty. I found it delightful and the highlight, the church, is amazing.
Slovakia:
Leaving Wieliczka toward Slovakia we head into the least tread territory for tourists, especially English speaking ones. The roads are mountainous and occasionally one lane. While in Poland you find more small farms and few village or city centers. Upon crossing into Slovakia the country becomes more rustic and the mountains more rigorous. Comparisons to C. S. Lewis’ Narnia become nearly unavoidable after seeing the castle (hrad) at Stara Lubovna. Lush forests hug close to the road to the point of fully covering over it. The large city of Propad is industrial and heavily Soviet in style and substance. Here was the one exception to the rule regarding finding campgrounds. We opted to stay in the finest hotel in town. The Hotel Proprad is dark because electricity costs money. They seem to think that leaving the lights on for you is a waste. It gets worse as when you arrive up the elevator to your floor you must have someone hold the door while you search for the light switch for the hallway. Find your room and you find cheap plywood furniture upholstered in low-end carpeting. Everything in the same carpet, the tables, the bed, even the wall! The TV is tiny and the English from the dubbed American shows was indecipherable. The bathrooms need to be avoided. If you leave your room in the evening you will have to once again find the light switch as they will turn it off only moments after you turn it on. There are a couple of nice restaurants in Proprad and the food is much like polish. Language is just a bit easier for Americans as the pronunciation has less finesse than other Slavic languages. I really love Slovakia and would choose it above another of the countries visited to live in as it made me comfortable, or perhaps I was just getting used to being in Europe.
Hungary opens up to a great plain and the climate warms significantly. Budapest is not far from the border and seems to be the only place to go for tourists. Two things come to mind at this point. Someone, someday needs to find the time to find the less touristed parts of Europe and reveal them to Americans. Many of the little wonders of this place are taken as nothing special to the people who have had them many times longer than we have had our nation. The second is the food in Hungary. I wanted to experience authentic local cuisine. After repeatedly trying we were finally told that Hungarians don’t eat Hungarian food at restaurants. “Hungarian food is for tourists” we were told! Here we are in the most touristed part of Centeral Europe and somehow we could not find the kind of food that they say is for us. We ate Irish, Greek, and American food. Budapest is very international. The central city (cities, as Pest and Buda really are different cities) is a beautiful and pleasant as anything we found. Hungarians speak English as often as not. We stayed in a campground beside a Roman spa ruin. Aqueducts and other Roman ruins a strewn about everywhere they didn’t get in the way of the public transit or anything else. Tourist books go on at great length about the wonders of Budapest. We found it to be a city that would be easy to spend a Summer and then wonder how the time past so quickly. We stayed a day longer than planned and stopped beside the Danube at a particularly pleasant part of the morning to take it all in before moving on.
Bratislava:
Having spent the extra day, we were unable to spend the night we had planned in Bratislava. Only enough time to stop shortly at the castle. I figured that I could find where the tour busses park and could visit the castle before moving on to Austria. Actually, I would like to spend much more time in this wonderful city only a hop, skip and an abandoned Iron Curtain from Vienna. The busses, it seems, don’t park. I dropped off my wife at the castle and proceeded with my daughter to find some kind of place to park. Following the path that is clearly set before me we descended the high ground of the city center and found the street growing ever narrower without a point to turn off. Quickly becoming a one lane, one way path with cars parked on both sides of the street (on the sidewalks which is common here) we found ourselves following a train of cars who one by one turned right off the street and into the parking garage of the Hilton Hotel. One problem, the street was closed off at that point by construction and we were forced to join the train into the garage. Well, two problems, we were to tall for the garage. Finding no way out I wondered at the prospect of trying to back out of the hotel entrance and all the way back up the hill in reverse without hitting anything. I tried several times to turn around and go back up the wrong way but found the obstacles always found a way to block us. Finally the street workers motioned for me to back up over the large hole in the street with the intention of giving me room to turn around. A large heavy metal plate was cantilevered over the hole and I would have to back over it and to the point that several feet of the back end of the vehicle would be a second layer of cantilever above the hole but without the plate under. As precarious as this might sound in reality it was much worse. As I backed up and my daughter at the back told me first that I was now over the steel plate then that she was looking down on the hole and a lunching worker, then her squeal as she rushed to the front of the vehicle fearing she would fall in as if the front would not fall the same as the back. Suddenly, I felt the rear wheels slipping and then the back end fell sharply. I threw it into neutral and pulled the parking brake. Yes, it is a stick shift, try to find an automatic and you will spend too much. I ran out and found that I was not in the hole but still a couple of feet from it. Some construction materials were stacked where my rear wheel was going and after climbing on them I actually created a sandwich and squeezed the middle out throwing a piece of plywood to a humored and amicable street worker. I pulled forward slightly and removed the remaining items then backed up again until the pleasant looks went from encouraging me to continue back and switched to worried looks and workers abandoning the site. I had gone back as far a possible. Now was time to move forward and turn as much as possible. This put me in line for the front steps of the Hilton. I drove forward and began to climb the steps when I had to stop well short of the lobby as a stop sign was now pressing against my windshield. Time to back up again! Yeah, I made it out and up the hill the wrong way with, surprisingly, no oncoming traffic. Arriving back at the castle for my wife she got in with aggravation at the length of time we were gone and without having accomplished the goal. Not till the night of our departure would we tell of this adventure.
Heading into Austria was made difficult, as finding a way to have our passports stamped was a major endeavor. The EU had during our trip removed the border guards. Once found we were pretty much in Vienna or Vien as it actually is. Castles, museums and churches are the tourist options and in Vien they are without parallel. Shonbrun, the Hofburg, the Spanish Riding School (which is at the Hofburg), are not to be missed. The history of how the Hapsburgs got the Holy Roman Empire and then the Austro-Hungarian consists more of their happy inheritance of the Bohemian crown than the long-term strategy of noble marriages. Nonetheless, Vien is even more an international city than any we had seen. The city was too urbane and the people cold. I found little there to attract me to anything but the great sites. I was happy to leave but enriched by what I found.
Salzburg was a more Austrian experience. Views cannot be described and the palace is worth its weight in salt. We just found ourselves low on time and needing to return to Munchen. I wish we had spent time in the villages and less in the cities. If I get to return to Europe, I vow to find the “hidden Europe” that lives in the country and small towns or out of the way cities.
Europe changed me. I really didn’t expect that. I also grew in my appreciation of the people and the heritage of the place. I would also say that comments that Europe is in a post Christian era are over stated. The sincere Christian devotion of the peoples of the lands we visited exceeded what I often see in the US. It also seems to be more ingrained in the culture.
Perhaps one finds the highly publicized secular Europe in other nations, but I hope that despite the homogenization of the EU the distinctions continue to be appreciated and the history revered.