GARGANTUAN steps

Saturday, December 27, 2008

europe central

Merry Christmas to one and all! This has been the most relaxing Christmas holidays that I've had in a while, having no exams after the holidays to study for, thus leaving me with ample time to catch up on my reading, movies and sleep! Dread it when school begins again, having to travel all the way to zone 6 in London for my next hospital attachment at Hillingdon Hospital.

Meanwhile, my recent holiday to central Europe was rather enjoyable, though the countries that I went to felt like typical European countries, modernized with a huge cathedral dominating the town, coupled with lots of tourists and attractions. There were lots of Christmas markets to go to in Prague, Vienna and Salzburg, and I finally managed to see the last nominated European New Seven Wonders of the World, which was much less spectacular than many others that I have seen.

Unfortunately, my Canon camera acted up throughout the trip and finally never recovered on the last day in Salzburg, thus, I had to take pictures using my handphone, which was quite a shame, really. Thankfully, my cousin has a spare one and has given it to me to use for future trips.

 Days 1 and 2 - Prague: The Jewish Museums, Prague Castle and Vysehrad Citadel 

Pravda vítězí! 
'truth prevails!' 
- motto of the Czech Republic

Prague is the capital city of the Czech Republic and it used to be quite a cheap place to go to when the pound was still strong, but in current times, it wasn't any much cheaper than what London had to offer. After checking in, the first stop was to the Old Town Square (Staromestske namesti) for lunch and also to view the Astronomical Clock, where on the hour, the statue of Death (a skeleton) rings a bell and the 12 Apostles parade past the windows above the clock.

Following that, the plan was to visit the Old-New Synagogue which was supposed to close at 4 p.m.. However, we stopped by a cafe for a hot drink and when we reached the synagogue at 335 p.m., we were not allowed to enter as they were closing to observe the sabbath. Only those who had bought tickets earlier were allowed in, much to my annoyance. Furthermore, the people in-charge of the ticketing matters were extremely rude and monosyllabic, and I left with an extremely sour taste in my mouth. The  afternoon was spent visiting the other Jewish Museum sites - synagogues that were not in use anymore and the Jewish Cemetry. Apparently, there were 113,000 Jews confined in an area barely larger than a football field during the Second World War when they were being oppressed, and the names of these Jews were written on the interior walls of the Pinkas Synagogue. The most impressive of the lot was the Spanish Synagogue and its Moorish interior.


The Astronomical Clock


Pinkas Synagogue
The names of the Jews who were confined within the Josefov area in Prague in WWII scribed onto a wall


Old Jewish Cemetery
Tombstones were cramped within inches of one another and bodies were buried on top of each other


Spanish Synagogue


Christmas Market in the Old Town Square with the Church of our Lady before Tyn


Dinner at U Pinkasu with traditional Czech food

The second morning was spent crossing the Charles Bridge (and taking pictures of all the statues on it that were not covered by scaffoldings) spanning the Vltava river to get to the Prague Castle. The first stop across the river was the Church of St Nicholas with a beautiful, painted ceiling, before heading to Prague Castle. Prague Castle was not like any standard looking castle that I have ever seen before. It seemed more like the Kremlin to me, dominated by the impressive St Vitus Cathedral (where King Wenceslas of the christmas carol is buried) and filled with other modern buildings. It is apparently the largest ancient castle in the world, but we only managed to explore a few buildings within the castle, including the Old Royal Palace, Basilica of St George and the Golden Lane with its quaint little houses.


Me on Charles Bridge


Charles Bridge


Apotheosis of St Nicholas
The ceiling in the Church of St Nicholas


St Vitus Cathedral in the Prague Castle


The city of Prague

The afternoon was spent rushing through the Vysehrad Citadel with an early evening bus to catch to Vienna to catch. A bee-line was made from the front gate to the graves of Smetana and Dvorak, and then it was a rush back to the metro and then onwards to the bus terminal.


