NYE in Prague

After spending several days in Krakow, we hopped on a minibus and then connected to a train to make our way back to Prague.  It was difficult finding accommodation in Prague for New Year's Eve.  Most centrally located hotels were fully booked, but we were able to stay in an apartment converted into a guesthouse which was right near the Old Town Square, and right around the corner from the church we got married in.

Many restaurants around us were fully booked on NYE, so we decided to wander over the Charles Bridge to the other side of the river where the "Lesser Town" (Mala Strana) is located.  Several years ago we had Christmas Eve dinner at a place called "The Three Violins."  We found the steep road that led up to Prague Castle, and then located the placard of the violins over the doorway.  Luckily the restaurant was not full.  We could choose a fancy set menu (quite expensive and not exactly what I wanted to eat), or we could go down to the basement of the restaurant to order off the menu.  We decided to go down to the basement.  It was quite cozy and there were only two other people down there (it only had four tables anyway).  It looked like a wine cellar and was lit by candles and lanterns.  The food was really good and it was almost as if we had the restaurant all to ourselves, as the other people left early and it was a long while before anyone else came downstairs to eat.

After dinner, we made our way to the John Lennon Wall.  The Lennon Wall was a cool burst of colour on a quiet street of Mala Strana.  People started leaving graffiti messages on it in 1980 after John Lennon's assassination.  Under a communist regime, the Lennon Wall was a symbol of freedom.  It became a tourist attraction after the fall of communism in the Czech Republic.  However, in November 2014, a group of student artists painted over the wall - some considered it an act of vandalism.  They thought that it was time to create a new art project, and after painting the wall completely white, they left a message in black letters "WALL IS OVER."  Since November, the wall has been filled with more graffiti, but it just isn't the same.  Last summer I wrote a message on the wall, but it's gone now.  I miss the old wall, but it isn't coming back.  It only exists in memories and old photographs.  I'm just glad I got to see the original wall twice before it got painted over.

After our visit to the Lennon Wall, we took our free bottle of champagne courtesy of the guesthouse owners, and headed down the street to the Charles Bridge, where the fireworks show was supposed to be held at midnight.  We got there about 20 minutes to midnight, and it was already packed.  After getting on the bridge it became ridiculously packed.  We could barely move... it was a claustrophobic person's nightmare!  I was very uncomfortable and people were getting a bit rowdy, so we left the bridge before the fireworks show.  We had to literally push people out of the way to get off the bridge.  We wandered down the street where we could at least move around, but had an obstructed view of the river fireworks.  We didn't mind too much because we got to see fireworks being lit off in the street right behind us.  It was cool at first, but then the fireworks tipped over and were shooting in all sorts of directions!  People were running away and we decided we were safer just at our guesthouse, so we went back there for the night.

Early the next morning we had to wake up to catch our flight back to Dubai.  The streets had trash strewn about them and there were a few drunk people still wandering around at 6 am.  After a few awkward conversations with drunkards we got onto the subway and then transferred to the airport by bus, along with a surprisingly large number of people considering it was before 7 am!  Another NYE has come and gone... I wonder what will be in store for next year?

Snowy day at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Above the gate of the former concentration camp of Auschwitz I reads a sign that says "Arbeit macht frei," meaning "Work makes (you) free" in German.  Sadly, over 1 million Jewish people were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the second World War, after being sent to what they thought was a place to work and live.  Many of them brought their most prized possessions along with them, only to have them confiscated.  At Auschwitz today there are astonishing exhibits of all the items that belonged to the victims of the Holocaust which were taken from them by prison guards - thousands of shoes, combs, luggage pieces, clothing items, even human hair...

During our time at Auschwitz-Birkenau, it was quite cold and snowy.  Our tour guide told us how the innocent prisoners at the concentration camp were stripped of their clothes on arrival, and given a set of thin pyjamas to wear.  Many could not survive the harsh conditions and died soon after arrival.  There is a wall inside that has photographs of many of the prisoners, with the date they arrived and the date they died.  The strongest people were often selected by the doctors to do hard labour jobs, while the weakest were considered useless and were sent to their deaths earlier.

I didn't take many photos at Auschwitz I or the nearby Auschwitz II (Birkenau).  It didn't seem right.  I think everyone should visit that place to see with their own eyes what happened to those innocent people, and remember those who died.  It was quite eerie seeing the gas chambers which Jewish prisoners entered, thinking they were entering a shower room, when instead they were gassed to death.  Thinking about such a tragedy made me realize how lucky I am to be living free of any type of persecution.  It also shocked me how humans could act so cruelly towards other humans.  It was definitely a sobering visit.

