Europe 2019

Day of much walking. Headed across to the old east side via Potsdamer Platz.  Temporarily stopped to briefly look at Berlin Wall bits.  Had said no Berlin Wall tour or visits to Checkpoint Charlie as have done this before but every time we come back they do something interesting  with the Wall.  Potsdamer Platz was divided by the Wall and they have placed sections of it where it once stood plus a path that shows where the rest of the wall went through the Plaza.  We did stop and have a quick look. Then kept going to Mitte and an area called the Nikolai Quarter. It is Berlin's oldest residential quarter - situated where Berlin was first established around 1200.  Until WWII this area had a number of shops, taverns, workshops and artists lived here like Ibsen, Strindberg etc.  Of course was destroyed in WWII and then in 1981 the East German Government started to reconstruct it.  The place is a reconstruction according to historical records, includi...

While walking back from very nice Italian meal at the end of our first day in Berlin, Stephen again stumbled over some stumbling stones.  It is not as if there are vast numbers of them but Stephen seems to have some sort of radar for them.  I managed to get these on my phone so have included a photo.  Anyway, why Italian? Well there is just so much meat we can take so opted for pasta.  Brought back memories of our first  meal in Berlin some years ago with Will when at the end of the meal and after we had paid, we were offered a digestive.  Happened again. This time I opted for a Nocello and Stephen a schnapps. Very pleasant. Hotel is just off the Ku D'am and very close to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.  Ka De Wa department store is also very close so primarily a shopping stretch.  Not sure why we picked this location but we think from memory we stayed in the old East Berlin side  last time (Mitte) and had decided that preferred the o...

Symptomatic of how comfortable we have felt in Hamburg, spent last day just wandering around. Really enjoyed our stay here.  Wandered in and out of shops and some lovely old (or old looking) passages.  Went back to part we briefly visited on the second day of our 'official' walking tour.  Very elegant area.  Lots of tourists just sitting around eating (enormous) slabs of cake, sipping on coffees etc.  Still heard very little English spoken and no Australian. Not complaining - we have managed to master our 'thank yous, hellos and  goodbyes' in German rather well I think. A few words are of course very similar or the same, so that helps. Very upmarket shops but also some more like a DJ's or Myer - good mixture.  Stephen found a couple of new t shirts which will alleviate the need for washing of shirts before Edinburgh and a bottle of liquer that is made in Hamburg.  Also found a knife sharpener and a cute pair of kitchen scissors for snipping herbs....

Just wanted to record something we saw in Lubeck and forgot to record yesterday.  Walking around the old city Stephen stumbled over some bronze plaques set in paving stones outside a house.  They each recorded the name, date of birth and date and place of death of a quite obviously Jewish family who died in WWII in Auschwitz.  Didn't think much of it until got back to hotel and inadvertently came across information on what are "stumbling stones" (Stolperstein).   The  Stolpersteine  project, initiated by the German artist  Gunter Demnig  in 1992, aims to commemorate individuals at exactly the last place of residency—or, sometimes, work—which was freely chosen by the person before he or she fell victim to Nazi terror,  euthanasia ,  eugenics , was deported to a  concentration  or  extermination camp , or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. As of 23 October 2018, 70,000   Stolpersteine  have been lai...

Pretty well everything is closed on a Sunday in Germany except restaurants and tourist things like museums.  We decided that staying in Hamburg on a Sunday was probably not a good plan.  So hopped on a train north to Lubeck.  Only about 45 minutes by train and you get very close to the Baltic Sea. Lubeck was once the capital of the Hanseatic group of cities/towns.  We seem to specialise in visiting old Hanseatic places.  I got excited and googled "list of Hanseatic places" to see if maybe I could come up with a theme based holiday.  However was discouraged by the vast number of places so disgarded that idea.  Old Hanseatic towns tend to be very scenic we have found previously - like Tallin, Bergen and Visby.  Lubeck is also pretty.  It lost about 20% of the old city in WWII but enough remains for it to be a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Possibly one of the remaining city gates - Holsten Gate that seems to appear on all the  tourist...

Day 2 of our walking tour.  Still started in the Old City.  This time caught the U bahn to near the RatHaus.  Very easy to do and went for a walk on Jungfersteig.  Very nice area.  Full of upmarket shops and lovely lake nearby - Binnenalster.  Then to Neustadt which is the New Town.  Again very elegant streets and houses.  All helped by it being a glorious sunny day and not so hot.  Onto St Michaelis Church - largest  church in Hamburg - Protestant Lutheran with huge statute of Martin Luther on one side and the archangel Gabriel killing the devil over the front door. Bit scary.  Inside is ornate for a Lutheran church.  Still very white and lots of marble.  Believe it has been reconstructed a few times - a few fires, a lightening strike and of course WWII have blown it away at various times. Got down to the Elbe River to the Landungsbrucken (Landing Bridges) and jumped on Ferry 62 which the internet informed us was a loca...

