Berlin

So the last city of our European Capitals tour was a return to Berlin, where we had started it 2 weeks ago. This was the one city where we didn’t do any sightseeing because we used the time to help our son Adam with a few things in his apartment.

He recently moved to Berlin, has a new job in a prestigious gallery and a fantastic apartment to go with it. It is a new life for him and he is very happy. So of course we are happy for him too and fixed up a few things in his new home.

BTW: He is still Nexcyia and I am looking forward to some Berlin gigs 🎹

https://www.nexcyia.com/

What we did get was a very picturesque train ride to Berlin from Prague, largely tracking the Elbe river all the way to Dresden. A city, like Warsaw, that suffered terribly in WW2 but has built back strongly, both physically and culturally. We will need another trip to do this one!

But back to Berlin. Adam’s apartment is in Schoenberg, the area David Bowie and Iggy Pop used to live. Passed by the house they lived in a couple of times on this trip. Like many Berlin neighbourhoods (another one Adam took us to for the nightlife was Neukölln), every building seems to have graffiti on it. You get very used to it and it gives the city that edgy artistic feel.

Another cultural curiosity is hanging out at night with friends, outside corner shops with your own drinks until the wee hours. The shops and police tolerate this behavior, even though it’s on the street and not in bars. In fact, I think the corner shops provide the tables and chairs as they get the custom.

Contrast that with some places (I am thinking the USA in particular) where you can be arrested for carrying or drinking from an open bottle on the street! I did quite like these civilized neighborhood gatherings, not that I participated in any!

Anyway, Berlin and Nexcyia we will see you again very soon.

Prague

Another trouble free train ride with some nice pine forests and other pleasant countryside to look at between Vienna and Prague.

Arriving at lunchtime we went for a coffee in an old cafe recommended by our hotel called the Café Louvre!

Then a quick walk to the Old Town Square and the Charles Bridge (both breathtakingly beautiful), followed by an early dinner at one of Prague’s classic beer halls the U Medvidku - Budvar Goulash was ordered, washed down with Budvar 🍺

As is my custom, I popped out to a local bar in the evening (the Czechs still have a massive bar and beer culture) and I noted that the barman looked like a young Václav Havel whose picture was on the wall beside him!

Already starting to fall in love with Prague again, 35 years since I last visited, our neighbourhood helped in the process by being a quiet and very cool area with small cafes and bistros, vintage shops and vinyl record stores and lots of students and young folk hanging out on the streets with beers!

Day 2 we did a 3hr walking tour of the old city, mostly in the rain ☔️, although the distance covered was fairly limited. One bit of excitement - the tram in front of us, as we were making our way up to the castle, collided with a car and stopped traffic for a while until the mess was cleared up.

After some veggie borscht lunch Pam retreated to our hotel for the afternoon and I set off to pay homage to the “velvet revolution” and Wenceslas Square. A reminder that I was here with my brother in November 1989 standing with the students ✊

We flew out the day the communist regime fell and Václav Havel appeared on the TV screens at the airport to announce their freedom.

As a side note, the Rolling Stones played Prague in 1990 at the invitation of the new government:

“Tanks are rolling out, the Stones rolling in” was the marketing slogan  at the time 🎸

We cancelled a roof top restaurant planned for our last night in favour of going out locally in our now favourite neighbourhood. Salted pig ears as the starter!

In summary, we fell in love with Prague, despite it being a much changed, more commercial and touristy city (crazy amount of cannabis shops) than it was in 1989.

It has more atmosphere & ambiance than most of the cities we visited on this tour of European capitals and it is less formal and more artistic in a “chill/cool” sort of way.

A living city, not a monument to classical beauty like Vienna is.

This is a city we are likely to return to 😍

Vienna

The most beautiful city of the tour to date, architecturally at least. Also hassle free getting here on Austrian trains from Budapest with a great breakfast to boot.

Having done 2 longish walking tours at our last 2 cities in Warsaw and Budapest, we decided to spend the afternoon on a Hop on Hop off tour bus but didn’t hop off at all and just enjoyed the ride :)

In the evening we went to the Vienna State Opera House to see Salome, the opera by Richard Strauss based on the play by Oscar Wilde. Bought the tickets last minute over dinner in Budapest, we were very happy with our seats and the performance. A modern interpretation of a disturbing story involving incest and decapitation!

For our second day and our first rainy day of the trip (been glorious sun all the way so far) we settled on culture. Visited the “Sisi museum” (life story of the princess and Empress Elizabeth), as well as the imperial  apartments she and Franz Joseph lived in within the Royal palace as Austro-Hungarian monarchs. A teaser for history buffs. She was assassinated by the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni in 1898.

After a short chocolate and apple strudel break in the oldest cafe in Vienna, the Café Frauenhube (1824), we set off for the Museum of Applied Arts.

An amazing space with some fabulous art deco pieces. Was particularly thrilled to see that Margaret Macdonald Macintosh , spouse of Charles Rennie Macintosh, had a magnificent piece displayed next to one by Klimt

Exhausted by now, we retreated to our accommodations, surfacing in the evening to eat at a rather nice rooftop restaurant and the largest Wiener Schnitzel I have ever seen or eaten!

A fitting way to end our trip to Vienna. Early train to Prague in the morning.

Budapest

It was a battle to get to Budapest from Warsaw. Our sleeper train only went as far as the Polish border due to the weather conditions (flooding). We had to backtrack to Warsaw overnight and then fly to Budapest the next morning instead. We were exhausted on arrival.

But it was worth the hassle.

Another great walking tour revealed how the Hungarians originally came from Siberia via several waves of migrations over 400 years and that their language has Asian roots! As the tour guide said “no one understands us and we don’t understand shit either”

Of course you tend to think of thermal baths, spas and goulash when thinking of Budapest. And stag parties!!

