Ghost Tour of Prague.

For our final night in Prague we joined a walking ghost tour to explore the darker side of Prague with www.mcgeesghosttours.com/

We each have a memory to retell....

As we stood on the Old Town Square under the imposing Clock Tower our ghostly guide Sean pointed out the 27 white crosses marked in the cobble stone paving.  He retold the story of the “Blood of Bohemia”.  In 1620 after the dreadful battle of White Mountain the 27 defeated noblemen were captured and brought to Prague where they were held captive in the dismal dungeons under the Square. On the 21^st June 1621 which is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere (Prague sits on the 50^th parallel and on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, the day light hours are exactly twice the length of time of the night hours.) the noble men were paraded on the square and then one by one the first 24 of them were bludgeoned to death and then beheaded. The town square was a splattered pool of blood. The heads were carried down to the river and hung from the Charles Bridge to fend off further enemies for the next two decades. The remaining 3 noblemen were hanged by the neck until their last breath and left to rot, swinging from the gallows for the townsfolk to gawk and throw curses at.

The legend says that every year on the Summer Solstice the ghosts of the 27 noblemen rise from the dungeons under the town square and move around to the front of the Astronomical Clock. If the clock is working they silently descend back through the blood stained cobble stones to rest peacefully for another year, but, if the clock is not working they will remain above ground for the whole next year, haunting the living who visit the town square and their screams can be heard if you walk through the square late at night.

Ghostlee

We then went through the narrow back streets of old Prague, where the black marketers used to sell spices and body parts. Sean, our scary tour guide, showed us a statue of the Black Madonna and told us that they were very special and were often signs to the secret Knights Templar, so we looked at the direction that the Black Madonna was looking at and we saw further down the street a sign of the Knights Templar, in Ancient times this was their secret meeting place.

In 1307, the King of France owed the Knights Templars money for helping him fight in war, but after losing the war he didn’t have enough money to pay back the loan so he told them to go to Paris and he would meet them there on Friday the 13th October. But he had a trap set up for them. When the Knights Templar arrived the King captured and tortured them for 7 years until they signed some confession papers saying they had done horrible things. The King then showed the papers to everyone including the Pope. The Pope ordered all the heads of the Knights Templar for this, so, in front of Notre Dame, the King burned all the Knights Templars at the stake. When the toes of the leader of the Knights were on fire and he was in deathly pain, he shouted out, “The King and the Pope will die before the end of this year for doing such cruel things to us.”

Soon after, the Pope had a heart attack and died, so the people of the church put his body on display with 500 candles around him. That night there was a terrible thunderstorm and a lightning bolt hit the church, it caught alight and burnt to the ground including the Pope with it. It is said that he was the first and only ever Pope to be cremated. Later that year the king passed away and soon after his sons died too, leaving no heir to the throne...

This is the story in history that began the superstition of bad luck on Friday the 13th.

By Charlotte who was born on the 13th.

I love the Astronomical Clock in Prague and when our creepy guide, Sean told us about it´s history, I was really fascinated. After the clock maker made the clock in 1410 he was thinking of improving it but other people thought he was building another better clock so they came up with 3 ways to stop him. Number 1 was the American style. That was to offer him more money to stay. Number 2 was they figured it would not work so the number 3 plan was to walk 3 men into his house in the middle of the night and 2 men pinned him down while the 3rd one got a metal poker and put it in the fire until it was white hot and then burnt his eyes out. He was delirious for months after but once he recovered he asked his friend to help him to his beloved clock and his friend did and he went in with the clocks and felt all of them until  he found the centre piece.  He pulled with all his might until the main cog fell out and because it was the centre piece all the other cogs fell on him and he was crushed to death. For fifty years the clock could not be mended because no-one knew how to, but now it is working and it is amazing.

M@D!$oN

The Charles Bridge and Swan Lake.

Last night it was a bit drizzly so dad drove us down into the old town of Prague. We walked along the river Vltava until we saw the Charles Bridge which is one of the most familiar sights in Prague. We could tell easily that this was the Charles Bridge because it looked very old with lots of statues, 8 arches and there were only people walking on the Bridge. Cars or carriages are not permitted on the bridge any more even though in the olden days 4 carriages abreast could cross the bridge. We slowly walked along the tourist busy bridge and took lots of photos. It was amazing how old and detailed some of the statues are, some even dating back to 1683. But it was aslo easy to see which statues were modernly built to replace the old ones. In Prague there have been many floods over the years that have carried big logs and parts of boats rushing down the river and knocking over parts of the bridge. So it has been rebuilt many times over the years.

