Day 23,24 Cold Play

In planning for this trip many people warned us that we were quite mad to consider a winter trip to Europe. Everyone knows that it is cold in the Northern Hemisphere in January  so the only sane time to go is in their summer – our winter. As consistent contrarian thinkers in many areas of life we would politely beg to differ and suggest a Cold Play is actually rather special, for the following reasons.

In much of Europe the winters are often not that cold (not like Canada or Siberia). There was a very cold snap before Christmas but generally the Gulf Stream keeps much of Europe above freezing for most of the winter. We have been especially blessed on this trip and rarely had all our cold weather gear on.

This part of the world has central heating – something unknown to a Sydney sider. This means that although it’s cold outside, inside it is much, much warmer than most peoples’ houses in Sydney in the winter.  So yes, you have to have a good coat, and maybe a beanie and even gloves below -5 but it really is not that much of a hassle. (Thermals are also a real help but we have hardly worn ours on this trip)

People told us that many museums and tourist attractions are closed during the winter in Europe. We did not find this at all. What we did find was that the queues are miniscule, to non-existent compared to the summer for anything we wanted to do . The simple fact is that most tourists like to travel in the summer, so guess what, things are a lot quieter in the winter.

Accommodation especially is much cheaper in the winter, sometimes 30%-50% cheaper.  Trains are not as crowded either!

Sure there are less daylight hours as the sun does not really raise its head until after 8.30am and goes down again at about 5pm. That means you tend to sleep in…what a tragedy on holidays!! In the evening there is actually no law against going outside in the dark and most places have very good street lighting. One real bonus is that there are Christmas lights everywhere and they seem to stay up for a long time after Christmas.

Travel for us is best when it’s least like home. Don’t get us wrong we love home, but a walk in the snow is extra special because it is so different!

So come in the summer if you must. Autumn and spring, we are told, are also great, but our vote remains for Cold Play - winter in Europe.

We are so pleased you have been reading our blog and sharing our adventure. Thanks for all the comments and emails. We are about to head home tomorrow and we are looking forward to seeing you soon. Stay tuned for our next adventure or better still  – save your pennies and frequent flyer points, and have your own adventure, write a blog and share the fun with us.

Carpe diem!

 Au Revior

Day 22 Company in Paris

A sunny Sunday walk in Paris is very hard to beat, but a moonlit Monday night stroll along the Seine is every bit as good.

We spent the day with Tim and Hannah, our son and daughter-in-law, who caught the Eurostar from London (budget tickets at $48 each), which was a special family treat.   More walking and eating were the order of the day.

As they went off to have dinner with friends we again embarked on a rather ambitious walk home, the highlights of which were the lights of Paris, matched only by a clear and almost full moon in the night sky. Paris is just as perfect at night as the lighting on the buildings, bridges and river is so very French… tasteful, elegant and beautiful. And what is more amazing is that it was 14 degrees!

The day ended with what we thought would be a lovely bowl of soup for dinner in our apartment, which we had bought from an amazing food hall in The Bon Marche (department store). Judging by the colour we thought it was pumpkin soup, but the taste and later a Google search of the name on the label revealed that we had been eating gourd soup. A little dusty tasting but …c'est la vie.

Day 21 Sunny Sunday on the Seine.

Winter in Europe never looked better than perfect blue sky, bright sunshine and 11 degrees on a Sunday afternoon in Paris.

Not surprisingly we walked and walked and walked and walked, about 24kms in all.

 

This is not our first time in Paris but it is impossible to not fall in love with the city all over again where lovers kissed , young boys played soccer in the park ,jazz bands played, men played chess , joggers jogged, roller bladers glided

and where tourists and locals enjoyed a late Sunday afternoon stroll along the Seine.

If that was not perfect enough, we ended the day with a visit to Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in the 19^th arrondissement. This hilly, 25 hectare park provided us with a wonderful place to watch kids on bikes and trikes, to walk by an amazing lake, to view Sacre Coeur from a distance, to see the lights sparkle on the Eiffel Tower and  to watch the sun set over Paris.

Paris, je t’aime.

Day 20 Living like locals.

As we arrive at our last venue for this trip we enter our little apartment with a certain amount of trepidation wondering if it will work out okay.

We are often asked about accommodation. How do we organize it? What costs are involved?  We have developed a method of organizing accommodation that won’t suit everyone, but seems to work for us.