We did experience and/or see most of these things while there and overall came away with the impression that this is a fun party town with a lot of fine architecture.

Unfortunately, due to the high water levels, we couldn’t take the classic boat trip down the Danube but we did take to the baths, walk the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and marvel at the interiors of the art nouveau Four Seasons hotel, which has a fabulous lobby and bar, second to none I have experienced !

The chandelier alone was worth the tortuous traveling experience from Warsaw. The locals like to point out that the building was used as shabby apartments in the communist era and are proud of its restoration.

We didn’t get into the politics as much here but I am well aware that many British communists left or withdrew support for the party (including the Scottish miners) after the Hungarian uprising was brutally suppressed by Russia in 1956.

Next stop, the short ride to Vienna :)

Warsaw

I am a bit behind on the Blog posting as so much has been happening on the travel front.

Although we arrived late into Warsaw from Berlin due to some train disruptions, we settled into great accommodations, walked around Stalin’s “gift” to Poland, the “Palace of Culture” and found a wine bar to get some pre bedtime ablutions on our first night :)

Next day we had a very informative 3hr walking tour and had a traditional lunch (pork, cabbage, potatoes) and copious wine. We had started a fantastic 2.5 day first visit to the Polish capital Warsaw.

The striking thing about Poland is that the more you learn and understand about their recent history the more you:

a) appreciate the suffering they have experienced and

b) the resilience and extraordinary rebuilding of the nation and capital Warsaw.

Hitler raised the Warsaw Ghetto after the Jewish uprising and those few Jews that did not perish left for Israel and other countries. There is no significant Jewish population here anymore. Then after the Polish resistance uprising, all of Warsaw was flattened in 1944 as an act of reprisal. Only 1000 people of a pre-war population of 1.3 million remained. No other city in WW2 suffered this level of destruction.

But it wasn’t over. While the red army had watched this all going on, without offering any help, they subsequently occupied its land when it was over and killed many of their heroic resistance fighters. Both the Hitler and the Stalin tried to destroy Polish culture and replace it with their own. To literally wipe it off the map.

But Poland is back !!

They have already rebuilt the flattened old city brick by brick in replica and now the post war communist buildings are being replaced by shiny new glass ones.

Warsaw is being transformed into a modern and dynamic city with a young population. The population is now 1.8 million, finally recovered and indeed surpassed its pre-war levels

Respect to the Polish people  🫡  ✊

European Capitals 2024 - It’s time to board!

C'est l'heure de partir :) The Next Stage is embarking an autumn tour of European capitals by train. We will be visiting Berlin, Warsaw, Budapest, Bratislava (if we have time), Vienna, Prague and then back to Paris via Berlin again!
Will be blogging from the train as we make our way around Europe.

Onward Travels

After an amazing 2 weeks in Scotland, followed by 2 nights in Paris due to issues with the trains back to Normandy, I am on the move again for a long weekend in Washington DC. Visiting best friends and catching some new music at the same time. I can do this in the Next Stage :) - listen to my next Podcast due out on the 7th April

Brothers

I am starting a unique week hanging out with my brothers in Kilconquhar, Fife. We are staying at one of our Scottish timeshares, this one being in the Kingdom of Fife where our Father came from. We don’t get many chances to do this sort of thing together and not sure when the next opportunity will be, so we plan on making the most of it!

There are plenty of activities already planned; coastal walks, chain walks, maybe a run or two, and food & drink of course. Then to cap it all off, we will celebrate my birthday on the last night of the trip at the renowned Peat Inn, the best spot in the area by some margin. Just hope we wake up in time to check-out and get to the airport!

Scotland here we come

So the travel season begins with a week in each of our Scottish timeshares. Dunkeld in Perthshire and Kilconquhar in Fife. See Chezvous-Cheznous for more details and pictures. They have a special meaning for us, as they were bought by our parents (our Mother was from Perthshire and our Father from Fife) and are now enjoyed by us siblings. They will normally pass to the next generations in perpetuity! With fabulous surroundings, fantastic walks and great food, they are a truly great way to keep in touch with our family heritage and Scottish roots!

I chose a music “Selection of the week” to go with this visit too: Highlands by Bob Dylan

Some Adjustments

Since returning from Africa, there has been a period of adjustment post retirement. I settled into a pile of admin (carte de residence, taxes, inheritance) and other financial matters.

But true to form, I started travelling pretty quickly. First to Braga, Portgual for an electronic music and digital arts festival that my son “Nexcyia” was performing at :)

Then a series of short trips to London, Edinburgh and Dinard to visit family but also take care of Chezvous-Cheznous business. There is always something to be done!

Our faithful and much loved Polish sheepdog Fenix passed not long before Christmas and Luna, a cocker/bichon frisé mix puppy arrived. A very different animal, not least because it’s a girl not a guy!

Christmas came and went fairly quietly for us and I fought off the January blues by starting to work on this website amongst other things. One of those other things was to embark on “Dry January” and radically change my eating habits and exercise regime. I have stuck with the lifestyle changes into February, lost a bunch of weight and started training for a 5k+ run.

Hey retirement and 2024 are suddenly looking quite good! Hope my Doctor thinks the same :)

We Love Cape Town

We started our African adventure with 4 nights in Cape Town. And we quickly fell in love with the City, the Cape and its people.

Sort of the LA of Africa, if a comparison has to be made; sunny, great cuisine, multicultural and edgy in parts, with beautiful landscapes to discover.

But the surprise - far less racial tension than its Californian counterpart. From this first visit, good vibes, smiles and a very harmonious experience is how we will remember Cape Town