Last days in paradise

Tomorrow we are jumping on a train and heading for Berlin, the last stop of our European odyssey. It's weird to think that in just over a week I'll be back at my desk at work... I just hope no one has stolen my window seat! Since our last update we have visitied Venice, Munich, Vienna and Prague... all very different and very unique cities.

Venice was a blast and a crazy place to stay. Our guidebook recommended getting lost in Venice, and it is very easy to do. Our hotelier was suprised we found the hotel so easily, and that was probably the last time we did! Each night (admittedly after a few wines) we would stumble around in the dark, trying to make sense of the random street signs and nonsensical numbering. We always made it back somehow, and our room was right on a canal, giving us a fantastic view of Venetian life, as taxi drivers parked their boats after a long days work and gondoliers slowly drifted past.

One aspect of Venice that Michelle particularly enjoyed was the never-ending tolling of the church bells. It would start at around 8am each morning and they would ring at random intervals throughout the day until about 9pm at night. Michelle was convinced we were staying next to a bell-ringing school, but I just think that all the different churches were just vying for a slice of the hourly pie.

After Venice had eaten our wallets we popped into Munich for a tour of mad King Ludwig's castles of Linderhof and Neuschwanstein. Our tour guide was not a big fan of the mad king, so we got a rather unique view of his reign and his 'achievements'. Nevertheless, the castles were impressive, if not a little staged, as they were turned into museums only 6 days after his death!

Several litres of beer later we were on our way to Vienna, which truly felt like the (former) culture capital of Europe. We saw so many fantastic masterpieces by Klimt, Schiele and other artists it was quite overwhelming. Vienna was also occupied after World War II and was only allowed independence after agreeing to be neutral. Before they left, however, the occupying forces made the locals erect a few monuments to celebrate their liberation. It is weird to see a soviet memorial in the middle of a Viennese park! They also started World War I, which was the end of the Hapsburg rule, and of monarchies all over Europe. The end of that war also saw the death of Klimt, Schiele, Wagner and many more major artists of the time to influenza. Its amazing how suddenly Vienna fell after thriving for so long.

From Vienna we have travelled to a former part of the Hapsburg Empire, Prague. The Hapsburgs used to rule from here when Vienna was being attacked, and it was only after WWI that the Czechs and Slovaks gained independence. Their history is littered with foreigners ruling over them, included communist Russia after WWII. There are still many communist era sights around, and we even visited a Museum of Communism which sought to recreate life under communist rule. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty! It made us both appreciate our own freedoms much more and understand why the Czech people fought so hard for theirs (and against such huge odds). By the way, the museum is located above a McDonalds and next door to a casino...

Michelle particularly enjoyed the Mucha Museum, deicated to Alfons Mucha, who is considered the father of Art Nouveau. He pioneered many of the poster and print techniques that would become all the rage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a great painter, and worked on a truly grandiose Slavic Epic, which he donated to the slavic people to inspire them. Sadly, he died after being interrogated by the Nazis at the beginning of WWII.

Another sad sight we saw today was a collection of paintings made by jewish children that had been sent to the Tyrin concentration camp. Almost none of the children survived, but whilst in the camp, which was a stopover on the way to the extermination camps, the adults tried to create as normal a life for the children as they could. This included schooling and exercise, and painting in particular, which would allow them to express their fears and hopes. It was a sobering sight and is housed in a synagogue which is decorated with the hand-written names of 80,000 slavic jews that were murdered during the war (the soviets white-washed over the names, but they have since been restored). Another nearby synagogue has a collection of jewish artifacts that the nazis had collected to display in a Museum of the Exterminated Jewish People.

After that we went and visited a museum to the greatest czech inventor that never lived and scooted up and down an imitation Eiffel Tower (strangely not our first).

And so we now only have Berlin ahead of us before we fly back to Hong Kong for a brief shopping explosion before heading home. It will be sad to end our holiday, but good to get back into a routine... and start earning some money again!