Our time in Europe
Thought that I should bring you all up to date with our movements since leaving France on the 5th January.
Our 1st stop was Budapest in Hungary & while the city itself has some great architecture & lovely old buildings it was a very depressing place to visit. I remember working with a Hungarian lady in the 60's ( her family had fled Hungary to escape the Russian invasion of 1956 ) & she just hated them for what they had done to her country. I remember in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics during the water polo game between Hungary & USSR that there was no love lost between the teams with players on both sides emerging from the water with blood pouring down their faces, very dramatic.
From that time until their final departure in 1989 the Russians have obviously bled the economy dry as there seems to have been no major developments or economic growth that has taken place as the whole city seems to have been caught in a time warp & is certainly an ecomony well behind the majority of the rest of Europe, we also failed to see much enthusiasm in the people at all.
All the museums & other stately buildings are all in need of a good clean as everything is grey & rundown certainly in need of a good coat of paint. The city itself has loads of potential but until they do something positive like cleaning up all the graffiti & general rubbish in the streets they will suffer in their tourist industry. Even after all of that we were glad that we saw Budapest.
Our next stop was Vienna & what a complete change that was, everything was spotless with nice wide roads with lovely cafes & restaurants with plenty of bars dotted around the area. We took a couple of tours while we were there including a half day to Schonnbrun Castle which is absolutely stunning & is set in hundreds of acres of beautiful gardens, unfortunately being Winter there were no flowers out in bloom but one could imagine just how spectacukar it would be in Spring & Summer.
We also took a trip into the Vienna woods outside Vienna where we visited the old Hunting Lodge that was once owned by the " Hapsburgs " & then onto an underground lake which was originally a limestone mine before water from a spring broke through & flooded the mine, these days it is a tourist attraction. We loved the beautiful buildings that adorn the city centre & make this one of the reasons why so many people visit each year.
Our 3rd stop was Prague in the Czech Republic & was a real eye opener, not only from an architectural point of view but from a cultural one as well as it has a very strong Jewish history over the years even though that has changed as there are only a handfull living in Prague these days. It was probably the most interesting city to walk around as there was plenty to see & digest with many buildings & monuments reflecting their colourful history.
As Czechoslavakia back in 1968 they were also invaded by Russia under the guise of the Warsaw Pact & thankfully no one was killed during this period even though the Russians had captured Alexander Dupcech's children & would have killed them had he not agreed to their terms to enter the country. They finally got kicked out in 1989 when the USSR collapsed. The city is full of very nice & relatively cheap bars & restaurants so we would highly recommend to go there.
We then had 5 days in that amazing place New York, what can one say there is so much to do there & where we were was so central, our hotel was at 33rd Street & 8th Avenue at the Pennsylvania Hotel which is across the road from Madison Square Gardens & about 10 blocks from Times Square so we couldn't have had a better location.
We had 4 full days there so we tried to use our time as well as we could, we took a 48hr bus pass which allowed us to go around 4 different areas of N.Y. including one to the Nth of the island up around the Central Park & Harlem area, one to the Sth around " Ground Zero ", Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwhich Village & Soho. The 3rd took us across the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn which in itself a very interesting part of N.Y. life. Included in the same ticket were entrance to the Empire State building & the Statue of Liberty all for $US 156.00 for the 2 of us really great value.
It was a quick stop in Toronto as we wanted to take the trip to Niagara Falls & we were so glad we did as it turned out to be awesome. I didn't mention earlier but in all our time in Europe it hadn't snowed as it has been one of the mildest Winters for 100's of years. We finally had some on arrival in Toronto & the temperature was hovering around -4 degrees C. Niagara was just spectacular all covered with snow with ice formed around all the trees quite bizarre but truelly magnificent & as I said before the power of the water going over the falls is just mind-boggling.
We also went down under the falls in their tunnel system just to view the falls down at the bottom & you could feel the vibration of the water as it passed overhead, what power. It must be even more spectacular in Summer because they reduce the volume of water going over the falls in Winter to 19 million gallons/ minute ( 85 million litres/ minute ) instead of 34 million gallons or 150 million litres/ minute during the Summer, evidently that is enough to fill 1 million bath tubs/ minute.
Seeing this amazing performance certainly makes it one of the wonders of the world & one should get to see it during their lifetime, we were completely blown away by its power & beauty.
We are currently in Vancouver & are loving just walking around this most beautiful city which is set in a lovely setting, the city is set around a series of bays with a mountain range situated directly behind Nth Vancouver, the view at night from our 38th floor Hotel room is quite spectacular with a number of ski slopes open, the closest being less than an hour from the centre of town. We have once again utilised the " Hop on- Hop off " bus to get ourselves around as we find them the best value when we have limited time here.
We leave here on Saturday 27th for Tucson where we will spend some time with our dear friends Dave & Geri Thomas (ex-Bougainville & Sydney ) showing us parts of their state of Arizona, while there we will also be visiting another couple from Bougainville, Carol & Jerry Allen who live in Salt Lake City so it will be nice to see them after nearly 30 years, for you that may have been in Bougainville you would have remembered Jerry as the Goodyear Tyre Manager & Carol was the B.C.L. company photographer so there will be lots to catch up on in Tucson & SLC.
Sorry for the delay in sending today's posting but getting an internet cafe is not always that easy so I hope this brings you up to date with our movements,best wishes to all.