Days 3 and 4 - Vienna: Stephansdom, Mozarthaus, Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Hofburg Palace

Austriae est imperare orbi universo
'it is Austria's destiny to rule the world'
- motto of Austria

Vienna reminded me of a typical European city, dominated by the large cathedral Stephansdom and populated with lots of shopping areas. There were lots of museums to see and I could have easily spent another two more days going through a few more museums, but after these two days, it was quite a bit to take. I would have liked to have gone to the cemeteries, Zentralfriedhof and the St Marker Friedhof, where more famous composers were buried, but this time, with even bigger names - namely Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Brahms. I suppose I might be back one day again and I'll cover the Naturhistorisches Museum and the Schloss Schonbrunn.

Mass, in German, was held at the peculiarly green-tiled Stephansdom, which reminded me of the gaudiness of the Duomo in Florence. It was then off to ozarthaus where Mozart composed the Marriage of Fiagro. His house was situated in the affluent part of the town area and judging from what I saw, he led a life of extreme extravagance. Lunch, at the restaurant Figlmuller, was made up entirely of a pork schnitzel the size of a medium-size pizza, and it was really good too! A definite recommendation for anyone planning to visit Vienna.


Stephansdom


The interior of Mozarthaus


The ceiling on Mozart's bedroom


Mozarthaus


A massive schnitzel

The afternoon was spent touring two more museums, the Schatzkammer at the Hofburg Palace and then the Kunsthistoriches. The Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury) was filled with both imperial and religious treasures, including, apparently, pieces of wood from the True Cross, a thorn from the Crown of Thorns, the right nail used in the Crucifixion and the spear which pierced the side of Jesus. It takes a bit of believing, but it was just as unbelievable, if not just slightly less, than the religious treasures in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Following that, the day ended by scouring the Kunsthistoriches museum which had a mixture of art and various artefacts and statues.


The Right Nail of the Crucifixion

The next day was spent touring Stephansdom proper, exploring the Catacombs below where bones of the Black Plague victims were stacked up. It was really quite a shocking sight. The top of the cathedral too provided a spectacular view of Vienna. Following that, it was photo-stops at various sights in the city, including the Burgtheatre and the Rathaus (City Hall) before heading to the outer limits of the city to have a look at the mighty Danube, the river flowing pass Vienna. The Danube used to be one of the frontiers of the Roman Empire and it now serves as a border of many countries. 


View of Vienna from the top of Stephansdom


Lunch at Buffet Trzesniewski
This restaurant served small but delicious sandwiches for an Euro each


Me and a statue dedicated to Mozart behind the Hofburg Palace

One of the last acts in Vienna was to visit the Neue Burg Museums at the Hofburg Palace, which consisted of three different exhibits - the Sammlung Alter Musikinstrumente (Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments), the Ephesus Museum and the Hofjagd und Rustkammer (Arms and Armour) collection. There was time only to cover the first in detail and the rest were covered with a brief glance. The instrument collection was really quite fascinating in the former, with weird instruments such as a long, snake-shaped brass instrument and a music table where a song was inscribed on this round table where people sat around and sang it. The day was rounded off having delicious cakes at the delightful cake cafe, Demel.


The mighty Hofburg Palace


The Danube


Cakes at Demel

Day 5 - Fussen: Schloss Neuschwanstein

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
'unity and justice and freedom'
- motto of Germany

This day consisted of an exceptional amount of hours spent travelling on a train, having to catch a 614 a.m. train from Austria to Fussen, with interchanges at Salzburg, Munich and Buchloe. It was close to 2 p.m. by the time all the travelling was done (and that was only half of a return journey)! All this was done so as to take a tour of the famous Schloss Neuschwanstein, which is the castle Disney modelled after for their own Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland. One amazing thing about crossing the borders from the Czech Republic into Austria and from Austria into Germany was that there weren't any immigration checks. I suppose this is truly the idea of a world without borders within the European Union.