Firstly, we book everything before we leave home. People tell us that this lacks spontaneity and flexibility, but we find that planning ahead ensures that we get a good bed every night, without having to worry each day about where we will sleep that night. We often find that in many places, the best rooms go first – so those who book ahead get the best rooms. This is especially the case in hostels, which often have a limited number of double rooms and even fewer with ensuite bathrooms.

Secondly, we prefer places where we can cook our own meals. This saves us a great deal on food costs, but this is not always possible.

Thirdly, we try to stay at least three days in every place – we use each place as a base from which to explore the area rather than having to move every day. This reduces the stress of having to pack and unpack everyday. Every new place is disorientating to being with, but within two or three days you often feel like a local.

Fourthly, we always start our search for accommodation using the Lonely Planet and then move out to the web. Often the Lonely Planet has great tips for inexpensive and well-located places. This saves us searching through endless websites and links. A recommendation from a guidebook also ensures that the place actually exists.

On this trip our accommodation has worked out like this …

Days 1-4. A visit to friends in Basel – very generous and great company.

Day 5. Lucerne. This was the only time on this trip that we did not book ahead. We found a double room in the centre of Lucerne at a Best Western Hotel. It was by far the most expensive night of the trip, and we only stayed one night, but having the opportunity to explore this beautiful town made it worthwhile. A generous continental breakfast was provided.

Day 6-8 Bologna. We found a really great family owned 10 room Pensione (small hotel) in the heart of the old town of Bologna. The owners spoke very little English but the room was spacious and it was in a quiet location. We loved this place because we felt like locals.  The Pensione occupied just one floor of a wonderful historic building behind a big wooden front door. Breakfast of sorts was provided. 

Day 9-11 Trento We stayed  in a family owned three star hotel in the heart of Trento, with a view across the square to the Cathedral. Italian breakfast – orange juice, yoghurt, coffee and bread was provided.

 Day 12-15 Munich. For a change of pace we stayed in a double room in Wombats Hostel. Wombats are an Australian owned group of hostels located in  several European cities. They are clean, reasonably priced and well located. Sure we did feel like the grandparents in this hip place, but again we enjoyed a central location, a quiet, top floor room (which was compact) with a balcony and daily cleaning (a bonus for a hostel). A great breakfast was available for an extra 3 euros each.

Days 16-19 Amsterdam  We saved our best accommodation until last and stayed at a really nice B&B. Essentially this was a loft apartment above someone’s house. It was spacious, light and again we experienced local living rather than a tourist hotel. Five types of cereal and milk, as well as coffee and tea were provided for breakfast in our apartment.

Days 20-24 Paris.  Paris is expensive, but with a lot of work and several false starts we eventually found a lovely tiny apartment on the edge of the 3^rd Arrondissement. (The apartment we have stayed in before was unavailable this time). On several occasions we have dealt with a Lonely Planet recommended, Australian owned company called Cross-pollinate who organize short-term rental apartments in several European cities. The lady who regularly lives in this apartment, Elizabeth, has moved to a friend’s house and we have moved in. She met us on arrival and with little common language between us she made us feel very welcome.  The flat is tiny, but huge compared to a hotel room, and once again gives us the experience of living like a local.

We find good planning allows us to stay at places that are authentic, well located, different and most of all reasonably priced.

We are not the ultimate budget travelers, but we think that at an average nightly cost of about $A100 (including Paris) has been very reasonable and we have enjoyed some very pleasant and memorable places to stay,  and we are happy to say, no disasters! Although we have again experienced some challenging European showers!!

Day 19 Behind the wall

On our last day in Holland we venture out of Amsterdam to the satellite city of Haarlem to visit a museum in the home of Corrie Ten Boom , author of  the famous book The Hiding Place.  We cannot find any mention of this museum in any of our guidebooks but find information from a website so we travel 15 minutes west by train and then walk through the old town to find the house. Corrie Ten Boom followed her father into the watchmaking business and a shop bearing their name is still operating on the original site in this busy part of town.

The museum is not open when we arrive but a sign on the door tells us that a tour will start at 1pm. We spend a couple of hours exploring this interesting and beautiful town that has existed since the 11^th century.

We return to the museum at 1pm and our tour begins with just four visitors and our lovely guide, Mary, who is able to tell us Corrie’s story in both Dutch and English. Richard thought he knew the story and Wendy has read the book, but as we sit in the Ten Boom’s lounge room we are enthralled by the amazing wartime story we are hearing. We knew Corrie Ten Boom had hidden Jews from the Nazis, but we didn’t know that her faith had led her to be a key organizer of the Resistance and that their home was a clearing house of over 800 Jews who were then led to safer places.