Dad and Maisy then drove away, leaving mum and I to walk through town to Theatre Hybernia, where we were going to the ballet to see Swan Lake with the music by Tchaikovsky.  The nice man at the ticket office gave us seats near the front so we had a perfect view. I had seen Swan Lake before but this time I was able to follow the story alot better. The ballerina who danced the part of Odette was the most graceful and flexible dancer. Her arms could turn all the way backwards like the wings of a real swan and she could go over splits when she leapt in the air. Mum and I had a lovely time but then we had a mad, crazy taxi driver take us back up the hill to our apartment and we were wide awake and far away from Swan Lake when we got back.           
Charlotte                                                                                                                                                                  

INXS in Prague 1988.

Never Tear Us Apart

INXS 

1988

Prague and the Astronomical Clock.

We are now in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic and 2 days ago we did a walking and bus tour. My favourite thing I saw was the medieval astronomical clock on the City Hall in the Old Town Square. It is the 3rd oldest astronomical clock in the world and it is the only one that still works.  It had its 600th anniversary one year ago. It shows where the sun, moon and planets are and what day of the year we are and when the next eclipse will be. There are 4 statues of people on the side of the astronomical clock. One represents death and the passing of time, it is a skeleton that on every hour pulls a chain that rings the bell on top of the tower. Another person is a man looking in a mirror, another is a man playing a banjo and another man is holding a sword.  They were all things that were hated by the maker. On every hour after the bells ring a golden rooster that sits on top of the clock goes ''cookodoodel dooo'' and also flaps it's wings. There are also two big blue doors and on every hour the 12 apostles come out. At the end of all that a man dressed in an old costume stands at the top of the tower and plays a trumpet and then waves to all the people watching underneath. 

There is no astronomical clock in the world that has seen soooooooooo many years as this clock.    

M@D!$oN tic toc

Czech Mate.

Czech Republic 

 While travelling from Germany to the Czech Republic we could really see the change in the architecture and the general living standards of the people. In Germany, out in the country it has a certain charm to the villages but the contrast was quite apparent. We travelled our way to Prague with the thought of a good cup of coffee at a nice little coffee shop on route. Hours passed and there was no such thing!

The towns and villages were old with the typical prefabricated  “council” flats littered in the towns that in their way of making them look more modern, did the worse thing possible and painted different areas of them yellow and red and any other gaudy colour they had in the tin to brighten them up in a throwback of the 80’s. What this did in actual fact was to have them stand out with their render falling off and as the residents walked around the street, years of communist rule was etched on their faces.
 The villages in the country side were a rundown outhouse style affair with no money having been spent since they were made. Nothing very quaint and “coffee shop-ish” about this…… or so I thought!

St Barbara the patron saint for miners

While in the beautiful town of Prague we saw in a brochure a village called Kutna Hora, 70 kms from Prague, and thought we ought to see it as it had a magnificent cathedral. So off we went to discover that there was such a place in the Czech Republic that would lift your spirits and even put a smile on the locals faces. The town was a medieval one set on the side of a hill with fantastic houses and shops that the best little coffee shop would have felt at home and on top of the hill was a masterpiece of Gothic brilliance with the cathedrals roof towering above giving off a perfect silhouette in the midday sun.

We strolled through Kutna Hora with refound joy, as much for the people that lived there as this was their show piece and as we were in such a good mood we treated ourselves to a cheeky bottle of Pinot from the “Royal” vineyard that was established sometime in 1100AD at a reasonable €10.

To top off our day,  we drove out passed fields and fields of sunflowers, it was a week or two late but still a magnificent display. We had always wanted to see them on masses since we bought a Ken Duncan print showing them a few years ago and that was another ”must see” ticked off.

Just to clarify, Prague is stunning, not like the other towns and villages mentioned above, although there are examples of this in Prague, but on the whole, it shines!

Paul

The Berlin Wall.

After World War 2, Germany was divided into 4 sectors. The largest sector, East Germany, was controlled by Russia, and West Germany  belonged to France, Great Britain and America. The same thing happened to Berlin. East Berlin was controlled by the Russians, and West Berlin was owned by France, Great Britain and America. Each with their own sector.