The Schloss Neuschwanstein was built for King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the late 19th century, and he managed to enjoy it for 170 days, of which it was never completed. This king was engrossed in mythologies and legends which had been used as themes by Richard Wagner, and the entire castle had its walls painted with such themes. He even had a rock-cave corridor which is quite reminiscent of my friend's house back in Singapore! Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed due to copyright issues and so I am unable to provide any pictures of the interior. The castle was built up on a mountain which added to its beauty, with the Alps as a backdrop. However, the facade facing the Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge) was covered with scaffoldings, which was a huge disappointment. 

One of my main reasons for visiting this castle (almost at all costs) was because it was Germany's nominee for the New Seven Wonders of the World. With this, I have now visited all the nominees in Europe and it is now time to move on to others parts of the world!


The Alps and the yellow Schloss Hohenschwangau in the right foreground, King Ludwig's childhood castle


The Schloss Neuschwanstein


Me and the Neuschwanstein Castle


The Marienbrucke spanning the Pollat Gorge over a waterfall


The facade of the castle

A tour of the castle was booked for 335 p.m. and whilst waiting for time to pass, the place was flooded with hordes of Chinese tourist. These were a rude and unruly bunch, and I witnessed a few of them spitting over the castle walls, which was really such a disgrace. I left with a very poor impression of them and felt really embarrassed. 

It was now back to Salzburg on the return leg of the epic train journey, and this was only two hours shorter than the morning train ride. It was an extremely exhausting day doing almost nothing.

Day 6 - Salzburg: Festung Hohensalzburg, Mozart's Geburtshaus and the Sound of Music

Salzburg was a stop-gap city in this holiday (it provided the cheapest flights back to London) and it was spent rushing about the place before heading to the airport, not before my camera decided to implode spectacularly and I was left taking pictures out of my camera phone. It didn't turn out too bad after all, but it could definitely have been much better. 

A good part of the morning was spent touring the Festung Hohensalzburg, which is a 900 year old fortress up on the hills of Salzburg. One could get spectacular views of the city from the top,and it was not too long after reaching the top that the city was then covered with a huge blanket of fog.


View of Salzburg with the Dom Church dominating the foreground


The Majolica Stove
A medieval heating system

The next hour was spent rushing about the city and catching as many sights as possible (how touristy is that). It was a quick photo stop outside Mozart's Geburtshaus (Mozart's Birthhouse), with the conclusion that he had spent much of his young life touring about and was barely at home (as well as a lack of time) deterring a visit of its interior. Salzburg is also the city of the Sound of Music, but these were mostly in the countryside areas which I would go to in the future. There was one though within the city, the Pegasus statue.


The Baptismal Fountain where Mozart was baptised in, in the Dom Church


Venusbrustchen (Venus breasts) which are just chocolates filled with chestnuts and nougats at Scio's Specereyen


Mozart's Birthhouse


Me at the Mirabellgarten with the Festung Hohensalzburg in the background


The Pegasus statue

Meanwhile, it was too short a time spent in Salzburg (probably the most quaint city of the lot) and it was off to the airport to catch a flight back to London and prepare for Christmas Eve dinner and going for midnight mass after that. It has been quite an interesting trip, though not one of the more spectacular ones that I've had in recent times! I suppose it isn't too difficult to travel about in central Europe anymore, but I'll definitely be back again to these places in some time!

School starts in slightly more than a week's time and I'm going to enjoy myself with this short holiday left. Lots of shopping to do in the post-Christmas sale (got to get my uncle and aunt's birthday presents which are in mid-January) and if I'm feeling crazy enough, to plan my next few holidays. My aunt and uncle are coming up from Singapore and would like me to bring them to a European city, though I haven't figured out which one yet. Meanwhile, hope that all back home have a wonderful and joyous holiday!

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

posted by Gabriel Yan at 2:44 AM 0 comments