We hear the story of the raid that led to Corrie’s arrest and subsequent imprisonment. Our guide’s stories are part history and part testimony to Corrie Ten Boom’s belief and trust in God through resistance , through imprisonment in concentration camps and then her amazing release and subsequent teaching and writings which have touched millions of lives.

The highlight of the tour was a visit to the room where a false wall had been installed and had been the hiding place for up to six people at a time. We are able to crawl through the false back of the cupboard in Corrie’s bedroom and actually stand in the small cavity where six people were hiding on the day that the Nazis raided the house and the Ten Booms were arrested.

Thousands of people visit this house each year but in the cold and wet of a winter’s day we are especially privileged to have all but a private tour of the hiding place.

We are reminded of an extraordinary God, who works in the most difficult times through ordinary people.

Day 18 Vincent

A visit to the Van Gogh Museum is a highlight of any visit to Amsterdam.

As museums go, this is a great museum, even if you a not an art expert or even an art student. Of course the highlights of the museum  are the paintings and sketches of the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh. Some of them we have had the pleasure of seeing previously in exhibitions  that have traveled to Australia, but most we are seeing for the first time. Wendy loved Seascape at Saintes-Maries. Richard is taken by The Potato Eaters.

What this museum has done particularly well is to place Van Gogh’s work in context. Knowing a little more of his life story and how it flowed from his deep religious background was quite fascinating. The exhibition also placed works of other painters, who had inspired and challenged Van Gogh, side by side with his own work. This museum really explains and reveals the artist, his influences, his moods, his development and sadly his tragic demise and early death at just 37.

We are struck by the irony of visiting a huge museum dedicated to the work of a man, who is today, considered to be one of the great masters of art, but who died convinced that his work was not appreciated and thus felt that his talent was unproven. Van Gogh only painted for a period of 10 years, he had only a handful of lessons and  struggled to make a living as an artist. Somehow it seems such an injustice that people all over the world now love and admire the work of a man whose professional self doubt meant that his life was plagued by alcoholism, despair and mental illness.

Starry, starry night.

Paint your palette blue and grey,

Look out on a summer's day,

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkvLq0TYiwI

Day 17 A wet day in Amsterdam

Crossing roads in any city has its complications and  today in Amsterdam we experienced three unique complications, trams, pushbikes and rain. The roads here are complicated by the fact that traffic seems to often come from a number of different directions and also because many of the roads are paved using the same material as the footpath and bike tracks. There is little to distinguish each area, so if you are not concentrating you can easily  find yourself standing in the way of oncoming traffic, the most frightening of which are the pushbikes who have no patience at all with lowly pedestrians. The rain also creates challenges for the bike riders themselves and in spite of the weather they were out in full force with a variety of different types of wet weather protection. We are amused when we notice a couple of glamorous female bike riders riding with one hand on the handlebars and the other holding a dainty umbrella. We were even more amused later in the day when we noticed another elegant lady riding with two hands on the handlebars while her male passenger, who was being doubled on the back, holding an umbrella over both of them.

As the rain tumbled down we unpacked our wet weather gear and headed off to town on foot through Amsterdam’s main city park, Vondelpark. A 3km walk brought us to the centre of Amsterdam. But as the rain increases we decide to replace our walking shoes with a three-day unlimited tram ticket and began to explore this unusual city.

The highlight of the day is our visit The Anne Frank  House, a museum set up in the actual house in which Anne and her family and four others hid for two years during WW2. To walk into the secret annex which was hidden behind a bookcase, to see her pictures on her bedroom wall, to view her handwritten diary entries, to hear friends and her father on video recounting her tragedy  and to be reminded that in the end they were betrayed to the Nazis just months before the end of the war, was incredibly sad.

Anne Frank’s childhood dream was to become a writer and whilst in hiding she envisioned writing a book about her wartime experiences. Thanks to the efforts of her father, who was the only member of the group to survive the war, her dreams came true and her story is one of the most famous of all war stories.

Museums are a great place to visit on a rainy day but they can be  physical reminders that history is not just the story of kings, dictators, armies and battles but is also the story of individual people and how they cope with the forces around them. We leave this museum haunted by the injustices suffered by one girl and her family and reminded that her story was repeated millions of times over.