The Soviets controlled the East very differently from the West, they were very strict and did not like what was happening in the West.

The Berlin Wall was built on one night.  If you were asleep in East Berlin on the night of the 12^th of August then when you woke up you were trapped inside the Wall that circled the city. At midnight the police and the East German Army started to build the 200 kilometre wall.

The Berlin Wall was built for 2 reasons:

·       Economics. There were too many well educated people that moved from East Germany to West Germany. Some people lived in East Berlin, because it was cheaper, and worked in West Berlin, because it was more fun and exciting than East Berlin. The DDR lost money on this and weren’t very happy.

·       Political. The East and West did not agree on many things.

The Wall was first built out of barbed wire, and a few weeks later it was built from concrete. It stood from 1961 and on the 9th of November 1989 the government of Germany opened the gate from East Germany to West Germany, which allowed the West and East Berlin people join together again.

But it wasn't until October 9th 1990, that the wall was finally smashed and broken, and sold to tourist companies. Only some sections of the Wall are still standing in Berlin.

Where the wall used to be, there is a brick line in the pavement to remind people of the division. One section has been left untouched next to the museum, it is grey concrete and it is falling to pieces. Another section has become an outdoor art gallery with lots of colourful paintings about war and peace.

By Charlotte

Heading for Berlin.

Åhus was a wonderful stop for us to get our fix of sand between our toes and sunshine over the water.

It was a very early start for us on the day we left. Driving through the Swedish countryside in the early hours was beautiful and peaceful. The girls were still sleepy and I was on wild life alert for Paul as there were still deer about and warnings for wild boar. The sun was very low and the fields were covered with an eerie mist. As the mist cleared the golden fields of barley opened up and I could hear the words of Sting's 'Fields of Gold' as the west wind blew over the barley.  Beautiful.

We had to get to Trelleborg in the south of Sweden to board the boat to Rostock, Germany. We drove onto 'The Huckleberry Finn' at 7am for the 6 and a half hour journey. Fortunately there was a pirate on board to entertain the kids and then a movie. The trip was very pleasant and much easier than driving all the way back around.

From Rostock we were back on the autobahns and Paul flew down to Berlin taking the Honda's speedo up to 156 km/hour and still we had cars overtaking us. We all knew he was dreaming he was actually driving another silver car from his past.... Ahhhhh, those were the days! The roads were brilliant and this part of the trip was very quick for the end of a long days travel.

The view from our kitchen window.

Our accommodation always has an element of the unknown, especially in terms of the type of area we find ourselves in. While in Berlin we stayed in an apartment on Karl Marx Allee for the week. It is described as 'a  monumental socialist boulevard built by the GDR between 1952 and 1960 for the workers.' and was 'the flagship building project of East Germany's reconstruction programme after World War 2.'



It is a 2 kilometre stretch of apartment blocks, each one a solid 8 storeys with solid doors, wide solid stairs, large square rooms and thick, solid walls. What it lacked in style it certainly made up for in quality construction.

Unfortunately for us, we accidently locked ourselves out of this fortress late on a wet Friday afternoon. Hungry, tired and not speaking any German, we had to find a 24 hour locksmith and hand over 150 euros to get back in.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

We started our first two days in Berlin with the now standard Hop on - Hop off bus tour to get a feel of the town and learn about a few of the sights.

The weather was overcast at times but very comfortable as when the sun came out it was quite hot. 

Berlin was over-run with tourists and we didn't get a real sense of the place, I don't think we even talked to a real Berliner for any length of time except for the locksmith and he was a bit of a crafty character. 

We saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 8, the girls had their hair cut and we spent a morning walking around the markets under the Charlottenburg Gates.

Germany flag

The East Side Gallery was very impressive. The largest and longest open air gallery in the world, painted on a one and a half kilometre stretch of the Berlin Wall. We really enjoyed walking up and down this stretch and viewing all the 100 or so art works and trying to understand their messages, mostly of peoples hopes, the euphoria of change and a free future for all the people of the world. The gallery was originally painted in 1990 by one hundred artists from around the world as an international memorial to freedom. Over the years, many of the pieces were destroyed by erosion, graffiti and vandalism. In 2009 all the surviving artists were invited to repaint their pieces, 8 refused for various reasons but the majority were redone and now, 2 years later they are in very good condition and the strength of their expression and colour is awe inspiring. Small sections are left blank for those who need to add their name in graffiti to be apart of this stretch of history.