Old world charm in Krakow

From Berlin John and I made our way to Krakow, Poland.  Unfortunately we missed our bus to Krakow after sleeping in, and had to rebook on a later one that went through Warsaw.  Upon arrival very, very early in the morning in Krakow we used John's GPS on his phone to walk to our hotel.  It was quite cold in Krakow but there weren't many taxis around and the only one we came across seemed sketchy.  The man didn't speak English and of course we didn't know any Polish, but luckily the walk from the train station wasn't long.  In general we found that it was harder to get by on only English in Poland, compared to other countries in Europe.

Our hotel (Hotel Saski) was in a 16th century apartment building located just steps away from the main square - the largest medieval square in Europe.  We did two walking tours while in Krakow - one of the Jewish quarter, and one of the old town.  Krakow had some sort of old world charm that I really liked.  The main square contained some huge buildings such as the "Cloth Hall" where merchants used to barter, and the beautiful St. Mary's Basilica.

The Jewish walking tour took us through the former Jewish ghetto that existed during the war.  We walked by Schindler's Factory, old synagogues, and an interesting memorial to the Jews of the Krakow ghetto which consisted of empty steel chairs.

On the old town walking tour we walked around the town square and through some lovely streets and parks up to Wawel Castle.  The Castle contains a number of buildings with various styles of architecture.  The cathedral there has a set of huge bones hanging above the doorway.  The legend is that they once belonged to a dragon who was wreaking havoc on the city of Krakow.  One man decided to feed the dragon a lamb which was stuffed with sulphur.  When the dragon ate it, the sulphur burned his mouth so he took a drink in the river, and then exploded.  Strange!  Anyway, the dragon's bones hang at the castle as a reminder of this legend.  Our guide said the bones likely belonged to a large animal, most likely a mammoth!

Along our walk around Krakow we also passed by several tributes to Pope John Paul II.  Born in Poland, John Paul II is considered a hero here.  He used to visit Krakow and stay at the Bishop's Palace and speak to crowds on the streets below from a window which is now decorated with his picture. 

"Dragon of Krakow" Bones!

Pope John Paul II window

We experienced some snowy weather while in Poland, but it was a nice change from our desert lifestyle in Dubai.  In Krakow I was walking around with my winter coat, hat, scarf, gloves, about three layers of shirts, 3 pairs of pants, and my water repellant shoes.  You might think that was a bit excessive (probably was) but I normally get very cold and all these clothing items kept me warm walking around in the -10 weather!

Another good way that we warmed up was by eating some nice warm traditional Polish food.  We went to a restaurant called Pierogowy Raj which had over 50 types on the menu.  Our favourite was the traditional "Ruskie" one which had potato and cheese.  We also visited a traditional restaurant where we ate some potato cakes and had an appetizer of cheese and lard on bread.  Not bad!  Food in Poland was pretty cheap and satisfying.

Krakow was a lovely, wintery city that is becoming quite popular with tourists these days.  Eastern Europe has a lot to offer and it's no surprise that many people are heading there due to lower prices and old world charm!

Christmas in Berlin

Berlin was a city we heard a lot about but had never visited.  Our first introduction to the city came at the lovely Christmas market at Alexanderplatz.  Germans know how to do Christmas.  Mulled wine, hot chocolate, sausages, kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes), hearty soups, pretzels... the eating possibilities were endless.  We also hit up a great market called Gendarmenmarkt which had cozy stalls lit up with Christmas lights.

Gendarmenmarkt

On Christmas day we stumbled upon the Hofbrauhaus Berlin, right near our hotel.  John and I had visited the famous Hofbrauhaus (beer hall) in Munich with Vanessa in 2008, so we wanted to check out this one.  Our luck had it that there was a lunch buffet going on for Christmas, and it was an excellent price at under 15 Euro per person.  It was all German food - ie. TONS of meat, potatos, pretzels, sauerkraut, beer... everything was delicious, and we were entertained by a man playing traditional music on his accordion.  It couldn't have been more German!

After our lunch we headed to the Reichstag, German parliament building.  Entry is free but you have to book spots online and present your invitation letter upon arrival.  I had previously checked out the website to see if there were spots available but they were booked up, but to my surprise on Christmas Day they had opened up extra spots... a Christmas miracle?  I booked us a time slot, received the invitation letter by email, and several hours later we were at the Reichstag, through the security check, and inside the famous glass dome on top of the building.

