The heart of the Hapsburg Empire, Salzburg to Vienna

From Salzburg (where The Sound of Music was filmed) via The Eagles Nest and Grundelsee (where Michael and Wendy have a time share apartment) to Vienna, well it's just "chocolate box" countryside to drive through. Our heads were like they were on swivels spinning around to take in the scenery.

We spent our first day in Salzburg exploring the old town and the castle fortress perched on the craggy cliffs overhanging Salzburg's old town while the Wendy's explored the markets and excitement which is "Octoberfest" in this part of the world. Wendy Allan insists it is part of a religious celebration and observance of some kind, but from what I could see, beer, food, people dressed in traditional clothes ( men women and children) more food, beer and lots of noise and excitement...it looked a lot like Octoberfest to me!

Salzburg from the castle...festivities in the market area below.

The castle was very interesting an Michael and I spent a good couple of hours exploring ( read getting lost in the alleys and tunnels) the various exhibits and history of the fort in the museums and galleries.

A creative display  of warfare before gunpowder

Interestingly every Medieval town we have visited has had a Torture Exhibit .....which we have avoided, but there was no avoiding this one. Man's inhumanity to man writ large.

Our journey to Vienna had a couple of interesting detours which made it a long, but very interestIng day. Just out of Salzburg is the famous Nazi "Eagles Nest" where Hitler and his henchmen plotted much of their war strategies including the methods of implementing their "final solution".

It sits, like an eagles nest, on a rocky, exposed bluff with magnificent views all around and to get there we had to catch a large shuttle bus up the narrow cliff-hugging road ( too dangerous for general traffic) and then through a very long, deep tunnel and finally into a large lift which took us what seemed an awful long way to the very top, into the clouds.....and what a view....quite mesmerising really.

Our destination was Vienna but along the way we had to stop for "cake & coffee" at a little township called Bad Ausee and then to Grundelsee, where Mike & Wendy regularly holiday in Winter. It being Autumn (feels like summer at 22 degrees) it was a bit of a novelty for them to see it leafy and green. The scenery all through the alpine region with cows and chalets and barns in the field....so Austrian.......so lush, so pretty.

Bad to the bone!

Vienna was not as we had imagined. Much bigger, much more spread out and far more modern than we thought it would be. Certainly the centre of town, where our digs were (the very funky Alma Boutique Hotel) was obviously old, but it seemed also to be quite gentrified.....which is not a bad thing.

We got in late and did a quick orientation after dinner and the next day we took a "hop on hop off" tour to get our bearings. It is a hugely historic place, intellectually, politically and artistically. We saw where Freud  had his practice and did much of his work, the streets where Mozart and Strauss lived and worked and the streets and cafes that were rife with revolution in the late 1800s. It is the setting for the film "The Third Man" written by Graham Green about the Cold War in the 50's and they say there are still probably  about 300 spooks and handlers still in residence today.

In its prime it was the centre of a mighty empire and the size and number of cathedrals, museums and public buildings are testament to its importance then, and still in Europe today. Interestingly, in the 30's Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky and Lenin we're all in Vienna at about the same time and in the same district...maybe even the same cafe!

We took in the Music Museum ( Mike), and the Vienna Library (Wendy)  and where the dancing, prancing horses perform their routines before finishing our fleeting visit to this dynamic city with a Mozart and Strauss concert in the evening....but not before Sacher Tort and coffee at the famous Sacher Hotel in the heart of the city.

Tough life for some!

 

kirks & cobblestones and castles & cathedrals

As we drive through the French, German, Austrian and Czech countrysides we have noticed that the fields and valleys are dotted with small communities easily identified by the spire poking up from the stand of trees that usually surrounds the town. With our particular ##@*&^%$$@*# Sat Nav, we have spent more time than most, I'm sure, exploring the "roads less travelled" and we have noticed that, from the smallest village to the largest city, they are characterised by narrow, windy cobbled streets and a church located in the centre of, or a hill overlooking, the village or town they serve.

In the large cities there are any number of lesser churches, still magnificent structures of stone and slate with carvings and gargoyles, but a large city usually has a mighty cathedral or castle .....or even both!

Prague at night with the magnificent cathedral in the background surrounded by the castle and the Charles IV bridge in the foreground

The inside of the church of Our Lady Before Tyne, Old Town Square,Prague

The Amiens Cathedral during an evening light show highlighting the intricate carvings and figures. This is the largest, but one of dozens of large churches in the city.

Our visit to Cesky Krumlov was a an example of all these features coming together in one place. It has a castle, churches, spires, a meandering, windy river and cobbles and lanes and old, old, old buildings..

The view of Cesky Krumlov from the castle battlements

Windy, cobbled lanes with ancient buildings under the shadow of the castle and spire.

The castle walls and battlements. No wonder it is a UNESCO listed site.

We were lucky to be there on a Saturday when the markets and shows were on. We had a street vendor lunch of  barbecued Kransky sausages and potato swirls with a rich fruit drink while the local children entertained us with music and dancing. So delicious to all the senses!