 Wallee

A Day in Sweden.

Our whole family are champion sleepers. This morning we slept in until 9:00am. After breakfast dad suggested we walk down the beach to check out the handball competition. This week is the 2011 Åhus Beach HandBoll Festival. 

 

So dad and Maisy went and then Mum and I followed about half an hour later. It cost kr10 for adults and children were free.

The first thing I did was a game where you had to try and throw the hand ball as fast as you can at the goal net. I threw it 34 km an hour. The girls record was 86 km per hour. But she was a champion player. The hand ball is bigger than a tennis ball but smaller than a volleyball.

We then found Dad and Maisy eating hot chips so we joined them and went to the main arena to watch the tournament. The court is on the sand and is a bit smaller than a netball court. It has goals like soccer nets at either end. You can only throw the ball and they throw it really hard. This game is much faster than soccer or netball. A game lasts for 10 minutes and they normally score around 10 goals each. There are only 8 players on the field at a time. Teams score by pegging the ball past the goalie into the net. It is a very exciting, action packed 10 minute game. I have never seen it before but I now think it is a great game. 

Maisy and I played on the gym equipment for a while giving each other challenges to do, then we started to walk back for lunch. On the way back we saw a very, very long jetty and dad said we could jump off the end into the cold, clear Baltic Sea. Maisy didn't turn down the idea and stripped off her long pants. She ran and jumped into the freezing water again and again, each time complaining how cold it was. There was a floating pontoon about 50 metres out and Maisy swam all the way out there on her own. She was shivering so much in the end I had to run her back to our cabin and put her in a hot shower. We had last nights left over spaghetti bolognaise and some fresh corn on the cob for lunch. I was getting very annoyed with my wobbly tooth each time I bit into the corn. So I got mum's sewing kit and tied a knot around my tooth using some thread and connected the other end to the door. I took a deep breathe and slammed it shut. It came flying out and landed in Maisy's stinky, old shoes.  The tooth fairy rewarded me with 25 Swedish Krona.

Cute little squirrels come every night to clear the outdoor table.

That night dad and I made a salad for dinner. I washed and chopped the celery, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and beans, while dad boiled eggs, cut the chicken and made a platter of cheeses, salamis and ham. After a delicious meal and a few games of cards, Maisy, dad and I  went for a walk and happened to pass a mini golf course. It was 18 holes and I got a par 3 on the hardest hole, but I had to hit the ball at least 7 times on the easier holes. Dad got a record breaking 25 hits on the same hole!!! But on other times he did really well. Overall I won.

We then walked back to the Åhus Handboll Tournament. We were told it is the most exciting time at night when all the finals are on. And it was really, really exciting in the main arena where there were people standing on seats cheering their lungs out and the music was pumping.

Maisy and I sat and watched some kids just playing a fun game of handball. We plucked up the courage and asked them if we could join in and learn to play. The girl spoke a little English and was really nice, she taught us the game and how to pass and score. Her brothers were just mischeif and we stayed for about half an hour. It was soooooo cool. When we got home it was already 10:00pm. So we went straight to bed.  

                                                                    Charlotte

Swedes go all out in caravan parks!

We had just spent a wonderful week with Kristian and Lona in Denmark and we travelled then to his hunting house in the beautiful wilderness of Sweden. The house was old but perfect for it’s setting and we loved time by ourselves as a family to run around and have a bedroom each. The deck off the back was great to have that moment of peace and the odd game of cards with a spectacular view across the fields and into the woods.

From there we travelled south about 300 kms past countless VOLVOs and one stop at the biggest  store we have ever been in to a place called Åhus where we rented a cabin for 5 nights at www.regenbogen-camp.de 
which is located next to the sea with a good beach and jetty for jumping off.

The first thing we noticed was the lengths that the travelling Swedes go to at making their camping spot better than their neighbours and what they must bring to do so. Timber decking, some elevated for their outdoor cabana with hanging baskets in full bloom were not uncommon. Others with dog pens and full height flag poles, most have cordoned off their section with removable walls so as to give themselves a garden and I mean a garden - mowed and plants planted in the ground. First we thought they must be permanent dwellings but we can see that they are for about a month as they have to display the exit date in the window as do we in our car for the staff to know the over-stayers.

 

Paul