Tuesday 12th.September
Came down with a severe head cold the night before, didn't sleep at all last night. Had to give the tour a day off. The problem with coaches is that they can be a travelling germ factory as people come on board with ailments and start sneezing or coughing and it spreads, especially if the aircon is on wafting air about.
Went for a walk around the hotel to get some sandwiches for lunch and the slept all afternoon....was exhausted. Didn't think much of Budapest in the daylight, it was scruffy and dirty and a lot of buildings were poorly maintained.
Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Monday 11th.September
Krakow to Budapest. Not so many motorways this time but a long day nevertheless. On the way to Hungary we passed through Slovakia, quite a picturesque country but a bit run down on the route we took.......mind you spirits were very cheap, the cheapest booze we have found so far.Had a night sightseeing tour of Budapest....see photos.
Sunday, 10 September 2017
Sunday 10th.September
Krakow is a great place, it has been described as a lovely place with Warsaw as an ugly place. Plenty to see, we had a guided tour of the old town but quite a lot of information to take in. Most of the old town is restaurants and cafes but none of the old buikdings were damaged in the war
The afternoon was a visit to the Wieliczka salt mines. This is very impressive, huge underground caverns, some lakes and sculptures all from salt. Need to be quite fit to be on a tour, it's 2 and a half hours, plenty of walking and many many stairs
Saturday 9th.September
Another day another motorway, this time to Krakow calling at Auschwitz and Birkenau. This is a tourist attraction for all the wrong reasons really but nevertheless a sobering visit. Our guide was very interesting with huge amounts of information but difficult to take it all in and try to understand what happened there. See the pictures, they say it all. The Nazis flattened Birkenau but it was rebuilt after the war from photos and personal recollection.
Visited Krakow old town at night, well worth a visit. Churches and buildings illuminated and many places to eat
Another day another motorway, this time to Krakow calling at Auschwitz and Birkenau. This is a tourist attraction for all the wrong reasons really but nevertheless a sobering visit. Our guide was very interesting with huge amounts of information but difficult to take it all in and try to understand what happened there. See the pictures, they say it all. The Nazis flattened Birkenau but it was rebuilt after the war from photos and personal recollection.
Visited Krakow old town at night, well worth a visit. Churches and buildings illuminated and many places to eat
Friday, 8 September 2017
Friday 8th.September
Today Warsaw. Taken on an historical tour of the city, our guide was very enthousiastic but Warsaw has such complicated past that it was difficult to get a grip on all the history. We saw lots of statues, memorials and exhibition venues but the Germans flattened a fair chunk of the city in WW2 so most of the city has been rebuilt so it is difficult to join up the present to the past. The old town part was rebuilt by the Soviets to what it was beforehand from old paintings and drawings.
Warsaw is a very busy place and mostly full of restaurants and cafes.
Having trouble uploading pics so will have to do later.
Today Warsaw. Taken on an historical tour of the city, our guide was very enthousiastic but Warsaw has such complicated past that it was difficult to get a grip on all the history. We saw lots of statues, memorials and exhibition venues but the Germans flattened a fair chunk of the city in WW2 so most of the city has been rebuilt so it is difficult to join up the present to the past. The old town part was rebuilt by the Soviets to what it was beforehand from old paintings and drawings.
Warsaw is a very busy place and mostly full of restaurants and cafes.
Having trouble uploading pics so will have to do later.
Thursday, 7 September 2017
Thursday 7th.September
Today we drove the 550 km from Berlin to Warsaw, all motorway. So far on this holiday, out of 4 days so far we have spent 3 days on the road. Why are we doing this?
Apparently Poland is 50% farmland and a fair chunk of the rest is woodland. The A2 motorway is new, thanks to EU funding and there are miles and miles of acoustic walling along the motorway, only a couple of houses get a mile of acoustic barrier......all again thanks to EU funding.......no wonder they don't want us to leave. We don't get this quality of motorway in the UK.
All th way from the German border there were green feilds, not a lot of housing, not an overpopulated country like the UK. No sign of the feudal farming we have been sold, plenty of mechanised equipment and good quality houses.....their agricultural subsidies from the EU must be enormous. Poland is a lovely country.....why on earth do they want to come to the UK.......must be our taxpayers money.
Today we drove the 550 km from Berlin to Warsaw, all motorway. So far on this holiday, out of 4 days so far we have spent 3 days on the road. Why are we doing this?
Apparently Poland is 50% farmland and a fair chunk of the rest is woodland. The A2 motorway is new, thanks to EU funding and there are miles and miles of acoustic walling along the motorway, only a couple of houses get a mile of acoustic barrier......all again thanks to EU funding.......no wonder they don't want us to leave. We don't get this quality of motorway in the UK.
All th way from the German border there were green feilds, not a lot of housing, not an overpopulated country like the UK. No sign of the feudal farming we have been sold, plenty of mechanised equipment and good quality houses.....their agricultural subsidies from the EU must be enormous. Poland is a lovely country.....why on earth do they want to come to the UK.......must be our taxpayers money.
Wednesday 6th.September
Today was Berlin. It is a big city, we had a bus tour, too much to see just on foot. Our driver did very well but there is a lot to take in, our guide was very enthousiastic about the city.
There are loads of big construction projects underway in Berlin, no wonder the EU is making it hard for us to leave with a huge Brexit bill, we are probably paying fo a fair chunk of these construction projects.
The odd thing about Berlin, and this may not go down well with some, we did not see a single black face and only a handfull of coloureds. I only saw one Indian/Pakistani gentleman......so where are all these thousands of immigrants that Germany is supposed to have taken in?
Today was Berlin. It is a big city, we had a bus tour, too much to see just on foot. Our driver did very well but there is a lot to take in, our guide was very enthousiastic about the city.
There are loads of big construction projects underway in Berlin, no wonder the EU is making it hard for us to leave with a huge Brexit bill, we are probably paying fo a fair chunk of these construction projects.
The odd thing about Berlin, and this may not go down well with some, we did not see a single black face and only a handfull of coloureds. I only saw one Indian/Pakistani gentleman......so where are all these thousands of immigrants that Germany is supposed to have taken in?
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