I wasn't sure what to expect at the Reichstag, but all the reviews I read on TripAdvisor were very positive.  Our free audio guide led us up the winding ramp through the glass dome which had beautiful views of the city.  We were in the dome at "golden hour" - the last hour of daylight before sunset.  It was the best time to go!  If you look below the glass dome, you can see where the German parliament holds its sessions... the glass represents the transparent government.  I thought the architecture was very impressive.  It was a nice way to spend Christmas Day in Berlin, looking over the city as the sun set.

Our other highlights in Berlin included seeing the famous Brandenburg Gate, visiting the Pergamon Museum which contained various treasures from the ancient world, and taking an informative walking tour that detailed the history of Berlin.  Our walking tour guide brought us to the Holocaust Memorial, a labyrinth of concrete slabs resembling a cemetery.  Not far away was the place where Hitler shot himself, which is now just a small park area with some trees near an apartment building with no sign commemorating the place as a historic site.  We saw the place called Checkpoint Charlie, the best-known crossing point between East and West Berlin during the time when the Berlin Wall existed.  Today in Berlin there still remains a section of the wall for visitors to see, and on the roads there is a marked line where the wall used to exist - as a reminder of how the city was divided from 1961 to 1989.

Brandenburg Gate

Pergamon Museum

Holocaust Memorial

Berlin Wall

Though Berlin has a rich history, it is clearly a city that has undergone a huge amount of change.  It seemed like a very liveable place.  We have a former colleague John who is currently living in the city but was in Canada the time on holiday.  John gave us some recommendations of cool areas around town to check out.  Another old colleague Jeremy and his wife who are living in another city in Germany were also in town, so we met up with them in the cool neighbourhood of Kreuzberg for some food and drink.  Luckily for us, the Berlin transportation system is great and we were able to catch a late metro back to our hotel.  Fun times in a cool city!

In Bruges

While in Belgium John and I took a day trip to Bruges, about an hour away from Brussels by train.  We heard that Bruges was considered the "Venice of the north" due to its many canals.

The streets of Bruges were fairly quiet to walk around, and everywhere we turned it was quite picturesque.  The walking tour we went on was a bit boring, so if I ever went back to Bruges I would just stay overnight and walk around town at my own pace.

Besides the canals, the main sites of the town were the massive Church of Our Lady (with the second-tallest brickwork tower in the world, at around 122 metres high), and the huge square (Grote Markt) which contained a large belfry.  We spent a bit of time inside the church which is also famous due to a statue of Madonna and Child by Michelangelo - the only statue by him to ever leave Italy during his lifetime.  If you've seen the movie "In Bruges" then you might recognize the belfry from the famous ending scene.

While walking around Bruges it was fun to imagine living in a smaller town like that.  Living in a huge modern city like Dubai can be cool sometimes, but it is missing any kind of charm that you would find in a medieval town like Bruges.  Money just can't buy that!  It was a refreshing change from the big city.

Brussels... more than just waffles!

Before visiting Brussels I heard that it was actually quite a boring city, yet I still wanted to visit it... maybe just to see if the rumours were really true?!  We hopped on a short flight from Prague to Brussels for three days of exploring and eating all the delicious things that Belgium has to offer.

The first thing we ate in Brussels was poutine, no joke.  Our hotel - Ibis St. Catherine (well recommended!) was right next to a huge Christmas market, and apparently the "destination of the year" which was being featured at the market was Quebec City.  They had Quebec flags up, maple syrup on sale, and a wooden shack decorated with a mounted bison head selling poutine, Canadian beer, bison burgers, and Beaver Tails!  I really wanted Beaver Tails (queues de castor) but they were so popular that the dough was sold out for the day, so we got poutine which wasn't as good as poutine in Canada, but was still fun to have.

We had high hopes for the rest of the Christmas markets in Brussels but were disappointed with how packed they were, and how un-Christmasy they seemed.  There were a lot of neon flashing lights and cocktails instead of the cute, cozy stalls in Prague.  They had food such as sausages, quiche, potatoes with cheese, and of course, waffles.  The problem was that there were way too many people so it was hard to eat or walk around without bumping into everyone.

After a semi-boring walking tour of the city and getting the shock of how expensive things were, I was convinced that Brussels was a bust.  However, I slowly started to be charmed after eating at La Maison Dandoy, a famous waffle place right near the Grand Place.  I tried a delicious 'Liege' waffle with vanilla ice cream and lemon juice, with a very chocolately hot chocolate and I still think about that meal now and crave it!  It smelled and tasted SO GOOD.  On our visit to the city famous for waffles, we learned that a "Liege" waffle (named after the town of Liege in Belgium) is actually a more dense, chewier waffle with uneven edges.  The Brussels waffle (which John tried) is more rectangular-shaped, and is lighter.  Both were delicious, but I preferred the Liege and John liked the Brussels waffle.

