Days 17 and 18

I wanted to finish up the trip and give some second and third thoughts on the trip.

On our last day Friday, we had a half a day to kill before we left for the airport.  We could not find that archiology site the person told us about, so we just meandered around the old town, revisited the castle for some better picturess (today the weather was really nice, clear skies but alittle chilly (58 degrees).  We went all around areas that we missed before and visited at least 3 new churches to smap more pics and see the different designs of church in the city.  After we left for the Krakow airport and a flight to Berlin.  A small plane but nice and at Berlin we just went straight to an airport hotel around 9:00 PM and because we could not get the TV to work, we just read an hour and to bed.

On Sat. we got to sleep in and left for the airport for our flight at 1:00 PM.  The plane was the exact same plane we had coming (I recognized the missing rubber stopper on the toilet seat.  It was very crowded but very very few Americans coming home....so the Germans are spending some of the Deutsch Euro here in FL.  heheheheh

We arrived an hour late due to very heavy head winds, got our car and headed back across Alligator Alley to home....we got home exactly at 10 PM.  Forget the bags for now.......

Now some 2nd and 3rd thoughts:

The food.  I had the opportunity to eat most the the eastern Europe favorites.  I had goulash, pork schnizal (sp) and veal schnizal, piorogies cheese, meat and sour kraut, pork knuckle (wow you can see some pictures of them I took), dumplings....several kinds, I had at least 8 or so different kinds of sausage, at least 10-15 kinds of beer, several different veal meals, several different pork cuts including......pork belly (it was really one of the best meals), for fish, salmon and fresh water perch (the perch being one of the best meals...it was huge), several kinds of strudel, several different sweets including gelatos.  Even Polish vodka!!!  So, food wise, I definitely tasted the true eastern European fare.

The people.  Wow, is all I can say.  Everyone and I mean everyone was so nice to us (we must of looked like lost souls a few times).  Strangers, police, street maintanence, waiters, sales people, EVERYONE, helped us out when we needed it.  And, at least from my experience, 98% of the people speak English.  I was totally blown away at the % of people who speak at least 2 langauges.....and very well.  Of course the young, but strangers we met on the street, or tram or subway, or anywhere would answer us in English.  And I told you alrady about the restaurant owner who helped D out with here upset stomach (by the way it went away the next day).....yes, Phil it probably was the sour kraut......and all that meat.

I was also extremely surprised at the modernization of all the countries.  I expected it in Germany but in Poland and CZ Repblic.....the cities where a combination of old and new, with the old being renewed and restored.  Most buildings were clean and looked new even though they were hundreds of years old.  Also, there is a huge building boom in all the countries.  We saw many cranes and towers all over the cities.  In Berlin, it was glass and metal.  It seemed that most of the new buildings were all glass or a combo of glass and metal.....everywhere, in extreme contrast with the older styles.  In Prague it was the roofs, many had gorgeous metal towers and domes and many were tiled with red or orange roofs.....gorgeous in the sun light.  In Vienna it was the magnificent 14th and up century buildings built by the royalty....wow.  In Budapest, old contrasted with new all over.  Many buildings had gorgeous wall decorations both painted and sculpted, the craftsmanship was fabulous. And finally in Krakow our real surprised, thinking of the old Poland it was a stark contrast.  It was a vibrant, gorgeous new city surrounding this magnificent old city with its castle and churches standing out all over.....churches that went back to the 9th century!!!!!  God we are so non understanding about the word "OLD" in America.

The cars.  The biggest thing I noticed about the cars is that they are much bigger than in the past.  Because of the countries' prosperity, people are buying new and larger cars.  Many were station wagons and small SUVs.  Of course there were many many small micro cars like the Smart but it was surprising to so many bigger models.  But not many US brands...a few, but mostly VW, Audi, Mercedes and some Japanese....and of course several models that we cannot get here....again mostly station wagon styles.  Gas ranged about $4.50 to $5 per gallon in all countries.

Music.  Well one can safely say IT IS EVERYWHERE.  They all love thier music, especially the serious and classical music.  We must have see 50 street musicians all over, even on quiet side streets and of course at the tour sites.  Serious, very good musicians....trumpet, accordian, guitar, base, violin, cello, piano, sax.  Two extremes were one that I mentioned already about the guy playing the piano in the middle of the square in Krakow.  We were standing with about 50 others watching him and all of a sudden a small group of teens walk by.  They stop and start pushing this one young man about 16 to the piano.  He and the player talk for a minute and then the kid sits down and plays an entire Chopin song.  Then just gets up, and walks away with his girlfriend and small group of friends....no bow, just walked away.  The extreme was an older man on another day with a little girl about 3 years old singing Polish songs.  He was not very good and he stood there and made the little girl stand there for at least an hour and sing (she was awful)......exploiting the little girl to get change from people....it was not very nice.  We also, as mentioned before, got to attend 2 concerts, one in Prague and one in Vienna......incredible, especially the one in Vienna....full orchestra with singers and dancers....wow.  But we were so lucky to also get some free concerts, one in a large church in Budapest where the choir and organ were practicing.  the piano show in the town square, and a fabulous Hungarian trio that played for hours at one of our restaurant.....and finally the surprise pianist at a very small restaurant in Krakow.  So lets say we DEFINITELY got to experience music in eastern Europe.