Hotel handed out a map with 2 walking tours on the back.  In German but pretty self-evident so thought we'd try one this morning.   Tour officially started at the RatHaus - a late 1800's building which as far as I can work out survived the WWII bombings.  Impressive and imposing.  Then got taken to the site of an old stone bridge - Trostbrucke - that also somehow survived the bombings.  Very pretty and led to St Nikolai - very old church from mid-late 1800's that largely did not survive the bombings. Its crypt, the site itself and its tall spired tower (largely now hollow except for a large set of bells) survived.  Used to be the tallest building in the world in the 1870's.  You can catch an elevator up to the top of the spire (almost) and walk around on a platform.  Good views of Hamburg. Was heavily damaged in 1943 and the crypt has a museum regarding the history of the church but largely to do with the bombing of Hamburg (and other cities ...

Longish day on trains from Paris to Hamburg via Frankfurt.  Saw some pretty French scenery out the window - rolled hay stacks and sunflowers in fields plus some impressive looking castles on hills in Germany. Hotel in hamburg is good.  A short walk from main station so will be handy for getting around here and trip to Berlin in a few days time. Will plot our days here over breakfast tomorrow.  Too tired tonight. Still hot.  Welcomed ourselves to Germany with ein grosse bier and lemonade and bier for me along with pork schnitzels.  Very appropriate we thought.

Last day in Paris.  Off to Hamburg tomorrow - some 8 hours by train and via Frankfurt.  Hopefully will get to see some interesting countryside. Very hot (again) so decided on a visit to Galeries Lafayette and Printemps.  Travelled via metro to the Opera - Palais Garnier where we exited and walked short distance hogging the shade to Galeries Lafayette first up.  Went straight to level 7 to have a look at the view of Paris from the terrace.  Beautiful clear day with views of the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and over to the left bank.  You cannot see in the other direction towards Montmartre.  Galeries Lafayette is stunning inside with its massive dome.  Actually in 3 separate stores - mens, womens and homewares/food.  Lots of sales on and lots of tourists.  Given the parlous state of the Aussie dollar, not too many bargains for us.  Some lovely stuff to look at though.  Still much more variety than we get at home.  Crosse...

An exciting morning was had by all working out how to use a French self-serve laundromat.  Fortunately 2 very nice young men turned up to take away their washing and helped us navigate the instructions and machines.   Mission accomplished and after depositing clean clothes back at hotel we walked to Ile St Louis to locate a Boutique de peche. (Wording not quite right as no French accents on keyboard).  Quite enjoyed respite from the heat, while Stephen pottered around the shop checking out the French fishing flies.  Decided was not a day for long walks (high 30's) so caught metro to 1st arrondisement and went for lunch at a place we have visited before - Willi's Wine Bar.  Very much enjoyed a plate of fresh pasta and glass of crisp white wine. Wandered in and out of some shops around Willi's as is a nice part of town.  The large international brands haven't taken over all of Paris as yet.  Still some very cute shops around.  A few of the buil...

Decided to dedicate the morning to exploring some of the covered passages. Had a look at 3 covered passages in the 2nd and edge of 9th arrondisement.  My favourite was the Galerie Vivienne which is near the Bourse - pretty upmarket area.  Galerie was built in 1823.  It has beautiful mosaic floors and a wine shop with huge, very expensive bottles on display.  Stephen sent a few photos to Will.  I also liked some antiquarian bookshops. We also visited 2 other well known passages - Passage des Panoramas and Passage Jouffroy.  I thought they were less interesting although looked as if both were being restored.  Both of these also dated from the early 1800's.  I gather these were an early form of shopping arcade but most were demolished when Haussmann came along.  Lots of ornamentation and lovely glass ceilings.  A little more stylish than today's Westfields.  Just read the Passage des Panoramas is the oldest of the covered passages - ...