After my first Belgian waffle experience, I was hooked on waffles.  The streets smelled so sweet and made me crave them as I was walking around town.  You could buy waffles for 1 Euro on the street, but they weren't as good as the ones at La Maison Dandoy.  We tried some "lunch waffles" at a place called Waffle Factory, which were savoury-type ones with cheese and meat.  John really enjoyed them but I preferred the sweet kind slathered with Belgian chocolate.

We learned that Belgium is famous for 4 things... waffles, chocolate, fries, and beer.  We ended up eating all 4 each day we were in the city.  Fries are all over the place in Brussels, but since people speak French there they call them "frites."  We tried some crispy frites with a sauce called "Andalouse" which was made of tomato paste, mayo, and peppers.  It was pretty good!  While we aren't huge beer drinkers, we followed the local habits and drank up as well.  The most interesting beer we tried was called Kriek, which was infused with cherries (not bad)! 

During our wanderings around the city of Brussels, we came across the famous landmark - Manneken Pis, a peeing child statue.  The statue has many legends, one being that it represented a boy who became a lord and during an important battle was hung in a tree from a basket, where he peed on opposing troops who eventually lost the battle.  Strange.  I'm not quite sure why the statue is so famous, as it's actually weird and quite small, but it was interesting to see in person.  Not exactly a must-see attraction in Europe though!

One thing that did charm me (besides the food) was the lovely Grand Place.  Brussels has a huge town square and it was very nicely decorated with a large Christmas tree.  At night we stumbled upon an impressive sound and light show in the square.  It gave the place an exciting atmosphere and really showcased the impressive architecture there.

On the last full day in Brussels I got to have my Beaver Tail (we went early before they sold out of dough for the day)!  It was fun having a little slice of Canada in a foreign land.  I never expected to be eating Beaver Tails and poutine thousands of miles from my home country, but it was a fun experience.  In the end, Brussels won me over a bit, but I wouldn't say it was one of my favourite European destinations.  I don't think it deserves all of its "boring city" reputation... I could think of many more "boring" places to spend three days at Christmas time!

Still thinking about those waffles...

Prague... Christmas market heaven!

Over the Christmas break John and I were lucky enough to visit Prague again.  Since getting married there last July, we didn't expect to be back so soon, but a cheap flight made it an easy choice.

Prague's best Christmas market is in the Old Town Square.  There is such a wintery, magical atmosphere there at Christmas time, and we actually prefer visiting the city in the winter because of it.  The Christmas market had a stage set up with a choir singing carols at night, a stable with cute animals, the usual street performers, souvenir stalls, a HUGE Christmas tree, and the best thing of all... DELICIOUS FOOD!

Having lunch in the square was great.  We picked up a few sausages and some hand-made chips, and warmed up with some hot chocolate and mulled wine.  Of course there were tons of other things to eat and drink as well, such as trdlo - the traditional rolled pastry, and Prague ham sandwiches grilled with cheese.  Prague is definitely a food-lover's destination (especially those of the carnivore-type).  While I don't eat much meat, it was hard to pass up one of those sausages...

Prague is a very special city to us, and the first time we ever visited it was during Christmas time.  It is such a beautiful place, you feel like you've just stepped into a fairy tale.  Despite travelling there three times already, we aren't sick of it yet.  It just keeps us wanting to visit again and again and again!

A day at the Dead Sea

From Wadi Rum we made our way to the Dead Sea.  This is the Earth's lowest elevation point on land, 429 metres below sea level.  The Dead Sea is so salty that no animals can survive here, hence the name "Dead Sea."

At the Dead Sea you will find only resort hotels, so we splurged and stayed at the Holiday Inn which was very nice.  Lucky for us, they upgraded us to a nicer room with a pool view for free, score! 

After checking into our room, we headed down to the beach behind the hotel to make our way into the famous Dead Sea.  We saw people putting black mud from the sea onto their skin, so we tried that out and went inside.  The sensation of floating in that water is something you need to go and experience for yourself.  You can't even sink there if you tried!  The extreme salinity of the water makes you so buoyant that you can't even properly swim... you just float.  Unfortunately John got some of the salt water in his eye and said it burned like crazy... so I would not recommend splashing around in there!

I didn't keep the mud on my skin for very long because the water was quite salty and I just wanted to wash everything off at the shower nearby.  I'm glad I made a visit to this interesting place.  It was actually quite peaceful to just watch the water which is without any waves, shimmering in the sun with Israel across the way.  It was a nice and relaxing place to end our short trip to Jordan.  This is a country with so much to see, I hope to visit again some day.