We would never have visited this fascinating place without Wendy Allan's insistence. Mind you, it isn't exactly a secret and there were lots of visitors enjoying the markets and shopping and history but the hustle and bustle adds to the ambience of the place. It was a real gem of a find and definitely on the list of places to see for anyone visiting this part of the world...and if you have a "hankering" for kirks & cobbles and castles and cathedrals...you really can't go past Cesky Krumlov or Prague or Rothenburg or Bruges.....

Beguiling Bohemia

Prague is a river city, renowned for its bridges and castle but I think it's the sounds of Prague that have made an impression on me so far. We have seen lots of old buildings and cobbled streets and churches and markets ....the quintessential Europe, but for some reason the sounds have all come together here, as we wander around exploring this beautiful, vibrant city.

Early morning on the rive Vltava..

The famous astronomical clock in the square...the movement is somewhat underwhelming.

The rumbling sound of car tyres on cobblestones, the "clip clop" of the horse's hooves with special wooden shoes to help them negotiate the cobbles, the squeal of metal on metal of the tram wheels as they trundle around corners and along the avenues as well as the distant sound of bells pealing all over the city, especially in the morning. Maybe it's that the city hasn't woken up yet when I'm wandering around taking in the sites.

We had a easy trip on the Autobahns this time as there wasn't nearly as much roadwork, and when we arrived at our digs, well, weren't we pleasantly surprised. Firstly there was a lift...always an advantage and, as we glided up the curved, carpeted staircase we entered a spacious, light, airy and very well appointed apartment that may be bigger than our whole house. Large bedrooms, foyer, well appointed kitchen, two bathrooms....circumstances to which we would like to become accustomed!

A browse around the central market square, a horse drawn carriage ride around the old city and a beautiful dinner in an old 14th Century brewery cavern with curved ceiling and armour etc on the walls complete our first day. Prague looks likes a place to enjoy.

We headed up to the castle on Thursday morning after an in-apartment "continental" breakfast and spent much of the day there exploring the Royal precinct which was the the home of "Good King Wenceslas". It has a number of large plazas and buildings with fountains, a royal garden and a huge cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows that refract the afternoon light like a giant prism on to the statues and frescos inside. Quite breathtaking actually.

We also met up with young Lucas and his friends at the castle. Lucas is part of the Pieper clan we visited in Tangermunde, the medieval, walled city and the home of Wendy's ancestors near Berlin in 2014 on our Genealogy Tour. He was backpacking around Australia in that year and spent some time with us then, so we really enjoyed catching up with him. He and his friends came a long way to meet up with us  and we enjoyed lunch together in one of the castle cafes. 

Some local delicacies ( a sugary pastry cooked over an open fire not unlike Churros) for afternoon tea and a stroll back to the apartment in the city spelt the end of our castle visit and as I write this I am enjoying a Czech lager at a local cafe waiting for the two Wendy's to return from the markets before we head out for dinner and a show at the Mozart Cafe. I'm finding Prague to be quite a liveable city.

The string quartet in period costume in the background playing Mozart and other stuff.

After a lazy get-up and breakfast, our last day has been catching up with museums, old churches, and art shows not to mention the drooling over Bohemian Crystal and antiques and things in old, musty shops. We can't see it all......but we can learn to ride a Segway.

Maybe next time we can have a more in depth explore of this marvellous city.

All in all, our stay in Prague has been a really enjoyable experience with a number of highlights. The three course, very fancy dinner at the Cafe Mozart being entertained by a very professional string quartet dressed in period costume .....to the markets and castle and cathedral.....and strolling over the famous and very ornate King Charles IV bridge, we've filled our days but have been left wanting more....which is the way it should be.

On now to Salzburg via Cesky Krumlov.

Rendezvous in Rothenburg

Well, it was actually in the huge, ginormous Frankfurt airport after a trip around the world .......but romantic Rothenburg sounds so much better. 

Our stay on the canal barge was really something quite different from anything we have experienced before. The barges are very large, 40 metres long, and equipped with all the mod cons. The location was in a quiet, rural setting and we were very comfortable. We had an outstanding meal in the local village restaurant.....the hospitality, food (pork knuckle and other local delicacies) and ambience ....just marvellous. They sure know how to live life these Europeans.

View downstream form our barge.

After an early morning stroll along the canal and a hearty breakfast, we set off for Frankfurt airport unaware of the "adventure" we were about to undertake. It should have been a straight forward run up to Frankfurt .....but!

I really wish I had asked someone which airport to choose in the selection menu.....especially after we found ourselves high in some misty mountains with dark, dank forests all around and deer jumping onto the road. I had selected Frankfurt airport in the Sat Nav....but a small regional one ........and we had crossed three countries, France, Luxembourg and then into Germany to get to this lonely place when we realised we were lost. Not just lost, but royally so.....100 kilometres lost! 