Visited the "Bossy Cat" for dinner last night.  Very much a local restaurant.  The owner/manager now recognises us.  Simple food done well.  Roast chicken and simple beef burger with a 2016 Chenas beaujolais.  Food was very nice as was the wine.  Very enjoyable people watching spot too. Much walking today.  Headed off down Rue de Rivoli to the 1st arrondisement and visited the shops underneath the Louvre.  Shops not that exciting - pretty touristy but did get a touch of history as you can see the foundations from the 16th century wall that formed part of the fort originally where the Louvre now is.  The fort dates back to my newly discovered French King, Philippe Auguste. Then wandered across to the Palais -  Royal, originally called the Palais - Cardinal (former residence of  Cardinal Richelieu of 3 Musketeers fame).  Gardens very pretty. Kept going to the 4th arrondisement - the Marais and visited newly renovated Les Hall...

Went for a walk around Ile St Louis this morning.  We have both always loved this spot.  Not too crowded which is surprising given was a stunning morning.  Went into some shops and found much clothing that was cheaper than the artisan shops near us.  Will guess because the artisan bits aren't mass produced or.... the 11th is a bit hipster/trendy and some very similar looking things are being sold for quite inflated prices. Saw packed tourists boats plowing up and down the Seine.  Glad weren't on them.  Also got to see a very sad looking Notre Dame with much scaffolding around it. Saw the English bookshop Shakespeare & Co on the left bank where we ended up but as was a Saturday and was packed didn't go inside.  Decided on catching the metro back to hotel. I had 2 tickets left from a previous trip (I am now so frugal having been trained by a Scotsman for some 30 years) to retain such things) and they still worked! Metro is as easy as ever.  Back...

Another new place visited today - Promenade Plantee.  It is France's version of New York's High Line - an elevated walkway of greenery along an abandoned 19th century railway and viaducts.  We walked from Bastille to Jardin de Reilly.  It's some 10 meters above the street in the 12th arrondisement.  Very pretty with quite a variety of plants plus the added bonus of being higher up, providing a different perspective to the buildings either side.  The older buildings are so ornate, is very difficult not to keep snapping away.  Fair number of people strolling up and down along with the compulsory joggers.  The Jardin de Reilly has quite a large patch of grass, so imagine is very popular on weekends. Then wandered down to view what is called the Viaduc des Arts - 45 brick archways under the 'highline' converted into artisan showrooms - from violin-makers to jewellers to furniture etc. Interesting use of the space. Forgot - before we went promenading we...

Interesting morning.  Walked to the Picasso Museum to see a recommended exhibition featuring Picasso and Calder.  Was very enjoyable.  Loved a lot of the Calder mobiles and some of the hanging wire sculptures; particularly some in a room where the swinging sculptures reflected their shadows on the white walls behind them. Interesting comparison of styles with Picasso. Liked a series of paintings/drawings Picasso did of a bull with varying levels of detail - from a few lines to a complete drawing.   The building itself is stunning - Hotel Sale.  It's been renovated since we were last there. Wandered around the Marais a little bit after the museum. Lovely sunny day and not too hot.  Decided to visit what is called the 'hidden village' of St Paul in the Marais.  Supposedly there are a series of 'hidden villages' in Paris  -little communities that are off the beaten track.  I think I should have realised that an entry on trip adviser tends...

Last night was good fun.  Wandered around (and around) trying to work out what we felt like for dinner.  Fast realised that virtually everyone was sitting just having a drink and noone was eating as yet.  6/6.30pm is too early in the 11th arr. for dinner it seems. Decided we would join in. Sat down in a pretty buzzy place and sipped on a beer and cider enjoying the atmosphere. Love the way you get such a mixture of people in the one place.  Groups of friends, couples and people sitting on their own quietly sipping on a wine or aperitif, on a chair facing the street so you can see and be seen.   Stayed on for dinner and  had a delicious basil rocket pasta dish and chicken ceasar salad for Stephen.  Just right. Enjoyed another drink each before wandering back to hotel and attempting to sleep. Made the most of sunny weather today and crossed the river to the 5th arrondisement to see the Jardin des Plantes. Interesting place in the middle of Paris....

Arrived in sunny Paris.  Beautiful weather for the start of our holiday.  Vietnam Air was good again and we managed to get on correct train to Gare Du Nord with bags and taxi to hotel in 11th arrondisement.  Wandered around area until room ready at 12 noon so some 3 hours or so. Felt really comfortable wandering around.  Lots of little artisan shops - clothes, jewellery and many food shops.  We stopped at a cafe called Chat Bossu.  This means the 'hunchbacked cat' apparently. We think the 11th arrondisement may have originally been a rag trade area judging by some street names and restaurants.  Will investigate. Found a local street market and bought some delicious apricots - why don't we have these anymore? Also bought one of their cheese sticks and munched on this as we wandered towards the Bastille. Like that it is not so obviously touristy where we are staying. Went back after wander (via MonoPrix to stock up on some liquids with Stephen muttering ...