Money.  We expected the Euro countires (Germany and Austia) to be expensive, but surprisingly because the value dipped 6-8 cents that week, we got a little deal, but we were really surprised on how expensive Hungery was.  CZ Republic was not too bad but higher than we thought, but Budapest was quite expensive.  For example a nice meal was around $60-80 for 2.  The beers (large) were $6-7 and etc.  But Krakow was very very reasonable where our meals were mor like $28-30 and beers were $3 for a large one.  One somewhat confusing issue was the values....they were all over from one that was valued at 1.27/$ to 229/$ to 29/$....so we had use our math brains alot.  ATMs are everywhere so getting cash is no problem...also there are exchanges EVERYWHERE, but they can take you pretty well, with their fees.

Fashions.  Every time I go someplace I always have to check out the young girls....heheehhheheheh.......for fashion of course.  This time it there was really only one.  Tight (very tight) blue geans.  In many colors but blue was the most popular.  They absolutely have to stretch because otherwise I have not clue how they get them on.  But look out in America after about 6 months and we will begin to see them here.  That comes to phones.....I told Diana that Apple should just travel all over these countries and just take pictures of young people and their phones.  It was like 70% of EVERYONE, was using or taking pictures with an Iphone.  Ipads were present but in in huge numbers...it was the iphones that dominated the scenes.  Also, these countries have must have a large % of younger aged people.  They were by far the most dominate age group.....16-30 aged.  And if you go out at night it is about 95%.  Related to that, we also saw many many young people touring.  We could not tell exactly what countries, but they were everywhere we were, nice clean cut in small and very large groups.  We did see many young people on tour in Krakow who were from Israel.....many.

Weather.  We were soooooo lucky.  The weather was fabulous both for touring and picture taking.  The temps averaged around 65-70 mostly but we did a a couple days where the temp was in the low 60s.  We had rain only one day and it stopped after just one hour in the morning.  So we actually walked in the rain for about 15 minutes.  We did have a couple cloudy days with cooler weather but not enough to even both us.  And being cloudy at Auschwitz made it evern more dramatic.  Only the last half daybefore we left for Berlin was it uncomfortably cool.....in the low 50s.....but sunny.

The trip.  It was and was not what I expected.  We expected the older buildings and churches but not the vibrant, bustling Newer cities that we visited.  I never expected 90% of the cars being less than 2-3 years old.  And most of all I did not expect the people speaking so much English and the language being EVERYWHERE.  On signs, on billboards, on cars, people....people would speak a few words in Hungarian for example and then a couple in English....TO THEIR COMPANIONS.  Also, I did not expect to see the oppulant palaces and have them be sooo different from one another and to other famous palaces we have seen.  I did expect not to see many Americans and it was true.....there simply were not many American tourists ANYWHERE.  And finally I never never expected to be caught up and experience so much recent history of these countries from just prior to Nazi occupation up to 1991 when the Soviet empire collapsed.  The museums they have built to describe and teach were all not just good but absolutely outstanding to give such a portrait of their history.  And of course Auschwitz.....truly an expereince that neither Diana and I will EVER FORGET.  The way that they presented the real place with actual pictures of the horror gave us tingles down our back.  To actually touch the same beds they used and to stand in the exact same spot that litterly thousands of people were shot to death.....to imagine just the blood that would have been on the ground.....it will be something that everyone should expereince!!!!  And finally FINALLY, I must say 19 days was a long time with 6 hotels, 5 plane flights, and 3 train rides.  But grouping these cities together.....Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Krakow went very very well....a nice circle with no more than a few hours of travel each time.  The time of year.....well I can say from our experience, it was perfect...cool and very little rain.

So, in summary,  it was a fabulous trip.  It was very leisurely done, no pressure, no language problem, good food, very easy to get around, excellent public transportation, helpfull people and lots and lots to see and do.  And a nonstop flight to Berlin from Miami.  I would strongly recommend this exact trip to anyone, even the less experienced traveler.....a very nice, very informative and very doable trip.