A mad dash ( with a bit of "colourful" language) from a long way on the wrong side of Frankfurt got us to the terminal a couple of hours behind schedule but we managed to meet up with Michael and Wendy to begin the next phase of our trip.....the first night of which was spent in beautiful, quaint, picturesque, chocolate box Rothenburg,  a couple of hours from Frankfurt.

We arrived in time to have a stroll around the town and explore the medieval wall and battlements before the light failed and our stomachs needed attention .....and what a gorgeous place it is. Cobbled lanes and alleys with colourful shops, restaurants and chocolate and Christmas shops everywhere make it a very popular destination for tourists...and we could see why.

Another few hours exploring the town in the morning after breakfast completed our much too brief a stay.

Our hotel on the left, with the sun sign...early morning.

I could be wrong but it seemed to me that much of the morning was spent in Christmas shops but we couldn't do such a beautiful town justice in the time we had we were due in Prague...about four hours away.

The Somme

Valentine, our personal guide for the day, is studying history at the University of Amiens. He is specialising in the Battle of the Somme and we were the beneficiaries of his significant knowledge and understandings of this historic chapter in French and Australian history.

We were picked up at the station which has a huge banner - MERCI - greeting you as you enter Amiens. There are posters and pictures all over the city and this is just one example of how the people of this region remember the efforts and sacrifices of the Commonwealth and other countries.

Villers-Bretenneux was quite an experience. Most of us have seen the Dawn Service from this cemetery beamed into our living rooms on ANZAC Day each year, but to see it in person is quite something. Such a place is not unique around these parts. There are cemeteries dotted all over the countryside, hundreds of them, representing the British, French, Canadian, New Zealanders and even New Foundlanders (who fought with the British because they didn't become part of Canada until 1949) but this one is ours, just ours...it is Australian.

The numbers quoted today are staggering. This memorial is for the 11000 missing...yes, the ones they couldn't find and the contrast of the Somme 100 years ago and the peaceful, lush countryside of today could not have been more stark.

We found two of our relatives on the walls of the missing, Walter Allen from Wendy's side and Lionel Plaister form mine and we both agreed we couldn't even begin to imagine the horrors and deprivations they must have suffered.

The main actions of the Australian troops were to take, hold, take again, as many times as necessary the strategic points, the "high ground", that allow an army to have advantages of vision of the enemy and transport of troops and supplies. Both Villers-Bretenneux and Poziers...just up the road (which was our bloodiest battle) are located on slight rises in the landscape and along straight roads first engineered by the Romans. The Australian troops had a reputation for "aggressiveness" (so much so that the Kaiser put a bounty on Australian soldiers) and they took  and held these positions at great cost....which has not been forgotten by the French.

We vsited the museum in the village school after Valentine proudly took us around the town showing off all the street names ( eg rue de Melbourne) and the stylised VB in a Kangaroo that they have adopted as the town's logo. The school rebuilding was funded by Australians in the 1920's and is decorated with Australiana. In 2009 they reciprocated with many donations for the Victorian bushfires. They have a part of their curriculum dedicated to learning about Australia which we found quite impressive and we came away with the distinct impression that this is a strong and genuine relationship between our peoples.

We had a very nice lunch in Albert which was a forward staging post during the war, after which we visited the Gibraltar and Windmill sites in Poziers ( a town which has also embraced the Australians). We visited Lochnagar crater where, as part of the July 1916 offensive, the British tunnelled under the German lines and with 27 tonnes of explosive blew a crater so large it is still there today. It exists as a memorial for the British who suffered horrendous casualties in the offensive due to the incompetence of their officers who ordered them to walk into enemy fire. I'm not sure Aussies would have obeyed such an order.

Me in a shell hole.

We visited some remaining trenches preserved in the New Foundlander's memorial area and where you have to walk on designated paths because of the live ordnance ( and bodies)  still there.It gives a sense of how the soldiers lived and what they faced.

We visited Mouquet Farm ( the soldiers called it moo cow farm) a famous action  where the Australians struggled for over a month with many casualties ( Lionel Plaister being just one) to secure a small strategic knoll. The farm and the knoll still exist as you can see in the photo below.

On the way home we went to a small town to the East of Amiens called Vignacourt which has some significance for our families. Vignacourt, interestingly, is where the photographic plates of Aussie soldiers resting behind the lines were found a few years ago and made into the book  by Ross Coulthart called "the Lost Diggers" and it was also the town where my grandfather in the Vet Corps was stationed looking after the horses and animals. It is not far from the Poulainville aerodrome where his brother, a pilot, was stationed and eventually killed in in a flying accident in April 1918. He is buried beside his gunner, Owens who was killed in the same accident. It is a small, well tended cemetery and apparently it was near a hospital where the wounded were taken and, like many, were buried if they died of their wounds.Wendy's relative, Francis Degenhardt was part of the last and successful offensive in 1918...he died in August 1918, exactly 3 months before the end of the war leaving a young family.

The inscription under the French soldier guarding the cemetery loosely translates as 

"Sleep in peace, we watch over you"

It has been an emotionally and physically tiring day....but very, very rewarding.

Lest We Forget