Until our next posting, Harv & Sar.
Our 1st stop was Budapest in Hungary & while the city itself has some great architecture & lovely old buildings it was a very depressing place to visit. I remember working with a Hungarian lady in the 60's ( her family had fled Hungary to escape the Russian invasion of 1956 ) & she just hated them for what they had done to her country. I remember in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics during the water polo game between Hungary & USSR that there was no love lost between the teams with players on both sides emerging from the water with blood pouring down their faces, very dramatic.
From that time until their final departure in 1989 the Russians have obviously bled the economy dry as there seems to have been no major developments or economic growth that has taken place as the whole city seems to have been caught in a time warp & is certainly an ecomony well behind the majority of the rest of Europe, we also failed to see much enthusiasm in the people at all.
All the museums & other stately buildings are all in need of a good clean as everything is grey & rundown certainly in need of a good coat of paint. The city itself has loads of potential but until they do something positive like cleaning up all the graffiti & general rubbish in the streets they will suffer in their tourist industry. Even after all of that we were glad that we saw Budapest.
Our next stop was Vienna & what a complete change that was, everything was spotless with nice wide roads with lovely cafes & restaurants with plenty of bars dotted around the area. We took a couple of tours while we were there including a half day to Schonnbrun Castle which is absolutely stunning & is set in hundreds of acres of beautiful gardens, unfortunately being Winter there were no flowers out in bloom but one could imagine just how spectacukar it would be in Spring & Summer.
We also took a trip into the Vienna woods outside Vienna where we visited the old Hunting Lodge that was once owned by the " Hapsburgs " & then onto an underground lake which was originally a limestone mine before water from a spring broke through & flooded the mine, these days it is a tourist attraction. We loved the beautiful buildings that adorn the city centre & make this one of the reasons why so many people visit each year.
Our 3rd stop was Prague in the Czech Republic & was a real eye opener, not only from an architectural point of view but from a cultural one as well as it has a very strong Jewish history over the years even though that has changed as there are only a handfull living in Prague these days. It was probably the most interesting city to walk around as there was plenty to see & digest with many buildings & monuments reflecting their colourful history.
As Czechoslavakia back in 1968 they were also invaded by Russia under the guise of the Warsaw Pact & thankfully no one was killed during this period even though the Russians had captured Alexander Dupcech's children & would have killed them had he not agreed to their terms to enter the country. They finally got kicked out in 1989 when the USSR collapsed. The city is full of very nice & relatively cheap bars & restaurants so we would highly recommend to go there.
We then had 5 days in that amazing place New York, what can one say there is so much to do there & where we were was so central, our hotel was at 33rd Street & 8th Avenue at the Pennsylvania Hotel which is across the road from Madison Square Gardens & about 10 blocks from Times Square so we couldn't have had a better location.
We had 4 full days there so we tried to use our time as well as we could, we took a 48hr bus pass which allowed us to go around 4 different areas of N.Y. including one to the Nth of the island up around the Central Park & Harlem area, one to the Sth around " Ground Zero ", Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwhich Village & Soho. The 3rd took us across the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn which in itself a very interesting part of N.Y. life. Included in the same ticket were entrance to the Empire State building & the Statue of Liberty all for $US 156.00 for the 2 of us really great value.
It was a quick stop in Toronto as we wanted to take the trip to Niagara Falls & we were so glad we did as it turned out to be awesome. I didn't mention earlier but in all our time in Europe it hadn't snowed as it has been one of the mildest Winters for 100's of years. We finally had some on arrival in Toronto & the temperature was hovering around -4 degrees C. Niagara was just spectacular all covered with snow with ice formed around all the trees quite bizarre but truelly magnificent & as I said before the power of the water going over the falls is just mind-boggling.
We also went down under the falls in their tunnel system just to view the falls down at the bottom & you could feel the vibration of the water as it passed overhead, what power. It must be even more spectacular in Summer because they reduce the volume of water going over the falls in Winter to 19 million gallons/ minute ( 85 million litres/ minute ) instead of 34 million gallons or 150 million litres/ minute during the Summer, evidently that is enough to fill 1 million bath tubs/ minute.
Seeing this amazing performance certainly makes it one of the wonders of the world & one should get to see it during their lifetime, we were completely blown away by its power & beauty.
We are currently in Vancouver & are loving just walking around this most beautiful city which is set in a lovely setting, the city is set around a series of bays with a mountain range situated directly behind Nth Vancouver, the view at night from our 38th floor Hotel room is quite spectacular with a number of ski slopes open, the closest being less than an hour from the centre of town. We have once again utilised the " Hop on- Hop off " bus to get ourselves around as we find them the best value when we have limited time here.
We leave here on Saturday 27th for Tucson where we will spend some time with our dear friends Dave & Geri Thomas (ex-Bougainville & Sydney ) showing us parts of their state of Arizona, while there we will also be visiting another couple from Bougainville, Carol & Jerry Allen who live in Salt Lake City so it will be nice to see them after nearly 30 years, for you that may have been in Bougainville you would have remembered Jerry as the Goodyear Tyre Manager & Carol was the B.C.L. company photographer so there will be lots to catch up on in Tucson & SLC.
Sorry for the delay in sending today's posting but getting an internet cafe is not always that easy so I hope this brings you up to date with our movements,best wishes to all.
Until our next posting, Harv & Sar.
posted by sara and harvey at 4:14 PM
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