Wien

After all the beauty in Prague it was a surprise to find Vienna laid-back and not really caring too much. I suspect this was because most of the city was on holiday, while those that remained were in holiday mode, but it was interesting neither city matched their reputation – Prague the backpackers paradise was full of tourists and the negative responses that tourism can bring whereas Vienna the snobby capital of the Empire was friendly and relaxed. Regardless of the why it worked for us as we spent most of our time relaxing in beer garden, coffee house and Heurigen (winery restaurant) and watching the Viennese do the same. You can click through the tourist photos yourself as the other Vienna is in this post - the one that spends its day sitting on a red velvet lounge drinking good coffee and reading the international papers. Maybe one day I can retire and do the same:
Or perhaps I will spend my Sundays lingering over a couple of glasses of red in a winery in Grinzig like this lady - she wins the prize for the person we most admired this trip.
Well maybe second-most admired after this dog, who took "Dogs welcome" to a new level when he walked in and sat, waiting to be served.
The personal side - my grandmother grew up in this house (well, part of it!).
Perhaps the only thing that has got cheaper in Vienna is sitting in the gardens - years ago you had to pay the "chair lady" once you sat on a chair under the trees or in front of the roses. Now it's free.

Prague

All the brand names are in Prague and a low exchange rate used to mean bargains galore. But with the arrival of tourists the prices have shifted, and the big stores have moved in now the Czech Republic is part of the EU. In some sort of bizarre high street war a four storey Marks and Spencers now faces off with Debenhams across Wencelas Square. There’s also Tescos, Accessorise, H&M all selling to bargain-hunting English/Italians, or Eastern Europeans keen to purchase the look of the new Europe. However it's still got an Eastern European flavour - two 20-somethings selling beauty products, both made up to the nines (too much eye-shadow, eye-liner, everything) probably so they could go out later, trying to appeal to the flashy Russians and the more conservative Brits with a portable stereo behind the counter pumping out Western pop.
Prague has changed from backpackers to package tours and is struggling with the transition – where once they hosted people who could navigate their way back to a hostel blind drunk they now host people who can’t even find the toilets in the pub. Yet while the city seems to rely on the tourists it doesn’t seem to enjoy their visits – even the friendliest of staff we encountered were effective more than truly friendly, more interested in getting their service fee and getting the next table in. A couple were downright rude which I could understand given some of the tour groups that I saw, but why take it out on every tourist you see?! Luckily the beer is still good!

Part of this might be that the Czechs seem to try too hard – Don Giovanni is performed EVERY night during August in the Opera House. The reason? it was first performed here in 1787. Nice piece of trivia but why go overboard and stage the opera just in case a tourist wants to relive the moment?

Behind all this Prague is still beautiful. Its worth making the effort to either not let the crowds get to you (we didn’t try to go into any museum or historic sight since the queues were too long) or to get away from the crowds – we got up early to walk the Charles Bridge before the tourists and the souvenir sellers and I rate it one of the highlights of my travels so far.


The entire Old Town is picture postcard so I’m just going to let the photos speak for themselves…..

Don't mention ze war

About 9pm last night war was declared in a small apartment in Berlin. No you haven't missed a news bulletin somewhere this week. It was a small scale assault waged by a local mosquito fleet against the occupying forces.

To stop the satire short - Bry and my first romantic night in Berlin can be summarised in two photos:

"Look at that fking huge mozzie"

THWACK!!!

"Damn I missed it!"

Ahhhh romance isn't dead!

Thankfully after killing over two dozen of the enemy both sides observed an uneasy stand off during the night. We have armed ourselves with completely non-organic chemical weapons (not supplied in the local Kaisers who seem to think pest control consists of ant powder and moth balls?!) and are confident of winning tonights battle.

Apart from that Berlin rocks as it always has. There will be more photos to show but for me the most important thing about Germany is delivered in large glasses and seems to produce a manic gleam in my eye: